Vinifico! The Original Vancouver Wine Blog

Recently we attended “Perfect Pairings,” an evening of food and wine at Township 7’s Langley location that certainly highlighted the food and wine world of the valley is heading in the right direction.

A Fraser Valley resident by choice, I often look on with envy at the opportunities for food and wine available on a daily basis in the city. Someone calls and says “we’re driving through, where is a good place to eat?” Um…

Events like this affirm that there are great choices available out here; they just require a little rooting around. After a trip to the ever-expanding Langley Farmer’s Market, we made our way to the tables set up in the vineyard at Township.

While the grapes (save for the sparkling) are not grown on this property, I find a sense of the local community present in the wines. Perhaps because I watched the vineyard start, now in its tenth year of operation.

To start our evening, we were given the 2008 Rose and asked by winemaker Brad Cooper to connect the aroma of the wine with a scent from childhood Connecting the wine to our personal experience, Brad created a comfortable environment for all levels of wine lovers. Honest, open and willing to share his passion, everyone left feeling good about BC wine.

Back to the rose, it had a nice strawberry, citrus mix with a vegetal undertone (Allison from Okanagan Taste said “strawberry rhubarb pie”) that matched really well with the pulled-pork slider provided by Angie Quaale from Well Seasoned. The pairing initially surprised me, but the sweet – savory balance was great.

From there we were treated to a number of decadent snacks with really well paired wine choices. We appreciated how Brad encouraged us to try the other wines with the various food items to find our own match.

The highlight for me was the “7 Blanc,” Township’s 50/50 blend of Gewürztraminer and Pinot Blanc. The nice blend of tropical fruit was killer with the amazing prawn atop a kiwi-cilantro-lime salsa. For $19, this is an ideal summer sip. I made sure to take a couple bottles home.

My wife loved the 2006 Syrah with both the incredible baked beans (best I’ve ever had) and Township’s house dark chocolate with peppercorns. She felt the smoky dark fruit of the wine. We also were given a barrel sample of the ’08 syrah, which I am definitely looking forward to.

The evening closed with a taste of Brad’s own 2008 Black Cloud Pinot Noir. My first sips were really tasty and I look forward to sitting down with a bottle (and a glass!) to fully explore it. From here we pried ourselves away from the truffle butter popcorn and closed a lovely evening.

Thanks to Brad Cooper and Township 7, and also Well-Seasoned, and 1Fish 2Fish (who provided my favorite – the prawns) – local Langley folks who deserve regular visits.

It’s been so long between posts… Well, it’s not like I haven’t been drinking wine. It’s just that I’ve just been too busy to sit down and write about them. Hi there. I received this wine as a sample this week, so that’s enough to prompt me back into the blog. Off we go.

Road 13 Winery + Vineyard – this winery dates back to 1998, when it was originally Golden Mile Cellars. I was a closet fan of their wines for years and after the name change and re-focusing on varietals, I’ve been curious to see how things would shape up.

Owners Mick & Pam Luckhurst took over the winery in 2003. Knowing that the “Golden Mile Bench” could be soon BC’s newest viticultural area, they wisely changed the name of the winery a *couple of years ago (*I could be a little off here, but visited them back in 2008 just before the change). According to the winery, the name Road 13 was chosen because, “Road 13 is the location of our winery and two of our vineyard sites: the Home and the Castle.”

The blend is, as they say on the label, “Riesling heavy, which is always a good thing…“, and it is. I see this as a patio aperitif sipper that would also pair really well with salads and Asian foods.

What’s it like? Well, a big sniff gives up a floral (that’s the Gewurztraminer peeking through), tangerine citrus and ripe peach nose (from the botrytis-affected Riesling grapes). A sip shows the ripe peach/tangerine thing going on as well as some honeysuckle and mineral. There’s a bracing acidity on the finish that shows the promise of a food-friendly wine.

It’s good. Heck, for the money ($16.99 CDN), it’s really nice. I’ll be pointing folks to it when they ask for something local, good and patio-friendly over the next month or so (hopefully) of our sunny season.

$16.99 winery direct, BCLDB, VQA stores and select private retail and restaurant accounts in BC and Alberta.

“Let the vineyard speak.” – I heard this phrase a couple of times during the whirlwind of experiences at the WBC 2010 in Walla Walla. To summarize what I learned about Walla Walla and the wine, I honestly believe that the artisans making wine in this region use this phrase as a guiding mantra.

In general, all the producers, growers and owners we met expressed a commitment to minimal intervention in the growth and path towards finished product. The results are an increasing number of organic wines that are really excellent examples of the region’s terrior.

I had some experience with Washington wines prior to visiting, and learned a great deal about the hallmarks and breadth of wine experiences available in the valley. Some but not all of the things that stuck with me are:

• A commitment to elegant meritage style blends. Of the many we sampled, there was a distinct elegance characterized by beautiful floral hints, followed by in some cases the lovely graphite and rustic mineral finish often associated with Bordeaux.
• “Letting the vineyard speak” was evidenced by the rocky, mineral soils we observed in the River Rock Vineyards, and tasting it in the fantastic Buty Wines grown there.
• Balance was a hallmark through out the lineups of many of the wineries. There were very few “monster” wines; even the Syrahs and GSMs had nice balance and finesse. (The exception being the wines of Charles Smith, whom I sense wouldn’t have it any other way. – we wouldn’t want him to either, as they are such fun wines).
• The whites were full of Old World-esque minerality (DeLille’s Chaleur White – wow!), and wonderful acidity. I loved the number of seafood beckoning Chenin Blancs, and gorgeously subtle Rieslings.
• Another highlight was the handful of Rosés we sampled. Spicy, with light red berries, they are fantastic summer wines at even more striking prices. Barnard and Griffin, Mannina (made from Sangiovese) and L’Ecole 41 (whose is a Grenache rosé) all had delicious sips under $20.

Walla Walla is a fantastic place that is so welcoming for the wine enthusiast. The vineyards are beautiful and the vintners are warm and genuinely interested in sharing the work that they do. The town center of Walla Walla is also a great stepping off point to explore the wine, with dozens of tasting rooms, cool restaurants (tasty pizza at The Olive, by the way) and a fantastic mix of generations of architecture.

Mexican wine is something I haven’t devoted much time to up to this point in my wine journey. Over the years, I have tasted a few of the LA Cetto wines, but that had pretty much been it. So, when I received an email through this site from Eduardo Ramirez asking if I’d like to try a few Mexican wines, I jumped at the chance. I met Eduardo a while later to chat about the wines he represents and to accept 4 samples.

The first two represent the value line from Casa Madero, which at close to 500 years old, is apparently the oldest operating winery in the Western hemisphere. These value wines are named for the original San Lorenzo Winery, which was founded in its current location in Central Mexico in 1597.

Here’s what I tasted:

2009 San Lorenzo Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay & Colombard: This is an interesting blend of 50% Chenin Blanc, 25% Chardonnay, and 25% Colombard. The nose is a mix of lemon, apricot and flinty stone, which lead to a really nice mix of flavours that finish with the whole citrus-melon-flinty stone thing going on. It’s a very nice sipper and went really well with a simple dish of grilled halibut with lemon. It’s a solid value at $17-20 here in Vancouver.

2008 San Lorenzo Cabernet Sauvignon – Tempranillo: This is a blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon and 45% Tempranillo. It has a nose that gives up a bit of red cherry/berry fruit, and a bit of tar and mineral. A sip had me thinking of dusty dark cherries and an earthy bitterness that led out to a medium finish with decent tannins. Not complex, but a nice sipper, especially for the money ($19.90 here in BC).

Now onto the Monte Xanic wines. According to their site, the name, “Xanic” originates with the Cora Indians who continue to inhabit parts of Nayarit on Mexico’s Pacific coast, and means, “Flower which blooms after the first rain.” The winery was founded in 1987 in response to the recent opening of the border to foreign wines, which many deemed superior to Mexican wine. The owners of Monte Xanic set out to prove they could make wines to compete with any of the wines from outside Mexico.

While they may not be up there with the world’s best wines, they are doing a respectable job.

2008 Monte Xanic Chenin Colombard The nose has a honeyed edge to lemony citrus and pear and is a blend of 95% Chenin Blanc and 5% Colombard. The flavours are all about exactly what the nose hinted at… the medium-bodied pear and lemon have a light coating of honey and the finish goes on for a minute with a crisp and flinty minerality that I really like. This is a very tasty and well-made wine. I think it would be delicious with some grilled salmon. It retails in Vancouver for $24.

2006 Monte Xanic Cabernet Sauvignon – Merlot: This one is a blend of 60% Cabernet, 20% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc, 5% Petit Verdot and 5% Malbec. To me, the nose on this wine is a bit like sniffing the venerable “oak monster” itself. It mellows with some air, but this is definitely a case of a wine-maker choosing the new oak route. The nose has powerful vanilla, mocha and berry aromas – more a sign of the oak than the grapes. The flavours of the grapes do come through with delicious dark berries along with the oak-influenced vanilla spice. I liked it, but would like to see less of the new oak. In Vancouver, it retails for $36.

All in all, I would say that I was both surprised and impressed by the wines – surprised that a white blend was my pick of the group and impressed with the overall quality of the wine. Check them out if you feel like trying a few of the wines of Mexico.

I’m currently down in San Francisco for work and haven’t really had much time to shop for wine. So, the other day I visited the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant to see what interesting wines they had in stock. I’m always on the lookout for wines from Sean Thackrey (they’re pretty scarce, so we don’t get them in Canada) so when I saw this bottle sitting there, it called out to me.

What’s it like? Good. Really good. It’s got a really cool nose that has eucalyptus, leather, ripe cherry and tar. The nose really says Cali-Italian Nebbiolo more than Sangiovese from anywhere. The flavors pretty much play that out. It’s a medium to full-bodied wine with a schwack of leather and tar with a floral thing going on as well as the full-on cherry liqueur flavours. It’s delicious and drinking perfectly right now.

If you can find it and are curious about the wines of Sean Thackrey this is the wine for you.

$35 USD at the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchants in San Francisco.

Are you looking for an affordable New World Pinot Noir? Think cherry Cola. Well, this may be exactly what you’re looking for.

Cherry Cola, fig and plum hit you in the nose when you take a sniff. The flavours are round, ripe and sexy. There’s dark cherry, blackberry and that cherry Cola the nose hinted at along with a dusty mineral finish that lasts a minute.

What does it all mean? Well, in short it’s a pretty simple, but very tasty New Zealand Pinot Noir that makes me yearn for an Old World quaff, but also makes me feel guilty for digging the flavours. The fruit is sweet and dusty… and I like it. It’s definitely not a Burgundy, but it makes my mouth happy.

All in all, it’s a great sipper on its own, but I’d look elsewhere for a really good food-pairing wine.

$34.99 at LDB stores here in BC.

While I was at the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival last month, I stopped by Averill Creek‘s table to say, “Hi” to Denis Chen, who I know from Kitsilano Wine Cellars. Well, it turned out he was also the VP Sales and Marketing for the winery and was at the festival pouring their wines. I had a taste and came away impressed. After my chat with Denis, he promised to set up a sample pack for me to review, so here we are.

Let’s get you some information about the winery. Its owner, Andy Johnston is a British-born doctor who had a practice in Alberta for around 30 years. He prepared for his gig as a winery owner and winemaker by apprenticing in the vineyards of Italy, France, Australia, and New Zealand. After retirement he bought his Cowichan Valley property in 2001.

Averill Creek is definitely an estate producer only. They have roughly 30,000 vines on a 30-acre vineyard in the Cowichan Valley north of Duncan on Vancouver Island. All of Averill Creek’s wines are estate grown and come from this vineyard.

I was supplied with what turned out to be most of their current line-up and have tasted them over the last week or so. Here are my thoughts:

• 2007 Pinot Gris: A sniff gave up lemon and ripe peach juice drizzled on a rock. The flavours showed some really nice lip-smackingly crisp acidity along with mouth-filling lemon-peach flavours. This, folks, is a really nice food wine, but would also make for a great aperitif on a sunny patio. It’s a solid value ($18). 4 stars
• 2009 Pinot Grigio: This 100% stainless-steel fermented version is the crisp, quaff-able wine of the portfolio. It’s got a schwack of bracing acidity along with the nice fruit and flinty minerality. You know when you buy a really nice bunch of green grapes, take them home and really enjoy stuffing one after another into your mouth? This is the vinous equivalent ($18). 3.5 stars
• 2009 Gewurztraminer: This was a very pleasing light and crisp Gewurz. It had soft rose petal and lychee flavours followed up by a honey-edged citrus acidity and a nice mineral edge to the finish. Very nice and another really solid value ($18). 4 stars
• 2007 Pinot Noir: This is really nice, in that ripe kinda’ way. Think blackberry tea with Chinese all-spice on the finish. The tannins are medium-soft, so this is a bit more of a quaffer than a food-pairing wine. I really enjoyed it though, especially for the price ($28). 4 stars
• 2007 Prevost: On the nose, I got smoked bacon with a sour cherry edge. That pretty much followed up in the flavours that finished with a peppery edge ($18). 3 stars
• 2009 Foch’eh: This wine was made using carbonic maceration, which kept the fruit cool and fresh and makes for a very Gamay-like wine, with its really nice bright cherry and strawberry fruit. A very nice simple sipper for summer. Cool it down a touch and enjoy on the patio. Again, another solid value ($18). 3.5 stars
• 2008 Cowichan Black: This is made from 100% Vancouver Island blackberries and comes in at 16% booze. All in all, it was a bit puzzling to me. A sniff gave me sour, yeasty light berry fruit, but a sip showed some of the ripe blackberry flavours I was expecting… with a bit of a green edge to the finish. It’s decent, but a bit of a novelty wine in an otherwise solid lineup ($18 for 375 ml). 2.5 stars

Overall, I was fairly impressed. If anything, the wines pleasantly surprised me. The line-up is definitely geared towards providing value and they’re really hitting the mark, especially with the Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer and Pinot Noir. Would I buy them? Yes, I would.

If you’ve never tried wines from Vancouver Island and you want to support the BC wine industry, you should give them a try. They can be found at various wine shops around Vancouver (and the province of BC).

I’ve been looking for this Nebbiolo since Candace and I had it at the now-closed L’Altro Buca in Vancouver’s West End last year. Well, it seems that the fine folks at Kitsilano Wine Cellars have finally decided to stock it. I wandered in there  last week and was pretty bloody happy to see it on the shelves.

The nose is really sexy. There’s ripe berry fruit along with a walnut liqueur edge. A sip really shows the seductive side of this wine. The full body opens up with ripe strawberry, ripe black cherry and a walnut liqueur. It’s just what I remembered and reminded me why I had been trying to find it.

So good.

$41 at Kitsilano Wine Cellars here in Vancouver.

Another year of the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival, this time in the new Vancouver Convention Centre, has come to pass. The new location – much like the old -  served up some tasty sips from some fantastic producers. There were so many fantastic wines over the three days we attended. It’s impossible to mention them all, so here are the standouts what we saw as the standouts.

If money were no object:
These have me singing “If I were a rich man” a la Fiddler on the Roof.

• Lanson Noble Cuvée Blanc de Blancs 1998– Floral, honey and lemon sorbet… decadent!
• Louis Latour Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru 2006 – Intense, complex and everlasting.
• Cheval des Andes 2003 –Wow, a seriously tasty treat that is full value for the price
• Pascal Toso Magdalena 2005 – Serious Malbec with amazing dark chocolate, and plum with some nice floral softness.
• 2005 Damilano Barolo Brunate Cannubi – So big, so elegant, long and lithe.
• 2006 Penfolds RWT Shiraz – Rich, powerful and incredibly good.
• 2006 Concha y Toro Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon – This almost never misses.

Make you wanna Haka:
We were really impressed with the New Zealand Rieslings and Pinot Gris in particular. These were some of our faves:

• Elephant Hill Estate and Winery – A really unique and peppery Sauvignon Blanc, an incredibly tasty tropical Viognier, and a tasty Pinot Noir. The SB is a little on the pricey side ($35 so we likely won’t see it around here).
• Sacred Hill Rifleman’s Hawkes Bay Chardonnay – seriously full fruit, nice caramel balance with the oak.
• 2007 Two Paddocks Central Otago Pinot Noir – The 2008 was tasty, but this one has all the nice red fruit and earthy goodness you want.
• 2008 Matua Valley Central Otago Estate Pinot Noir – This had really nice fruit and stuck with me.

Not a miss on the table:
These were tables at which every bottle was a delight.

• Paddy Borthwick – Fantastic Pinot Gris, Riesling and Pinot – Can’t wait to see these around here!
• Altesino – A beautiful range of Tuscans from value to high
• Panther Creek – Beautiful Oregon pinots. The Temperance Hill really stood out with nice red fruit and great silky finish.
• Damilano – From their crisp Langhe Arneis to the Nebbiolo d’Alba to the luminous Barolo Brunate Cannubi – everything they poured was so good.

Argentine treats:
The Malbecs were superb, but the finesse and elegance coming with some of the Cabs and Bordeaux blends were certainly highlights as well.

• Bodega Renacer – Great value malbecs and a killer 2007 Amarone-style blend called Enamore.
• Terrazas de los Andes Afincado Malbec Las Compuertas Vineyard 2006, – the cab was tasty too.

All Day, Everyday…:
These are the ones that will be making frequent (and brief) visits to our cellars this spring and summer (if we can find them):

• Damilano Nebbiolo d’Alba – beautiful Nebbiolo for $27.99? Oh yes.
• Kim Crawford Small Parcel Spitfire Sauvignon Blanc 2008 – A superb Marlborough sip for $26.99.
• Vina Cobos Felino Malbec 2008 – Drinks way better than $19.99.
• D’Arenberg ‘The Dry Dam’ Riesling 2009– Petrol and zingy lime goodness for $21.99.
• Chateau Ste. Michelle 2007 Indian Wells Cabernet Sauvignon – Really tasty for the money ($27.99).

I’m sure we’ve missed a few, so feel free to chime in with some of your favourites.

One of the non-wine highlights of the festival was the number of local bloggers and wine tweeps that were in attendance. Congrats to the @playhousewine folks and @hethpr as they created a great opportunity to share finds and suggestions with a large group of people.

Cheers!