A Streetcar Named St. Charles

It was only our second full day in New Orleans and we were already realizing that time was running out. Merlot Boy and Margarita wanted to go on a swamp and gator tour while Boo and I wanted to take a streetcar ride down to the Garden District. We weren't going to be able to do both; so, our little gang decided to split up for the day.

But first, we had to wander a bit to get to our respective starting points. On the way, we passed yet another shop full of crazy goods and wares. The first things that attracted us to the shop in the accompanying picture were the garden ornaments and furniture that had been made from reclaimed flotsam and jetsam from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Five years on and you can still see something to remind you of the catastrophe without any effort whatsoever. The inside of the shop was even crazier though. It looked like the shop was also a bit of a warehouse for bits and pieces of Mardi Gras floats. If anyone wants an oversized puppet of George Dubya, I've got just the shop for you.

Once Boo and I were on our way riding the St. Charles streetcar, I realized that the other two probably weren't so desirous of our plan since Melbourne has a full blown trolley system as well. They can ride a streetcar any day they want to. Not so much the gators and swamp. It was novel for Boo and I though. We boarded our streetcar and rode it right to the other end, getting a decent look at the city en route.

The end of the line found us more than a little hungry. So, we located a bakery/restaurant that sold take-out as well and we put together a bit of picnic. At first we thought lunch on the levee of the Mississippi might be nice since we were right there. Not so scenic though. As an alternative, we wandered back along the streetcar track to a park we saw on the way out.

982. 2009 Apothic Red - William's Blend (California)

I'd never heard of this wine before but the label - and its take on wine lore with a mystical history - looked like it might fit in with the Garden District, home of Anne Rice and Lestat of Interview With A Vampire lore. The only information that I could gather from the bottle was that it was a California wine and it was a blend of Merlot, Zinfandel and Syrah. There wasn't a whole lot more information available online afterwards either, but I gather Apothic is a fairly new label from the Gallo folks as they continue to try and leave their jug wine past in the dust. It turns out the wine has even been introduced to the Vancouver market. Guess I wasn't invited to the launch.

The wine appears to be geared to newer red wine drinkers. Lots of fruit, a bit of residual sugar, it's primarily an easy drinker - and not out of place on a picnic.

Little did we know that our picnic spot was Audubon Park - turns out we were lunching al fresco in what was once a plantation in colonial days and has been a big part of New Orlean's history ever since. Boo loves live oaks - particularly when they're laden with Spanish Moss - as they remind him of his youth. So, our picnic spot couldn't have been better for him.

But, time passed quickly and we had to jump back onto the streetcar and make our way back to the Quarter. During our tour, I wanted to locate what was supposed to be a wine shop to beat all in NOLA. We found it alright. Closed. Seems not everything that's booze related in the city is open 24/7. Too bad. This whole selection of 30-40 bottles at the corner grocer is getting a little old.

Cossaks on Prozac - N'Awlins Style

One of the perks of having those cocktails on the stoop of the Royal Barracks Guest House was that our hostess, Kelly, gave us some tips for restaurants and spots that are patronized more by locals than tourists. After all, there's hopefully more to N'Awlins than just Bourbon Street - at least, one needs to hope so when you hit our age.

We decided to have dinner at one of Kelly's suggestions, just outside of the French Quarter - the Marigny Brasserie on Frenchman Street. Just two blocks out of the eastern edge of the Quarter, Frenchman is known as a local haunt for jazz and music clubs. Some tunes, after throwing back a bit of Cajun or Creole fare, sounded like one heckuva plan.

981. 2010 Cape Mentelle Sauvignon Blanc Semillon (Margaret River - Australia)

The Cape Mentelle was a perfect choice for Margarita's hankering for Sauv Blanc and played to Merlot Boy's bent for Aussie wines. The fact that I have a serious jones for Margaret River didn't come into the equation at all - hardly. I fell hard for Margaret River wines the first time I toured Down Under in 1996. When I returned to Vancouver, it was next to impossible to find any wines from that region. Cape Mentelle was one of the few wineries that had any sort of a presence at all in our market.

It's a little easier to find wines from Western Australia but I still wouldn't say that we have a comprehensive assortment of wines to choose from. I'm quite looking forward to an upcoming visit to Perth (for the first time) next year. I want to try and immerse myself in all things Margaret River. But, for the moment, the Cape Mentelle will just have to be a bit of teaser of things to come.

The big surprise of the night wasn't the wine though. Rather, it was Boo's discovery of Red Velvet Cake. I'd heard of Red Velvet before but I don't think I've ever tried any. I'm a tad surprised that Boo had never had it before though - after all, I believe it's a Southern thing and the boy was raised in the South. All I know is that the cake was a hit and Boo is determined to recreate it at home. Lucky me.

I found the tunes to be an extraordinary find as well. We'd wandered down Frenchman Street and decided on Maison seeing as how Merlot Boy and Margarita had enjoyed a brief visit previously. The unfortunate thing was that our timing was a bit off. The band didn't start until about 45 minutes after we arrived. It was standing room only and our feet were pretty sore from walking all day.

When the show actually got under way, Maison was hopping! I think the band was rather well known in the city because folks were singing and dancing along - and they weren't exactly the easiest lyrics to learn, considering they were in Russian. The band was called Debauche (pronounced "de-bosh"), a.k.a. Russian Mafia Band, and they call their music Punk Rock Hooligan Russian Street Songs. "Cossaks on Prozac" wasn't what we'd expected wandering down a famous New Orleans jazz street. Hardly music to sip wine by - try swilling beer or downing vodka shots - it sure was great fun though.

The feet ultimately gave out for Boo and Margarita though. So, we headed off home at quite the decent hour.

Merlot Boy and I weren't quite ready to give up the ghost though - after all, it was Saturday night in The Big Easy. And Merlot Boy isn't anything if not "easy" - to have some fun on the town with that is. So, we dropped Boo and Margarita off at the guest house and the Boy and I wandered over to the Golden Lantern - the bar just around the corner. As luck wouldn't have it, we just missed the weekly drag show. But a couple of the gals were hanging around for a drink - and nothing seems to entice a drag queen more than an Aussie accent.

I didn't even ask if they had wine at the bar. Something told me that we were better off sticking to the vodka. Once our new friends moved on, Merlot finished his flirt with the "farm boy" of a bartender and we made our way home to get ready for the next day.

NOLA - Day 1 - Beignet, Done That

Welcome to the morning after - New Orleans style. Surprisingly, everybody was in pretty good spirits - and I'm not referring to the ones that we drank our way through last night. I might not be saying that if Boo and I had arrived in town earlier than we did however. A couple of drinks after midnight was likely a safer way to acquaint oneself with the city.

The plan for the day was to just wander around and experience the scene that is New Orleans. But the first experience was to find a little something to nosh on - and what could be better than a hit of café-au-lait and beignets at Café du Monde. From my previous visits to the Big Easy, I knew that there were a couple city treasures that I didn't want to miss - and beignets and coffee was definitely on the list.

I mentioned in the previous post that Boo and I were meeting Merlot Boy's travel companion for the first time. As such, she didn't have a blog name as yet on this first morning. We brainstormed some possibilities last night but nothing seemed to hit the mark. The dilemma of needing a name was quickly resolved during our tour of the city though. As we passed one of the omnipresent bars, we noticed a post-Katrina sign in one of the windows - "Rebuilding New Orleans - One Margarita at a Time." Our new buddy was to be Margarita from that point on.

Our musings and ramblings through the French Quarter saw everything from the spectacular and fascinating to the tacky and tawdry. Of course, gobbling up the cuisine is one of the prime directives of visiting NOLA. Boo and I immediately opted for alligator bites and catfish tidbits for lunch - although the Aussies weren't quite as adventurous. As Merlot Boy pointed out, the Aussies might be the only nation that has no qualms at throwing their national animal - the kangaroo - on the barbee, but there are still some that prefer simple beef and beer.

Naturally, all the food, souvenirs, voodoo shops and touring was tempered with ubiquitous music and booze in the streets. Even our Aussie friends - and if Australia isn't known for its enjoyment of a good drink, I don't know what it is known for - were gobsmacked at the abundance and simplicity of the "go cup."

I think my favourite surprise of the day was to run across a wedding second line - where a brass band leads a parade of the wedding party and guests through the streets. Great fun!

I think I discovered one, unnerving fact about the city during our day's tour though - and that's that New Orleans isn't that much of a wine city. A consideration that doesn't play that well into the hands of a wine blogger. You name virtually any booze you'd like and a "go cup" is just a pour away. That may work for wine at times, but the selection isn't going to be quite as impressive. We didn't run across a single "wine shop" during the day - even after asking around a bit. Being equal opportunity drinkers, however, having to rely on a corner store bottle isn't going to deter us from our chosen mission.

979. 2010 Ecco Domani Pinot Grigio (Pinot Grigio della Venezie IGT - Italy)

A white for Margarita. I don't recall ever having seen or tried Ecco Domani before. She kinda wanted a Sauv Blanc, but this looked like the most intriguing of the wines in the Nelly Delly on Bourbon Street. From the north of Italy, the website seems to refer as much to the company's efforts in promoting fashion and young designers as it talks about wine.

However, their description of and background to the Pinot Grigio does have an interesting referance to a limited (4.5%) use of "surmaturo" grapes. I've never heard of the term before but they advise that these grapes are left on the vine longer to allow for greater concentration and complexity. Sounds like another term for what we generally call "late harvest" grapes in BC. When used in BC, it's generally for the production of a dessert wine. I didn't notice any perceptible sweetness on this palate though.

Margarita didn't seem to mind.

We'd brought the wine back to our great, little guest house to rest our feet and enjoy a couple cocktails before hitting the town for our big Saturday night in New Orleans. We luckily bumped into, Kelly, our hostess and off-site manager, who joined us for a drink on the front porch - along with her "baby," Sugah. This had to be one of my favourite moments during the vacation. Our digs were located on the eastern edge of the Quarter - away from the hustle and bustle that you normally associate with the French Quarter and that afforded us the opportunity to just sit out on the porch, watching the locals tend to their lives and being filled in on all sorts of information about the city - past and present.

What's more is that Kelly even brought along her own bottle of wine for the stoop. Now that's Southern Hospitality.

980. N.V. Pepperwood Grove Pinot Noir (Valle Central - Chile)

Unlike the Ecco Domani, I've seen and tried Pepperwood previously. I took a quick look at the winery though because some of the labelling didn't quite make sense to me. I thought Pepperwood was a California label and, sure enough, the company is part of the Sebastiani wine family. However, the Pepperwood brand is used to produce wines, much under the négociant format, where they source grapes, from wherever in the world they might be found, to make an accessible wine at an approachable price. The Pinot Noir grapes were actually grown in Chile - and, hence, the Valle Central designation on the bottle. California has a Central Valley, but I've never seen it referred to as a "valle" before. Confusion resolved.

It was certainly easy to go through the wine quickly though. The banter was grand and Kelly provided us with a number of tips on activities to best enjoy our stay. But, as night started to fall, we needed to ready ourself for a night on the town.

Time For a Little Big Easy

Since Boo's Mom had moved back to the US after decades in British Columbia, we decided to make our way down to see her and his brothers in North Carolina. We figured this would be a perfect opportunity to spend a long weekend in New Orleans as well. I've been a number of times - but those vacations were long before Katrina and long before meeting Boo. And you know that what happens in New Orleans stays in New Orleans.

After we'd booked the flights, Merlot Boy gave us a call from Melbourne to see if we were interested in joining up with him in the Big Apple as he was going to run the NYC Marathon. We told him that we wouldn't be able to fit in the Apple, but wondered if he might be able to swing down to meet us in the Big Easy after his run. He'd never been before; so the details were ironed out for him and his gal pal, Margarita, to fly down for a little cross-continental catch-up. After all, everyone needs to experience New Orleans at least once.

Boo and I didn't arrive in town until midnight. So, by the time we were able to make it to our Guest House in the French Quarter, our Aussie friends had already discovered the excitement that is - and the perils of - Bourbon Street. Everyone was a tad pooped after a day of travel, but it didn't stop us from toasting the good times that were about to magically appear. Boo and I hadn't had any opportunity to find some wine, but Merlot Boy had that well in hand.

977. 2010 [yellow tail] Chardonnay (SE Australia)

978. 2009 Rosemount Merlot (SE Australia)

I'm not going to go into the two wines at all. If you know Australian wine in the least, you know these two stalwarts. I will mention though that, without fail, if MB is bringing the wine, it's going to be Aussie. The boy's a great ambassador for his homeland producers. He'll "reluctantly" drink wines from abroad but only if you're buying. The good news, however, was that the marathon training was over and done with and he was definitely drinking! The last time we crossed paths was during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and he was on the Merlot Boy No Merlot Diet. There was to be none of that this time around.

We'd never met the lovely and talented Margarita before. Turns out she's an old school chum of Merlot Boy - from the thriving metropolis of Warnambool - but we quickly learned that the girl likes her wine white and that she's more than capable of matching the boys glass for glass. Must be something about Aussie sheilas and their genes that gives them that super power - likely having had to put up with their menfolk for all these years.

As it turned out, Margarita has a bit of hankering for Grey Goose as well. Boo and I had picked up a bottle at the Duty Free when leaving Vancouver and it was a perfect way for us to introduce ourselves to the young lady - just as soon as I'd been able to make a quick jaunt to the local bar, half a block around the corner from the guest house, and pick up some olives and limes. The bartender was already well aware of Merlot Boy and Margarita; so, the take out martini makings were no problem. I'm not sure if this is the first Guest Appearance that Grey Goose has made to 2001 Bottles - but it certainly made a big splash. Enough of one that we didn't even take a picture of the wine bottles until the next day. Can't imagine why.

If this first night was any indication of the weekend that was to come, you might be well advised to stay tuned for some hefty blogging on the horizon.

Childress Red

So, this is the last post before we head off on a bit of vacation. For our last couple nights, I grabbed a couple of wines that draw upon our recent weekend away to the Okanagan and allude to the trip about to unfold.

The Okanagan connection is from Boo's and my trip up to Lake Country for my cousin's wedding. As mentioned in those posts, we rarely get to Kelowna and the Northern Okanagan; so, I wanted to take advantage of our passing through and stop in at a couple of wineries for the first time. Grey Monk was one of them. It's not often that I get the chance to hold a bottle of wine that "came" from the very vines - while laden with grapes - that provided the fruit. Such was the case with this Grey Monk "rarity."

975. Gray Monk Rotberger (VQA Okanagan Valley)

This is a very interesting wine - not necessarily because it sells for thousands of dollars or is only made once a decade because of extraordinary conditions. Rather, I find it intriguing because the varietal is one that you're not going to run across very often. In fact, most readers likely wouldn't know that the wine is called "Rotberger" simply because that's the name of the grape and this is a 100% varietal wine.

I know the first thing that comes to mind - at least for me - is "Rotberger" or "Rotgut?" The varietal is actually pronounced "Rote-berger" and not "Rot" and you don't see it very often because hardly anyone grows it. Grey Monk may even be the only winery that grows Rotberger in North America - and, other than some wineries in Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein (really?), you're not likely to find it. Even the limited wineries that grow the grape generally only use it for blending.

To make things even a little more difficult, Rotberger is not to be confused with Rotburger - the latter being another name for the red grape Zweigelt. No wonder most wine drinkers don't know their way past the standard, noble varietals like Cab, Merlot and so on.

The exact heritage of the grape isn't conclusively determined; however, standard understanding has it developed at the Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute in Germany during the late 1920's. It is generally thought to be a cross between the Trollinger and Riesling grapes and is known to produce a fruity, light red wine in cool climate regions. The fact that Rotberger, being a red grape, and Kerner, a white grape, are crosses of the same two parent grapes shows that the cross-breeding of grapes cannot be relied upon to consistently deliver the same result.

Grey Monk's proprietor, George Heiss, knew the characteristics of the Kerner varietal, however, so he decided to experiment with a few rows - six to be more precise - of Rotberger to see how the varietal might fare in the Okanagan. The result was positive enough that Grey Monk's plantings had increased to six acres at one point. Part os those plantings had to be given up to an expansion of the winery and the parking lot; however, Grey Monk's Rotberger has a bit of cult following and should be available for those wanting a fix.

As for the wine itself, the high acidity of the grape requires a bit of residual sugar to counter-balance the otherwise tart flavour. Grey Monk vinifies its Rotberger in a Rosé style that is often seen as having a profile of spice and cranberry. Hence, the winery recommends the wine as a great pairing with turkey and that's what we thought we try it with. "Trouble" was that there wasn't much wine being drunk at Thanksgiving dinner this year and we didn't need the extra bottle. Just meant that the bottle was still around and available for trying so many weeks later.

And, I naturally get to add another varietal to my Wine Century Club list. I doubt too many members will have Rotberger on their lists.

If the Rotberger was picked up on the recent Okanagan venture, the second bottle in this post was sent to us from North Carolina - where we just happen to be heading off to on a visit.

976. N.V. Childress Red (North Carolina - US)

This was one of the bottles that Boo's twin, HDR3, included in a Carolina wine care package. Now to be fair to HDR3, he did ask us, "Why in the world would you want any wine from around this neck of the woods?" My response was, "Well, because we can." That's part of the beauty of trying wines from every nook and cranny.

Winery owner, Richard Childress, is a NASCAR team owner who hails from the Tarheel State. During his years in auto racing, he'd often find himself on tracks that were near the Californian wineries. He developed a passion for wine and grape growing that he hoped to pursue in his native state.

There is a nascent wine industry on the mid-eastern seaboard and Childress has taken a position right in the forefront. "Go big or go home" seems to be a mantra upon the ex-racer's return home. The tasting room and facilities testify to the money being put into the effort. In 2008, Wine Enthusiast magazine named Childress as having one of the Top 25 tasting rooms in the country.

The winery's website boasts a wide selection of wines and styles - but I couldn't find out much on this bottle. The Classic Red is part of the house wine series and it's meant to be "easy, smooth, uncomplicated." I suppose I can give it that - but the simplicity of taste here didn't do a whole lot for me. I don't know what varietals of grape went into the wine - and there wasn't enough of profile to distinguish any sort of a profile to hazard a guess. The wine is non-vintage; so, it could easily be a blend of whatever grapes are available or left behind after the more premium wines have been made. At $10, most folks likely aren't that concerned.

I wouldn't mind visiting the winery if the opportunity arises when we hit Greensboro, but I'm going to have to agree with HDR3's assessment of the wine. As far as the entry level wines go, I won't hold out much excitement to try another.

A Return to Riesling

Just because this is a short post doesn't mean that the bloom is off the rose as far as it goes between me and Nk'Mip Riesling. I've just fallen so far behind on my posts and I've written a fair bit about Nk'Mip before that I need to be short and sweet. Besides, I've already added previous vintages of the Riesling to The List as well.

974. 2008 Nk'Mip Riesling (VQA Okanagan Valley)

I've found that Nk'Mip's Riesling has had a pretty steady profile of being crisp and citrus-packed over the last couple of vintages. It may just be that the last couple of growing seasons have resulted in fruit with higher acidity levels, but I seem to recall a slight residual sugar on the early Rieslings that Nk'Mip produced.

I kind of miss that touch of sweet. If nothing else, it'd "permit" a little more spice or heat on the butter chicken. The higher acidity doesn't match up quite as well.

Not, of course, that we have to have butter chicken to accompany our Riesling. After all, there's no denying that Randy Picton and crew still deliver a distinctive and layered glass of wine. It sure is nice when that favourite pairing of our's does work though.

Fowl Wine for a Fowl Supper?

At this time of year, if you're in Vancouver and you run into Linda Fillmore - especially dolled up like she is in this picture - it can likely mean only one thing: the Prairie Fairy Fowl Supper. The Fillmore Foundation has been hosting the Fowl Supper since 2000 and raising thousands of dollars for local charities like A Loving Spoonful, McLaren Housing Society and Out in Schools. Fashioned after the community fowl suppers that are ubiquitous across the prairies, the party started as a small event to bring a little bit of the prairies back for many of the fairies that had crossed the Rockies to land in Vancouver.

It's now one of the biggest events on the Vancouver gay calendar. Tickets always sell out and it's often the one time, every year, where you can run into old friends and acquaintances that you haven't seen since the last Fowl Supper.

We were joining up with some our regular gang, but we invited Miss Jaq over to our place for a cocktail before we mosied off to the Supper. Miss Jaq has always been half-way across the world every other time the supper has been held, but we corralled her to join us this time since she was actually going to be in town.

972. 2010 Focus Riesling (VQA Okanagan Valley)

Just as Miss Jaq was making a first appearance, this is a first time for me and Focus Riesling. Years ago, I remember reading Jurgen Gothe, in the Georgia Strait magazine, say that he thought that the 2002 Focus was the first Riesling to come out of Canada that could be taken seriously. Back then, Roger Wong was a young winemaker, working at Pinot Reach, and he put out a side-project label of one wine - a Riesling. After a review like Gothe's, what little Focus there was disappeared quickly and I anxiously waited for the next vintage.

Trouble is that there was no subsequent vintage that followed. 2003 saw the Okanagan wildfire that compromised many of the region's grapes and Wong didn't feel that he could get his hands on fruit that could meet his vision. Pinot Reach then got parcelled off (in large part into what is now Tantalus) and Wong found himself concentrating on a new winemaking position at Grey Monk.

Almost a decade later, Roger and his wife, Gillian, have teamed up with another couple, Ross and Geri Dean, to form Intrigue Wines. Wong still works for Grey Monk but he and Intrigue have started producing their own wines from the Lake Country region. This 2010 Focus is one of the wines that Intrigue has produced and it takes off where that original vintage started - making the odd headline here and there. There were only 89 cases made; so it still won't be the easiest wine to find. But it's worth it!

The name Focus comes from Wong's concept of making a regional wine that focuses on the one varietal that best suits that region's terroir. His thought is that Riesling is that grape when it comes to the North Okanagan If you're a regular reader, you already know that I'm partial to Rieslings. So, it shouldn't be any surprise that I'm going to focus on Roger's wines down the road.

Now, with the residual sugar that is fully evident in the Focus Riesling, some might be tempted to refer to the wine as "fruit salad in a cup." I wouldn't want you to confuse it with the actual jellied fruit salad in a Double D cup that showed up at the Fowl Supper in the annual jellied salad competition. As beautiful - and likely tasty - those cups might have been, the salad made by our friends, Will and Harry, wasn't even a finalist. I think they got bamboozled myself.

Unfortunately for the wine drinker in me, our earlier bottle was the primary focus of our evening's wine enjoyment. The wines available at the Fowl Supper were, by all accounts at our table, rather fowl. We bought a bottle of the only red and the only white. I didn't necessarily think they were as bad as the others but, suffice it to say, that most of our table moved on to beer - and that's saying something for a classy gal like Miss Jaq. As for Elzee, I think she decided to stick with water. Ouch.

973. 2010 Two Oceans Pinot Noir (W.O. Western Cape - South Africa)

2010 Two Oceans Sauvignon Blanc (W.O. Western Cape - South Africa)

Regardless of the calibre of the wine, I'm still adding the Pinot Noir to The List. After all, not every wine on a list of 2001 bottles can be a winner and we did manage to coax Miss Jaq and Nine-Juan-Juan to pose with the bottles - even if they weren't exactly her cup of wine.

In checking back on the blog, it looks like Two Oceans has been the winery of choice for the last three Fillmore Foundation events and I can't add the Sauv Blanc since I added the 2010 vintage after the Fillmore Family Reunion back in the summer. I don't know if the distributors have come on as a sponsor of the event, but I may have to talk to Linda. One never wants to limit one's wine sales - particularly at a charity event.

With no more wine to be had, we didn't last long as the supper moved on from dinner to dance. Turns out Boo, Miss Jaq, and Elzee thought as much about the evening's entertainment as they did about the wine - particularly as the crowd got restless with the floor show and took to launching paper airplanes. Personally, I could have stuck it out with a beer and dance, but 3-1 is a pretty tough vote to get past, especially when Boo was the designated driver.

Hopefully, Linda and gang will de-brief the Fowl Supper and rein in whatever might need it. I love the event and its history, but if stalwarts like Elzee and Boo and me are questioning the bloom on the rose, I have to wonder if others are thinking the same thing.

Or, maybe, we're just becoming old and cranky prairie fairies who complain a lot when the wine doesn't meet our high fallutin' tastes. Guess we'll see.

B.S., You Say?

As established as the BC wine industry seems to be now, there's no getting over the fact that the industry is really still in its infancy. Whether you want to debate the merits of producers focusing on specific varietals or you want to bemoan the high costs of vineyard land and operations - or discuss any one of multiple other topics - it's clear that the industry scene of today is exponentially different than it was ten years ago and that it will likely look completely different in another decade.

With each passing vintage, a dizzying number of new wineries and new industry initiatives (or lack thereof) seem to appear. One new concept that arrived this year was the emergence of custom crush wineries in the Okanagan - a take on cooperative wine production facilities that can be found in other winemaking regions. I understand that two different options for custom winemaking are now available for Okanagan vintners who neither own nor have access to winery facilities. I've seen brief mention of Alto Wine Group, one of the new facilities, but I know nothing about them.

The second initiative is Okanagan Crush Pad and there's been no shortage of press and marketing to celebrate their arrival. There is a whole team of folks behind Crush Pad, but two of the driving forces are Michael Bartier and David Scholefield, the "B" and "S" that make up B-S wines.

971. 2010 B-S Rosé Table Wine (VQA Okanagan Valley)

Michael Bartier's name has appeared previously in this blog as I think it's fair to say that he's one of the better known winemakers in the Okanagan. A native-born son of the Okanagan, he's made wine at Hawthorne Mountain (now See Ya Later), Township 7, Stag's Hollow and, perhaps most notably, at Road 13.

David Scholefield, on the other hand, has played a completely different role in the development of the BC wine industry. A long time writer, speaker and competition judge, he was a senior wine buyer for the British Columbia Liquor Distribution Branch - one of the largest, single buyers of wine and alcohol in the world - for many a year. His experience has resulted in his travelling the world and meeting with wine icons from every region.

The two of them have joined forces to try and put a stronger face to Scholefield's long held belief that "BC is capable of producing distinctive wines that articulate their origin." Scholefield argues that the Okanagan environment can deliver a "natural style" that is "light, clean, juicy and refreshing." What's more is that he sees the wine-buying public as being ready for a distinctly BC wine.

This first vintage has only seen the release of two wines so far - a white blend and the Rosé that we've opened here. The Rosé is made from 100% Gamay Noir grapes and this first vintage is limited to a release of 792 cases. We're not likely to ever see big numbers coming B-S in the future either. Home base, Okanagan Crush Pad is dedicated to the production of small lot wines and currently only has the capacity of 25,000 cases for all of its customers.

Small release or not, the wine - and the partnership - has garnered a lot of buzz, with almost all of it being favourable. Almost everyone has commented on the ever so dry and brilliant acidity that dominates on the palate. There has also been plenty of comments on the deeply hued colour. For having soaked on the skins for only 24 hours, the wine was definitely on the darker range of Rosé. Boo and I thought we could have easily been sipping away on some beach in the South of France.

I'm becoming a bigger and bigger fan of Rosé wines. I don't see there being a BC style of production yet, but this is definitely an interesting gambit for a first release. And I'll be interested in learning more about Crush Pad and the wines that get produced there down the road.

'Cuz It's a Thriller....

Halloween is a much loved holiday in our neck of the woods. The Drive has been home to the Parade of Lost Souls on the preceding weekend for years now and our's is a neighbourhood that still seems to get a healthy share of trick or treating kiddies and the local park seems to have become a favourite spot for local fireworks displays. True, our neighbours do favour blasting Rob Zombie tunes to go with the zombie biker in their front yard while we go more for the dancing creatures à la thriller. But, all the same, it doesn't take much of an effort to entice a couple folks over to our place for treats and the little ghouls and goblins.

And a bit of wine, naturally. This year, I pulled a couple bottles where the labels seemed to accentuate the season.

969. 2006 Pacific Breeze Killer Cab (Bottled in Canada)

Lady Di had previously talked about having a tasting where everyone was to bring wines with crazy labels. Killer Cab was to be one of our wines, but the tasting never materialized. So, after a couple of years in the wine rack, I figured it was time to let the Killer out.

Seems like I've talked about Pacific Breeze in this blog more than I've drunk their wines and added them to The List. You can always search the blog to find out a bit more about this true garage winery's take on the whole "bottled in Canada" scene. I think it's fair to say that the winery isn't simply buying up cheap, excess grapes from world markets to make generic (dare I say critter wine). Although Pacific Breeze's grapes are all from California or Washington state, they're bringing in premium grapes and producing wines that have a lot more stature than the aforementioned critter wines - even if it means that they can't be sold as Premium BC or VQA wines.

The skull-crested martini glass may not have been the best way to taste this killer Cab, but sometimes the staging of the event has as much pertinence as the glass does (sorry all you Riedel folks). In retrospect though, I wish Lady Di had carried through with her tasting. I would have liked drinking this bottle a whole lot sooner than we did. Not because it was past its prime. Rather, because I likely would have picked up a few more bottles over the years.

Although he wasn't drinking the Killer Cab, we did have a killer scarecrow join us. It's pretty much a guarantee that Logan will be decked out in a super outfit if costumes are involved. Having come straight from work, his scarecrow this year was great. He was so realistic that he took to standing outside on our porch so that he could scare unsuspecting trick or treaters. I know he didn't mean to, but when he scared one little girl nearly to tears, we felt so badly that we made him abide by a rule that he couldn't scare anyone that was shorter than the fence.

After one little guy had come and gone (he was too short to be scared), his bigger sister came to the door. Logan gave her a good "Boo" and a good startle. Her scream was so convincing that her little bro' started laughing uncontrollably. He came back onto the porch and high-fived Logan, saying that scaring his sister was the "best and coolest thing all evening."

970. 2009 Moon Curser Border Vines (VQA Okanagan Valley)

Our second wine also has a label seemingly custom fit for Halloween. Thing is Moon Curser isn't a specialty market branding, it's a re-branding of Twisted Tree, the Osoyoos winery that came out of gate a couple of years back with guns blazing. Twisted Tree wines have been extremely well received since Day One and I've added more than a couple of their wines to The List. The name change - especially this one - and dramatic label change caught a whole lot of people by surprise.

The story goes that the folks behind Twisted Tree found that, despite their good reputation, they were being too easily confused with other wineries - Tangled Vines and Oliver Twist in BC and the California bulk brand, Twisted. Wanting to create a new, distinct image for the winery - one that was a little more "dynamic" and "radical" - they certainly appear to have achieved that goal. They looked to history in the Osoyoos region and identified with the stories from the 1860's and 1870's gold rush where smugglers used to ferry contraband into the U.S. in the dark of night. They used to curse the moon because the light of the moon made it tougher to evade border guards.

Border Vines is the new name for the old Six Vines. The wine incorporates all six Bordeaux varietals - Cab Sauv, Merlot, Malbec, Cab Franc, Petit Verdot and Carmenère. The primary facet of this wine that differentiates it from virtually any other BC Meritage blend is that the Carmenère component constitutes 23% of the blend. I doubt there are more than a handful of other BC wineries that even have access to Carmenère, let alone use it for a quarter of their wine. The winemaker posits that it's the high percentage of Carmenère that adds the spicey note on the palate.

Good thing the wine is still as good as it used to be. Despite the interesting story behind the name change, I'm one of those who still prefer the old name and labels. I won't stop buying the wine because of the new labels but there are only so many times a year that you can invoke Halloween. I might think twice about bringing one of the new labels to someone's house for dinner at other times of the year.

In the meantime, it was a bit of a thriller of an evening. Fun times and good wine for all.

Red Rooster Harvest Party

Looks like this post is going to be more of a photo essay for a "day in the life of a wine lover." Despite spending the entire day immersed in wine-based activities, I'm not adding a single bottle to The List. There was pretty much endless Red Rooster wine to be had and enjoyed, but we didn't really have an entire bottle that we can say we polished off ourselves. Plenty o' wine - but it was more tastes of this and a glass of that. I could easily "bend the rules" and find a way to add a bottle, but most of the wines we were enjoying will make it to The List another time.

The occasion at hand was the Fall Harvest party at Red Rooster winery for the Adopt-a-Row gang. And for once, Boo was able to join in. We've been adoptive parents of a row of Malbec grapes at the vineyard for a good five or six years now but we can't always make it to the semi-annual parties - and rarely together.

The Fall party is an invitation to actually get our hands dirty and participate in a harvest - even if we are coddled and given a much easier ride than a real vineyard worker would see. The party actually started the night before when the winery hosted a reception with some marvelous nibblies and a full range of their wines for sample. Seeing as it was the start of Halloween weekend, there was a bit of a costume contest to boot to get everyone in the spirit of the event. Boo and I wore our robes from the UAE and pretended that we were rich oilmen visiting to look into investing in the winery. More than a couple people believed the ruse - to the point that they asked why we'd want to invest when they thought that Arabs didn't drink.

We ended up being chosen as having the best costumes; however, wouldn't you know it that Boo and I had been running behind and we forgot to bring the camera to the reception. Luckily, Tyrant and Taylor are adoptive parents as well and had joined us for the weekend. Tyrant had his camera handy and at least he got a shot of us.

My favourite part of the event is heading into the vineyards to pick the grapes. The timing of the weekend isn't always the easiest of tasks. The logistics of planning the event need time and advance notice; the grapes rarely cooperate by ripening on a set schedule however. 2011 wasn't the greatest of growing seasons either. Spring was late arriving and the vines and fruit never did get a real chance to catch up. The fruit we were to pick was still good but it was mostly because the vineyard workers were rather ruthless when it came to green harvesting - or culling out the grapes that weren't progressing enough. By reducing the overall amount of fruit on the vines, it allows the vines to concentrate its efforts on ripening the grapes that are still hanging.

There was a banner turnout for the harvest party this year and, as a result, there weren't enough grapes left in the vineyard immediately next to the winery. A group of us, therefore, made our way up to the other end of the Naramata Bench to pick the Merlot vines tended to by one of Red Rooster's regular growers. As mentioned, I love actually picking the grapes - there never seem to be enough for our quick little escapade - but, this year, the effort was even more fulfilling. Our hosts were a lovely couple who were still tending the vineyard even though they were in their early 80's. Being a small family operation, they don't have access to immediate and affordable labour; so they still pick the grapes themselves. We were told that we accomplished - in less than an hour and a half - what might normally take them a couple of full days' work. The genuineness of the thanks still warms me all over when I think back. Little did they know that they were making my day - not the other way around.

Following a big group lunch, we were also given the chance to see first hand what some of the initial steps in making the wine entail.

We'd asked about throwing the grapes into a vat, so that we could jump in feet first stomp away but the powers that be weren't quite ready to let us get that hands on in the process.

Our planned activities started with watching the grapes get loaded into and run through the crusher-destemmer. Anyone wanting the opportunity to participate was given the chance to transfer the grapes to hopper where they are crushed before the juice is transferred to the tank for fermentation.

In addition to the crush, various workers were explaining the different stages that the wine will initially go through before it is transferred to barrel for ageing or is actually bottled. It was intriguing to try some of the juice that had been fermenting for about a week. The sweetness and the fruit stood out so much. It was drastically different from the finished product - and not just because of the pulp and residue that is a good portion of the macerating juice. Tasting the predominant sugars - that are eventually going to be turned into alcohol - was a taste treat.

I'd have quite liked to try punching down the cap on the wine that was fermenting in the open top tanks. The cap is the solid mass of grape skins, stems and seeds that is still in the juice after crushing and it floats to the top of the tank during the fermentation process. Winemakers want to keep the juice in contact with this mass as much as possible as that continued contact helps increase richer colour, flavours and astringency (tannins). Punching down the cap also helps to mix the yeasts into the juice must, introduces oxygen to help promote the fermentation and helps prevent the cap from massing together such that conditions are more favourable for bacteria or moulds to form. Much of the fermentation procedure can all be mechanized nowadays - with rotating and pulsating tanks - but the romance of actual interaction with the wine can be lost a bit with all the mechanization. Easy for me to say though - never having punched down a single cap in my life. My guess is that it likely gets rather tiresome after the punching down the umpteenth tank for the second or third time that day. However, this was the first time I've actually had a chance to watch a punch down and it was all quite inspiring.

I think Karen and Blair - that's winemaker, Karen Gillis and manager, Blair Dufty, were prepared to let us get involved in the actual punch down process. The staff, however, weren't quite so enthusiastic. Perhaps, rightly so. I'd have hated becoming that person that fell off the skinny plank and plopped righ into the wine. I'm not so convinced that anything I left behind would add to the cachet of the wine. I can only imagine the tasting notes that might follow.

I did find it quite fascinating to see what happens to the grapes once picked though. After grabbing some bottles for the road, the boys and I made a couple quick stops to two of our other favourites on the Bench - La Frenz and Poplar Grove. But, then, it was time for a quick nap before the winemaker's dinner that followed at Bogner's.

The dinner could be an entire post on its own but, since the wines were all by the glass and I don't have a bottle to add to The List, I'll simply say that we had a thoroughly enjoyable meal - particularly the Moroccan-spiced tomato and saffron soup and the lamb shank entrée.

Naturally, I can't find the evening's menu but the wine's included two special treats. Karen and crew are currently ageing a limited amount of Red Rooster's first sparkling wine and they popped a few corks for us all to try upon our arrival. I'll definitely look forward to grabbing a bottle, when it's finished and available, so that I can add it to The List. The other special treat was that Blair managed to rustle up a late harvest from many vintages back. The winery hasn't produced a dessert wine for years, but he was contacted by a local wine shop that found a box of an old vintage in storage. He snapped them up and we were the beneficiaries.

It was a full and great day, but, rather than carrying on into the evening with even more personal tasting, Boo and I hustled back to the hotel for a reasonable bedtime. The unfortunate part of the weekend was that we had to be back in Vancouver to curl at noon. That meant hitting the road by about 6 a.m. the next morning. What kind of a holiday break is that?!

Thanks to the folks at Red Rooster for a special time. I hope we'll be able to visit our adopted row again next Spring.