Tasting Notes - Jan 27, 2010

Wow! Has it been over a week since my last post? I have to say that I have not been into wine very much this week. Last Sunday I attended the Vintages Bordeaux Tasting at the Four Seasons Hotel here in downtown Toronto. I tried so many wines in the course of 3 hours that my teeth hurt (I'm really not kidding). My mouth looked like it was right out of the Middle Ages! Remember folks, whenever going to a wine tasting event, make sure you spit! I'm happy I did at this one. I would have been under the table with the spittoons and they wouldn't have been for wine. This weekend I'm off to the Niagara IceWine Festival. I can't wait. Lots to report on that one I'm sure. Maybe I'll FINALLY get to some video blogging.

On to some tasting notes for the week. I have two fabulous pics:

Tawse Quarry Road Chardonnay 2007, $35.20
I really enjoy the wines from Tawse. It's a cute winery located in Vineland, Ontario. They're really well known for Chardonnay and Pinot but I enjoy all the wines that they make. I know this wine isn't cheap but it is delicious. For those that are ABC (anything-but-chardonnay), give this Chard a try. It's quite elegant and not too heavy on the oak. You'll find that you're suddenly a new kind of ABC...all-about-chardonnay. I know. Corney joke.
www.tawsewinery.ca

Luigi Bosca Reserva Syrah, $14.95
Yummy! For a wine just under $15, this is definitely a "must buy". This wine comes to us from the foothills of the Andes in Argentina. Lots of chocolate, blackberry and blueberry. There's so much going on both on the nose and on the palate for a wine this inexpensive.

Remember that this weekend is the final weekend for the Niagara IceWine Festival! Maybe I'll see you there. :)

http://www.icewinefestival.com

Tasting Notes - Jan 17, 2010

At the tasting bar today, I tried two yummy wines that won't hurt your wallet!

Paso Creek Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 $19.95
Yum yum yum! For just under $20, this wine has earned a place into my wine rack. Hot days and cool nights make this wine bold but balanced. There is lots of fruit and a smooth finish. A win-win in my books. Too bad some of those movie stars couldn't be the same! So, in honour of the Golden Globe awards this evening, may each star be as bold and balanced with a good finish.


A video about the region and this winery:
www.pasocreek.com/aboutvideo.html

Domaine de la Seigneurie des Tourelles Saumur Blanc 2008 $12.95
 All I can see is wow! For this price, this wine is fantastic. I went out and bought a few bottles because I don't think that they'll last long on the shelves.
A great Chenin Blanc from the Lorie Valley in France. I love the Loire. It's such a beautiful place from vineyards and grand castles to caves carved out into the limestone hills. You won't be disapointed by this wine and if you are, well, no one is perfect.
:)

On a side note, Vintages is hosting a "Wine 101" event at the Arcadian Court in downtown Toronto on Tuesday February 9th. This is a nice venue, having been there myself a few times. The cost is $55 per person and includes not only a Champagne reception, but a tasting of over 30 wines from around the globe. For more information:

www.vintages.com/events/wine101_event.html

Align yourself with WineAlign

I've been introduced to a new site to add to my ever expanding toolkit of wine arsenal.

www.winealign.com

This is a site dedicated to our favourite juice brought to us by our yeasty friends...wait, did I just say that?
You can look up wines, check out new releases, read reviews, post a review or make a wine tasting list for yourself. I love the virtual cellar feature to track your personal wine collection. I think I'll use this particular feature a lot since I've lost touch with my own collection. I'm sure my  bottles feel like I don't know them anymore. There's also a mobile access component which is perfect for all of us who are mobile-junkies.
The site is clean and really easy to use. I've just signed myself up!

"WineAlign was designed by wine consumers, - not wine sellers - who want logical, practical and objective wine buying advice."

 It is free to join but to gain access to the premium services such as critics reviews, new releases and the mobile access, you do need to have a paid subscription. When you sign up for an account, you will receive free access to all these services for two months. It's great that this kind of site exists for those of us who live in Ontario since it deals with the wines at the LCBO. The site is planning on expanding to other provinces in Canada. I myself am in the software industry so I know how expensive developing a product can be and how much time and effort it takes. I'm sure that the value of the site for each person will really have to depend on how much they'll use it. A wise man once asked, "If you don't use it, will you lose it?"

Happy New Year Wine Lovers!

Now that the holidays are over, it's back to work! By work I mean that hard task of tasting and writing about wine. Doesn't really sound like work to me. Although, I have been very liberal in how often I've been posting. I had every intention of posting regularly but what can you do, life got in the way. My New Year resolution is to post more often (I know, I know...you've heard this before) and to finally start those video blogs on my YouTube channel! I also want to start charting my own wine collection, which I'll gladly share with you. I need to keep track of what I actually have and when certain wines will be at their peak for drinking. I had a 2004 Chardonnay last week from Thirty Bench (Beamsville, Ontario). It was a lovely wine but definitely on it's way out the door since I waited a too long to drink it! It would have been superb a year or two ago. If I had a chart, I would have known this rather than letting it sit in my rack, ignored. I'm also reading some really great books that I'd like to share with you in future posts. Of course they're wine related.

I hope that you all had a wonderful holiday season filled with good cheer and good wine. I was fortunate to take a last minute trip to San Francisco which included day trips to both Sonoma and Napa. It was indeed a wonderful Christmas! My husband decided to surprise me with this trip because he knew how much I wanted to go! With a phonecall to work telling me to come home and pack, we were flying the very next morning at 7am. Who knew the airport could be such crazy house at five in the morning. We had a wonderful time and drank lots of fabulous wine.  I'm currently working on some posts about the trip. It's taking some time to go through all the pictures and tasting notes I made. See? I'm committed to traveling the earth, high and low, to bring you the findings of my on-going wine research. How dedicated am I!  In the meantime, here are two wines that I've recently tried and enjoyed:

Bougrier Vouvray 2008 (Loire Valley, France) $14.95
I love Chenin Blanc and having been to the Loire Valley, I love the things that come out of the region. Although this isn't on my list of favourite Vouvray's, this wine, for the money is pretty good.  It's a medium dry wine (there is a bit of residual sugar) that's easy on both the palate and wallet. Aromas of peach, citrus and pear are offered from this wine. You can certainly enjoy it with chicken or spicey south Asian dishes. Hooray for Vovray!

http://www.bougrier.fr/en/bougrier_ranges.php

Gerard Bertrand Grand Terroir Montpeyroux 2007 (Midi, France) $17.95
This is a good wine for good value. Hailing from southern France, it scored a silver medal at the Decanter World Wine Awards in 2009. This wine is the one on the right in the picture.  I know that I've mentioned this before, but I love wines from the south of France. I couldn't find too much information from the producer about the actual grape varieties and percentages used but since it's from the southern Rhone, it's most likely a blend of the traditional varieties such as Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre or Cinsault grapes. Yum yum!

http://gerardbertrand.blogspot.com

Let's toast to a wonderful 2010 ahead!