Nail Biting Time

So, it's Hockey Night in Canada (break out in the old theme now if you know it). Tonight's wines were picked to celebrate yesterday's gold medal by the Women's Hockey team and we're drinking them during the Men's semi-final game against the Slovaks. I don't think that anyone expected us to have to beat Russia in the quarter-finals to get this far, but things don't seem quite as bleak as they might have after the loss to the US last weekend.

It's Friday night and this city - if not the country - is going to be glued to the TV set. This is going to be one heckuva introduction of Canadian hockey madness to our visiting Aussie, Merlot Boy. His countrymen are rabid for their rugby, footy, swimming and any other sport you can think of, but I don't know if even they can match this country's addiction to and love of hockey.

Big times call for big wines. So, I've trotted out two of BC's top guns as we enjoy the game and a BBQ at Daveyboi's.

377. 2003 Nk'mip Qwam Qwmt Meritage (VQA Okanagan Valley)

I took a quick look at The List and the wines that we've had so far and I'm a bit surprised that this is only the fourth bottle that we've opened from Nk'mip. I know we have a fair bit in our cellar; so, I suppose I'll just have to reach for it a little more often.

I'm not going to go into much about the winery because I've talked a bit about it in the past and I'll find a bottle to wax more eloquently about when there's nothing else going on. I will add here, though, that the Qwam Qwmt label is given to Nk'mip's premium wines as it stands for and translates to "Achieving Excellence" in the native band's Okanagan language.

The winemaker, Randy Picton's, notes online say that the wine is 55% Cab Sauv and 45% Merlot; however, the label says that it's a 50/50 blend. No big difference there and I likely wouldn't be able to tell the difference if I was served any sort of combinations. But, I know that the bottle lasted no time whatsoever.

378. 2004 Poplar Grove Merlot (Okanagan Valley)

Our second bottle is much like the Nk'mip; I've already blogged a couple of Poplar Grove wines, but not as many I might have thought that I would have by now - and no Merlot. Poplar Grove is a favourite for the cellar and this is only the fourth or fifth wine being added to The List. I pulled this one out specifically to try and entice our own Merlot Boy to join us for at least a bit of a sip.

Still no deal. There's no way the old Merlot Boy would have made it through a vacation this long on soy milk and water alone. The disappearance of 35 pounds wouldn't even be a big enough of draw for me to give up wine while half way around the world. We've started to refer to his infamous diet as the "DRD." The first "DR" being his real life initials - not some reference to the fact that the diet was endorsed by big name doctor. Since no real names show up in the blog, we can't really call it the DRD; so, I suppose I should henceforth speak of the MBD - or Merlot Boy Diet.

That doesn't quite seem right either though since there's clearly no Merlot forming part of this diet. Perhaps I'll just have to go with the NMMBD or No Merlot Merlot Boy Diet. After all the Aussies are great at reducing phrases and names down to initials. Furthermore, I think it's appropriate that this diet would clearly leave me "numbed" from the lack of wine!

At least MB is still a lot of fun to be around. He'll just never know what he missed with this Merlot. This one came in at $40; so, we don't see it in our glass all that often. It takes a special occasion like this. But it was worth it. Much to our delight - and the delight of all the other folks yelling from the balconies and honking their car horns - the Canadian boys held on to win their semi. It'll be a Canada-US rematch for the gold on Sunday and you know we'll be there - although, unfortunately, not at the hockey rink itself. The couple of grand that tickets are going for can buy a lot of wine for the days to come.