Vinifico! The Original Vancouver Wine Blog

While Graham and I were down at the 2009 Wine Bloggers’ Conference, we took some time after tasting wine all day on Saturday to sit down with Shea from JustGrapesWine.com and try this wine. As you’ll see, we liked it.

$26.99 at the Bottle Barn in Santa Rosa.

As well as hitting the 2009 ZAP Festival in San Francisco back in January, both Graham and I are heading to Santa Rosa in Sonoma County, California Friday for the 2009 version of the Wine Bloggers’ Conference. It’s being held at the Flamingo Resort from July 24th to the 26th and features lunches with wine, dinners with wine and tastings with more wine… and then parties with, you guessed it – even more wine.

Wineries pouring Friday night at the Grand Tasting of Sonoma Wines include Merry Edwards, Kistler, Joseph Swan Vineyards, Benzinger and many more. We’ll also be taking side trips to the Culinary Institute of America, a mystery Napa winery for lunch, a tasting of Napa Valley wines at Quintessa Winery and much more… It’s going to be so much fun my head just may explode.

Most of the participants are on Twitter and are posting conference-related tweets with the #wbc09 hashtag. It’s going to be a blast and I’ll do my best to post from the events and will probably also have something to say about when I’ve gotten back to Vancouver. You can check out what we’re saying on Twitter while we’re there – I’m @vinifico and Graham is @vino_g. Stay tuned.

My first thought when I think of this wine – What a wine for the money! $18 for a classic, crisp and balanced Gewurztraminer? Yes, please. This tasty drop makes regular appearances in my fridge and sets the standard by which all other BC-made Alsatian varietals are judged.I love to pair it with a nice Thai curry.

In the glass, the nose is a sexy mix of  lychee nut, white pepper and rose petals. This is where things get really interesting – when you take a sip. This is a holy crap tasty wine – the sweet-sour lychee with ripe peach, apricot, and a citrus and honeyed-mineral edge.

If you can find it, try it. If not, the 2008 should be kicking around at your local private wine shop (here in BC). I’ll be making a point to try that soon.

$18 at the winery.

This wine is summer refreshment in a glass. It’s full of zingy grapefruit citrus and tropical fruit tastiness. It has an intense crispness that is very food-friendly… or if you just want a patio sipper, it does the trick there as well – all for the very reasonable $16.99 price tag (here in Canada). I’ve been a fan of this wine for years and have to admit that I find its cousin, the more concentrated Black Label Reserve a bloody tasty treat.

The regular Marlborough version is a treat in its own way. It has a nose that’s full of grapefruit and some pear. A juicy sip shows all that grapefruit, passion fruit and pear with an herbal edge to the mineral-laced finish. This is a wine that drinks like pop – especially on the warm days/night of Summer… and for the very reasonable price tag, how can we resist?

An A+ for value on a very tasty bottle of Sauvignon Blanc.

$16.99 at LDB stores here in BC.

I picked it up at K & L Wines in San Fran back in January while Graham and I were down there for ZAP. It’s a refined big big boy of a Zin. Its nose is a heady mix of blackberry jam, black licorice and pepper spice along with a bit of heat from the 15.6% booze. A sip lets loose a big mouthful of ripe blackberries along with the spice the nose hinted at and leads to a long mineral-edged finish.

To me, this is like the bigger brother of the 2007 Seghesio Sonoma Zinfandel everyone (including me) made all the fuss over back when Wine Spectator’s Top 100 listed it as the #10 wine of the 2008. Yes, it’s good.

Zin fans who like a bit of refinement with their ripeness should check it out. I’m glad I did.

$29 at K & L Wines in SF – $49.99 at LDB stores here in BC.