How do you say. "Oh, crap!" in Spanish. WSET 3.10 - Spanish and Portuguese Wines

Courtesy Art of the Table

Things started off pretty well....

I sat down at this week's class and Lynn, the instructor, handed back my blind tasting note - which I nailed - and the mini quiz - which I mostly nailed.

I was feeling pretty damned confident!

Then we did the first tasting.

It was two whites, one from Spain and one from Portugal. After Lynn described some of the characteristics of each one, I smugly came to the conclusion that the first wine was an Albarino and the second was a Vinho Verde.

Wrong.

Oh, crap.

The first wine was actually 2017 Aveleda Vinho Verde from Portugal ($15). It had a fairly complex flavour profile with pear, lime, orange blossom, melon, wet stone and a floral component on both the nose and palate.  This low alcohol, high acid wine had a little bit of spritz which was hard to detect initially since it was a bit of a surprise. This was a blend of mostly Loureiro and Alvarinho grapes.  A 'drink now' wine, this was rated as Good and would go well with cooked or fried white fish.

The second wine (that I thought was not as good) was actually a great Albarino from Spain - it was a 2017 Terras Gauda Albarino from Rias Baixas ($40). This had aromas of peach, apricot and pear and also a savoury or cheesy aroma - maybe even cream cheese. It had extended lees stirring which gives it that cheesy smell. There was similar fruit and savouriness on the palate along with grapefruit. This was a high acid, medium alcohol wine with a medium plus finish (not short, like I thought!). It was balanced and complex so would be rated as Very Good and could be aged for a bit.

Spain is a country with a big wine growing area but most of the vines are spread out so they get enough water. It just can't compete with Italy or France in the amount of grapes grown. There are a variety of climates in Spain with the main difficulties being either too much rain (on the coast) or not enough rain.

The big grape here is Tempranillo. This thick skinned, medium acidity grape is popular on its own or with other grapes. It's grown in Rioja, the Ribera del Duero, Navarra, Toro, and La Mancha.

Another big grape is Garnacha (Grenache). This high alcohol grapes is one that loves the heat and ripens late. It is usually blended with other grapes such as in Rioja, and Navarra. It is also grown in Carinena, Calatayud, Priorat, and Ribera del Duero.

Monastrell (also known as Mourvedre) is a great grape for the heat as it has quite a thick skin and ripens late. It is grown in the Levante area which includes Valencia, Jumilla, and Yecla.

There's also other black grapes such as Graciano (blending grape),  Mencia (a fresh fruit grape grown in Bierzo), and Carignan also known as Carinena and also known as Mazuelo.

Albarino is a popular white grape that is a thick skinned, high acid grape with stone fruit and citrus fruit. It is found is the northwest region of Spain.

Verdejo is the other bigger grape that is used a lot in sherry. It has melon and peach flavours, similar to Sauvignon Blanc, which it also happens to be blended with fairly frequently.

Our next two wines were, in fact, both Tempranillo wines from Spain. I would have been happy to drink both of these wines all night long.

The first was a 2008 La Rioja Alta Reserva Tempranillo ($75). This medium garnet wine was the more delicate of the two with tastes and aromas of red cherry, plum, strawberry, fig, toast, pepper, cedar, mushroom and leather. The finish was long, the intensity was high, and the wine was balanced and complex. An Outstanding wine that could easily age a few more years.

Not only was the first one great, the second was, in my opinion, even better! It was a 2011 Pintia Tempranillo ($104) from the Toro region of Spain. This wine was high in tannins and had flavours and aromas of smoke, black plum, blackberry, black cherry, violet, forest floor, cedar and leather. This wine was high in acidity, high in alcohol, had pronounced intensity, and had a long finish. Another Outstanding wine that could age for years!

I felt that I had redeemed myself with the Tempranillos. I nailed some of the flavours and aromas down and was started to feel smug agin. Then we had the next two wines. One was a Monastrell (Mourvedre) and one was a Mencia. I like Mencia - in fact, I've had three or four bottles. I tasted several at the Wine Festival in the spring! I KNEW my Mencia - I even recommended it to my table mates! I also remembered how tannic the Mourvedre was from Bandol so I thought it would be so easy to figure out which was which. The first one I thought was all black fruit and tannins so was the Monastrell and the second one was all red fruit and lower tannins so was the Mencia.

Wrong again.

Oh, crap. Again.

The first was 2016 Alvaro Palacios 'Petalos' Mencia from Bierzo, Spain ($46). It had aromas of red fruit, savoury, and roast coffee. It had only medium tannins and medium plus acidity with a long finish. It was rated as Very Good.

The second was a 2015 Juan Gil Monastrell from Jumilla ($33). This is the one that had the black fruit as well as vanilla on the palate. It had full body, high tannins, and a medium finish. This was a Good wine.

I'm usually a bit shaky on my tasting notes for white wines but I don't usually struggle so much with reds. I don't know what happened - possibly I decided that the first one was a Monastrell and that coloured the rest of my tasting. I've also listened to podcasts where wine experts have admitted to getting it wrong a bunch of times and that's their job!

Oh well, c'est le vin. On to Portugal.

Portugal doesn't just make Port! It makes lots of wine and many form the 5 varietals that make Port. They are Touriga Nacional (high quality, great flavour, high tannins), Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz (Tempranillo), Tinta Barroca, and Tinta Cao.

There's also the wine grapes that made the previously mentioned Vino Verde - Loureiro, Arinto, and Alvarinho (same as Spanish Albarino).

There's a ton of other grapes (like Spain, like Italy), but I think we'll just focus in our last two tastings.

The first was 2015 Cabriz Touriga Nacional and others blend from the Dao region ($22). This ruby wine had both red fruit (red cherry, cranberry) and black fruit (blueberry, black currant) was well as savoury notes. This was a mostly medium wine that was rated as Good and was suitable for drinking now.

The final wine was a 2015 Quinta do Crasto Touriga Nacional Reserva and others blend from the Douro region ($54). This was a purple wine that tasted of black fruit including blackberry, forest floor, barnyard, toast and leather. This wine had medium acidity, medium plus tannins, and high alcohol with a medium plus intensity of flavours and a beautiful long finish. This wine was rated as Outstanding.

So, after a rather mediocre tasting night, I felt a little disappointed but I don't think you can accurately taste every wine that's put in front of you. Even the pros get it wrong. Luckily, for the WSET blind tasting, you don't have to guess the wine, just describe it. My challenge is to try to avoid jumping to conclusions when I taste the wine. If I think in the first three seconds, "This is a Chardonnay," I'll probably be hooped.

Oh well, time to study some more.

How do you say, "Oh, crap!" in Spanish?

"Oh, mierda!"

But That's Not All! More Okanagan Wineries

With wife & daughter about to taste at House of Rose.

Like a late night infomercial, my recent trip to the Okanagan wineries seemed to go on and on - but in a good way! After spending a day walking Naramata wineries, and then a day recuperating, we hit the wine road again, but this time in a car.

First, we had one winery left to visit in Penticton because we hadn't had time to see them all. We visited Three Sisters based on the fact that my wife is one of three sisters in her own family!

Another winery, another excellent tasting!

We tried yet another tasty Rosé. The 2017 Rosé ($20) was a lovely fruit forward Rosé with tastes of strawberry and even a hint of rhubarb. 

Next was the 2016 Cab Franc ($25 - out of stock, according to their website but might be some left in the winery). This wine had rich dark fruit flavours that would go well with grilled pork or maybe a skewer of beef. 

Finally was one I don't see that often in the Okangan - Tempranillo. This Spanish grape is one that I do like to have on occasion and the Three Sisters take on the grape, a 2016 Tempranillo ($29), was well done. This one had tastes of dark plums and black currants and was a rather bold wine. 

Getting in the car, we zipped down past Oliver and went to an old favourite, Tinhorn Creek. We have been wine club members for many years at Tinhorn Creek. We are Original Red members so we only have to commit to one case of reds each year - I think new members have to commit to two now. Being members of the 'Crush Club' has other benefits including wine discounts, first access to special events and parties, and special offers. 

The offer that excited us (same as last year) was their Canada Day offer. We were able to get three bottles of their highly drinkable 2016 2Bench White and three bottles of  their amazing 2013 2Bench Red (note the older label)  for $133 - a savings of close to $45! Well worth the detour! Tinhorn Creek was bought out by Peller last year but their wines and service seem unaffected by the change in ownership - it is still a great place to do a tasting and their wines are, for the most part, excellent. 

Heading north, we blasted through Penticton and went all the way to Okangan Falls and Synchromesh. We love Synchromesh Riesling - and I mean LOVE their Riesling - and had bought the Okanagan Wine Club 6 pack just so we could get our hands on some. Their riesling was sold out to the general public at the beginning of June! 

Not only did we get four bottles of four distinct Rieslings from four different vineyards, we also got two bottles of their excellent red blend, Tertre Rouge. While I haven't popped any of the 2017 Riesling yet (all $28 each except for the Stormhaven which is $40), I have to tell you that my wife and I opened a bottle of 2014 Tertre Rouge ($40) and it was absolutely wonderful - good, rich tannins as well as dark fruits and a glorious, long finish. This is a blend of Merlot and Cab Franc.

I spoke to one of the guys loading up the boxes when we arrived at the winery and he said that they might not do the Okanagan Wine Club next year (uh-oh) and just make these wines available on their own wine club. Might be worth looking into - a mixed case of 2 X 4 Rieslings, 2 Tertre Rouges, and 2 Cab Francs is $334.

Back in Kelowna, we decided to check out a couple more local wineries.

First up, after a long drive, and I mean a long drive, was House of Rose. This was an interesting winery - way in the back of beyond and just a little tasting room. 

We tried several of their wines, all with crazy names like 'Grapes with Benefits' and 'Hot Flash'. The names kind of put off my wife - not sure why 'Hot Flash' had that effect...  I wasn't a huge fan of most of their wines but I did like their 2017 Cool Splash ($19) which is a fresh, fruity blend of Pinot Gris and Riesling.  It was a little off dry and so will make a great patio sipper. 

Inside The Vibrant Vine tasting room

Our final stop for tasting was The Vibrant Vine - apparently they had just won some big award so was quite the popular place. At the front of the winery is a hostess with an iPad. You give your name and she gives you a pager, sort of like a restaurant. Then you go inside and can look at their merchandise while you wait to be called. Then, you are called in and the wine guy works his magic. I think that they are only supposed to be responsible for one group at a time because our wine guy seemed a bit choked when he was given another group. 

The tasting was excellent - the associate was funny and well informed and also poured generously! We came away with two wines, the first being their 2016 Woops (so called because on the first run, they didn't catch that the labels were upside down - $26). I loved the fruitiness and the fact that it was made from a blend of seven different white varietals. I also loved the label, especially when viewed through 3D glasses!

The other wine we bought was the 2015 Dragon (around $35?) . It is a blend of Merlot, Cab Franc, and Syrah and is a lovely blend that I am considering putting in the cellar. 

After all that tasting, and driving, we ended up at Meadow Vista for an outstanding charcuterie board and a proscuitto and peach flatbread accompanied with little glasses of their Bliss sparkling honey wine which has been added to cherries - very tasty for $19 for 500ml and $27 for a litre. I would whole heartedly recommend their little bistro as a great place to grab lunch when you are wine touring in Kelowna!

There's a World of Wine Out There!

One thing that I've learned since taking my WSET course is that there is a world of wine. Just because you've had a Shiraz from Australia, doesn't mean that you know what all Shiraz (or Syrah) wines taste like. There's Syrah from the Côtes du Rhone, Syrah from the Okanagan, Syrah from the Columbia Valley, and Syrah from California. You can also find Syrah from Argentina, South Africa, and Spain, just to name a few - and it all tastes different!

There were times when I looked down at Okanagan wines for being too bland and times when I drank only Okanagan wines because they were so spectacular!  I've also gone through other periods such as  my French phase, where I would only look at the French wine aisle in the liquor store.

I have learned from my errors and now, I try to drink a variety of different wines with different grapes from different parts of the world. I do have a bit of a soft spot for BC wines but I am aware that there are so many other wines out there that I would be remiss if I were to not try as many of them as I can!

Over the past three weeks, three wines have really stuck out - one from France, one from Spain and one from the Okanagan. All were excellent wines that I will definitely have again.

First was a Cru Bourgeois from France. A little history; basically mon ami Napolean asked for a system of  classifying wines (in Bordeaux) for the 1855 Frnech Expo and his underlings came up with the current classification system in France. There have been a few updates since then but hardly any. Coming much later, Cru Bourgeois are, ostensibly, a level below cru, premier cru and grand cru. But these vineyards did not have the wines assigned in 1855. Producers actually have to apply every year and, if they get the Cru Bourgeois designation, it is a sign that this is a really good wine! It only applies to Medoc and the wines are much better priced than other Bordeaux wines.

The Cru Bourgeois I had as a 2010 Chateau Bel Orme Tronquoy de Lalande Cru Bourgeois from Haut Medoc ($30).  I decanted it for an hour before we drank it and it was marvellous! It did not have the fruitiness that I used to think was necessary for a good wine but, instead, had an intensity and a minerality that I have grown to value in an aged wine. There were good tannins and black fruit but also tastes of tobacco, leather and earth. It is a blend of Cab Sauv, Cab Franc and Merlot.

Ah, but once I had it with a rich duck sausage and mushrooms, the taste was extraordinary. The tannins in the wine cut nicely into the richness of the duck and the funky earthiness of the wine complemented the earthiness of the mushrooms. It was truly a food friendly wine - but also tasted great as I sipped it while I cooked.

The next wine was one that I picked up at the Wine Festival in Vancouver. It was a 2013 Herederos del Marques de Riscal Rioja ($30). I didn't decant this initially but. after the first sip or two, I realized that this needed some opening up. I decanted the rest while my wife and I madly swirled our glasses to get some air into the wine. It was another excellent wine with some tobacco and leather taste but there was also some fruitiness - mostly red fruit - that was on the palate.

This wine was great to sip and was also a food friendly wine. We enjoyed beef sausages (is there some pattern here?) that tasted great with the wine. To be honest, 3/4 of the bottle was gone before dinner was ready, and it was fantastic just to sip away on. This wine was a blend of mostly Tempranillo with some Graciano and some Mazuelo (also known as Carignan).

The last wine was brought by good friends who came over for a special birthday dinner. We served a great Daydreamer wine (that was very nice) but that was trumped by the 2014 Painted Rock Syrah ($35). This wine was a special bottle that our friends had kept for around a year, saving for a special occasion.

The Syrah was so smooth - yet also had definite fruit tastes of blueberries and raspberries as well as some black fruit. It was accompanying grilled leg of lamb with potatoes and was a perfect match. And what a finish! Long and rich - this was a wine that wanted you to remember it! I was really impressed with this wine and would give it top marks.

These three wines were all excellent wines from different parts of the world. They were all what I consider a bit of a splurge at around $30 but, for what you get, they were definitely worth it!

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!

Tapas and Tastings - Another Great Wine Tasting Evening

Last night, we were invited to our friends' house for an evening of wine tasting and tapas - and it was a great time!

Each couple was responsible for bringing a bottle of wine. We were given the tapas dish in advance and were asked to bring something that would go with the food.

When we arrived, we secretly put our bottle in a paper bag and labelled the bag with the number that corresponded to the tapas course.

For each wine, there was a score sheet ( à la WSET 2) and a page that gave descriptors for the different characteristics of wine. Our host, Keith, popped open the wine, shared it around, and then we spied, sniffed, swirled, sipped and slurped the wine. After a few minutes, our other host, Lynn, brought on the tapas that went with the wine which we proceeded to nibble on while sipping the wine yet again.

Finally, after all of this drinking and eating, we would make our guesses and then Keith would reveal the bottle.

I absolutely loved it!

There were five wines and five tapas. Here's what we had.

The first wine received an interesting reaction from the table. One of the guests said, right off, that she didn't like it. Another said that he couldn't smell anything. I was able to smell citrus fruits like grapefruit as well as some green apple. This continued on the palate where I also tasted what I thought was a little yeast and high acidity. It was also quite mineral-y - and had almost a stone taste to it.

It was paired with Deviled Eggs with Shrimp. The pairing was great - it really meshed very well with the wine. Both the egg and shrimp came alive with the minerality of the wine.

I decided that because it was a great food pairing that this was an Old World wine. The minerality and lack of real fruitiness on the nose led me to Chardonnay. I guessed that is was either a Chablis or a Burgundy Chardonnay.

 

It was, in fact, a French Premier Cru Chardonnay from Burgundy - a 2014 Mont-Palais Rully Premier Cru ($50 - not sure where to buy in BC). I haven't drunk a lot of Premier Cru wines so far so it is a special honour to be able to drink one. On its own, it was a good wine, but with the food, it was amazing!

Next was a red wine. I recused myself from this one because my friend had phoned me a few days before and asked for a recommendation - so I knew what it was! Even so, I think that I would have been able to get this one. It had a lighter ruby colour with just a hint of garnet around the edge. The taste was definitely black fruits and there was medium structure and acidity. This was unmistakable as a Pinot Noir.

The tapa for this wine was a mushroom crostini with roasted red pepper and gruyere cheese. The wine paired very nicely with the food.

I had given my friend two possibilities - an Old World Pinot from France and a New World from the Okanagan. Since the wine tasted so darned good on its own, I, naturally, assumed it was the New World Pinot.

Wrong! It was a French Jean-Claude Boisset Les Ursulines 2016 Burgundy (Bourgogne) Pinot Noir ($26). I found it to be a very nice Pinot and would pair with a very nice range of dishes - the perfect wine when everyone orders something different!

The third wine was tricky. It was a fairly pale lemon white wine with a somewhat fruity nose and smelled of apple, honey, and stone fruit. The tapa that we had with it was an amazing Mu She chicken wrapped in lettuce. The fruitiness of the  wine paired well with the spices in the chicken.

My wife and I have had a couple of bottles of Gewürztraminer lately and I didn't think the nose was floral enough. That still left others like Pinot Gris or Viognier - so that's what I guessed - Pinot Gris.

Nope! It was a 2016 Gray Monk Gewürztraminer ($16) from the Okanagan. I was fooled by the less floral nose! Fooled or not, it was a good wine to have with the food.

Fourth was the wine that we had brought. It was well received as it was a bit bold, had some nice red and black fruit, had soft tannins and medium acid, and paired well with the tapa which was potato skins with chorizo and queso (cheese). The food was unbelievably delicious (well, it all was, actually) and I was tempted to find a yogurt container so I could steal all the left overs. The wine really stood up well to the chorizo but didn't overpower the subtler flavours in the skins or the cheese. A great pairing!

One of my friends got it (or came close enough, in my mind). He guessed Tempranillo - and it was, in fact,  a  2013 Beronia Rioja Reserva (aged at least 3 years) from Spain. For $26 I think this was an excellent wine and will definitely buy it again. Kudos to 'my guy' at the Pitt Meadows Specialty BC Liquor Store who helped me with this selection. This wine actually has Tempranillo and two Spanish grapes that I don't know a lot about, Mazuelo and Graciano.

Finally, we had a fortified wine to finish off. It was definitely a Port but it's pretty hard for me to tell the difference between Ports - other than they taste wonderful! This Port was quite sweet, had notes of nuts, caramel and honey, and was paired with an incredible chocolate mousse. The Port was sweet enough to stand up nicely to the dessert. I decided that it wasn't a vintage Port (as it was poured straight from the bottle - vintage Ports need to be decanted), tasted sweeter than I thought a Tawny Port would taste and tasted smoother than a ruby Port so I thought it was a Late Bottle Vintage (LBV) Port.

Close, but no cigar - it was a Taylor Fladgate 10 Year Old Tawny Port from Portugal ($40). Still, not a bad guess....

A great end to a fantastic tasting evening. Viva tapas!