Pinot Envy

I don't always take the opportunity to add a bottle to The List when it comes to the various tastings hosted by the BC Wine Appreciation Society - primarily because I don't finish an entire bottle with the folks I'm immediately next too. But how could I not add a bottle after another stop on the series of BCWAS 10th Anniversary tastings. After all, this time around it was a double blind Pinot Noir tasting.

This is the third blind tasting that BCWAS has thrown to feature popular varietal wines that are regularly produced and well received in BC, the first two being Cabernet Franc and Syrah. This Pinot tasting was exciting because the province's wine regions are becoming particularly well known for their Pinot Noirs. Growing conditions in the province can be quite similar to those classic Pinot regions: Burgundy, Oregon and New Zealand. So, it was time to see how BC's Pinots measured up - against both some international wines and amongst our own producers.

The plan was to hold a double blind tasting of twelve wines - nine from BC and three international. Attendees (almost all members of BCWAS) were to taste all twelve wines and identify their top five choices in order. A grand compilation of those picks was then tallied and the big reveal was made.

In choosing the evening's wines, the Society (and, in the spirit of full disclosure, I was named Cellarmaster last year) tried to pick wines that both represented a variety of BC's wine regions and were wines that could boast a pedigree amongst their peers. As such, we included wines from Lake Country, Kelowna, Okanagan Falls, Summerland, Osoyoos (all in the Okanagan Valley) and the Similkameen Valley. Choosing the three international wines was a little more difficult in that there were a lot to choose from and we were trying to keep the price points in a similar range - and, funnily, nice Burgundy, Central Otago and Oregon's Willamette Valley wines tend to skew a tad higher than a lot of the local wines.

Society members were both pleased, if not a little surprised, to see how the results flowed. The Burgundy (2009 Louis Jadot Santenay) - which was incidentally the most expensive wine of the night at $45 - and the Willamette Valley (2013 Evesham Wood) both finished in the bottom four, as did Blue Mountain's 2011 Reserve. Those familiar with Okanagan wines know that Blue Mountain was one of the first BC wineries to become known for producing wines worth searching out - and their Pinot Noir has always been at the forefront. I think there were a number of folks surprised by the "poor" placing. Rather than recap all of the wines that evening and elaborate on the final results, I'll just refer everyone to Russell Ball's comprehensive Adventures in BC Wine post. Russell has put together a great recap of the wines and how they were received.

As reported by Russ, four of the wines stood out in the choices made by the attendees at large. I think it will suffice to say that my tastes weren't necessarily in sync with the rest of those in attendance. Only one of my five picks was included in the evening's top four - where it finished third. Even though I'd ranked my fifth choice, I think I'll make that the bottle that I add to The List.

1881.  2012 Meyer Family Vineyards - Reimer Pinot Noir (Okanagan Valley VQA)

I'm hardly taken aback by seeing a Meyer wine near the top of our highly sophisticated poll/tasting. After all, the winery's proprietors, JAK Meyer and Janice Stevens, set up shop to explore their passion for premium, single vineyard Pinots and Chardonnays. Quite the fave of BCWAS, this bodes well for a dinner that the society is going to host with Meyer Family Vineyards in late May.

I was drawn to the full body the Reimer displayed in comparison with the other wines but I found it displayed a more earthy, minerality profile than some of the more fruit forward wines that were poured. Regular readers will know that I can be a sucker for big fruit.

The tasting's top two picks of the night - the 2013 Eau Vivre (the only wine from the Similkameen Valley) and the 2012 Kim Crawford Rise and Shine Central Otago didn't break out of the pack for me. The fact that my faves for the evening were revealed as Haywire's 2011 Canyonview, the aforementioned Blue Mountain Reserve and Cedar Creek's 2012 Platinum Block 2 served to re-inforce the fact that I've gravitated to those wines and wineries on many occasion when given a choice. It would seem that I like those wines whether I know what's in my glass - or not. The biggest surprise for me was that I'd ranked the 2012 50th Parallel Pinot as my third pick and I was only recently introduced to them - in fact, it was on last year's BCWAS Bus Tour. Guess they'll be yet another winery to watch for down the road.

All in all, I think the Society was more than pleased by the evening. Some of the participating wineries may not be so thrilled with their placing but it's interesting to note that every one of the twelve wines received an assortment of votes. Indeed, every wine - save one - received at least one first place vote.

I'm already looking forward to the next varietal blind tasting that BCWAS is going to host. The early contender is Riesling - and you know I loves my Riesling.

A Vegan Affair

Other than sometimes having to contend with the odd morning after, the biggest problem our Dinner Club has is trying to schedule an evening when all four couples can attend. Things aren't made any easier now that Matinder and Jeaux spend five months of the year in semi-retirement down in Antigua, particularly since I don't think we can manage to get everyone down there on a regular basis for a dinner club like we did this year. With last night's Holiday Cookie Bash now behind them, our Caribbean couple were charted to head off to the sun in another week.

Although Tyrant had just returned from a month's visit to New Zealand, he and Panda Guy thought we might be able to fit in a dinner before Jeaux and Mat's departure. Luckily for us, Tyrant had access to his old Vancouver condo (and its view of the carol ships in Coal Harbour); so, he brought along his tools of the trade and made his way into town from Salt Spring Island.

The only clue we had as to the dinner's "theme" was that we were all asked to bring along organic wines. For those of you not familiar with Salt Spring, it is well known as a haven for artistic, holistic and organic back-to-nature folk. Upon our arrival and our learning that the evening's fare would all be vegan, we immediately began joking about how, despite Tyrant's carnivorous ways, his current island surroundings must be rubbing off on him. He countered that the theme had more to do with trying to come with something new after more than a decade of Dinner Club gatherings than it did with turning all granola on us.

In any event, it was going to be an interesting evening because none of us could remember ever having partaken in an entire menu plan based on vegan cuisine.

Tyrant started us off with vodka martinis made with Calvados, ginger beer and fresh pressed apple juice from our hosts' own trees. As we sipped away, an array of hors d'oeuvres were presented: sesame crusted tofu batons with dipping sauce, faux crab salad in cucumber cups and pesto seared king oyster mushroom medaillons on daikon rounds. it would seem that vegans have their ways of presenting food so that it reminds you of more familiar foods - like crab and scallops. Regardless, we were off to a tasty start.

1812.  NV Summerhill Pyramid Winery - Cipes Brut (Okanagan Valley VQA)

It only seemed fitting to bring along a bottle of Summerhill Cipes Brut. Not only is it consistently lauded as an excellent example of Okanagan bubbly, Summerhill is as dedicated to organic production as anyone in the Okanagan. Indeed, they've pioneered biodynamic practices where possible in their vineyards and they dedicate a healthy portion of their website to educating consumers on organic farming and wine.

Their website also has a "Note to Vegans" where they state, "although there is no third party verification for vegan wine, Summerhill uses no animal byproducts in its winemaking, and is therefore vegan friendly. We were once asked whether our Biodynamic practices are vegan friendly. Some biodynamic preparations are made by fermenting herbs in stag bladders and cow intestines. These animal parts are not in the wine or in any way touching the grapes. They are used as a medium to create beneficial soil bacteria that aid processes in the grapevine's immune system. We must leave it to each individual vegan to decide whether the biodynamic preparations are a deal breaker or not. Some animal byproducts commonly used in winemaking include fish bladders, gelatin, egg whites, milk and milk byproducts. Summerhill uses none of these ingredients in our wine."

It also didn't hurt that we were pairing the 2014 All Canadian Wine Championships "Sparkling Wine of the Year" with a roasted sweet potato soup (vegetable stock naturally) that had been thickened with puréed macadamia nuts.

1813.  2012 Domaine Fouassier - Les Romains (AOC Sancerre - France)

1814.  2013 TWR - Te Whare Ra Pinot Gris (Marlborough - New Zealand)

My favourite dish of the night was the miso-marinated, grilled Portobello carpaccio with lemon zest, pistachios and arugula in a lemon vinaigrette. It matched up nicely with our pair of whites - a Kiwi Pinot Gris that Tyrant had brought back from his trip as a treat for the Dinner Club and a Sancerre (which is always a treat in my book) that Lady Di had brought. I thought it was interesting that Tyrant brought the Kiwi wine but it was a Pinot Gris and not the variety more associated with New Zealand. The Sauv Blanc hailed from France.

This is the second vintage of Domaine Fouassier to be added to The List, but I've never heard of - let alone tried - TWR. Tyrant ran across them during his Kiwi tour and they are a boutique winery that specializes in organic, small batch wines. The current owners, Jason and Anna Flowerday, took over the vineyards ten years ago and they replanted one of their blocks with a Pinot Gris clone that they felt was suited to their terroir and passion for aromatics. Their site says that 2013 was a textbook summer in Marlborough and, in a little different take from most of the Pinot Gris we see from BC, 40% of the wine was aged and lees-stirred in old French oak to add to the "texture and complexity."

I think it's particularly telling that the owners' name is Flowerday and they are into organic and biodynamic farming. The biodynamic calendar is divided in four days: fruit, leaf, root and flower. Certain activities are planned to be in sync with phases of the lunar calendar to coincide with the most favourable times for sowing, planting, harvesting and even tasting. Flower days are noted for how wines are supposed to taste better on them (and fruit days) as opposed to root or leaf days.

When Tyrant announced the vegan theme for the evening, I checked my phone to see what day it was on the biodynamic calendar (yes, there's an app for that) and saw that it was a root day - not noted for being good days for tasting wine. I didn't know how root days boded for tasting vegan dishes but I hoped for the best.

One of Tyrant's neat little tricks was to serve a kiwi fruit sorbet in a hollowed out kiwi fruit "egg cup." I mean, there are palate cleansers and then are palate cleansers. Such a witty play on Tyrant's recent adventures down under.

1815.  2011 Carrick - Bannockburn Pinot Noir (Central Otago - New Zealand)

1816.  2010 Covert Farms MDC (Okanagan Valley VQA)

A bit of a break in the menu prompted another two bottles to be opened and this round saw a second treat of Tyrant's from New Zealand and a wine from another star in the Okanagan's organic movement - Covert Farms.

I've had a jones for Central Otago from the time I tried my first Pinot Noir that came from there - not that I get much of a chance to try them. Most of the premium Central Otago Pinots that make their way to the Vancouver market generally carry a premium price tag. A fact that often leaves me relying on the kindness of strangers (or friends such as Tyrant) to open a bottle.

I don't know if it was the whole "root day" thing but the Carrick didn't come across as nicely as I would have hoped for a Central Otago wine. It was shy on the bright fruit and weight that I associate with the region's top Pinots.

The MDC is a Cab Sauv dominant blend with Zinfandel and Syrah playing smaller roles in the mix and it certainly could have paired up with a big, old grilled steak. Ooops, wrong dinner.

1817.  2012 Emiliana - Novas Gran Reserva Garnacha Syrah (D.O. Valle del Cachapoal - Chile)

1818.  2012 Vistalba Corte C (Mendoza - Argentina)

The entrée was its own little tasting menu. Having their highly coveted, quadrant plates, the boys served up a foursome of dishes: Thai red curry soba noodles with shiitakes and scallions, coconut and panko crusted deep fried seitan nuggets with a charred corn and red onion salsa, tofu cubes stuffed with bulgur wheat and Asian vegetables and, lastly, fried lotus roots. I can't say that I've even heard of seitan before - a wheat gluten that is used as an alternative to soybean-based products. It is apparently a common ingredient found in restaurants catering to Buddhist patrons.

The pairing of the two South American wines with the largely Asian entrée may not have been a match in heaven but we were low on whites and we'd saved the bigger wines for the proteins. No one complained. In fact, the Vistalba might have been the favourite wine of the night. I know it was mine, but then, I'm a little biased since Boo and I visited Vistalba during our stay in Argentina - and it wasn't even us who brought that bottle. Jeaux and Matinder brought it (and the sister Tomero wine yet to come), but they apologized profusely as they'd only picked it up on the way to dinner and their choices were limited as their car had broken down and they couldn't make it to a larger wine shop. They had to settle for a little, local wine and beer store that didn't feature an organic section. They were advised that, while Vistalba wasn't labeled as organic, the winery did look to using sustainable growing practices.

Graciously, our hosts did not ask them to leave the table. Personally, when the wine tastes as good as the Vistalba did, I'm willing to put up with a bit of non-organic farming.  Corte C is a blend of Malbec (76%), Cab Sauv and Bonarda and it is actually Vistalba's entry level blend. I only wish that Cortes A and B were available in our market.

Emiliana is a stalwart entry in the provincial liquor board's selection of organic wines. I seem to recall their Novas brand as being the first organic wine to be aggressively marketed here - particularly since it was seen as a well-priced and consistently balanced wine.

Tyrant and Panda Guy topped off their feast with a vegan take on chocolate ganache pie. No cream or butter or was used in the recipe, rather it featured a ground hazelnut crust and a puréed mixed nut filling with organic cacao, medjool dates and agave nectar.

And, since there was chocolate, there was red wine.

1817.  2012 Tomero Cabernet Sauvignon (Mendoza - Argentina)

1818.  2011 Pangloss Cabernet Sauvignon (Sonoma County - California)

The last two wines saw another mix of old and new for me. Tomero is the sister (and entry level) label to Vistalba and, while I don't have a lot of their wines on hand, they are one of my faves for well-priced Argentine wines.

I'll readily admit that I don't know all that many Californian producers but I'm pretty sure that I've never run across Pangloss before. I see from their website that they are a small volume producer of a number of varietals and blends. The Cab Sauv saw one of their bigger case volumes but even it was limited to under 600 cases. I always appreciate it when I get to try a small volume production bottling like this.

The "unfortunate" part of trying these last two wines was that they were the last two wines - and I have to confess that I was drinking tonight's wines, not sipping, spitting and taking notes. I'd be laughed out of the Dinner Club if I tried that - and I started this gang. As such, I don't even recall if I favoured one of the wines over the other. Too bad because a Argentina vs. California tasting could be a decent evening all on its own.

So, vegan or not, I don't think anyone left hungry - and we all have a couple of vegan dishes that we could re-create if the need arose. Tyrant did say, however, that the vegan menu plan was a helluva lot of work and that he doesn't think he'd tackle it again. Indeed, he's already announcing that he figures their next Dinner Club theme will be a Brazilian meat buffet.

Either way - vegan or omnivore - I'm looking forward to it.

"You Better Work" That BBQ

Once upon a time, not so long ago, there'd been a plan to re-enact last year's Labour Day Tea Dance. Guess I've just been labouring a bit too much lately. No energy to pull off a big party. So, instead, we decided to have a little neighbourhood BBQ. Problem is, even as a potluck, it was almost as much work.

Boo was in charge of using his smoker to make pulled pork for the first time - and it was a full day affair. Add in marinated flank steak and apple slaw and the tasks just seemed to multiply. End results were awfully tasty though.

It appears that we didn't take many pictures however - and I don't even have a shot of one of the wines that drank that night. What's with that?

913. 2009 Ravenswood Vintners Blend Zinfandel (California)

I'm not even sure who brought the Zin but I thought it was a great choice for the pulled pork.

With its initial vintage having been made in 1976, Ravenswood has been at the forefront of California Zinfandel for many a year now. It's also the home of well known marketing efforts like "No Wimpy Wines" and "To Err is Human, But To Zin is Divine."

The Vintners Blend is part of the winery's series of entry level wines and, at $17 in BC government liquor stores, this Zin has been a popular party pick for years. I was a little surprised to see on the website that the Zin constitutes only 84% of the wine. It's fleshed out with Carignan, Petite Sirah and a bit of "Mixed Blacks" (whatever they might be - I wouldn't mind knowing though because they might well be new additions for the Wine Century Club list).

As well known as the Ravenswood was, the opposite was true for the second wine being added to The List.

914. 2009 The People's Pinot Noir Alexandra (Central Otago - New Zealand)

I'd never actually seen this bottle before and, as mentioned just a few wines back, I like to keep my eye out for Central Otago wines. It wasn't a surprise to me that Marquis and Red were the ones to discover it. They're always good for a bit of a wine adventure.

I couldn't find out much about the people behind The People's Wine. Their website doesn't really provide a wealth of information. They seem to spend as much time discussing the concept of the bottle and the blending of the wine with the art of Martin Poppelwell as they do about the wine and its production. Coming in at $19 though, it's at least half the price of any Central Otago Pinot that I've ever seen in our market. I'm thinking that, at this price, this is a bit of a "buy up all the excess grapes that we can and market a wine for the masses" kind of enterprise. The fact that the other People's Wines are sourced from all over the map - there's even a Barossa Shiraz.

Central Otago or not, this one's not going to jump to the top of my list of favourite Pinots. It seemed a bit bland and thin for that. But it was nice to see that there are more options than just the big game Pinots coming out of the region. I think I'll stick with the Zin though.

It might seem a bit strange that I'm only adding two wines to The List after this size of a dinner and party. There were plenty of wines (and beers) but I was playing the "good boy" and watching myself since it was a school night and work beckoned in the morning. We also started the evening off by introducing everyone to my newest booze of choice - Aperol cocktails. Not being a wine, I can't exactly add Aperol to The List, but I'll have to do a little posting on it since I'd been hoping to find some in town ever since we got back from Italy three years ago. All that time and I've only just located some recently.

That being said, the BBQ was a great little way to spend the holiday Monday. Three days and three dinners/BBQ's. Now that's a workout. With Labour Day behind us though, it just reminds me how much work I've got to do to get caught up again with the blog.

Dinner at Elzee's

The Labour Day long weekend is upon us and I decided that it was just going to be a bit too much work to pull off a repeat of last year's Tea Dance - and too many of the gang had decided to vacate the city this year. Luckily, Elzee decided to work away in the kitchen and have us over for dinner.

Dancing would be optional.

2008 JoieFarm Riesling (Okanagan Valley)

Elzee had just returned from a bit of trip to the Okanagan and she'd come back with a bit of collection of new bottles. Accordingly, she needed to make a bit of room for the incoming bottles and brought out an oldie but goodie. Problem - if you want to call it a problem - is that I've already added this vintage of JoieFarm's Riesling to The List at #211.

No complaints from this boy though. I liked it then and still like it now.

We never need to worry about going home hungry or not enjoying the dinner when an opportunity to dine at Elzee's is presented. I don't know if it's the Italian heritage or not, but the food is never ending and it's always tasty. She's often stated how she likes to use Boo and I as "guinea pigs" for a new recipe she's run across - and we generally leave asking for a copy of it.

In addition to the Okanagan trip, she'd also recently been to Vancouver Island and she, magically, managed to come home with a salmon fresh from this year's fishery. We'd had a bit of tip off on the main course; so, we opted to bring along a Pinot Noir to match up. Having just enjoyed the rather stellar Elephant Hill Viognier, I opted to grab another Kiwi wine that I'd been holding on to for awhile. If Elephant Hill became a new addition to a New Zealand "wish list," a visit to Central Otago is right at the top of that list.

908. 2004 Carrick Pinot Noir (Central Otago - New Zealand)

The Central Otago region claims to be the Southernmost wine producing region in the world but it's pretty new as far as winemaking goes. The first commercial release from the district was only in 1987. It is already, however, gaining a reputation as one of the very best regions for producing Pinot Noir. Even eminent British wine writer, Jancis Robinson, has been quoted as saying that, "Many believe this is where the Pinot grail is to be found."

Three-quarters of the grapes grown in Central Otago are Pinot Noir and the region is best known for intense and vibrant wines. Like most Kiwi wines, however, Central Otago wines are almost invariably found in the premium sections - at premium prices. The region's wines can be hard to find in the first place, but, when you do find them, you have to be ready to bite the bullet. This bottle clocked in at $45 - which, believe it or not, is rather reasonable for a Central Otago Pinot in our market; maybe even on the low side of the spectrum.

Carrick recently announced that, following the minimum three years of organic farming, the winery's vineyards and winemaking practices have been certified as fully organic. They are even taking some aspects of their processes to full bio-dynamic levels. I don't really have the opportunity to discuss the concept further at this time (the blog does feature some discussion in other posts) but a quick mention might be to say that the winery follows the earth's natural rhythms and uses only natural composts and yeasts.

I particularly liked one quote on Carrick's website where they stated that they'd "noticed that the wines sometimes stand out when we are tasting them and often it is a 'flower or fruit' day on the biodynamic calendar. We are aware that one large UK supermarket chain doesn't taste wines on a root day!" If you're like me, you may not have even known that there are such things are "flower or fruit" days. My calendar must be full of "fruit days," I think. I also have to wonder if the word "root" has the same slang meaning in New Zealand as it does in "Oz." That might make wine tasting a bit tougher.

My questionable wit aside, I'm not sure the degree of organic practices were being followed back in the days of the 2004 vintage; however, I often find that wines purporting to have been made pursuant to biodynamic practices are often bigger than their counterparts - and this wine was certainly big for a Pinot, even by Otago standards. Perhaps even a bit much for our salmon. We had no trouble finishing off the bottle however.

909. 2007 Naked Grape Ice - Unoaked Vidal Icewine (VQA Niagra Peninsula - Ontario)

Elzee had a final treat for us as well. First, it was a new frozen lemon dessert (her trademark lemon tart being an all-time favourite of mine). And that was topped off with an icewine from the Niagra Peninsula.

I'm a bit surprised that Naked Grape even produces an icewine. The label is one of the mass market wines that forms part of the Canadian wine juggernaut that is Vincor (itself part of the worldwide Constellation brand). Icewine isn't a wine that I'd commonly associate with a mass market. It is a VQA product; however, so the winemakers must have followed the prescribed requirements in making it. I might have suspected that the grapes were simply frozen and pressed but that wouldn't be allowed under VQA guidelines.

Mass market or not, it was a lovely way to finish a delicious evening.

I'll also just put out the note that Boo and I are certainly open to offering our services to others needing guinea pigs as well.

Will bring wine.

Pear Tree

Another post that I'm having to just throw out here because I'm so far behind. Lady Di, She Who Must Be Obeyed and Bittr & Sweetz joined Boo & I for a wonderful dinner at The Pear Tree to celebrate Dining Out For Life this year.

If I'm ever going to show my face before Scott & Stephanie Jaeger, at the restaurant again (and I most definitely will), I'll need to come back and do the evening justice.

758. 2006 Paritua Pinot Noir (Central Otago - New Zealand)

759. 2009 Mollydooker - The Boxer Shiraz (South Australia)

There was a bottle of 2007 Marichel Syrah (Okanagan Valley) as well but it has already been added to The List at #239. So, at least I don't have to feel as bad about not going into that bottle as well.