REVIEW - PAUL ZINCK GRAND CRU PFERSIGBERG 2008

 REVIEW - 2008 Riesling Paul Zinck Grand Cru Pfersigberg

Alsace, France
SKU: 722356  

Origin: France  |  Alsace
Agent: Crush Imports

I've become more than just a little familiar with this wine but I came across it again not too long ago and was startled to be reminded just how much I liked it. It's done up by the same makers of the Pink Zinck Cremant (I know, who would have guessed right?) and that was my "go to" bubbly for an entire summer a few years back. Now, I'm not a huge Riesling fan, but this is definitely one that makes me think twice about blanket statementing a varietal.

In the glass – It is clear medium lemon with just a hint of green around the rim, but it may have been the office lighting.

On the nose - This wine has a medium intensity, with key notes of smoky petrol, orange and lime peel. With clear over all stone fruit, floral, and honey.

On the Palate – dry, and just a smidge less then high acid. Yes, that's a technical term. It had great flavors of fresh green fruit, pears, kiwi, pine apple. Just lots of warmer citrus fruit all around. It really reminded me of the canned fruit salad that you had as a kid. It's fine fruit was complimented with  a smooth minerality, and a touch of petrol. Over all this wine had a medium body, medium finish with a 12.5% alcohol

 This wine is, and has been for a while, very good in my books, and will probably be very good for at least another 5 years. It should run you less than $35 in a store

For me this would go with any kind of seafood, and spice. Like sushi. Also it would be great with English style fish and chips.

Cheers!

REVIEW - Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc 2011

REVIEW - Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc 2011

SKU: 738965  
Origin: New Zealand

Agent: Pacific Wine & Spirits

So some back story on this little brainchild wine. It is the solo product of Kevin Judd, a leading and widely renowned NZ wine maker that got his start and his name from doing 25  years with Cloudy Bay and is attributed with putting NZ on the map for their wines. In Mr. Judds spare time he has also made a name for himself as one of NZ finest wine photographers and has published a book of his country's wine industry

In the glass – this wine is pale, like SUPER pale,  with just a hint of lemon and green

On the Nose - it is clean and  pronounced, with fruit flower, fresh cut grass, asparagus, and green pepper.

On the palate – it was dry, with medium acidity. It was medium body, I think this was due to its higher alcohol content, a whopping 13.5%. The flavors were clearly  those of a  hotter climate vineyard with big fruity tropical notes, great acidity that let it stand up against others in the sauvignon blanc flight I was doing. It has a medium finish

Normally I don't do ratings or post ratings but this one deserves it. It was rated by Jancis Robinson, leading UK wine critic, as the top Marlborough Sauvignon of the 2011 vintage. 

This wine would was very good in my opinion. There is a lot of NZ SB out there and I find that they all tend to blend together but this one has a solid minerality structure to its acidity and will hold up in a cellar for a few years, but why bother? Its ready to drink right now. It retails at around $28 and is pretty easy to find

I would pair this with any white meat with heavy sauces. And Spice, it will do very well with spicy foods too.

Cheers!

Chardonnay - the white grape of domination

Chardonnay; sweet, sweet chardonnay. How we all love you so.

Statistically speaking of course.

So, on day two we went over the fine and the filthy of Chardonnay. Which is supposedly the world's most purchased grape. I don't have a stat for that; it's just what I was told. But it seems believable enough. But why is that? Why are people buying this grape? It's not overly aromatic on its own; it’s generally very neutral over all. Nothing to write home about. It is however incredibly versatile. It can grow in almost any climate and in any number of soils. In the world of grapes it's like Wolverine; (from X-men, don't make the "I don't know what you're talking about" eyebrows. I know you’re just as geeky as me), indestructible and universally cool. Actually it’s probably closer to Mystique, and her ability to transform and shape-shift to her environment. Yeah. Mystique. Totally.

Chardonnay is grown all over the world, but it is best known for is classic regions like White Burgundy, Chablis, Cote d'Or and Marcoconais.  So let's start there.

White Burgundy - this is where you are going to see the most expensive and the best expression of Chardonnay in the world, undoubtedly. What determines the price? Well, that is determined by what's written on the label. Prices vary according to which region, district, village and vineyard the wine is made from.  Specifically we have Chablis; the key to Chablis is to know that it is a bone dry white wine. Which I love. It's a crisp, refreshing, cool climate white. With high acid, austere green fruit and citrus, and notable limestone minerals. And it's got its own rating system - Grand Cru (being the very best), Premier Cru (being exceptional in its own right) and Village Level (which is still a Burgundy wine and still amazing but not as good as Premier Cru).  Then we have the Cote d'Or; there are a few “smaller” regions included in this - we have the Cote de Beane, Puligny - Montrachet, and Mersault. These wines are typically fuller bodied, oaked and are a reference point to most chardonnays on the market. In Maconnais we have the warmest Burgundy climate because it is the furthest south. In here we see the sub regions of Poully-Fuisse and Macon. Because of the warmer climate, we see a larger volume produced and more of a tropical fruit expression - but it's also a bit simpler of a wine. Not necessarily a bad thing because some of these top notch Burgundy wines will cost you well over a thousand dollars a bottle. So selection is good for the non-millionaires among us.

Some other regions where we find excellent expressions from Chardonnay are Australia (Yarra Valley, Adelaide Hills and Margret River), New Zealand (Hawks Bay, Gisborne, and Marlborough), throughout North America in places like California (costal, Sonoma or Carneros), Chile (Casablanca Valley), Argentina (Mendoza) and South Africa (Walker Bay Ward).

Wine making technique plays a huge part in how a Chardonnay is going to taste. It can be tampered with a little or a lot, and its ability to stand up to this tampering is why it’s often called the Photoshop grape. You can take a Chardonnay that is less than what it should be, and makes changes to it after the fact. This can be a good thing, and this can be a bad thing. 

Some of the techniques that we see being used are the use of malolatci fermentation, which creates a buttery cream quality to a wine; it can also be used to soften some of the harsh tannins in a wine from the oaking process. Another one that we see is the Lees. These are the dead yeast cells kept behind after fermentation. These are stirred in to add creamy and savory notes similar to the malolactic fermentation. There is also the (over) use of oak to give wines a toasted, vanilla, coconut, spice flavor. It also adds tannin and gives a wine structure and helps with its age ability. A lot of the new world wines will state the kind of oak they use. A good guideline is that American oak is like American culture – big, fast-acting, sweet flavors that can leave you feeling a bit shocked. And French oak is like French culture – laid back, slow to integrate but generally better in the long term*.

Another thing that winemakers do is ferment in stainless steel and just add oak shavings, chips, dust, and even something called “oak essences”, all of which progressively cheaper then the last. And you can taste the difference. But by using things like oak essence we are able to get bottles of oaked Chardonnay for under 10$.

The above fermentation is seen most often in bulk production for inexpensive Chardonnay, but it’s fairly easy to spot even if you don’t know the price point and have never tried the wine. It’s cheaper to pull grapes from a number of locations than it is to take it from one specific vineyard. However, the areas being sourced from need to be named at least in a general sense. They are often sold as  “South Eastern Australia”, “Western Cape”, “California”, ‘Chile”, or “Vin de France”. Another way that makers cut costs in bulk production is to blend in other less desirable grapes in with the Chardonnay, like Semillon, which adds acidity and citrus notes.

Over all, I imagine Chardonnay to be less like Photoshop and more like one of those play-dough sets in the hands of a 6 year old. Where the medium holds whatever shape the kid gives it. However, you may feel obligated to praise the child for making you this creation, even though you really aren’t sure what the hell it’s supposed to be.

Cheers!

*This is just my being bias to a preference of French oak, so you should try a few and see what you like.

REVIEW – 2008 GILBERT PICQ & SES FILES PREMIER CRU VOSGROS CHABLIS, FRANCE

REVIEW – 2008 GILBERT PICQ & SES FILES PREMIER CRU VOSGROS CHABLIS, FRANCE           

SKU: 737386  

Agent: Galileo Wine & Spirits Ltd.

In the Glass – clear, pale to medium lemon

On the Nose – clean light to medium intensity, white citrus fruit, with some honey and buttered popcorn on the nose. It’s obvious that this is a cool climate gem.

On the Palate – This wine is dry, with medium to high acid, light to med body, citrus, gooseberry, stone and steely quality. With solid minerality (like oyster shells), orchard fruit, some tropical notes. It has a strong to medium finish.

The winery of Domaine Gilbert Picq et Ses Fils in the village of Chichée. They make this very terrior driven premier cru of Vosgros, from the family’s oldest premier cru vines. The label is now run by two brothers, Didier and Pascal, and sister Marilyn Picq Gilbert after their father retired. The vines they govern are between thirty-five and forty years old.

In Chichée, Vaucoupin is a highly regarded premier cru on the right bank (east side) of the river Serein. The slopes along the Serein River face primarily due south. All seven of Chablis’ grand crus are also on the right bank. This is the steepest section of the vineyard, on a 45 degree slope, obviously its all cared for and harvested by hand. The soil is what gives this wine the oyster shell character because of the slat quality of the soil. Over all right bank premier crus produce heftier and more masculine styled wines and the left bank has more of a feminine and elegant flavor

My closing thoughts - This is a fantastic Chablis, rich austere and great lively acidity. But it can use some more time in the bottle to age. However if you cant wait I would recommend you decant it and give it an hour or two.  This wine will run you less then $45 and would be a great addition to any celler.

Cheers!

WSET Intermediate Day 1 - Hook, Line and Sinker

So! Class one. Exciting stuff!

On day one of my WSET I think one of the best things that I walked away with is the wine tasting and evaluation technique. I kind of went over this when I talked about the foundation course, but this is a more in depth way of breaking it down. You can of course go much further than what I’m going to talk about here, but it’s a great way of distinguishing it from just red white or pink.

How do we break it down? It comes in 3 stages once it’s in the glass: how it looks, what it smells like and how it tastes.

It starts with a look. Regardless of red or white wine you’re going to be looking at the wines clarity, intensity and colour. With clarity you need to take into account if it’s clear or hazy  (turbid). The best advice I was given with this is to put the glass of wine over some writing. Can you see through it? Yes, ok, if it’s an inky wine it’s going to have too much tannin in it but use your best judgment. Next is intensity, is the colour pale, medium or deep intensity. This one is hard to describe in words, but try to think of it like this. Grammas dusty rose couch vs. generic pink vs. electric Barbie lipstick pink. Each one is its own distinct intensity of the same concept of pink. Finally in the glass we see the colour of the wine – red, white, and rose. Colour can indicate age in a wine, but that’s another topic for another day. Each one can be broken down further. In white we range from lemon to gold to amber, in rose we get pink to salmon to orange and in reds we get purple to ruby to garnet to tawny. There are of course a MILLION other options in addition to these, but I feel that WSET and I try to use the same lines when analyzing a wine. KISS – keep it simple, stupid.

Next up we have the nose, how does the wine smell? Does it smell clean, clear and identifiable? Or does it smell muddled and off? How’s the intensity? Is it light and reserved in the glass? Do you need to swirl the crap out of it to make the wine come you? Medium where it comes to you or pronounced where the sucker hits you from across the table with big fruit, floral, spices, vegetables, or oak aromas? This is also where we are going to find our first real fault; cork taint. WSET estimates that between 2-5% of bottles with corks has cork taint. That seems really low to me. I would guess that more than that are off, but people just don’t know what the wine they are drinking should taste like. Cork taint is most easily identifiable by the wet cardboard smell. Not pleasant.

Finally we have the palate. How do we break down all those flavors into the good, the bad and the ugly? WSET recommends that you do it like this. Start with sweetness, is it dry, off-dry, medium or sweet. Sugar is first registered on the palete at approximately 4grams of sugar per liter, which with all things considered it a fair amount of sugar, so sometimes when we think we taste sweetness in a wine it may just be the fruit. Acidity is next; this is the balancing force with sugar. We describe acidity in a range of low, medium and high. A good indicator is how your tongue feels after the wine has left your mouth. Does your mouth water along the sides? If so how much, acidity makes a wine feel bright and refreshing and it makes your mouth water. Next we have tannins and like acidity it’s measured in a low to high scale - but this isn’t just for red wine. Because a lot of white wines are oaked they gather tannins from the types of oaks they are fermented or aged in. Keep this in mind when tasting some buttery chardonnays.

Next we have body, this can be described as light, medium and full. This is the key to most food pairings and is why a light body red can go just as well with a fish as a big oaky white will stand up to red meat or heavy sauce.

Next we have flavors but lets do this with length, which is just as important. We can get hints, memories and nuances of almost any flavor, good or bad, on a wine. Some wines are going to be true to there varietals or regional flavors while some blends will leave you guessing and reaching in all directions for a hand full of different flavors. But what matters is narrowing it down, going from fruit to stone fruit to peach. Build up your own flavor and memory banks, try new things; you’d be amazed at the way it comes out in a wine. And length ties in to this a lot. So you taste peaches on a wine, so what if it’s gone in less than 5 seconds? (That would be a short finish) what if it tastes like dirt and it lasts for over 3 minutes? (That would be a long finish) the length of the wine should reflect the wine itself, specifically the quality. As far as measuring a length of time, I would say it’s mostly instinctual, but a 1-2 minute finish is where I like my wines because I typically try to pair food.

Before any of this can really be done, rather, before it can be done accurately, you need to make sure you’re in the right circumstances to taste. You need to not be sick, or have coffee breath, and please don’t have a smoke before you taste. Yes after a time these flavors become part of the back ground and you can say they wont impede your tasting and flavors. But what if you’re tasting a 1992 Freemark Abbey, where it’s got that gentle tobacco finish? It’s going to get lost ‘cause you’re used to that taste of cigarette tobacco on your pallet. Or espresso in a merlot after a tall triple shot mocha latte, or anything that offers small wisps of animal or telling the differences between cooked and stewed fruit when your sick and your senses are dulled. Not judging, just sayin’. I’m not to say don’t do have your cigar or your banana nut muffin, everyone’s got their own vice, but maybe don’t mix those vices with the wine.

Cheers!

REVIEW – 2008 FISHER CHARDONNAY

REVIEW – 2008 FISHER CHARDONNAY

SKU: 1081843  

Agent: Richmond Hill Wines

In the Glass – clear, deep lemon.

On the Nose – medium to pronounced aromas of oak, charred and smoky wood, pineapple, ripe/baked fruit  (clearly warm climate grapes) with notes of honey and cream.

On the Palate – I found this wine dry with medium acid, medium to full body. It has flavors of tropical fruit, apple pie, clove/cinnamon, butter, (lee stirring) weighty and richness with a strong to medium finish. It has a noticeable bitter/burnt finish, which is from the warmer climate.

This wine is 100% Chardonnay sourced out of the Oak Knoll district of Napa. They use yeast that’s present in the vineyard and facilities and they use 100% French Oak to age for 14 months. Now I have a bit of an opinion on American wine (and Canadian wine too for that matter).  Its considered new world, because we haven’t been making wine for as long as the rest of the world has. I’m sure there is a more technical reason for it but that’s basically what it equates to. Because we haven’t been doing it as long we don’t know what exactly which grapes work in all the different regions we have here. Which is fine. But I think a lot of the California producers have jumped on this Chardonnay bandwagon for the instant revenue when they should be trying to branch out to varietals that would better suit their land and help thin out an already saturated market. Every ones got an oaky Chardonnay in Napa. Everyone. Its like going through your sex ed. class in high school. We’re not really sure how putting the rubber on a banana is helpful but everyone has done it.

In the end I don’t think $42 for this wine is a far price unless you were really hard up and really want oaked Chardonnay, and even then I would probably point you to another one. But that’s just my personal preference. Yes, it has a full mouth feel, yes it has tropical fruit and yes it had the butter from the oak. But it didn’t blow me away; it didn’t really stand out or draw me in. it was just too simple to be in that price point. If some one ordered it for me I would certainly be happy enough to have it, but I wouldn’t order it my self.

Cheers

REVIEW - NV MARTINI & ROSSI ASTI (D.O.C.G.)

REVIEW - NV MARTINI & ROSSI ASTI (D.O.C.G.)

SKU: 1875

Agent: Bacardi Canada Inc.

In the Glass – Clear but pale lemon yellow with soda sizes bubble coming up the side of the glass. It immediately stuck me as something that had been carbonated after the fact because of soda pop look it had.

On the Nose – clean, light with a strong peachy fruit and floral aroma. It just kind of lays the cards out for you on that one and I didn’t get much more.

On the Palate - stone fruit and peaches with a touch of citrus, medium sweetness, aggressive and prickly bubbles; this is due to the tank fermentation, light to medium weight. Over all this one strikes me like a honey soda. Sort of mixed with the pineapple crush that the Newfies drink.

Over all, it’s pretty easy to drink, either sipping with appys or to finish a meal but I like my bubbly on the dry to very dry side so it’s just a touch too sweet for me. But a nice cheap treat at under 15$ a bottle on the shelf.

This Asti is made from the Moscato Bianco grape and is actually DOCG certified. Which surprised me because its sooo mass-produced that I thought they would have to source out for the grapes. Here's a quote from their web site.

“MARTINI® Asti is crafted from 100% handpicked* Moscato Bianco grapes, grown in Northern Italy. It is ranked D.O.C.G. (denomination of controlled and guaranteed origin), the highest classification granted to Italian wines. Its aroma will lure you in like a siren’s song, boasting fruity and floral notes. Sparking on the tongue, the natural sweetness of the grapes comes through with full flavor and wonderful texture. Recommended for after dinner, pairing with cakes and other desserts or sweet fruits.”

The more I researched Martini & Rossi the more respect I had for them as a mass production organization. From what I can tell the business was family started and Rossi’s sons took it over in 1982, then his grand sons took it over in 1930. In 1977 the company became part of the “General Beverage Corporation”. Then in 1993 they merged with Bacardi. I’m not sure when the Martini Vermouth came to be a part of it but no doubt that was a huge win for Bacardi. 1993 was also when the asti received it DOCG designation.

Cheers!

*I don’t mean to be rude but I highly doubt that this is accurate simply because of the price point; handpicking grapes is VERY expensive. So unless they have a team of fiddler elves picking grapes for them out of the kindness of their heart this would be near impossible to achieve. Not judging, just sayin’.

REVIEW - NV CHAMPAGNE DEVAUX GRANDE RESERVE

REVIEW - NV  CHAMPAGNE DEVAUX GRANDE RESERVE

SKU: 1082284 

Agent: Tandem Wine Selection Inc.

Here we have a champagne by Veuve A. Devaux  which from  Champagne, France

In the Glass - This wine is a pale yellow with a bit of gold, bit is almost clear. It has fine lines of bubbles rising through the glass. It's really very pretty to see.

On the Nose – clean, light and bright with strong fruit and bready notes . Stone fruit such as peach are easy to pick out along with some honey and light floral

On the Palate - Fine smooth bubbles over the tongue, and flavors keeping with its stone fruit and biscuit nose. Dry with medium acidity, light to medium body, medium length. Its weight is due to the fact that this wine is done in the traditional champagne method.

Due to the nature of champagne and legal requirements it is a blend of 66% Pinot Noir and 34% Chardonnay higher than average proportion of about 30% of reserve wines. All of which is matured in oak barrels

According to Wikipedia The Devaux Champagne house has been part of the legend of Champagne since the mid 19th. Century. Founded by the Devaux brothers, Jules and Auguste, the company was how ever controlled by a widow named Madame Veuve Augusta Devaux. She was one of the famous ladies of Champagne who directed their companies with great energy and talent and one of the select band of widows seeming to hold the key to Champagne during the nineteenth century. Because of the talent and energy that she put in her work the people that came after her inscribed her name on the facade of the house in Epernay to continue her memory. It was in 1986 it was decided to entrust the future of The Devaux Champagne house to Union Auboise, which is one of the largest groups of Champagne growers in area of Domaine de Villeneuve at Bar sur Seine. Since then  Devaux has been a co-operative label.

At under 60$ on the retail shelf I would drink this one fresh with appetizers, popcorn, chicken, oysters or anything... really.

Review - RIOJA BORDON GRAN RESERVA 2001

 REVIEW - RIOJA BORDON GRAN RESERVA 2001

SKU: 735254 

Origin: Spain 

Agent: Pure Global Imports Inc.

This little Spanish harlot is actually one of my favorite wines and it seemed only fitting that I rip off the winter bandage with a bottle of it among friends.

So, what is a Gran Reserva you ask? Well, I can tell you. In Bodegas it means that it must be aged for a minimum of 5 years before it’s released. This one in particular spends at least 2 years in oak casks and at least 3 more years in the bottle. How ever the majority of the wood that it sees is actually old oak so it imparts very little of the big, toasty, vanilla extract and stucco that you see with a great deal of other wines that spends the equivalent amount of time in new oak.

Being mostly tempranillio, 80% to be exact, its exceptionally close to its traditional expression even with its blend of 17% Grenache, 2% Mazuelo and 2% Graciano. Lets break it down shall we.

In the Glass; Off the start I noticed that this wine wasn’t the full red like I thought it would be, but it is over 10 years old so its no surprise to see that the bright ruby red I was expecting had faded a fair bit and has some tawny to it

On the Nose; starting off a bit dull but after a quick swirl she came right to life. I had strong ripe and dried fruit off the top with this one, and strong earthy notes as well. Like is said, its very close to the traditional Rioja style and comes with sparks of vanilla and chew tobacco and something that I can only describe as “cowboy-esk”. It’s like woods, and campfire (perhaps because I was drinking it beside a bonfire?), herb garden and wonderful saddle leather notes – the kind of leather that’s well worn. Even though this wine sees an exceptionally long time in oak, but not new oak, my cowboy aromas are just hints and not over the top. An absolutely wonderful integration of oak on the nose of this wine.

On the Pallet; Before we start I would highly recommend decanting this wine; in one of the bottles I had before there was a bit of sediment in the bottle (but not this one luckily enough, cause I didn’t have a decanter with me), but 10 or so minutes with some air really helps wake this girl up. When she’s up, we get spicy black cherry, tobacco, vanilla, and that cowboy quality I was talking about before. But we also get some great sandalwood and minty coolness. With a long but gentle finish this medium to full body wine has a great complexity and you can actually feel it evolve in your mouth.

Food suggestion: Beef or lamb, I had a peppercorn steak and baked potato with it. The peppercorns were a bit much with the wine but they were both really tasty and I pulled through just fine.

Like is said, Rioja Bordon is one of my absolute favorite wine producers. I have yet to be anything other then extremely pleased with all of their products so even I highly recommend that you all go try this wine. Even if Spanish wine isn’t “your thing”.

Cheers!

Review - 2009 Michael and David Vineyards 6th Sense Petite Syrah

Review 2009 Michael & David Vineyards 6^th Sense Petite Syrah Lodi California

It’s a petite syrah not actually a syrah. The difference being?? The flavor, syrah has always stuck me as more of a jam based Australian wine but that’s probably because the time frame that I was first really introduced into wine, Calgary had HUGE influx of big jammy auzzie wines. All you had to do to sell a $100 bottle of wine was tell them it grew next to a kangaroo farm and was personally touched by Steve Irwin. The wines themselves were the kind of wines where it felt as if you were punched in the mouth by the grape Kool-Aid guy. OHHH YEAHH!! Not a lot of finesse. Just FRUIT.

 With petite syrah I find it to be a lot more about then finesse. Similar to Pinot Noir in that it has got some class and style to it. But much heavier on the smoke, cedar and forest flavors. If pinot noir is Lumière  from Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast”, petite syrah would be Cogsworth.

Just like all of Michael & David creations, the marketing on it is fantastic! The Back of the wine bottle has an eerie poem and is reportedly named after a relative of theirs whom had a 6^th senses himself!

I smell with one nose, an ancient black rose, a memory lingering, briefly exposed. I see with two eyes, through shadows and lies, a secret revealing, wrapped in disguise. I hear with my ears, three fallen tears, echoing softly, heightening my fears. I taste with my tongue, my panics begun, four sides enclosed, melding as one. I touch with my hands, a sinister plan, five fingers discerning where I do stand. I sense with my mind, a thought so unkind. I’m trapped six feet under in a bottle of wine.

On the Nose we get good oak and smoky aromas with a hint of vanilla and dark fruits. But it doesn’t really give any hints to the pallet.

On the pallet I find that it has this incredible full mouth feel that I was having trouble describing but is so a kin to bacon fat that its unreal. It stands up with cracked black pepper and a variety of dried herbs and dark berries.

It was absolutely delicious and a great mid-level wine for someone who doesn’t want to invest into the $90 trio of seven deadly Zins done by the same makers

Cheers!

Review - 2010 Sirens Call Pinot Noir

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!”

On the Pallet it shows dark wild berries, black cherries and a fine but sound tannins. I half expected it to be on the watery side, maybe from the marketing on the mermaid in the ocean on the labeling… and some recent previous experiences with French styled new world pinots… but it really held up, and with style too.

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/

Blush, Rosé , Pink, and Delicious

 So I know I’m going through my 4 week course with WSET here in Calgary but I had some one ask why pink wines are pink, so I’m going to interrupt my flow again with a quick service announcement.



 There are really only 2 ways that rosé wines are created. One being a strictly controlled skin contact process with the red grape must. This is where grapes are pressed quickly, as to only extract a clear white juice for fermentation. Typically the juice is only left to sit on the must for 12- 48 hours depending on the grape and the amount of colour you wish to extract from it ( light blush to a vibrant pink). The other is to actually blend white and red juice together at some point in the wine making process. That is really winery specific for what they want to achieve with their wine. Also you can blend a pink juice with white juice to achieve the same thing.  



 Typically with a rosé wine you see a rather short maturation time, and typically it’s in stainless steel to help keep the rich fruit flavors in the juice, as it is impenetrable to oxygen. But it can also be done in concrete and oak barrels. The oak will impart vanilla and spices in to a wine, along with softening acids and giving it a bit of micro oxidization, this is where we start to come across rosés that have a creamier and dustier colour.

 I haven’t seen a lot of concrete barrels used but my understanding is that the porous nature of concrete allows a slight blending of vintages through the years. I’ve only ever really heard of this being used in the big robust reds but I don’t see why it wouldn’t have applications in all types of wines

 As the wine ages, either in the barrels or in the bottles, it may change in colour as well. However most rosé wines are bottled and available to consumers at a rather young age, compared to the white and red wines, that this isn’t necessarily applicable. They are sent out young because of their light, fruity and refreshing nature. Too much time and they could start to lose their acids and get dull.

 Cheers!