An Artful Chard

If you've been reading this last series of posts, you've likely noticed that I've been pulling some of our bigger guns out of the cellar for these final bottles to close out The List before I hit the 2001st wine. Tonight's wine definitely fits the bill of a "big gun." We've only got one bottle and that's because I've only ever seen one bottle for sale in a shop - and that was in New York City. I don't know that anyone carries it in Vancouver - and, even if someone did, I'd be afraid to see what price it comes in at.

I think it's fair to say that the Vancouver market has never seen many Margaret River wines on a regular basis. The region has been one that I've always had a fondness for though - ever since I tried and quite liked a bottle while I was in Australia in 1996. I returned to Vancouver and could only find two or three bottles from the region in our city and, naturally, that was at one of the premium wine shops. I tried another of the district's wines. Enjoyed it. And, with the region being two for two, I've always had a positive outlook on the region's wines.

That being said, I've been holding on to tonight's bottle for an "occasion." I think hitting #1995 on The List qualifies.

1995.  2004 Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay (Margaret River - Australia)

Leeuwin Estate is family owned and operated and, with its bevy of national and international accolades and awards, is one of the - if not the - pre-eminent wineries in the Margaret River region. Unlike some other Aussie wine regions - like the Barossa - winemaking in Margaret River didn't really get started until the 1970's. Indeed, it was only in 1969 that Leeuwin Estate was one of the five founding wineries in the Margaret River district located to the south of Perth in Western Australia. Leeuwin, however, didn't actually make any vintage wines for release until 1978. It's been all uphill from there.

Making three separate labels, Leeuwin's Art Series wines are their "most opulent and ageworthy" wines. The first vintage of Art Series Chardonnay was 1980 and it arrived on the scene with a declaration by Decanter magazine that it was the best Chardonnay in the world in 1982.

My introduction to Leeuwin's Art Series Chardonnay was at an Australian Wine Appreciation Society tasting in Vancouver that involved a blind tasting of fifteen or so Chardonnay's from around the world. Leeuwin's was, by far, the favourite wine of the evening - including my score card. However, as much as I kept an eye open for it, I could never find a bottle of the wine until that New York wine shop.

The region has continued to have a romanticized hold on me though and, when Boo and I made a trip back to Australia in 2012, we decided to travel out to Perth for a quick venture down to Margaret River with Merlot Boy and Margarita. We managed to fit in a dinner at Leeuwin and finally added a bottle of the Art Series Chard to The List - along with a couple other Leeuwin wines.

It's now time to add a second vintage to The List before this Odyssey peters out.

We had quite the scare opening this bottle though. The cork broke on me while I was pulling it out and I couldn't help but worry that, if the cork was faulty, the wine might be faulty as well. There was a heavy sigh of relief though after the first taste. The wine was still rich and velvety on the tongue. There was noticeable, although refined, oaking and some subtle hints of tropical fruit still shone through.

A rare treat but oh so enjoyable. There haven't been many wines on my journey that have as hallowed a history as the Art Series Chardonnay but isn't that exactly why we try to experience as many different wines and regions as we can. It makes those special occasions all that more special.

A Wine to Blow Gismondi's Tits Off

As Vancouver gears up for the annual International Wine Festival, we full-blooded Aussie-philes are are in for some even bigger treats than usual. The featured region at this year's festival is Australia and one of the side benefits is that the Australia Wine Appreciation Society is calling on an old friend and dragging her out for an AWAS winery dinner.

Jane Ferrari is about as iconic a figure as you can find in the world of Australian wine and she has likely done as much as anyone I can think of when it comes to promoting Australian wine in Vancouver. The first real recollection I have of Jane was a seminar she led for the Wine Festival. She was talking about Yalumba's reintroduction of Viognier to the world and the seminar was called "The Viognier Monologues" - after the hot play of the time ("The Vagina Monologues" if you're not a theatre buff).

As you might guess, this is one witty lady. At tonight's AWAS dinner, she not only gave us the goods on Yalumba (in specific) and the Barossa and Australia in general, but she often had the assembled gang in full out laughter - and example being her history lesson on how the Aussies would likely be speaking Dutch now if the English hadn't been kicked out of the States around the same time the colonization of Oz was taking place.

Equally charming were her descriptions of politicians as "the same bum in a different pair of pants" and the early days of Australian cuisine as "boil, bake and ruin."

I can't recall the question or topic that prompted her bons mots that "they all feel like George Clooney in the dark" but that will be a phrase I'm sure to make use of in the days to come.

The girl knows her stuff though and we were treated to nine wines and four courses. I heard a number of people (myself and Boo included) who commented that this might have been the best meal to be served up at Tramonto restaurant (a frequent location for AWAS dinners). I know that the Smoked Pork Belly Confit with Tomato Spaetzle, Salsa Verde and Chili Chicharron was to die for! They could have continued to bring plate after plate of that dish - along with the two vintages of The Menzies Cab Sauv - and I wouldn't have complained one bit.

The wine I'm going to add to The List, however, was one of the last of the evening and I'm choosing it because you can't currently find it or buy it in Canada. Indeed, Jane announced that the previous night was the first time that the Paradox Shiraz had been in Canada. Naturally, she added that it "blew Gismondi's tits off." ("Gismondi" being local wine scribe Anthony Gismondi.)

1869. 2010 Yalumba - Paradox North Barossa Shiraz (Barossa Valley - Australia)

This is the first vintage of Paradox and it was so named because, like a paradox, this is a Barossa Shiraz that is contrary to what you might normally expect from the region. Not from the school of high octane and heavily oaked wines with huge fruit, this is a "softer, gentler" Shiraz. Paradox is one of the "Distinguished Sites" series that the Yalumba website describes as "wines from venerable and elite vineyards whose provenance have been identified for individuality, consistency and a unique expression of Barossa terroir."

Paradox is "fermented using the natural yeasts from the vineyard and aged with minimal winemaker influence." The website further advises that, while the 2010 growing season started off with some problematic winds while the fruit was setting, in the end many at Yalumba feel that wine lovers will look back on 2010 as being one of the great Barossa Shiraz vintages. Bottled in early 2012, the wine could age for another twenty or more years. Not that I could wait that long.

The dinner was my unofficial start to this year's Wine Festival and I can only hope that the rest of festival can match our dinner. It's quite an effort to corral fifty-plus wineries from Down Under. Here's hoping the Aussies who make the journey to our shores enjoy themselves as much as I hope to enjoy their wines.

As Jane pointed out, "it's a long way from Alice Springs to Vancouver." I, for one, am a happy Bob every time she does.

A Memorial AWAS Peter Lehmann Dinner

I don't usually add bottles to The List when attending various wine dinners or tastings - mostly just because we aren't really in charge of the bottle or how it's being poured - but tonight's AWAS dinner in celebration of Peter Lehmann's life is going to be an exception. Mr. Lehmann passed away earlier in the year and was a long time friend of Vancouver's Australian Wine Appreciation Society. The society partnered up with the winery, with Q4 Restaurant and with International Cellars to put on one of the finest wine dinners I can remember.

The food was great. The memorial stories were both interesting and funny. Oh, and yeah, there were some fairly awesome wines being poured - including two vintages of Wigan Riesling, two Margaret Semillons, an '09 Mentor Cab and two Shiraz bottlings, a 2001 Barossa Eden Valley Shiraz and a 2010 EVS Eden Valley Shiraz.

Luckily for us, not all of the winery and other dignitaries were seated at a head table. We were pleasantly surprised when Matt Lane, Vice-President Peter Lehmann Wines for the Americas, sat down and joined us. Not only is Matt a veritable fount of knowledge on Peter Lehmann wines - and Aussie wines in general - he's a very funny man. There were more than a couple zingers that had us in stitches. He claimed that it's just because his jokes get funnier as an evening progresses and the alcohol kicks in - but I think he can hold his own with the whole speaking in public bit. It's not just about his plying us with wine, although I'm more than willing to laugh with him if he keeps pouring wines like he was tonight.

My favourite of Matt's lines was that "Aussies have a perverted love for Riesling. It's the country's second favourite breakfast drink - after Champagne." After that line, I realized that I might just have more Aussie in me than I ever thought before. I suggest you follow Matt on Twitter @champagnelane

1458.  2009 Peter Lehmann - Ruediger VSV Cabernet Sauvignon (Barossa Valley)

If Matt threw out my favourite line of the night, the Ruediger VSV Cab Sauv was my favourite wine of the night. It was one of the wines paired with foie gras ravioli, veal succo and shaved parma prosciutto and I can't recall having ever seen the Ruediger VSV before. That may well be because - much to my dismay - there isn't a whole lot of it around. "VSV" stands for "Very Special Vineyards" and the Ruediger Cab is a single site wine sourced from the Ruediger family's Barossa vineyard that straddles two distinct growing districts in the Barossa. The Light Pass district is known for its sandy loam soils while the Ebenezer district features red, loamy clay. The Ruediger vineyards are only separated by a single road but the combination of fruit from both sides of that road permits the winery to showcase a greater depth in the profile of this Barossa Cab.

With a healthy dose of black fruit on the nose and palate, there'd be no mistaking this for an austere Old World Cab but I see absolutely no problem with that. This was no fruit bomb, however, and that's probably enough said. I usually think of Shiraz when thinking Barossa. Just as I would probably think Coonawarra or Margaret River when jonesing on Aussie Cab. This is a definite reason to not simply pigeon-hole specific regions to specific grapes though.

I guess when you're a top flight producer - like Peter Lehmann - their premium wines are simply going to be premium, regardless of grape or region.

I was a very happy Bob tonight and was sure to join in heartily with the toast to Mr. Lehmann. As the evening's program nicely captured with a quote from James Halliday, one of Australia's best known wine writers, "Few people become legends in their own lifetime. Peter Lehmann is one."

Plantagenet Bubbles

We've found ourselves facing a bit of a conundrum. Why is it that we seemed to stay more in touch with Miss Jaq when she was on the other side of the world in Abu Dhabi than we do now that she back in Vancouver? Just one of life's little mysteries and a underlying belief that our current proximity will lend itself to easy access I suppose.

Proximity doesn't always lend itself to fitting each other into busy schedules though - particularly when Boo's and my wine-drenched activities can scare a girl when she's on the Merlot Boy No Merlot Diet. Not that Miss Jaq scares easily.

We managed to work this Sunday morning into everyone's calendar and, naturally, Miss Jaq wasn't feeling on the top of her game. Thoughts of strolling The Drive for brunch morphed into something a little less taxing: bubble, chat and coffee. A few of of our favourite things.

1271.  1997 Plantagenet Mount Barker Brut (Western Australia)

As you might guess from the '97 vintage, this bottle has been hanging around for awhile - waiting for an appropriate occasion (and, without doubt, any get together with Miss Jaq qualifies). Boo and I won this bottle at the very first Australia Wine Appreciation Society event we attended. I'm not even sure how many years ago that was but, suffice it to say, it was long before I started this blog.

I can't say that I'm accustomed to seeing Plantagenet wines on Vancouver wine shelves. Indeed, I'm not sure that I've ever seen another bottle of their wines here. The winery was established by Tony Smith in 1974 and was named after Plantaganet shire, the region that surrounds the town of Mount Barker. The region itself is named after the English royal house that ruled from 1154 to 1399. Smith, himself, is a descendent of the Plantagenets and he purchased land 350 kilometres south-east of Perth and planted a trial vineyard in 1968 with Shiraz and Cab Sauv. Three years later, he planted more vines and produced its first vintage in 1974. During the following year, they purchased an old apple packing shed on the highway nearby and, voilà, the region's first winery and cellar door was born.

Nowadays, Tony Smith is still involved in the management of Plantagenet; however, the winery was sold in 2000. They now produce approximately 60,000 cases annually under the Plantagenet, Omrah and Hazard Hill brands.

I couldn't find much information about this Brut. It doesn't seem to have left much of a trail on the internet. Plantagenet still makes a Brut but I can't definitely say that our older vintage was made in the same traditional method that the current wines are made. I think it's fair to hazard a guess and say that production methods are similar and that, if that's the case, this is a classic Chardonnay/Pinot Noir blend. It certainly had those classic biscuit notes - likely intensified by the additional years of ageing.

Boo is encouraging me to pull more of these classics out of the "cellar." Guess if we can find more occasions to fit Miss Jaq into the schedule, it'll be easy.

The 2013 Annual AWAS Gala Dinner

Amongst its variety of tastings, Vancouver's Australian Wine Appreciation Society hosts an annual Gala Dinner and for the last five years, it's been building on a tradition of raiding the society's cellar and creating the dinner around 10-year old wines that have been salted away by our cellar master. The evening's assortment of wines included some promising treats - despite the fact that the dinner started with a caution that 2003 was a difficult vintage for most of Australia.

2003 might have been a year of rains and short growing seasons but you wouldn't have known it from the wines that we were poured. I guess it just goes to show that the best winemakers can still pull off good wines in challenging vintages. Production levels might be down and 100-point scores might be missing, but the best wines still manage to make a statement.

The dinner was held at Tramonto Restaurant at the River Rock Casino and the evening's menu had some treats to match the wines. Plate-wise, a favourite of Boo's and mine was the parsnip velouté with duck confit and balsamic pear chutney. The '03 Rockford Semillon and Vasse Felix Chardonnay weren't my favourite pours of the night - as the whites showed a little more age than I tend to appreciate - but the soup more than made up for it. I held back from licking the bowl clean but I was sorely tempted. The Grosset Polish Hill Riesling (from an earlier course) fared a bit better for me. Even so, the minerality that showed prominently with its age made it a difficult match for the sweet shellfish that it was served with.

The reds hit a much better note for me - and they weren't even being paired with lamb. I'm not sure that I remember the last Aussie-themed dinner I attended that didn't feature a bit of lamb on the menu. Smoked sablefish and stuffed chicken leg filled in for the lamb tonight and we were none-the-worse for it (and that's coming from a great lover of lamb). Another surprise - beyond the lack of lamb - was the fact that a Samuel's Gorge Shiraz from McLaren Vale was poured. I'd never heard of Samuel's Gorge until last Spring when Boo and I spent a couple days in the region and Samuel's Gorge was the winery right down the road from where we were staying at Chapel Hill. Here, I thought we'd cottoned on to a hidden gem and AWAS has had some of their wine in the cellar for years.

The Samuel's Gorge was paired with a Shiraz from Heartland. This is a project of well known Aussie winemaker Ben Glaetzer and this Shiraz hails from the lesser known Limestone Coast and Fleurieu Peninsula that is a little further south of McLaren Vale. It was interesting that neither Shiraz was from the Barossa. Indeed, it was the Rockford Cab Sauv that hailed from the Barossa and it was matched with a Coonawarra St. Hugo's Cab from Jacob's Creek.

1249.  2003 Elderton Botrytis Semillon (Riverina - Australia)

All the reds delivered nicely and I'd be hard pressed to pick a favourite from them. The one bottle that I'm going to add to The List from the Gala, however, is an Aussie take on classic Sauternes. Tramonto's chef took the promised tropical notes and luscious richness of this Elderton treat to heart and served it with a first for me: deep fried crème brûlée and pineapple carpaccio.

Yup. Anyone. Anytime. Anywhere. If you're going to end my dinner with crème brûlée and dessert wine, you're likely sending me home a happy Bob. That was definitely the case tonight. I'm not sure how one deep fries crème brûlée but I'm more than willing to risk the additional calories to try it out again.

For the moment though, we'll just have to wait to see what surprises will be in store for next year's dinner and the selection of the 2004 vintage wines.

A Clare Riesling to Enjoy

1343.  2010 Mitchell - Watervale Riesling (Clare Valley - Australia)

Unfortunately, the timing of our little Aussie Wine Adventure last year didn't give Boo and I a chance to jaunt up to the Clare Valley. If we had have been able to fit in a short visit, Mitchell definitely would have been one of our "can't miss" wineries. Mitchell isn't all that well known in the Vancouver market but I discovered it a couple of years back when the Australian Wine Appreciation Society (AWAS) had an impromptu tasting with winery owners and proprietors, Jane and Andrew Mitchell.

The Clare Valley is a narrow, 40 kilometre valley located a couple of hours above Adelaide (and beyond the Barossa Valley). It's home to over 40 wineries and is probably best known for dry, crisp Rieslings. While our tasting also featured some of Mitchell's red wines, I was lucky enough to grab one of the last bottles of Riesling that remained at Everything Wine.

Regular readers will know that I'm a bit of a Riesling fiend. That being said, the Clare Valley Rieslings that tend to make it to our markets aren't generally faves of mine. I can find the trademark acidity to be somewhat overbearing at times. While there was no missing the bracing acidity with the Mitchell wine, there was a nice touch of tree fruit on the palate in addition to the expected lime notes - this is definitely along the style lines I favour.

The Mitchells established the winery in 1975 and are consistently lauded by Aussie critics - notably, they hold a five-star rating from James Halliday (his highest). Part of the Mitchell story that I particularly enjoyed hearing was their transition to dry farming and to organic and/or biodynamic vineyard management. While discussing the idiosyncracies of biodynamics, Jane confessed that when she started life as a winery owner, she never envisioned spending a good part of her Sunday's "shovelling cowshit to make compost sprays." That statement - coming from this pleasant, well-mannered woman - caught everyone by surprise and resulted in some big laughs.

I don't know how good the wine would have been without the Mitchell's particular farming regime and Jane's regular shovel action, but I do know that Boo was a happy as a pig in sh*t with his calamari and I was just as happy with my Riesling. I think we need to do this more often.

A Grand Pairing - Ferrari & Octavius

Vancouver's just awash in divas lately - Madonna, Streisand, Gaga and now Jane Ferrari. At least that's how Yalumba's Winemaker - Communications was introduced to us at our Australian Wine Appreciation Society dinner.  Having met and listened to Jane on other stops during her past travels, I'm willing to grant her the intriguing personality of a diva - after all who else would title a presentation seminar, "The Viognier Monologues?"  She was quick to point out to this evening's crowd though that we definitely weren't going to find her sporting any tin cone bras or arriving decked out in nothing but meat.

If nothing else, Jane Ferrari has the gift of the gab - but she's far more than that - and, despite the fact that she advised us that "the more you've had to drink, the funnier you'll find me," she had us hanging on everything she was saying from "word one." Having been raised in Alice Springs (no doubt the source of many stories of their own), she moved on to winemaking.  After starting with Yalumba, she left to work with big names in the Barossa like Glaetzer and Rockford, only to return to Yalumba in 1997 - where she's remained ever since.

Nowadays, she travels the world spreading the good word on Yalumba and Aussie wines in general.  She's a natural and, earlier this year, while  traversing snow-covered Ontario roads, Jane was advised that the Wine Communicators of Australia had named her the group's 2012 Communicator of the Year.

It was a real treat to have her walk us through an ever-so-tasty flight that showed the breadth of Yalumba's wines.  We tasted nine wines that included a Tassie sparkler, Eden Valley Riesling, Coonawarra Cab and even botrytis affected Viognier - but my favourite of the night was one of Yalumba's hallmark wines, The Octavius Shiraz.  This is not a wine that I get to enjoy unless someone is pouring it at a special occasion like this.  It's been referred to as "quintessential" and "big ticket" in the wine press; so, I'm adding it to The List.

1254.  2006 Yalumba The Octavius (Barossa - Australia)

Jane likened The Octavius to a Barossan take on a Côte-Rôtie Syrah from the Rhône.  The wine gets its name from the fact that it's matured in "octaves" - 100 litre capacity barrels.  Yalumba's website states that The Octavius is the "only red wine in the world that is matured in such small barrels."  Jane further expounded that, in the wine's early years, those small barrels almost got the best of the wine - especially since the wine is aged for 8-10 years.  She mentioned that it was often referred to as "Oak-tavius."  The barrel program has been redesigned so that it now incorporates both French and American oak (rather that strictly American) and the staves are aged prior to the assembly of the barrels.  It certainly helps that those barrels are crafted at Yalumba's own on-site cooperage - not many wineries have that luxury.

There were a number of descriptors thrown about while tasting this wine, but whether your take on this wine was "metrosexual," "velvety," restrained or robust, it's still a stunner - with dark fruit and "chocolate" jumping out of the glass.

The wine was paired with Roast Elk, Preserved Cherries and Spiced Chocolate Jus.  I don't know if the Aussies have much opportunity to pair Shiraz with Elk back home, but they should try!  No doubt, The Octavius would have been just as tasty with the Smoked Braised Shortrib that we had earlier.  Hell, I'd've happily knocked it back with the Lime Cured Tuna that we had as a first course if there was no other way to taste it.  But, pairing it with the elk was delicious.

I think it's fair to say that Jane is just as delicious.  I'd also venture that this was one of the most enjoyable AWAS dinners I've ever attended.  I heartily suggest you take advantage of any opportunity you can to meet up with Ms. Ferrari,  I don't think you'll regret it and, indeed, you don't have to wait for her to come to you.  You can follow her adventures and hear the odd story or two on Jane's blog.  I know I look forward to our next encounter.

An AWAS & Tyrrell's Wine Dinner

Some bottles of wine definitely become more of an archived memory than others and not necessarily because they're wildly extravagant or expensive.  One bottle that I have a particular fondness for was a simple Tyrrell's Long Flat Red that I pretty much polished off on my own one night, back in 1996, as I spent the evening writing away at postcards in an Alice Springs restaurant.  As you might imagine, the postcards became more and more interesting as the night progressed and the Long Flat Red disappeared.  If memory serves (and it will be highly suspect), the last card was to Boo - whom I had only just met the month before I left for Australia - consisting of a poem that revolved around words like "Boo," "Roo," "Blue" and "You."

I'm sure you get the picture.  

Well, Tyrrell's no longer makes Long Flat Red.  They sold the Long Flat brand back in 2003 but, like my memories of Oz, the winery carries on and it continues to be a force in Australian winemaking.  One of the twelve family owned wineries that make up Australia's First Families of Wine, a multi-generational group of leading winemakers, Tyrrell's is also the focus of an Australian Wine Appreciation Society dinner tonight.

As much as I love a good drop of Aussie wine - and despite the aforementioned evening with that Long Flat Red - I know very little about Tyrrell's.  There don't appear to be many of their wines available locally.  As such, I was quite looking forward to this AWAS Dinner, particularly since it was being held at the Fish House - one of those well-established Vancouver restaurants that I just never seem to make it to.   Unfortunately for Boo, he got called into work; so, my Dad had to fill in as a last minute replacement.  Lucky for Dad; sad for Boo.

Bruce Tyrrell was our special guest of the evening and, like most of the Aussie winemakers that visit AWAS, he was good for more than a few bracing stories.  One of the best was Bruce's recounting of how Tyrrell's obtained their first Chardonnay vines.  Bruce's father was an admirer of Burgundian Chardonnays but, back in the 60's, there wasn't much Chardonnay to be found in Australia.  The Tyrrell's asked the Penfold's gang, just down the road, if they would give them some cuttings.  After years of refusals, Bruce's dad simply snuck into the Penfold's vineyard one night and liberated some.  Ultimately, Tyrrell's bought the whole vineyard.

The winery's history of stories goes well back as well as it was established in the Hunter Valley, an hour and a half out of Sydney, in 1858.  It was named Australia's Winery of the Year in the 2010 James Halliday Wine Companion - one of the country's foremost wine references - and now has vineyards in McLaren Vale, the Limestone Coast (both in South Australia) and Heathcote (Victoria state) regions as well the original Hunter Valley estate.  Tyrrell's Semillons and Chardonnays are considered to be "pacesetters" and we got to try lovely examples of both.

As enjoyable as the whites were, however, I was far more taken with the four Shiraz wines we tried.  I don't generally add a wine to The List from these winery dinners, but I am tonight.  Since it's my blog, it's my rules and I'm not likely to see another bottle of some of these wines ever again.  It only makes sense to me.

1251. 2006 Tyrrell's - Rufus Stone Heathcote Shiraz (Heathcote - Victoria - Australia)

I don't see Victorian Shiraz nearly as often as I see the varietal grown in other regions; so, the Heathcote seemed to be a good choice to add to The List.  That and the fact that the cooler growing conditions in the region help retain a nice level of acidity to match the typical dark Aussie fruit.

I could have easily picked either of the more robust, higher end Vat 9 or 4 Acres Hunter Shiraz wines that we enjoyed but I happened to take a picture of the Rufus Stone; so, Heathcote it is.  Regardless of the bottle that was chosen, our dinner of sablefish, two-way lamb, duck breast and confit risotto and the Tyrrell's line up was a far cry from my days of Long Flat Red and a 4'n'20 meat pie of old.  Definitely no complaints on my part.

AWAS Thorne-Clarke Dinner

Another post that I will have to expand upon.  An Australia Wine Appreciation dinner with Thorne-Clarke out of the Barossa and another "milestone" of a number on The List.

1200. 2003 Thorn Clarke Shotfire - Quartage (Barossa - Australia)

G'Day to Ya!

I suppose I really should keep in mind the fact that I'm somewhat behind in my posts. I can't really afford the luxury of waxing away endlessly on an entry that isn't going to result in my being able to add another wine to The List. Tonight's annual Australia Wine Appreciation Society Gala Dinner begs a bit of a mention though.

It can be a bit of a blogging disappointment when I recount a wine dinner like tonight's. Opportunities to try some of the wines that make their way out of the AWAS Cellar can be rare, but the couple of ounces we get to savour don't seem to justify adding a full bottle to The List - as much as I'd love to. Tonight's celebration - which actually coincides with Australia Day - is no exception. The special occasion saw the association pull out an assortment of wines from "a variety of regions to demonstrate the quality of the 2002 vintage across Australia."

The evening revolved around five courses and nine wines - with the wines representing seven different wine districts. Australia may not have a specific appellation system in place but almost all the big production areas were covered - Hunter Valley, Margaret River, Yarra Valley, Clare Valley, Barossa, Coonawarra and the Limestone Coast. Some might quibble that we were missing Tasmania and McLaren Vale, but I think it might have been difficult to bring any more wines to the table - even though we'd arranged to SkyTrain home from the RiverRock Casino where it was being held.

The nine wines we enjoyed hailed from nine different wineries as well - from AWAS favourites like Wolf Blass and Peter Lehmann to some that I'd never heard of before. Prior to tonight, I can't say that I've ever tasted a wine from - or even heard of - Margan (Hunter Valley), Lengs & Cooter (Clare Valley) or Rockford (Barossa Valley). Interestingly, Boo's and my favourite wines of the night were from two of those previously unknown wineries. Boo loved the Rockford Rifle Range Cab Sauv so much that he said he'd let me off to leash to buy some - if I could find it. My favourite of the evening was the Lengs & Cooter "The Victor" Shiraz Grenache.

We might well have uncovered a couple of wineries that we somehow have to fit into our tasting regime when we head Down Under in April. As if we didn't have enough wineries already to fill three vacations.

The restaurant, Tramonto's, chefs served up some incredible courses as well - almost to the point of there being too much food. And, if big boys like Boo and I are saying that, you know no one went home hungry. Last year's Gala Dinner was held here as well, but I think they raised the bar appreciably this year. The rabbit terrine and the roasted leg of lamb were easily dishes that I'd return to order again.

In addition to the wines and meal, I loved the moment where we were introduced to Robert McKay, one of Tramonto's sous chefs. The RiverRock is justifiably proud of Robert as he was one of the few, during last year's Vancouver Hockey Riot, that tried to stop the mob from smashing the windows of and looting the Bay's downtown store. Screaming, "Not in my city" as he valiantly stood his ground, he was severely beaten for standing up for Vancouver. I recall seeing the internet clip of him standing his ground and the ugliness of the rioters beating on him. His bravery that night still brings tears to my eyes.

The evening's wine and dinner were enough to make it memorable - whether or not I get to add a wine to The List - but being reminded of Robert's bravery was the icing on the cake. He, alone, makes the "extra effort" of this post worth it. Good on ya mate!

Mitchell - A New Take on GSM

One of the last things I need, having just recently returned from the annual BC Wine Appreciation Society Bus Tour, is a wine tasting. Notice of an impromptu opportunity to meet with the proprietors of Mitchell winery in the Clare Valley proved a little too tempting though. Attendance was limited to a dozen people and it was being held at Everything Wine. AWAS had never met at this location before and I knew nothing about Mitchell.

Jane and Andrew Mitchell established the boutique winery in 1975 and pre-eminent Aussie wine writer, James Halliday, calls them "one of the stalwarts of the Clare Valley." Mr. and Mrs. met with us and recounted many intriguing stories about their experiences and about winemaking in the Clare Valley. Plus, they walked us through four of their wines that are now being offered in the Vancouver market.

The Clare Valley is a narrow, 40 kilometer valley located a couple of hours North of Adelaide. It's home to more than 40 wineries and is probably best known for dry, crisp Rieslings. Mitchell definitely has its Riesling; however, they complete their limited production with plantings of Semillon, Shiraz, Merlot, Grenache and Cab Sauv. Mitchell's vineyards are totally organic or biodynamic and are in the process of being certified. The grapes are all dry-grown and, therefore, vine yields are low. Jane was particularly happy to announce that it's taken six years; however, the vineyard soils are now laden with worms. As the group continued to talk about the idiosyncracies of biodynamics, Jane confessed that when she started life as a winery owner, she never envisioned spending a good part of her Sunday's "shovelling cowshit to make compost sprays."

It's no mistake that Jane heads up the marketing and brand promotion aspects of the winery. She can weave a story with the best of them.

Everything Wine's delivery schedule hadn't worked out as planned. So, there was a limited selection of wines available for purchase (probably a good thing for both Boo and I), but I did grab a couple of bottles and thought I better let Boo try one right away so that he wouldn't be too upset with me having picked up the bottles that I did.

935. 2007 Mitchell GSM (Clare Valley - Australia)

GSM wines are well-known as Aussie Rhone-like blends of Grenache, Shiraz and Mourvèdre and they're chock-a-block in South Australia. The "S" in Mitchell's GSM doesn't stand for Shiraz, however. Rather, it's an "S" as in Sangiovese. Before, the Mitchells started producing this GSM, they had only made a straight Grenache varietal. When they decided to try a blend, they found that the Shiraz overwhelmed the softness that was their cooler climate Grenache. So, they experimented with a small percentage of Sangiovese with the Mourvèdre.

Like Jane, I found it to be enjoyably soft with a bit of spice to it. Jane says that she even chills it and serves it like a Rosé during the hot summers. As opposed to the bigger Barossa GSM's, she finds it to be more Spanish in its taste. They are continually told that people say that this isn't a wine that they'd expect to come from Australia.

Production of all their wines is limited. They might be able to totally max out at 25,000 cases; however, it's more usual to see a vintage of 12,000 cases. With 70% of Mitchell's output staying behind in Oz, it doesn't leave an awful lot of wine to make its way around the world. I'm glad to see that Vancouver is now going to be getting a share. I look forward to trying the couple varietal wines that I was able to grab as well.

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie. Oy, Oy, Oy.

During the week leading up to the Vancouver Games, one of the lead stories for a day or so was the fact that the International Olympic Committee had issued an edict to the Australian team that they could not hand their 30 metre square "Fighting Kangaroo" flag from a balcony in the Athletes' Village. Vancouverites were aghast and, en masse, took to the airwaves to proclaim their disdain for the IOC. The mayors of both Vancouver and neighbouring Surrey announced that they would fly the flag throughout their respective cities if the IOC didn't back down.

Sure enough the IOC decided better than to take on both the Aussies and the host city. However, the damage had been done. The story went international - particularly down under - and many a Vancouver home, including our's, found a boxing kangaroo flag to fly.

Shortly after that, Boo and I received a call from out of the blue. With all the extra publicity the flag flap was getting in Melbourne, our buddy, Merlot Boy, rang us up to see if we could put him up if he could find a last minute flight. Seems he couldn't handle the thought of watching the Games on the telly when he'd intimately know so many of the locations from his numerous visits.

Well, gosh darn, if he didn't do it!! Couldn't arrange things to get here until the first week of the Games was almost over, but he arrived in time to take in the final ten days and see "his second home" at its winter best.

He arrived on the Thursday and, wouldn't you know it, his arrival coincided with Australian, Torah Bright, winning a gold medal in Women's Snowboard Half-Pipe. Feeling magnanimous, I told Merlot Boy that we'd fly the Fighting Roo flag at our place until we'd replace it with the Canadian Maple Leaf when we won our next gold medal. How could the next wine be anything but Australian?

369. 2002 Cape Jaffa Shiraz (Limestone Coast - Australia)

Since Merlot Boy is still not drinking as part of his new diet regime, it doesn't matter one wit that this is a Shiraz and not a Merlot. I first ran across Cape Jaffa at an Australia Wine Appreciation Society tasting a couple of years back. Derek and Anna Hooper, principals and winemakers for Cape Jaffa, came to introduce their wines to the Vancouver area and I was captivated with both the wines and the winery's commitment to biodynamic production.

Cape Jaffa was the first fully certified biodynamic vineyard on the Limestone Coast (300 km south of Adelaide) and one of only four in South Australia. The region is consider cool climate Australian and the Hooper's are steadfast in holding that their "holistic approach" of no artificial fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides or pesticides results a closer definition of the relationship between vine, vineyard and the wine that results.

It doesn't take much imagination to taste a stronger earthiness to the flavours in the wine. If it takes the tying of vineyard operations to the phases of the moon and intriguing fertilizing concoctions to create a wine of such intensity, I think it might be worthy of more investigation.

Our little Aussie celebration actually continued into the next day as well because Merlot boy had asked Boo and I to keep his arrival a surprise from our mutual friends - including Daveyboi, Mr. D and Elzee. Daveyboi was out of town on the Thursday arrival, so we forced our way into his place to start the weekend. It took a bit of convincing because, all this time, we were referring to Merlot Boy as "an Aussie friend" of his, Adam, that was coming to town. All Daveyboi knew was that Merlot Boy had asked us to give Adam a bit of guidance and to play tour guide if he asked. I told Daveyboi that this was our only chance to get together with Adam and go out for dinner. There simply was no saying "no."

When Daveyboi opened his apartment door and saw Merlot Boy grinning there, he just stood stunned. He truly needed a glass of our next bottle to get over the shock.

370. 2006 Wits End Free Settler & The Convict Shiraz/Grenache (South Australia)

I couldn't find as much information about this wine on the net. It's hard to forget the name though; so, I

know that I've seen it at a couple of parties over the last couple of years. Turns out, Wits End is the marketing name that Chalk Hill winery uses for its wines in North America.

Like Cape Jaffa, Chalk Hill is located south of Adelaide in South Australia; however, Chalk Hill is only 60 km away. While Chalk Hill has yet to go the organic or biodynamic route of Cape Jaffa, it still boasts a commitment to the environment. The winery has associated itself with and donates partial proceeds to Greening Australia, an organization committed to protecting and resoring the health, diversity and productivity of unique Australian landscapes.

Not even the thrill of a gold medal, the laugh of surprising Daveyboi, nor the healthy nature of both of these wines was enough to get Merlot boy to join in with us on a sip.

For the moment, he was satisfied with being here and taking in the sights - including the Vectoral Elevation lights from Daveyboi's balcony. The big question was how much longer could he hold out?

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie.......

Olympic Buzz - Fact or Fiction?

So, with a week to go until the Opening Ceremonies, there have been two major topics of discussion making the rounds - firstly, the warm weather and lack of snow on local mountains and, then, the lack of any palpable buzz among the general populace. It doesn't look like there's going to be any change to the weather at all, but the excitement does seem to be building. It's just surprising that it really has taken this long.

If anyone is doing her part to build the buzz, it's Lady Di. She invited Boo and I over so that he could take some pictures of the Olympic Rings that she and She Who Must Be Obeyed have hung on their balcony. She then did her utmost to ensure that Boo would get caught up in her new passion of Olympic pin collecting. As you can see, she's off to a grand start - before the Games have even opened.

Speaking of "opened," you know there's a wine twist to this entry and it's a big'un. The girls are in the midst of some kitchen renovations and the new super-size fridge was delivered in the afternoon. Everything had to be moved around and boxes were blocking parts of the hallway and closets - and that included the wine closet! The best she could do was slip an arm into the closet and just pull out the first bottle that she could locate.

Lucky us!! I'm ever so glad that she didn't put it to the side and reach in for another.

344. 2002 Barossa Valley Estate Black Pepper Shiraz (Barossa - Australia)

This is one heckuva "special occasion" wine. Black Pepper Shiraz has been scored at 90+ points by Wine Spectator for nine years in a row and the 2002 vintage was given a whopping 97. James Halliday, one of Australia's leading wine writers is just as effusive about the wine. He gives it a 95. Black Pepper Shiraz was also named by Wine Spectator as one of Australia's Top 25 Benchmark wines.

Normally, I'm not one to just bow down to high wine scores, but I do crave this wine and have had the opportunity to enjoy on more than a couple of occasions. Lady Di and I went to an Australia Wine Appreciation Society tasting four or five years back where, BVE's winemaker (and resident character), Stuart Bourne, kept us entertained and enthralled by both his stories and his wine. I'd try to get a lot more of this Shiraz but they generally come in at around $100 a pop and, unfortunately, that's not my regular price point.

Good thing we loved the girls' rings and pin collection. Otherwise, I might have been afraid that the Lady could pop a cork in the bottle after one glass and shuttle us out the door. Instead, we decided to go for a bit of tour of the West End to look for other examples of rings and/or Olympic fever. Driving around the downtown with an open bottle of wine wasn't going to be the best of choices in these security laden times; so, we sacreligiously poured the balance of the bottle in those mini-Coke bottles. The wine was dark enough that it might have passed for coke - so long as no one tried to smell them.

These were truly "road pops" like no other.

Our first stop was the giant rings off Stanley Park, in Coal Harbour, where we could look back at the city and the lit up Trade & Convention Centre. This was the first time that we've seen the rings from this viewpoint and they look great. We weren't there at one of the times when the rings go through varying shows of colour but they're still one of my favourite installations for the Games.

We carried on to English Bay and Sunset Beach where the big Vectorial Elevation installation lights up the night sky. By now the Coke bottles were long empty, so we watched the light variations for a bit and moved on. There were maybe another two sets of Olympic Rings hanging on balconies.

I trust the buzz is coming. Guess we'll find out by this time next week.

Wine Olympics (Guerilla, that is)

They might have been flying in the face of VANOC marketing guidelines, but Vancouver wine history was made the other night when four of the local wine societies got together to host the Vancouver Wine Olympics. Knowing how VANOC (the Olympic Organizing Committee) doesn't take so kindly to the unauthorized use of the "O" word, we all had to be sworn to secrecy and silence during the course of the evening. No one wanted to be shut down for guerilla marketing before we'd even had the chance to sample the wines.

I'm not exactly sure that the local populace has been ecstatic in its embrace of the Games. For the longest time, you'd be hard-pressed to think that the upcoming Winter Olympics were going to create any excitement in VanCity at all. However, that didn't stop the members of the BC, Australia, American and French wine societies from jumping at the chance to buy the less than 100 tickets available for this special tasting.

The concept was that each of the four societies would chose three red wines - all had to be currently available in town and had to cost less than $40. All wines would then be served up blind to a cross mixture of all four societies and ranked. The top three wines (and their respective society) - as chosen by the participants - would be awarded gold, silver and bronze medals.

Each society was only allotted 22 tickets and all of them were sold out within a day. So no one group had an advantage in numbers and no one in attendance knew which wines were which when they were poured.

After some time for tasting and table discussion, everyone was asked to rank the 12 wines from 1 - 12 (or at least 1 - 10, with three 10's). It was very evident at our table that there were some wines that were clearly enjoyed and others that met with some rather nasty reactions.

I was actually surprised a bit by the fact that I wasn't more blown away by the wines in general. At $40 a bottle, I thought that each of the societies could have come up with some rockin' wines. There were definitely some that I thoroughly enjoyed, but some of them just didn't seem to live up to the occasion.

I do have to admit that, secretly, I was praying that the BC wines didn't finish dead last as a group.

Once the tasting was done and the scores were tallied, there was one big surprise (cum embarrassment?) when, in our own little "Bottleshock" moment, the "bottom" three wines were all presented by the French society. Either they chose wines that matched up much better with food or the wines being imported from France don't really match the Vancouver palate - particularly when you see that they presented a Bordeaux, a St. Chinian and a Rhone as their wines, which would normally right up my alley (or palate).

The top three wines were evenly split between the three remaining societies. Australia took the gold, the US (read California) took silver and the BC home team took bronze.

Those three wines were:

Gold - 2007 St. Halletts Blackwell Shiraz

Silver - 2006 Starmont Merryvale Napa Cabernet Suvignon

Bronze - 2007 Seven Stones Similkameen Meritage

We were told that the Blackwell was a clear winner - by 140 votes - while numbers two, three, four and five were only separated by 7 votes - pretty much a dead heat amongst 88+ voters.

For interest sake, I'll note that the Blackwell was my first choice but Boo's 7th. Whereas we both ranked the Starmont Merrydale as our second picks. Both of us also pegged the number 4 overall wine, the 2006 Thorn-Clarke Shotfire Ridge Shiraz (Australia) as our third fave.

Boo's overall fave didn't fare so well. He picked the 2007 Margaret River Ringbolt Cab Sauv whereas the group ranked it as ninth overall. He only ranked the Blackwell as his 7th pick.

All in all, I think it was a fun evening. I hope they try another tasting - maybe with white wines. The unfortunate part about it is that I don't get to add a bottle to The List since it was only a tasting. I know that I will be grabbing a couple of these bottles down the road.

The Great Chardonnay Challenge

Talk about your dilemmas. I'd booked a ticket for the Australia Wine Appreciation Society's Great Chardonnay Challenge long before the dates had been set for the Canucks' playoff games. Sure enough, the fourth game against St. Louis - the game that could clinch the series for the Canucks - had to fall on the tasting night. There wasn't much of a choice considering the evening on tap but at least I was able to fit in the first two periods of the game before running off to the tasting. Tied game that it was at the time!!

This was the fourth in a biennial series of "world challenges" that AWAS has put on. It all started with a riesling tasting six years ago and it continued with a shiraz and a cabernet challenge. This year, AWAS had organized "7 premium wines from Australia" to be pitted against "7 top wines from the rest of the world" in a blind tasting. The ROW wines were actually a six-pack though because the Italian challenger was a non-starter as the bottle had been compromised, oxidized or something else more insidious.

The Aussie wines hailed from Adelaide Hills (3), Hunter Valley (2), Yarra Valley and Margaret River, while the ROW challengers were comprised of Sonoma, Russian River, Chablis, Burgundy, Argentina and the Okanagan bottles. Scattered amongst the wines were some veritable icons like Penfolds Yattarna, Leeuwin Estates Art Series and two Premier Cru wines. We were advised that, without doubt, this was the "highest calibre line-up" that had ever been put together for an AWAS challenge.

Now, to be straight up, I don't drink a lot of chardonnay. I'm not exactly ABC ("Anything But Chardonnay") but I don't run for it at tastings or at the liquor store. So, I'm hardly a judge on what a stellar chardonnay should taste like, but those in attendance that do know their chardonnay were quite effusive in their compliments while the wines were being discussed.

Since, I didn't sit down and enjoy a whole bottle, once again, I don't get to chalk anything up onto the list (and I might add that this seems to be happening far too much). However, it was interesting to note that, when the overall "scores" from the evening's challenge were announced, the top four wines and three of the four least favourites were all from Oz. The ROW wines pretty much filled the ranks from 5 through 11.

No one gasped in shock when the favourite wine of the night was announced as the 2005 Leeuwin Estate Art Series from the Margaret River region. In fact, we were told that it was quite "far and away" the highest ranked wine. I was intrigued that the Leeuwin Estates had been my first choice during the tasting as well. The Art Series is a wine that I've heard about and never tried - despite the fact that I have a bit of a "thing" going on with Margaret River. Never been Perth-side in Australia, but it's definitely on the Must Visit List. I'd been introduced to some of the region's wines when I first visited down under in 1996 and I couldn't get enough. They're not the easiest wines to find in Vancouver, so that just made them even more alluring.

On the other hand, it might just have been quite the surprise (or a great thrill, depending on how you look at it) that the top choice of the ROW wines - and number 5 for the whole line-up - was the 2006 Mission Hills Perpetua. It was the wine's first vintage and it was the most reasonably priced wine of the evening. Whereas the Art Series clocked in at $110 (not that it can be found in Vancouver), the Perpetua is readily found at $33. My "vote" likely didn't hurt Mission Hill's ranking in that I quite enjoyed the wine and marked it as second on my ballot.

I don't know if I'll be reaching any faster for the chardonnay after the evening, but I'm not devastated that I missed the second half of the game. It took overtime, but the boys won - even though I didn't down another bottle for the Golden Mile. I'll make it up though.