Bubbles, Biceps & Beads

It's time for yet another Pride Parade and this year's edition just goes to shows that, even when the basic show remains the same, there are always new and exciting aspects to the party. Firstly, we were lucky in that Boo didn't have to work this year! We were doubly lucky in that Miss Jaq joined us for the third year running.

Last year, we had a great little time setting up shop outside Lady Di's and She Who Must Be Obeyed's home. Despite the fact that the gals were away partying in Chicago for the weekend (poor timing if you ask me), they let us use their place as home base. I don't think they knew, however, that we'd be moving a healthy selection of garden furniture down to the street to set up a more festive and comfortable viewing station.

It certainly gained the respect of neighbours and passers-by. Plus, the primary bonus was that we were more prepared this year and we were able to bring along some vinous libations and go cups to make our party juice not so noticeable - a far cry from last year when we were limited to pre-Parade Mimosas and a bottle of wind-down wine. There is a certain cachet in toasting the better floats and costumes.

880. NV Voga Italia Sparkling (Trentino - Italy)

I figured it's a festive celebration, why not start off with some bubbles. From the time I saw the first stylish bottle of Voga Italia's product on the local shelves, I thought they've perfectly captured a marketing tool that could serve them well if the wine's any good. Their original bottles stood out enough on their own, but the Sparkling bottle kicked it up another notch.

What more could you ask for at a gay extravaganza - bubbles with style?! The wine's a simple Chardonnay & Pinot Grigio blend made by the Charmat method (a simple injection of carbon dioxide into the finished wine) which is the same method used for Prosecco. Knowing that, I'd pretty much expected a Prosecco-like wine and that's what it was - although perhaps somewhat drier than most of the Prosecco's found in our market. It certainly served the purpose of getting us primed for the main event.

881. NV Segura Viudas Brut Rosé (D.O. Cava - Spain)

As for the second bottle, it might not have been as stylin' as the Voga, but it was bubbly and it was pink. So, I figured it's Parade-worthy as well. By the time I was able to slip away and open it, the parade was well under way (after all I didn't want to draw even more attention to ourselves than our little suite had already managed). Just down the street from us, the cutest little fairy was enjoying herself almost as much as the big fairies were. So, I had one of our more colourful neighbours pose for a picture with her. This is a simple example of how wonderful the Parade can be.

Then again, the floats packed with dancing boys are another kind of wonderful all together. Part of our exterior design was a BBQ which allowed us to grill up lunch for our happy crew. This particular float just left me wondering how their wieners compared to our's. Nasty? You bet, but if you can't laugh at the Pride Parade, when can you?

As was to be expected, the colour and the colourful just kept coming and coming. There were plenty more pictures to add to this post - but I suppose the blog is as much about wine as it is about the events we drink it at and the people we drink it with. So, I'll move on to our third bottle and, by now, all the beef sausage at lunch (and beefcake in the Parade) had us thinking red wine.

882. 2006 St. Hallett Faith Shiraz (Barossa Valley - Australia)

Big and bold, we all needed a little Faith to keep our collective energy up. By now, our neighbour Red and her gal pal, Venus - two ladies that could challenge any of the dancing queens that I know had joined up with us, as had my niece, Stargirl, and some of her friends. A couple hours of dancing, clapping and catching beads can tucker an old guy out you know. Well, okay, maybe not really, but man does not live on bubbles alone. At least not this man.

As things wound down and we started getting close to the end of the parade, we finished off the last of the Faith and started working on the dismantling of our little sidewalk suite. We had at least two other groups say that they wanted to join with us next year in creating an even more festive party zone. In fact, I think they were more akin to challenges being issued. You know - same time, next year - but anything you can do, we can do better. Sounds like fun. Hopefully, Lady Di and SWMBO are still game. Maybe a few mirror balls and lasers?

Once we had everything back in the garden where it belonged, we hiked on down to the Pride Festival to check out the crowds and enjoy a final bottle of wine.

883. 2008 Puerto Bonita - Vinos Sin Ley - G5 (Vinos de Madrid - Spain)

Another appropriately named wine for the day - "Vinos Sin Ley" translates as "Wines Without Law." Naturally, all of this sipping on the street and at the Festival's beach parkside is completely frowned upon by the state. But, sometimes, a guy's just gotta do what a guy's gotta do. I've added at least one other Vinos Sin Ley wine to The List and I'm bound to do so again because I'm quite enthralled with their take on "creative innovation using nonconventional methods of harvesting, fermenting, blending, ageing and labelling." With Spain taking on an ever-increasing presence in global recognition for its wines, new takes on old methods can be invigorating.

Their G series of wines are all based of Garnacha (or Grenache) - just as the M series features Monastrell (or Mourvèdre wines). On the hillside, the girls weren't enjoying the G5 as much I was, but that might have been because Red and Venus had a dinner party they had to rush off to and they still hadn't been able to find the Trojan boys that were out and about. Venus was sure that at least one of them had to be straight because he was pointing his big sword at her during the parade and smiling.

We can all dream, can't we?

What do you say? Same time, next year? I, for one, can't wait.

Hitting The Beach

On this occasion, "hitting the beach" meant the neighbours' backyard. Nature Boy and Mr. Principle wanted to have a little beach party but didn't want to have to deal with sand or having to find their way home after beating the heat and all the dancing with plenty of sangria and beer.

Their invite proclaimed a "Bikini Dance Party." Luckily, for at least Boo's and my sake, Hawaiian shirts and shorts were also acceptable under the dress code. Somehow, the thought of either one of us in a "mankini" just wasn't the most pleasant of thoughts - endless pitchers of sangria or not.

879. N.V. Toscano Rosso 4L Box (Bottled in BC)

Looking back on the party, I don't think I actually had a glass of the Toscano Rosso solo. Now, I know your immediate reaction would be to channel the "wine snob" in all of us and ask "Why would you want to?" But that's not the point of this little Odyssey. We welcome ALL wines - with pedigree and without.

And, believe, me there was nothing wrong with the Toscano Rosso and the Sangria. There were at least a couple of refills of those 4L boxes needed. If they have such a party again, the boys are going to have to look into the 16L box that is apparently available for sale. I couldn't easily find out anything about the wine (producer, grape varietal or source) but I did see that it's part of the Vincor portfolio and it falls under the "bottled in BC" - or "boxed in BC" in this case - category which means that the fruit can be sourced from anywhere and is often excess production from California, Australia and Chile.

Regardless of the wine's pedigree, Sangria always seems to be the great equalizer when it comes to utilizing entry level wines. Sangria has to be one of my favourite summer drinks and I don't find it being served nearly enough! It's always interesting to hear what various hosts have used in the way of a recipe. I'll never say "no" to a good idea for the Sangria jug.

The boys were missing their regular - and favourite - deejay but there were plenty of deejay wannabees and there was no lack of dance tunes. Mr. Principle must have one heckuva an account with iTunes because all requests were met for the dancefloor. With the volume steadily increasing and the guests spilling out into the lane, we were getting plenty of surprised looks as folks drove by.

Particularly as a few mankinis actually did start to appear.

Must have been the punch in the Sangria.

Miss Jaq is Back

Regular readers of the blog may remember that Miss Jaq is one of our all-time favourite drinking buddies. The girl leads one of the most interesting of lives and we love getting to catch up with her over a bottle or two (or three) of wine whenever we get the chance. The small kink in our being able to do that on a regular basis is that she's been living in the Middle East for the last decade or so. As you might imagine, she has some stories that could rival Scheherazade and her tales of the Arabian nights.

She's also the one that released the hidden passions that have created the "Carpet Queen" that Boo is today. I won't hold that against her though - especially since it only takes one new little silk carpet on his part to loosen my "No Buy Leash" enough to pick up a nice little assortment of new wines.

Seeing as how it's hitting 50 degrees Celsius in Abu Dhabi nowadays, Miss Jaq is making her annual pilgrimage to visit friends and family in Vancouver. Still fighting her jet lag, we managed to coax her over for a bit of a garden dinner.

Miss Jaq enjoyed a bit of a layover in Amsterdam on her way to Canada this time around. Knowing that - and having read that there are Dutch wineries now producing wines - I had asked to pick up a bottle of Dutch wine if she had the opportunity because I rather think it will be some time before we ever see a bottle for sale in our market.

She recounted that she did drop by one of her favourite wine shops in Amsterdam; however, the proprietors gave her a wicked stink eye when she asked to buy a Dutch wine. Upon telling the owners that she wanted to bring the bottle with her to wine lovers in Canada, they flat out refused to sell her a bottle. They offered to sell her any one of a number of lovely French wines (as they put it) but, in good faith, they were unwilling to sell her one of the local wines because none of the wines had reached a level of competence to be anything more than a bad novelty. Not even her feminine wiles could convince them otherwise.

Accordingly, we're still sharing stories over wine. It's just not going to be a Dutch wine.

878. 2005 CedarCreek Platinum Reserve Pinot Noir (VQA Okanagan Valley)

Years back, CedarCreek's Platinum Reserve Pinot was one of the first wines that Boo declared as "one of his favourites." Ever since, I've tried to have a bottle or two in the cellar. In making sure that the 2005 vintage isn't already on The List, I saw that I had previously added the 2002 and 2004 vintages and that we actually drank the '04 way back at #142 WITH Miss Jaq.

Pulling out some nice wines when enjoying times with Miss Jaq is pretty much guaranteed. Guess this just goes to show that the Platinum Pinot really is a "go to" around here.

We'll just have to hope that we're lucky enough to get a number of chances to do so before she has to head back to the UAE.

Teddy Bear Picnic

It's coming up to "the time of my people." The Vancouver Pride Festival is just around the corner and one of the early events is the Picnic In The Park - or, as we old timers still call it, The Teddy Bear Picnic.

A stalwart tradition in the Pride calendar, it's been a "family" gathering (whatever your family may consist of) in Stanley Park that features groups of picnickers, beer garden and games galore - with the games ranging from old to new. There's the nostalgic watermelon eating and sack races mixed in with the high heel toss and drag race.

Mr. D. rang us up to see if we were going to make it down this year because he was looking to head over and meet up with Logan and Sydney. It must have been awhile since we last attended because we went to the only site we've ever known it to take place at - only to find out that the location had been moved. Thank goodness for iPhones or we'd have never found the picnic.

We almost never found parking because it was one of the first brilliantly sunny Saturday afternoons we've seen this year. Stanley Park was jammed. After three drives around the park, we lucked out in finding a spot and finally joined up with the other revellers. Boy, was it ever time for a drink!

877. 2009 Cuatro Reyes - Inspiración Pampano (D.O. Rueda - Spain)

I'd forgotten to put a white in the fridge back home, so we stopped by Marquis Cellars and grabbed a little something interesting in their cooler. It's marketed as an "ideal sipper" for picnic or park. We were combining the two and it certainly met the task. Refreshing and uncomplicated, it's the type of wine you might find as a house white at a tapas bar.

It turns out that it has a bit of an interesting pedigree and it lets me add another varietal to my list and membership with the Wine Century Club. I managed to hit the century mark a couple of weeks back but this now has me scooting along to try and reach 200. The new grape is Verdejo. I'm sure that I've tried it before but it must not have featured so prominently on its own since I haven't already added it.

The Pampano label is just one of seemingly many produced by Cuatro Reyes. Their website says that they produce 20% of wine bottled in the Rueda district. Rueda is one of those regions that has been making wine for over a thousand years, but it's only just now coming into its own and gaining some international exposure. Appellation status (D.O.) was granted in 1980 and, unlike so many regions that are modernizing for the new world of wine, it is concentrating on local stalwart grapes - instead of discarding the old varietals and replanting vineyards with nothing but international varieties.

The Verdejo grape has an especially long history in the region and isn't really that well known outside of Rueda. Verdejo can be made into a straight varietal wine; however, like this wine, it is often blended with Viura or Sauvignon Blanc. When being blended, the Verdejo must be a minimum of 50% of the content in order for the wine to be given D.O. status. The grape is often cited for its aromatic characteristic and its tendency to have some heft to its body.

The other grape used in this blend was Viura and I thought I might even be able to add a second new varietal to my WCC list. Alas, Viura is often called Macabeo and it's one of the grapes that is traditionally used in blending Spain's sparkling Cava wines. Indeed, that's how I ended up adding it to my application form some many varietals back. One of Viura's most noted qualities is its level of acidity - no doubt accounting for its common blending with the more full bodied Verdejo.

All in all, an easy drinking wine that was nicely suited to the afternoon. We could have finished off another bottle with no problem whatsoever. And that's not meant to be a comment on how "easy" some of our fellow picnickers may or may not have been. But on that note, I think it's time to just move on. No?

Return of the Giro

I was going through some of our pictures, trying to prep up a few more posts and I ran across from photos that I must have missed earlier. So, this post is somewhat out of sync when it comes to the timing, but it's only delayed by a week so I don't feel like a complete goof.

It's been a short while (perhaps a tad longer) since I've actually mounted my bike to do a bit of riding. I suppose it doesn't help that the tires have been flat for - ahem, ahem. But, I've recently been glued to the TV every morning before work, catching what I can of the Tour de France.

These wines aren't tied to the Tour; however, Vancouver and the Lower Mainland has been in the throes of BC Super Week, celebrating some of the biggest bike races to be found in the province - the Tour de White Rock, Tour de Delta, a new UBC race and "our" own Giro di Burnaby.

The Giro was started back in the summer of 2006 and was starting to gain a nice little following by 2008. Then, the world financial crisis kicked in and sponsorship rather dried up. BUT, it's back this year and I'm about as lucky as a cycling enthusiast can be because our office (and it's balcony) is located right at the Start/Finish Line. The Giro is a great opportunity for the office to gather for a grand time to watch the Men's and Women's races - and, naturally, for me to add a few more wines to The List.

874. 2008 CedarCreek Proprietor's Red (VQA Okanagan Valley)

875. 2009 CedarCreek Proprietor's Red (VQA Okanagan Valley)

It might seem a bit odd but, for some reason, I regularly get tasked with picking up the beer and wine for office events. I'd grabbed the CedarCreek as a decently priced ($15), introductory blend that would please more of the attending palates. I guess that the BC Liquor stores must be hitting the shelves with a new vintage because I just took two bottles that were next to each other and didn't even notice that they were two different vintages. I probably wouldn't have ever known except for the fact that as I opened the second bottle, I saw that one bottle was clear glass and the other was tinted. I immediately wondered if I'd grabbed two different wines.

Too bad the first bottle was already empty since I didn't get a chance to do a little side-by-side tasting. The 2009 vintage must be really new because I don't even see any literature about it on the net yet. I assume that it is a largely Merlot/Pinot Noir blend - just like the 2008 - but I can't be sure. It definitely won't be similar to the old workhorse "Proprietary Red" that was a stalwart in the winery's line up twenty years ago - when that wine was largely based on the hybrid grapes that had been the bulk of Okanagan plantings prior to the 1980's.

The wine seemed popular enough. The levels on the CedarCreek at the end of the night were lower than on any of the other wines served.

876. 2009 Angove's - Nine Vines Tempranillo Shiraz (South Australia)

By the time the women's race had finished. I'd finished my go at the CedarCreek and moved on to trying the Angove's. If CedarCreek is one of BC's bigger producers at around 40,000 cases, compare that to Angove's estimated output of 1.5 million cases. Angove's is one of Australia's largest, privately owned wineries; however, it is noted as exemplifying the balance of large scale production without compromising basic quality. Reliable and well-priced - that's an understanding that's comparable to CedarCreek's Proprietary Red.

With its vast production, Angove's has, understandably, a good number of different labels and varietals/blends available. This bottle is a newer entry into the market as Tempranillo is only starting to get a foothold in Aussie wine production. This rather unusual blending with Shiraz just goes to show the willingness of some Aussie producers to embrace the new and see how it can work with or accentuate the tried and true.

Not a tasting note to be seen, however, as I was far more caught up in the races and in making sure that the natives weren't getting too restless. I may not have been in charge of the actual grilling, but I did have to try and keep on top of buns and meat and condiments, etc., etc., etc. There didn't seem to be any problems with the wine as I snuck the odd sip here and there.

As for the races, the weather this week hadn't been the best, but we were lucky that the rain held off until after the end of the men's race. I don't know how successful the races would have been had the streets been soaked - not to mention how annoying a continual watering down of my wine glass would have been.

Hopefully, the race's Phoenix-like revival was as successful in the organizers' view as it was from the spectators'. I, for one, will definitely be at the Finish line next year - glass in hand. I may not be able, realistically, to make it over and sip wines while watching the Tour de France, but this is decent enough substitution.

BTW, we did have some white wines available as well, but I just didn't get around to trying any of them. I may not have had to worry about drinking and riding myself, but it was still a "school" night and I needed to get back to my desk - without the BBQ and beverages - early the next morning.

A New Ensemble with Elzee

One of our regular - and favourite - drinking buddies on our Wine Odyssey is the lovely and talented Elzee. I'm not so sure that I should be advertising this but she's just returned from the most marvelous birthday celebration in Paris. We'd offered to head up to the Okanagan for the weekend with her, but that was pretty lame when an offer to spend a week in the City of Light presented itself.

Now that she's back, we needed to revel in all the details and dig a little to see if there was any dirt to unearth. I'd made a reservation at Ensemble, the new entry on the Vancouver dining scene but couldn't get anything before 8.30. Accordingly, we asked Elzee to join us for a little tipple before dinner.

872. 2004 Tantalus Blanc de Noir Brut (VQA Okanagan Valley)

I thought some bubble might be appropriate to celebrate Elzee's return and to belatedly toast her birthday. Prior to her leaving, I'd tried to arrange, with a mutual friend, for a bouquet of flowers and a bottle to be waiting for Elzee on her arrival in Gai Paris. I'd only been able to leave a message with our friend; so, I wasn't even sure that she'd received the surprise until she got back to Vancouver. She assured us she had and that she'd even kept the bottle so that we could open it together and add it to The List. Thoughtful gal, that Elzee.

As for this wine, I was surprised when I first read, last Fall, that Tantalus was going to release a sparkling wine. I've tried and enjoyed some their Rieslings since the old Pinot Reach winery was purchased and re-branded with a change in emphasis. I couldn't recall any previous mention of bubble - and was a little taken when I saw that it was going to be a 2004 vintage.

Made in the méthode traditionelle from Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes, we really enjoyed it as an opener for the evening. Boo isn't the biggest fan of sparklers because he finds the biscuity tones that often prevail aren't to his taste. That wasn't the case with the Tantalus though. While the evidence of yeast and lees was definite, there was more fruit on the palate than many true Champagnes. Small problem though in that there wasn't a whole lot made and I read on one site that this was the only vintage of Blanc de Noir made so far.

We finished the Brut in just enough time to head downtown to Ensemble. This is the new restaurant opened by Dale MacKay - the recent winner of Top Chef Canada. We had watched the series and were rooting for MacKay and his local roots but we weren't sure he could make it to the finals as his skills in the kitchen definitely seemed to lend themselves to high end dining and not the often frivolous challenges that the show demanded.

He managed to stick around through all the eliminations and wow the judges in the penultimate dinner challenge. We were hoping that he could do a little magic for us as well. We decided to share and sample a number of smaller plates so that we could try as many different tastes as possible. Knowing that the dishes were going all over the map, we picked an Aussie GSM, hopping that it would be subdued enough not to overpower everything. That and a couple designer cocktails to help us through the lighter dishes.

873. 2007 Kaesler - Stonehorse Shiraz/Grenache/Mourvèdre (Barossa Valley - Australia)

Despite Boo's and my years with the Australian Wine Appreciation Society, I'm familiar more with the name Kaesler than I am with their wines. Indeed, it's taken 870 wines to be added to The List before a Kaesler wine makes its debut here.

It might not surprise you, after reading the last comment that we enjoyed this wine as well. Barossa red wines aren't necessarily known for their subtlety; however, this Aussie take on Chateauneuf-du-Pape was full and forward without being overwhelming with the fruit or the tannins. We felt it matched up nicely to the dishes that we'd ordered.

Those dishes covered a good range as well. Our plates ranged from Linda's foie gras parfait - perhaps a little reminiscent of her recent Parisian dining? - to cornmeal crusted scallops, pork belly, black cod with Thai broth (one of Chef MacKay's winning recipes from Top Chef) and beef shin served with some of the best fries Boo remembers the pleasure of eating. We didn't leave a whole lot left on any of the plates.

We didn't take the accompanying photo of Chef MacKay (I copied it from the restaurant website and is credited to Judy Chee), but he did (rather unexpectedly to us) emerge from the kitchen and he chatted to the table next to us for some time.

I was hardly going to be shameless enough to ask to have a picture taken with him so that we could blog him with a bottle of wine. We may have been taking more than a couple of food porn shots but asking Mackay to saunter over was too much for a shrinking violet like me.

I'm not about to venture into the world of food and restaurant criticism, but I think its safe to say that all of the dishes were intricate and fanciful. There were a couple favourites and one or two that might not be ordered again. I don't tend to get out to dine as much as I might like to; so, I don't see us getting back here in the very near future or becoming regulars, but I'd have no problem endorsing Ensemble as a good little spot to try - particularly with a sweet ending like a pineapple soufflé.

An all around great evening. We might need to celebrate birthdays a little more regularly.

Golden Mile Zin

I was listening to a past episode Terry David Mulligan's radio broadcast/webcast, The Tasting Room, and the whole show was dedicated to his visit to the ZAP Zinfandel Festival in San Francisco. Hearing everyone wax on about the evolution of Zinfandel, from "Dago Red" to the exciting varietal that it is nowadays, just motivated me to grab a bottle from the racks at home.

Surprise, it's actually a BC Zin and not from California, but I think even TDM would have readily welcomed it into his glass.

871. 2005 Golden Mile - Luckhurst Family Vineyards Zinfandel (VQA Okanagan Valley)

There isn't much Zinfandel grown in BC and maybe only a handful of wineries actually produce a varietal wine. In 2010, the total production of Zin comprised about 0.2% of the overall value of red wine grapes in BC - just behind the limited amounts of Merlot and Gamay Noir grapes that are held back for the production of Ice Wine and slightly ahead of those huge favourites, Chancellor and Dunkelfelder.

Inevitably, I should think all of the Zin is grown in the very South of the Okanagan Valley - around the Golden Mile, Black Sage Road or the limited acreage South of Osoyoos - where the heat units are the highest in the province and the ability to ensure sufficient ripening of the grapes might be the most consistent.

It doesn't mean that the grape can't be grown successfully though. This particular vintage even won a gold medal at the 2007 Grand Harvest Awards held in California. - home of Zinfandel nowadays. Grand Harvest is an interesting competition in that it has a twist wherein judges taste wine by region (at the time, they don't know the region being tasted) and they pursue the identification of an excellence in regional typicity that could be considered terroir.

You likely wouldn't confuse this Zin for most of the Big California Zins that are predominant in the market. It isn't nearly as fruitfully in your face - although the alcohol was still pretty high at 14.5%. We really enjoyed the wine however. We found it to have a nice balance overall and tasty ripe, dark fruit.

You likely won't be able to find it anymore though. Firstly, Golden Mile Cellars is no longer around in name. In a "magnanimous" move, the winery morphed into Road 13 a couple of years back. An act that allowed the immediate region to start marketing that part of the Okanagan Valley, itself, as the Golden Mile. Secondly, Road 13 has changed its winemaker this past year and, as part of a new outlook, they are emphasizing blends as opposed to individual varietal wines. They'll still be using all the Zin they can get their hands on - it likely just won't be sold as straight Zinfandel.

So, there were two vintages of Golden Mile Zinfandel made (2005 and 2006) and one vintage of Road 13 (2007) so far. If the following vintages were as tasty as this 2005 was, that might just be an unimaginable shame. Luckily, I think we still have another bottle hanging around.

A Seven Stones Hit Rosé

With the possibility of summer weather actually kicking in, I find it's good to have a few rosé wines hanging around - especially when Boo's roasted a chicken and used some of the garden's remaining rhubarb and strawberries to make a compote. Rosé wines still seem to be a poor cousin in the wine world - at least in North America. That may result from the poor rap that is associated with the style because of the hey-day of White Zinfandel in the past. But any guy secure enough to man up to enjoying rosé wine can tell you that you can find as many different rosé styles and taste profiles as you can find wineries that make them.

Austere to off-dry, light salmon or brilliant pink in colour and made from any number of single varietals to blends, what you can find in your glass can often be quite an unexpected surprise.

This wine was one of those surprises. And a pleasant, if unexpected, one at that.

870. 2009 Seven Stones - Speaking Rock Pinot Rosé (Similkameen Valley - BC)

We picked this bottle up last summer when we passed by the Seven Stones winery while driving through the Similkameen Valley on our way back from the Kootenays. We must have liked it enough to buy some when we tried it at the winery's tasting bar, but, to be honest, I'd completely forgotten about it.

The label notes that owner/winemaker George Hanson has gone for a style reminiscent of Provence and the South of France. He might want to revise that and proclaim that he's captured the Southern Similkameen. We enjoyed the bright acidity and minerality that helped make the wine so refreshing. I'm hardly ever one to wax on the prominence of a particular fruit on the nose or the palate but, in this case, it was like the wine had just been blending with strawberries and rhubarb. Those fruits just jumped out of the glass and onto the tongue.

It was a perfect match to dinner and we were disappointed with how quickly the bottle disappeared. Too bad they only made 200 cases. It's one I'd eagerly reach for again.

Japanese Gals, Canadian Wine

The soccer's over. The white wine sipping is done. The winners are being announced and there'll be nothing left but the tears - whether they be tears of joy, of dashed dreams or of even bewilderment.

Unfortunately, unlike last year's Men's World Cup of soccer, I didn't organize a neighbourhood gathering to watch the big final and participate in a drink off. Popping corks on a Sunday afternoon is no problem - particularly when you consider some of my friends. Sunday morning, just after breakfast however, is a bit of a different event. I might have been able to pull off some sparkling wines and Mimosas, but that kind of defeats the whole white wine taste-off.

Accordingly, it was just Boo and I and the corks weren't popped until overtime kicked in - just so that I could know that this post's wines were at least sampled during the final match in Germany.

As mentioned in previous blog posts, the two soccer finalists don't match up with our two World Cup of White Wine finalists. We have the US and Japan on the pitch, but it was Kiwi and Canuck wines going at it in the glass.

New Zealand

vs

Canada

The Kiwis made it to the wine final with a Sauvignon Blanc knocking out an American Chardonnay. The Canadians won took a little revenge out on the French for a loss on the soccer field when an Similkameen Valley Pinot Gris knocked off a French Viognier. With Boo having put me back on the "No Buy Leash," I had to pull a couple of wines from our cellar - which isn't exactly chock-a-block full of white wine. In a real wine competition, I don't know if these would have been the first wines reached for by the combatants - but, hey, this blog is supposed to be about the fun and frolic involved with wine isn't it.

868. 2008 Rabbit Ranch Pinot Gris (Central Otago - New Zealand)

869. 2008 La Frenz Chardonnay (Naramata Bench)

The soccer matched was one filled with huge swings of momentum going back and forth. At times, it seemed like the American gals had the trophy shipped half way back to the States. Then, the Japanese would pull out a secret hari-kiri move that put them back right in the game. Even with last minute heroics by the Japanese to tie the game and force overtime, it was looking good for the US gals when they scored first. It wasn't sudden death OT, however, and the Japanese girls persevered to tie the game again and send it into penalty kicks - where they totally out-did the Americans 3-1. The final score shows as 3-2 and the Japanese win their first World Cup ever.

Our tasting was somewhat the same. Neither wine completely overwhelmed the other. We tried glasses on their own, with food, with dessert and on their own again (the day after even) - and you could easily think that one was slightly better than the other with one sip and, then, the other would taste slightly better the next.

We've previously had (and added to The List) both the 2006 and 2009 vintages of the La Frenz and winemaker, Jeff Martin's, proclaimed peaches and cream style is a usual favourite. The 2008 vintage won Gold at 2009 All Canadian Wine Championships and Silver at the 2009 Northwest Wine Summit; so, it should have simply wowed us. I can't say that it hit those heights with me though - perhaps I just found a little more oak on this year's wine. Not "oak monster" levels, but a bit more than I like for the level of acidity.

I don't know so much about the heritage of the Rabbit Ranch; however, it was another of the wines that I picked up at last year's Vancouver Playhouse Wine Festival when New Zealand was one of the featured regions. The winery's website imbues a great sense of humour and whimsy though. It proclaims that this Pinot Gris is the "Energizer Bunny's favourite tipple" and the label states that the wine is "not tested on animals."

The minerality evident on this wine rather bit into me like the oak did on the Chardy. It wasn't a fault in the wine. It was simply a strong focal point on the wine that is going to agree with you or, maybe, not so much.

As I mentioned, both wines had their strong points and picking a favourite was a tough choice - our choice changed a couple of times. In the end, think we'll say that this tasting, like the game, was tied after regulation time and went to penalty kicks. I decided that the determinative factor might as well be - "If you can only buy another bottle of one of these wines, which one would you choose?"

Both Boo and I went with the Chardonnay. Japan wins the soccer trophy but the Okanagan pulls off a "World Cup" of its own. The better part of the world may not know much about Canadian wines - and Okanagan wines in particular - but those of us with regular access to them certainly know that a lot of them are mighty fine. "Winning" this World Cup may not be quite as prestigious as the one our soccer gals were striving for, but a win is a win - and I'll take the amusement that goes with adding more wines to The List as a win as well.

A Wine Tasting to Match the Soccer Pitch

So, our second World Cup of White Wine semi-final sees the "home" team up against the French. Ironically, this is another wine match-up involving France that mirrors an actual game that took place at the World Cup in Germany. The game between these two "teams," however, was back in the Round Robin matches and the French women ran roughshod over the Canadian gals - with that loss sounding the death knell for the Canadians at the tournament. Despite great hopes, there'll be no semi-finals on the soccer pitch for the Canadians at the real World Cup though.

Canada

vs.

France

Good thing we're trying tonight's wine blind. Otherwise, I might need to find favour with the Canadian wine just to extract a teensy bit of revenge on the French. Not that I'd stoop to such lengths on such an important occasion.

866. 2009 Orofino Pinot Gris (Similkameen Valley)

867. 2008 Paul Mas Viognier (Vin de Pays d'Oc - France)

It was likely a good thing that we had the means of identifying the two wines, after they'd been poured blind, because I didn't find either of them to be overly demonstrative of their respective varietals. The Pinot Gris was more fruity than I would have expected and the Viognier was just plain out flat.

Pinot Gris is often touted as possibly being BC's signature white grape. I can't say that the Orofino pulled that off with this vintage though.

The Orofino still featured a more layered profile - both on the nose and the palate - so I'm going to give a 1-0 win to Canada. But like the team's performance on the field, I might have hoped for more. Now to the finals.