A Festival Treat from Kaesler

1907.  2012 Kaesler - Stonehorse GMS (Barossa Valley - Australia)

So, I find myself running into just a tiny, little problem nowadays. We don't exactly have any room in the cellar (such as our cellar is - a couple wine fridges, a closet, a spare bathroom tub and a stairwell) for new acquisitions. And, as much as I try to rein my buying habits and Boo tries to tighten the "No Buy Leash," there are always going to be occasions where I have no choice but to buy a new bottle or two. The annual Vancouver International Wine Festival is one such occasion.

As noted earlier in this blog, the theme region at this year's Festival was Australia and the Festival always has a number of wines available that aren't otherwise available in our market. As regular readers of the blog know, I readily admit that I have a jones for Aussie wines. So, needless to say, I didn't make things any easier on myself for space at home.

Since I didn't exactly have a spot for this bottle, I just decided to pull the cork - even though we have other bottles that likely should have been opened first.

I don't know much about Kaesler and their wines but I do recognize them from a couple of attendances at the Festival over the years. The vineyards and winery were founded by the Kaesler family in the 1890's and they operated the winery until 1986. The current owners purchased the winery in 1999 and have strived to take advantage of the premium lands and old vines ever since. The vineyards are farmed sustainably and the owners have expanded production into the Clare Valley and McLaren Vale (although those wines are released under the Clare Wine Co. and Nashwauk Vineyards banners respectively).

The Stonehorse is a classic Barossa GSM or Grenache, Shiraz, Mourvèdre blend - although this is a GMS with the Grenache playing a major (80%) role and the Mourvèdre (17%) and Shiraz (3%) balancing out the blend. The Stonehorse is from Kaesler's entry level series and is a fruit forward, easily accessible wine. The winery did, however, bring a major treat to the Festival as well - if you were lucky enough to try the wine while they still had some to pour. Kaesler's flagship wine - Old Bastard - is a single vineyard Shiraz, made from some of the vines originally planted back in the 1890's by the Kaesler family. I would have loved to add a bottle of the Old Bastard to The List but, unfortunately, the wine wasn't for sale as they only make 500 cases and it retails for over $200 a bottle when it is available. I did get my picture taken with a bottle though as I've been called a similar name often enough. In fact, an acquaintance that happened to be at the Kaesler table at the same time I was there suggested that I could make the Old Bastard my "signature" wine. I should be so lucky.

I always wonder how the wines I pick up at the Festival are going to taste when I get them home. Luckily, it's not too often that I open a bottle at home and wonder what the heck I was thinking at the Festival. There was no such concern here. The Stonehorse remained a good sip - always a good sign.

Now I guess we just need to do some drinking to free up some more space for more purchases.

Getty a Little Giggy (of is that "Jiggy?")

1898.  2006 M. Chapoutier Gigondas (Gigondas AOC - Rhône - France)

As much as I like the Rhône as a wine region in France (not that I've ever been there - but there's always hope), I don't drink Rhône wines as much as I might like to. Given that, maybe I shouldn't have been so surprised at how big and fruit forward this Grenache-dominant Gigondas was. If I hadn't opened the bottle myself, I could have easily been convinced that this was a big Aussie GSM (Grenache/Shiraz/Mouvèdre).

The exuberant extraction that's evident on the wine, with the pleasantly big nose and the dark fruit on the palate, makes me think that this is a wine made more in a modern style than one that strives for the nuances of terroir. I'm not going to complain though. I like a good whack of fruit in my glass.

Stylistically, Gigondas wines - and appellation requirements - are often compared to the near-by Châteaueuf-du-Pape region. The prices can be far more accommodating though - and who's going to disagree with that?

The M. Chapoutier website tells a brief little story about winemaking in the village of Gigondas - stating that the village was a winemaking area "up until the arrival of the phylloxera epidemic at the end of the 20th Century. As a consequence of the disaster, Gigondas chose to turn towards olive growing. However, following the "Black Frosts" of 1956 which destroyed the greater part of its olive trees, Gigondas reverted to winegrowing," replanting the region with high quality vineyards. Even with the new outlook, it took 15 years before Gigondas was granted appellation status separate from the Côtes du Rhône Villages designation.

I'd never heard of the "Black Frosts" before. So, that was kind of neat to read. Guess it just goes to show that there are more wine stories out there than you can imagine - but discovering some of those stories is one of the main reasons behind this Wine Odyssey of mine. I say, "bring it on."

Spinifex and Fireworks

Photo from huffingtonpost.ca 

Normally, that fireworks photo would have been one of our own and I wouldn't have lifted if from Huffington Post, but as you'll see with the post, my bloglife is a little out of skew nowadays - and desperate times call for desperate measures.

I'm what we'll call "hazardously behind" in my postings. I haven't lost count of the wines we've polished off, we just seem to drink them faster than I'm able to blog about them. So, I'm going to do a little jumping over some wines - while hitting a few memorable wines - with the idea of staying more current AND then catching up with the earlier posts as time permits.

As the day we pull the cork on my 2001st bottle starts seeming a whole lot closer at hand, I'm hoping to keep better tabs on the number of the bottles as we open them. I really had no idea that Boo and I were enjoying a landmark bottle #1700 as we were sipping away.  We might have made more of an event for it had I known.

Luckily, it turned out to be a memorable bottle and a fun evening in any event - although Boo opted to call it a night after the wine.

1700.  2004 Spinifex Esprit (Barossa Valley - Australia)

Spinifex is a relatively new winery to set up shop in the Barossa. It's owners, Peter Schell and Magali Gely, started the winey in 2001. In doing so, however, they decided to pay respect to Magali's French roots. Their website notes that Magali's parents were vignerons in the south-west of France and that Peter has worked six vintages throughout France over the last decade. The pair work primarily with Rhône grapes that have traditionally been successful in both the Mediterranean and in Australia.

Spinifex chooses to make wines that are predominantly blends and Esprit fits right into that scheme. With 36% Grenache, 34% Shiraz, 20% Mataro (Mourvèdre), they've constructed that Barossan take on the Rhône blend - the well known GSM - but they've ramped up the Rhône by adding a 10% touch of Cinsault.

Although it might take me awhile to actually get around to writing the post, Boo and I had a thoroughly enjoyable Châteauneuf-du-Pape last night and, while this Esprit is primarily the same take on grapes involved, it had bigger fruit but was equally tasty.

I figure we're lucky that Marquis Wines has carried a few Spinifex wines over the years because they don't make an awful lot of wine. A Robert Parker reference on this vintage of Esprit said that only 330 cases were made. I don't even think the winery is big enough to have its own cellar door. When Boo and I were in Barossa a couple of years back, we didn't see the winery itself but we did taste a couple of their wines at the Artisans of the Barossa - a cooperative tasting room for a group of "small batch, sub-regional" winemakers. I'm more than happy to grab a bottle or two by whichever method we can run across them.

So, I figure opening #1700 is worthy of the fireworks display at the top of the post on its own; however, the evening was the third night of this year's Celebration of Light fireworks display. Boo decided against fighting the crowds downtown to watch Japan's entry but I ventured down to Mr. D's.

I figure the photo above would have approximated what we'd have seen from his apartment. After all, it is of the evening's show. However, we didn't even stick around to watch the fireworks. Since it was the Saturday night of Vancouver's Pride weekend, Mr. D. proposed a visit to one of the local watering holes and he figured we wouldn't be able to take in both the fireworks and the bar as the line-up to get into Pumpjack would have been down the block by the time the last firework rocket had been launched. We decided to see if we could enjoy some fireworks of an even more intimate nature and just head straight off to the pub. Running into Will and Harry and a few other boys was a great start.

Unfortunately, from the blog's point of view, there wasn't another bottle of wine to be had. Funny, but I hardly think that a leather bar is going to be the best place to find a bottle of wine. But we did see a firework or two - particularly Mr. D. I think I might just leave that photo to your imagination though. No need to post it and detract from the wine at hand.

So, with 1700 bottles down, I've got my work laid out for me to try and get all my posts in order by the time number 2001 rolls around. Best get to it.

An Anniversary Delight

Okay, now I know that something's definitely going on with the camera. There's no chance that I wouldn't have taken a picture of this bottle or the event (that is, except for the shot on Delectable). It's a rare occasion that I pop the cork on a $100+ bottle of wine. But, if your anniversary doesn't count as one of those "pull that cork" events, I don't know what does. I must have taken a picture or two. They're just nowhere to be found.

1668.  2001 Domaine de la Solitude - Cuvée Barberini (Châteauneuf-du-Pape AOC - Rhône - France)

I picked this wine up at the Vancouver International Wine Festival a couple of years back. Not being in the habit of buying $100+ wines, I have have to be pretty darned sure that I know what's in the bottle - and that we're going to really, really like it - before I pull out my wallet. The Festival tasting was the perfect opportunity to both discover the wine and know that I wanted more. I went back to try this wine at least three or four times and I sent many a friend over to the winery table when they asked "What have your favourite wines been so far?"

I don't believe that Domaine de la Solitude can normally be found in the Vancouver market and, if memory serves, this might have even been their first visit to the Festival. I don't know if there are many wineries in the Rhône that can claim family ties that truly bind the family to the very reason for the name of the Châteuneuf-du-Pape region. Operated by the Martin and Barberini families for centuries, one of the Barberini's took office in Rome as Pope Urban VIII and two of his nephews became Cardinals. This was in the early 1600's and this was also when "a part of the family then settled down in Avignon." I should think that, if anyone is entitled to make Châteauneuf-du-Pape, it's a family that can claim a Pope as one of its own - particularly since the family was making wine at their vineyard before the name Châteauneuf-du-Pape even existed.

As my sister, Vixen, is always very happy to point out, if Boo and I were involved in the making of wine, we'd be making Châteauneuf-du-Poof.

I could only hope that it would be as tasty as this wine. You might say that the Cuvée Barberini is one of the winery's premium bottles - although they do produce a bottle that goes for almost double the price of this one. Like Port or Champagne, this wine is only made in years deemed worthy of a vintage designation. After this 2001 bottling, another vintage of Cuvée Barberini wasn't released until 2004.

If the wine didn't already have a venerable name like Châteauneuf-du-Pape, they could have gone with the Aussie moniker, GSM, because the 2001 blend was "simple" with 40% Grenache, 40% Syrah and 20% Mourvèdre.

Balanced and integrated with dark fruit and smooth tannins, the wine could have aged for years to come, but it was drinking beautifully already.

I could do with more anniversary wines, more often.

A Makeshift (Hardly) Dinner Club

As if they hadn't had enough planning on their plates. Fast on the heels of last month's stylin' wedding, Tyrant and Panda Guy stepped up to the mantle - or the kitchen counter to be more specific - to host the next round of the Dinner Club.

I think everyone in the Dinner Club would have been more than agreeable to returning to Salt Spring Island and simply taking in the beauty of the happy couple's home while eating leftovers from the wedding. That wouldn't do for Tyrant, the consummate host, however. Indeed, Tyrant didn't want to subject everyone to another round of long ferry rides; so, he arranged a guest location for Dinner Club at Axel and the English Doc's gracious home back in Vancouver.

2007 Monmousseau Cuvée J.M. Brut (AOC Touraine - Loire - France)

We started off the evening with what turned out to be the only leftover from the wedding - a little bubbly. It would seem that, despite the incredible amount of wine that was downed at the wedding, folks managed to leave just enough of the Monmousseau uncorked to toast the boys' two week anniversary. As a leftover, the evening's bubbles don't make it to The List since the 2007 is already there. I think I can live with that though. Particularly since there'd be more than enough bottles added as the evening progressed.

1437.  2009 Charles Krug Cabernet Sauvignon (Yountville - Napa Valley - California)

From bubbles, we ventured straight into a big gun. I don't generally think of a Cali Cab as a cocktail wine and, interestingly enough, the girls seemed to like the heft of the wine even more than the guys but there were no complaints on any front. Charles Krug is part of the Mondavi wine universe and the '09 vintage was fleshed out with small percentages of Petit Verdot, Merlot, Cab Franc, Syrah and Malbec. Boo and I didn't take in Charles Krug when we passed through Yountville and Napa this Spring. We might need to consider another road trip.

As much as I could have just lounged around in the boys' comfy living room or wandered downstairs to watch the Canucks' game on the giant projection screen, it took no coaxing on Tyrant's part to make our way to the table and settle in for the evening's repast. Tyrant had announced that he was dialling things back a notch and subscribing to a "less is more" mantra this time around. After you take a look at the evening's fare, you'll wonder what might have hit our plates if this was toning things down.

1438.  2010 St. Urbans-Hof Riesling (Mosel - Germany)

1439.  2010 Wild Goose - Stoney Slope Riesling (VQA Okanagan Valley)

A duo of Rieslings were matched to the first course of Roasted Sweet Pumpkin Soup. You'll note that a good portion of the soup was already gone before I took a picture of the wines. Sometimes, the food can be so tasty that I forget my primary aspiration should be to document the wines over all thoughts of enjoying a meal. Silly me.

The pairing of the two Rieslings provided an interesting comparison between a couple of wines that, I think, are pretty representative of classic stylings of Riesling from both Mosel and the Okanagan. As much as I love the bright acidity and citrus of Okanagan Rieslings, I think the more honeyed German wine paired a little bit better with the evening's soup. I'll have to remember this St. Urbans-Hof. Riesling might be my favourite white varietal but I don't know much about German producers. I guess that's just another task to consider moving forward.

1440.  2009 Soter Vineyards - North Valley Pinot Noir (Willamette Valley - Oregon)

1441.  2010 Evesham Wood - Illahe Vineyard Pinot Noir (Willamette Valley - Oregon)

Next up was a duo of Willamette Pinots matched to a Seared Duck Carpaccio with Fennel and Hazelnuts. I'd be willing to order this up every night of the week and pay a pretty penny for it. I guess there's some method behind the madness when it comes to perennially pairing Pinot with duck.

Since attending the Wine Bloggers' Conference in Portland, there's been more Oregon Pinot on my horizon recently than ever before. I wasn't yet familiar with these two, however. I recall having run across the Soter name previously but I wouldn't have been able to tell you anything about them. I don't think I've even heard of Evesham Wood before. I am quite happy to be cognizant of them now though. Both wines were a pleasure to drink but I noted that the Evesham Wood won the "Pinot Round." I see that the Illahe Vineyard is a warmer site in the Willamette and that may lend the wines from that source to exhibit a bit more fruit on the palate - and that's generally not a bad profile for this guy. I have no memory of who brought the wine or where they found it locally but I'm saddened to learn that there wasn't much of it made. The current 2011 vintage was only 250 cases big.

If this was to be my only foreseeable chance to try these Willamette babies, we luckily had a bit of time to sit back and savour the Pinots. Tyrant and Panda Guy gave us a bit of break before the next course and a refill of the Evesham Wood was welcome indeed - as was the opportunity to head back downstairs to the theatre room and discover that the Canucks had managed to pull the game out of the fire. That favourable result was more than a worthy of a toast at the dinner table.

1442.  1998 Château de Beaucastel - Châteauneuf-du-Pâpe (AOC Châteauneuf-du-Pâpe - Rhône - France)

1443.  2010 Grant Burge - The Holy Trinity (Barossa - Australia)

One of the side benefits of having Tyrant as part of the Dinner Club is that he has a healthy cellar - and some of his collection is starting to reach its "best before" date. A decided perk for all of us is that Tyrant often likes to us the Dinner Club as an "excuse" to bring out one of his aged beauties. Tonight's offering was the '98 Beaucastel. Beaucastel is one of the most celebrated red wines of Châteauneuf-du-Pape and the 1998 vintage is apparently considered to be one of the best of recent decades for the region.

Who wouldn't be up for helping Tyrant out of his predicament of having to drink this wine?

The Châteauneuf-du-Pape was paired up with one of the better known Aussie versions of the classic Rhône blend - Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre or GSM in Australian. The '98 Beaucastel was "heavy" on the Grenache and it contains all thirteen varieties permitted in C-d-P and, being a decade older, it might not be all that comparable to the Burge Holy Trinity but, once again, it was an interesting exercise in tasting similar but contrasting wines. The newer Aussie was the more powerful and fruit forward of two - as might be expected - but the Beaucastel was still surprisingly lively for a '98. The latter was the more elegant of the pairing but the Holy Trinity was a popular pour - and is likely far more accessible nowadays.

Since the Beaucastel incorporated all thirteen grapes that are allowed by AOC regulations, I think this is an appropriate time to add the remaining varieties from this baker's dozen that haven't been added to my Wine Century Club tally. Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Cinsault and Picpoul were already counted in my first 100 but I'm taking the opportunity to increase the total by seven - please welcome Muscardin, Counoise, Clairette, Bourbelenc, Terret Noir, Picardin and Vacarèse. They may be minor components to the final blend but they're in there and I'm not likely to find varietal wines that feature any of these grapes. Certainly not in our BC market - and, if I'm ever going to make it to 200, I'm going to take advantage of any opportunity that presents itself.

Oh, and by the way, the Asian Spiced and Braised Beef Short Ribs wasn't too shabby either.

1444.  2003 M. Chapoutier - Cigala (Vin de Pays d'Oc - France)

We might have been well into our dinner by now but it didn't take long for the last two wines to disappear. Tyrant just happened to have another Syrah blend for trying though. This Syrah/Grenache based blend is from the well known - and well regarded - M. Chapoutier but I'm not sure if the wine is still be produced under this name. I couldn't find any recent or easy references to Cigala online. As a Vin de Pays wine from Southern France, it rather paled to the previous two GSMs. I quite enjoy some of Chapoutier's wines but I don't know that I'd search this one out. It might have shown better had it not followed the line up of fine wines that it did tonight.

1445.  2012 Mission Hill Late Harvest Vidal Reserve (VQA Okanagan Valley)

The final treat for the night was a Baked Yoghurt with Candied Lime and Ginger paired with the Late Harvest Vidal. This was a lucky find from our pre-amble to this Fall's BC Wine Appreciation Society's Bus Tour
collection. While visiting Mission Hill, we were advised that the stellar dessert wine could only be called a Late Harvest wine because the grapes were picked and pressed at only -8.5°C instead of the minimum -9°C required to qualify as an Icewine. The variance of 0.5° in temperature may make little difference in the resulting wine but it leads to a huge difference in price - that extra 0.5° would have more than doubled the price of this bottle. Sad news for the winery's bottom line but it means we can buy twice as much - and I'm all in favour of that.

As the evening closed out, Tyrant and Panda Guy were heartily praised for another stellar repast - and the "negotiations" started to try and figure out a date for the next Dinner Club. The task was to find a date amenable to all before Jeaux and Matinder were scheduled to take off for their annual winter in the Caribbean. Here's hoping that we can work it out. Lady Di and She Who Must Be Obeyed are no slouches on the entertainment front themselves. Do I foresee some Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey on my dinner plate? One can only hope.

Turkey or not, I always look forward to the array of wines that the gang manage to dredge up for these little affairs. With wine lists like we had tonight, who needs food?

Prepping for the New Curling Season

With Fall either having arrived or just around the corner, it also means that the curling season will be shortly upon us. More and more of the teams in our league are sporting team names and uniforms and the pressure was on for us to move a little past blasé. We weren't having much luck reaching any consensus with simple e-mails going back and forth. So, in an effort to get ourselves a little more organized than last year, the team decided to meet for dinner and drinks - hoping that abundant libations would prompt the free flow of our creative juices.

For the first time in many years, I was going to be starting out with the same team as I played with last year. For the last so many seasons, we've needed at least one or two new members to flesh out the team as folks have moved from Vancouver or simply moved away from the game. While there's no fear of us challenging for supremacy of the "A" or "B" Divisions in our league, the hope is that we'll be able to build on last year's learning experience - and avoid the dreaded "F."

That "improvement" is, of course, with the actual curling. Anyone who curls knows that the after-game drinks are as much a part of the game as throwing the rocks. We've never had a problem with the cocktails.

1414.  2012 Les Roches Bleues - Pays de Maures Rouge (Pays des Maures IGP - France)

Fisher was brand new to our team and to curling last year and I think it was simple kismet that he ended up playing with us - or at least with me. Fisher and his partner, Paddy, are members of the Opimian Society. So, I can pretty much rely on the fact that, when we get together, he's going to have a bottle or two that I've never seen before.

Such was the case with Les Roches Bleues. This bottle remains largely cloaked in mystery, however, as I couldn't find an easy reference to the wine or winery online. Pays de Maures is a département on the Mediterranean coast of Southern France that produces Vin de Pays wines. The red wines are made with traditional Provencal varieties and this is a Grenache/Syrah/Mourvèdre blend. The only reference I could find to a Domaine Les Roches Bleues was in the Beaujolais district of Brouilly and this wine clearly had a different pedigree. There wasn't much labelling on the bottle but I did see a reference to Bernard Perrin. So, we might assume that this is somehow related to the many wines under control of the Perrin family.

It was pleasant enough out in the garden to get us started. It didn't exactly whisk us off to the Mediterranean coastline but we needed a simple transition from our starting martinis.

1415.  2009 Garcia Carrión - Antaño Rioja Crianza (Rioja D.O.C. - Spain)

M'og brought along this Rioja that is an entry level blend Mazuelo (Carignan), Graciano, Garnacha (Grenache) and Tempranillo and it seems to pull in a fair bit of hardware. Our bottle featured a sticker touting a Best in Class Silver Medal at the 2012 International Wine and Spirits Competition. Antaño is the Garcia Carrión line for Rioja production (there are well over a dozen different brands in total) and they make a lot of wine. Enough to export to over 130 countries.

Burger wine. But it still didn't capture our collective vote.

With the BBQ behind us, it was back to the garden to get down to the business of choosing a team name. As luck would have it, our neighbour, Baby Mama, dropped in and the lady is known for her cultural proclivities and her writing talents. She might be of more assistance than the wine.

M'og wasn't overly thrilled with team names that incorporated a gay naughtiness with curling puns. "Tight Ends" just didn't work for him. Nor did he gravitate to the culturally cool "Legion of Broom." He was leaning towards a name that referenced the sheets of ice that we'd be playing on but his first choice of Ice Storm seemed a tad esoteric for the gang. No one wanted "Ice Queens" despite the fact that we play in a gay league.

Fisher and I thought that "Fifty Sheets of Gay" was witty and topical - as did Baby Mama - especially since they just announced that the movie version of Fifty Shades of Grey would be filmed in Vancouver, but M'og and Kaz were hesitant.

Kaz seemed particularly drawn to "Sheet Show" as the pun could reference both our poor play if we sucked or our stellar "show" if we managed to put it all together.

We mulled over it some more as I opened what turned out to be our favourite wine of the evening. Indeed, a possible fave for the memory banks.

1416.  2006 Pacific Breeze GSM (Cellared in Canada)

Like the Les Roches Bleues, this was a GSM; however, I know a bit more about this wine. Its provenance is rather modern. As noted previously in this blog, Pacific Breeze is a garage winery in the truest sense of the word. They operate out of a storage unit in urban Vancouver. They source their fruit - primarily from California and Washington - and ship it to New Westminster where their garage operation turns out some very tasty wines. This bottle featured fruit from the High Valley AVA in Lake County, California.

I'm generally not a fan of the Cellared in Canada wines as they are generally bulk wines, mass produced for the entry level market but Pacific Breeze works on producing a premium sip even though they have no option but to sell under the "Cellared in Canada" banner.

Predominantly Syrah (51%) and Grenache (43%) - with a 6% shot of Mourvédre - this was a definite New World take on Rhône blends. Much more reminiscent of Aussie blends than the South of France. Smooth, fruit forward with plenty of nose and flavour, there clearly wasn't enough of it to go around and we all bemoaned the sight of the last bit being poured. Baby Mama asked for a bit to take back to her man, K-Pop, but I later bumped into him on the street but it appears the glass never made it quite as far as to his lips. Best laid plans o' mice and baby mamas, I suppose.

Too bad there were only 400 cases made of this GSM and it's from 2006. I'd certainly like to get my hands on some more of it.

2006 La Frenz Merlot (Naramata Bench - Okanagan Valley)

Our last bottle of the night was the La Frenz and we were so engaged with our discussions of team names and uniforms (the latter of which we made very little headway) that I didn't even remember to take a photo of the bottle. Could be that I subconsciously knew that I'd already added this vintage of the Merlot to The List (at #425) and that, therefore, it wouldn't be featured to the same extent. The Pacific Breeze was a hard act to follow but the La Frenz did a good job of standing up for itself - earning itself some fine kudos from the assembled gang.

Unfortunately, our curling club's bar doesn't carry wines of this calibre. We're more of a beer league in the truest sense of the words. That just means that our little "Sheet Show" will have to plan a few more of these little get-togethers.

As for the mean time, "Good Curling."

Curling Dinner

Generally, I only get to add a whack of wines to The List in one night when it's our Dinner Club gang getting together or a Wine Boyz tasting. Tonight, however, Fisher threw a dinner for our curling team now that our regular season is over and the playoffs are about to begin.

And I can attest that the wine was flowing - particularly when you consider it was a school night. Guess we really worked up a thirst on the ice today. Ending the regular season with a win might have had something to do with it.

Despite the fact that we had two bottles of one wine and two of the wines have already made it to The List, I'm still adding four new wines to the total.

2011 Lang Vineyards - Farm Reserve Riesling (Okanagan Valley)

2006 Langmeil Valley Floor Shiraz (Barossa Valley - Australia)

The Langmeil Shiraz is a favourite around our home; so, it's hardly surprising to already be on The List. The Lang Riesling isn't quite as common since Lang was in receivership and this is the first vintage of wine that's been produced in a number of years. Nice to see that the Riesling doesn't seem to have lost any of its tastiness.

1281.  2011 Domaine de Milhomme - Cuvée Le Mûrier (AOC Beaujolais - France)

Fish was new to our team this year and a rookie to the league. Turns out that he and his partner, Paddy, are wine aficionados as well. I'm all for chumming around, on and off the ice, with wine geeks - especially when Fish can dig into his cellar of wines for bottles like this Beaujolais that I wouldn't normally see otherwise. Fisher and Paddy are members of the Opimian Society and I understand their case deliveries can be full of surprises. This was pretty big for Beaujolais but I'm not complaining. I'm not sure that, in retrospect, I caught the "hint of blueberry, cognac and balsamic reduction" that the Opimian notes mentioned though.

1282. 2010 Pierre Henri Morel - Signargues Côtes-du-Rhône Villages (AOC Côtes-du-Rhône Villages - France)

The man behind the label is the Commercial Director at Chapoutier wines and Monsieur Morel established the winery in 2007 when he purchased the assets of a winery that had gone bankrupt. He makes two Châteauneuf-du-Pape with grapes grown on the home vineyard and three wines, including this Côtes-du-Rhône from purchased grapes. The wines are made by the staff at Chapoutier and this primarily Grenache sip is blended with Syrah and Mourvèdre to meet the specifications required by the AOC in order to be designated as Signargues - a small plateau region in the Côtes-du-Rhône Villages. It looks like he's aiming to match Chapoutier's reputation of delivering nice wines at reasonable prices. It's certainly nice to see at least this one of his wines hitting our market because he's apparently only making about 250 cases of each of his wines.

1283.  2008 Quinta da Barreira Reserva Touriga Nacional & Cabernet Sauvignon (Portugal)

I think this was another of Fisher's Opimian bottles because I can't find much reference to the producer or the wine in local searches. I can't say that I can recall a blend like this. We're starting to see a few more still, red wines from Portugal in our market but most of them are entry level commercial bottles and the mixing of Cab and Touriga Nacional sure seems like a bit of new school Portugal to me. It would appear that Portugal will no longer simply be known for Port in local markets.

1284.  2010 Layer Cake Garnacha (D.O. Calatayud - Spain)

Seeing as how, thus far, the evening's additions to The List hailed from France and Portugal, I suppose it might make sense that we sipped back on another bottle from that part of the world. The last wine of the dinner - although we were long past the ever-so-tasty crab cakes and lamb stew that we feasted on - was from Spain. This Garnacha (or Grenache) is one of the newest entries in the Layer Cake collection. As a side project, California cult wine proprietor, Jayson Woodbridge, produces wines from regions around the world, picking what he feels is the top grape grown in a particular region and making big, fruit forward wines.

The Spanish Garnacha joins a Californian Cab (and Chardonnay), an Oregon Pinot, an Argentine Malbec, an Aussie Shiraz and an Italian Primitivo. The wines are continually lauded as over-delivering with bang for your buck. Despite the number of bottles that had already been polished off, there was no problem finishing this one off as well.

That last bottle pretty much polished me off for the night though. Being the oldest member of the team, I know better than to try and match the younger bucks glass for glass. For all I know, Kaz and M'og probably hit a bar on the way home. All power to them - provided they've sobered up for our playoff game next weekend.

There was no doubt that Fisher and Paddy passed Fish's rookie initiation! He's definitely invited back for next season - regardless of whether he offers to cook up another dinner or hit the wine cellar for us. Hell, he even earns a few "free" hogged rocks next year as a thank you for the evening. We might normally end our games at the club with a pitcher of beer, as opposed to a bottle, but get togethers like this might just harbour the start of a new trend. Curlers getting their rocks off with a bottle of wine. I like it.

New Year's Eve

We haven't been so lucky with Boo's work schedules the last so many years when it comes to days off during the holiday season. When we knew that he wasn't going to have to work this New Year's Eve, we decided to invite some folks over for a little low-key celebration - and, naturally, more than enough wine to end 2012 and get a good start on the year to come.

With a dozen or so folks in attendance, there was a grand selection of bottles open for the tasting. Not wanting to start 2013 with a troubled head, I tried my best to behave - and limited myself to celebratory sips of wines that were particularly new and interesting.

1333.  2011 Domaine de la Taille Aux Loups - Dix Arpents (Montlouis-sur-Loire AOC - Touraine - France)

Fist up was the Dix Arpents that K-Pop and Baby Mama brought. I'd never heard of the producer and asked them what prompted them to bring it along. They hadn't ever tried it before either but they thought it looked like an interesting new find when browsing through local bottle shop shelves.  It turns out that they uncovered a producer with quite the story. Domaine de la Taille Aux Loups is a relatively young winery by French standards as it was only established in 1988; however, it is seen as helping lead the way of securing a higher profile for the Montlouis region. Indeed, the principal force behind the winery is Jacky Blot. He's been called a "Loire Superstar" and has enough of a profile that his name is featured on the bottle's front label.

The winery's properties straddle a couple of appellations in the Loire Valley - Vouvray and Montlouis.  - although the majority of the estate's vineyards are located in Montlouis. Being a newcomer to the region, those properties are scattered through the region and Dix Arpents is a blend of fruit from a full assortment of vineyards that can number over 30 different parcels. All of those vineyards are planted solely with Chenin Blanc though.

I'm not that familiar with Chenin Blanc wines.  It's not a varietal that I run across all that often or one that I tend to buy regularly. Despite being the estate's entry level wine, the wine is still considered an intense introduction to Chenin Blanc. Vineyard cultivation sees extensive picking practices. The grapes are harvested in tries (or separate passes through the vines) - where individual grapes are picked, as opposed to entire bunches, to help ensure that each grape on a bunch is fully ripe before it is harvested.

It was an interesting way to start off the evening. There was some substance and weight to the wine - possibly due to the oaking that wine sees during ageing - and it didn't have as much fruit on palate as the few Chenin's I've tried from BC or South Africa. For a more extensive discussion of the Jacky Blot and Domaine de la Taille Aux Loups, you need only visit the informative entry on the Wine Doctor. That post was like a one-stop info source during my looking around the internet to hunt down the wine.

1334.  2009 Red Rooster Golden Egg (VQA Okanagan Valley)

New Year's Eve seemed like an event that's worthy of an icon wine from one of our favourite producers.  Karen Gillis, winemaker at Red Rooster, states that she's had a long time "fascination with 'Rhône-style' reds." Syrah now has a firm footing in the Okanagan but this is the first GSM that I've seen from a BC producer.  The blend is 59% Mourvèdre, 24% Syrah and 17% Grenache and there was a very limited production of 186 cases.

The small production stems from the fact that there is very little Mourvèdre or Grenache grown in the province. Karen worked with some of their long time growers and coaxed them into planting the two new varietals.  This was the first release of the Golden Egg as a GSM. (There was a previous Golden Egg wine but that was a Bordeaux blend - Merlot, Cab Sauv and Cab Franc and I believe it was last produced in 2003 under the previous ownership regime.)

The Golden Egg was medium bodied - with bigger acidity and a lighter fruit profile than most of the Rhône or Aussie GSM blends that I'm familiar with (surprise, surprise). The profile was more sour cherry or cranberry than dark fruit. The wine did win a Silver medal winner at the Wine Access 2011 Canadian Wine Awards but the $50 price tag might leave most consumers wanting a bigger profile. My guess is that the wine is better suited to the dinner table than it is for a cocktail party.

As midnight and the new year approached, I thought it'd be neat to try and sabre the bottle of bubbly that I'd picked up. After all, my earlier attempt back in the Fall with the BC Wine Appreciation Society bus tour was both successful and great fun and that experience made it seem easy-peasy. Boo pulled out a selection of sabre-esque knives to choose from and we were ready for the countdown. 5-4-3-2-1...nothing. A couple whacks and no bubbles. Ahhhh. Good thing no damage was done to the bottle and I could still pop the cork in the old fashioned way.

1335.  N.V. Chanoine Frères - Tsarine Rosé Brut (Champagne AOC - France)

I was drawn to this bottle - not so much because of the unique bottle design but - by the fact that I saw a advert stating that it was a Lanson product. Not that I get the opportunity to drink a lot of true Champagne but, when I do, Lanson is probably my favourite and as regular a "go to" Champagne as I have. I'd never seen anything that tied Tsarine to Lanson previously, but I was told at the wine shop that Lanson had recently purchased the producer, Chanoine Frères. The plan remained to produce Tsarine under the old name however.  Chanoine Frères is apparently the second oldest house in Champagne, the family having established a trading house in 1730. In the same year, they were permitted to excavate the very first champagne cellars in the town of Epernay.

The striking bottle design is meant to evoke the swirling spires of Russian architecture. In the 19th Century, Imperial Russia was the largest export market for Champagne and Chanoine Frères created the Cuvée Tsarine to honour that relationship.

The wine is equal parts Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir - all three of the classic Champagne grapes. The Chanoine Frères website states that "The Pinot Noir grape provides the back-bone of our wine, the Pinot Meunier lending softness and fruit aromas, while the Chardonnay grape imparts delicacy and elegance."

I think it's fair to say that our little gang found the Tsarine to be quite imperial. Easily my favourite tipple of the night. I'm hoping to run across more Tsarine long before another year has passed by.

1336.  N.V. Joan Raventós Rosell Cava Brut (D.O. Cava - Spain)

Continuing with our theme of bubbles, Red had brought along a bottle of Cava. This was a new Cava - or Spanish bubble - for me. Raventós Rosell is no slouch in historical pedigree either. Although the actual company only dates from 1985, the Raventós family has roots in winemaking and the Penedès region that date back to the 1870's. Penedès is the traditional region for the production of Cava - the Spanish equivalent of Champagne.

Raventós Rosell considers itself a smaller, family run producer, having approximately 250 acres of vineyards. Together with related producer, Heretat Vall-Ventós, they produce 18 different sparkling Cavas - as well as a number of still, table wines. The Cava Brut is a blend of Macabeo, Parellada, Xarel-lo and Chardonnay and while it didn't offer quite the same bubbly mousse or flavour profile as the Tsarine, it was less than half the price. Accordingly, we could drink twice as much - and likely end up just as happy as a result.

Not that we did that. At least, not that we're copping to "that."

Behaving myself - and limiting my wining to these four bottles - might have meant that I didn't get to add nearly as many bottles to The List as I might have liked to but it did help my morning after and my start to 2013 and, for that, I'm celebrating my foresight.

For the moment that was though, I figure we saw 2012 out with a fitting celebration of good friends and good wines. Hopefully, the new year will see plenty of new, exciting bottles of wine to add to The List and maybe even see me stay a little more current with my posts.  One can always hope!

Happy New Year!

The Seasonal Neighbours' Dine Around

It's now been almost ten years since Boo and I moved into the neighbourhood and one of the constant joys of living where we do is the Neighbourhood Dine Around.  The back story is that six new homes were built at the same time and all six were moved into within a few months of each other.  There was obviously some common ground between all the new neighbours and we were ever so lucky that we all enjoyed each other's company.

We started up the first dine around after we'd all had a year to both settle in and to start adding those individual touches to our homes. All the homes started out pretty much as carbon copies of the same plan.  So, a 45-minute visit to each home for drinks and nibblies allowed for a bit of a snoop as well as some seasonal cheer.

Well that original six-some has seen some changes.  After last summer, we were down to two of the original six couples; however, the replacements have continued to fit right in.  Indeed, we saw two new couples move into the hood this year.  And, then, there's been a bit of an expansion to the guest list to boot.  It started with the addition of Big Red and The Marquis and their house as it shared a fence line with Rock God and Shameless Hussy.  Then Mr. Principled and Nature Boy moved in across the lane and we figured it wasn't too much of a trek to include them as well.  Finally, this is the first year that we're including Irish John - even though he's been one of the chattiest neighbours on the street for years.

Our little seasonal mingler even made it into the Globe and Mail newspaper last month as an article on neighbourhoods.

With a diverse array of foods and cocktails, we're just a little concerned that we've outgrown the coziness of the original event.  Nine homes in one night takes some concerted effort.  And some self-pacing.  That's why I don't have nine different wines to add to The List after the evening - even though there was an assortment of bottles well in excess of what I managed to sip away on.

We started with an oyster bar at one of the new couples on the block.  They went all out on the menu and "obviously" didn't check the blog first to make sure that they were serving a wine that hadn't made it to The List already.  Their Adriano Adami Dei Casel Extra Dry Prosecco (Valdobbiandene Prosecco Superiore DOCG - Veneto - Italy) was a lovely match to the oysters but it's a non-vintage and was added back at #1185 at another neighbourhood party.  I'll have to fill them in a little more before next year's event.

1300.  2010 Les Vins Bonhomme - el petit bonhomme (Jumilla D.O. - Spain)

So, the first wine of the night to be added to The List also has the distinction of hitting another landmark century mark on this Odyssey - #1300!  The wine is getting all sorts of good press locally as a marvellously valued and tasty wine. It's made by ex-Montréal native Nathalie Bonhomme in collaboration with well known, Spanish winery Bodegas Juan Gil.  It's a take on a Spanish GSM, likely explaining heavier use of the M - being Monastrell (the local name for Mourvèdre) - and lighter take on the Garnacha (Grenache) and Syrah.

I don't think that K-Pop and Baby Mama had necessarily intended on matching it with the latkes and applesauce but I could have cared less.  I was only disappointed in the fact that I had to check my sipping on the easy sipper since we still had more six stops to take in.

Those stops kept up the varied approach to the treats.  I tried a bitters and soda for the first time with Cupcake and Haggis, tried a comparison to Boo's homemade eggnog and quite enjoyed the pulled pork sandwiches and great cheese spreads that were served up at those stops.  Of course, there was the milk stout and multitude of brews being poured as we paid a first visit Irish John's place and his "man cave."  I think it was a common conclusion amongst the gang that Irish John has the best view of the city of all our places.  And we're holding him to his offer to host a man cave party in the near future.  I was quite intrigued to hear that the milk stout is made just down the road from us at 49th Parallel brewery.  The hood continues to grow more interesting.

1301.  2007 Hillside Estate Reserve Merlot (Okanagan Valley)

1302.  2008 Hillside Estate Reserve Merlot (Naramata Bench - Okanagan Valley)

I don't know how interesting most folks found the mini-library pouring of the Hillside Merlot but it seemed like a fun thing to try since we happened to have both the '07 and '08 vintages handy.  Hillside has been around for some years now but it's not a winery that we patronize all that much.  They did a tasting with the BC Wine Appreciation Society this year and we really enjoyed a couple of their small lot Merlots.

I didn't get my hands on any of the small lot wines but it was nice to serve up the two rather distinctly different takes on the "same" wine.  The 2007 was made from grapes grown in the warmer Oliver region of the Okanagan while the 2008 wine only used grapes from the Naramata Bench - where the winery is located.  I'm not sure about the 2008 wine, but only 400 cases were made of the 2007.  We don't try these comparison tastings very often but it just went to show how common vintage variations can be with smaller, non-brand producers.

It seemed that the slightly fruitier profile on the 2008 was a bit more popular though - if you're taking notes.

1303.  N.V. See Ya Later Ranch - SYL Brut (VQA Okanagan Valley)

We even had a bit of participation from one of our former neighbours.  The Marquis wasn't able to attend our gathering this year, but he sent a couple bottles of the SYL Brut all the same.  This is a BC bubbly that I'm not that familiar with.  It's a very traditional take on bubbly though with toasty brioche notes that are very reminiscent of real deal Champagne.  It was even just named as one of local writer, Anthony Gismondi's, top choices for reasonably priced sparklers for the holiday season.

Our final stop of the night was a bona fide tawny-fest.  Rock God and Shameless Hussy served up an early Christmas present with three different fortified tawny ports.  This is my kind of nightcap; however, you have to remember that, by now, we'd been at the Dine Around for five hours-plus.  Accordingly, I did a quick tasting of each of the wines but I chose to play the good boy and only fully partake in two of the bottles.

1304.  Niepoort Colheita 1995 (Douro - Portugal)

1305.  N.V. Buller Fine Old Muscat (Rutherglen - Victoria - Australia)

Again, I found it interesting to try different approaches to very similar wines.  Both wines are considered tawnies - as opposed to ruby ports.  Tawnies are standardly aged for many years (10+ years in both of these instances) in oak casks unlike the rubies that are bottled much earlier in the ageing process to preserve the deeper colouring and fruitier profile on the wine.  One of differences in the approaches in the two wines at hand is that the Colheita is a more rare-ish, vintage dated tawny port.  Most tawnies are wines that blend in new vintages to end up with a consistent non-vintage profile but the Colheita features fruit just from the 1995 vintage.  Another difference is that the Aussie wine is made from 100% Muscat but the Portugese wine, like most Ports, features a variety of grapes including Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinto Cão, Tinta Francisca, Tinta Amarela, Sousão and Tinta Roriz (and some unnamed others).

I love the fact that two of the named varietals in the Colheita have yet to be added to my tally for the Wine Century Club.  So, that early present from the Hussy was all the more special.  Tinta Francisca and Sousão become grapes #145 and 146.  Season's greetings to that!

As for the third tawny served up, I'll just have to go back to the Taylor Fladgate on another occasion.  As you might easily imagine, we had long become rather tired neighbours and our numbers were diminishing with every passing stop.  For the hardy stalwarts, every oversized couch or chair just seemed to call out as a practical - if not entirely comfy - resting spot.  And you have to know that overflowing chair capacity often leads to unexpected consequences - like spilled drinks - and those consequences are best avoided because you know we'll be doing it all over again next year.  And you don't necessarily want to be the neighbourhood story during the intervening months - especially with the looming possibility of being written up in the papers.

Good thing we have such accommodating and good-drinking neighbours.  I'm pretty much guaranteed a grand entry for the blog every holiday season.  Merry Merry!

Aussie Rules Grand Final

The Aussie Rules Grand Final was on tonight and we had a couple of dilemmas on our hands.  Our first conundrum was were we going to root for the Hawthorn Hawks or the Sydney Swans?  Boo barracks for the Brisbane Lions and I'm a West Coast Eagles kind of guy; so we weren't exactly invested in either of the teams battling the final.  Granted our good buddy, Merlot Boy, is an ardent Hawks fan and we've been gifted a fair collection of Hawthorn paraphernalia over the years.  So, decking ourselves out in Hawks gear would be easy enough, but there was a Canadian chap playing a central role for the Swans.  In fact, he's the first Canuck to ever play in the AFL league - and that left us feeling a definite tug for some Swan love.

Our second dilemma was even more stressful.  How could we decide whether to drink beer or wine?  Having been lucky enough to see two league games live earlier this year when we were Down Under, we know only too well that beer is the footy beverage of choice - and it just so happens that today is National Drink Beer Day in North America.  Having a "guest" alcohol appearance on the blog is all fine and dandy but this is one sporting occasion where pulling a nice Aussie wine out of the old rack just makes too much sense.

I suppose the obvious answers to our problems were to 1) start the game with beer and then move into wine and 2) just cheer for whichever team had the better looking players on the field.  Both solutions offered us plenty of options. 

1252.  2001 Rosemount GSM (McLaren Vale/Barossa Valley/Langhorne Creek - Australia)

After an initial visit with a local brewer, we moved on to a big, old Aussie red.  Not only did this Rosemount wine use Grenache, Shiraz and Mourvèdre - three Rhône varietals that thrive in South Australia - but they also sourced grapes from three different regions in the state. The blend was largely G&S - with 7% M - and I'm not exactly sure how it was still hanging around our place a decade later.  Thankfully, the bottle was still drinking nicely.  I'm assuming the fruit had mellowed out but there was still enough dark juice and spice there to live up to a bruising game like Aussie Rules.

As it turned out, neither of our dilemmas proved to be much of a problem.  We were still functioning the next morning after both beer and wine and Boo and I were able to root equally for both the Hawks and the Swans as it was a cracker of a game.  It wasn't clear who was going to win the game until the final whistle.  Unfortunately for Merlot Boy, the Swans hustled to a win and are taking the cup back to Sydney with them.  We'll have to see if Mike Pyke, the Canadian playing in the game, gets to bring the trophy home to Vancouver and Canada for a visit.  I think that'd be a treat to see and a great little promotion for the game up here.

Hopefully Merlot Boy didn't have to drown his sorrows too much.  Making the Grand Final is a helluva season for the Hawks - and at least it wasn't a seven game series where your team loses Game 7 and the city breaks into a riot.  Been there, done that.

Wine Boyz - The Grenache Edition

I always look forward to our little Wine Boyz gatherings - where we round up a gang for the evening and we taste a series of wines on a double blind basis. Whoever plays host that night decides on the "flavour du jour" and everyone brings along a bottle, in a brown paper bag, to fit the theme. While tasting the wines, we neither know what the wine is, nor who brought it. We try the wines both with and without food and are ultimately cajoled into ranking them - top choice through least - before the night is out.

The revealing of who liked or disliked what wines is always a great part of the evening - especially when the overall favourites are revealed. We all just sit there praying that we brought one of the favoured drops.

I'm afraid, however, that this is going to have to be one of those "Colour Me Bad" posts. In the time since the actual tasting and my writing this, I've misplaced all my notes from the evening - including my preferences and the overall rankings. The best I can do now is add the wines to The List and let you know that Boo's and my wines, naturally, were among the favourites.

Honestly.

Skipper assumed the host's mantle and he decided that Grenache and Grenache blends (so long as the "G" figured prominently in the mix) was the chosen path. We'd tried a Grenache tasting years ago and it was one of the most popular evenings that we could remember. Skipper wanted to see if a different set of wines would be as popular with a different "gang of pour." We had some Wine Boyz virgins joining us and there was a fair bit of "what the heck is Grenache anyhow?" before the actual evening. The fact that you find it called Garnacha, almost as often as not, on local shelves wouldn't have helped. I 'm pretty sure they'll have a good chance of remembering what it is now.

There were no restrictions on where the wines could come from tonight - and, after the reveal, I was intrigued by the sources: four Spanish, two French and two Aussies. I truly regret that, for the moment, I can't even say whether there were any preferences by region - personal or overall.

1162. 2007 Conde Valdemar Garnacha (Rioja D.O.C. - Spain)

1163. 2010 Bodegas Artazu - Artazuri Garnacha (Navarra D.O. - Spain)

1164. 2008 Malondro Besllum (Montsant D.O. - Spain)

- 50 Garnacha 50 Cariñena

1165. 2007 Torres Gran Sangre de Toro (Catalunya D.O.C. - Spain)

-60 Garnacha 25 Cariñena 15 Syrah

In retrospect, it's interesting that there were twice as many Spanish wines as there were French or Aussie. Since I'm usually the one picking wine for dinner and outings, a big part of the fun for me is seeing what wines other people choose. It's not too often that I'm familiar with them.

1166. 2007 Domaine Vieux Lazaret - Châteauneuf-du-Pape (AOC Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France)

- Grenache, Cinsault, Mourvèdre & Syrah

1167. 2010 Perrin Réserve Côtes du Rhône (AOC Côtes du Rhône - France)

-GSM

I was glad to see that there was a Châteauneuf-du-Poof, as my sister refers to them when around us, brought to the table. It's just appropriate given the crowd.

1168. 2007 d'Arenberg The Custodian Grenache (McLaren Vale - Australia)

1169. 2010 Rosemount Grenache Shiraz (South Eastern Australia)

- 55 Grenanche 45 Shiraz

I'm kicking myself about the lost notes because Boo and I brought the d'Arenberg as one of our wines. It was one of the wineries that we visited when we visited McLaren Vale a couple months back. I'd love to know how it stacked up against the others - and what we thought of it when tasting it blind.

The fact that there's a picture of me with Elzee and the Conde Valdemar has me wondering if that was the favourite of the evening. That bottle also happens to be on the "end" of the bottle line-up (down below); so, there's always a chance that they'd been lined up in order of favourite to least for the shot. Or, that could have been just too organized and thought out - after polishing off the better part of eight bottles.

In any event, we obviously enjoyed Skipper's hospitality and the wines since the evening carried on for hours. Should I ever find the notes, while cleaning, I can always revise the post and give the rightful winner its due taste in the sun. I'll just have to be more organized when it comes to our next edition. Hopefully, that'll be sooner than later.