Wandering Whistler

I think I'll blame our early demise last night on a busy week and the altitude here in the mountains. I couldn't possibly fathom any other reason for why we all headed off to bed around 10 pm. After all, no one else - other than old people - goes to bed at 10 pm while spending a weekend in a resort noted for après ski and always-ready-to-party Aussies?

I'm afraid our basic demeanour didn't automatically jump into a higher gear come the morning either. We did, however, take a grand walking tour around the resort, noting of course that Boo fit right in with the whole bear country vibe.

Our little tour - and our major stop and pig out at Pure Bread Whistler (can there possibly be a tastier bakery in BC?) - required a little side trip to the liquor store. We'd brought along a good selection of wine for the weekend, but I'd discovered, during some morning surfing, that it was Internation Gin Day.

How could we pass on that?! This may be a wine blog but Boo and I are equal opportunity drinkers and martinis are very much a part of our neighbourhood diet.

While perusing the Gin selection in the Whistler bottle shop, I ran across Boodles Gin - one that I've never seen before and I've seen a fair share of Gin in my life. We hunted down some olives and a lime and thanked our lucky stars that I happened to have a set of olive picks in my knapsack.

I guess those "Always Be Prepared" days as a Scout may just have paid off.

Cocktails morphed into wine and cheese and our little balcony proved to be quite handy.

1935.  2011 Familia Zuccardi - Tito (Uco Valley - Mendoza - Argentina)

Little did we know when we grabbed this bottle for the weekend that it was going to be as darn right tasty as it was. Big and juicy, the Tito is a blend of two-thirds Malbec with the balance pretty much split between Cab Sauv and Ancellotta. The last of the three is a grape that originated in the Emilia Romagna region of Italy where its deep, dark colour is popularly used to add colour to lighter blends. I didn't find any information online talking about what the winery believes the Ancellotta brings to the table, but I'm going to keep my eye open for more wines with Ancellotta if they all taste like this one. If you're one for dark, rich fruit with soft tannins, this may just just the wine for you.

It might not be too much of a surprise that we all liked this wine as much as we did. The Zuccardi family - now in its third generation at the winery - makes the wine, as part of its Icon range, to honour the winery's patriarch, Alberto (known to everyone as Tito). I tend to find that, when a winemaker names a wine after a grandparent, there's usually something special to that wine.

We were glad to have the opportunity to enjoy it as much as we did with Miss Jaq - because she's about as tasty a friend as we have.

Unfortunately, that bottle of Tito disappeared far too quickly. The mood was set though. The four of us headed over to one of Boo's and my favourite spots in Whistler - The Mallard Bar at the Chateau Whistler - and we all lounged over the view and our cocktails long enough that we rather forgot about dinner until Miss Jaq and Tanta Luce decided they were too far past needing anything further.

There just happened to be some bakery treats still leftover from Pure Bread back in the suite and they were just as delicious as they looked when we couldn't decide which items to buy over the others.

We may well have still been tired and maybe went to bed almost as early as last night but, at least, we'd put a good day of drinking behind us today.

And, to top things off, I get to add another grape variety to my Wine Century Club tally. Ancellota takes me up to #194. And that'll bring a smile to any day for me.

Now to find some another couple bottles of Tito.