Touring and Tasting

It appears that Boo and I may need to come up with a whole new wardrobe this fall. The Canucks traded Ryan Kesler and Jason Garrison and, wouldn't you know, those are the two current player jerseys that we sport.

The Garrison trade was a bit of a surprise and, since he didn't leave Vancouver while in everyone's bad books, Boo can probably get away with still wearing the #5 jersey. I'm not so sure I want to keep going with my Kesler jersey though. Sure enough, I got three or four good years out of it - and the city loved Kesler during the 2011 playoff run. He might still be able to make the odd Aussie smile, but I think all the locals got the impression that Ryan was all about himself and cared nothing for the Canucks, his teammates or the city. Too bad. But good riddance, I suppose. Makes me want to find out if you can get jersey numbers changed after the fact.

Putting aside the trades, we moved on to happier activities with our #TwoKangaroos. We couldn't entice Merlot Boy out of bed with a trip to the Trout Lake Farmers Market but Margarita and I completed a tasty tour in the morning. Then Boo and Merlot Boy joined us and we all spent the afternoon touring Gastown.

When you consider how many of the shops seemed new to Boo and me, it was clear that we don't get down to this part of VanCity very often. We passed some "new" restaurants that looked pretty tasty and Boo and I clearly need to make it back to the carpet shop because we barely poked our heads into the store and saw two gorgeous silks that may need to add some colour to our household.

As we were finishing off our tour, we discovered that we'd parked right next to Bambudda, a new-ish entry to the Gastown scene serving up modern Chinese and inventive cocktails. They were just opening the doors as we sauntered by and the empty bar seats right at street level were just too inviting for four tired wanderers to pass up.

I'd seen a few tweets recently that raved about the cocktails at Bambudda. So, it seemed like a no-brainer for us to do a little research of our own. The drinks arrived both pretty and pretty tasty. There's definitely potential to do a whole lot of damage as you sip your way through the drink menu. Despite the tawdry comments that flew from Merlot Boy's lips, I went for the Sum Yung Gai - a concoction of gin, Cava, lemon, maraschino and lavender syrup. merlot Boy himself went ordered the Bubble Tea and it, with Gin, Blue Curaçao and hibiscus bubbles, was sure a looker. Boo and Margarita opted for "classics": Satan's Whiskers and Mother-in-Law which Bambudda says are both cocktails from circa 1890.

Something tells me, wine blogger or not, we'll be back.

The possibility of heading out on the town was proffered but our Aussies opted to stick around the home front. With Cher behind them, a day's worth of walking just completed and a wedding on the morrow's agenda, a night of adding bottles to The List and a binge-viewing of Archer episodes seemed as adventurous as our buds wanted to be.

1650.  2013 Stoneleigh Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough - New Zealand)

Despite her nom de blog, Margarita's sip of choice is probably Sauv Blanc and this Stoneleigh is one of her "go-to's." Offering up classic Kiwi notes, it was still easy to see why this is a pleaser for Margarita. It was determined that, despite the classic notes, the wine was "neither overly acidic nor cat pee-y." Seems appealing enough to me on a summer's eve.

Then, the reds kicked in. Merlot Boy had picked up a couple bottles of Aussie Shiraz at the local shop. Funny, guy travels half way around the world to drink his home country drops.

1651.  2011 Vinaceous Wines - Snake Charmer Shiraz (McLaren Vale - Australia)

I can't say that I know much about Vinaceous Wines. Given the labels, my guess is that it's a commercial venture along the lines of critter wines - without the critters on the label. Or, maybe, just critters of a different sort. Their website states that "the Vinaceous concept is to produce seven distinctive wines representing seven personalities - men, women, angels, demons, mermaids...and other creatures of mythology!" Their wines are sourced from "the best regions suited to the chosen varietals." So, we're definitely talking about a Down Under négociant concept.

Commercial enterprise or not, we still found it tasty enough. I believe the collective response to my "what do you think?" was "a tad stronger than 'charming' but a charmer all the same."

1652.  2012 The Black Chook Shiraz Viognier (McLaren Vale - Australia)

Roos, snakes, chooks (Aussie for chicken). What is it with Aussies, animals and wine? My learned guess is that they all just drink like fish. Then, with so many big, tasty sips within easy reach, who could blame them? The Black Chook is a project that brought in noted South Australian winemaker/consultant, Ben Riggs, to shepherd this Aussie take on the northern Rhone co-ferment of Shiraz with Viognier.

Hardly a critter wine. I likely wouldn't have gravitated to this bottle because of the name and label. I guess it just goes to show that, if you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, the same can be said about judging a wine by its label.

2005 Orofino Merlot Cabernet (Similkameen Valley)

With all the antipodean bottles hitting our glasses, I thought I'd serve up a bit of curveball. I didn't tell our guests what it was that I'd opened and they thought this wine was even bigger than the Aussie Shiraz we'd been sipping. They were pleasantly surprised when I told them it was another Orofino wine from the Similkameen. We'd completed our Orofino Riesling trio the other night; so, I figured it couldn't hurt to try a red as well. The two Roos didn't think BC wines were supposed to be a full as this.

Unfortunately, I don't get to add the bottle to The List this time around. With Orofino being one of my favourite wineries, I suppose I should be surprised that the '05 Merlot Cab was added to The List all the way back at #433. Still drinking good though.

1653.  2005 Pisano - EtXe Oneko Licor de Tannat (Uruguay)

The final bottle of the night was a surprise and a treat. Since Merlot Boy and Margarita arrived, I haven't been playing up World Cup entries to the blog much. This bottle was a tip of the cap to Uruguay's run at the 2014 Cup. They lost their Round of 16 playoff game to Colombia earlier in the day but their show was still worthy of a nightcap of a bottle.

This was a bottle that I'd been given at the Wine Blogger's conference last year in Penticton. Luckily, the Uruguayan producers had some bottles left at the end of the conference and I managed to score this rarity (at least to me) as they didn't (or couldn't) take everything with them.

Made from 100% Tannat grapes, the wine combines techniques from both Amarone and Port. The grapes are left to desiccate on the vine for an extra month before pressing. They were then fermented to a desired level of residual sugar and topped off with grape alcohol to stop the fermentation. A second batch of grapes that had been left even longer on the vine were then added to the fermentation tanks in whole clusters. After approximately six weeks, the wine was pressed off and barrel-aged for another six months. Rich, tasty, fruity, dark. Right up my alley.

And, again, that's from Tannat grapes. Not going to find many wines using this production method.

Hardly the equivalent of an Aussie sticky, we were all taking a big bite out of this Luis Suarez of a wine.

And on that happy note, we bid "good night" to Archer and each other. Wedding prep and bells were calling on the horizon.

Uruguay Dashes England's Hopes - Time for Some Tannat

Time for another venture into World Cup wines. The latest game to catch my eye - as an excuse for opening a bottle of wine was Uruguay's 2-1 win over England. The South American team's win more-or-less killed England's chances of advancing to the next stage, but I'll leave the English fans to drown their sorrows in excessive pints, I'm pulling the cork on a boutique Uruguayan wine that I was given at  last year's Wine Blogger's Conference in Penticton.

During the WBC13 conference, I had a number of opportunities to chat with Leslie Fellows, the very personable Director of Sales for Artesana - a premium producer of wine in Uruguay that, understandably, focuses heavily on the Tannat variety. Luckily for me, Leslie is American and speaks English. I say, "luckily," because my Spanglish stops at "Buenos Dias Muchacho" and "dos cervezas por favour" - although I have mastered the fact that "vino tinto"  is "red wine" in Spanish. A handy phrase to know, I'm sure.

1638.  2011 Artesana Tannat-Merlot (Uruguay)

Artesana is a premium producer located in the Canelones region of Uruguay. Admittedly (and despite an interesting luncheon presentation at WBC13), my knowledge of Uruguayan wines more-or-less starts and ends with Tannat. I wouldn't know one wine producing region from another - or that there even are different regions in the country for that matter. The winery website, however, states that the Canelones region is just a short distance outside of the national capital Montevideo and is the "premier wine growing region in Uruguay and home to the majority of the country's vineyards...[with] growing conditions similar to France's Bordeaux region."

 Artesana is a relatively new enterprise and its first vineyard blocks were planted with Tannat, Merlot and Zinfandel in 2007 and 2008 - with the Zin being the first planting of the variety in Uruguay. Cabernet Franc vines were later planted in 2013 to provide additional blending options in the years to come. The winery currently offers five or six wines, including Tannat and Zinfandel varietal wines and this Tannat-Merlot blend.

The back label says that the 2011 vintage is a 60%-40% blend with Tannat providing the bigger proportion. The website goes further to say that the Merlot and Tannat blocks were fermented separately and aged in a mixture of new and used American and French oak for twelve months. The wines were then "blended and bottled without fining or filtration and bottle-aged an additional eight months."

We thought the wine was quite delightful - full of lovely, dark fruit - and, while you definitely noticed the tannins, they were far from overpowering.

There were only 580 cases of this wine made - out of a total production of 1250 cases - but the winery is aiming for a 4000 case capacity by 2016.

I've yet to see Artesana in the Vancouver market but I, for one, would be happy to see that happen.

The Uruguayan soccer team should only wish to be as successful on the field for the rest of the World Cup as this wine was in the glass.

A 2nd Crossing with the Little Lost Lamb

This was a second serving of our neighbours' "thawed out" lamb that we inherited when their freezer broke down. A second serving of lamb. Seemed easy enough to serve a wine called 2nd Crossing.

767. 2007 Twisted Tree - 2nd Crossing Long Creek Red (VQA Okanagan Valley)

2nd Crossing is the second label for Twisted Tree, the winery on the hillside to the East of Osoyoos in the Okanagan. Seemingly priced to be a bit more value oriented than the Twisted Tree label, the name 2nd Crossing comes from the location of the winery, being where Highway 3 crosses Long Creek. The creek is seasonal and may not even appear in certain years. That's apparently the plan for this label as well. The making of these wines will depend on the harvest and the availability of grapes.

Like the creek, the wine may or may not appear.

From its start, Twisted Tree has been interested in working with varietals that aren't run-of-the-mill in the Okanagan and this wine features the winery's first use of the Tannat grapes that were planted. The winery has since come out with a full varietal Tannat wine, but I can only assume that they just didn't have enough quality fruit to produce that varietal wine in the first year. Rather, this is a blend of 50% Tannat and equal portions of Merlot, Cab Sauv and Malbec - a blend that I'm pretty sure you won't find being produced anywhere else in BC.

A solid wine, easy to drink with nice ripe fruit. It wasn't as bold as the Shiraz we had with the other lamb that was inherited, but I wouldn't say "no" to another bottle if I were to run across a bottle.

A Wine-Fueled Culture Crawl

The last thing that Boo said to Mr. D. as he headed off to work was, "Don't let him buy anything." And, for once, Boo wasn't even talking about wine. Mr. D. and I were going to wander around some and take in part of the East Side Culture Crawl. The Crawl is in its 14th year and has become a highly anticipated weekend for the Vancouver's often sombre Novembers.

The Crawl is a three-day event that sees upwards of 300 artists - of all types - open their studio space to the thousands of visitors that take in the painting, jewelry, sculpture, woodwork, photography or any other type of medium that one of the East Side artists has decided to dabble in.

I don't know what Boo was afraid of. It's not like I buy art like I buy wine. Turns out, however, that he might have known a little of which he spoke.

Mr. D. and I were going to be wandering buildings and studio on a wet Friday night; so, we took a little encouragement along with us. It wouldn't have been possible to wander around with wine glass in hand, but taking along a couple of travel coffee mugs is a whole other thing.

653. 2009 Edgebaston The Pepper Pot (W.O. Stellenbosch - South Africa)

I haven't added many South African wines to The List; so, it'd be nice to spend a little more time on this wine, but that might have to wait. I see Edgebaston has a "Honey Pot" as well. Maybe a further look at the winery can be completed should we open a bottle of that. In the meantime, winemaker, David Finlayson, refers to this as a "fun, funky blend" of Rhone varietals. It's meant to be all about bringing out the pepper, spice and primary fruit in this Syrah, Mourvedre and Tannat blend (65/28/7). I've never associated the Tannat grape with the Rhone, but Finlayson is also quoted as saying, "Don't think about it. Just drink it." I can go with that.

I do find it interesting that the wine has made it to the Vancouver market when only 1000 cases were made. We're a long ways from South Africa - especially when we're only talking a thousand cases.

There wasn't much opportunity to talk wine with our busy schedule at hand. There was even less chance that three hours or one bottle of wine would be enough to visit all of the artists - but we did manage to fit in just enough on our tour to get into a bit of trouble. Through his association with the Board of Friends For Life and the fundraising Art For Life, Mr. D. has come to know a couple of the artists who's studios we visited. I love the bright colours that Carla Tak includes in her palate and when I saw a small piece for a reasonable price, I felt I needed to pick it up. I was pretty sure that Boo would understand - and, after all, I could always blame it on the wine.

There was a second piece, however, that was a little grander in scope. I have been intrigued by Eve Leader's distinctive paintings for a number of years - ever since she had a piece that caused a bit of a bidding war at Art For Life. Her art definitely isn't for everyone, but I find it compelling and have wanted a piece ever since that first night. Mr. D. and I did find one painting that fit my sentiments nicely - but even I knew better than to spend the more-elevated sticker price on this piece without a bit of consultation at home. Blaming a purchase on the wine wouldn't quite cut it in this instance.

As you can see by the photo accompanying this posting, I got the "go-ahead" to go back the next day and pick up the piece. Not that the painting will ever be a particular favourite of Boo's. The issue now is just to find some wall space for it.

A Check Mark on the Bucket List

Good thing we're on vacation, because this post is going to be far more about the photos and the day's adventures than it is about the wine. There actually is a wine to be added to The List with this entry, but I think it's best left until the end. I'll elaborate later but, suffice it to say, that I was going to title this entry - "Machu Picchu - Yes. Magdalena Reservado - No."

The number of pictures being added to this entry is double what I might have hoped; however, we're jamming two days' worth of vacation into one entry because there was only one wine to be had. Unfortunately, one of the risks of vacation is succumbing to local conditions, bugs and unexpectedly way-lays. Our first Peruvian foray, after Lima, was Cusco - and its 3400m (11,200 feet) altitude. For this boy, who's lived at sea-level all his life, the sorroche (altitude sickness) hit pretty hard after our afternoon's touring. I was hard-pressed to even try a bit of dinner, let alone sip back on some wine that night.

Luckily, chewing on mate leaves got me through the afternoon long enough to take in some of the sights of Cusco. Boo was particularly taken by the Marcos Zapata master painting of the Last Supper that was hanging in the Cathedral of Santo Domingo. Painted with a distinctly Peruvian slant, it features a dinner of guinea pig (a local delicacy) and chicha (corn beer).

Our tour also took in a number of the Incan ruins that remain - often integrated in with more recent buildings from the Spanish colonial period. The construction of the stone walls was so superb that the Spaniards simply built their churches and colonial buildings on the original foundations and incorporated some of the existing walls into the new building.

Above the city, the ruins hadn't been co-opted by the Spaniards and the glory and incredible effort of the architecture was more evident and apparent. Just the size of some of the stones that formed part of the construction was enough to leave you awe-struck.

The largest of the ruins outside the city is called Sacsayhauman (but everyone jokingly calls it "Sexy Woman") and the location provided a spectacular view of the valley and the modern city. I can only imagine the purpose and views offered in centuries past.

That afternoon proved to be our only real taste of Cusco though. Since I wasn't up to any meandering that evening, we didn't get much of a chance to just wander the streets and see what life in the city was like. plus, we needed to be off bright and early the next morning. There were train tickets to Machu Picchu that had our names on them and sorroche or not, I was making that train.

Everyone has their list of places they want to visit before they die and Machu Picchu has always been near the top of mine. It didn't disappoint! The fact that the elevation is, surprisingly to me, about a 1000 metres lower than it is Cusco made for a quick recovery from the altitude sickness.

If the ruins in Cusco were impressive, there may not be an adjective worthy of Machu Picchu. I simply marvel - and wonder - at the location and grandeur of the complex. What on earth led the Inca to create a settlement in such an isolated and difficult to reach mountain ridge? Theories abound, but I suppose we'll never really know.

Having been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983 and voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in a 2007 Internet poll, I can now add a check mark beside Machu Picchu on my "bucket list." Following a guided tour and a bit of a further walkabout, it was time to grab a bus back down the somewhat harrowing, switchback road to the village of Aguas Calientes.

My altitude sickness may have dissipated, but now Boo seemed to have picked up some sort of bug. We don't know if it was the water or something he ate, but, by the time we'd finished a quick tour of the town, he was clearly feeling worse for wear. Accordingly, we decided to just stay and eat a light picnic-style dinner in the B&B hotel. We had picked up some wine in the village market. Seeing the limited scope of the community market - lots of potatoes and vegetables but little else, we weren't so sure we were even going to find a bottle of wine for sale. We grabbed a couple of bottles at the first store that was selling anything since we thought it might be our only chance. Naturally, we ran into all sorts of shops after that - some that even appeared to have a somewhat extensive selection. What was done was done though.

611. Santiago Queirolo - Vino de la Magdalena Reservado Malbec/Tannat (Peru)

At the time we bought this bottle, I didn't realize that it was made by the same winery that made the Intipalka wine that we enjoyed in Lima. The labeling is completely different - as was the taste. Whereas the Sauv Blanc from the other night was nice varietal wine, this Malbec/Tannat was anything but representative of those varietals. If there was ever any tannin present from the Tannat, the winery had found a way to complete mask it.

This was so decidedly off-dry that it was more like Inca Kola than wine. I took a look at the winery's website and it states that the Intipalka is part of the winery's new generation of wines while this Magdalena Reservado is more traditional in style. The sweeter styling is apparently preferable to the palates of most Peruvian consumers.

It's not too often that Boo and I don't feel like finishing off a bottle but he had no interest in the wine after half a glass. I'm afraid that I wasn't a whole lot more enamoured with it - although I managed a second glass, if only because I needed it to toast a big day in my life.

Hopefully, our second day at Machu Picchu will be more adequately satiated by a more attractive wine.