Vinifico! The Original Vancouver Wine Blog

This was a wine I picked up thinking I would try it, make my notes and move on. For some reason, I wasn’t expecting to get blown away… and well… I wasn’t. Having said that though – did I like this wine? Hell yeah. It’s just that it was selling up here in booze-pinched BC for ~$90. I grabbed this bottle during an agent’s mark-down sale, which took it down to ~$60. Why? Because I love the Pinot and had had my eye on trying something from the Merry Edwards folks for a while.

So, what’s it like? Well, a big sniff gives up black cherry, raspberry, orange peel and mineral. A juicy sip pretty much shows the same. It’s a refined bunch of the cherry and berry that shows a bit of heat on the finish (it has 14.2% booze) and finishes as smoothly as silk.

It all pretty much adds up to a tasty bottle of wine that still makes me feel pretty gouged – even with the $30 mark-down. I’d love this wine in the $40 range. It was bloody tasty. For the money, I expect more.

~$60 at Kitsilano Wine Cellars.

Like wine? Enjoy Summer? Drink Rosé… and by that, I don’t mean go out and buy that gross sweet White Zinfandel crap. Buy the stuff the locals drink all Summer in France, Spain and parts of Italy – the gorgeous Rosés.

One of the best areas for rosé production in France is the Languedoc area in the South of France… and who doesn’t want to sit in a café there sipping something like this?

This wine, which is a blend of 70% Cinsault and 30% Syrah, has a beautiful light salmon colour to it (I’m sure it would pair incredibly well with some of our local fish as well). The nose shows light strawberry and lemon and a big sip gives up a crisp bit of the light berry along with red raspberry and a squish of lemon and bit of herb (maybe some lavender or rosemary). It’s so tasty and refreshing for when the warmer weather hits.

~$23 at Kitsilano Wine Cellars here in Vancouver.

I realize that there is an intersection at the corner of wine and beer that I really content to sit on. I think inside many a wine geek is an equal part beer geek. Shea, who writes superb beer reviews at his Justgrains blog has been encouraging us for a while to write a beer review. So here we go.

Brewed by Driftwood Brewing in Victoria, it had great packaging and the description as a ”traditional Belgian-style wheat ale is brewed with the addition of freshly ground coriander and Curacao orange peel. Hops are outshone by the wonderful floral aromas that dominate the nose of this dry and quaffable beer”. The sunshine draws me to the Wheat Beers and this one was new to me. I had their saison recently at the Alibi Room and enjoyed it.

A very pale straw color, the first few sniffs bring a load of nice citrus. Orange blossom and grapefruit dominate with some nice hints of the hops. A few delicious sips showed more nice floral and citrus character with a nice earthy hint from the coriander. The finish of this beer was nice and creamy, almost like lemon/orange sorbet. Plain and simple, this is an excellent choice for Summer.

I picked this up at the Brewery Creek store on Main Street in Vancouver. Their selection of beers is fantastic! I was however disappointed to see the Central City Brewing beers drastically over priced. $15.05 for a six of the IPA (10.95 at the brewery) and over $13 for the Red Racer Wheat (Currently $7.95 at brewery). Hopefully this doesn’t discourage people from drinking good local brews.

$5.95 for a 650ml

I tasted (and liked) Stoneboat’s wines back at the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival back in March, so when I found their new releases at Taylorwood Wines last weekend, I thought I’d pick up a couple of bottles to try. I grabbed one each of their white blend Nebbia and their Pinot Noir.

OK, let’s get down to it… it’s a Pinot – kinda’ classically so. There’s not much of the New World sluttiness going on. The nose has that disinct barnyard edge to it, with stewed cherry and a bunch of citrus and spice. A big ‘ol sip shows the cherry juice, as well as orange peel and a bit of a tobacco edge to its mineral-laced finish. It’s tasty stuff, especially for the $24. I do have to say that it is a bit rustic though… with some stemminess to the flavours. This gives it a bitter edge that many folks may not find too appealing.

Having said that, I do have to say that I enjoyed this wine. Did I love it? No. Would I buy it again? Maybe. Would I drink it again? Yes. It’s much better than almost any other Pinot available at this price.

If you come across it and are a Pinot fan, give it a go and decide for yourself.

$24 from the winery.

This bottle comes from a winery which has been in one family’s hands – the Kristancic family – since 1820. Its estate straddles the Italian and Slovenian appellations of Collio (in Italy) and Brda (in Slovenia). 20 acres are on the Italian side and 18 acres on the Slovenian side (thanks to Alder over at Vinography.com for digging up these facts).

When I was in Italy last year, I had the luck to taste some truly unique wines from the Friuli area, which is near this wine’s home. This little beauty brings back some great wine memories and reminds me of how unique some of the flavours of the area were.

The Movia winery is now run by Ales Kristancic who Decanter Magazine described as having “the creativity of Andre Ostertag, the energy of Angelo Gaja and the dedication of Willi Brundlemayer plus inherited flair and determination.” That’s some pretty heady company.

He’s been using full biodynamic production for the last 20 years and you can taste the character and care in the glass from the indigenous Ribolla Gialla grape. This is wine with a sense of place.

It’s a wine geek’s wine. It’s pretty much unlike anything else out there and is drop-dead sexy. The nose is totally unique. It’s got light melon, mineral and vanilla spice going on… among other things. The flavours struck me as honey-buttered popcorn with a melon drizzle… and it’s tastier than that simplified description sounds. It finishes with an elegant crispness that shows this wine could age for a while.

~$40 at Kitsilano Wine Cellars here in Vancouver.

When I first gave this wine a swirl, I thought some of my neighbors on the farms were spreading some fine grade manure. This is definitely a shining example of the “barnyard” character often attributed to Pinot Noir… and once you get past that, this is a neat bottle.

I swirled a bit more, and mixed in are some tobacco and meaty overtones. Anything this unusual deserves a few good slurps. Raspberry, red currant and some orange zest quickly took over for the funk and revealed an enjoyable glass of Bourgogne. The finish brings some nice earthy black tea and some tasty raspberry and floral notes.

Despite a rather odd beginning, this is a really elegant and tasty glass. It runs a full spectrum of the classic Pinot attributes and was equally unique the next day. At $21 in the current LDB clear out, it’s a really great deal.

$21 (regularly $34.99) at LDB stores here in BC.

Last Friday, my colleague at Sitemasher, Shannon Yelland and I paid Clinton Kabler a visit at D3 Security Management Systems to appear with him in an episode of their D3TV video blog. We talked business and, just as importantly – wine.

Clinton had picked up 2 bottles of wine to taste while we chatted – both are available at Marquis Wine Cellars here in Vancouver:

• 2007 Churton Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand’s Marlborough Valley – I didn’t pick up on it initially, but I think this wine was slightly corked… and I mean slightly. It had just enough of that TCA sharpness on the edge. It became more apparent as the wine warmed up. Although it was not at all unpleasant, I’d like to give this wine another shot sometime soon (not rated due to TCA). $29 at Marquis.
  
• 2007 Domaine du Joncier Lirac Rosé from France’s Southern Rhône – this was bloody tasty. I’ve actually bought the wine since and will again over the summer. It had a load of bright berry flavours (raspberry and cranberry came to the front). Clinton got bubblegum in there as well… and I can’t say I disagree. Tasty stuff! (**** stars). $24.50 at Marquis.
  

Here’s the video:

When I think of great wines for summer sippin’, I think crisp and light-weight, with a lip-smacking refreshment factor. Well, this one hits all those marks – it has the lime zest and diesel on the nose and a flavour burst of lime zest along with tart green apple and honey. The crisp finish goes on for a bit with a honey-licked-from-a-rock minerality.

Added on to all that is the fact that it’s 10 years old and is starting to show what’s so good about well-made, aged Rieslings. You folks need to drink more of this stuff.

It’s tasty. If you’re a fan of Riesling and come across this wine, I’d recommend giving it a try.

$29 at Kitsilano Wine Cellars here in Vancouver.

It’s been a busy and hot night, so I’m going to keep this short. I dropped by Kits Wine Cellars tonight before grabbing sushi and wanted something cool and tasty. The folks there pointed me to this wine… and I’m glad they did.

Hey, it’s a 1996 vintage wine (an OK vintage for Germany), which is pretty cool. I like being able to try a wine with some age on it. I’m not always the best at keeping bottles in my cellar.

Sipping it on the patio was a pure touch of tasty summer. The diesel nose typical of German Rieslings has mellowed with age to citrus and honeyed apple. A juicy sip is pure ripe apple dipped in honey. It’s a tasty bottle of wine for a warm night… or any night, really.

$29 at Kitsilano Wine Cellars.