Super Chianti!

Remember these? Chianti with a nice straw bottom?

That was the Chianti of my youth. 

At first, I thought the straw was a distinctive element, reserved for a special wine. Then, I started to realize that much of the Chianti (with straw) was not that good. And then I stopped drinking it.

In a previous blog, I alluded to a visit to Rome a couple of years ago. While there, I did my best to drink a fair bit of wine and some variety as well. Near the apartment we were staying (in Trastevere), there was a little grocery story run by, I think, Pakistanis. Their selection of wines was not extensive or fancy but for a few Euros, we could buy a decent bottle of Chianti. 

The nice thing about Rome is that most of what you want to see is in a fairly compact area. We walked everywhere during our 10 day stay. It was a wonderful way to see such a unique and archetypal city and so we walked and walked and walked. Every day, it seemed like we walked for three or four hours. 

At the end of the day, sometimes we would go out for a wonderful meal - usually pasta with a shared appetizer and possibly dessert as well as a bottle of wine. 

But, sometimes, we were exhausted with all of our walking and all we wanted to do was have a seat and talk about our exciting day. On those days we would go to the local take out pizza place, choose a couple of different types of pizza pieces, and then stop at that Pakistani grocery store for a cheap, but tasty, bottle of Chianti. It was delizioso! 

While preparing to take the WSET course, I discovered a couple of things about Chianti...

•  Chianti is not a grape, but is a region - it is actually made from sangiovese grape (true fact - years ago, when visiting with my - at the time - little kids, I saw signs for Chianti at a bus stop that we were taking photos. I just figured the region was named after the grape!).
• Chianti, the stuff I had bought at home, was the lower quality wine - the higher quality wine is called Chianti Classico.

Today, back and the Dundarave Wine Merchant, I looked around while my wife shopped for some non-wine product at a clothing store. Unfortunately, the guy behind the till was not the same as a couple of weeks ago so I felt a bit on my own. I looked through Bordeaux wines, Burgundy, and some French whites but eventually found myself looking at the Italian wines. I thought, why not try the Chianti Classico - something I had never done before! 

 

The wine I tried was a Santa Margherita Chianti Classico ($28). It was a Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG) wine which is the highest category in Italy. 

Taking out my snazzy WSET Level 2 tasting card, I first looked carefully at the wine, It was a clear wine with light intensity and a ruby colour. On the nose, it showed red fruit, red cherry and some jamminess. Once I tasted it, I noticed more red fruit, strong plum flavour, a bit of strawberry and some raisin. There were, I think, medium tannins, which really made the wine well rounded and enjoyable. It had medium acidity and a medium finish.

It was another amazing pizza wine (we had left over pizza from last night) and would also go with BBQ and pork. It actually seemed like a pretty versatile wine but had some nice punch with the tannins. Maybe next time I should grab a bottle of Chianti to compare - just not the one with the straw bottom.....

Why am I doing a wine blog?

So, I've decided to take the plunge.

In a little less than two weeks, I will beginning to take a wine course - one, I hope, that is going to be a serious exposure to all things wine.

Despite the title, I won't become a sommelier, though, although this would probably be a step onto that path.

I will be taking a course called WSET 2 - Wine and Spirit Education Trust Level 2.

Why?

I've progressed a long way in my wine appreciation over the years.

Wayyyy back during the late 70s, drinking wine meant high alcohol, high sweetness local wines like Calona White and sweet, bubbly Fuddle Duck, wines that were closer to Kool Aid than Cabernet.

After pretty much avoiding wine in the 80s and 90s, I started making my own wine in the basement, sometimes from kits, sometimes from juice, and once, from juice and skins from a winery in the Okanagan. I did learn a lot about making wine, probably the most important thing being, I don't really like making wine. Then I 'made' wine at u-brew places, the best being a one called Once Upon a Vine where I convinced myself that I was making a pretty fine wine.

I was kidding myself. The wine was really still plonk.

Over the past 10 years I have become more and more interested in wine and have definitely become intently interested in learning about wine.

What is WSET and why am I taking level 2?

Well, it is an international organization that oversees a number of levels (4, actually) of wine knowledge, service and tasting. Becoming an actual sommelier is beyond level 4. But that's OK - I am not interested in becoming an actual sommelier - I just want to be a wine nerd. Also, I really enjoy drinking wine. And this course will help me enjoy drinking wine even more!

Level 1 is pretty basic so, after talking to a few people in the know, I felt that level 2 was a better starting level for me.

The purpose of this blog is to hopefully give you some insight on what it's like to take the WSET and to give you my opinion about some different wines that I will try during the WSET course.

So....onto the wines.

I was at a good friend's house for dinner last night and had a couple of interesting wines....

The first was an Adega and 45th Cabernet Franc ($26). We bought this at the winery a couple months ago and it was one of the few wineries open during the winter. When we were at the wintery, the grand-daughter of the founder served us. Grandpa came over from Portugal to farm in the Okanagan and switched to wine in 2005 with the winery opening in 2011.

The Cabernet Franc was a very nice drinking wine. It had some great fruit aromas - some berry and some plum - and left a nice taste in my mouth.

The second was an Australian red wine blend made in Port Misery (!) called Hope's End ($14.99). It was more had more tannins than the Adega and had a stronger taste but was also a bit jammy. According to the website, it is a blend of Shiraz, Malbec and Grenache and is quite drinkable. We had it with a beef and rice dish and it seemed to compliment it well.

Two to try for later:

My wife and I went for a great walk along the seawall in West Vancouver yesterday. While in Dundrave, we went to the Dundrave Wine Cellar to look at their wine. I spoke to the gentleman in the store and explained that I was going to be starting my WSET 2 and was interested in trying either a Burgundy or Bordeaux that was ready to drink now. He gave me several options and I found that I was able to follow around 75% of what he said - six months ago, it would have be 25%!

We settled on a Chateau de Callac from Graves ($32).

This is a Bordeaux wine from a winery on the left bank of the Bordeaux region. As you can see in the map below, it is in the lower left bank of the region.

The left bank of Bordeaux is predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon and the right bank is predominantly Merlot. According to Wikipedia, the Graves region is the birthplace of Claret. Interestingly, a website I saw talked about how Claret was a name the English used for Bordeaux. Why? Well, during one of the umpteen wars against France, the English decided that, although they wanted to drink French wines, they didn't want to actually have French names for them. Claret was what the Portuguese called Bordeaux so the English starting using that non-French name for French wine from Bordeaux! 

The other wine is a Paso Creek Zinfandel ($15.99) that my friend is into at this point. It is a red Zinfandel which is curious as I have only drunk while Zinfandel before. Will have to try that one in the future!