Vinifico! The Original Vancouver Wine Blog

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.

Our second day in California’s wine country got off to a lazy start at my new favourite coffee spot in Santa Rosa, Flying Goat Coffee. After taking a leisurely stroll around Santa Rosa’s historic Railroad Square, we hopped in the car and headed toward our first stop of the day – Mazzocco Winery, near Healdsburg.

I had been emailing back and forth with Mazzocco for a while regarding a sample bottle they wanted to send me. Because of British Columbia’s antiquated and ridiculous liquor laws, it’s next to impossible to receive wine as samples in our province (I know – go figure)… so, while I was down in the area, it made sense to drop by, pick up the sample and taste the rest of the current releases.

Mazzocco Winery
It was Saturday, so that meant that both the parking lot and tasting room were chock full of Mazzocco wine fans. Candace and I made our way in and found a little corner at the tasting bar. I’ve liked pretty much everything I’ve tried from Mazzocco, so I was looking forward to trying their new wines. I’ll give something away here – I wasn’t disappointed. At all.

Here’s what we tasted:

• 2007 Stuhlmuller Reserve Chardonnay ($36)
  Nice notes of vanilla, butter, caramel and citrus lead to a balanced and crisp finish.
  4 stars
• 2004 “Inheritance” Cabernet Sauvignon ($40)
  5 years in oak produced a smoothly balanced wine with a lot of vanilla and licorice spice to the dark currant flavours.
  4 – 4.5 stars
• 2005 Merlot – Dry Creek Valley ($28)
  This had a nice vanilla edge and some cracked pepper and a tonne of dark cherry/berry fruit with a long finish.
  4 stars
• 2005 Aguilera Petite Sirah ($35)
  This was very firm and tannic, yet approachable with its licorice and black cherry/berry flavours.
  4 – 4.5 stars

The Zinfandels:

• 2007 Briar Zinfandel ($29)
  This was the first Zin of the tasting and wow – the pure fruit that Mazzocco gets out of their Zins is so good. This had big ripe blackberry syrup with a vanilla bean edge. The finish lasted minutes.
  4.5 stars
• 2007 Stone Zinfandel ($29)
  Big, delicious ripe red berry fruit with a syrupy edge and a long, long finish.
  4 – 4.5 stars
• 2007 Warm Springs Zinfandel ($32)
  A dose of Petite Sirah added some tannic heft to this full-bodied dark berry bomb. So good.
  4.5 stars
• 2007 Smith Orchard Reserve Zinfandel ($50)
  Wow. I’m starting to sound like a broken record, but… again – this wine has outstanding dark berry with a syrupy edge to its long and pleasantly tannic finish.
  4.5 stars
• 2007 Maple Reserve Zinfandel ($60)
  Mmmmmmm… the Maple Reserve. I really liked this (though I have to say that I really liked all their Zins). This one stayed with me just a little bit more. It had a dusty edge to its dark berry fruit with a touch of brown sugar to the long finish. Outstanding.
  4.5 stars
• 2007 Antoine Philippe Reserve Zinfandel ($120)
  The winemaker’s personal reserve. Ever wonder what an over-$100 Zinfandel tastes like? Like this… or this is what that should taste like. When I reviewed the 2006, I called it “possibly the best Zinfandel I’ve ever tasted.” Well this may have surpassed it. Although the previous wines were great Zins, this was just a step above. Firm, but fine tannins cap the delicious dark fruit. Wow. Just wow.
  4.5 stars
• 2007 Kenneth Carl Reserve Zinfandel ($150)
  This is just about right up there with the Antoine Philippe. This is the personal reserve chosen by the winery’s owner, Ken (Kenneth Carl) Wilson. It’s immense, with blackberry, black pepper and licorice. The finish just keeps on going. Another amazing effort.
  4.5 stars

I’d like to give a shout to Bernie (that’s her with me in the pic above), who despite having a packed tasting room, manged to keep the samples coming and was kind enough to fill me in on every wine we tasted and even showed me pics from the different vineyards.

The Zinfandels that Mazzocco turn out really hit my palate in all the right ways. They’ve got big and balanced fruit flavours with a briary edge to the firm, but not too firm tannins. Candace agreed. She picked these as her favourite wines of the trip.

Mauritson Wines
After leaving Mazzocco, I chose to drop in at nearby Mauritson Wines. Last summer, while in the area for ZAP, I had picked up a 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon, Sonoma County from them and was curious as to what their other wines might be like.

Here’s what we tasted:

• 2008 Sauvignon Blanc Dry Creek Valley ($17)
  This had crisp citrus fruit and a nice mineral edge to the finish. Very refreshing.
  3.5 – 4 stars
• 2007 Chardonnay Alexander Valley Valley ($25)
  I really liked this. It had a crisp citrus edge to its tropical fruit that led to a long finish. A very nice effort – only 457 cases were produced.
  4 – 4.5 stars
• 2008 Zinfandel Dry Creek Valley ($27)
  There was an almost meaty edge to the pepper and dark berry/cherry fruit. Very tasty.
  4.5 stars
• 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma County ($35)
  This had refined and tasty black currant fruit with a vanilla edge. The tannins were fine, but firm and the finish lasted minutes. This could definitely benefit from some time in your cellar.
  4.5 stars

The Rockpile Zinfandels:
These are the wines for which Mauritson is best-known. I hadn’t really tried them before and have to say that I was very impressed. They were very well-balanced with loads of spice and dark fruit.

• 2007 Rockpile Ridge Vineyard Zinfandel ($35)
  Tasty jammy ripe red berry fruit with black pepper and really nice mineral-edged tannins on the finish. Really good stuff.
  4.5 stars
• 2007 Rockpile Jack’s Cabin Vineyard Zinfandel ($37)
  This really grabbed me. I picked up flavours of black pepper, licorice, dark chocolate and juicy dark berries.
  4.5 stars
• 2007 Rockpile Westphall Ridge Vineyard Zinfandel ($37)
  I got a bit of a meaty edge to the nose of this wine… but the flavours were all about the dark berry fruit along with licorice. Wow – a very tasty Zin.
  4.5 stars
• 2007 Rockpile Cemetary Vineyard Zinfandel ($39)
  This is a bit of a monster – it’s got all the beautiful dark Zinfandel fruit, but with layers of complexity and a load of tannins on the finish. This is the one I tasted that could sit in your cellar for a while. Very, very good.
  4.5 stars

There were a few other wineries I would have liked to have visited on Saturday, but quality should always win out over quantity. I would whole-heartedly recommend visits to both wineries. The folks manning the tasting rooms were unbelievably friendly and the wines… well, there wasn’t a dud in the bunch. Check them out. Your taste buds will thank you.

Candace and I headed into the Napa Valley last Friday and I was really looking forward to the appointments I had set up. The weather was spring-warm perfect, the traffic was light and I was looking forward to tasting some of Napa’s Cabernet. First in line was the venerable Beaulieu Vineyard, located in Rutherford. The second appointment was set for 2pm at Whitehall Lane Winery and we were penciled in at Cuvaison Estate Wines in Calistoga for 4pm. It was going to be an afternoon full of (hopefully) good wine.

Beaulieu Vineyard:
I had only visited Beaulieu once before – way back in 1991. That was also my first visit to Napa Valley. What I really remember about the visit was that, back then, like many guys in their early 20′s I was into the whole Seattle music scene and had the hair to match. It was halfway down my back. I know… I know, but hey – it was the early 90′s. The point of mentioning this was that many of the wineries, upon seeing 4 long-haired musician-looking types headed their way, lived up to the much-feared wine snob stereotype – they treated us like crap. We were there to learn, sample and buy. They made that much less pleasant than it should have been.

Not Beaulieu. To this day, I have a soft spot for them because of the open and friendly way we were greeted and led through a wine sampling education. It was what a visit to a winery should be – FUN. They helped send me down the road to being the wine geek I am today. I don’t remember the names of the nice folks from that visit, but will fondly remember our tasting with Robert last Friday.

We were greeted at the door with a sample of their 2007 Sauvignon Blanc and then made our way to their tasting bar and through their Maestro Collection and their Napa Valley Cabernets. Here’s a list and quick rating of what we tasted:

• 2006 Maestro Petite Sirah ($32) – 3.5 – 4 stars
• 2005 Maestro Ensemble Red ($27) – 4 stars
• 2006 Maestro Zinfandel ($30) – 4 stars
• (Unsure of the vintage) Tempranillo ($?) – 4 stars

The Cabernets:

• 2006 Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon ($30) – 4 – 4.5 stars
• 2005 Reserve Maestro Cabernet No. 1 ($65) – 4.5 stars
• 2005 Reserve Maestro Cabernet No. 2 ($65) – 4.5 stars (my favourite of this flight)
• 2006 Reserve Maestro Cabernet No. 2 ($65) – 4.5 stars

After tasting these, Robert took us down to the members’ tasting lounge and seated us in front of 4 glasses. Into those he poured:

• 2006 Reserve Carneros Pinot Noir ($45)
  Beautiful colour with elegant ripe plum and cherry flavours.
  4 stars
• 2003 Tapestry Reserve ($? – a classic blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec)
  Balanced ripe fruit with firm yet silky mineral-laced tannins.
  4 stars
• 2006 Tapestry Reserve ($60)
  Bigger and earthier with a toasty edge to the dark cherry, black currant and dark chocolate flavours. Lots of tannin. Very tasty.
  4.5 stars
• 2006 Beaulieu Vineyard Georges de Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon ($115)
  Really good. Lots of complexity. I got licorice, blackberry, black currant and vanilla spice on the nose. The flavours showed all that along with some coffee. The finish lasted minutes and was very firm. It has the structure to last for quite a while and will be best in a few years.
  4.5 stars

Whitehall Lane Winery:
Next up was our 2pm appointment with Katie. This is a much smaller family operation compared to Beaulieu. It was bought by Tom Leonardini Sr. in 1993 and has seen extensive changes to the winery and the equipment since that time. The winery owns roughly 110 acres of vineyards in the Napa Valley including the Leonardini Vineyard in St. Helena and the Rutherford West Vineyard in, you guessed it, Rutherford.

Katie poured us a sample of their Chardonnay and led us out of the tasting room and into the winery. We watched them bottling their 2009 Sauvignon Blanc and had a quick tour of the member’s lounge and a beautiful view of the surrounding vineyards from its deck. We then headed back to the tasting room to sample their wines. Here’s what we tasted:

• 2008 Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley ($16)
  Crisp acidity and nice citrus and melon fruit.
  3.5 – 4 stars

• 2007 Chardonnay, Carneros ($28)
  Again – nice and crisp with pear and citrus with some vanilla from the oak.
  3.5 – 4 stars

• 2007 Pinot Noir, Carneros ($28)
  Very light with nice red cherry and a bit of citrus and spice.
  3.5 stars

• 2006 Merlot, Napa Valley ($28)
  Black cherry and berry with a floral edge lead to nice vanilla and spice on the finish.
  4 stars
• 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley ($40)
  Nice tannins edge the ripe blackberry and black currant fruit with earth and spice on the finish.
  4 – 4.5 stars
• 2006 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley ($60)
  This is a blend of fruit from both of their Cabernet vineyard sites in the Napa Valley. It really grabbed my taste buds with its ripe fruit and elegant balance. Flavours of black currant, dark cherry and berry led to a spicy vanilla-tinged finish from the oak. It’s still quite young and will be best in a year or so (or more).
  4.5 stars
• 2006 St. Helena Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley ($60)
  This was Candace’s favourite wine of the day, with a really nice nose that hinted at the ripe fruit to come. A sip literally explodes in the mouth with jammy back currant and berry fruit, followed by a long and elegant finish with very firm tannins.
  4.5 stars
• 2006 Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley ($60)
  This wine was a very interesting counterpart to the St. Helena Cab. It tasted of the “Rutherford Dust” the area is known for. This also had really elegant fruit and a long spicy finish. I really liked this one.
  4.5 stars

All in all, I’d have to say that I really liked the Cabs we tasted. As a matter of fact, I liked them enough that I took a few with me when we left.

Cuvaison Estate Wines:
Last July when I was down in Napa and Sonoma for the Wine Blogger’s Conference, a mix-up left Graham, Shea and I standing in Cuvaison’s Calistoga parking lot wondering where the rest of the crew had disappeared to… only to realize that they had been bused down to Cuvaison’s newer Carneros facility. Well, I made a mental note to return to the cozy Calistoga tasting room the next time I was in the area – so with an appointment set up by my friend Paul Watkin of Seacove Wines (who represent Cuvaison in BC), here we were.

After a recent re-vamp, the room was not only cozy, but modern as well. We settled in at one of the tables and Gabe brought around the samples and filled us in on the geographical and winemaking facts for each wine. I was really impressed with what he poured:

• 2007 S Block Chardonnay ($38)
  This had really gorgeous fruit – orange peel, melon and pineapple that led to a balanced and crisp finish. Very tasty.
  4.5 stars
• 2007 ATS Chardonnay ($54)
  Wow. There was an explosion of flavour on the finish of this wine – crème brulée, nut, apple and mineral-edged lemon. Initially, a sip gave peach, and citrus flavours, but man… that finish. Very good.
  4.5 stars
• 2008 Mariafield Pinot Noir ($32)
  This Swiss clone gives bright purple cherry and cola flavours, with tonnes of spice and cherry cola on the finish.
  4 – 4.5 stars
• 2007 Block F5 Pinot Noir ($45)
  I really liked this wine. It was darker in colour than the Mariafield and struck me as having more going on. On the nose, there was blackberry and ripe red cherry. A sip gave me silky tannins that edged the black cherry cola, spice and floral flavours.
  4.5 stars
• 2007 Zinfandel, Bald Mountain ($35)
  This wine surprised me. I know Cuvaison is known for its Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, but they also turn out a tasty Zinfandel. It had nice dark plum and berry on the nose. Flavours of ripe plum, dark berry led out to bramble spice and cracked pepper on the finish.
  4 – 4.5 stars
• 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon, Mount Veeder ($45)
  Black pepper and ripe currant on the nose led to black pepper, currant and licorice flavours and a long finish.
  4 – 4.5 stars
• 2006 Brandlin Cabernet Sauvignon, Mount Veeder ($85)
  This really caught me off guard. Its’ delicious! The nose showed purple berry, vanilla and licorice spice. The flavours were big and balanced – ripe dark berry, black currant, licorice and spice on the long, long finish. Wow.
  4.5 stars

I have to say that this is the way to spend a day in Napa Valley. Make a few appointments and really spend the time going through each winery’s wines. There are a lot of great wineries in the valley, so take some time to check them out.

Paolo Scavino is known as a producer of great Piemontese single vineyard Barolos. What we don’t often see over on this side of the pond are the other, more everyday wines he produces such as this Vino da Tavola. The reason for the generic name is that it’s a blend of Nebbiolo, Barbera, Dolcetto and  Cabernet Sauvignon. I’m not 100% sure of the percentages of each, but it all adds up to a pretty tasty bottle of the juice.

It’s deep ruby-red in colour and its nose gives up dark cherry, mocha, violets and earth. The flavours? Well, I got black cherry,  black pepper and a rustic earthiness. That leads out to a medium-length finish showing ripe dark fruit with smooth tannins. Nice stuff.

All in all, it’s not the best $35 bottle of wine I’ve had recently, but I did really enjoy it (enough that I bought a second bottle to have sometime soon).

$35 at Kitsilano Wine Cellars.

So far this under-$30 thing is working for me. I’m 2 for 2 in finding wines I would happily sip at any price, let alone for under $30 CDN.

While I was in the Thurlow & Alberni specialty LDB store last week, I took a look at the Italian section. Knowing that 2006 was a phenomenal vintage for all things Tuscan, I spotted this 2006 and decided to give it a go. It’s a super-Tuscan blend of 46% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Sangiovese and 21% Merlot that I had tasted, but not loved, a few times in the past.

Well, 2006 seems to have fixed that. For the money, I was really happy with this wine. After a bit of time in the glass, the nose was a sultry mix of ripe cherry, perfumed rose petals, tobacco and an earthy minerality. The flavours were equally seductive, offering up rich and ripe berry/cherry fruit, chocolate and a finish laced with floral notes and silky tannins.

This is a seriously tasty and enjoyable wine for $25 (CDN).

$24.99 at LDB stores here in BC.

Chaos. The holiday season seems to breed it in various forms, and today for me it was in the form of my youngest daughter’s 5th birthday and a bowling party for 21 five year olds. Chaos sometimes comes lovely and adorable ways.

To celebrate the success of this event, I decided to open the last of my gems from our journey to Brown Estate Vineyards in July. We have detailed the stunning nature of the visit and the wines previously (including this one, however it is worthy of mention repeatedly). Again, it lives up to all the others.

The Chaos Theory is blend of the various blocks of zinfandel, and some of their tasty cabernet. When we visited, we had the chance to savor a barrel sample of the upcoming Cabernet (to be blended with Syrah I believe) and it had a beautiful dark fruit and graphite character. This offering makes the blend a seamless silky goodness.

The nose has beautiful blueberry with some cedar and nettle the builds into what I can only describe as “Christmas Spice” that continues on throughout every gorgeous sip. The palate has delicious dark fruit, plum, currant, and more blueberry in all it’s viscous goodness. The finish brings some clove, orange zest, and just superb balance that characterize Brown Estate wines in my experience.

This is another in the series of Brown Estate offerings that speak to the honesty, integrity, and genuine passion that are hallmarks of their wines. Love it. Plain and simple.

$36 USD at the Winery (a great deal).

OK, so I’ve been really bad with posting lately… and rightfully so. I’ve got a life and a full-time, outside wine job. I’ve been feeling badly about the lack of posts, so I’ve resolved to writing at least a few of ‘em a week for the next while. Not only does that accomplish the more-posts-in-a-month goal, but it also makes me document the wine I drink, which was the original idea behind this site.

Well, now that that’s out there, I’ll get down to the task at hand. A few weeks ago, I received an invite from my friend Paul Watkin, who works with the Seacove Group, a wine agency in town for a tempting-sounding trade tasting being held at the Metropolitan Hotel.

The tasting was put on by the Seacove Group and the New World Wines agencies – and featured a diverse selection of wines from pretty much everywhere. There were wines from Italy, France, Spain, New Zealand, Portugal and the USA. Graham and I made our way around the room and I can honestly say there wasn’t a single wine we didn’t enjoy. Both agencies have some stunners, so I’m just going to give you our top 5′s from each.

Graham’s picks from Seacove:

• Champagne de Venoge Brut Milliesime 1995 – Stunning length with beautiful citrus and lees.
• Livon Braide Alte 2006 – Loved this wine.  Superbly crisp with nice pear and lime and solid mineral finish.  I imagined this with mussels or clams.  Mmmmm….
• Egelhoff Cabernet Sauvignon 2003 – A gorgeous Napa Cab with great black fruit.  This wine was like someone ground a pepper mill over the glass.  Excellent stuff.
• Chateau des Graviers AOC Margaux “Quintessence” 2001 – Delicious.  Great nose of tea, marker and ground coffee.  Finishes up with some nice graphite and green leaf.
• Moncellior Pinot Noir 2008 - I really liked this one.  Nice full raspberry nose with great acidity and some nice green stalk on the finish.  This is a great value in the Otago Pinots for $35.

My picks from Seacove:

• 1995 Champagne de Venoge Brut Millesièmme -Wow. Just wow. So graceful and tasty.
• 2006 Signorello Winery Padrone – OK, it’s expensive, but it’s also really bloody tasty. Massive black fruit and pepper are followed by equally massive tannins. This one needs time.
• 2005 Van Zeller Douro CV “Curriculum Vitae” – Elegant dark plum and berry fruit lead to a loooong finish. Pretty wonderful stuff.
• 2003 Egelhoff Wines Cabernet Sauvignon – Great dark fruit and black pepper flavours made me want to go back for more.
• 2006 Quinta do Crasto Touriga Nacional – Dark fruit and chocolate with a finish that lasted minutes. I love this wine.

Graham’s picks from New World Wines:

• Barnett Vineyards Merlot Spring Mountain 2006 – Amazing spice on this wine.  Anise and Cinnamon with gorgeous red fruit.  Loved it.
• Darioush Winery Signature Series Shiraz 2005 – Deep intense black fruit with nice black pepper and firm tannins.
• DeLille Cellars D2 2006 – This was soft and sexy goodness.  Gorgeous red fruit and silky finish.
• Betz Family Winery Clos de Betz 2006 – Beautiful dark chocolate, black fruit and some nice mint on the finish. – Loved it.
• Flowers Vineyard & Winery  Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir 2006 – Elegant, with beautiful cranberry and currant.  Great length with a bit a brown sugar on the finish.

My picks from New World Wines:

• 2005 Darioush Winery Signature Series Shiraz – So good! Immense dark fruit, dark chocolate and black tea flavours lead out to a long-long finish.
• 2006 Barnett Vineyards Merlot Spring Mountain – Dark chocolate and plum fruit with a toasty edge. So good.
• 2006 Betz Family Clos de Betz – It may be starting to sound like a record on repeat, but dark chocolate and blackberry flavours made me want more.
• 2006 DeLille Cellars D2 – Mouth-filling dark fruit. Yum.
• 2004 Lail Vineyards Blue Print – This had a hint of bell pepper to its dark fruit and spice. Bloody good.

On Saturday night Shea and I headed out to Graham and Leah’s place in the ‘burbs with our better halves to cook up our much-anticipated Brown Estate wine dinner. When we visited the Browns back in July while we were in Sonoma and Napa for the Wine Bloggers’ Conference, Deneen and Coral by-passed awesome and went straight to best ever by giving the three us a great tour, taking us through a tasting of pretty much every wine they had on the property (paired with Coral’s selection of cheeses), giving us a tour of their cave along with tastes straight from the barrels and then topped it all off by handing us 4 bottles of wine to take along as we were headed out.

We told them we would get together and share the 4 wines over dinner. So, the past couple of weeks saw a flurry of emails go back and forth as we decided what would be served with each wine. We settled on a couple of nice cheeses from Les Amis du Fromage here in Vancouver with the Chardonnay, lamb kebabs with the 2001 Cabernet, freshly made pizzas with the 2006 Chaos Theory and finally some delicious tenderloin steaks with the 2004 Cabernet. I can’t remember when I’ve enjoyed food and wine more than I did last Saturday.

OK, so the first wine out of the gate was the 2007 Napa Valley Chardonnay. Shea had brought along a couple of cheeses from Les Amis du Fromage that paired beautifully. They each brought out different flavours in the Chardonnay. If you can find it, buy this wine. It’s a gorgeous bottle of Napa Valley Chardonnay that also shows some of the crispness and complexity of a white Burgundy. Wow. Have a look.

$48 USD at the winery.

The 2001 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (signed by the winemaker, David Brown) was up next. Graham had BBQ’d up some incredibly tasty lamb kebabs to have with the wine. The pairing really worked . The wine had gorgeous round berry and dark cherry fruit that showed a slightly stewed edge to the fruit (very slight) with its age. It was an amazing bottle – and thinking back, possibly my favourite of the night.

Price N/A.

Next up was the 2006 Napa Valley Chaos Theory Cabernet-Zinfandel Blend. I can’t track down the exact percentages in this blend, but WOW, it adds up to a gorgeous bottle of wine. There’s the briary dark fruit from the Zin, with the dark and tannicly fruity edge of the Cab. It’s complex, gorgeous and incredibly fun to sip. It’ simply delicious.

We paired the Chaos Theory with a handmade pizza made up of freshly grilled veggies, a sauce I made when I got out to Graham’s (tomatoes, smoked tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, salt, cracked chilis and freshly ground pepper), mozzarella cheese with a bit of crumbled feta cheese and black pepper.

$45 USD at the winery.

… and finally,  we had the the 2004 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon with grilled tenderloin steaks. Wow, this worked. Thanks to Graham’s deft work on the grill, the meat was incredibly tender – cut with a fork tender. It was simply spiced with a brushing of olive oil (from Napa’s Spring Mountain Vineyards – thanks Ted!), freshly ground pepper and coarse salt.

It was incredible with its youthful tannins, cracked pepper sprinkled blackberry and dark currant flavours. It had a finish that went on as long as we wanted and left us longing for more. Like the others, it was a beautiful bottle of wine.

$65 USD at the winery.

The evening was exactly what we wanted it to be, helped along by wines that were simply unforgettable – as much for their quality as our new-found attachment to the place. Brown Estate Winery is a special place, made so by the family that owns and nurtures it. We all felt a special attachment when we visited and can only hope that if you head down to Napa, you give them a call, drop by and have as much fun as we did.

On Wednesday, I donned a suit and made my way for the first time into the Vancouver Club for the Beringer Private Reserve Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Vertical Tasting. I had really been looking forward to this for 2 reasons. Number 1 was that it seemed like a great way to spend a couple of hours on my birthday. Number 2 would be that I’ve always liked Beringer’s high-end wines, but don’t necessarily feel flush enough to lay out the cash to bring them home. So, a tasting like this lets me fill that desire without killing my wine budget.

Ther Beringer Private Reserve Cabs aren’t what you New World nay-sayers out there may picture. There’s an elegance to their dark fruit. It’s like a regular (insanely tasty) Napa Cab, but put through a stone-laced filter and then wrapped in silk. It’s the more fashionably-dressed cousin to the power-suit wearing Napa Cabs we all know.

Upon entering the room, a rich aroma of Cabernet-produced dark cassis gently embraced my nostrils… I took a seat and was happy to see glasses filled with Beringer’s Private Reserve dating from 1993 – 2004. A few vintages were skipped (due to availability in Canada), but the lineup looked promising. There were 9 in total.

Beringer’s very likeable head winemaker, Laurie Hook took over the room and as well as taking us through the wines, filled us in on stories and the history of the winery and its people.

OK, it’s a busy week, so I’m going to get into the wines.

1993 Private Reserve Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon: First out of the gates was the oldest wine they brought. The 1993 was still very youthful, with dark cherry, cassis, mint, cedar and a tobacco-like edge to the very tannic finish. It was chewy. I rated it 4.5 (or a 91 for you folks who like things on a 100-point scale – I did that for this tasting because really, was there a lower wine in the bunch?).

1995 Private Reserve Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon: Next up was the 1995. This was again, very youthful, with black cherry, blackberry, nuts, cocoa, herbs, leather and a bit of a floral edge. I rated it 4.5 (or a slightly higher 92).

1997 Private Reserve Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon: This was a real crowd-pleaser. It had the refinement of the previous 2 with a bit more going on. It came down to whether this or the 2001 was my favourite of the tasting. It was slightly darker in colour and was just plain epic. There was all that dark fruit, cocoa and cherry along with a lasting and balanced finish that reminded me exactly why I love this stuff. Rated 4.5 (or 94).

1998 Private Reserve Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon: This wine came from what is considered a poor vintage, but drinks incredibly well. It was noticeably more austere and smooth in the mouth. It had fruit that just seemed more “red” as opposed to black. In the mouth, it was silky and complex with a nice herbal edge to the red fruit and mineral. Very elegant. Rated 4.5 (or 91).

1999 Private Reserve Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon: This one was probably my least favourite of the tasting. On the nose, there was mint and eucalyptus along with cedar and cherry. The flavours were there, but didn’t make me go, “Yum”. It had a bit of a green edge. Rated 4 (88 points).

2000 Private Reserve Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon: Tight. That’s what this wine was… and I’m not 100% convinced it’s going to be one to evolve into a mind-blower. It was good, but right near the 1999 in my mind. There was the dark fruit, along with some cocoa and cherry leading out to a mineral-laced finish. Don’t get me wrong. I’d happily drink it, but it’s not up to some of the other bottles in the tasting. Rated 4 (88 points).

2001 Private Reserve Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon: Yum. According to Laurie, this was a “Christmas morning vintage” – on one of those Christmases you received everything you wanted. They had perfect fruit and great picking conditions, which leads to a great wine. It’s big without being massive and fit my palate to a “T”.  This was a fave of many folks in the room. It had silky licorice-edged cassis and cherry fruit, along with blackberry, cocoa and brambles. Wow. Tasty stuff. Rated 4.5 (or 95 points).

2002 Private Reserve Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon: After the 2001, I was due for a bit of a coming down, but this held up respectably. The fruit was softer and showed some earthy “red”-ness. The cherry and herbs made for a velvety and elegant wine. Rated 4.5 (or 90 points).

2004 Private Reserve Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon: The last wine of the day was quite a bad boy bit of juice. It was dark, chewy and complex. I loved it. It may have been my #3 wine of the day. Ripe blackberry, dark cherry, cocoa, and herbs all came together for a heckuva’ tasty bit of juice. Rated 4.5 (or 93).

Apparently some of these are in stores, so if you see one (and have the cash in pocket) I’d really recommend giving some of these a go.

~$160 in LDB stores here in BC.

While we were down in San Fran for ZAP, Graham and I spent an afternoon hanging out with Shea from Just-Grapes having some lunch, driving around in a rented convertible and shopping for some wine at K & L Wines.

This bottle comes from a winery better known for its Zinfandels, but with this wine, they make a heckuva’ Cab. The 100% Cabernet fruit comes from the Dry Creek, Alexander Valley and Rockpile areas. What that blending adds up to is a 14.5% ABV wine that could age in your little cellar for a while yet – I’m thinking another 5 -10 years could do it a world of good.

This is a gorgeous, balanced and reasonably-priced Sonoma Cabernet. It has a nose that gives up a bunch of red currant, blackberry and dark berry fruit. A smooth sip shows what it would be like to lick dark and juicy red fruit cocktail off a satin sheet. This is a polished wine, folks… The fruit is refined and the tannins are gentle, but firm. The finish carries on for a while and reminds you exactly why you are eager for the next sip.

$24.99 USD at K & L Wines in San Francisco.