Vinifico! The Original Vancouver Wine Blog

Approaching the 500th post on Vinifico.com, Sean ventured out to the ‘burbs this past weekend to enjoy some slow-smoked ribs and some amazing Zinfandel. The theme for the evening could be summed up with his words “F**k I love Zinfandel.”

After seven plus hours on the grill, the ribs were ready and the zins stood by. The first wine we chose was the 2005 Seghesio Cortina Zinfandel, Dry Creek Valley. On our last trip to Sonoma we had a great visit there and tasted the full gamut of their wines. It’s always nice to have a wine along with which you can reminisce about the great people who make ‘em.

The Cortina had great mineral and raspberry on the nose with some red plum and a hint of fumes from the booze. A few slurps as we tucked into the ribs brought jammy red fruit that was an amazing match with the spicy rub and light sauce. The finish was really interesting, lots of savory, pepper with medium tannins and a nice refined length. A superb complement to dinner and what a start! 4 Stars ($54.99 at Liberty Wine Cellars).

The second wine was the 2004 Mazzocco Stone Ranch Zinfandel, Alexander Valley. I picked this up when I was in Seattle at Esquin Wine Merchants. They have a great selection and excellent staffers who will help you find some gems. Check ’em out if you’re down there.

We met the winemaker, Antoine Favero at ZAP back in January. He enthusiastically took us through all of his outstanding wines, impressing the hell out of us with each one. We were definitely looking forward to this one.

As this one was poured, it was all deep purple velvet. A few sniffs gave us rich cedar and sweet blackberry that quickly knocked out any spice left over from the ribs. The minute this one hit our tongues; it was blueberry/blackberry goodness that went on and on. After a while, some briar and pepper joined the mix as we sat and slowly savored this gem. So balanced despite the rather intimidating 16.9% booze. Sure it was big, but not over the top at all. 4.5 stars ($25.99 USD).

Plain and simple, some Zinfandel bliss as the sun went down.

BBQ + Zins= GOOOOOD!

I picked this up on a whim on the way home from work today to pair with some grilled sockeye salmon…. and “Yum”.

It really delivers all I thought it might offer up. There’s a mouthful of rich pear, orange and mineral flavours packed in there along with the pear and marmalade nose. The finish (at room temperature) has a slightly sweet fruit edge, which is delicious.

This is a heckuva’ white value, folks. I can’t say there’s a white Rhone-style blend out there that I like better, especially for the moolah.

$24.99 at Liberty Wine Merchants.

OK, so as a short break from doing some work here, I thought I’d answer a couple of the common questions people ask me. Here goes:

1. What’s the proper way to hold a wine glass?
   Well now, this is an often-asked one. 2 words: the stem. Don’t cup the glass in your palm unless it’s too cold and you need to heat it up. I use the stem or even hold the base at the bottom. Stemless glasses like the Reidel O series just spend a lot of time on the coaster.
2. What’s the proper serving temperature for wine?
   This varies by wine colour and even grape. To keep it simple – red wines should generally be a touch below room temperature, while full-bodied whites (an oaked Chardonnay) should be a bit below that, but by no means cold. Thinner-bodied whites (say a Sauvignon Blanc) should be cooler still, but warm enough that you can taste it. Getting the wine too cold kills the flavours. Too warm for reds and too cold for whites are both pretty common serving mistakes.
3. What is a proper pour in a wine glass?
   God bless my Mom, but she’s a classic “give me a full pour” type. Unless it’s up near the rim, she’s not happy.

   Generally, the way it’s supposed to be done is to the point the glass stops its outward curve… or simply put – less than half of the glass. This is a total generalization, but wine tastes better if you can smell it… and putting your nose into a full glass just gets it wet.

What do you think? Any other questions out there? Opinions? Fire away folks.

I had this tonight with a Porcini, red pepper and garlic pasta… and some good olive oil, of course. Damn, it was a nice pairing.

The nose of this Chenin Blanc-based wine is a slightly mellow mix of lemon, melon and stone. If you dribbled some cantaloupe and lemon juice and a touch of honey on a (clean) stone, you’d get what the flavours of this wine are about. It’s got a slightly round, mineral-laced finish. Yum. That pretty much sums it up.

If you’re in the mood for something different and get a chance to try this, do it. It’s tasty stuff.

~$25 at Kitsilano Wine Cellars.

Wow. It’s been a busy couple of weeks and the blog’s always the first thing to suffer.

I picked this bottle up at the local LDB store and popped it open (or unscrewed it, really – it’s got a screw top closure) last weekend. It was really tasty, especially for the money.

It had a nose of cherry cola, a bit of earth and ripe strawberry. The flavours were all about cherry syrup, orange peel, strawberry and cola. Yum. It had a nice round, medium-bodied feel to it and was very light in colour.

If you’re a New World Pinot fan, you’ll like this one. Have it with food or just on the patio.

$32.95 at LDB stores here in BC.