Post winter blues

The last few months have been trying at best. After writing the last post, it seems Sarah's (and thus mine) worlds got quite a bit more topsy-turvy. Her father, Colin, became ill and was sent to the hospital. The doctors found he had a collapsed valve in his heart and was arranged to fly down to Vancouver for further testing and possible operation depending on if they think he is able to withstand the surgery.  Having decided he was able to withstand open heart surgery, they proceeded only to have him -unknowingly to them - suffer a stroke during surgery that prevented his recovery.  He was left on life support and brought back to Penticton.  Once Paul had come down from FSJ, they decided to take him off life support and let the chips fall where they may.  Colin Brown died just over 12 hours later at about 5:25am on Dec. 8th.  

I miss him and so do Sarah and Judy.  Every once in a while they get pictures of him sent by well meaning relatives without forewarning.  It comes as a shock to see him in those pictures looking so alive and smiling; it strikes me as poor judgement to send pics without warning but there it is.

Anyway, his vigil took place on the weekend just before my last final one which i did not do as well as i had hoped.  I could have gotten a postponement until Jan. but I chose to get it over and done with so that I did not have to study over the holidays.  

My parents arrived a couple weeks later and stayed with us making the holidays much more bearable and enjoyable.

Since that time I completed my last semester at UBCO and got my degree in Biochemistry with wine option.  Professor Saucier arrived from France and is a very nice man and introduced me to Monsieur Madevon, winemaker and chief viticulturalist of Osoyoos Larose, a joint venture between Vincor and Taillan Group of France.  I have been working in their vineyards for almost 2 months now and have started on the watering crew due to my experience with irrigation in the past.  So far they have had me attend forklift training, repairing wires and posts, working with the regular crew for all stages (suckering, shoot thinning, tucking, raising wires).  They are also sending me to an oenology conference on the 22nd of this month in Penticton which should be enjoyable as well.  The crew as a whole are all good people with many french canadians over for the summer.  The watering crew are Punjabi and very nice people.  Sometimes their accent is difficult to understand but their english is largely excellent (far better than my punjabi, which I only know to say "Thank you").  I have been getting the low down on where to get the best indian food and I hear the indian market in Oliver is very good.

In April, my wife and I found out we have a baby on the way and went for the first ultrasound this last Th.  My wife thought the pictures showed "his" (only through the benefit of calling the baby he from the get go) junk but I pointed out he would become a porn star if that was the case and is more likely his umbilical cord.  Needless to say we did not ask about the sex and won't until "Spud the wonder monkey" (my wife calls him spud because if it is a boy then we will name him Tait; I expanded on that just a bit) is born.

Anyway, that is up to date.  It has been almost a year since the last post and hopefully I can keep up with the times.  Next time, for sure the Riesling that rocks my world and hopefully a few more wine notes.  Enjoy.

Bottleneck drive

OMG how time flies!!!

There was a promotion by the wineries in Summerland. If you went by and said bottleneck drive when purchasing wines last Sat then you got 10% off the first 2 bottles you bought. Sarah and I had always talked of headin up to visit these wineries and this just provided that extra impetus (along with the fact that I had my first Sat off in who knows how long). The wineries we visited had all been tried by us at previous wine events but it was good to do the compare and contrast thing with each of them.



The first winery visited was Silk Scarf. They had a red blend called Ensemble (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Pinot Noir), Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer and Viognier.

Silk Scarf Viognier - creamy texture, yummy tropical fruit with a bitter undertone and mineral backbone. A touch hot in the throat.
Drinking the Gewurtraminer right now and am marinating some scallops with it as well. Lychee and dried apricot on the nose even rose petal. Nice tartness carries the citrus and mango/mandarin orange fruit onto the palate with a juicy yet spicy finish. It is oxidized since I opened this a few days ago but is still showing reasonably well. I am going to try save some for the scallops tonight but there is only a glass and a bit left from the other night. I am planning to put some curry paste onto the scallops and sear them. The marinade I will reduce and add some sweet bell pepper and dried mango and then sweeten it with some clover honey and pour over top of the scallops. As a side dish I think maybe add a touch of cumin to a simple tomato pasta and Voils... dinner is served.

I just finished writing my first midterm in Lipids and Biomembranes so if this seems like a bit of a regurgitation without much thought I apologize. I am not one for proper grammar when my brain is already fried.

It has been over a month since we have gone to the bottleneck drive now. I have been very lax in my updating of this blog. In that interest I will highlight the wineries and not the wines for the rest of the bottleneck drive trip.
Next on the list I think was Thornhaven. Disappointing to be sure. The barrel reserve Pinot (their flagship wine I think) is oxidative and too light for such a great aspect as they have. Their Chardonnay was good, the dessert wines showed best in my recollection. The Nectar del Sol Riesling (Ice wine?) for the price ($25-35 I can't be sure) was excellent and well worth the buy. The best patio of the trip with cheese boards on offer while overlooking the lake, the Summerland bench and Penticton.

Dirty Laundry was the funnest winery on our tour. The story behind the actual building as both a Chinese laundry fronting for a brothel in back has been excellently captured in the label of sinuous steam with almost subliminal female forms rising from an ironing table. The music interesting and funky on a very traditional Greek or Italian style patio with grape vines trellissed overhead. They have made their name on Gewurztraminer with sweet, dry and single vineyard bottlings. Unfortunately, I almost feel like the wines are a victim of their own success in that the vineyard manager has started overproducing for the sake of sales. There could be more flavor and richness on the palate if they thinned their crops even more. Then these would be truly stellar wines. The Rose, Merlot and Cab Merlot showed better than the whites and we ended up buying one of each of them.

Onward and upward to Hollywood and Wine (? or is it Vine). Anyway, a new organic winery, very small production, tiny renovated tasting room that looks as if it could have been a storage shed for landscaping tools. It is run by a lovely couple, Neil and Betty, who are transplants from the movie industry. Neil still drives dressing rooms etc around for productions and the autographed pics of his favorite celebs adorn the walls of the tasting room. The wines were tasty but a surer hand would benefit them in the winemaking department to bring them from OK wines to good and even great wines. We bought the Pinot Gris and Cranky Old Man Meritage blend.

Lastly, was the best of the bunch, whether because of the amount of wine drunk by now or because the wines and the people came through the squiffiness to create such an impression. 8th generation is simply that a winemaking family with presumably the 8th generation running underfoot to become the eventual proprietors. The wines we tasted hit all the marks I want to see in each of those varietals
Pinot Gris - fruity with creamy texture and mushroomy/minerally subtlety
Riesling - 3 different bottlings each with a different sweetness; all well balanced and delicious
Pinot Rose - dry with strawberry notes and creamy finish.
Merlot - rich color and full bodied, firm tannin that accentuates the luscious fruit nicely. This was the only wine with any potential downfall in that it was almost candied fruit instead of ripe. A sign of the winemaker's hand but still yummy.
Stefanie and Yolanda, in the wineshop, are wife and mother to the winemaker who was given the kids for the day "for a vacation" whether that be vacation for Stefanie or for her husband was left up in the air.

Next, the Riesling that rocks my world and the Sandhill winemaker's dinner.

The beginning of the end ...

At last the time has arrived for the continuation of this saga. While I did mention that this would largely be about the wines involved with tasting notes and even food and wine pairing suggestions, this blog will also include updates on myself and my soon-to-be career ... Winemaker or Vintner ... whichever you prefer. I have just begun the last year of a four year degree in Wine Biochemistry through the University of British Columbia at the Okanagan Campus ergo "the beginning of the end." But I suppose like all things in life there is no end and no beginning merely changes in direction.



Before I get involved with this subject, I will do an abbreviated tasting note for the wines I have tried since the last post. As it turns out this is quite a few since I have not posted for the Sonoran wine tasting through work yet.



The Sonoran winery rep came by work after speaking with her a week before to arrange an appointment. Agost passed her off to me since he has no desire to represent, let alone try. new BC wines other than Calona, Sandhill or any Andres wines. Admittedly, his loyalty to this company is well deserved since the Calona/Sandhill staff (prior to the takeover by Andres) used to support the downtown store on a regular basis with lunches, parties and excellent customer service when they were in a bind for wine. Neither I do not believe this means he should limit the BC selection to only this company, nor does he profess to want to do this. However, when it comes down to brass tax, the wine list can only be so big and if it means bumping a marginal Calona/Sandhill wine in favor of a better BC or international wine, he will not do so.



All frustrations aside, the Sonoran tasting was interesting given the fact they seem to have slated their future closely with a previously unknown variety called Oraniensteiner. I couldn't even pronounce this properly until well after when I asked a German friend, Antje, how to do so. They had still, late harvest, ice and blended wines with this included in some measure. The still wine had good acidity with orange blossom or mandarin or apricot. A fairly simple wine which, if I remember correctly, is a cross of Riesling clones or Riesling with Sylvaner. The ice wine had good balance with orange marmalade and apricot notes. Regardless, I was hoping there would be something more jumping out of the bottle at me for it to be the determiner of a winery's fate. They also had a Gewurztraminer (nicely viscous and off dry with apricot and rose petal), Riesling (matchstick? it blew off after a minute or so but it tainted the rest of my impression of the wine), Cabernet Merlot (eucalyptus and green twig ... no sense of fruit ... firm tannin ... blech!!! Most definitely not worth the $30 or $35 price tag) and Kerner Ice Wine (it may be not saying much but it was the hit of the tasting with yummy lilac and fresh apple and very nicely balanced). All in all I would say I liked 3 wines out of the 8 or 10 wines I tasted. Not such a good record.

Next on the list is Cherry Point Vineyards on Vancouver Island. While on vacation, we decided to try to get some wineries in. Few Island wineries were open on the Monday so Cherry Point was our one spot on the Island. We were allowed to try any 5 wines out of the 8 or so available. Nice Riedel glassware ... so far so good (though I have yet to do the taste comparison forRiedel vs. any other wine glass but this is a topic for such time as that happens). I chose their Pinot Gris, Agria, Merlot, and a couple of others though my memory fails me at this point. The Pinot Gris had a very nice creamy texture with honeydew and lime zest. The Agria and Merlot I think you could easily look above at the Sonoran Cabernet Merlot though the Agria (a Hungarian variety) had much more astringent acidity than the other 2. Two big Blechs down!!! The other two wines obviously were not memorable enough for me to even bother so ... whatever!!!

On the way over to Osoyoos from Hope toward the end of our vacation we stopped at Seven Stones in Keremeos and I enjoyed (and we bought a bottle) the Chardonnay but the Pinot Noir and Blackberry port were not that great.

Nk'mip was the last vacation stop. We were camping at their grounds and enjoyed the Riesling and Cab Merlot. Word to our friend, Erika, for working on the patio there. The day we were there it was apparently 48C on that patio. I went out there and the misters were going full blast but I did not feel any hit me it was evaporating so fast. Plus she got called in to cover for another girl that evening. Simply amazing. We got together with Stefan her boyfriend and my friend and former co-worker at their place later that evening. We enjoyed the Seven Stones Chard we had bought as well as Jackson Triggs un-oaked Chardonnay. Delicious ripe apple and lemon zest for the JT while the SS had some vanilla notes but still had fresh pineapple and balancing acidity.

Last but not least we got in a few more of the wines which I had recommended for the revised list. That being the Finca Los Primos Cabernet Sauvignon. Once the cork was popped an immediate nose of fresh MacIntosh Apple presented itself. Not the wilted apple skin of corkiness at all and very surprising to say the least. A deeper sniff from a wine glass gave blackberry jam but little else to back it up. The palate was a well balanced wine with plenty of fruit but little tannin. A very smooth and quaffable drink ... quickly has become my favorite out of the newest bottles. A real Steal at $10

Another is the A Mano Primitivo. Here we are talking about a true Italian wine. The nutty oak up front with the deeper berry fruit and spicy under coat to follow. It remained hot on the finish with almost merlot-like fruit and spice combo and a subtle hint of Bulgarian Oak the Italians are so fond of. Not as impressive a value as the Los Primos but still an enjoyable wine because it was a bit lacking on the midpalate for my taste. Good Buy for $18.

Last of the new wines is the Castano Monastrell out of Yecla Spain. Holy Crow does this smell of White Pepper. If not for the color I would say this is a Grenache. While that may be a part of the blend, this still did not show any of the juicy fruit found in many better Grenache. More Secondary flavors like leather and cigar which again would make me think of Grenache since that variety also oxidizes so easily. Anyway, all in all a misleading wine at best but still makes for an interesting drink. Definitely a wine that should be paired with a pepper steak or pasta putanesca ... strong flavors with bitter notes for a wine with the same. Good value for $10.


Anyway, that is all for now ... will get to classes soon but I have left this post for far too long. Coming soon ... a trip to "Bottleneck Drive," the new Naramata Bench.

Yet more wine ...

Hmmm ... once I started this blog, it seems to have started the reintroduction of drinking wine back into my life. Strange how that is.



Recently, my wife and I went to my good friend Rob's place in Salmon Arm with the intention of some R&R ... in the form of either floating down the river in Enderby or golfing. Unfortunately, the weather was a titch coolish for Sarah to endure 4 hours in a raft in a bathing suit. A shame since I was looking forward to the rope swing ... oh well ... next summer I guess.



Of course this trip resulted in a bit of wine drinking. The Red Rooster Bantam, a blended white consisting of various proportions of Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Blanc and Riesling if I remember correctly. Don't quote me on this however.



Very similar to an Alsatian Noble blend in some respects but fruitier and less minerally or weighty on the palate. The nose gives some pineapple and rose petal with a somewhat vegetal or floral undercurrent. A hard one to nail down but often blends are just that. Anyway, this is a dry but fruity wine with a nice spark of acidity, creamy complexion and well rounded nature that makes for an easy quaff.



The Stuffed Salmon and new potatoes that Rob made for dinner was a great pairing with this. I chose this on a whim since our wine rack currently holds a Riesling, a Gewurztraminer, a Cab Franc and a Merlot so it seems the stars aligned for this pairing. Neither of the reds would have been good since they would likely overpowered the fish, the Gewurztraminer likely not acidic enough to match the lemon in the stuffing. The Riesling could have gone well but I am not sure it would have been weighty enough for the fat of the fish.



Anyway, it was a delicious dinner which we enjoyed fully and finished off by watching TV until lethargy settled in and attempted to watch "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" but only managed to get past the initial excesses of Johnny Depp's and Benicio del Toro's characters before crashing.



The next night we returned to our digs and then ventured to find dinner at a little eatery down the road in Peachland called "The Blind Angler Grill". A very nice place with a beautiful location right on the edge of both water and Peachland. The wine I chose from the wine list was and Australian Grenache from Maclaren Vale by Sorrento. The wine label specifically calls it Sorrento Dry Grown Grenache. However, the Dry Grown labelling is a bit confusing. Does that mean it was grown without irrigation? There is no answer on the back label.



The wine was very nice except for it being too warm so I asked for an ice bucket to cool it down. Room temp does not sit well with most reds but 30Celsius+ is practically baking it. The Grenache normally oxidizes easily but showed well once it was chilled. The hint of white pepper on the nose declared grenache and the jammy fruit with firm tannin were great with our food. I was surprised by how light the color of the wine was, it being an Ozzie red after all. I have seen Spanish Grenaches get much better depth of color. Maybe this was due to some oxidation after all. I tend to think it was just how the grapes turned out for that vintage, great flavor but the color just kind of fell away. From what I remember this can happen with Pinot Noir alot also.



The food was well prepared and we had a very nice dinner but a couple of niggling things on top of warm wine led to disappointment. The entrees were a NY with peppercorn sauce and "Thai Ribs". The peppercorn sauce was very salty and the Thai Ribs, though said to come with red Thai curry sauce, were dry and were not even close to showing the flavorful red curry. There were some indistinct red dots on the outside of the ribs that may have been a marinade but really your guess is as good as mine. Other than that the service was fair, the food arrived in a timely fashion and the preparation was very well done but we were left wanting with those two details that need fixing. The appetizer and dessert were excellent and we will go back to try the place again. Everything else was good enough that they at least warrant a second try. Or maybe we are just too picky. HMMMM???

Anyway, we will be going on vacation soon so the blogs will not appear for a couple of weeks at least. Next blog I will go over the Sonoran Winery tasting I had with their rep as well as any onthers we have indulged in .

Staff tasting

For the last 5 years, I have been working at a local Italian eatery called Agostino's. For most of those, I have been a part-time server for them. The owners, Agostino and Julie, are truly wonderful people to work for.

This last winter they moved from downtown Kelowna to the Shannon Lake Golf Course in Westbank and I along with them. This makes for a much easier commute since I live with my wife Sarah in Glenrosa about a 10 minute drive from the golf course.

With the larger location and higher traffic that the venue of a golf course provides, comes new and more staff. At the 2nd staff meeting (1st I was able to attend), I wanted to try and raise the staff interest in promoting wines.

Anyway, BLAH BLAH de BLAH. Long story short ... I held a wine tasting at the end of the meeting. The feature wine was Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc from NZ.

If I recall, this wine is one of the principle reasons that NZ whites, most especially Sauv Blanc, are known worldwide. It was at the forefront of the quality exports from that country.

I had suggested Villa Maria for the wine list but I could not find any at the closest LDB outlet so I went with this to give the staff some idea of the style and taste of the wine. I have never tried the Villa Maria but have heard many great things about this producer.

The nose of citrus zest, gooseberry and sage were almost like an awakening of old and forgotten muscles. A satisfying reminescence of love and longing. Heady, to be sure. To be able to smell and explore that for the longest stretch of diaphragm possible, exhale and do it all over again. I love white wine!! To me, most reds can be great to drink but a lot of it is so bloated and overabundant that it is overwhelming. I guess that is what makes red more food friendly, or maybe more main course friendly, in my eye. The food can tame many of the elements of red where whites are best when austere, fragrant, demure and drunk without food. The palate showed sparkling acidity with lemongrass and pink grapefruit notes; exactly as I had hoped the wine would show. It is easy to see why this wine was probably the showcase export from NZ back in the 90s and is good to great value at $18 at the LDB here.

The plan for the tasting was to do a red and a white but I felt it necessary to go over tasting technique and proper service of wine before the tasting. So we only got through the white. Which left me with the bottle of red.

The red was the Finca Flichman Syrah, a wine I recall had been rated as one of the top values reds in the world by either Decanter or Wine Spectator back when I used to subscribe to both. A wine that I finally convinced Agostino could replace the Yellowtail Shiraz. Not a hard sell since he hates Yellowtail. A couple of nights later and 2 ribeye steaks thawed. I made a mushroom and red bell pepper risotto to go with the steaks that I marinated in a little truffle oil, garlic and S&P. I had everything timed for the return of my wife Sarah from her commute. She walks in the door the risotto finished, wine decanted with Riedel stemless waiting and the steaks just about to go on our oh so high tech grill.

The wine showed extremely well in my mind. The luscious fruit of the Shiraz style was not there. I find this masks the finesse of the grape. The Syrah had nice blackberry and cherry fruit, peppery smoke notes, subtle but present tannin and good balance. A very good match for the Ribeye and Risotto. I think a heavier more full bodied or even more tannic wine might have shown better since the Risotto is very rich. At $10 a great value ... and made me glad that I had chosen it for the wine list.

My how time flies ...

Yes indeed ... hard to believe it is over a month since I last, or I should say, first posted. I have been in the process of deciding which wines should first be reviewed. I decided that the wines which I chose for my wedding reception would be good ones to start with since they are both good value and stand up fairly well to laying down for a while. I made the effort to have fresh bottles bought not long ago to see any differences that may have occured in the aging.
The wines I speak of are the Langenbach Kabinett Riesling and the Farnese Primitivo. We saved one of each of these bottles from our reception and enjoyed them on our first anniversary. At $9.99 for each, they are very affordable and carried widely by the BCLDB.
The Riesling exhibits typical lemony notes with nice balancing acidity for the off dry wine. There is a creamy finish to this wine that I find reminiscent of a Viognier or Pinot Gris. Beyond that there is not much to this wine but it is very enjoyable and showed good character with slight petrolly notes typical again of riesling after the year of aging.
The Primitivo is, in my opinion, better value though I am a big fan of Riesling. This shows a rich plummy fruit with cedary spice notes. The tannin is not harsh but there is a bit of astringency and hotness from alcohol in the finish. Neither is expressed as to make the wine less than what it is ... a good value drinking red. By and large, the Farnese wines seem to be good value with the Sangiovese lauded by my Sommelier instructor as a very good value. That being said these are also relatively consistent wines giving the buyer enjoyment each time they are bought year in year out. I have not, however, tried the Trebbiano or any others that may be available.
The year later it still showed relatively good fruit structure if a bit oxidized. There were hints of tar, tobacco and leather in the aged wine and the tanin had not dulled appreciably. All in all, I am very pleased with these choices and I hope that you will enjoy them too.

Begin at the Beginning

And so dawns a new day!!! Choice words at 4:17 pm but they remain true. This is not a commentary on how late I sleep but on starting a chapter of my life that I have pondered, desired to do.



To Write.



Or more specifically in this case ... To Blog. Personally I like the former over the latter. I hate to say it but blog is such an ugly word. Its like the sound a frog would make if picked up too roughly while it shits on your hand.



For the most part, this will be a wine related blog. However, no topic will go untouched I should think. In that case any topic is open for discussion. Primarily those topics that relate to me and my particular interests will be focused on.



These being the following:

• WINE - nectar of the gods or pap of the populace and all points in between


• spirits and any other fine beverages that can be consumed


• FOOD - without food, wine would be merely a drink. Food elevates wine and vice versa. Recipes will be posted and welcomed in kind. Wines will be recommended for each dish or menu.

I think there is enough controversial opinions out there on food and especially wine that this should engender a wealth of topics and and opinions.

I am not an expert in wine and food but I do hold my own opinions and will gladly voice them. Anyone who considers themselves an expert on wine is often fooling themselves. There is far more to the world of wine than can be imagined. The same could be said for food. Yet I am a certified sommelier through the ISG. I have worked in fine dining restaurants for nearly a decade. I am now a full time student finished my 3rd year of a Bachelor of Biochemistry with a mind to becoming a winemaker. Over the last two years I have worked in vineyards for the summer and helped in the winery during harvest. I could be considered a case of a little knowledge proving to be a dangerous thing. I guess that would be only in the event of this getting me in trouble. HEHEHE

However, what is a blog without readers. Very little, in point of fact. So in saying that, I hope this will resemble a forum for those like minded people passionate about wine and food where respect for the differences in opinion is mutual. In other words, I will respect yours if you respect mine. Wink Wink Nudge Nudge Say no more Say no more.

I hope that these posts do not devolve in to obtuse ramblings ... at least not too often. Otherwise, I will start soon with tasting notes on local wines from the Okanagan in BC or those abroad with an eye toward good value wines.

Enjoy!!!