Review – 2010 Sirens Call Pinot Noir
So
tonight, after the worlds longest shift at work, I got to take home a bottle of
this Okanagan wine. Based out of Summerland in British Columbia this little
French clone delight is exactly what I needed.
On
the Nose this wine does start off rather European, rustic, deep and earthy, with
strong dark cherries and raspberries. It turns to the new world with rich with
vanilla, and almost a caramel, and kind of spicy, similar to the Caramel Apple
Spice drink at Starbucks - if you could have raspberry juice instead of apple
juice. Overall I found it sort of Napoleonic in nature. To me it says, “hey! I may only be 5 and a half feet
tall but I am a force to be reckoned with!”
I
was lucky enough to have this bottle dropped off with some tasting notes from
John Schreiner, one of Canada’s
most prolific authors of books on wine. He quoted the wine maker, Mark Simpson, as saying, “I started buying fruit and the next
thing you know, I tasted in the vineyards and kept saying, ‘Oh my God, I will
take it.’ That kept happening. I ended up with 14 tons and $100,000 invested
and [made] a whole line of wines.” What a way to start a winery! One of
everything! Mr. Schreiner goes
on to talk about siren’s Call and the rest of Mark Simpsons labels, I really do
encourage you all to read his blog. He goes on to quote Mr. Simpson explaining to
label as “It is from Greek mythology. It refers to the sirens that are
these creatures that are half women, half bird. The idea is that these
creatures are seductive and alluring. So the wine will be seductive and
appealing.” What a way to describe a wine label? Smooth, seductive and
inviting. Even the parent company, Artemis, had the tag line of “ Wine is the
Blood of Life”. Oh. My. God. What a magnificent line and ideology to have
attached to a wine and its company. Not only is that a brilliant marketing
idea, albeit not overly original, its still the icon of what the 20 something
wine consumer falls in love with. Sex sells, even if its just a ideology.
Over all I think this is a top-notch wine,
and for under 30$ in most liquor stores I would highly recommend it. Myself, I
had it alone but as for food pairings anything that came with a fine herbaceous
or tomatoes based sauce (“hello pesto!”)
would do magnificently. Just be careful that the protein that went with
it doesn’t over power the tannic structure. A chicken or turkey breast pesto penne
would be perfect.
Cheers!
...but srsly go see http://johnschreiner.blogspot.com/
