Say It with Me Now

62. 2004 Farnese Montepulciano d'Abruzzo (Colline Teramane DOCG - Italy)

This was one of the wines that I picked up at this year's Playhouse Wine Festival. I always wonder, when opening a Festival purchase, if it's going to live up to the pressure of being one of the wines that I highlighted during the tastings.

Luckily, this wasn't one of those "what was I thinking" moments.

Farnese has been making wines in the Abruzzo area for centuries. The area is the fifth-largest wine-producing region in Italy; however, despite the popularity of the montepulciano grape as the base for young, quaffable wines and for blending (when allowed by local restrictions) in the rest of the country, Abruzzo itself hasn't generally been seen as consistently producing quality wines.

As in almost all winemaking regions, there has been some attempt to modernize and improve standards over the last decade. One step that Abruzzi winemakers took, in 2003, was to create a sub-appellation for the Colline Teramane DOCG where cropping limits were reduced in an attempt to attain a higher flavour profiles and stature in the wine world. This wine is a result of those efforts.

A few years back, Farnese garnered itself a reputation in Vancouver as producing a popular line of well-priced (read "cheap and cheerful") wines. It has shown up on a number of "Best Of..." lists for wines costing under so many dollars.

At $25, this wine is more than twice as much as most Farnese wines cost in the city, but I think it would fare well in a direct taste with its less expensive cousins. Only "problem" is that I don't know where you can buy it in the city. It was a specialty listing only available at the Festival.

I'm going to keep my eye open for more improvement with wines from Montepulciano d'Abruzzo. If for no other reason that I love saying it. How fun is that? A wine that's good both rolling off the tongue and onto it.

What Do You Serve With Camel?!

A bit of history.

We really like Hill's Specialty Meats.  The "specialty" part of their name says it all and we love the fact that we can order right along with the big boys of the restaurant trade.  We've tried their foie gras, lamb loin, duck breasts and even ventured a go with the ground camel last summer.  Well, I'd noticed that their web site recently added camel roasts to their list.  

So, on his last trip out to Hill's, Boo asked about picking up a roast.  He was advised that they don't normally stock the roasts and that he'd have to place an order - which he did.  We got the call that the meat had arrived and Boo headed back on out.  Talk about being shocked when they politely told him that the order came to $900.  Turns out that a half-side is the smallest order they could place.  I guess they don't ship smaller orders when they have to come from the Aussie Outback.  Needless to say, Boo's jaw was nearly displaced, it dropped so far.  

After saying that $900 was somewhat more than he'd been expecting, Hill's admitted that they were taken aback as well, but told him that he'd been the first person to ever order any and that they had no idea that the meat would arrive as such a honking order.  Thankfully, they reduced the size of the order appreciably but we still ended up with a hefty supply of camel.

Oh, did I mention that the main piece of meat must have been at least three feet long and a foot or so wide?!  It took up a fair bit of freezer space, that "roast" did.  And, yes, one of the first things I asked Boo was "why the hell didn't you get them to cut it into smaller pieces?!"  We won't go into some of the other things that were asked.

In any event, we did get that side cut down eventually and were now looking for an opportunity to cook some of it up and bite on into it.  That chance came when we were finally able to organize a night to have two friends, the Tyrant and Hizzoner, over for dinner to thank them for assisting us at our wedding last summer.

Now, some might ask, "if you're wanting to thank someone, why would you serve them camel?"  What can I say?  Both Tyrant and Hizzoner have travelled extensively and thought that trying camel would both be novel and interesting.

The tasks at hand weren't fully dealt with by identifying some dinner guests though.  We still needed to come up with a tasty way to cook the beast.  Even in these days of laptops and Google, locating a camel recipe is a daunting task.  It hasn't exactly caught on with the Epicurious crowd.  When I first looked, I couldn't find anything other than roasting a whole camel that's to be stuffed with a lamb or goat and a bunch of turkeys or chicken.  Something suggests that it's only turkeys that would fall for that.

We decided to BBQ the meat all the same and cut up the roast into cubes for camel kebabs.

The question then became, what wine does one serve with camel?  Tyrant reminded me of the old cigarette advertising ditty about "walking a mile for a camel."  I figured that, what with the camel being from Australia, a shiraz might do the job and I happened to have a couple bottles of Langmeil (pronounced "long mile") and I knew that, even if the camel wasn't so appetizing, the wine would be delicious.

Turns out the dinner had a number of other courses and wines as well.  These dinners seem to be good for building The List.  We added the following that night:

56.  1997 Lang Vineyards Pinot Auxerrois Brut (VQA Naramata Bench - Okanagan)

57.  2006 Black Hills Estate Alibi - Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon (Black Sage Road - Okanagan)

58.  2006 Langmeil Valley Floor Shiraz (Barossa - Australia)

59.  2000 d'Arenberg The Laughing Magpie - Shiraz Viognier (McLaren Vale - Australia)

60.  2004 Tommasi Amarone della Valpolicella Classico (DOC - Italy)

61.  2006 Inniskillin Vidal Icewine (VQA Niagara Peninsula - Ontario)

Now this was a nice line-up - kudos to Tyrant and Hizzoner for bringing along four real gems.  Too bad I don't think there's time or space to really go into all of the wines, because they were all delicious.  I particularly liked The Laughing Magpie and the Amarone.

It's a couple of days later now and, to my knowledge, everyone lived through the camel with no side effects.  In fact, it was quite tasty.  Good thing - considering how much of it is still left in the freezer.

I'd Hoped for a Whole Series

Goodness, I seem to be on a bit of stretch of BC favourites - Burrowing Owl, Sandhill, and now La Frenz.  Had the Canucks beat Chicago and made it to Round 3 of the playoffs, I was going to feature La Frenz as the series winery.  Maybe the Canucks didn't make it, but I can still enjoy a bottle of La Frenz to help quell the pain.

55.  2006 La Frenz - Montage (Naramata - Okanagan)

A montage is defined as "any combination of disparate elements that forms or is felt to form a unified whole, single image, etc."  This Montage is a blend of syrah, merlot and cabernet - not exactly the most common blend of grapes, either for BC or elsewhere.  I'm sure there's a story behind the wine that I'd like to follow up on, particularly since I've seen it made with pinot noir in the past as well.  

I don't think this wine is generally seen as one of the stars of the La Frenz cellar (not that there's a lesser wine to be found) but I like it as a nice approachable wine.  Good for a Friday night watching a movie on the TV.

Surprisingly Gris

For the second time recently, we've been quite surprised by how much we enjoyed a local pinot gris. First, it was the Burrowing Owl, now it's Sandhill; however, when I consider the two wineries at hand, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised at all. I may generally think red first with both, but both of them are standard "go to's" when I'm thinking of a nice BC wine.

My enjoyment of Burrowing Owl is already acknowledged, but let it be known that I'm pretty darned fond of Howard Soon and Sandhill as well. I remember when Sandhill first got some notice in the press and it stemmed partially from the already burgeoning star status of Burrowing Owl. It turned out that the primary Sandhill vineyard was part of the Burrowing Owl lands and Sandhill promoted that association to great advantage. Plus, the fact that you could actually find a bottle in a liquor store didn't hurt in the least.

Howard Soon has been with Calona Vineyards since 1980. Calona is the oldest continually operating winery in the Okanagan, having been established in 1932 (although a good portion of those years include the production of the "infamous" Baby Duck), and Mr. Soon and is apparently the longest-tenured winemaker in the region. He produced Sandhill's first vintage in 1997 as a higher tier of wines for Calona. From day one, as a winemaker, he has stressed gentle and non-interventionist treatment of the grapes and Sandhill has only created single vineyard wines - which leads us to:

54. 2006 Sandhill King Family Vineyard Pinot Gris (VQA - Okanagan)

Ironically, after talking about the Burrowing Owl vineyard, the grapes for this wine come from the Naramata Bench where the location lends itself to a "lean, zappy, cool climate" expression of pinot gris according to Mr. Soon. "Terroir" isn't the first wine term usually associated with BC, but that may start to change as BC vines start to get a bit age behind them and more winemakers start to learn what works best in their individual vineyards. Howard Soon has to be respected for his efforts on this front.

There's no doubt that there are going to be more Sandhill wines hitting The List.

A Toast with Our Baby

Yup, this is "our" baby. Boo and I have been the "adoptive parents" of a row of malbec vines at Red Rooster Winery on the Naramata Bench for a couple of years now. I think it's a wildly inventive marketing tool for a winery. Red Rooster hosts two events for its adoptive members - a spring pruning event and a fall harvest party - where we find out some hands-on aspects to the workings behind that bottle of wine on the table. The fact that we receive a case of wine is a pretty decent perk as well.

We haven't had much luck with the scheduling of the "Adopt-A-Row" events thus far - having made only one of the spring pruning parties - but we definitely enjoy the ties to the winery and look forward to every visit that we can make. Taking a walk in the vineyard to find the row with your name plaque in place is a real treat.

Trying some of the wine is even more of a treat.

53. 2007 Red Rooster Malbec (VQA - Naramata Bench - Okanagan)

Malbec isn't that common of a varietal in BC. There are only a couple of smaller scale programs that I'm aware of - like Inniskillin, Sandhill and Quinta Ferreira - where an actual malbec varietal is made. Most of the malbec grown in the province goes into the numerous Meritage or Bordeaux blends.

In fact, we were told that was the reason Red Rooster planted their malbec in the first place; it was to flesh out their own Meritage. However, a couple of years back, they found that the malbec was of such a high quality that they decided to make a varietal wine of their own. Seeing as how they'd really only planned on using the grapes as a small percentage of the Meritage blend, there weren't that many cases available. This was another perk of having adopted a row, we got first crack at buying some of the wine.

This is the second year that Red Rooster has made a malbec varietal and you likely wouldn't confuse it for one of the big Argentine malbecs. But, I'd hardly have expected that. It certainly doesn't matter to Boo and I either. After all, don't all parents love their children - whether they can stand up to a honking big steak with chimichurri sauce or not?!

The picture of our bottle shows it nestled in some of the prunings from our row. While at the spring party in 2007, I kept some of the cuttings and threw them into a pot on our balcony. Strangely enough, they rooted. I very much doubt that we'll ever have enough grapes to make a bottle ourselves, but the connection between those vines and the bottle we're drinking is crazy good.

Nothing to do with Lehman Brothers

Finding that I'm falling a bit behind on the postings, this is meant to be a quick, down and dirty addition to The List. Problem is that there's a lot that could be potentially written about this next wine...

52. 2002 Peter Lehmann GSM (Barossa - Australia)

The Barossa is perhaps the most influential and internationally recognized wine-growing region in Australia. It is located a bit north of Adelaide and consists of two sub-regions: Barossa Valley and Eden Valley. The former is primarily lower in altitude, more fertile and warmer. The Eden has higher altitude, cooler weather patterns and a longer growing season.

The Barossa has been at the forefront of Australian winemaking for a long time, the first grapes being planted there in the early 1840's. It is also one of the few wine-growing regions in the world that has never suffered an outbreak of phylloxera - the tiny, pale yellow sap-sucking insect (love that description) that's related to the aphid and that, over the years, has destroyed rootstock and changed the viticultural practices of growing wine. (I particularly liked one of the first attempts by the French to fight it - which was to bury a live toad under each vine.) Accordingly, the Barossa can still grow grapes on their original rootstocks (quite rare) and it boasts some of the oldest vines in the world - many up to 100 years old or older.

If the Barossa can be referred to "as the beating heart of the Australian wine industry," Peter Lehmann is one of its most notable characters. The gentleman has been a firm supporter of the Australian Wine Appreciation Society in Vancouver and has, on occasion, regaled AWAS members with stories and anecdotes that do nothing but engage and enthrall. From tales going back to how he got started with his own winery to his obvious love of the grape and the people that grow them, the man can spin a yarn.

The GSM is a very approachable introduction to the prolific Lehmann portfolio - both by taste and a price that won't empty your wallet for something that's a bit above your average Tuesday night wine (it runs about $25 nowadays). GSM refers to the blend of grenache, shiraz and mourvedre and is quite common in the Barossa. I was quite surprised when I first learned that it is also the most common blend of the vaunted chateauneuf-du-pape - one of the big guns from the Rhone Valley in France.

We've had this bottle lying around for a little while. I believe it can still be found in the government liquor stores but it's now called "Seven Surveys GSM."

The Tears are Flowing

It's called the "heartbreak grape" and I suppose I should have known better than to open this bottle for such a critical game as Game 6 with our back against the wall.  But I didn't think of this until after the game was over.

And a game it was.  Can you say "rollercoaster?"  

Slow start.  Fall behind rather early.  Tie it.  Things bleak when down 3-1.  Tie it up!  Take the lead!!  And so on and so forth.  Only to lose yet another.  Who'd've thunk we see a Canucks playoff game with a 7-5 score?!

I suppose there's some solace in the fact that the Canucks weren't even picked to make the playoffs at the start of the season. 

And, I guess, the wine wasn't all that bad.

51.  2006 Burrowing Owl Pinot Noir (VQA - Okanagan)

Pinot Noir isn't the most prolific award winner in the Burrowing Owl portfolio.  Maybe the winery doesn't enter it in as many competitions.  Maybe they don't produce as much.  Or maybe the vineyards just aren't as well suited for the grape.  For the most part, BC's most-acclaimed pinots seem to come from the wineries a little further north than Burrowing Owl's southern location.  

One of BC's most revered wine writers, John Schreiner, reported once that pinot noir was originally planted at Burrowing Owl because the new winery's first consulting winemaker, Bill Dyer, wanted to try his hand at it when he migrated up to the Okanagan from a 20-year stint at sterling Napa Valley producer Sterling Wines.

Mr. Dyer has moved on but the prominence of Burrowing Owl remains.  

And, now that the Canucks' playoff drive is done for at least this year, there likely won't be that much Burrowing Owl on The List's horizon for a bit, but its prominence has been acknowledged.

Until next season....

"Singing Gruner Veltliner"

Groovy.  Trendy.  Rising Cult Status.  

These were some of the descriptors I saw when looking up Gruner Veltliner as a grape varietal.  It certainly isn't one that most shoppers would specifically head to the neighbourhood liquor store to buy - although I'll admit that it was one of the first wines we counted on The List because a bottle was brought to our Wine Boyz tasting of "wines you've never had before."

Most Gruner Veltliner comes from Austria as it's almost their national grape - and this one does just that.

50.  2005 Laurenz und Sophie Singing Gruner Veltliner (Austria)

More than a third of all vineyard acreage in Austria is planted with the grape - which is almost four times as much as the next varietal planted.  We don't see a lot of Austrian wines in Vancouver, although that is starting to change a little bit.  Most commentators seem to say that Austrian wineries have raised their standards since a well-publicized anti-freeze scandal back in 1985.  Higher standards predictably lead to higher quality and that creates its own higher demand.

I understand that G.V. is popular with riesling crowd (of which I belong) and is readily approachable by the ABC (Anything But Chardonnay) folk.  The grape is apparently very adaptable to stylistic manipulation by the winemaker and it can, therefore, be seen in a number of taste profiles.

In fact, this winery offers up this "singing" version, in addition to its "friendly" and "charming" bottles.  The back label says that you just have to try it to find out why it's called "Singing."  While we had no problem quaffing down the bottle, it didn't exactly leave us warbling or dancing around the garden or living room - although maybe after another couple bottles of it, we might have.  The acidity did lend itself well to a splash of cassis for the first kir I've enjoyed in a long time.

The Rest of the World seems to only plant it if an ex-pat Austrian has a sentimental hankering for the taste of home.  I didn't find a single winery in Canada that produces a straight G.V. although there was a brief mention of a couple German-sounding names growing a bit for blending purposes.  I wonder if part of that reason is that the grape is a late-ripener and our limited growing season in the Great White North may not lend itself easily to economic production.  Maybe it's just that no one knows what it is.

Guess we'll see if GV is destined to follow in the steps of viognier and become a bit of a grape du jour.

Game 5 - Time for One of the Big Guns

49.  2002 Burrowing Owl Cabernet Sauvignon (VQA - Okanagan)

So, big game, I figure why not bring out the 2006 All Canadian Wine Awards Gold medal winner for cab's.  For us, this is one those wines that we were holding onto for a "big" occasion.  Hockey playoffs.  Round 2.  Pivotal game.  If that doesn't qualify as a special occasion, what will?

I get a tad apprehensive when opening a BC wine when the vintages start getting a bit longer in the tooth.  It's hardly a 40-year premiere cru Bordeaux, but there was still plenty left to enjoy.  I think the fruit would have been livelier a bit earlier on but there was still a nice balance and enough tannin remaining to match up to a game-day steak.

In the last Canucks' posting, I recounted that cabernet franc has a potential future in the province as a varietal and that Burrowing Owl has one of the best.  I have to admit that I enjoyed tonight's cab sauv a bit more though.  It would be interesting to taste side-by-side like last week's meritage vintages.  

Oh, for an never-ending supply of Burrowing Owl, eh. 

OK, big gun in BC or not, it didn't work as a good luck wine - at least as far as the Canucks go.  It was a doozy of a game, and our boys were in it until the last bit of the third period when a couple of penalties did us in.  So, it's back against the wall, down 3 games to 2 and we're playing the next game in Chicago.  Keep the hopes high and the fingers crossed.

Luckily, there's still some more Burrowing Owl for Game 6.

I Believe... I'll Have Another Glass

I might need another glass, in fact it might have to be another bottle.  Can you believe that we were only 3 minutes - that's THREE minutes - away from taking a 3-1 lead in the series over the Blackhawks.  Now granted, it wasn't the prettiest of offensive games from a Canucks' viewpoint, but it was a road game and it's the playoffs.  I'm sure the bandwagon would have forgiven the team - defensive game or not - if they'd held on for those final three minutes and taken the 1-0 win.

Aaaaarrrghhh!  Losing in overtime just plain sucks!!

48.  2004 Burrowing Owl Cabernet Franc (VQA Okanagan)

If last game's Pinot Gris was possibly Burrowing Owl's flagship white, many would argue that the not-so-well-known cab franc is the winery's best red.  In BC, this varietal is more commonly used in Meritage blends (Bordeaux style wines), but it's coming along as a very nice varietal on its own and the Burrowing Owl version has been around almost since the winery's Day 1.  What's more, it's been consistently winning accolades for the winery.  

This particular vintage was chosen the best cab franc in Canada at the 2006 Canadian Wine Awards.  It was only awarded a silver medal but it was still picked the top wine for this varietal.  A number of wine writers actually see cab franc as a possible signature red for BC in that its slightly shorter ripening period helps in BC's cooler climate.  It's not as understood or recognized as cabernet sauvignon, but that might actually be a selling point for BC since not as many global areas produce a straight cab franc varietal.  Any area that can ripen cab sauv produces it, but not as many go for the lesser known cab.

I'm going to have to put some thought into the wine for the next game.  The fifth game is pivotal.  I'm glad it's going to be in Vancouver.