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| The view from Quail's Gate Winery |
Shortly after I did my last blog post in November, I had a bit of a scare....
First, I started getting a metallic taste in my mouth. My sinuses get a little stuffed up from time to time so this isn't unusual a couple of times a year. However, one night, I also got the chills. I was so cold that I ended up taking a hot shower in the middle of the night with mostly hot water.
After going to bed looking a bit like a lobster, I was still a bit cold - and so I was worried. Was it Covid?
Thanks to our excellent health system, I was able to get a Covid test appointment for a couple hours later.
33 hours later (not that I was counting or anxious or...) I got this text message:
\What a relief!
Of course, since that time I have still been tasting wine with my friend, Keith, on a weekly basis. We are each responsible for two wines in a row and have been choosing a theme lately such as a region or varietal.
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| Courtesy Wine Folly |
Keith picked Puglia in Italy for his first theme and we did two interesting wines from there - one of them a wine that I have since bought three more bottles!
The first wine was a 2018 Luccarelli Primitivo (on sale right now at BC Liquor for $14). Primitivo is the same grape as Zinfandel found in California.
Appearance: Clear, medium ruby.
Nose: Clean, medium intensity, black plum, blackberry, strawberry, pencil shavings, dried blueberries, cedar and vanilla.
Palate: Dry, medium plus acidity, medium minus tannins, high alcohol, medium body, medium plus intensity, medium finish - cedar, charred wood, candied or jammy fruit, blackberry, blueberry, black plum
Evaluation: This wine had a hint of bitterness due to the high acidity. It cried out for a nice pasta dinner - definitely a food wine. It was fairly balanced and had a good length with strong intensity and complexity. I rated this wine on the border between Good and Very Good - but, at even the regular price ($15), this is a bargain.
The next wine blew me away. It was a 2019 Botter Salento Verso Rosso (on sale right now at BC Liquor for $18). This is a blend of Negroamaro and Primitivo grapes which includes some appassimento grapes which have been picked and dried in the sun before being fermented.
Appearance: clear, deep, ruby
Nose: clean, medium intensity, grape, cedar, plum, charred wood, cherry, blackberry, cloves, fig
Palate: dry, medium plus acidity, medium minus tannins, high alcohol, medium plus body,. long finish and medium plus flavour intensity with tastes of grape, plum, cherry, blackberry, fig, cooked berries, plum jam.
Evaluation: This was a very nice wine. It is a good sign to me when the nose and the palate is similar and this one was pretty close. It was such a smooth wine with so much flavour - and at such a good price! This was a balanced wine with great length, strong intensity of flavour and was complex. I would rate this wine as between Very Good and Outstanding and would suggest that you have this one with food.
After the two wines from Puglia, it was my turn.
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| Courtesy Wine Folly |
I have neglected wines from South Africa for too long! However, I did have a really nice Cinsault last month when I did a wine tasting and drawing class. A friend of mine has teamed up with an artist and they do the tasting and drawing things online - interested? Check out Unwined. The drawing was lots of fun and the wine was very good but was priced in the mid $30s so it didn't go along with Keith and my maximum price of around $20. I also didn't want to have a Pinotage as I have found most of the South African Pintoages a bit too much like espresso.
The first wine we had was a 2018 Protea Cabernet Sauvignon ($15). This wine is made in the Franshhoek Valley in the Western Cape of South Africa and comes with an odd cork that sticks out at the top that you can, apparently, just open by twisting.
Appearance: Clear, deep ruby
Nose: Clean, medium intensity, black currant, blackberry, leather, cedar, green pepper, cooked fruit, spice, black pepper, and possibly eucalyptus
Palate: dry, medium acidity, medium plus tannins, high alcohol, medium plus body, medium plus intensity of flavour, medium length with flavours of blackberry, cedar, leather, charred wood, pepper and cooked fruits
Evaluation: This wine had a lot of fruit on the nose but ended up losing a lot of that on the palate, leaving tastes from the oak and just a bit of fruit. It was ok in balance and length, had fairly good intensity of flavour and was somewhat complex wine. It might be an idea to age this wine for a couple of years as that would reduce some of the tannins and leather/charred wood taste. I rated this food wine as Good.
The final wine of today's blog is the 2019 Boutinot Tiger Horse Cinsault ($15 at BC Liquor) made from 40 year old bush vines from the Western Cape.
Appearance: Clear, medium ruby
Nose: Medium intensity, clean, cranberry, plum, blackberry, strawberry, raspberry, smoke, toast, forest floor, and, perhaps, violet
Palate: Medium plus flavour intensity, dry, medium acidity, medium minus tannins, high alcohol, medium body, medium finish with flavours of cranberry, plum, strawberry, raspberry, pepper, some sort of leaf and an underlying minerality
Evaluation: This was a very different wine - lower in tannins, good fruit but still had some minerality. It was fairly balanced and had acceptable length but was intense in flavour (contrasting with the aromas which were not all that intense) and was quite complex. This is a great food wine - it would go with a variety of foods including chicken, pork, pasta, and beef. I rated this between Good and Very Good.
That's it for the time being. With a vaccine being approved just today in Canada, things are looking up. I the meantime, 'be kind, be calm, be safe'.
