CANWINE

Now open for business

2007-11-11T11:08:00.000-07:00

The CANWINE Yahoo Group is up and running: once you're logged in, I expect all those promises to post more will be fulfilled.

You'll note that I've switched the column items to subscribe to the blog RSS feed and the subscribe-by-email over to an icon that links to the new subscribe mechanism at Yahoo, and this works quite well. I've also dug out the old subscriber list, and sending out emails to advise folks of the changeover.

Please note that sometime early in December, I will be killing off the feeds, removing names from the subscription list, and letting the blog function solely as a reference page to Yahoo (i.e., no new posts will go up on the blog), so you're advised to change your subscription over by then.

Under Construction

2007-11-09T08:51:00.000-07:00

Well, I had another look at Yahoo Groups, and they have changed substantially since the last time I looked at using them to power CANWINE.

I'm still not 100% keen on them, but most of my concerns have been addressed: the biggest downer, for me, is losing the real-time interactivity that a blog demands. It's what's happening, we had a nice little readership base that was new from the move, and, to be honest, it's where the web is eventually heading anyway.

A Yahoo Group allows for some of that functionality, but not quite in the same way: I'm also thinking about starting up a CANWINE group in Facebook, if anyone is interested in using that format for real-time wine tasting parties.

So there's still a lot of construction dust (and will be for awhile), and I suggest you wear your hardhat, but you keeners can visit http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/group/canwine to stick your hands in the wet cement. I will be sending out an email to all currently subscribed members here on the blog to notify them of the shift, and possibly a blanket mailing out to everyone who was on the old list as well but who didn't make the leap here.

The People Have Spoken

2007-11-08T20:59:00.000-07:00

Or emailed. (grin)

And this is why you folks are the greatest.

I've switched the list over to letting anyone post, subject to moderation and "type the funny combination you see here" box: if you're already listed as a member, you should (should being the operative word) bypass part two (although you may not!). (Do what you need to do when asked, and let me know any grumpiness.)

This should (should being the operative word again) obviate the need to go through the log-in procedure, and open up the posting and comment procedure to anyone, subject to moderation. Let's try this and see how it goes.

If you haven't already, I strongly urge you to subscribe to the email service (in the left margin) so you'll find out when something new is posted.

Meanwhile, I'll look at Yahoo Groups again: I realize some of you are keen for this option, but it does come with a serious downside. Let me ponder it yet again.

CANWINE Quietness

2007-11-07T12:41:00.000-07:00

There is plenty to discuss concerning Canadian wines these days, so it's strange and disconcerting to see CANWINE become so quiet. Though it looks spiffy and all, I have to think that the blog format is part of the problem. Let's face it - we're all busy with many things, and small impediments can spell the difference between posting a message and not bothering... and the blog format puts up just enough impediments, for me at least, that I haven't bothered for many months.

For discussion groups, I much prefer the tried and true mailing list. The majority of my "computer time" is centered around email, and my mail client software is a fast, familiar and convenient interface for dealing with messages. I'm on a lot of mailing lists, and each one has its own folder. I can see at a glance when new messages have arrived on a particular list, and I can quickly zip over to scan them. If I want to post a reply, I can do that quickly and easily, using the same interface I use for all my other mail. No going off to a browser, finding the right bookmark, logging into a website, dealing with a slow, clunky interface to read and post messages, and so on. Impediments, impediments!

And here's a real impediment: bugginess. Some months ago I tried to post an account of my wine tasting expedition to Prince Edward County. I spent more than an hour typing it into the blog composer, selected "publish post", and... it vanished without a trace. It never appeared on the blog, and there was no backup available... it just went into a sinkhole somewhere. All that time was wasted, and I haven't been back since. Once bitten... It looks like that bug may be fixed now, and there is now an auto-save feature, but still, that kind of annoying experience tends to stay with you.

I know that you can get CANWINE messages sent by email, and I have that option enabled, but that only solves part of the problem. I want to both receive and post messages without ever logging in anywhere. One possibility might be to move CANWINE to a Yahoo Group. Their format is superior to the blog one, I think, because it offers both kinds of access. You can treat it like a conventional mailing list, and never have to visit the website (unless you want to change your settings), or you can use it as an online forum that is similar to this one, and not use email at all - your choice.

Regardless of whether it changes or not, I will try to post some actual wine comments to CANWINE, but I thought it would be useful to start a discussion about whether the current blog format is inhibiting the wine talk. Comments?

Barry

Variability of wines

2007-10-30T11:09:00.000-06:00

I've often wondered about the way different bottles from the same batch, tank, cask - whatever - how they vary. Of course, we do not have a professionally-designed wine cellar... we have a what we call a basement. Certainly that's a part of the equation.

Unlike The Vancouver Sun's Robert Parker-wannabe wine critic, who uses a scale of 86 to 90 in evaluating his picks, we use a 1 to 5 scale, with an occasional bottle rating a "6". So it's interesting to a look back at how we've rated a wine like Kettle Valley 2002 Rock Oven Red - a Cabernet-Shiraz blend - and see that the 6 bottles that we've opened over the past 18 months have rated as high as "5" and as low as "3".

On our simple scale, "1" means not potable. "3" is okay, but not worth the price (or "quaffable but hardly transcendent",) and "5" means one of the best.

I hate to say it, but the 4.5-5 grades were awarded in the first half of those 18 months, and since then it has been 3 to 4. I hope this isn't a trend, because we still have 3 bottles left. According to my database.

Hello? Anybody out there?

Naramata Sweet Dreams

2007-10-07T11:02:00.000-06:00

6 of us set off for a quirky but comfortable house rental on North Naramata Road near Kettle Valley Winery's King Drive vineyard late in September. The weather was variable - rain some days and warm sun/cool shade on others. Not bad cycling weather.

My highlights:
(1) Our 2 winemakers' dinners at the Naramata Heritage Inn. Hosted by Tim Watts of Kettle Valley and Jeff Martin of La Frenz, with wines matched to the culinary wizardry of Thomas Render. These were better meals than the one in which we partook at The Wickanninish Inn at Tofino, earlier in the month!

(2) The dine-in meals perpared by us and our friends, with wines from BC and elsewhere.

(3) The 3 Kettle Valley 2002 reds we opened one night to drink with Osso Buco and Risotto: Syrah, Shiraz, and Malbec. Many other good reds.

(4) A number of good Chardonnays, but especially the incroyable Black Arts 2005 from Golden Mile, a winery that we've only just started to get to know. ($39 at Westminster Quay's Divino's Quayside wine shop!) Second best: Lake Breeze Seven Poplars 2005. A close third: Kettle Valley again, the 2005 Chard. Not quite making the grade: Quail's Gate 2004 Family Reserve and Township Seven 2004 Reserve.

(5) Fresh apples and plums falling from the trees of our rental house.

(6) Walks and bike rides on the KVR above Naramata. Fabulous views!

(7) Kicking back and relaxing with our friends, watching our Lions beat Winnipeg and our Canucks beat Calgary. (Ok, I just lied. The latter happened after we returned home.) Winning and getting beat at Scrabble.

(8) Buying the latest releases, and for once, not buying more than our trunk can hold. (Hey, we're retired now, and on a fixed income!)

Not necessarily in that order.

Summer wines with the Cotters

2007-08-11T10:50:00.000-06:00

It has been a great summer for quaffing the wines of BC, capped off by a visit 2 weeks ago by our fellow Canwiners Bob & Judy Cotter.

I count only 6 bottles of wine having been consumed by the four of us during those two days. I must not have counted the non-Can-con. ;-)

We started out with a tolerable 2006 Laughing Stock Pinot Gris. It was one of those whites that make me want to say, "white wine is okay, but so's water." (But see below.)

We had eaten at the Naramata (Okanagan) Heritage Inn earlier in July and were very impressed by a 2003 Laughing Stock "Portfolio" - clearly these people are stockbrokers - which is a meritage-style blend. The jolly people at LS like to decorate their bottles with stock-ticker quotes. Seeing that Pfizer once sold for $US33/share brought a tear to my eye, but the excellent food and wine revived my spirits.

I'm digressing: the other dinner we had in Naramata - at Hillside Winery, the only other place to eat dinner in Naramata - was less than fabulous. And the white wines we paired with our food selections (a Muscat Ottonel and a Reserve Pinot Gris) were weak and wishy, reminding me of why we don't normally stop at Hillside Estates. That said, the glasses of red (Merlot & Shiraz, IIRC) were okay, and it was not that long ago that we raved over Hillsides 2003 Merlot and Mosaic (another red blend) bottlings.

Back to the Cotters' visit. Pentâge, a little-known and largely inaccessible establishment south of Penticton on the Eastside Road, makes some great stuff. At the same dinner, we opened their 2005 Chard. Wonderful woodiness, improving as it warmed from fridge temp.

We still have the Cabernet 2002 from the now-defunct Calliope Vineyards. A beautiful, meaty red. 5 out of 5. The other "5" from this visit was a La Frenz Chard, 2006. Movely wine, nice mellow wood.

Sadly, I made notes only on the bottles that came from our own cellars, and not the foursome that our friends brought. I recall one of those was a surprisingly (only because I don't know the label) good See Ya Later Merlot.

The following night, we pulled out a pair of 2002's: Kettle Valley Shiraz and Burrowing Owl Syrah - to do battle with the Aussie Shiraz brought by a thrid couple. None of them disappointed. I would have said that the BC pair were more jammy than the Oz.

Not a bad bottle bit the dust those two days. Ah, summer!

How'm I doing, Linda?

How to post messages here

2007-08-09T21:18:00.000-06:00

Traffic's been, ah, slow because I think most people don't understand how to post here.

It's easy!

When you fire up the CANWINE blog, look in the upper right-hand corner where you can sign in. Once you do that, you'll see another underscored suggestion to post a new message.

Do it!

Contribute!

I can't be the only person drinking CANWINE these days....

(This assumes you're already a member -- Lorne, Bob, Larry, Denny: this means you! -- but if you aren't, click the link at the left to email me and join.)

Dust on the Bottle

2007-06-24T20:00:00.000-06:00

Tonight's special occasion was Dennis's fiftieth birthday -- as good a reason to crack open a special bottle as we could think of. And a special bottle it was: the Kettle Valley 1996 Cabernet Merlot (Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot). Ten months in American oak, bottled in October 1997: as yummy as you can imagine.

Dinner was one pound of bison tenderloin, BBQd rare, some sautéed mushrooms with red wine and balsamic vinegars, and new baked potatoes. The wine threw a bit of deposit, but it was fairly fine (and not nearly as objectionable as the sludge at the bottom of my cup of Greek coffee from yesterday's Greek Festival, where we ate copious quantities of spit-roasted lamb with much ouzo and Metaxa brandy).

Side-by-side with a good Bordeaux, the first glasses would have matched up well, but it did fade by the end of the bottle (2+ hours later). Minimal decanting time to start though, which was the right choice.

We've got a couple of older (1999) Ontario reds to drink up as well: a Malivoire Old Vines Foch and a Marynissen Cabernet Sauvignon -- need to find the right time for them too.

Recent Notes from Far and Near

2007-05-23T09:18:00.000-06:00

Hi all

Dennis was sent to do some work in Invermere a couple of weeks ago and I tagged along. Never spent much time there and was looking forward to exploring the art scene (which is pretty interesting) and checking out the food and beverage opportunities.

We stopped for dinner on the way down at our favourite (well, only!) pub in Radium, and, it being Sunday night, stopped in at their little off-sales store for a beverage to take to the hotel. Rather depressing little place with not much good wine, unfortunately: a real contrast to the BCL store across the highway, which, although small, has a respectable selection of BC wines.

Invermere has really grown since I was there as a kid, primarily because Panorama has undergone substantial development: there's now a golf course next to the ski hill and a considerable number of condos. So I expected great things, but was somewhat disappointed. There are some interesting little cafés and I highly recommend Quality Bakery for sweet treats, but we weren't there long enough to check out some of the nifty pubs I discovered while walking around town.

From Station Pub in the south, near Pynelogs Cultural Centre, to Angus McToogles near our hotel, and Lakeside Pub on the floodplain in the north, there are certainly some other options, as well as the lovely (and high-end) Eagle Ranch Golf Course on the way into town off Highway 93. I was quite impressed with their dining room, and they had some lovely dark Fernie microbrew on tap. Oh, well, I guess that means I'll have to go back in the name of "research."

I did get to the BCL store in Invermere, however, and that was a major disappointment, as it had a very small selection of BC wines, even though the store is physically twice the size of the one in Radium. There is an off-sales shop at the Best Western hotel, and I will check it out next time.

Last weekend, we took advantage of some unexpected vehicle access to visit the year-round farmer's market that is now part of the old Currie Barracks/Garrison Woods complex in SW Calgary. Apart from some exquisite foods (particularly Sylvan Star cheeses), Janet Webb has opened up a branch store from her small but brilliant selection in Glenmore Landing.

Her Canadian (almost all BC) choices are quite brilliant: lots of Poplar Grove and Kettle Valley, the only place in town you can buy the fine wines of Blue Mountain, and some other scattered bottles (Blasted Church, Stag's Leap). Not cheap, but some wonderful selections. Bring your credit card!

Cunning linguistics

2007-04-24T22:58:00.000-06:00

What terminology does one use to describe that too sweet, Benylin-like flavour of cheap red wine, the kind with a slightly bitter aftertaste? The word that comes to my mind is "plonky".

I'm sure some of you have more appropriate oenolinguistic bons mots to share.

Vancouver, Pender, Victoria

2007-04-08T19:27:00.000-06:00

Seeing as how you all love long posts...
I won't bore Canwiners with verbotten discussion of the European and Aussie events we attended at the recent Vancouver Playhouse Wine Festival. I will note only that there was greater participation from BC wineries than usual. Since we chose not to attend the "cattle call" tasting, we can make no comment on their wares.
After 3 nights in Vancouver, we headed for the Tsawwassen Ferry and Pender Island. There we were pleased to relax at the home of a friend. A treat was our first bottle of 2004 Inniskillin Okanagn Malbec, enjoyed with a ribeye steak at the house. The second night saw us take a 2003 Black Hills Nota Bene to what must be Pender's finest restaurant, tiny Pistou Grill. Tiny wine selection, but the waitress was pleased (for a $20 fee) to open our NB for us. Joan opted for the Maple Ridge venison while I chose a pork tenderloin. Very nice. Dessert of lavender-Grand Marnier crème brulée and intense chocolate torte were fabulous, but the chocolate was enough to overwhelm the wine, which was soft and elegant and an excellent match for the main course.
Next, down the Pat Bay highway. We detoured to search for the 3 wineries advertised at the roadside. Alas, one of them was unfindable and the other two were not yet open for the season.
Finally, 3 nights in Victoria, and shirt-sleeves weather (while we watched snow falling in Ontario on the evening news.) Everywhere flowers and the smell of fresh manure.
We took our cue here from Canwine veteran Bob Macdonald, and dined at Brasserie l'Ecole and Cafe Brio, as well as our old favourite, Camille's.
The brasserie is a lively, narrow, darkish place, much like a Parisian bistro. We were surprised how busy it was on a Thursday night, but reminded ourselves that the following day was a holiday - Good Friday.
What a clever idea, to be able to have any wine on the list poured by the glass, at 20% of the bottle price. We tried our first-ever wine from Joie, farther north up the Naramata Road from our usual haunts. The Noble Blend was very light and accompanied well Joan's mussels and my endive salad.
With our delicious mains of halibut for me, and duck leg white wine confit for Joan, we each enjoyed a glass of French white. Canadian wines were very sparse at l'Ecole, but we'd go back again for the excellent food.
At Cafe Brio on Friday, we shared a yummy spicy sausage appetizer in hopes of saving room for dessert. We both ordered veal osso buco which was perfectly paired with an exquisite, fruity yet still tannic 2003 Osoyoos Larose. Maybe even better than the Nota Bene. The risotto was a tad crunchy. We managed to only share a dessert sampler, which was a fine finish to the meal.
We had perused Camille's wine list on their web site, and decided that we must try a Kettle Valley Petit Verdot, one of those rare KV wines that we'd never tasted - or even knew existed. The 2003 - 11.5% alcohol, lighter body than expected, only 22 cases released - did not disappoint. Joan quickly picked up on a nose of strawberries, while I thought there was a hint of raspberry and something floral. Our appetizer of camembert/spinach salad and our main courses of duck breast and lamb sirloin were a good match. For dessert, the Alderlea "Harvest Hearth" - a port style wine with tones of sultana raisins, vanilla, cinnamon and chocolate - filled the bill.
Now home to allow our stomachs and livers a little down time. Must get back to Victoria more often.

Catching up....

2007-04-08T13:48:00.000-06:00

I too have been remiss about posting: life's just been too crazy lately, as I was in Victoria and Saskatoon the last week of March (details).

We were up in Banff in February and discovered the most wonderful new (to us) wine store tucked away in the lower level of the Banff Springs Hotel. Small but interesting selection of Canadian wines, including some things I've never seen here in Calgary (like Coyote Run) or not seen for some time (like Konzelmann).

Their prices were not outrageous, but James Banford, the manager, did note that when they get their two or three cases of allocated product, most of it ends up in the wine bar and not in the shop. I can understand that from a commercial perspective, but it sure would be nice to buy things to take home.

Because we were taking the bus, we could only pack home one bottle -- the lower-end Coyote Run Sauv Blanc, which was a Stelvin container. Took it to Saskatoon two weeks' ago to share with Dennis' brother and quite enjoyed it with barbequed chicken.

The biggest revelation in Saskatoon was dinner at Weczeria. Lovely husband-and-wife team, brilliant (and primarily locally sourced) food, local microbrewed beer, and an all-Canadian wine list: who could ask for anything more? Including a beer, appetizer, main course, dessert, and liqueur-sized glass of Pinnacle ice cider each, and splitting a bottle of 2002 Stag's Leap Chardonnay, our tab was under $200 after taxes for three of us. Such a deal.

The restaurant is just off Broadway, on the south side of the river, in a wonderful neighbourhood of funky clothes stores, craft shops, galleries, and nightclubs. It was the Friday night of Juno weekend, and pretty crazy out on the street: as we were finishing off our mains, four musician-types strode in and had a quick meal before playing a local club -- not exactly sure who they were, but they were obviously "somebody."

The weekend before that, I was in Victoria: yes, it rained for two of the three days I was there, but to see green grass and flowers again was a real treat! Took myself to a leisurely Friday lunch at Spinnakers, one of my favourite places. Eight plump fresh oysters, some exquisite French fries, and delicious beer is a great way to dry out from a downpour!

On my way back to the hotel, I stopped off at their liquor store, which is a few blocks away. Just an amazing selection of Vancouver Island wines: what I wouldn't have given to be locked in there with the Riedel glasses and a corkscrew for several days.... Some fabulous local beers as well: I took two from Phillips (India Dark Ale and Double Chocolate Porter) back to my hotel room for evening sipping, and they were terrific.

Unfortunately, the %#(&^# security procedures at the airport precluded me hand-carrying anything home, but I did carefully wrap and box up a small (8.5 oz) bottle of balsalmic vinegar from Venturi-Schultze and tucked it into my suitcase: yes, it made it home unscathed. Their winery is only a couple of miles from my cousin's house, and he graciously picked one up for me.

Ontario Pinot Noir: Le Clos Jordanne

2007-04-06T11:58:00.000-06:00

After many years of not being called "home" by the "home office", I have had to go to meetings in Ottawa twice in the last month or so.

The meetings and weather were dreary but the "wining and dining" at Beckta on Nepean between Kent and I think Elgin made up for it. Stephen Beckta is the owner, hence the name. He was a sommelier in New York City at one of Daniel Boulod's [sp?] restaurants before returning home to Ottawa and renovating an old house and opening his place in I think 2003 or 2004. The restaurant was featured in one of the earlier espisodes of Opening Soon on the FoodTV network.

I have eaten there on three of the 5 nites while in Ottawa. Very good. His wine list is excellent and he has intentionally featured Canadian wines. I very much enjoyed "Steve's Blend" which is a blend of rieslings selected by Stephen from barrels produced by Cave Springs in Jordon, Ontario. Crisp but with lots of fruit. It does not measure up to my favourite Canadian riesling , CSV from the same vineyard but we are talking very different price points. For a good valued everyday white, excellent.

On my last trip I had some of the Le Clos Jordanne which is produced by VINCOR in conjunction with the Boisset family from Burgundy. I guess it is Ontario going the Franco-Cdn route like Osoyoos Larose and company out west. Delicious dark berry fruit complemented with some heft and weight. A very nice pinot noir. I think I was drinking their Village Reserve label from '04 which is their "entry level" pinot retailing at about $25 per bottle. A price I find quite astonishing for a very good Canadian pinot. Doing some internet sleuthing I see that their top end label was priced at $60 and sold out very quickly. I would certainly buy more of what I tried but expect that it is all sold out as well. Will know better in a short while because I am heading to the office despite it being Good Friday to pick up a few things, but MUCH MORE importantly dropping in at one Edmonton's best wine stores, de Vines on 104th Street and Jasper Ave to see if they can track any of it down for me.

Happy Easter all....good drinking.

Shipping Wine Out Of BC

2007-04-06T11:52:00.000-06:00

It has been very quiet on the CANWINE front of late so I thought I would dash off this post and see if "anyone is home".

Last Fall we were introduced to the wines from JOIE who I think are in the Naramatta region. Two Vancouver based sommeliers I believe who decided to get into winemaking sourced from grapes grown by others and a cooking school.

I really enjoyed their rose and an unoaked chardonnay of chardonnay musque and some pinot blanc.

I asked to be put on their mailing list because we never see their wines in stores here in Alberta. Unfortunately the notice of their current release was accompanied by the advice that due to a concern of an imminent "crack down" they were unable to deliver their wines outside of BC.

I expect that strictly speaking that has always been the case, i.e. extra-provincial transportation of alcohol likely due to tax reasons.

As a result, no JOIE wines for us. To be fair, I could have had them delivered to friends and/or family in the lower mainland and then arranged for shipment personally but did not want to bother.

I know of at least two other vineyards who will be shipping wine my way but was wondering if anyone else has had this mentioned to them?

BC Wine of the Century

2007-02-19T12:39:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it's a bit premature to be discussing "Wine of the Century" when we're only a few vintages into the 21st Century, but if I may be permitted to jump the gun - and also reserve the right to change my mind down the road - I'd like to nominate these two:

Best Red: Kettle Valley McGraw Merlot 2003

Best White: La Frenz Chardonnay 2004

It's hard to imagine any wines, from anywhere, turning out better than these two. I'd welcome any other opinions.

Magnotta going private

2007-02-08T08:31:00.000-07:00

Interesting story in this morning's Globe and Mail....

Happy New Year

2007-01-01T17:10:00.000-07:00

Judy and I were hosts for the annual Cotter-Walton New Year's event and we had a great time. It's strange that we realized we had not had an overnight since New Year's 2005 when Lorne and Joan were the hosts. We won't let as much time go by this time as the four of us (with another couple) are heading to Mexico in two weeks.

The two night dinner main courses were seafood Agnolotti (the 30th) and Mediterranean Pork Roulade (on the big night). As always, the highlight of the visit is the company and the wines we drink. You may note that two of the wines were not quite finished by the time we retired for the evening. We must be getting old!

Cheers... Bob and Judy Cotter

A change in the posting routine

2006-12-28T20:48:00.000-07:00

Hi all

I've switched the CANWINE blog over to the new format. It provides some interesting things to do, particularly if we (and I emphasize that this should be a group decision) decide to move the blog from being public view/private post to being totally private.

Hopefully, this change won't mess up those of you who have subscribed to the RSS or nightly-there's-something-new feed: please let me know by email if it does.

Pre-Christmas Brunch

2006-12-23T12:52:00.000-07:00

Hi all

Dennis and I had a wonderful brunch this morning at River Café here in Calgary. They have, arguably, probably the best location in town, an amazing (and ever-changing) menu and terrific wine list. On Sundays, they even let you BYOB and waive the corkage charge.

We split an appetizer of wild boar proscuitto that was perfect -- not too salty, and very rich -- served with some shiitake and oyster mushrooms, and some wedges of very filling johnnycake. For mains, Dennis had the Elk Bacon Benedict and I had the barbequed rainbow trout with scrambled eggs. Although we looked hard at the Blue Mountain Brut (for $50) and the rosé (for $65!), we settled on a 750 ml bottle of DuMinot cider from Quebec for $30.

Wish we could find this here at a liquor store! Yohanna brought us out a bottle of this when she visited a few years ago, and it was wonderful to find it on the wine list.

Happy Holidays to all!

Harvest is Over (Kinda)

2006-12-13T21:54:00.000-07:00

With the Icewine crop in, and the resulting juice starting to bubble today, I'm happy to report that I'm the proud father of a good 2006 vintage of children, most of whom are behaving as they should. There are over 40 of them for 4 different clients (yikes, I've been busy!), and keeping track of them has been a little challenging, but I have every confidence that they will turn out well in the end.

The BC harvest has indeed been a little hectic, but I've really enjoyed this season's mix of flavours. The ripeness indicators were sometimes a challenge, but I hope that we winemakers got it right (as far as the pick date was concerned) most of the time.

The Rise's 2005 wines are at least another eight months away from release (I'll try to write more about those in another post), but I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who's sampled Tangled Vines' whites. I made those, with input from the owners of the (new) winery, but haven't tasted them a lot recently, nor heard a lot of public input. The ones that impressed me at the time were the Pinot Blancs, and the Riesling Reserve.

Christmas Wines

2006-12-06T13:23:00.000-07:00

I'm sure we're not the only household that's making a list and checking the cellar twice. (grin)

There's been a real distribution problem here in Calgary (and I suspect in most of the province) in getting booze delivered to stores because of the labour shortage: it's resulted in some empty shelves at our neighbourhood bottle shop and the liquor store arm of Great Canadian Superstore I visited a couple of weeks ago was positively decimated.

So we're dipping into the cellar for our turkey accompaniment. There's one bottle each of the Nichol 2003 Pinot Gris and Kettle Valley 1996 Chard left, and they should work fine. In the interest of keeping some national balance, we will probably also have the half-bottle of Chocolate-covered Strawberry fruit wine we picked up Carolinian Winery (Dorchester, ON) when we were out in June.

Anyone else getting organized?

Vacation Ramblings

2006-11-13T09:58:00.000-07:00

My wife and I recently returned to Alberta from our annual trip out to Tofino with stops en route and during our return in Kamloops, Nanaimo and Victoria.

As per usual, part of the fun is sampling Cdn labels which we do not see much of on this side of the Rockies.

Our "find" of this trip were the wines of Joie in the Okanagan. I had heard of this winery from postings of Vancouverites at eGullet but had not tried them until our vacation.

Really enjoyed their Pinot Noir Rose which is actually a blend of pinot noir and chardonnay. Beautiful colour, crisp and refreshing without cloying sweetness. This would be a great summer time refresher. Good by itself or with cold cuts, cheeses and/or chicken.

We had it at the Wickaninnish Inn's Pointe Restaurant and then at the Delta Victoria's LURE restaurant and Brasserie L'Ecole.

At the latter we had a good wine discussion with Marc Morrison who is the co-owner and sommelier. If you love wine you "owe it" to yourself to try the food and win on offer at this one of our favourite restaurants.

Their wine program includes the policy that if you agree to order two glasses they will open any bottle [apart from "bubblies"] on their list and come to the price per glass by dividing the bottle cost on the list by 5. As a result, a lot of bottles get opened and even if you do not want two of a particular label, chances are you will be able to get it regardless. Bottle "mark ups" are decent. A number of Cdn offerings in addition to well priced French wines.

We had dinner there on the 2 of the 4 evenings we spent in Victoria. The "by the glass" option made it easy for us to switch wines per course. We enjoyed steak frites, duck confit and white beans, seared albacore tuna with braised escarole, ling cod with braised kale amongst other courses during our visits.

On Marc's advice we tried Joie's Unoaked Chardonnay and their Noble Blend.

The former was delicious. Chardonnay including a significant portion of Chardonnay Musque which I have rarely had apart from one I enjoyed from Cave Springs in ON blended with some pinot blanc. Delicious flavour with some botrytis similar to ripe stone fruit.

The Noble Blend is a combination of gewurtztraminer, riesling, pinot blanc, kerner, pinot auxerrois, ehernfelser and muscat. I am not sure of the precise %'s of each. Thought that this might be too sweet for me but I was wrong. Lots of ripe fruit but again, as with the rose, no residual cloying sweetness. Quite enjoyable. Would be great with roast pork or asian influenced fare.

In between meals at Brasserie we re-visited our other favourite Victoria spot, Cafe Brio. They have an outstanding wine list with many hard to find Cdn bottles especially from the Island. Greg, one of the owners, knows and loves his wine. We elected to stay with local wines and enjoyed a reserve Pinot Gris from Alderlea in Duncan and then their reserve pinot noir. Both were very good especially the pinot gris which is copper hued, salmon berry in colour which suggests sweet but is vinted dry. Similar in colour to Kettle Valley which we also like but I think in the end prefer the Alderlea which is slightly "heavier" and a tad less citrus.

During our last day we wandered up the walk-way adjacent to the inner harbour to Spinnakers. I was quite surprised by the extent of the wine list given that Spinnakers is well known as a brew pub. After a refreshing glass of their heffe-wiesen [sp?] we shared a bottle of the Venturi-Schulze [sp?] pinot noir that came complete with "crown cap" closure. Very nice and quite different from other pinot noirs we enjoyed on the trip. Dark purple colour with a "funky" nose and aftertaste. It may not have been the perfect match for the "mountain" of natchos my wife had ordered but I enjoyed it with the variety of smoked fish before me.

Nice trip. Good food and wines.

Recent tasting

2006-11-08T21:59:00.000-07:00

Dennis and I were out for a quiet snack after a meeting a couple of weeks ago and stopped into one of our favourite places: Buchanan's, tucked into the northwest end of downtown.

We split a salad and seared scallop appetizer, and washed them down with a bottle of the 2004 Grey Monk Odyssey Pinot Gris. I'd almost forgotten why I love their PG, and the Odyssey line is just wonderful. It's available here in town (at Willow Park, I think), but only $42 at the restaurant. A real deal for a wine like that....

Harvest 2006: Great to be Back

2006-10-28T19:00:00.000-06:00

It's a fine thing that the Canwine community has a forum once again. Thanks Linda!

I'm still in the throes of harvest, covered in purple stains everywhere. The BC crop is coming in with good maturity and quantity, which is good, given the very high demand for grapes by wineries all around. I had to scramble for grapes on behalf of a couple of clients, but all seems to be well now. Most of my work is done at Adora Estate Winery in Summerland, by the way, which does custom winemaking for a number of smaller winery clients.

In another couple of weeks, almost all the wines will be put to bed, and we'll be anxiously waiting for Icewine weather to roll around.

Hope to hear some postings from the rest of the Canwine folks soon. I've checked out a few of the new winery's offerings, and will be posting some comments when things get a little quieter.

Grape Year 2006

2006-10-26T18:21:00.000-06:00

This is my first post to any blog, so I'll leave my report of Marynissen's 15th anniversary party until I am comfortable with my blog-legs. For now, it was great!

It appears that there were a LOT of grapes this year, especially considering the last three years that must have tested the mettle of every Niagara winemaker. I'm very far behind my reading of the Canadian wine news so I don't know how the Okanagan has done, but I expect the years haven't been all that different. I sure hope the late rains didn't spoil what has appeared to be a great grape-growing year. I'm looking forward to sipping those '06s.

I haven't seen much for screw tops but I must admit I haven't been bottle shopping much recently. I like to find my favourite (usually little) wineries and keep in touch for their new releases. I recently picked up a couple of cases of Marynissen 2002 Cab/Merlot and 2001 Merlot (I think), for example. I missed ordering the last release of Burrowing Owl's 2004 Metlot and Syrah, an example perhaps of poor judgement. Okay I admit, those are two of my favourite wineries, making lovely big reds - mmmmmmm.

Nice to see CANWINE back: I still have my two CANWINE shirts and wear them proudly.

Hello, fellow Canwiners!

2006-10-25T09:45:00.000-06:00

Hi Linda and all,

Great to have you back, Linda, and I like this format. While I was previously only a lurker, I've learned a lot about - and drank many - B.C. wines in the recent years and and now planning on actually contributing.

My favourite B.C. winery - Wild Goose. Their last release of Autumn Gold is wonderful, as usual. And, may I recommmend the British Columbia Wine Trails newspaper (published 4X a year and no, I'm not affiliated with them in any way) for excellent coverage of that scene.

Cheers,
Monika

Screw-cap wines

2006-10-22T19:24:00.000-06:00

We had our fave marinated BBQ lamb tonight with a bottle of Tinhorn Pinot Noir 2004 -- the first serious BC wine I've had with screw-cap (no, we won't talk about Lonesome Charlie!).

I've had a couple of the Henry of Pelham screw-top wines, and was really impressed, but this PN was pretty terrific too. Yes, we did decant, and the wine improved over the meal (served with orzo tossed with sundried tomatoes and sauteed mushrooms), but was quite drinkable out of the bottle. I can really see excellent screw-tops getting popular with the BYOB crowd.

Any other experiences good or bad with screw-tops?

A very nice format

2006-10-21T22:25:00.000-06:00

This is a really nice format, and I'm happy to see the Canwine list evolve into a forum. I think that we can have some really meaningful discussion of our home-grown wines here.

The Usual Caveats....

2006-10-21T17:00:00.000-06:00

I expect the same level of standards here on the blog that we always abided by on the list, such as real names (just your first one is fine if you're concerned about privacy), a dearth of advertising, civility, and humour.

Now that we've gone blog, the list is now quasi-public in the sense that anyone with a 'net connection can read postings. That being said, you still need to be a member of CANWINE to post, and the usual criteria will still apply.

Unlike the list, I'm not going to rule with an iron moderator fist, but will look at all comments and if transgressions occur, offending posts and/or posters may be edited or removed.

Welcome back!

2006-10-21T12:15:00.000-06:00

Hi all

I'm glad Lorne has started things off and really thrilled to see how many people have already emailed me to sign up.

Not surprisingly, there were a number of bounced messages, but I'm hoping that as soon as I can get the first page on the website changed to reflect that we're back in business, that some of our lost sheep will find us.

Thanks for coming back -- I've missed the discussions too!

Tinhorn Merlot 2000

2006-10-20T22:32:00.000-06:00

Pleasantly surprised this week to find that a Tinhorn Creek Merlot 2000, although starting to turn brown around the edges, was still quite drinkable. Anyone care to comment about keeping BC Merlots any longer than this?