Two Wines for Game 2

For me, one of the best part of a Canucks playoff game is when Mark Donnelly sings the Canadian national anthem.  For the last so many seasons, his trademark has been to stop singing during the second verse of "O Canada" and he just lets the crowd sing their hearts out.  And they do!!  Just hearing the sold out stadium singing away gives me goose bumps!  (In fact, you can even You Tube it.)

So, this entry features me as I am standing at attention, with our wines for the night, and Lou (the Canucks' goalie and captain for the non-Vancouverites) in the background, while thousands of our neighbours and friends warble "with glowing hearts, we see thee rise..." and so on.  

Elzee came over for dinner and the game, so we knew one bottle wouldn't be enough - particularly when drinking Burrowing Owl.  I figured it might be best to feature two vintages of the same wine and chose:

41.  2001 Burrowing Owl Meritage (Okanagan) and

42.  2005 Burrowing Owl Meritage (Okanagan)

We thought that, if one bottle of Meritage was going to be good, two were going to be great.  Burrowing Owl has been producing a Meritage, Bordeaux-style blend, since 2001.  I couldn't find the exact blend of the 2001, but I did see a reference that the early years actually had a heavy lean towards the cab franc.  As the winery expanded its plantings and added some malbec and petit verdot, the 2005 saw all five of the traditional Bordeaux grapes being blended - with 64% merlot, 25% cab franc, 10% cab sauv and a smidgen of the malbec and petit verdot.  Both vintages saw a bit of hardware coming their way - including bronze medals at both the '04 and the '08 Canadian Wine Awards.

It likely goes without saying that we enjoyed both wines; however, it was nice to drink the two vintages side-by-side to see what some aging might do to a wine.  All three of us had a bit of a preference for the 2005 as it had a bit more fruit on both the nose and the palate.  Although the '01 definitely opened up a bit more on the nose by the time the second period had rolled around.

Two wines, a quick 2-0 lead for the Canucks.  We were sitting happy.  Unfortunately, the wine ran out, as did the Canucks' control of the game.  The Hawks just kept on coming and really out-played our boys, smacking them with 5 straight goals and, ultimately, a 6-3 loss.

Now, I don't think anyone realistically expected the Canucks to sweep Chicago, but this was a devastating loss.  If we're going to be superstitious about this, Boo and I may not be able to watch another game with Elzee - or drink another vintage of Meritage.