Walla Walla - A Wine Good Enough to be Named Twice....

On our Spring Break trip, the last destination before re-entering Canada was Walla Walla, Washington.

Rewind to the Wine Festival - we tried some wines from Charles Smith that were so good - and that they didn't have in the on-site liquor store - that we decided to change our itinerary so we could stop in Walla Walla.

Ah, can't resist this brief film clip....

The wine that we loved at the festivals was called Motor City Kitty and is made by a winery in the Charles Smith group called K Vintners. We went to K Vintners and were shocked to find that the winery was closed! Upon careful examination, however, we found a small note telling us that their wine was available in the tasting room in Walla Walla. 

The tasting room was lovely. Charles Smith has a real love of old cars and the tasting room is in a building that was originally built as the Johnson Auto Electric Building in 1917.  The was also how Motor City Kitty (MCK) wine got its name - because of Charles Smith's love of cars. 

Kayla, our wonderful wine taster!

We got all of this great information from Kayla, our wine tasting room associate. She did a wonderful job of telling us the story behind each wine, not just the number of points or the flavours we were supposed to taste. 

The first wine was the wonderful Motor City Kitty ($35 US). It is a big, giant Syrah that makes you stand up and take notice!  I absolutely love this wine - and  purchased two bottles of our precious four bottle duty free wine allowance. 

The tasting moved along wonderfully - we had some very enjoyable wines but the other one that stuck was the Stoneridge Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon made by Wines of Substance - a winery that is also part of Charles Smith, like K Vintners. This one is their high end Cab and it is big and bold. There is a cheaper version available in BC Liquor Stores - it's good but not as good as the Stoneridge. Mind you, the cheaper one is only $25 while the Stoneridge is $45 US. 

Well, we bought a bottle of that as well - together with the two MCKs and the Oregon Pinot Noir, we had our full allotment. 

The thing I really like about American tasting rooms is that they are a bit like craft breweries here. Not only can you buy the wine and taste it, you can also buy a glass and have a snack. Which is exactly what we did. We both had a glass of the Cab and had a wonderful charcuterie plate. We were in heaven!

Afterwards, we wandered around Walla Walla for a bit - not too long, however, as it was getting a bit chilly. 

We eventually stumbled on a boutique winery called Eternal Wines. This was not the same slick operation that was Charles Smith. However, the wine taster was passionate about her wines and the prices were a bit better. The wines were all hand labelled so I was a bit hesitant at first but the wines turned out to be quite tasty. 

We purchased a Carmenere, a red blend, and a Cab Sauv. All were just $26. All were good. 

The next day, we came to the tiny border at Oroville and confessed that we had 3 bottles too many. The kind border guard ended up cracking a joke and let us through without paying extra duty - wonderful!

I really enjoyed the wines from the two wineries that we tried in Walla Walla but there are a lot we didn't get to. I would like to come back and spend a couple of nights - which would mean a whole lot of tasting rooms - and get a better sense of the industry in the Columbia Valley. 

It was a great end to the holiday!

Willamette Valley Wine Tasting

On our Spring Break trip, we decided that we would check out some wineries in Oregon on our first day.

Turns out, the Willamette Valley is quite the distance from Vancouver....

But first, a little background.

The Willamette (rhymes with Dammit) Valley basically stretches along I-5 south of Portland (although most fo the wineries looked like they were west of the highway) until Eugene, a 250 km long valley. Because mountains surround three sides of this region, it has an almost Mediterranean climate which is perfect for the very difficult to grow Pinot Noir grape. In fact, I have heard, many times, that Willamette Pinot Noir is the closest you can come to Burgundy without actually being in Burgundy.

According to my second hand copy of The Oxford Companion to Wine (which I just picked up in a used book store in Penticton), the Willamette Valley has been producing good quality wine since the 90s and has focused on making high quality wines rather than a lot of cheap wine.  Still, there are 21,000 acres under wine production compared to a little over 10,000 acres in the Okanagan.

After talking to a couple of people there, we realized that the thing to do would be to stay in McMinnville as there are numerous wineries there and there are also tasting rooms in the downtown area that you can stumble between. There are also some fancy spas to keep better halves happy and content.

However, we didn't go there.

I looked on Trip Advisor for the top ten winery experiences and made a list, complete with addresses, thinking that we could probably visit at least four of them.

We made it to one.

By the time we rolled up to the gates of Domaine Serene (number one of the Trip Advisor list), it was already 4pm - even though we had left the lower mainland at 7am.

We first parked our car in a giant parking lot - this was a much larger scale place than most in the Okanagan - think Mission Hill. We then wandered around the area to what we thought was the tasting room - and read a sign called "The Clubhouse". Confused, I looked around for golfers or a golf course but, upon finding none, decided that this must be a fancy name for the tasting room - which it was.

Wearing my Deadpool T-Shirt, we strode into the clubhouse and, after being greeted by the three (!) young ladies at the foyer, we made our way to the tasting bar.

I have to say that I was a little excited - when we went to the Vancouver Wine Festival, there wasn't any representation from Oregon so I was keen on trying some of their wines.

Looking over the tasting menu, we had two choices - the 'basic' flight for $20 and the 'prestige' fight for $40. These prices were definitely like Napa, not like the Okanagan. Looking over the choices, I decided that we may not be here again for a long time so I bit the bullet and chose the $40 prestige flight (which my wife and I split).

The flight included two wines from their sister (?) winery in France and three of their own Pinot Noir wines.

The two wines from France were very nice - sorry, no tasting notes - as were the local Pinot Noir wines but, by far, our favourite was the 2014 Evenstad Reserve Pinot Noir. Interesting, we liked it quite a lot more than the 2015 Evenstad, even though the 2015 had more points. Mind you, after we made the purchase, the pourer mentioned that he had decanted the 2014 but not the 2015.

If we bought six bottles of wine, we would get our $40 back - however, with the wines costing between $70 and $95, we opted on buying just one - the 2014 Evenstad (which we still have at home).

At this point, we had to make a decision. Were we going to continue on to yet another winery or stick around the clubhouse? I felt my somewhat slimmer wallet and decided that we still had a lot of holiday left so maybe it was better to visit more wineries another time.

We ordered a couple glasses of the Evenstad Pinot Noir, a charcuterie plate, and sat outside on the patio of the winery, enjoying the view of the Willamette Valley. Although it was a bit of a pricey visit, the experience was worth it.

Vancouver Wine Festival - Oh What a Night! - Part Two

Another lovely Cava from Segura Viudas

It's really amazing - put a large number of people in a large room, give them a wine glass and access to over 700 different wines, and tell them they have just three hours to drink what they can.

That's the main premise behind the Vancouver Wine Festival.

And the people! They were so interesting! Most people were dressed rather smartly but there was the occasional chill dude in a t-shrit and jeans. There were also some women dressed in rather short, tight dresses that maybe weren't the most comfortable for a wine tasting - especially with stiletto heels... And, of course, there was the odd person wearing running shoes - probably a very smart idea as we all spent most of the three hours on our feet.

At many of the booths were people with blue lanyards attached to their name tags. These were the actual winemakers and they were great to talk to. They were passionate and answered all of my questions - even though they had probably heard them many times before - with an enthusiasm that was riveting.

Onto the wines, again.

We'll start with Portugal, the other country featured in the festival.

There weren't a ton of wines from Portugal, especially compared with Spain, but I did try a couple Douro Valley wines.  My favourite, by a mile, was Quinta de Crasto.  The first was a 2015 Superior  ($36 at Everything Wine) made with a variety of grapes including Touriga Nacional. Great berry flavours and strong body in this wine. The second was a 2014 Reserve Old Vines ($41). Amazingly, the vines that this wine was made of are over 90 years old! This was a smooth wine with balanced tannins. The vineyards that this one comes from has literally dozens of different grapes mixed so it's a real testament to the winemaker and the mix as this wine is a really enjoyable drink.

The last one from this winery was the first of the ports that I tried - and boy, did I enjoy trying.

The 2013 Quinta de Crasto Late Bottle Vintage Port was a good Port - not too sweet and with balanced tannins. It was about $26 at the festival which is a killer good deal. I hope that it ends up in the liquor store on a regular basis.

Fonseca had some damned fine Ports as well. My two favourites were the 2015 Guimaraens Vintage Port ($74 at the festival $87 at Devine Wines in Edmonton - 2012 vintage $82 at Everything Wine) with its raisiny elegance and the 2008 Vintage Port Quinta do Panascal($60 at festival, $44 - Marquis Wines in Vancouver) with its rich, creamy, black fruit flavours.

I had never heard of Warre's Port before and was thrilled to try this 1985 Vintage Port. What a rich, smooth, yet powerful Port. A wonderful taste. ($135 at the festival, $129 at Devine's in Edmonton). 

Ah, but there's always the one that got away. My youngest is a Supervisor at Brewery Creek and was able to try a 50 year old Taylor Fladgate Port at the Industry Tasting in the afternoon. Fifty year old! However, when I got to their table, I was told that the Industry people drained the bottle! Damn!

Moving on in our world tasing was a delicious Pinot Gris from New Zealand. The Villa Maria Pinot Gris Seddon Vineyard  ($33) was so crisp, honey-like and fruity that I immediately thought of that wonderful Fort Beren's Pinot Gris ($20) I had last spring. Although this one tasted very similar, the price point seemed just a bit high.

It is sometimes said that wine originated in Turkey - so where better to taste than at the only wine from Turkey, Suvla. I tasted two wines - the first was a unique Turkish grape called Karasakiz ($23) which was OK but a bit different than any other grape I had tried. It was a very light wine so it might be a good wine to pair with lighter fare. I also tried their 2010 Sur ($35 at festival and $30 at Marquis in Vancouver) which was a blend of several wines and I found that wine to be quite tasty with good tannins and a little sweetness and fruitiness. A very interesting couple of wines.

We tried a few wineries from France but the one that I enjoyed the best was from a negociant (and I'm sorry to say, I can't remember which one!).  They specialize in Bordeaux wines and I was privileged to have one of the winemakers from one of the wineries they represent lead me through a tasting of exceptional wines.

I started with a 2009 L'Egerie de Chateau Chereau from Saint-Emilion ($32) which was a Merlot/Cab Sauv/Cab Franc blend. It was good but not outstanding.

The next wine I tried was a 2009 Chateau du Taillan Cru Bourgeois ($37 - looks like it might be regularly stocked in BC liquor stores) from Haut Medoc. A Cru Bourgeois wine has to earn that classification each year which is no easy feat. It has Merlot, Cab Sauv and Cab Franc and is a wonderful black fruit, black cherry wine. A super deal.

I finished with a 2005 Chateau Verdignan also from Haut Medoc ($52) which was a blend of Cab Franc, Cab Sauv and Merlot. A very accessible wine that would pair nicely wth food but is delicious on its own. A splurge that would merit a special occasion.

Our final stop was our friends down south, the USA. I did skip the Canadian wines because there is only so much time to sample and I can try Canadian wines anytime. The three hours just fly along, especially when you take a couple shopping breaks.

The first winery was Charles Smith / K Vintners from Walla Walla, Washington. I liked all of their wines but I loved one - their 2014 M.C.K. - Motor City Kitty Syrah ($50). This powerful wine had delicious dark fruits and a super long finish. I couldn't find it in the onsite liquor store so we have altered our planned trip over Spring Break so that we go through Walla Walla on the way back from Las Vegas, just so I can pick up some of this wonderful stuff!

Finally, near the end of the night, we went to the California section to a winery we had actually visited in Napa seven years ago, St. Supery. We enjoyed all of their wines but the big standout for me was their Cab Sauv - and I was sure to pick up a bottle of this. I know, the photo is of the Sauvignon Blanc - and that's what happens when you are taking photos at the end of the evening! However, rest assured that their Estate Cab Sauv ($61) is a classic Cab Sauv with strong tannins but a balanced taste due to the fruitiness of the wine.

Thanks to the BC Liquor Store, we didn't actually have to pack our case of wine home - they will ship it to our local liquor store in a week or two for pick up.

As I finished my last glass (and, to be honest, I had stopped dumping when there was a half hour left so I could fully appreciate drinking, not just tasting, the wines), I said goodbye to my frat brothers from all of those years ago as my wife and I sauntered back to the hotel. We both had a fantastic time and really enjoyed ourselves. I am already looking forward to next year's wine festival.

¡Salud!

Vancouver Wine Festival - Awesome Night Out! - Part One

Assorted information from the Wine Festival 

This year is the 40th anniversary of the Vancouver International Wine Fest.

And it is the first year that I have ever gone.

Now that I know a bit about wines and wine countries, I thought I would really get something out of the Wine Festival - and I wasn't wrong.

There were several tips that I read about in different web sites and I did my best to follow them - in one way or another.....

Night view of the harbour from our hotel room. 

1. Stay near the festival or arrange a ride home
We booked a rather pricey room at the Pan Pacific but the accommodations were very nice (the view from the room is above) and we were literally beside the festival venue, the Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre.

2. Eat before you go
Although there was some food available, there was only three hours to taste wine, talk to people, and purchase wine at the on site liquor store. We went out to the Rogue Wetbar and had a variety of appies for dinner - without wine. We wanted to save up for the festival and found the food to be OK but not spectacular. Not sure if that was the lack of wine or the plainness of food. We were nice and full, however, which helped.

3. Stay hydrated
We had, easily, a litre or two of water at the restaurant. At the actual wine festival, we tried to have some water every three or four tastings.

4. Swirl, sniff, sip, and spit
The first three were easy. The last one was a lot harder. I tended to have a small sip of each wine and dump the rest in the spit bowls. That actually worked pretty well.

When we got to the wine festival, we lined up to hand in our tickets and get stamped. While we were waiting, to my surprise, I saw and chatted with three of my fraternity brothers (along with two wives and a daughter) from UBC! I hadn't seen them in over 30 years! I had travelled with one of the guys (Phil) around the USA for four months during a gap year. Happily, we kept running into them at the wine festival and drinking together, talking and catching up. It truly added another dimension to my night.

Onto some wines!

Our first stop was over to Friexenet (pronounced Fresh-net) where we tasted a few glasses of Cava (Spanish sparkling wine made in the traditional style of Champagne) then took a glass and wandered around the festival, observing and planning out our strategy. The Cava was excellent and we ended up buying a couple of bottles later on in the evening.

The theme of the festival was Spain and Portugal so it seemed like Spain was a pretty good place to start.

I had planned on taking notes or at least recording information on each wine I drank but that strategy soon fell apart. I think I needed staff for that and my wife was only there for the wine. I settled for taking photos of the wines that I liked.

The first Rioja that I really liked was from CVNE. This was a 2010 Gran Reserva ($28) which meant that it is aged for 2 years in the barrel and 3 years in the bottle. It is made from Tempranillo from one of the best wine areas in Spain, Rioja. 

I really liked that you could taste a number of wines from the same winery. The booth at Marques de Riscal had a number of wines and these three Rioja wines were all amazing. The 2016 Tempranillo ($16) was OK but needed some more time in the bottle. The 2013 Reserva ($28-available in liquor stores) had really good structure and a very nice taste while the 2007 Gran Reserva ($50) was very smooth and delicious - my favourite Rioja of the evening! 

I recently blogged about the Mencia grape from Spain.  I only found one Ribeira Sacra wine (made from Mencia) from the BC Liquor store, but in my research, I realized that Bierzo was another area that grows the grape. Happily, there was a winery in attendance from Bierzo that specialized in Mencia grape wine. The 2015 Descendientes de J. Palacios  Petalos ($37 - available in BC Liquor stores) was another wonderful Mencia with excellent structure, a touch of minerality and still some strong red and black fruits.

Although the first hour was mostly concentrated on Spanish wines, it was a bit of a blur. However, here are a few of the other really nice wines that we liked:

The favourite wine from Priorat was the Alvaro Palacios 2016 Camins del Priorat ($34). This wine is a blend (as is usual from Priorat) of Cab Sauv, Grenache, Syrah and a Spanish grape called Samso. Wonderful aroma with red and black fruits.

From the Ribera Del Guadiana was another beautiful Tempranillo - the Bodegas Alvear 2015 Palacio Quernado La Zarcita ($30). This wine was another smooth yet structured dark cherry wine.

A real standout was Arinzano which had wines that were all very enjoyable - and we picked up a few of these. This winery has the Pago designation which is a relatively new classification. Instead of a whole region getting a classification (like Priorat or Rioja), individual vineyards can apply to get an equivalent classification. Arinzano is one of only 17 vineyards to have this. There is a certainly a positive as all of their wines were very nice from the 2016 Hacienda Tempranillo to the 2010 La Casona ($44) made from Merlot and Tempranillo to the 2014 Gran Viino Blanco made with Chardonnay to the 2010 Gran Vino Tinto ($91) made from wonderful Tempranillo.

I did try some very nice white wines including a 2016 Marques de Riscal ($19)  from Rueda made with Verdejo grapes that tasted wonderful - fresh, fruity and light. My favourite white, though, was an Albarino from Rias Baixas made by Vionta ($24). The reason? My wife said it tasted like a glass of summer.

How can you beat that?

At this point, we headed to the onsite liquor store and bought some of these fantastic wines.

Next blog is part 2, the rest of the world!