Fetzer Mussels in on The List

After saying, just a few posts ago, that we don't drink much California wine at home, here we are opening a second bottle of a California white in the same week. What's going on?

There's no chance that said proclamation has Californian winemakers raising their voices to the heavens - or BC producers quaking in their boots - nor should it. Boo is just pushing me really hard to drink up the wines that we already have - and this one was laying around. It didn't hurt that it should match up with tonight's mussels either.

1160. 2008 Fetzer Vineyards - Valley Oaks Sauvignon Blanc (California)

The Fetzer brand is one that I certainly recognize but I can't say that I'm at all familiar with their wines. This is the first wine of their's that I'm adding to The List - and, to be honest, I don't even think I bought it. I think it's a straggler that was left behind from a party.

Not knowing much more than the name, I asked Mr. Google for a bit of assistance. I'm not surprised that (at least in the early 1990's) it produces over two million cases annually - which I'm sure is far more than the entire BC wine production - but I was surprised by the emphasis their website places on the winery's commitment to sustainability and environmental impact. I was also oblivious to the fact that Fetzer operates the organic producer Bonterra that does so well in our market and that Fetzer, itself, was purchased by Chile's Viña Concha Y Toro in 2011.

Entry level. Easy drinking. 96.6% Sauv Blanc with small percentages of Chardonnay, Semillon and Viognier, it's not going to set any sophisticated palates on fire. But then, at the same time, it's quaffable and affordable - and there's lots of it. So many of the wines I find myself drinking are ones that I'll never find again because there was so little of it made, one site I saw says that Fetzer made 630,000 cases of this wine alone.

What more do you need on a weeknight as the summer starts to kick in?

A Toast to the Old Alma Mater

It's Alumni Weekend - sometimes known as the Party on the Point - at the University of British Columbia. I figured I'd take in a couple of events since I rarely head out to UBC nowadays and had yet to see the new Law School. It didn't hurt that there were a couple of wine-centric events being presented as well.

I'll readily admit that I was looking forward the most to the UBC Wine Library Tour. There was nothing like a wine library when I was attending classes. The Lido Deck at Sedgewick, yes, but no wine library. The Library forms an integral part of the Wine Research Centre and was established when Dr. Hennie van Vuuren arrived at UBC in 1999 to help pioneer research into the molecular genetics of yeasts and vines, fermentation and viticulture among other topics. Dr. van Vuuren arrived with a fascination in the ability of some varietals to age gracefully while other wines fall apart quickly. The Wine Library was set up to help study how wines, in general - and BC wines in particular - age and participating wineries send two cases of the wine to be studied. This allows the wines to be tasted annually over the next two decades, the hope being that the Centre will "eventually establish a correlation between viticulture and enology practices in BC and the ability of wines to age well."

Dr. van Vuuren advised us that the Wine Library can store up to 30,000 bottles, but that they currently have about 6,000. In addition to the winery participations in the study, the Centre has, fortuitously, received some donations from the estates of deceased collectors in the city. One such donation included some 103 year old bottles of Château Margaux. There are six bottles left. Not surprisingly, Dr. van Vuuren continually receives offers from wine drinkers offering to volunteer for tasting panels. Nice job if you can get it, I figure.

I suppose when we hear about winemaking techniques continually being improved and modernized and read about how there's so much science that goes into a bottle of wine nowadays, the Wine Research Centre is front and centre with the introduction of those changes.

Unfortunately, there was no tasting involved with the Wine Library tour but it was very intriguing all the same. I had signed up for a "class" in tasting later in the day though. Passing the time between the two events was easy enough in that the university was abuzz with activity.

I missed out on guided tours of the new Law Building and of the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, but I did spend some time in the Beaty Biodiversity Museum. I remember all the media hoopla that accompanied the establishment of the museum in 2010 - particularly the unveiling of the two-storey glass gallery that displays the largest blue whale skeleton on display in Canada - but this was the first time I've come anywhere close to seeing it. The immensity of both the whale and the museum's purpose was inspiring. There's no doubt that UBC is continually upping the ante with what it offers to the educational community.

The tasting event was an introduction to wine tasting; so, I wasn't exactly immersed in new information but it was interesting to see a different approach to tasting - including the testing of our senses of smell and taste while blindfolded. It was also interesting to discover that there's now a 300-level credit course offered in the introduction to wine. Now, there definitely was never any course available like that when I was a student. Had there been, my enthusiasm for wine might have been tweaked a whole lot more - and a whole lot earlier - than it was. Ah, no use lamenting over (un)spilled grapes.

With all the touring and tasting it was definitely time for a drink when I got home.

1159. 2008 Cantina Zaccagnini - il vino "dal tralcetto" (Montepulciano d'Abruzzo DOC - Italy)

One of the bottles we picked up with our Bellingham Costco run last year, I didn't know anything the winery, but the packaging is fetching - and I simply love saying "Montepulciano d'Abruzzo." For someone like me that doesn't speak Italian, mastering this little phrase is like being swathed in a whole layer of romantic swagger. You can't help but sound suave when saying it. Plus, it just sounds delicious.

And, you know, this was perfectly matched to my palate and to our simple Margherita pizza. I often find entry level Italian wines to be too spare for my liking, but the Zaccagnini had some nice body and bright red and dark fruit.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable way to wind down from the day. If we make it back to Costco, I'm going to have to look for another bottle.

La Crema Chard

I suppose drinking a California Chardy is about as far from a standard drop as it gets in our home. Chardonnay isn't generally my first choice for whites and I don't tend to buy many US wines - except when south of the 49th parallel - since I'm far from thrilled with the way our provincial government tends to force the prices through the roof as soon as anything except American bulk wine crosses the border.

That position of mine may change a bit next year since the 2013 Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival has named California as its Theme Region and Chardonnay as the varietal for Global Focus.

In the mean time, we're drinking California Chardonnay tonight.

1158. 2007 La Crema Chardonnay (Sonoma Coast - California)

Given the lack of California Chardonnay in our cellar, I don't know much about La Crema or its wines. A quick look at the website reveals that they only produce Chardonnay and Pinot Noir - the two star varietals from Burgundy. However, they do have vineyards in five different regions in the state and produce both varietals from each region, this bottle featuring fruit from the Sonoma Coast district.

Most references online point to this wine as having good value (when being purchased in the US, no doubt) but I still found it to be a little oaky for my palate. Fairly lush and full, but a bit of a switch from the bright whites that I tend to favour.

No doubt, I'll be paying a little more attention to the whole Cali Chard genre over the next year. Guess we'll see if the number of appearances at our table has increased at all come next summer.

Wine Century Club Anniversary Count

The obvious goal and raison d'être of this blog is to drink our way through 2001 unique bottles of wine, but a integral part of the blog name is "A Wine Odyssey." Dictionary.com, in part, defines an "odyssey" as "a long series of wanderings or adventures" and, for me, trying new and different wines that come from far-flung corners of the earth or feature previously unknown varietals is an integral - and exciting - part of the quest.

I've written about and made many a reference to The Wine Century Club during my blog meanderings. The premise of this clever idea is that if keep track of all the varietals that go into the wines you're drinking, you can join the club as soon as you've reached 100 different varietals. I didn't discover the club until long after I'd started this blog, but I get a little kick out of adding a new grape every time I run across one in my glass. Prior to this entry, I'd logged 128 varietals and I'm definitely hoping to hit a double century before I reach my goal of 2001 bottles.

The Club is celebrating its 7th anniversary and, to mark the occasion, today is a collective effort by all interested to taste as many different varietals as possible in one day. A few years back, a similar task was laid out for those in the know and a formidable total of 314 varietals was tallied.

With this post, I'm adding a couple of unique grapes that are certainly new to me - and hopefully to the tally at large.

1157. 2009 Salt Spring Vineyards - Blattner White (Gulf Islands - BC)

I picked up this bottle when visiting Tyrant on Salt Spring Island last summer and I've been keeping it for an occasion just like this. Despite the entirely unromantic name of Blattner White, I really enjoyed this wine. The "Blattner" part of the name is a reference to Valentin Blattner, a Swiss horticulturalist who's passion is to create grapes that are resistant to disease - and, therefore, don't require as many spray applications - but are still capable of yielding wines that can gain viable acceptance in the marketplace. While he's not exactly taking the wine world by storm, his grapes can now be found in Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, BC, Ontario and the Maritimes. Like most hybrid grapes, many Blattner varietals are designed to be hardy enough to withstand the colder weather of nothern climes and to ripen earlier than the more common vinifera varietals that most people are familiar with; hence their great fit with Canadian wine regions.

Salt Spring Vineyards - and its winemaker, Paul Troop - are among the foremost propagators of Blattner varietals. They produce both a white and a red wine made from Blattner grapes and this vintage of the white actually won a silver medal - and best overall hybrid wine - at the 2010 Wine Access Canadian Wine Awards. Petite Milo and Epicure are the names of the two grapes being blended in this wine and, as mentioned, we quite enjoyed the wine. I can see why it was awarded the silver medal.

The wine is a full bodied white and is quite fruit forward. In trying to find out more about the wine or the grapes, I see that it has been favourably compared to Alsatian wines, exhibiting characteristics of Riesling and Gewurtztraminer and even a hint of Sauvignon Blanc.

Unless someone else from BC is trying the same wine tonight, I doubt you'll see anyone looking to add either Petite Milo or Epicure to the Wine Century Club's Anniversary Count. I'm quite happy to be doing so and to be adding both varietals to my own tally for the club. This will bring me up to 130.

(PS. I see that this year's final count for The Wine Century Club count was 179 varietals. Far from that earlier record but pretty formidable in its own right.)

An Orofino Pinot

After our cherry wine from the Similkameen Valley the other night, I figured "why not just stick with the same region?" for tonight.

1156. 2006 Orofino - Sagebrush Series Pinot Noir (Similkameen Valley - BC)

Over the years, the Similkameen has grown into the organic fruit and veggie capital of Canada. Grapes have definitely been following suit over the last decade and a bit, but the Valley still isn't particularly thought of as a region that is well suited to growing Pinot Noir. The summers here are just seen as being too hot to keep the "heartbreak grape" from breaking most vintners' heart.

That doesn't mean that Pinot isn't being grown in the Similkameen; it just isn't usually the first varietal that we see being offered. John and Virginia Weber offer up a small amount of Pinot every year from their estate vineyard; however, they also released this Sagebrush Series Pinot from the 2006 vintage. It was a second line made from non-estate fruit that was seen as a lighter, more easy-drinking version of the estate Pinot Noir. I don't recall having seen the Sagebrush Series offered in subsequent years.

We might have missed out on a bit of the red fruit that was being exhibited early on in its life - as the fruit wasn't as prominent as the reviews had led me to believe - but luckily the wine was under screwcap and I don't think we lost too much of the wine's character to the years gone by. Not my favourite Orofino wine - but then, as a whole, Orofino is one of my favourite BC wineries and I think it'd be tough for every wine to be a favourite.

Winner. Winner. (Butter) Chicken Dinner.

I figured we must have been long overdue for a round of butter chicken - after all, no one should have to go for long without this basic food group. Luckily Boo whipped some up. My task was to match it up with a wine - but only from wines in the cellar - I wasn't allowed to buy anything new.

1155. 2009 Forbidden Fruit - Cherysh Cherry Rosé (Similkameen Valley - BC)

I figured that the fruit and residual sugar of the Cherysh would counter the spice and heat of the butter chicken nicely and I think it did - even though it wasn't nearly as off-dry as I'd expected. Made from organic Stella cherries, this is one of my favourite table fruit wines. IMHO, Forbidden Fruit (along with Elephant Island) stands at forefront of fruit wine making in BC. I find that many dessert wines and fortifieds made from fruit can stand tall with those made from grapes; the still wines, however, aren't necessarily on the same level - yet.

Cherysh consistently fits the bill though. The only "problem" is that it can be hard to find in the shops that I tend to frequent because the BC Liquor Board doesn't carry it and it's not made from grapes, so the VQA shops can't carry it. We pass by the winery every other year or so and we generally manage to pick up a bottle or two at that time.

Being a 2009 bottle, I wasn't sure that the wine would still be fresh. Can't say that I know the ageing capability of cherry wine. But, thankfully, it still tasted fine and we'll no doubt continue to pick up that bi-annual bottle next time we drive by.

Dinner Club - Caribbean Style

As if our trip Down Under wasn't extravagant enough, here we are, back less than two weeks, and it's time for our next Dinner Club instalment. It would seem that all those pounds I managed to put on while dining on roo and barbee are going to stick around for awhile longer.

This time around, it's Jeaux and Matinder's turn to wow the gang with culinary splenders. Those guys have just returned from a grand vacation of their own - wasting away, again, in Antigua. Needless to say, our intrepid hosts have decided to whisk our palates away to the Caribbean and Yucatan. Now, wine may not be the Caribbean locals' first beverage of choice, but there was still plenty of it being knocked back at our dinner.

Before we popped the corks though, Jeaux whipped up

Chupacabra Martinis for everyone. Named after the infamous "goatsucker" that haunts Mexico and parts of the Caribbean, this little concoction of coconut rum, açai juice (supposedly an aphrodisiac), guava, pineapple and blood orange goes down far too easily. I'd already seen the array of wine to be opened; so, I limited myself to one as I was still hoping to be somewhat functional come the morning.

1148. 2008 Viñas Elias Mora (D.O Toro - Spain)

1149. 2010 Argento Reserva Bonarda (Mendoza - Argentina)

J&M served up a pair of appies: chalupas - tortillas with chicken, salsa and assorted condiments - and hongos rellenos de chorizo (stuffed mushrooms). Whether or not it was deliberate - especially since our hosts know the general bent of this crowd - all the evening's wines were of the red persuasion. So, we picked what we expected would be the two lighter bodied wines from the assortment available and started the wheels of wine a-movin'.

The Viñas Elias Mora was a 100% Tinta de Toro or Tempranillo and the Bonarda was simply that - Bonarda, Argentina's second best known red varietal.

The roughest thing about describing these dinners and wines is that time dictates a truncated version of any recap. I can't recall having tried either of these wineries before but, in consideration of space and time, I'm going to have to leave this at a basic mention.

1150. 2006 Langmeil - Blacksmith Cabernet (Barossa Valley - Australia)

1993 Rosemount Estate - Balmoral Syrah (McLaren Vale - Australia)

Our second course was oxtail posole - the traditional Mexican soup of meat, hominy, chili peppers and vegetables. Given the oxtail, we figured it was time to bring on the bigger guns. Plus, it only made sense to try them while we still had some of our senses working. The Balmoral doesn't get a number for The List because, believe it or not, we've already enjoyed and added a bottle of the '93 vintage back at #314. It's not too surprising that the earlier bottle involved an evening with Tyrant since this bottle came from his cellar as well. It's more interesting, however, that it was served with another bottle of Langmeil - their Fifth Wave Grenache. I don't think that Tyrant and I are that predictable in our wine contributions but it is quite the coincidence.

I think the posole was a favourite course of the evening as were these two wines. Given Jeaux' propensity to serve interesting meats (gator, rabbit and "make-do pigeon") at past dinners, we made her swear that it was really oxtail in the soup. When she started serving up the dish, we tried to get her to admit that it was that Caribbean staple, goat, since that'd go a good distance on the queasy scale for Lady Di and She Who Must Be Obeyed. Never having cooked oxtail myself, it was a great introduction.

And Tyrant can bring out his remaining Balmorals anytime I'm around.

1151. 2008 Sobon Estate - Old Vines Zinfandel (Amador County - California)

1152. 2009 1884 Reservado Malbec (Mendoza - Argentina)

The soup was followed by Pan de Cazón- tortillas with shredded fish, black beans and a tomato salsa. We likely could have gone with a white wine here but the fruit forwardness of the Zin and Malbec allowed everyone to keep eating and sipping without any concerns. My guess is that we would have carried on eating regardless of what was being served. It was all that tasty.

I haven't heard of the Sobon Estate previously, but the 1884 was a familiar brand because Boo and I had actually visited the winery without knowing it when we travelled to Argentina. And, no, it wasn't that we were too far gone to realize where we were. Rather, it was because the 1884 Francis Mallman restaurant is connected to the winery and, by the time we arrived at the restaurant for dinner, everything was dark and deserted on the winery side of the complex and we didn't even know it existed. Finding the wine back in Vancouver is the bigger surprise for me.

1153. 2010 Domaine Paul Autard - Côtes du Rhône (AOC Côtes du Rhône - France)

1154. 2002 Kettle Valley - Rock Oven Red (Okanagan Valley)

We weren't done on the food front yet though. Jeaux and Matinder served up a meat course of achiote & wheat-ale marinated flank steak, together with jicama slaw and nopales salad - a mix of prickly pear cactus, onion & tomato. And, funnily enough, we just happened to have another couple of big reds to go along with the beef.

Once again, the Côtes du Rhône was new to me, but the Rock Oven Red is known quantity - even if it's one that I don't get much opportunity to try. There are times that you might think my middle name is Syrah or Shiraz. So, I didn't have any issues with either of these two wines. The Côtes du Rhône, in fact, was mostly Grenache with only 15% Syrah but I could easily come back as a Rhône Ranger in another lifetime. The Rock Oven Red is a blend of almost equal parts Cab Sauv and Shiraz, a blend that doesn't seem to be made a whole bunch in BC, particularly seeing as this bottle is from 2002. Really, it's quite a surprise to see it served tonight as there can't be many bottles of it still hanging around. There were only 120 cases made of the '02 vintage and I should think most of them have long been tipped back. I don't think there can be any issue with the ability of BC wines to age when made properly - and when stored in Tyrant's boffo cellar.

English Harbour 5 Year Antigua Rum

The dessert course was accompanied by an appearance of a guest alcohol - aged rum. A 5-year old rum is a bit of stretch for a wine blog, but our hosts thought they'd end with a bit of a more authentic note. Jeaux said that she hadn't run across any Antiguan wines during their vacation but there were no complaints at the table. The sipping rum matched the homemade churros with roasted pineapple and strawberry salsa better than any wine that immediately comes to my mind. The rums that I drink are usually hidden away in eggnogs or daiquiris or maybe the odd mojito; so, it was a welcome change to have it poured this way.

Jeaux and Mattinder have raised the bar yet another level for our little gathering - and as if that wasn't enough - they've suggested that the gang all try to make it down to Antigua for a bit of a vacay for one of the next times it's their turn to host the Dinner Club. With Tyrant having already hosted his last dinner on Salt Spring Island, there seems to be a new travel theme on the rise. Whatever will Boo and I be able to pull out of the bag when it's our turn? The closest thing we have to a vacation home is my Mom and Dad's trailer in Washington state. I think it was a table big enough to fit two comfortably. We'll need an awful lot of wine to be able to pull that one off with any success.

We'll worry about that later though. In the mean time, big thanks go out to Jeaux and Matinder for another masterfully delicious evening - and for providing the opportunity to add another seven bottles to The List.

A Curious Pinot Gris

1147. 2009 Salt Spring Vineyards Pinot Gris (Wine Islands - BC)

I'm not entirely sure of this wine's pedigree - not taste-wise - rather its pedigree in terms of what the heck went into it. I see that Salt Spring's website doesn't refer to a current vintage of Pinot Gris being for sale. I'm not sure whether it's because they're simply sold out of all current stock or whether they've stopped making it because the grapes were sourced from the Okanagan and they're now only making wine from estate and local grapes. There's another possibility in that they just don't have enough Pinot Gris to make a varietal wine - because I understand their new(er) sparkling wine, Karma, is made with some Pinot Gris in the blend.

Guess I just won't know any time soon. That's a bit of a shame because this was a good representation of BC Pinot Gris - plenty of acid and citrus and stone fruit. I'll just have to follow up by visiting the winery next time we get the chance to visit Tyrant when he's hanging on the Island.

Roast Beast Just Calls For a Cab

A little roast beef calls out for some Cab Sauv around this household. Since Boo wants us to start using up some of the wine we have on hand, I figured I was pretty lucky to find a bottle that was still hanging around from the days when we seemed to buy a couple cases of Burrowing Owl every year - back when higher end BC wines were a little more limited. Indeed, it seemed like everyone was clamouring to grab as much Burrowing Owl as they could in those days.

1146. 2003 Burrowing Owl Cabernet Sauvignon (VQA Okanagan Valley)

2003 was the year of the infamous Okanagan Mountain fire. While the worst of the fire was wreaking havoc further north of the Burrowing Owl vineyards, there were still small fires being fought closer to Burrowing Owl and nearby Osoyoos. As you might guess in a summer of fire, it was a hot year. The heat units were sufficient to ripen the Cab Sauv but there were fears that the lingering smoke might have a detrimental effect on the grapes and resulting wine.

Although this probably wasn't a favourite of the Burrowing Owl wines I've had over the years, I don't think it was the smoke that diminished the wine's punch. It definitely matched up nicer with the beef, but I fear the wine wasn't very notable for either structure or fruit profile when sipped on its own.

It might be a case of waiting a bit too long before opening it, but I can't publicly attest to that because then Boo will simply insist I can't buy anything new until we finish off all our bottles of a certain age. Heaven forbid.

Repaying a Favour

1145. 2010 Masi Bonacosta (Valpolicella Classico DOC - Italy)

Oops. Looks like I've lost the couple of pictures that I took this evening. I know that I forgot to bring a camera but I did take a couple of shots on my phone. Lord knows where they've disappeared to though. I guess you'll just have to imagine the shot - a vibrant restaurant scene at Via Tevere Pizzeria, five handsome guys sitting in the corner, laughing and enjoying incredible pizza and a bottle of classic Italian wine. If Masi wanted a commercial to air, they couldn't have done better than this. That is, unless they could have added Boo to the picture. He had to work, unfortunately, and couldn't join in.

It's too bad that we don't have a picture or two because it was a grand evening. Our recent acquaintances from Hong Kong, Whaler and Dane, were passing through town en route to a business meeting in the States. Luckily, they were able to meet up with me, Axel and the English Doc. It was Axel that had introduced us in the first place and, as I'd mentioned a few posts back, Whaler and Dane were the consummate hosts and tour guides when we visited Hong Kong.

High end pizza isn't necessarily the first item showing up on Hong Kong menus; so, the boys were more than willing to take in this new addition to The Drive's dining scene.

Masi, of course, is one of the biggest names there is when it comes to wines from the Veneto and surrounding regions of Italy. Via Tevere may channel Naples from the other side of the country but who's going to turn down some authentic Italian grape juice to go with their authentic taste of Napoli? Not us.

There was a bit of a pub crawl after dinner (unfortunately, two bars counts as a pub crawl nowadays in the lexicon that is this old guy's life); so, it might be a good thing that we didn't have the camera with us after all. Those pics wouldn't have had any wine in them though. So, the odds of me posting them here are greatly reduced anyhow.

Too bad the boys' visit to Vancouver was so short though. They had to fly out the next day and we wouldn't get another chance to see them. Guess Boo and I will just have to head back to Hong Kong now.