Camp Wine - Tasting in a Tent

Pyramid Lake, Jasper National Park

Oh, how times have changed.

It didn't seem that long ago when having a drink while camping meant cracking open a six pack or passing around a flask of 'camp scotch'.

It seems that my friends and I have all become a bit more refined - or at least we think we are. During my last camping trip to Jasper National Park in Alberta with my three friends, we drank mostly wine, especially when the day's activities were done and we were sitting around in the mosquito tent, relaxing.

I, admittedly, contributed to the wine focus by bringing along wine tasting info based on the WSET 2 tasting sheet I used for my course. Just Google "WSET tasting sheet" to find out what we used to taste the wines. The tasting sheet is extremely useful because it gives everyone the same vocabulary when you taste something in a wine. Sure, there really isn't apple or peach in a glass of white wine, but there are flavours and aromas that are similar to apple or peach and that's what you are trying to figure out.

One member of our group brought 3 bottles of Pinot Gris. I really enjoy a good bottle of Pinot Gris, especially when it is crisp, fresh, and fruity, and has those apple, pear and/or peach flavours along with a bit of honey. On a recent trip back east, I made the mistake of ordering a glass of Pinot Grigio (my wife didn't feel like wine for this meal). Pinot Grigio is the same grape as Pinot Gris but it is much more neutral in style. The wine I had was flat and watery and tasted nothing like the wonderful Pinot Gris's that I have had, such as Fort Beren's Pinot Gris.

All of the Pinot Gris's that we had at camp were good - the had some complexity, were balanced and expressive as a Pinot Gris. What made a difference, though, was the next day.

As we were trying both a red and a white each night, we didn't finish the Pinot Gris that we had opened each night and put it in the cooler (on ice) until the next day. Out of the three Pinot Gris's that we tasted, only the Pfaff Pinot Gris from Alsace still tasted good the next day. The other two completely lost their fruitiness and we were left with a harshness and acidity that was not balanced. They went from good wines to almost unacceptable.

I was especially disappointed with the Summerhill Organic Pinot Gris as I am usually quite impressed by their wines. However, this one was just ok when fresh and was actually unacceptable after a day on ice. But the Pfaff, I would definitely buy again!

Our go to place in Jasper was the Jasper Wine Cellar. The owner and other employees that we met were great to talk to and they did suggest some good wines - and we did some selections are our own.

 I was excited to see a Pinotage from South Africa in the Jasper store. The only straight up Pinotage that you can buy in BC from South Africa is The Grinder (which I thoroughly enjoyed) but I wanted to try another example. This did not disappoint. The Niel Joubert 2014 Pinotage had the same hints of coffee but not quite so strong. Pinotage is such a full bodied, flavourful wine and I was so pleased to have another really good one. This one was less in your face which made it a bit more pleasant to drink.

The one selection that was the worst, for a number of reasons, was the Chateau Meric Bordeaux. I was truly excited about this wine (~$25) as it was from the Graves region and I had had a nice Chateau Callac a few weeks ago, also from Graves - so imagine my disappointment when we opened this bottle and tasted a wine that was watery! The aroma had been a bit promising with dark fruits and tobacco on the nose but when tasting the wine, the fruit taste disappeared and the wine just seemed to taste like water and tannins. It was a huge disappointment. I'm not sure if there was a fault or if it was a bad year but all four of us were unimpressed by the wine.

Happily, on our next trip to the Jasper Wine Cellar, the woman suggested a different wine - just $15  - but also a Bordeaux. The 2015 Chateau de Courteillac actually had the type of wine (Merlot-Cab Sauv) on the label, which is kind of unusual. However, the wine tasted very nice - plummy with red and black fruits and a nice tobacco hint with medium tannins. It was sooo much better than the Chateau Meric!

Probably the best selection was the Layer Cake Zinfandel. No, this isn't your grandma's White Zinfandel, that hideous, candy-like embarrassment to rosé. This Zinfandel is deep red, rich, full bodied and tastes wonderful. Fun fact -  in Italy, it is usually referred to as Primitive, not Zinfandel. There were medium tannins and just the right amount of acidity as we tasted berries, black cherries, and pepper. It was a bold wine and I will definitely buy this one again. I would rate it as a very good wine.

Despite the fact that we were drinking out of lucite glasses, we enjoyed tasting - and drinking - this wide variety of wines of the week that we were camping. It really added to the experience to swish and swirl the wines (not a lot of spitting with this group) and being thoughtful tasters made this a very rewarding experience. I am much more likely to remember the wines that were great and the wines that were awful after tasting - dare I say - mindfully. It also adds to the overall enjoyment of drinking wine. Finally, it sure makes camping a lot of fun!

I wish it were not a Zin to have liked it so. WSET Class 2 - Part 2

Ah, the wines of my youth.

I know, I keep going back to such incredibly sweet wines that helped me learn to drink. Wines like Hochtaler (they had a killer good commercial with a Marlene Dietrich type character) and Schloss Laderheim.

 One of my dad's other celebratory favourites was Baby Duck which, like Fuddle Duck, I was allowed to have on special occasions when I was a teenage but mixed with ginger ale.

These were all from the beginnings of the Okanagan wine industry when it was just fledgling. Now, things have improved mightily (even though some or all of the wines listed are still available).

One of the wines that is still available that has a bit of a bad name is Zinfandel - specifically White Zinfandel.  As Dr. Vinny from Wine Spectator notes "White Zinfandel is maligned by some wine lovers because it has a reputation as the wine people drink when they don’t actually like wine." 

This leads me to part 2 of WSET class number 2.

After the break, the main topic was how wine is made. Not too worried about that part as I made enough plonk in the basement to have a pretty good knowledge of how to make it - or, at least, how not to make it.

Then it was time for the first post break tasting. The two wines were poured and we were told that they were the same grape. One was a rosé and one was a red.

The first was the rosé and it was a Beringer Main and Vine (California) White Zinfandel - 10% alcohol ($8!).

It was pink, medium  intensity, and actually had a few flavours in it including raspberry, strawberry and cotton candy. It had medium acidity, medium body and a short finish (I was a bit off on those last three).  It was rated a Good wine.

 

The second was a Zinfandel that was a red wine. This $55 bottle was from Sonoma Country Ridge Vinyeards (California) and was a staggering 14.9%! It was medium ruby in colour.  On the nose were black fruits as well as stewed fruits and had medium + intensity. The palate included both red and black fruit with medium tannins, oak tastes such as vanilla, and a medium + finish. This was rated as Very Good.

One of our group absolutely nailed the grape as Zinfandel! I was thinking Cabernet Franc....

A note on the tasting notes. I am still really new at this so I am, for the most part, putting down either what I thought if it agreed with Dave or what Dave thought if I was way off the mark. The Acceptable, Good, Very Good, or Outstanding ratings are basically what Dave has come up with after explaining the reasons why.

Basically, he uses the BLICE method - which stands for balance, length, intensity, complexity and expressiveness. If a wine has one of these characteristics, it is Acceptable, if it has two it is Good, if it has three or four it is Very Good and if it has all five characteristics - a rare occurrence - it is Outstanding.

The last two wines of the evening were reds. They were from the same region and were the same basic grape. And they really varied!

Both were from the Veneto region of Italy. Both were predominantly Corvina grapes. But both were not the same wine! By the way, our little group struggled trying to figure out what varietal the wines were - there were some good guesses - and I didn't have a clue - but nobody hit the mark on this one.

The first was a basic 2015 Valpolicella from Folinari which priced out at $17 (12.5%). It was clear and pale ruby in colour. It had red fruit on the nose and on the palate but seemed rather simple in taste - not a complex wine. There were light tannins and a light body with a short or medium finish. This was not a great wine and was rated Acceptable.

In contrast, the second wine was actually an Amarone from Valpolicella - and a Classico at that!  The producer was Zeni and the cost was $65.  It was a ruby wine, deep in colour. The nose was definitely pronounced with complex fruits such as black currant, black cherry, cedar and charred wood. On the palate, I tasted the same black fruit as well as tobacco, toffee, and even farmyard! It had high acidity and medium tannins and a definite long finish.

Amarone is a unique wine. The grapes are picked as late as possible and the put in drying racks so the grapes begin to dry and become desiccate. This 'raisin' phase takes about 3 to 4 months and the method is know as 'passito".

This wine would be rated between Very Good and Outstanding! A great wine to finish off the night!

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!