Rex Hill & the Chehalen Hills Gang

Photo Courtesy of Ancient
Fire Wine Blog

Biggest bottle I've ever been a part of!!

1224.  1992 Rex Hill Pinot Noir (Chehalen Hills - Oregon)

The most incredible corn soup!

1225.  2009 Raptor Ridge Reserve Pinot Noir (Chehalen Hills - Oregon)

Wine Bloggers' Conference 12

As if I need another distraction to keep me from catching up with all the bottles I still have to blog and add to The List! Here I am spending an extended weekend in Portland to check out all things wine and, hopefully, meet some of the interesting bloggers who's posts I continually run across online.

There have been Wine Bloggers' Conferences since 2007 and I've wanted to attend one ever since I first learned about the one that was held in Walla Walla, Washington, back in 2010. I wasn't able to attend that one, nor last year's in Virginia, but here I am ready to cool off from the heat wave that's currently blasting away in Oregon with a glass or two - whether it's white, red, rosé or bubble.

What with all the "fun" we've been having at home lately, it wasn't even clear that I'd make it down to Portland. I couldn't make it down in time to take in any of the pre-Conference winery tours today, but at least the timing worked out in the end to take in the main weekend - and neither Vancouver rush hour, nor backed up Massey Tunnel, nor zealous border guard or snail paced Seattle Expressway proved enough to prevent my eventual arrival in Portland.

The schedule promises to be jam-packed and it all gets under way in a couple of hours. In the mean time, I thought I'd get started with an initial post over a glass of Oregon winery, Sokol Blosser's, white blend, Evolution. Just a nice little way to start things off.

I just hope that I'm not going to be tested or graded on the number or the quality of my posts. I'd hate to be banned from any future conferences - especially since WBC13 is going to be held in the Okanagan Valley and I can play home-boy to all the folks I meet this weekend.

A Life Well Lived

Mom's Memorial Service

Guess it goes without saying that I'll need to come back and flesh this post out a bit.

Funny, I didn't find any pictures of the wine bottles - like I normally have - must have had other things on my mind or something like that. 

1222.  2011 Wild Goose Riesling (VQA Okanagan Valley)

1223.  2007 Hillside Estate Reserve Merlot (VQA Okanagan Valley)

The Cousins Come to Dinner

1219.  2008 Alderlea - Auxerrois-Chardonnay (Vancouver Island)

1220.  Seven Stones - Speaking Rock Pinot Noir (Similkameen Valley)

1221.  2007 Forbidden Fruit - Cerise d'Eve (Similkameen Valley)

Celebrating Bronze!

Has a country even been more enthusiastic about an Olympic bronze medal?

1218.  2004 Tantalus Classic Cuvée (Okanagan Valley)

Méthode Champenoise wines are regularly noted for their yeasty overtones.  That was no different with this Tantalus Cuvée, but I'd venture to say that this yeasty profile was more akin to sourdough than it was to the oft-mentioned brioche.  I don't know if that note had developed as the bubble had a bit of age or not, but a hint of lemon made for a tasty twist.

A Pride Parade of Wines

Following the Pride Parade, a few cocktails at Mr. D's and some shaking of tailfeathers at the Sunset Beach Festival, we invited some of the boys over for an impromptu BBQ. And the odd bottle of wine or three.

1215.  2004 Grant Burge - Barossa Vines Shiraz (Barossa - Australia)

1216.  2007 Preludio Tempranillo (Mendoza - Argentina)

1217.  2011 Fort Berens Riesling (Lillooet - BC VQA)

Toasting Pride

2012 Vancouver Pride Parade

1214. N.V. Mionetto Prosecco Brut (D.O.C. Treviso - Italy)

Lo and behold, in celebration of the Diamond Jubilee, even Liz made a horse-drawn carriage appearance at the Parade.  Well, at least Bill Munroe, in his best known persona, delivered that trademark wave.  

Big Balls & A Big Beaver

Vancouver Canucks and the You Can Play Foundation marched in the Parade for the first time ever.

And, what's a recap of Pride without a gratuitous photo of dancing boys?  Isn't that what everyone looks forward to most at a Pride Parade anyhow?

BYOW - Via Tevere

Our first foray into the exciting new era of Bring Your Own Wine to the Vancouver restaurant scene.

1213.  2006 La Spinetta - Il Colorino di Casanova (Toscana IGT - Italy)

Looks like I have yet another post to make a big effort to get back to quickly.  I didn't even realize - until after the fact - that Colorino is a grape varietal.  Cheers to another addition to the Wine Century Club tally.

Davie Street Dance Party

It's Pride Week here in Vancouver and a quick trip down to the West End for the Davie Street Party seemed like a festive way to add another bottle to The List.

1212.  2009 Quinta De La Rosa - douROSA - Rosé (Douro - Portugal)

;lakhdf

Pot Roast

Pot Roast & Cab Sauv.  OK.  That's maybe a bit of a given.  But Red Velvet cake and Kindzmarauli, that's not one I can say that I've run across before.

1210. 2002 CedarCreek Cabernet Sauvignon (VQA Okanagan Valley)

1211. 2008 Tibaneli - Single Estate Kindzmarauli (Georgia [the country, not the state])

Definitely need to get back to update this post since there's no doubt that the grape being used for this wine, Saperavi, is a new varietal for the Wine Century Club.