Desert Hills Gamay

We/ve been watching a new condo development go up on The Drive for what seems like years but the commercial spaces at street level have started opening. We've walked by JamJar, a small restaurant that serves Lebanese folk dishes, for awhile now and it always seems to be crowded; so, Boo and I decided to start the weekend off with a visit.

There was a bounty of hot and cold mezze to choose from - well beyond the regular hummus and baba ghanous. Not only did all the dishes on offer sound delicious but many of the names brought back grand memories of our two visits to the Emirates when Boo and I experienced some Arabic culture with Miss Jaq while she was working in Abu Dhabi.

Seeing as how the dishes encompassed all ranges of tastes, I thought a lighter red might pair nicely. It wasn't a big wine list but I've always liked Desert Hills' Gamay and it was there. So, I was happy to give it a go.

1861.  2013 Desert Hills Gamay (Okanagan Valley VQA)

As Gamay Noir goes, this was a big one - bigger than those I recall from Desert Hills in the past. Maybe it was just the vintage and the heat on the Black Sage Bench but I don't think I would have identified the wine as Gamay if it had been served to me blind. Not that it mattered. There was still an abundance of fruit and a bit of spice on the palate that matched the subtle spicing on our lamb and beef dishes.

Between the mains and an assortment of mezze, we likely ordered more than we needed. So, we passed on the dessert and waddled back onto The Drive to make our way home.

As we strolled by Cafe Deux Soleils, we noted that it was hopping and that the evening's draw was - wait for it - a drag show. CDS is known for open mic nights and slam poetry, but drag? Granted, I've seen many a drag show - top of the line pro and first time amateur efforts - but this was something neither of us had encountered in our neighbourhood. And it was about to start at the entirely reasonable hour of 9 pm.

I haven't seen a lot of drag in over the last decade or so. The shows are generally found in the downtown bars and start too late in the evening for this old boy's liking but, all the same, I've been aware of a growing stable of East-side drag divas. I just hadn't actually seen a show further east than Main Street. How could we pass it by?

This was also the first time I've seen Thanks Jem - and her guest gal pal Celestial Seasons - in action. Anyone serving up Annie Lennox is okay in my book.

All in all, not a bad evening. We got to take in two new welcome additions to our hood in one pass. I know we'll make our way back to JamJar (hopefully with Miss Jaq in tow) and I'll just hope to hear of more drag on The Drive.

Revisiting a Fond Tintara Memory

All those years ago, when I finally graduated from regularly drinking U-brew plonk to pulling the cork exclusively on estate wines, I particularly zeroed in on Aussie wines. Between the Vancouver International Wine Festival and annual Australia festival tastings, it was easy to discover a myriad of brands and wines that were tasty and well priced. One of the first brand names that I remember being introduced to as more "premium" label was a Tintara - and it was likely a Shiraz. I recall that both Dr. Dirt and I were delightfully gobsmacked. Not that we could find any to buy.

It turned out that Tintara wasn't a bottle that was readily available in the Vancouver market but, for some reason, the name continued to stand out in my mind. So much so that, when Boo and I visited Australia in 2002, I must have asked in over a dozen bottle shops if they had any Tintara. The closest I could find to anyone who knew anything about the brand was a bloke in Melbourne who thought it might have been a label that one of the producers only used for export purposes. Well, it didn't seem to be one that was regularly exported to the Vancouver market. At that time, wineries hadn't taken to the internet to the degree that they do currently and we didn't really find out anything more about it.

That all changed a couple of years ago when the Tintara brand had a bit of renaissance and I started seeing it again at tastings and on store shelves.

1860.  2003 Tintara Reserve Grenache (McLaren Vale - Australia)

I still don't know what the provenance was of that original bottle but Tintara now forms part of the Hardy's empire (which is itself part of Accolade Wines family) and, indeed, the Hardy's website says that "In 1876, our pioneering founder, Thomas Hardy purchased our Tintara winery in McLaren Vale." Tintara may well have been under the Hardy's umbrella all these years but I wouldn't have been able to tell you that.

All things considered, I may have romanticized some of that original allure I had for Tintara because this Grenache didn't knock my socks off. Granted, I remembered the name for its Shiraz but I think the brand may have been commercialized a bit more since those earlier days - if only for the reason that I do see it more on shelves nowadays and the pricing is reasonable enough that I don't think it's to be considered a "premium" brand anymore.

Now, it could have been the occasion and the vintage that had first burned itself into my memory but this Grenache was simply an easy-drinking, fruit forward sip. I don't see myself traipsing through Aussie bottle shops looking for it specifically down the road. Not to say that I'll turn down a glass should anyone want to pour me one. After all, I think there'll always be that bit of allure in the name Tintara and I look forward to finding one of their wines that rekindles those fond memories.

Don't Mess With Texas

Being a West Coast kind of guy, I think you can forgive me if my first thoughts of American wines drift to California, Washington and Oregon. Even beyond West Coast wine regions, I can't say that Texas is foremost on my radar. After all, I've run across and tasted New York and Virginia wines previously and I've even visited a North Carolina winery, but I'm always eager to try wines from unexpected sources and our neighbours, Songstress and Cycle Dude, came home from a quick trip to Dallas and brought back a bottle of Texan wine for us.

It took a little research to learn that Texas has a long history in winemaking. Not surprisingly, early winemaking related to the arrival of Spanish missionaries and they have left records that date from the 1650's. As with most of the States, the advent of Prohibition pretty much decimated the Texan winemaking industry but a re-introduction of wineries began in the 1970's and the state has seen a steady expansion since that time.

Today, there are over 280 wineries in Texas and, by volume of wine produced, it is the fourth-largest wine producing state in the US, behind California, New York and Washington - although I did see one magazine post in TexasMonthly that noted not all Texan wineries make wine from purely Texan-grown grapes. They then point out that to qualify as a "Texas Appellation" wine, only 75% of the grapes need to be grown in the state.

Cab Sauv and Chardonnay apparently lead the way in acreage planted but Texas Wine Lover blog reports that Tempranillo is a "very popular wine in Texas." Indeed, TexasMonthly also reports that Tempranillo has "become a sort of signature red grape at many Texas wineries."

As such, it was with great interest that we pulled the cork on the bottle at hand.

1859.  2013 Becker Vineyards Tempranillo (Texas)

Becker Vineyards opened in 1996 and is in the Texas Hill Country appellation, located near Austin in central Texas. Area-wise, the appellation is the second largest AVA in the United States; yet, even still, less than 800 acres are planted with grape vines. Accordingly, there may be quite a lot of potential for expanded plantings and increased production.

Although Becker started off small as a 1500-case winery, they proudly point out that they have already seen their wines served at both the White House and at James Beard House. Their annual production has also grown to just over 100,000 cases as they offer around 20 different wines that cover quite an array of grape varieties and blends. From what I could tell on their website, it appears that all their wines are made entirely from Texas grapes.

The good news is that the wine didn't scare us away from Texan wine. I'm not sure that I would have identified it as Tempranillo if I'd been served it blind but, then, the grape can show a wide range of characteristics. Just look at the sweep of flavour profiles you can encounter with Spanish Tempranillo varietals - and Spain is pretty much seen as the starting point for Tempranillo wines. The Becker was definitely on the lighter, fruitier end of the scale but it took us no time to finish off the bottle.

While searching online for some information on the winery and region, I was pleased to read a Texas Wine Blogger post on the "Battle of the Texas Tempranillos" where Becker finished 4th in a field of 28 Texan Tempranillos.  It was also the only bottle priced below $30 that made it in the top seven. So, it would appear that Songstress and Cycle Dude zoned in on a pretty decent bottle.

One of the more interesting quotes I ran across online was accredited to a tasting room manager from one of the region's wineries, which stated that "We are Napa Valley 30 years ago, as far as the growth and the expansion of the vineyards goes...We are finding the grapes that are good for Texas and it's just going to get bigger and better."

I'm pretty sure that I won't still be blogging in another 30 years. So, don't put it in your calendars to check back in a few decades to see if I've managed to snag some more Texan wines and what I might be thinking at that time. I would, however, like to keep an eye out for some additional wines to try and get a better taste and feel for the bigness that is Texas. I was certainly glad to get the chance for this initial try.

Norma Jean's 90

There have been a number of landmark birthdays noted on this blog - mostly as my friends catch up to me at 50 - but this is the first 90th birthday that we've toasted.

My cousins organized a surprise party for my aunt, albeit it was a somewhat subdued affair. Even nowadays, with a generally improved longevity, most folks don't have a lot of peers when they hit 90. Plus, there's always that added risk of surprising folks - and their tickers - as we've aged. Luckily, the surprise was more of a "what the heck's going here" kind of surprise than a "jump out of the closet, yelling" surprise. Perhaps the bigger surprise was that the kids had managed to bring along one of my uncles who lives clear across the province and another aunt who isn't fairing nearly as well as her sister is.

I wasn't even sure that there was going to be wine at the party. After all, it could have been a genteel affair with rolled cucumber sandwiches and pinkies-in-the-air cups of tea. Luckily my aunt still likes a glass of wine to liven things up. So, The List is being bolstered by another two additions.

1857.  2013 Castillo de Monséran Garnacha (Cariñena D.O. - Spain)

Castillo de Monséran has a reputation locally as a "go to" bargain wine. Given BC's government monopoly and pricing structure, there aren't too many wines that sell for under $10 that are actually quite decent. The cousins did well to cotton on to the Garnacha (or Grenache). Indeed, Daenna Van Mulligen, Vancouver's resident Wine Diva, declares in her companion website, WineScores, that this a "buy-it-by-the-case gem, consistent and delicious." It's a big sip for a lot of people but the abundance of sweet fruit and spice also makes it an approachable drink - on its own or with heartier snacks.

1858.  2012 Scrap Book Red Blend (Okanagan Valley VQA)

I almost passed on the Scrap Book Red but I saw that it's an Okanagan Valley VQA wine; so, I figured I needed to give it at least a taste. I know that there's a seemingly endless array of new wineries in the Okanagan every year but this is a brand that I've neither seen before nor heard of - and I like to think that I have a pretty good handle on BC wines.

Guess I should have taken a shot of the back of the bottle because I can't find any further information on the wine even after the fact. There doesn't appear to be a winery called Scrap Book at all, nor could I find any link to the wine itself - except to see that it was offered for a sale price at Everything Wine. I couldn't find any reference to what the grapes were (although I'm assuming there was a good proportion of Merlot in the mix) except for the fact that the grapes and wine qualified it for VQA status.

Given that this appears to be a brand-driven bottling, I'm not surprised to find that it had a profile that resembled the new brand of accessible, sweeter wines like Apothic. In fact, I even mentioned that to my sister since my older niece is starting to discover wine and she asked her mom to pick up a bottle of Apothic at the liquor store. Definitely inoffensive, like [yellow tail] in its hey-day, there's a definite place for these wines - even if it's not necessarily my first pick for a sip at home.

Turned out that my cousin chose it because she noticed the label and thought it was appropriate since my aunt has enjoyed scrapbooking through the years.

Those couple bottles turned into a good number of hours and, once the birthday cake and the obligatory family shot with the uncles, aunts and cousins was taken, we bid the birthday girl "adieu" and hoped that we'd get together sooner than when the next landmark b-day comes around.

Happy Birthday girl!

Greek Treat

We don't typically drink much in the way of Greek wines in our home. I think I've previously noted that most of the Greek wine we drink is by the litre or the carafe while scarfing back calamari or souvlaki at a local Greek taverna. Boo and I, however, are seriously looking at travelling to Greece this fall. So, I'm trying to find a few, higher end Greek wines to whet the palate.

I grabbed this bottle from one of the local specialty wine merchants (as opposed to the larger government-run stores) to pair with a travel guide book as a Christmas gift for Boo. It turned out to be quite the Greek treat.

1856.  2011 Alpha Estate Axia - Malagouzia (Greece)

Now, I wouldn't know a prototypical Malagouzia wine from one that simply stuck that label on any one of a dozen white juices, but Jancis Robinson et al, in their tome, Wine Grapes, advise that Malagouzia characteristically produces "full bodied, aromatic wines," exhibiting a big mouthfeel and bouquet - but lower acidity - when the grapes are grown in hotter sites. The wines can exhibit more acidity when sourced from cooler, higher elevations but those wines "can be thinner and less impressive." Thin and not-so-impressive being catchwords for most of my previous experiences with white, Greek wines.

 I like how the winery's website says that this Malagouzia is "fat but balanced." I think that's a pretty apt description of the wine.

Wine Grapes also says that the grape was "recently rescued from oblivion" and one of my favourite sources of more unfamiliar grapes (before he retired from his blog), Rob Tebeau of Fringe Wine, wrote a nice, little piece that talks a bit of how the grape was brought back from obscurity to become "one of the most important white grapes grown in Greece."

Not being that familiar with Greek wines, I'd never heard of the winery. Most of the Greek wines I run into are Boutari, Domestica or Tsantali. Alpha Estate was founded in 1997 and is found in the northwest part of Greece in the Florina region of Macedonia. An indication of the winery's modernity is that, in addition to traditional Greek grapes, the estate's vineyard grows such international varieties as Sauv Blanc, Gewurtztraminer, Pinot Noir, Montepulciano, Tannat, Merlot and Syrah.

We haven't done one iota of planning for this Greek Odyssey of our's; so, I have no idea if we'd make it anywhere near Alpha Estate during our travels, but I do know that I want to take in some wineries and find a whole lot of wines as tasty as this one was.

Even if we don't make our way to Alpha Estate or run into any of their wines, I'm already benefiting from their wines. I've yet to add Malagouzia to my Wine Century Club tally. So, this bottle gets me #176 on that list. Now that I've got less than another 150 bottles before I hit 2001 on The List, I'm hoping to pull in that last two dozen wines to hit 200 varieties before I get to take a bit of rest. I might need to find some more Greek wines before we actually hit the islands.

Malbec and Mid-Week

1855.  2008 Bodega Sur de los Andes Malbec (Argentina)

Sur de los Andes is a relatively new name on the Argentine wine scene. The winery was established in 2005 by Guillermo Banfi, an Argentine banker who left the financial world to pursue his business interests and taste for wine in 2002. The grapes are sourced from a number of long-term contract growers in some of the prime areas of Mendoza.

The winery offers four ranges of wines and this bottle is the Malbec from the entry level Clasico series. Along with the Cab Sauv, Bonarda, Torrontés and Chardonnay varietal wines produced as Clasico wines, the Malbec is delivered as a fruit forward, easy drinking sip that still sees a bit of oak as it aims to deliver more than you'd expect at an entry level price. Sur de los Andes is often cited as a top brand value winery and, if memory serves, I picked this wine out as a fave at an Argentine tasting that presented a range of around 16 different Malbecs.

I don't know that Sur de los Andes can readily be found in our market. But Malbec and mid-week are a great combo in our household and, being a guy that likes some great fruit in his glass, I'll definitely keep an eye open for another bottle from these guys.

Cherysh the Thought

1854.  2010 Forbidden Fruit Cherysh Cherry Rosé (Similkameen Valley)

I'm at the stage of the blog where I always check previous posts to see if I've already added a particular bottle to The List. Since I'll often pick up more than one bottle of a wine's single vintage, those second bottles are cropping up (or the corks are popping out) more and more often. I didn't think there'd already be a bottle of the 2010 Cherysh on The List because we don't drink a lot of fruit wines - and it wasn't but I was a little surprised to see that I had previously added a bottle of the 2009 vintage at #1155.

As much of what I'd write this time around was written on the previous post and other posts on Forbidden Fruit wines, I'll just leave the link as opposed to re-hashing my earlier notes.

I will add, however, that the 2010 vintage was a very successful one for Cherysh. The wine won Gold at the All Canadian Wine Championship, Silver at the Northwest Wine Summit Competition and was a Finalist in the Spring Okanagan Wine Festival. Not a bad haul.

As with the 2009, I likely waited too long to open the bottle. I think we would have found more cherry notes on the wine if we'd opened it a couple of years ago. I just seem to hesitate on fruit wines when it comes to picking something for dinner. I generally don't see fruit wines going with a red wine dinner, but then it seems just as hard to pair (no pun intended) them with our standard white wine dinners. I simply opened this one, finally, as I would a Rosé and we did just fine (although it would seem I neglected to take a picture of the accompanying meal this time around). We had it accompanying duck with a pomegranate gelée - not quite a cherry sauce but close enough for government work (as they say).

I'm going to have to keep an eye open for a newer vintage and try sipping back on it a bit earlier, without the aging, because this could easily fit into our rotation of Rosé wines.

A Barbera Kind of Night

1853.  2007 Beni di Batasiolo Sovrana Barbera d'Alba (Barbera d'Alba DOC - Piedmont - Italy)

It's mid-week. A spaghetti and meatballs kind of night. In my book, you can't really go wrong with Barbera d'Alba. From the home of Barolo and Barbaresco, Barbera d'Alba's generally one of the easier drinking, lighter red wines (along with Dolcetto) from the Langhe region. With a bit of spice and dark cherry notes, this Barbera was a bit richer than expected - but that was no problem whatsoever.

It would seem that Beni di Batasiolo produces two Barbera d'Alba wines because I've already added a 2007 to The List all the way back at #169. While I couldn't see any reference to differences in the two versions on the winery website, I see that the Sovrana sells for a bit more. So, the Sovrana may be made from more premium grapes.

In any event, I'm a fan.

Super Bowl Merlot

So, it was Super Bowl Sunday and, with our being from Vancouver and just north of Seattle, we were hoping for a repeat by the Seahawks. I figured we could even open a treat of a Washington wine to help celebrate the day.

Luckily, the wine fared better in the glass than the Seahawks did on the field.

1852.  2008 Long Shadows Pedestal Merlot (Columbia Valley - Washington State)

I like the story behind Long Shadows. Boo and I first heard their tale at a wine dinner a couple of years ago at the Vancouver International Wine Festival. Long Shadow's resident winemaker, Gilles Nicault, regaled those fortunate enough to attend the dinner with the short history of the "winery" and the long history of those behind it. I wrote a post about the dinner and the winery's story; so, maybe I won't rehash all of that again this time around.

Suffice it to say that, after having spent 20 years with Ste. Michelle winery in Washington state, Long Shadows' proprietor, Allen Shoup, decided to work on his own vision of joining up with "a dream team of celebrated vintners" from around the world where each of those vintners would partner with Long Shadows to create a showcase wine that matches Washington fruit with worldwide experience.

Pedestal is the collaboration between Long Shadows and Michel Rolland, one of the most influential winemakers and consultants in the world. Hailing from Pomerol, Bordeaux and France's primary home for Merlot, Rolland, Shoup and Nicault have crafted a predominantly Merlot wine (the 2008 vintage also featured 12% Cab Sauv, 4% Cab Franc and 3% Petit Verdot) that wowed the big names - 93 points from both Robert Parker and Stephen Tanzer and 92 from Wine Spectator.

I don't (and won't) pretend to espouse learned bons mots and tasting notes on the wine itself but I think Wine Spectator may have summed it up when they wrote, "one sip demands another."

Good thing I didn't have that much invested in the game (not like the Canucks' Stanley Cup run in 2011), because long after Katy Perry and her dancing sharks had left the stage, it became evident that the now infamous two-yard passing play would turn this into more of a consolatory sip than a celebratory one. Instead of the Seahawks being placed on a pedestal as repeat champions, the podium belonged to Tom Brady.

At least the Merlot and this Pedestal was still our's.

Middle Kingdom Meets The Seven Kingdoms

Boo is an unabashed Games of Thrones fan - and he's pulled me into all the intrigue hook, line and sinker as well. So, it was a bit of a no-brainer that we'd take in Season's 4's final two episodes when they were shown at one of the local IMAX theatres. The only theatre in Vancouver's Lower Mainland region to screen the episodes was in Richmond - a bit out of our normal stomping grounds but there really was no choice in the matter. We just made the best of the trek by grabbing dinner in one of Richmond's myriad of top notch Chinese restaurants.

Not that we'd know where to go.

Luckily, Boo has a number of Chinese colleagues who are well acquainted with the Richmond dining scene. We tried one of the higher end Chinese seafood restos but it was already full to capacity because of a wedding. Boo made a quick call to one of the girls at work and she recommended that we simply cross the street and try another - which we did. Admittedly, we weren't all that adventurous with our choices - salt & pepper squid, Peking Duck and house seafood noodles - but they all sounded good and we hadn't been there before.

The wine list was on the short side but we went with an Aussie white, thinking it could go with anything that came out of the kitchen.

1851.  2012 De Bortoli Family Selection Traminer Riesling (Riverina - Australia)

De Bortoli is the largest producer (by some margin) in Australia's Yarra Valley outside Melbourne. Part of the sizeable production is based on the fact that the winery does source a good percentage of its fruit from other regions. Bottle in point, this blend of Traminer and Riesling was made with fruit from the more commercial Riverina district. Traminer can be the name for a couple of grapes in Oz - as it is used interchangeably with Gewürztraminer but can also be used in its more genetically distinguishable form which would be Savagnin Blanc or White Traminer. Although the website doesn't state it, I'm guessing this is a Riesling/Gew blend as it is the far more prevalent grape.

At $13 in the Vancouver market, I consider this to be an entry level (if not commercial) wine. We found it to be a bit on the sweet side - which normally might have been okay with Chinese food but, on this occasion, our meal choices didn't really have enough spiciness or heat to match up with the wine.

We had more important fish to fry than to try and spice up our meal though. The Seven Kingdoms were calling and our change in restaurant plans had left us rather tight for time. So, we hastily retreated from our visit to the Middle Kingdom and made our way to Castle Black and Westeros. It would appear that the finish on our wine was a fair bit sweeter than the end met by many of those in the Game of Thrones.

I can live with that.