Wine Olympics (Guerilla, that is)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Those three wines were:

Gold - 2007 St. Halletts Blackwell Shiraz

Silver - 2006 Starmont Merryvale Napa Cabernet Suvignon

Bronze - 2007 Seven Stones Similkameen Meritage

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

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

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

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

Snow Day - Wine Blog Wednesday #65

The other week, while surfing the net for tasty bits of info for the blog, I ran across a reference to "Wine Blogging Wednesday" (or "WBW" for short). Now, I vaguely recall having seen such a reference once or twice previously but I never followed up on what it was all about. This time, I took a couple extra minutes to check out the concept.

Having been conceived over five years ago by a New York blogger, Lenn Thompson, as a monthly, virtual event, it's simple enough. As this month's host - Michelle of blog "My Wine Education" at www.wine-girl.net - has recapped, "people interested in wine, the world over, would coalesce each month around a single theme." Everyone submits their postings or e-mail comments to the coordinator, which are then coordinated and shared. This month is WBW#65 and it's hard to believe that it took me so long to discover it.

Michelle is starting off the new decade with the theme of "Snow Day!" Being a home grown Canuck in the True North Strong and Free, you'd think that this theme would be a natural, a no-brainer, a slam-dunk so to speak. Guess we'll see.

In a way, I hate to fall back on such a cultural cliche but, being Canadian, how can I not just go with the GREAT WHITE NORTH. I'm just going to put aside my curling broom for the moment (which I really do have) and sit myself down to ponder snow and wine.

Ironically, out here in Vancouver, the headlines for the past week have been the LACK of snow. Perhaps the "Great WET North" is the more appropriate moniker for our town nowadays. The big news has been whether organizers will be able to keep enough of the accumulated base on the local hills to successfully host the Winter Olympics next month. Other than for one or two days at Christmas, it's not too often that, as a city, we find ourselves collectively hoping for colder weather and for the white stuff to fall. Over the next couple of weeks though, there might be the odd snow dance being performed around here.

It's a good thing that we had a cold November and there was a good build up of a snow base in the mountains, because I was actually driving around this weekend past

with the top down on the car. Compare that to these shots of last year's winter when, at times, we had more snow than anyone could remember.

But, this is a wine blog - not a weather report - so let's get to it and add another bottle to The List (since that's what I do here) and do a little deconstruction of the phrase "Great White North."

339. 2005 Jackson-Triggs Grand Reserve Sparkling Riesling Icewine (VQA OkanaganValley)

There are a number of reasons I chose this wine - least of which is that it only seems fitting to feature a bottle of icewine for a wintery topic like snow.

To start, the "North" component of this posting is rather self-evident. How could I do anything but head North of the Canada/U.S. border and the 49th parallel? Done.

"Great" might be a little more subjective, but it certainly doesn't hurt that the production of icewine may still be seen as Canada's biggest strength on the international wine stage. I also figured that Jackson-Triggs would be an appropriate choice. While some might balk at describing J-T as a "Great" winery, it is certainly one of the few Canadian wineries to consistently garner attention both nationally and internationally. It has been named "Best Canadian winery" 19 times in competitions over the last nine years. The fact that Jackson-Triggs is a corporate sponsor of the upcoming Winter Olympics also seemed fitting.

To capture the essence of "White," I'm going with perhaps my favourite white varietal - Riesling. I've blogged previously about one of Vancouver's best known wine commentators, Mark Davidson, and paraphrased his well-worked statement that he tells his students: "By the end of this course, you will come to understand and appreciate Riesling. If you don't, you will not only fail this course - but in life as well."

There you have it, - Great - White - and, North - all encompassed in a single bottle (and a half-bottle at that). But what hopeful expectations for a bottle!

Icewine, in itself, is rare enough, but a sparkling icewine is that much rarer of a bird - much like a snowy day in L.A. or Sydney. I didn't see how much wine was produced with this vintage, but it isn't produced every year and there were only 101 cases of the most recent vintage in 2007.

In 2005, the grapes were harvested on December 7 while the temperature was a balmy -11 C degrees. That's 12 F degrees for the Americans amongst us. The grapes were then pressed immediately upon arrival at the winery to prevent any of the water in the grapes from thawing. Following an initial fermentation, the juice was re-inoculated with yeast for a secondary fermentation in a sealed, stainless cuvee-close.

To be honest though, I'm not so sure where the "sparkle" was in the icewine. If the bottle hadn't told us that this was a "sparkling" wine, I doubt that I would have noticed much of a difference from a more standard icewine. I will say that there was a very slight effervescence in the mouth-feel which might have lightened up the unctuousness I often find with an icewine, but there was certainly no mousse along the lines of a Champagne or even a Cava - which is more what I had hoped for.

I wouldn't exactly call the marketing a snow-job - the wine had a deep, golden hue and a rich, full body that screamed honey and ripe tree fruit and a finish that lasted forever. There was also just enough acidity to counterpoint the sweetness. It's just that, when I reach for sparkling, I'm big on bubbles going crazy in my mouth and that wasn't happening here - although I think the idea of it still intrigues me.

All the same, the wine was hardly out of place with the creme brulee we matched it to and I can just imagine tasting it along with some foie gras. When it comes in at $60 a half-bottle, however, this is definitely a special occasion wine - at least for this household. Then again, what could be more special than a very first posting for Wine Blogging Wednesday? I'm thinking I'll have a few most WBW postings under my belt though before we head back to the sparkling icewine though.

Osborne Solaz

This is one of those wines that we knew nothing about when we ordered it at a restaurant. We were grabbing a quick bite to eat with Mr. D. before hitting a movie and the wine was reasonably priced and sounded interesting. I'm not familiar with this sort of a blend. I don't if it's becoming more common or has been so all along.

We never expected it to be out of this world - after all, under $30 in a Vancouver restaurant doesn't get you too much. It turns out, however, that it's a nice little burger wine, but, more than that, there was a whole lot of interesting story behind the winery.

328. 2006 Osborne Solaz Tempranillo/Cabernet Sauvignon (Tierra de Castilla - Spain)

In this case, it's not the wine that offers up the story but, rather, it's the history behind the winery, the label and its marketing history. Grupo Osborne has been producing wines in Spain for over 200 years and is best known for its sherries and brandy. But the real story, for me, was the tale of the Osborne bull.

The company started placing the bull on their labels in 1956 and, as part of their marketing plan, they placed large "bullboards" along the Spanish roadways. The first bull was erected in 1957 and there were over 500 in place by 1964. The bulls eventually evolved into metal structures, 40 feet in height, and it almost became a local right of passage for the young to climb a bull, while others decorated the bulls or painted them.

In 1988, however, the Spanish government passed a law to forbid advertising that was visible from the public highways. As decrees to remove the bullboards were being made and enforced, a movement that crossed all aspects of the cultural spectrum started to try and "Save the Bull."

By this time, the bull had become almost synonymous with Spain. Spanish flags emblazoned with the bull are stalwarts at football (soccer) games, t-shirts are found everywhere, as are stickers, keyrings and the like. In 1997, the movement saw the Spanish Supreme Court declare that the Osborne Bull had become part of the Spanish landscape and order that it could remain.

There are currently 90 Bulls still found in Spain and the bull is arguably the best known trademark in the country.

As for the wine, we were in no hurry to finish it off and we lost track of time a tad and ended up missing the movie that we were intending to see. We arrived at the theatre about five minutes prior to the start and it was sold out. So, rather than wait three hours until the second show or just pick another movie, we decided to just walk Mr. D home and make a little stop in at Marquis Wine Cellar. They didn't carry the Solaz but that didn't stop us from buying another couple of Spanish wines that will eventually end up on The List as well.

Sandhill - 2009 Canadian Winery of the Year

Howard Soon and Sandhill winery recently pulled off what has to be seen as a stunning coup in the Canadian wine industry. Sandhill was not only named the top winery in Canada at the Canadian Wine Awards, but Howard and crew took home the trophies for overall Top Red Wine and overall Top White Wine - not an easy feat considering the tasting panel works their way through over a thousand wines in reaching their choices for awards.

I've made a number of stops at Sandhill previously on this little Wine Odyssey that we've got going here - and I think I've made it clear that Sandhill is one of my local favourites - so I won't go into any real recap of what Mr. Soon and the winery's focus and objectives are. Syrah is definitely one of their strongpoints when it comes to filling my wineglass however.

327. 2006 Sandhill Small Lots Phantom Creek Vineyard Syrah (VQA Okanagan Valley)

It was the 2007 Small Lots Syrah that won the Red Wine of the Year trophy that I mentioned earlier, so I figured it would be a treat to open one of the 2006 bottles since I had a couple handy. It might not have been Red Wine of the Year, but it still won a silver medal at the 2008 Canadian Wine Awards (that year it was Jackson-Triggs that took the gold).

The Small Lots designation is fairly self-explanatory. It is the winery's experimental program where grapes may be sourced from specific blocks in the vineyard or it might be a look at new varietals that the winery feels may have potential or it might simply be that a single barrel or two stand out from all the others in the cellar and Mr. Soon feels that their unique quality merits separate bottling. In any event, there are never a lot of bottles available - as can be seen with this wine, there were only 403 cases of the Small Lots Syrah produced from 2006.

John Schreiner wrote that the spring rains in 2006 were plentiful and encouraged a big fruit set for Sandhill's Syrah plantings. Seeing that Syrah is a naturally vigorous varietal, veteran grower and owner of the Phantom Creek vineyard, Richard Cleave, found it necessary to green harvest (or cut back) 40% of the unripened grapes in order to avoid an overproduction that would result in a less intense wine.

It's debatable whether I'd go so far as to join in with one veteran wine scribe who wrote "there is a vivacious sweetness to the flavours that is downright sexy." However, there was no problem in finishing off this bottle quickly. I'll look forward to trying out the 2007 in due course.

Langmeil 3 Gardens

It didn't take that long to head back for another bottle of Langmeil. I guess I just enjoyed the Grenache so much on New Year's Eve that it was worth reaching for another bottle from these guys.

326. 2002 Langmeil Three Gardens (Barossa - Australia)

Most of the Langmeil that we have on hand is the Valley Floor Shiraz but I'd picked up this Three Gardens some time ago to give one of the winery's other products a try. This "traditional" Rhone blend isn't generally made for its aging potential (like some of their bigger Shiraz's and Cabs), but we've had this bottle for some years now and it lasted just fine for us.

The back labels tells a brief story about the old Barossa vignerons calling their vineyard the "Garden" and the grapes for this wine is sourced from three of the winery's vineyards in the region. Hence the name.

The blend was 46% Shiraz, 44% Grenache and 10% Mourvedre. Aussie winemakers can often been found making such a blend and, depending on the percentages, will call their wine a GSM, an SGM or whatever combination is applicable. Although I don't think you'd normally see a wine sold over here as an MSG - unless the winery just decides not to use the abbreviation in its marketing.

Considering that the Shiraz grapes used are those that would otherwise be headed for our beloved Valley Floor, I guess it should be no surprise that we enjoyed this bottle as much as we did. Balance, structure and fruit forward. If that's the kind of wine you like, you could well like Langmeil as much as I do.

Villa Antinori & The Super Tuscans

Mr. D. was over in the afternoon as Boo and he putzed around, so we twisted his arm to stay for dinner and catch a movie. Unfortunately for him, nothing too special - just frozen lasagna and a cheese plate. I was supposed to pick up the salad home on the way home from work, but I guess I was in such a hurry to open another bottle that I forgot.

As for the movie, much to Boo's dismay, Mr. D. picked Harry Potter over the new Star Trek DVD. I don't think Boo will ever understand how anyone could choose anything other than Star Trek, but I guess it CAN happen.

Whether tonight's wine is magical enough to channel Dumbledore is questionable, but there certainly is a bit of a tale to go with it.

325. 2005 Villa Antinori Toscana (IGT Toscana - Italy)

There have been a couple of Super Tuscans to make The List already but I haven't really made any reference to the story behind the wine. Seeing as how Antinori was one of the innovators that basically forced the Italian wine industry to re-invent their appellation system, maybe this is a good time to do so.

A bit of history first, the Antinori family has been in the winemaking profession for 26 generations, dating back to 1385 when Giovanni di Piero Antinori registered with the Florentine Guild of Winemakers. They established a history of a wine family and empire that grew to include some of the most prestigious estates in Tuscany - and they have since expanded into Piedmont, Southern Italy and even California.

As for the Super Tuscan, it is basically a wine of Tuscan origin that features grapes that are not indigenous to Tuscany and would not, therefore, qualify, under Tuscan DOC standards, in the production of Chianti - Tuscany's most famous wine. Those international grapes - primarily Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah/Shiraz - were used by innovative Tuscan winemakers to blend with the traditional Sangiovese grape to make, what they felt was, a more rounded and flavourful wine. The Italian wine industry had to respond when these Super Tuscans, despite being labelled as Vino di Tavola or table wine, created more buzz and started to sell for values far in excess of the sanctioned Chiantis.

By creating a whole new category of IGT wines (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) or wines that are typical of a specific region, the new designation allowed these, often premium, wines to be sold under a more appropriate quality level. The Super Tuscans still don't qualify as Chianti, but at least the wine industry didn't have to deal with table wines being sold for over $100 a bottle.

Antinori was in the forefront of the development of the Super Tuscan. They started blending Bourdeaux varietals into their Chiantis back in 1924. They currently produce two of the biggest names in the category - Tignanello and Solaia. Arguably, it was the international interest in the 1971 Tig that forced the Italian wine industry to introduce the far-reaching changes in their rules that resulted in the IGT designation.

This Toscana isn't meant to be spoken of in the same company of Tignanello and Solaia, but it is indicative of how the Super Tuscan concept is now found at all levels of the Tuscan wine scene. The 2005 is a representative blend found in a couple vintages of this wine - 55% Sangiovese, 25% Cab Sauv, 15% Merlot and 5% Syrah - and the Villa Antinori wines are all estate-grown and vinified.

Not being a regular drinker of or a huge fan of Chianti, I can appreciate how the blending of the additional grapes fills out the often lighter flavour profile of Sangiovese. I'm not sure that I'd run back to the Toscana too quickly at $25 a bottle though.

Desert Hills Gamay Noir

As I'm posting this wine, I can't locate a photo that I'd usually have taken to accompany the breezy prose. When popping the cork, I remember wondering if we'd maybe had a bottle of this vintage previously. Could be I just figured I didn't need a picture because it was already on The List.

Oh well, we haven't had it before, so you'll just have to imagine a "split-level" label with black, gold and copper - and a tree and a bird. Pretty descriptive, eh. Then again, you could go all the way back to one of the early posts and wine #29 to see another label from the same winery.

324. 2007 Desert Hills Estate Winery Gamay (VQA Okanagan Valley)

Desert Hills is one of those wineries that first gained a bit of prominence - not necessarily because of their wines but - because of its location. It certainly didn't hurt a fledgling winery to be an immediate neighbour of two of the province's most sought after vintners. Both Burrowing Owl and Black Hills are mere minutes away on Black Sage Road and, if you're in the vicinity, it only makes sense to drop by and see what's brewing. It's hard not to conclude that it was a worthwhile effort.

I know that was our experience when we first happened on Desert Hills while making a pilgrimage to Burrowing Owl.

From our first visit, we understood that Desert Hills was a very hands-on, family operated winery. The folks running the tasting room were as friendly as you'll ever meet and they kept introducing us to so-and-so's little girl or mentioning the other brother that was off doing such-and-such. I also remember that one of the Toor brothers (I'm not sure which one) was so proud of his Cabernet that he guaranteed that we'd like the bottle or he'd refund our money.

That was many bottles ago.

For most, Desert Hills is best known for its love of producing big, lusty reds. The Gamay is the lightest of their red wines and it might be my favourite of their wines. I like the fact that I don't need a big hunk of protein to tame every sip. This is still a Gamay that offers up more ooomph than most though.

If memory serves this was an early favourite of Lady Di's (that's Lady Di of the blog and not the Royal one - although the princess might have liked this wine as well).

Worthy of a New Carafe

As a bit of a Christmas present (splurge) for ourselves, Boo and I picked up a decanter that I've loved since I first saw it at the Riedel exhibit at last year's Playhouse Wine Festival. Hand-blown, with a black stripe running along one side, it's more a piece of art than a carafe. The niggling, little problem that prevented us from buying it earlier was always the cost. Then, lo and behold, of all places, we found it at Costco - with a substantially reduced ticket on it.

I wanted to wait until we were going to open a big wine that would be "worthy" of decanting in it. Since it was time to make a small extra payment on our mortgage, I figured we deserved a bit of treat.

323. 1999 Tahbilk Reserve Shiraz (Nagambie Lakes - Australia)

We've had this bottle for a couple of years and I didn't really know what to expect. Tahbilk is neither a winery that I commonly see up here, nor one that I particularly know anything about. I do recall that we originally bought the wine after having a bottle of Tahbilk Marsanne when dining out with Beamer and The Divine Miss M. At the time, none of knew what Marsanne was, but we liked it and I figured that the winery was worth an extra shot.

Having surprised myself - after the fact - with a couple of recent bottles, I actually looked up this bottle before popping the cork. I almost didn't open it because of what I read - primarily that both the winery and Aussie writer, James Halliday, said that the bottle likely has another decade, or more, of good years to go. I took a chance anyhow.

It was completely worthy of the Riedel! It was everything that I love in Australian Shiraz - great dark fruit, well-balanced tannins and acid and a brilliant nose - but it was nicely refined and far from over the top. This bottle had a bonus kick to it - a wonderful finish just went on and on. I don't know how much more it would have improved with more years, but I couldn't get enough. Unfortunately, it'll have to be enough for some time. At $65, it will have to remain a special occasion night.

However, beyond serving up a delightful bottle, the winery is really interesting as well. It's located in the Nagambie Lakes district in central Victoria state, about 120 km North of Melbourne. Not a district that I think I've heard of before and I certainly don't generally think of Victoria winemaking when it comes to Shiraz.

The winery dates back to 1860 and it still produces a flagship Shiraz that is made exclusively from vines that were planted back in that initial year. This Reserve is made from fruit grown in blocks where the vines were planting in 1927, 1933 and 1936. Old Vines by any standard, but a relative youngster compared to the 1860 wine.

Tahbilk is known for its distinct wines and the winery posits that part of the reason is that Nagambie Lakes is the only winemaking region in Australia where its climate is "dramatically influenced by inland water mass." The vineyard features river flats, permanent backwaters and creeks. In 2005, the winery also introduced a Wetlands & Wildlife Preserve and has been noted with an Australian National Trust classification.

There were a number of other informative facts about the winery, but I think I'll leave it on the note that Tahbilk is also one of Australia's First Families of Wine - a group of "twelve iconic, family-owned wineries that came together with a strong commitment to promote Australian wine both at home and abroad.

I hope to run across a lot more Tahbilk in the days and years to come. In fact, should we ever get another chance to visit Merlot Boy down under, I'd like to check into a little side trip.

Tangled Vines

The last time that I added a Tangled Vines wine to The List, I was disappointed because I didn't think the bottle was in the best of conditions and I wasn't able to gush exuberantly in the manner that I would have liked and hoped to.

Not so this time. Their second bottle on The List is a keeper.

322. 2008 Tangled Vines Three Blancs (VQA Okanagan)

This was a fairly new release for the winery and I saw them (for the first time, I think) in one of the VQA shops that I make it into every so often. Seeing it, I thought I'd give it whirl since the "No buy Leash" had been loosened a touch.

This vintage is a blend of Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer (the latter replacing the Muscat of the '07 blending). I was rather pleasantly surprised to find that the wine was a touch off-dry. I seem to remember that winemaker, Craig McKenzie, is a big fan of bright acidity on his wines. There was still enough acidity to set off the sweet, but that hint of sweet allowed us to add a bit of spice to the evening's dinner.

I don't know the breakdown of the varietal percentages, but I'm pretty sure that I'm noticing more Pinot Blanc/Pinot Gris blends being tried by BC winemakers. There might just be something to that.

We'll look forward to trying Three Blancs again, if only because (as the label says) "Blancs have more fun."

Nichol Syrah

321. 2003 Nichol Vineyard Syrah Reservare (Naramata - Okanagan)

This is the fifth bottle that we've opened and added to The List from Nichol - and our second Syrah (the first was the 2000 back at #93). So, considering the fact that I'm still well behind on my posts, I'm not going to go into anything further about the winery at this time or about Nichol's history and approach with Syrah. It is probably worth mentioning, however, that this vintage won a silver medal at the Northwest Wine Summit - one of the more prestigious wine competitions that a number of BC wineries enter.

I will also say that starting this blog has motivated me to pull more bottles out of the boxes in the closet. It's nice to finally start to open a number of these bottles that we bought some years ago - particularly since a great number of them are BC bottles and, on the whole, they're holding up just fine.