A Taste of Things to Come

We've been hoping to travel Down Under again for years now. After a great deal of trepidation and continual checking on the internet, Boo and I have finally succeeded in booking tickets to Australia next Spring. Booking tickets on points can be hellish at the best of times, but trying to find flights half way around the world that weren't on a milk run and would still fit our schedule just made things that much more difficult. We'll still make more stops that I'd particularly care to, but the major bucks saved on the tickets will buy a whole lot of wine while we're down there.

Having handled that major hurdle, I thought a special bottle of Aussie wine and a couple of lamb chops would in order as a bit of a celebration.

817. 2008 Langmeil - The Fifth Wave Grenache (Barossa Valley - Australia)

Langmeil isn't a particularly well-known winery in the Vancouver market but I've been a fan ever since I encountered them at a Ronald MacDonald House fundraiser some years back. The event was being held at a fairly spectacular, waterfront home in West Van and the Langmeil wines weren't actually featured at the event's bar. Rather, the winery was taking its first stab at the local market and they simply arranged to set up a bit of a tasting station in the kitchen - where some cooking demonstrations and tastings were taking place.

We drank their Valley Floor Shiraz all night - and I've been buying it ever since.

You know it's one of the wineries that's going to the top of my "Must Visit" list for next year.

The Fifth Wave is one of the winery's premium bottlings. The grapes are grown at a single vineyard that features old bush vines that were planted back in 1953. They are dry farmed and, that combined with the age of the vines, pretty much guarantees low yields - between one and one & a half tonnes per acre. Yields like that don't tend to produce an awful lot of wine. They do, however, tend to produce intense flavours.

Actually, Boo and I were lucky enough to win this bottle (and a couple other premium Langmeil bottles) at a dinner hosted by the Australia Wine Appreciation Society. Winery principals were in town for the Vancouver Playhouse Wine Festival and AWAS pulled off a coup of a dinner. It sold out almost immediately and we were only able to get tickets when they fit in an extra table or two. I told you lucky, right?

As a taste of what's to come, I'm not sure that next Spring can come soon enough.

Quinta Ferreira Syrah

With a bit of sun actually on the scene and no hockey playoff action to fit into the schedule tonight, a little BBQ action sounded like a plan. Since we weren't throwing another shrimp on the bar-bee, I didn't feel any need for allegiance to an Aussie wine. We weren't too far off though - going with a BC Syrah instead of a down under Shiraz.

816. 2005 Quinta Ferreira Syrah (Okanagan Valley)

When I said that "we weren't too far off" an Aussie Shiraz, I wasn't joking. The Ferreira family, owners and winemakers at Quinta Ferreira, may be of Portugese heritage but this wine was definitely big and fruity and reminiscent of the juicy Shiraz that helped get the Aussies on the wine map. In fact, all that fruit might have been almost a bit much.

I remember we picked up this bottle a couple of years back while up in the Okanagan for the Spring Wine Festival. I'd tried some Quinta Ferreira wines - for the first time - at the big festival tasting and, since we were heading down to Oliver and the Black Sage Road area a day or so later, we made a bit of a side trip to visit them. At the time, Quinta Ferreira hadn't even opened to the public. They were hoping to reveal their tasting room within a month or so, but patriarch, John Ferreira, told us that he'd show us around a bit if he was there; so, we dropped in.

It was a short visit but he introduced us to his wife, Maria, and son, Michael, the latter being in the middle of finishing off his studies to take over winemaking duties at the new winery. We managed a few additional tastes of their wines - out of Maria's office none-the-less - and snagged a couple bottles even though they weren't really open for business.

I think I might remember why there was such big fruit on this Shiraz. John had talked of what a big year and vintage 2005 had been. They had so much Shiraz that they used the old saigneé method and bled off a lot of the juice from the crush and made a Rosé with it. I remember the story because I found it very extraordinary that a BC winery would use Shiraz for a Rosé. That circumstance likely just helped to firm up the red Shiraz.

I believe the 2005 vintage was the first Shiraz for the winery and, given that, I think they performed rather admirably with the production. I'd like to see if the more recent vintages are picking up more speed and or finesse as the vines mature and the Ferreira's discover more of the in's and out's of BC winemaking.

Inspiration & The Party At The Point

This Saturday was the University of BC Alumni Weekend and, perhaps for the first time since I graduated all those years ago, I decided to drag Boo out for a bit of visit. I'd really hoped to make the tour of the UBC Wine Library as it is described as "one of the most exclusive wine libraries in the world." The Wine Research Centre, in part, studies the aging of wines produced in BC. Unfortunately, by the time I tried to sign up, both tours were already full. Considering I tried on the first day after notice was sent out, those tours must have been among the very first events to "sell out."

As disappointing as that discovery was, I was pleased to be able to take in a tour of the UBC Farm. The Farm is one of those areas that I've known about for some time - especially since the Farm has hosted a farmer's market for the last couple of summers - but have never actually visited. I think my desire to visit was piqued even more when discussions were taking place to potentially convert the Farm into condos - like much of the surrounding university endowment lands. Although I'd never been to the site before, I knew that it was a unique part of the university.

It's next to impossible to take in everything that the Farm encompasses in only 45 minutes, but I was definitely intrigued by some of the projects taking place. A couple of those studies include the effective re-introduction of an increased native bee population and the interactive Urban Aboriginal Kitchen Garden. Our tour barely scratched the surface, but it made me all the more eager to come back and dig a little deeper (pun intended, sorry).

We were going to call it a day after the Farm; however, our shuttle bus made a stop at the UBC Botanical Garden. Despite our intended departure, we found ourselves jumping off the bus. Again, despite all my years at the campus, I'd never actually visited the Botanical Garden. I've been to the garden sale in the parking lot - just never inside the garden itself.

Just like the Farm tour, there was no way we were going to be able to take in the full garden, but we happened to stumble upon the Greenheart Canopy Walkway just as a tour was departing. I had no idea the Walkway had even been created but it was quite the experience to traverse the suspension bridgeway from platform to platform. At points, we were over 50 feet in the air and, for me, it was a unique way to see the upper layers of the coastal rainforest canopy.

Between the Farm and the Botanical Garden, I kept thinking of all the opportunities to set up shop for a picnic that were just staring us in the face. A little rest stop with a bottle of wine was truly alluring. Too bad I'd never considered the possibility in advance.

The tours did, however, motivate us to hightail it home and get to work in our own garden - because the neglect currently abounds. We managed to clean up and plant our plot in the community garden - although it certainly didn't look so lush after we'd ripped out all the volunteer forget-me-nots and laid down a straw mulch. After another couple hours of soil remediation, planting and clean up in our own yard and the boulevard, there was a definite need for some refreshment.

What could be more refreshing on a sunny afternoon than a cool glass of rosé?

815. 2009 Dominio Dostares - Tombú (Vino de la Tierra de Castilla y León - Spain)

This wasn't just any dime-a-dozen rosé either. It was made of 100% Prieto Picudo - a varietal that I'd certainly never heard of before. The grape is primarily grown in the province of Léon in northwestern Spain. What little I found to read about the varietal points to the fact that it was nearly extinct, but that a movement to emphasize the production of indigenous varietals has seen a revival in plantings. Domino Dostares' vineyards, however, features vines that are as old as 90 years.

Prieto Picudo is generally seen as being similar in profile to Tempranillo and is used for both blending and varietal wines. One writer, on the primarily Iberian wine blog Catavino, postured that the varietal could be seen as a Spanish Pinot Noir. Like Pinot Noir, Prieto Picudo appears to not be the easiest of grapes to grow or fully ripen. Also known for its high acidity, the varietal is also often vinified as a rosé - such as the bottle we've opened today.

Taking sips between pulling weeds and digging dirt doesn't lend itself to particularly extensive tasting notes, but I do know that it certainly hit the spot for Boo and I. I also know that this bottle brings me one step closer to making my quota for the Wine Century Club. Prieto Picudo is definitely a new varietal for my application and I think this brings me up to #94. The end is definitely in sight.

Farm and Garden canopy tours. A good bout of home gardening. A glass of wine in the sun. And a new varietal for the Wine Century Club. I think that qualifies as a rather productive day.

Dinner at Mr. D's

Mr. D. felt like having a bit of a belated birthday celebration for everyone - even though Boo's b-day is still a bit away. It certainly doesn't matter to me what the occasion is or was. A dinner invite is a dinner invite. And a dinner at Mr. D's has never disappointed. Tonight was no exception; however, one potentially distressing fact about this little Odyssey of our's was in full evidence tonight.

Playing a little fast and loose (very much unlike our host) with a tongue-in-cheek tone, the only way that I can be sure that the wines being opened aren't already on The List is to be in charge of choosing the wines to be opened. That can be a tad difficult when the host is providing all the wine as well as the dinner.

It turns out that two of the evening's bottles have already passed the muster. It doesn't mean that we can't still enjoy the wine - just means that I don't get to add them to The List again for a second or third time.

N.V. Greg Norman Australian Sparkling (Southeastern Australia)

I shouldn't be surprised that Mr. D. would pop the cork on a Greg Norman. I introduced him to the great value bubble back before Christmas. I know he's taken it to at least a couple of events - including Christmas dinner. As for me, I popped a cork back at #684 in the limo my sister booked to take us to the airport to head away to Cuba over the holiday season. It was good then and it was good now. My guess is that even this won't be the last time we encounter this "Shark." Too bad it's not produced as a vintage. Then I could just be on the outlook for different years to open.

813. 2009 Terra Andina Semillon Chardonnay (Central Valley - Chile)

The next bottle up was good for The List though. In fact, this is the first bottle to be added from this producer. I was a little surprised by that fact since I know I've had some of their wines before - either those bottles were downed before I started the blog or we must have just had a glass in passing, without sharing a full bottle.

That being said, I don't know a lot about the winery. Their website claims to be "an innovator within the Chilean wine industry [by] blending grapes from different valleys with different micro-climates and soil conditions." The label on this bottle states that the wine is from Chile's Central Valley and that may sound like a single valley; however, the Central Valley is Chile's most productive wine region and actually consists of four subregions - some of the most internationally recognized Chilean wine names: Maipo, Rapel, Curico and Maule.

The website doesn't refer to this blend and that leads me to guess that this wine is simply produced as an export wine. The $11 price tag would certainly seem to support the winery's wanting to take advantage of exports with an easy going, value wine.

I don't know that I'd say that there was anything that particularly stood out for me - at least not enough to make me run screaming to the liquor store to grab some more - but, as an everyday sipper, it worked just fine.

2003 Black Hills Nota Bene (VQA Okanagan Valley)

Mr. D. pulled out one of those special occasion bottles and the big gun for the evening was a 2003 Nota Bene. Mr. D. had been holding on to it for a bit and thought the bottle's age was probably creeping up to our advanced, collective years. So why not open it for a birthday dinner? It's funny that Boo and I drank the bottle of Black Hills Chardonnay last night. It wasn't "funny" - at least not for me - that this would be the second bottle of the 2003 that I'd be adding to The List. We'd already been treated to a bottle of the 2003 vintage at #483 during one of our Dinner Club outings.

And just like the Greg Norman bubble, it was good then. Still good now.

814. 2010 La Frenz Vintage Port (Okanagan Valley)

This was a great little surprise that Mr. D. served up. Love Port. La Frenz is one of my favourite wineries. Past vintages have won Gold at the Northwest Wine Summit and Silver at the All Canadian Wine Championships. This should be killer.

Drawing on his Aussie past, owner/winemaker, Jeff Martin, has fashioned his "Port" from Shiraz grapes and he's fortified it with his own "custom distilled brandy spirit." Known as a free spirit - if not an outright radical in the BC wine scene - it will be interesting to see how long he can continue to use the term "port" before the Portugese catch wind and force him to stop using that term in naming his wine. True "port" can only come from Portugal - much like true Champagne and true Burgundy can only come from their home regions.

As mentioned, I figured this wine would be right up my alley. It wasn't - at least not to the extent that I wanted it to be. Maybe it was the three wines beforehand - or maybe the pairing with the intriguing dessert. I think the dessert was called "kurtskalac" (I'm missing a couple of punctuation marks in there) and it was a traditional Transylvanian, sugar-coated, chimney-shaped pastry. (I'm sure there has to be a Dracula joke, or two, in there somewhere.)

I'm not saying that the wine was bad, but I didn't find it to be all that reminiscent of a vintage port. Flavourful enough. But a bit light in body and structure for my taste.

I'll definitely give the La Frenz another try though and I'm entirely hopeful that it'll knock my socks off at that time. But for the moment...

It was a great evening though. Having "endured" as many birthdays as I have, I don't put much stock in the big days anymore. But I'm game for a celebration like this anytime. Now, I just have to get Mr. D. to coordinate the wines a little better with The List next time.

Black Hills Chard

I've said more than a couple of times in this blog that I'm not usually one to reach for a Chardonnay. I'm hardly ABC (Anything But Chardonnay), but it just doesn't tend to hit the right notes with me as regularly as some of the other white varietals. That being said, Boo and I have quite enjoyed a couple of BC Chardy's during these playoff wine series. Both the Red Rooster and the Sandhill Small Lots had us quickly going back for more.

I figured that might bode well for pulling the cork on another BC Chard.

812. 2007 Black Hills Chardonnay (VQA Okanagan Valley)

When the topic of Black Hills wine is raised, first reference is generally made, of course, to Nota Bene - the winery's Bordeaux/Meritage blend and its cult-like status. When it comes to white wines, I think the winery is best know for its white Meritage, Alibi. The entry into producing Chardonnay was much later to come.

Indeed, this 2007 bottle is only from Black Hill's second vintage of Chardy - and, at that, only 498 cases were produced. When I saw a few bottles in one of the private wine shops, I quickly grabbed one since I hadn't tried it before and I was a fairly early fan of Senka Tennant, one of the original owners and winemaker for what was then a fledgling Black Hills. She may no longer be with the winery, but I believe the 2007 vintage was the last year for her full involvement. As winery ownership went to syndication and operations expanded, some of the winery's original lustre has worn off for me, but the winery is still in full charge of the fundamentals of good wine making. So, I expected this to be a darned good wine.

Neither Boo nor I were disappointed. Black Hills still makes a sound wine with all the right elements being there. If the praise sounds perhaps a little faint, it probably is. We both found the wine to be a bit heavy on the oak - nothing wrong with oak and Chardonnay - and this wasn't even an over-bearing oak monster, but I just found the oak to be more noticeable than I like it to be.

Most of the reviews I saw on the wine praised its sweet tropical fruits and honey, but, to be honest, I found those attributes to be more prevalent in the Red Rooster and Sandhill wines we tried. It might just be that this bottle was a 2007 and some of the early fruit has faded. That would be a shame because I doubt that I'd quickly reach for another bottle - particularly at $30 a bottle. I may just have to continue thinking of Alibi when it comes to Black Hills whites.

Painting the Town Blue with Painted Rock

You have to know that tonight's BC Wine Appreciation Society annual Gala Wine Dinner had to be something special to get me to miss a third round playoff game - especially one that could see the Canucks move on to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in 17 years!! I'd bought the dinner tickets some time ago, long before it became evident that there'd be such a big hockey game on the same evening.

But such is the buzz that both Rain City Grill, a long-time favourite on the Vancouver dining scene, and Painted Rock, a new star in the BC wine world, currently have.

I haven't dined at Rain City Grill for some time now but it's always one that figures into a list of "we could always go to....." options for fine dining - especially as their emphasis on local and sustainable is clearly now being emulated by more and more of the city's restaurants.

Painted Rock, on the other hand, is a new kid on the wine block and I've had my eye on it ever since I tasted their wines at a charity event last year. I haven't had a bottle yet so as to be able to add it to The List, but I WILL get there eventually. I have a couple Painted Rock reds in our cellar but they're big and I'm hoping to give them a bit of time.

So, like its Black Hills wine dinner at West last year, a combination of Rain City Grill and Painted Rock is a bit of a prize pairing for BCWAS. Playoff hockey or not.

Besides, isn't this the kind of situation that iPhones are made for? I figured that I could stay current with the game by checking every so often. So long as it wasn't going to be too obnoxious to the other table guests. Plus, the restaurant is located smack dab in the West End of Vancouver, where Manahattan-esque residential towers abound. I figured there'd be local honking and screaming if anything good was happening in the game.

Turns out that I wasn't even the most concerned hockey fan about the status of the game. Two of the other attendees, at a table near our's, actually wore radio ear buds throughout the dinner. Their reactions told us faster - than any update on the phone could - if anything of note happened on the ice.

As for the dinner and the wine, there was no skimping by either restaurant or winery. We enjoyed five courses and tried all but one of the wines ever produced by Painted Rock. Owner, John Skinner, couldn't serve the 2007 Cab Sauv because there is none to serve anymore. The wine won a Lieutenant Governor's Award for Excellence and the demand for it quickly depleted the limited production. John told us that there are now only 17 bottles left in the winery's cellar. Not bad for an initial release by a brand new winery.

Indeed, the Cab wasn't the only wine that won a L-G's Award, the 2007 Red Icon, a Meritage or Bordeaux-style blend, was also one of the only ten wines that were so awarded in 2010. Painted Rock was the only winery to win two awards last year - and, again, that was from its first vintage of releases.

To help get the winery off to such a good start, Skinner and company hired French consultant, Alain Sutre, to advise on the vineyard layout and initial vintages. Sutre was so impressed with the site that he asked for an extension to the contract. BC wine scribe, John Schreiner, writes that Sutre told Skinner, "I think you own the Petrus of the Okanagan." Heady words when you consider that Petrus is perennially one of the most expensive wines in the world.

I particularly liked John's story where he tells of his throwing out the idea that they produce both a Syrah and a Shiraz since he had two different clones of the varietal planted. Sutre looked at John and basically asked him if he was crazy. Sutre told him that, with wine, 1+1 do not equal 2 - rather they can equal 3 or more when blended. He felt that capitalizing on the strong points of both clones, the wine would result in a much more complex and enjoyable sip. Whether Painted Rock's Syrah proves that point or not can be debated, but the 2007 Syrah added to the winery's lustre by being the only BC wine served at the recent Vancouver Playhouse Wine Festival's gala Bacchanalia Dinner - gotta be a decent feather in the cap.

Not going through tasting notes for all of the wines or the dinner courses, I will say that I think my favourite wine of the evening was the 2008 Cab Sauv. It might be that it matched wonderfully with the ribeye, but I think I'd like it in any setting. I know Elzee particularly enjoyed the Syrah with the mushroom tart.

I'd be remiss if I didn't say that Elzee and I were fortunate in being seated at a table with a young couple that I'd never met at BCWAS before. Turns out it was Russell Ball, who writes the blog Adventures in BC Wine, and his wife. Comparing blogging notes was fun - and they took my Canucks-mania in stride. Russell has written up the event as well and has discussed the wines on a far greater scale than I have. Indeed, in my rush to get to the dinner from work, I'd left my camera behind; so, I even borrowed some of his pictures for this post.

In a way, I might have been lucky that we were at the dinner tonight. The Canucks seemed destined to lose before Ryan Kesler scored a goal to tie the game with only 14 seconds left. The game was into double overtime when Kevin Bieksa and the Canucks scored a flukey goal to end the series and set the stage for the Stanley Cup Finals. I don't know if my heart could have taken the stress of watching the game live.

The taxi ride home was an interesting one though. The game ended only minutes before dinner did and we had to make our way home as all the delerious fans were partying it up in the streets - both downtown and along Broadway all the way to the Commercial Drive area.

It's almost like the Winter Olympics all over again.

Now, come on Stanley. Come to Vancouver!

A Pre-Emptive Bottle

The big Game 5 isn't until tomorrow night. The problem is that I'd previously booked a ticket to the BC Wine Appreciation Society's gala winery dinner and I'm not going to be able to watch the game. Buggah. Hopefully, the restaurant will have a TV by the bar or something. If not, I guess everyone has the occasional cross to bear.

As a precautionary measure, I figured we'd better have a "series" wine from J-T tonight. I don't want to risk jinxing the game's outcome. After all, a win will put the Canucks into the Stanley Cup Finals - a place they, and we as Canuck Nation, haven't been in 17 years.

810. 2007 Jackson-Triggs Proprietors' Grand Reserve Riesling (VQA Okanagan Valley)

In fact, I figured it likely wouldn't hurt to open a second bottle - even if it isn't another J-T. Drinking two Rieslings is sort of like trying a bit of each of the Sedin twins - even if the wines are different producers and different vintages. It's the thought that counts - isn't it? And I think a little something to celebrate the return of the twins as team leaders and - perhaps more importantly - scorers in this series is to be encouraged.

811. 2008 Orofino Riesling (VQA Similkameen Valley)

The second Riesling is a bit of a ringer to boot. Having won a Gold medal at the 2009 All Canadian Wine Championships, the 2008 is the fourth vintage of Orofino's Riesling that's been added to The List. Indeed, the 2009 is #437 on The List and was part of last year's playoff series. Despite the pedigree of that wine, the Canucks lost the game. Unfortunately, Orofino was matched up with the Chicago series last year and, as all Canucks fans know, the Blackhawks have been our nemesis for the last two sets of playoffs. That was then though. The Blackhawks have long been dispatched of this time around; so I'm figuring it's safe to throw another Orofino wine into the mix.

This little taste off was good for keeping the competitive edge for the playoffs. No? Both wines were good representatives for BC Riesling, but Boo and I each had a slight preference for the Orofino. I think it might have been the hint of residual sugar on the finish. Both were full of racy acidity, tart fruit and nice complexity. The Orofino was just a little more tasty.

Now I just have to hope that the two wines have enough of a finish to help the Canucks finish off the Sharks tomorrow.

A Colossal Win

So it's time for Game 4 and the team's down in San Jose. The Sharks managed to bruise our boys a bit in the last game but we're still hopeful that the Canucks might dine on a little shark meat. Two thoughts for tonight's wine - 1) the team'll be wearing their away jerseys. They're white. So how about a white wine? 2) Canucks'll need a bit of strength and determination to pull this off. I call for muscles to match that white wine - or is that mussels? Whatever.

809. 2008 Jackson-Triggs Proprietor's Grand Reserve White Meritage (VQA Okanagan Valley)

We don't tend to see a lot of Sauvignon Blanc grown in the Okanagan. I'd say it's becoming a somewhat more common, but it's hardly a varietal that I immediately associate with the region's wineries. We see even less Semillon. So, a blend of the two isn't something I'd regularly expect to see unless it's from one of the bigger players - like J-T. I didn't see any notes online about this particular vintage. The J-T website says that the '09 vintage is 80% Sauv Blanc but I couldn't find a reference for the '08. My guess is that it's fairly close.

I'll be honest with you as well though. We don't tend to see many hockey games starting at noon either; but this one did. As much as these playoff series' bottles are linked to the games - and there was a glass of the Meritage downed during the game itself, maybe a good one at that - I did keep the better part of the bottle for dinner that night. Polishing off a bottle of wine before the afternoon was hardly half over wouldn't have been in my - or our garden's - best interest since I headed out there after the game.

I think the wine might have been a bit better as an accompaniment to the game than it was to the dinner though. There was some big acidity in the wine and it didn't quite match up to the cream, tomatoes and chipotles that the mussels were cooked in.

Mussels. Muscles. Sem. Sauv. What's it all matter anyhow? The Canucks scored three huge goals in a couple of minutes to bust open the game and, luckily, seal that third win. Time to bring the series home to VanCity and finish it off.

As much as I wouldn't mind any number of future J-T wines, I'd just as soon move on to the Stanley Cup Finals and a new winery.

8th Generation Bubble

Back before Boo and I trekked off to South America last October, I'd briefly read about a first-time release of a sparkling wine by 8th Generation winery. I've quite liked the Rieslings that I've tasted from them in their short Okanagan existence; so, I was glad to find out that Village VQA Wines in Kits was able to locate and put away a bottle for me while we were gone. This proved especially fortuitous because I've since read that there were only 333 cases produced and the wine sold out in less than a month.

I figured this is as good a time as any to crack the top (since the intriguing bottle features a beer-cap crown closure rather than a cork or screw-cap).

808. 2009 8th Generation Chardonnay Frizzante (VQA Okanagan Valley)

With the name "Frizzante" and the unique bottle, I was expecting a rather Prosecco-esque wine. From what I've read, that is the style that the winery was gunning for. The wine wasn't nearly as off-dry as I'd anticipated, but that's not a bad thing at all. I just wasn't expecting it to be as dry as it was.

I've only found one reference (and it wasn't on the winery's website) to the winemaking process. Neither classic Champenoise nor Charmat - the two most common methods for producing bubbles - there is no second fermentation involved here. The winemakers retained the CO2 from the initial fermentation of the wine and then infused it back into the wine at the time of bottling. The resulting wine is, therefore, a bit fruitier on the nose and palate and the effervescence is somewhat subtler.

This isn't a wine for fans only looking for a brisk and crazy mousse, but neither does it have any yeasty or biscuity overtones that can accompany more classic bubbles.

The release of the wine certainly met with much acclaim however. Jurgen Gothe, in the Georgia Strait, named it as one of the Best Bubblies for 2010 and Nico Schuermans, celebrity chef from Vancouver's Chambar, used it to pair with his entry in the national Gold Medal Plates Competition.

We certainly approved of the wine's versatility as well. After trying to find a bottle of the Italian aperitif, Aperol, for years, a few bottles have finally shown up on local shelves. I grabbed one as soon as I saw it and re-created a little taste of Venice by mixing it with some of the Frizzante.

I think we'll be trying the Frizzante again - both on its own and in combination. It was a pretty clear winner either way.

If only I can find another bottle.

Pizza as Shark Bait

Seeing as how it was a Friday night game, we called up Elzee to see if she wanted to join us for some pizza and hockey - and a bit of wine. I don't know if it was the pizza, the hockey or the wine that lured her over, but whatever the reason, it suited me just fine - because a third person meant that I'd have to open a second bottle of wine.

Keeping up with Jackson-Triggs as the "official" wine for this Conference Final, I opted to un-cork two vintages of one of the winery's big guns. After all, being up two games to none, if the Canucks could pull off a win in San Jose, I think they'd pretty much have a stranglehold on the series. Plus, a win by the Canucks would win me the office playoff pool. There were three other colleagues left in the pool (we have to pick winners in one of a specific set of games - but we get to choose the game) but they all picked Tampa Bay to beat Boston at home. The Lightning lost that game; so, I had a chance to put it all away if the Canucks could win tonight.

806. 2004 Jackson-Triggs SunRock Meritage (VQA Okanagan Valley)

807. 2006 Jackson-Triggs SunRock Meritage (VQA Okanagan Valley)

Like our Shiraz in Game 1, both wines are from the premium, single vineyard designated SunRock series - SunRock being the actual vineyard located in the southernmost part of the Okanagan Valley. The vineyard is situated in Canada's only pocket desert as this part of the Valley is the final stretch of the Sonoran Desert that stretches from Mexico all the way to the Okanagan. The intense heat of the daily temperatures can actually be greater than those experienced in either the Napa Valley or in Bordeaux. The near-by lake presence cools the evenings, however, and that cooling effect, in turn, helps retain acidity levels in the grapes. The vineyard can, thereby, both fully ripen varietals that are otherwise marginal in BC and maintain enough acidity to properly balance the wines.

Both vintages were Bordeaux blends of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc - but the final blends differed somewhat in that the 2004 was 50% Merlot, 30% Cab Sauv and 20% Franc, the '06, on the other hand, still featured 50% Merlot but it saw the contribution of the Cab Sauv increased to 45% and the percentage of the Cab Franc reduced to just 5%. Interestingly enough, Boo preferred the '04. He usually jumps at higher Cab Sauv content, but I think he thought it was more integrated from the additional two years in the bottle. Elzee and I both enjoyed the 2006 just a bit more - likely because of the additional retention of fruit at this stage.

The difference wasn't that perceptible to us though - more like identifying or preferring Daniel to Henrick Sedin. How do you pick one twin over another? We didn't have a problem finishing either bottle though.

I see now that I was so caught up in the game and the wine that I only took the one picture through the evening - but by "caught up," I think I mean depressed. Except for a bit of a resurgence in the third period, our guys were having a tough go of it. If it weren't the playoffs, we likely would have moved on to a PVR recording of Survivor or America's Next Top Model. There was some excitement as the clock counted down - with the Canucks only one goal behind - but they couldn't score that tying goal.

Poor Elzee. When I pointed out that, the last time we had her over during the playoffs and served two wines, the Canucks lost as well. She said that could only mean that she'll just never be able to come over for another game. We'll have to find a way to talk her out of that one.

In the mean time, Game 4 is on Sunday. Hopefully, the boys can still return with that third win under their belts. I know I'll have another J-T wine waiting for the game.

Noon start or not.