Vinifico! The Original Vancouver Wine Blog

I went down to Seattle a few weeks back to do the half marathon and given our Draconian duties on wine, I decided I would bring back some of the fine ales available at Bottleworks.

The place is a candy store for beer geeks. The selection is amazing and I didn’t know where to start. With some classic Melvins playing in the store, I found a few gems, then let the staff take over. This IPA was a favorite so I grabbed one an am glad I did!

This is a serious IPA. It has a great caramel hue, and the hops jump to your nose as you pour. (This has serious hops – 93 IBU from a blend of Chinook, Centennial and Columbus for the beer geeks out there). Some pine notes, ginger and a hint of sweetness on the nose, the power hits with the first sip. Thick and gripping, the hops are supported by some nice malt that lends some balance. The palate is full of herbal and beautiful grapefruit, candied pineapple and almost pine sap (said with a Christmas tree nearby). The finish has more rich floral pine bitterness that goes on for ages…

This is an IPA not for the faint of heart. In my opinion it’s a beer geek’s beer. Testing the limits of IBU to see how bitter we can get while still being palatable. That said, this is more than palatable and a really enjoyable double IPA. As their description aptly states “A brutally bitter, dank, piney and resinous ale designed for those seeking a divine hop experience.” – That and more!

As our beer culture grows slowly here in Vancouver, I hope that one of the local “meccas” like Brewery Creek, Viti or Firefly starts bringing in the Avery Beers. This is tasty stuff.

Amazingly I think I paid about $7.95 USD for this. (can’t find my receipt)

The Jura. I’ve already written about this fantastic area – and you can easily do some reading when you have the time. I’ve been on  kick with the region lately, thanks to the folks at Kitsilano Wine Cellars here in Vancouver. They received an impressive selection of wines from the Tissot winery a few weeks ago and I’ve been trying to make my way through them one at a time.

The nose on this wine is really piquing my interest. The first thing that came to mind with my initial sniff  – apart from the word, “Wow” – was slightly burned buttered popcorn. That’s exactly what I was smelling. Initially the flavours reflected that – like it had been liquefied and poured over a flinty stone before my sip.

10 minutes later, I’m getting vegetable stock on the nose, with a really approachable sweet citrus fruit edge to the flavours. With even more time, I’m starting to get warmed orange rind added to the nose… with candied orange peel going on in the flavours. Insane. I love it. It’s complex, yet forward and just plain fun at the same time. This is a swirl, sniff, taste, swirl, taste and smile wine. One that I want to last all night. I’m sure it would continue to change.

The truly remarkable thing about this wine is how alive the flavours are. It changes every five minutes. Essentially this is alive. Remember that conversation in “Sideways” when Virginia Madsen’s character explains why she loves wine? It went something like “… when you taste that wine, it tastes unlike it will at any other time. It’s alive and constantly changing.” The screenwriter was clearly thinking about wines like this. It evolves in the glass and decanter unlike many other white wines I’ve had; save for Tissot’s own 2006 “En Barberon” that I reviewed last month.

Shea over at Just Grapes Wine recently named this his #2 wine for the year. I can’t disagree with him. I’m thinking this will make my top 5 as well.

$65 at Kitsilano Wine Cellars.

PS: If you’re going to take this wine home, just give it 20 minutes in the fridge – no more. It just needs to be slightly cooler than room temperature (if that) to let its dictionary of flavours loose.

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).

I just can’t understand why some folks out there don’t give Oregon Pinot its due… The stuff really rocks when it’s done right. Like this bottle – it’s done in a way that if you say you don’t like it, I’m going to shoot right back with, “You just don’t like good Pinot Noir.” ‘Nuff said.

The grapes for this bottle came from Belle Pente’s own Murto vineyard, which was planted back in 1978. It results in a wine that some have apparently called “sublimely Burgundian”, but for me it shows a clarity of brairy red fruit shown in the better Pinots from Oregon’s Willamette Valley. It made my taste buds cheer.

The nose is all about the bright and ripe red cherry and strawberry fruit along with rhubarb, spice and a bit of earth. The flavours? The first word that comes to mind is “burst”. There’s a burst of fresh and briary ripe red cherries and strawberry fruit that widens the eyes and makes you want to say to the person next to you, “Wow.” That’s followed up by floral, mineral and even light orange citrus flavours that set up shop in your mouth and hang out for a while. The finish has tannins that are smooth, but firm enough to let you know that they’re there.

For what it’s worth, Stephen Tanzer gave this wine a 92 rating and I’d pretty much agree with him on the ballpark. I loved it.

Yep, I’d happily drink it again. If you find some, give it a try.

Bought for $34.95 USD at my favourite wine shop in Portland – Vinopolis Wine Shop.

I’m a big fan of Southern Italy’s native Aglianico grape. One of the more enjoyable wines in recent memory for me was an Aglianico from Mastroberardino. This is a rustic grape, that when done up right, can make everything from a decent table wine to a truly memorable bottle of juice with dark fruit and grippy tannins.

This falls closer to the former in that category, but is a tasty bottle of juice nonetheless. On the nose, there’s dusty cherry, dark plum and licorice spice. The silky tannins accompany full flavours of dark plum and cherry with a distinctly rustic and earthy edge. The medium finish has a nice plummy thing going on.

I know I have an Italian fixation, but this is a value wine with a capital “V”. At $22 CDN here in Vancouver, I can’t think of many reds at or below this price I’d rather drink. If you come across it, give it a go.

I couldn’t find an updated image of this wine’s new label, so the bottle you see to the right is just a blank placeholder. If you come across (or take) an updated pic of the bottle feel free to let me know.

* Full disclosure – I received this bottle as a sample from the Seacove Group.

$22.00 specialty listing here in BC.

Well now. I think we have a candidate for a top 5 wine of the year, at least in my books (or bytes in this case). This is one of the wines I brought back from my visit with Deneen and Coral Brown at Brown Estate Vineyards with Graham and Shea while we were attending the 2009 Wine Bloggers’ Conference. We all loved it then… and I’m liking it even better this time around.

The nose is insane. It’s a pure expression of Napa Zinfandel fruit. There’s a nettle edge to the brown sugar, allspice and straight-ahead ripe blackberry fruit. I just want to sit here and take sniff after sniff of my glass. I would if I didn’t know that the wine tastes even better than it smells.

Oh my God! The flavours. It’s like a beautifully balanced (even at 15.8% booze) Zinfandel concentrate. There’s so much going on. They start out with a burst of cranberry, rhubarb and ripe blackberry. The fruit blends seamlessly with vanilla, allspice, and a brown sugar-like edge to the LONG finish.

This is a seriously tasty bottle of wine. I dare any of you out there to taste it and not love it. I don’t think it can be done.

$48 USD at the winery (sold out).