Two wines - and two wine stories - from France

M. Chapoutier is a large wine company from France - they make wines from several areas and particularly in the Côtes-du-Rhône and Languedoc-Rousiullon in the south of France. There are famous wines such as Chateauneuf-de-Pape but there are also a lot of really good wines that don't have a village name. 

The wine we had when my friend, Keith, and I were tasting last week was a Bila-Haut from M. Chapoutier. I'll get into the tasting in a moment but one thing you'll notice is that there is Braille on the label. In fact, most, if not all, of M. Chapoutier's wines have Braille on the bottle. Why is that?

Well, according to Vinepair, when Michel Chapoutier was a young man of 29 years old, and had been in the family wine business for a mere three years, he was watching his friend, musician Gilbert Montagnin, on TV. Gilbert is blind and was explaining how difficult it was for him to identify wines. In fact, he had stopped going to wine shops by himself  because he felt so uncomfortable and would only venture in to buy a bottle when with a friend.

Michel knew his friend loved Côtes-du-Rhône wines so he investigated to see how difficult it would be to print Braille on his family's wines labels. As it turned out, it wasn't difficult at all and, from then on, Braille was included on all of the Côtes-du-Rhône wines as well as others that M. Chapoutier makes including Languedoc Rousillon.

And now, several other wine makers include Braille on their labels as well. 

For our tasting, we decided to do one of my favourite inexpensive wines, a Bila Haut from Cotes-du-Roussillon Villages ($16.99). At my liquor store there was both a 2017 and 2018 Bila-Haut but Keith could only find a 2018 so that is what we went with. The mix of this wine is Syrah, Grenache and Carignan.

Here are my tasting notes:

Appearance - Clear, deep, ruby.

Nose - Clean, medium intensity, grape, blueberry, plum, blackberry, cranberry, black currant, leather, cloves.

Palate - Dry, medium acidity, medium tannins, high alcohol, medium plus intensity, medium plus body, with flavours of grape, blueberry, blackberry, plum, black currant, tobacco, leather, black pepper,

Evaluation - This was an enjoyable wine on its own but really was a nice food wine (as many wines are). You could drink this now or age for a couple of years. It was balanced, had a good long finish, had pretty good intensity and some complexity.  I rated this wine as between Good and Very Good. 

This week we tasted another wine from France, a wine from Cahors. 

Cahors is in the southwest of France, north of Toulouse. Wine has been made there since Roman times - although one Emperor (Domitian) had all of the vineyards burned in 92 AD because the growers in Italy thought there was too much competition. Happily, by 276 AD, grapes were allowed to grow again and started to thrive as the Roman Empire declined.

In 1152, Cahors wine got a huge boost as it was served at the wedding of Eleanor Aquitaine and Henri Plantagenet, future king of England.  It was called the 'black wine of Lot'  due to its rich colour and become a hit with wine drinkers in both France and England right up until the late 1800s. 

Then that nasty bug phylloxera hit. 

After recovering, thanks to American rootstocks, Cahors was hit again in 1956 by massive frosts that wiped out most of the vineyards. 

But that wasn't such a bad thing. 

After phylloxera, winegrowers ended up planting a variety of different grapes and didn't plant so much Malbec so their wine wasn't that special. After the frosts, however, Malbec (along with some Merlot and Tannat) was the grape planted once again - and 'black wine' was back!

My friend, Keith, is a big fan of Cahors so I was interested in tasting this wine. 

We had a 2015 Cahors Château Eugenie Tradition Malbec Merlot ($23.99 - the least expensive Cahors in the liquor store) which was, of course, a Malbec (80%) and Merlot (20%) blend.

Appearance -  Clear, deep, ruby.

Nose - Clean, medium plus intensity, black cherry, raspberry, cranberry, blackberry, raisins, pepper, cedar, toast, smoke, leather and tobacco. Developing.

Palate - Dry, high acidity, medium tannins, medium alcohol, medium body, cherry, tobacco, cedar, blackberry, leather, smoke, pepper, tar.

Evaluation - This was another wine that was very enjoyable to drink on its own but was stellar with food (and I am just taking cheese and crackers!). I would drink this now or age for a couple of years (although the producers web site says 3 - 5 years). This was fairly balanced but had a long finish, was intense and was complex. A Very Good wine. 

Story time's over.....

Cheers!

A Renewed Winery and a New Winery - Cedar Creek and Priest Creek

With friends outside the gorgeous view at Cedar Creek

We recently opened our bubble a little bit more and had friends from Vancouver stay with us for a few days. It was wonderful to have some semblance of normality with visiting, sharing wine, having dinners together, and going on wine tastings.

We went to a few different wineries over a couple days but I wanted to highlight two of the wineries that made an impact.

Cedar Creek is always a great stop and, I think, is the future of wine tastings. Not only have they recently renovated their winery, they have continued to innovate by changing their tasting format to a seated tasting - for Covid time and beyond. 

After booking a reservation, we arrived for our Farm to Glass wine tasting which cost $22 per person. This sort of fee may come as a surprise to Okanagan regulars but Napa and Willamette, to name a couple, have been charging equivalent prices or a lot more for their tastings for years.

You can choose either a tasting based on Northern Okanagan wines such as Riesling and Pinot Noir or on Southern Okanagan wines like Merlot and Viognier. We chose the latter. We sat on a comfortable leather sofa and Darren, our wine associate, brought the wines to us and knowledgeably explained the different wines including stories of where the wines were grown and how they were made. 

Briefly, the wines were...

The 2018 Platinum Haynes Creek Viognier ($35) was a wonderful expression of the Viognier grape. This wine had wonderful floral aromas and an almost oily, textured body with fruit and spice. This was a Very Good wine. 

The 2018 Border Vista Sauvignon Blanc ($30) was a good, crisp wine with lots of acidity, citrus and gooseberry flavours, and seemed to call out for some food. This was a Good to Very Good wine.

The 2017 Estate Merlot ($21) was OK - it did taste a bit plummy for me and - for my wife - that is a big turn off. Still, it had a fairly complex aroma and tasted fine. This would be between Adequate and Good. 

The 2016 Platinum Desert Ridge Merlot ($50) was a stunner! This bold wine had a complex aroma and a full flavoured taste of dark fruits and secondary flavours such as mushroom, cedar and tobacco. This was my favourite wine of the tasting and I would rate it Outstanding. 

Finally, the 2016 Platinum Desert Ridge Meritage ($50) was a silky and smooth wine with black fruits and spices, I would happily down this with a nice rib eye steak and would rate this as Very Good. 

We continued our tastings over the course of the two days stopping at Frind (a new winery that is becoming one of my favourites), the Hatch (a must see for their great wines as well as their irreverent spin on tasting), Rollingdale (the best quonset hut wine tasting experience in the Okanagan). Meadow Vista (a refreshing break with their distinctive honey wine and bistro), and the Vibrant Vine (with a new winemaker, there are excellent wines both old and new in a psychedelic environment). 

Our final stop after two days of tasting was recommended by Hamish, the wineshop manager at the Vibrant Vine. 

Priest Creek Estate Winery has only been open for two weeks but I think they will do well if their opening wines are any indication. 

Our tasting started with their Decota bubbles ($19 - current promotion - 2 for $25) which was a very nice, traditional sparkler made with a blend of two mystery grapes. I need to taste this one carefully at home and email the winery with my guess. Very Good. 

Next was their Pinot Gris ($23) which was a fresh, crisp wine with flavours of citrus and apple that would be enjoyable on the patio whenever the sunshine returns. Good.

Their Estate Gewürztraminer ($26) had a wonderful floral aroma is made from older vines - I'm not sure how old but I would wager over 20 years. There were tastes of lychee and grapefruit and would go well with Asian or spicy food as well as a patio sipper. Very Good. 

The 2018 Pinot Noir ($36) was the only wine that I really didn't love. It was a very light Pinot Noir that had lots of fruit on both the nose and the palate but didn't seem to have many secondary elements. However, it might be one to age and could develop over time so I rated it as Adequate to Good for its potential. 

The 2017 Merlot ($33) was stellar. We loved this. Again, my wife, the Merlot hater, said that this was a definite winner. This wine spent 30 months in new French oak and there are wonderful flavours developing such as cedar, mushroom and leather. This is one to put down for a couple of years. Very Good to Outstanding.

The final wine we tried was their Bordeaux blend, 2016 Hat Trick ($46). It was a tasty blend that really featured Merlot similar to what we had tasted in the last wine. I enjoyed this one as it had some complex flavours but, for a bold wine, it still couldn't beat the 2017 Merlot. Good to Very Good.

We were fortunate that the husband and wife were both in the winery when we visited. They are originally from Saskatchewan and have come to the Okanagan to make wine. The tasting room is very nice inside and there is a courtyard where you can purchase a bottle of wine and enjoy with a couple of glasses amongst the vines. I see good things in the future for this winery. 

It was wonderful to have friends visit and it was great to be able to do some serious wine tasting. Slowly and cautiously, the province is opening up .

Cheers!

Zoom Tastings - Four Wines Under $20

Two Zooming wine experts taking thoughtful tasting notes.

Last year, before we moved to Kelowna, I would get together each week for plein air painting followed by a wine tasting with my friend, Keith. We usually tasted two wines, and Coravined them both - which could be a challenge as our only caveat was that the wine should retail under $20.

Now that I live in the Okanagan, we trade photos of our plein air paints that we complete independently (for feedback) but only recently began wine tasting again - and, again, with the caveat that the wines should be $20 or under.

Basically we pick a wine to taste in advance and then we both buy a bottle of the same wine. Unfortunately that means no blind tasting but we have had to adapt. We connect on Zoom and then crack our respective bottles, pour, and then go through a WSET 3 tasting note. After appearance and nose, we discuss, and then we taste and evaluate and then discuss again. It's a great way to keep our noses and palates in shape!

The first week we did this, we tried a 2018 Oops Spicy Splendor Carménère from Chile (currently on sale for $13 at BCLS).  I do enjoy a nice Carménère and, despite the name, this one did not disappoint.

Appearance - Clear, medium, ruby

Nose - Clean, medium intensity - cherry, blueberry (a lot), black currant, pepper, bell pepper, leather

Palate - Dry, medium acidity, medium minus tannins, high alcohol, medium plus intensity, medium finish, medium plus body with fruity flavours of blueberry, cherry, black currant, vanilla, leather, tobacco and spiciness

Overall - The Carménère  was fairly balanced, had OK length, intense flavours and was fairly complex. I rated the wine as Good. It could probably stand a couple of years at least in the cellar as it is only a 2018, it has some acidity, and there are a lot of fruit flavours to draw from. I enjoyed this wine a lot and would buy again, especially at the price. My friend felt the same way. My wife, on the other hand, did not enjoy this. More for me!

The following week we tried a Georges du Boeuf Beaujolais ($15). I remember drinking this wine when I first started to venture out from drinking my own homemade wine. That was quite a few years ago and I recall buying this wine regularly. Then, for some reason, I stopped.

Appearance - Clear, deep, purple

Nose - Clean, medium plus intensity, violets, red liquorice, cinnamon, grape, bubble gum, blueberry

Palate - Dry, medium plus acidity, medium minus tannins, medium alcohol, medium body, medium intensity, medium minus finish, similar flavours as the nose

Overall - This light wine was fairly intense and complex with an OK balance and a relatively short finish. I would drink this now - most Beaujolais wine fits into this category unless you have a cru wine like Morgon or Fleury. The grape for this wine is Gamay Noir and makes a good accompaniment to many dishes due to its lightness - a great wine to order if everyone has a different kind of meal at a restaurant and you don't want to order a (more expensive) Pinot Noir. The interesting flavours such as red liquorice, cinnamons and bubble gum are due to the carbonic maceration when this wine is fermented. I would rate this between Adequate and Good. Drink now!

The third week, we stuck with French wine. This one is a current favourite value wine - a 2016 Ventoux Chateau Pesquié Terrasses from the Southern Rhone ($20). 

Appearance - Clear, medium, ruby.

Nose - Clean, medium intensity, blueberry, plum, blackberry, smoked meat, pepper, forest floor, charred wood.

Palate - Dry, high alcohol, medium acidity, medium minus tannin, medium intensity, medium plus finish, medium plus body, blackberry, blueberry, smoke, charred wood, cedar, leather, tobacco.

Overall - This 60% Grenache 40% Syrah wine has some nice secondary and tertiary characteristics. It is ready to drink and, due to the rather low tannins, I would drink within the year. It was a tasty wine by itself but really came into its own when I had a cracker and cheese with it. A very nice food wine that punches a bit above its price point. This wine is fairly balanced, has medium length, is intense in flavour and is wonderfully complex. I would rate this wine between Good and Very Good. 

The final wine to look at today is a fresh 2019 Leyda Rosé from the west coast of Chile made from Pinot Noir ($16). 

Appearance - Clear, medium, salmon colour

Nose - Clean, medium plus intensity, grapefruit, strawberry, cranberry, gooseberry (the kind you find here), lavender

Palate - Dry, medium plus acidity, medium plus alcohol, medium body, medium plus intensity, grapefruit, strawberry, candied fruits, pepper, raspberry, tanginess

Overall - I love a good Rosé, especially this time of year. It goes with so many things but is also wonderful to slurp on the patio. The Leyda did not disappoint. It was fruity but also nice and dry. It was a very balanced wine with a long finish, intense flavours and was fairly complex. I would drink this wine now (as you should with almost all Rosés) and rated this wine as Very Good.  There are some very nice Rosé's currently in the Okanagan but I can't think of any as nice as this one at this price point. 

I am very happy to be regularly tasting with my friend again. A thoughtful tasting really does make you appreciate the wine so much more as it is sometimes difficult to critically examine a wine when you are just having a glass on the patio. I look forward to our weekly tastings and I am sure we will continue these well into the future. 

Cheers!