SOMM: THE MOVIE

I am a wine nerd. I will admit that. I love almost everything about wine. Books, Magazines, conferences, blogs, and until now poorly made movies about wine :)
Somm brings a refreshing upgrade in quality to a film about a wine exam. It is hard to believe that a documentary about the Court of Master Sommeliers Exam could be so interesting to the general public but it has remained in the top of the ITunes Chart for Documentaries for weeks now since its release on ITunes June 21st.  Sold out shows across North America with packed theaters.
Viewers get to become a part of the exam with one of the lowest pass rates in history. Less than 200 people have passed this exam in the 40+ years it has been available. Yet Sommeliers from all around try year after year to pass an almost unbeatable exam.  The movie follows a group of Sommelier friends that study together and challenge the exam together. In the process of watching these "SOMM's" train and prepare you get a glimpse into the regimented and grueling life they put up with before the exam.
Your not just learning about the grapes. You are learning about the people and the culture. The food and history of the area. "When you study wine you study history. " These dedicated students share about why they are willing to endure this lifestyle and exam.

"I am nervous but think about how nervous my wines are. Sitting in their glasses about to be devoured"

As a WSET Advanced wine drinker I have had to endure the battle of blind wine tasting. The way your mind plays tricks on you and the intense pressure to identify the notes and flavors of the wine. With that said one of my favorite comments in the film is, "The skill of Blind tasting is learned. A great samurai sword maker is someone who had a teacher, who had a teacher, who had a teacher. We think about this with wine and think that someone must be a natural.  But we never think that someone is just a natural at making swords. "

Paraphrased- it takes practice. Why do people feel like if they don't get it naturally that they are not wine people?  I have developed my skill as a Blind taster and can agree that it takes time. You have to train your pallet like you go to the gym.

4:10 seconds per wine

The movie is a great success as it draws wine connoisseurs and non- Wine drinkers alike into the story.  It does not presume that you are a wine aficionado to understand the content of the movie but I do think it will inspire. Enjoy this movie with a bottle of wine and get ready to join in to the obsessed and intense world of the Court of Master Sommeliers.




 2010 Moulin a Vent Domaine du Dime
$26 bottle. Canmore Wine Merchants.
Paired with Chicago mix popcorn. :)

Light in ruby color. Even in color throughout.

Notes of tobacco and sour cherry. Red twizzlers
Low tannins   Gentle but lingering acidity. (Grainy texture)
Medium plus alcohol

Carmell says that her conclusion is;  this wine Is light but does not leave you disappointed.  Complex for a lighter wine.

Great Movie Wine to share :)

Mendoza! Vino Uco Valley

So on our recent wine trip to South America we decided to go to Mendoza for a few days. We flew into Santiago, thought we could drive to Mendoza and then drive back to visit Chile's Wine regions. I had heard that the drive to Mendoza is one of the most beautiful drives. It was. Close to 30 of the most intense hairpin tuns, steep inclines and sharp cliffs make it an adrenaline rush to the top. The border crossing was not. Long lineups and chaos in the lines. People were so disorganized and not sure what was going on. At one point someone ran away with my passport and documents. I had to chase him down to find out he needed to make a copy of them for our rental car. 1.5 hrs of chaos and we made it out of there. The drive lost some of its luster.  Then we got lost trying to find our hotel. 2.5 hours of driving around. Duplicate street names and lack of sign posts made for a difficult time. Siri and google could not even help me get there. After that long I really needed a glass o' wine. It had better be good.

Day one in Mendoza. We started with AltaVista. Beautiful garden, winery, and wine. OK, maybe this is worth the drive. The French owned winery has 80+ year old vines and a restored facility that was impressive. Most of all the wines were great. 100% concrete fermentation in epoxy lined tanks. Varying in size and shape in relation to the quality of the wines. The wines that stood out to me were the 2010 Bonarda and the 2007 ALTO. The Bonarda was full of Juicy red fruit, medium to medium low tannins and just and easy excellent drinking wine that was a pleasure. Sometimes it is just nice to drink a wine for the sake of consumption :) Next was the ALTO. A wine full of structure. Big tannins and full of complexities. Deep Ruby in colour. Vanilla, chocolate, plums and Cherries.  Long finish with round tannins and subtle baking spices. This was a wine I could keep smelling for hours.

Next tasting was off to Luigi Bosca. Beautiful facility. Hand carved plaster art everywhere. Mix of concrete and steel fermentation tanks. Concrete only for the lesser quality wines. Lots of modern technology. Here they were experimenting with Russian and Chinese oak barrels to for the malbecs. So far no luck but as we are running out of french oak we may need to look for more alternatives soon.  The wines that we enjoyed here were the Gala 4 and the Icono. The 2008 Gala 4 was a blend of 4% Malbec and 95% Cabernet Franc. Beautiful wine with red fruits from the malbec and pretty floral and Purple notes from the Cab Franc. The well structured wine is one that was hard to judge at this point and need some time for a real test. 8-10 years :)  Next was the 2008 ICONO. Signature wine from Luigi Bosca. At first i thought the wine was a bit too soft and easy on the pallet. It certainly was a drinking kind of wine. After going back i realized  the wine did have a good amount of tannin but they were very well integrated and made for a easy drinking impression. The fruit was very prominent and was full of cherry, and plum with black pepper and leather adding to the wine.  The smell was intoxicating. This was a wine I would be excited to taste again in 5 anos.

Drive up to Catena Zapata

Day Two Mendoza. Off to Catena Zapata. While the reception was less than inviting we did get in and get to taste the Angelica Chardonnay, 3 Malbecs and 1 Cabernet Sauv. The 2010 Angelica Chardonnay was fantastic. Rich mouth, dairy but not oaky. You could barely tell the influence of the oak in the taste but in the mouth feel, It was full of citrus and peaches and had a beautiful creaminess. Almost Creamsicle.  The other wine that stood out to me was the 2007 Adrianna Malbec. Grown at 1500 meters this wine shows complexity and concentrations of flavors  Feminine on the nose but Masculine on the pallet. This was a truly interesting wine. Floral vs Spice. Cherry vs Tobacco. I could not stop going back to this wine. I certainly will be bringing this wine home with me :)  The other malbecs were fantastic as well but i could not stop going back to this one and smelling vs tasting.

Andaluna Lab - The kids loved all the science labs!

After this tasting we were headed to Andaluna. We were told that if we turned south we would get to it but it took up over 2 hours and after getting lost 3 times we finally ended up in the Uco Valley. I had thought we were going to stay just outside of Mendoza but here we were so we made the best of it. 4 wineries later we were spent. We visited Andeluna, Tupengato, Azul and Salentine.
Bodega La Azul. A refreshingly small winery with only 4 stainless fermentors and approx 12 oak barrels. We tasted 2 malbecs and one Cab Sauv and they were all very well made. Their Grand Reserve Wine was all sold out so they offered to taste out of the barrel   I will never say no to tasting out of the barrel ! I wish i could bring back cases of this wine.
Andaluna- Large winery. Is owned by Mr. Frito Lay. Usually i stay away from large wineries like this but we found the locals recommended this winery above any other ones to visit. So we trecked there and were pleasantly surprised by the wines. Sitting in the shadow of the Andes mountains the air felt thin but the concentration of flavors in the wine were certainly not.  We tasted 5 Wines. 2012 Torrontes, Altitude Chard 2011, Altitude Cab 2006, Altitude Malbec 2010, Pasionado Quatro Cepas 05. I left this winery with all 5 wines. Many did not even make it home. Extremely well made wines with distinct character. The Quatro Cepas was Rich and full bodied, subtle vanilla with dark cherry and blackberries. The texture was very velvety. YUM!

Side note- While we were in the UCO valley the wind began to blow from the mountains. This was an extremely strong wind and was uprooting trees and bending the vines over. The locals call this wind the 'SONDA' and were not expecting it during this time of year. They say it is very common in the spring and fall but not summer.

Salentine Entrance

 Salentine- This large and well known winery has a beautiful facility. The hospitality on the other hand was less than welcoming. We felt as more of a nuisance than a guest and had to remind the staff multiple times we were waiting for a tasting. I think this winery had outgrown its capacity to host people. I had all but written this winery off until the wines finally came. They were delicious. I tasted the Primus Pinot Noir (07), Malbec (07), and Merlot (05). Probably because we were in Malbec country I was in awe of that wine the most but I would say I was shocked to find a pinot of that quality here. Worth a visit but don't expect a friendly welcome.

TERRASOLE - Winemaker Mario Bollag

Terrasole Wines

TERRASOLE - Winemaker Mario Bollag



I had an opportunity to taste the current release of the Terrasole wines this week. Terrasole is represented by Fluid Imports in Alberta and Jason Sanwell is a good friend of mine and he generously invited me to be there.

06 Brunello di Montalcino

The wines we tasted  were the 2007 Rosso di Montalcino, 06 Brunello di Montalcino, 06 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva, 06 Coldoro (merlot), 06 Solista (Syrah), 06 Pasticcio (Cab Franc, Merlot, Sangiovese) and finished with the Grappa di Brunello Riserva.
It was a treat to see the parallel comparisons of the same vintage across the flight.
Starting with the Juicy fruit, fresh Rosso and moving into the holy grail of Sangiovese; the Brunello di Montalcino Riserva, all the Sangiovese wines were a clear expression of the quality wines that Mario is committed to make.  The 06 Brunello and the 06 Riserva show beautiful tar, leather, and spice with large amounts of tannins and acidity to last in the cellar. These are not wines to be opened immediately. They will likely mature for 10-15 years before showing signs of decline.

Coldoro Merlot
 

As delicious as the classic Sangiovese wines were, the wine that stole the show for me was the Merlot. I have not had the opportunity to taste many Italian merlots to compare to but I have to say that this one was attention grabbing from the first smell. Very feminine and delicate off the nose that deceptively pulls you into a rich and meaty pallet of spice, plums and grippy tannins. Mouth watering acidity and lingering finish confirmed that this truly is a fantastic food wine.  I was so impressed with this wine that I started hunting down more Italian merlots immediately. 


For More info about the wines please visit.
http://www.terralsole.com/

Carpe Vinum!!

Hanzell - Sonoma

Hanzell-

 I am going to begin a small series on wineries I have visited. I thought I would start with one of my most memorable ones. Hanzell.

 

Hanzell was started in 1957 by Ambassador Zellerbach. The ambassador was a key figure in the development of the Marshall plan and was asked by President Truman to travel to Europe and execute it. During that time he was living in Rome. This allowed him opportunity to explore Burgundy’s Domains in great depth. During his time in Europe he purchased land in the Mayacamas Range overlooking the town of Sonoma and began to plan out his vision at home;

Ambassador Zellerbach told people his goal was “to make California wine as good as the best of Europe.”

Hanzell’s first release was in 1961 and has since then only produced top quality Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. When I say top quality, I am (personal bias) talking about the worlds finest.

We were in Sonoma last fall and I was so excited to have the opportunity to visit this winery. To get to the winery you have to pass the world famous gates and drive above Sonoma to the top of the range. We had rented a convertible mustang and we certainly scraped the bottom of the car on the way there. Don’t tell the rental company!! Ha

We pulled up to the winery and met with our ‘Ambassador’ Zack and he gave us a tour of the vineyards. We climbed into his car and drove up the hill even higher to the top of the range. The view was amazing. They even had picnic tables set up to enjoy the view from.  He showed us individual plots of land and you could see the clone number and names tagged on the end of each row.

The next stop on our tour was the wine cave. We drove back to the main building area and began to walk down a flight of stairs into the side of the mountain. The addition of this cave barrel cellar was a more modern one but still carried the feel of the whole place. “Quality” The tunnel was impressive and bright. The barrels neatly stacked along the sides of the wall.

 

As we emerged out of the tunnel we ended up in the open air crushpad. There was a de-stemmer, sorting table and below was rows of temperature controlled fermenters.  Just as ambassador Zellerbach was a leader and visionary, this spirit remains. The fermentation tanks are an amazing marvel. They are not only temperature controlled but the temperature is constantly recorded and sent to the winemakers mobile phone so that 24hrs a day the wine is being monitored to ensure the correct temperatures can be maintained.

Next stop- Wine Library. Wow, I could have spent hours in this room. They have bottles of every single vintage they have ever made, catalogued and organized. Good thing they didn’t leave me alone in this room. J  

Moving upstairs in the old winery building you could see that back in 1957 this was a gravity fed winery. They were green before it was even cool to be green. You can still see the old fermenting tanks and the bottle filling invention that was the first of its kind. Hanzell was the first winery to use inert gas to fill the bottles before filling them with wine. This is to minimize the amount of oxygen that can get at the wine at all times. This is now common practice world wide and we can certainly thank Hanzell for this.

The last stop on our tour is to the tasting room which was the old lab for the winery. The room is filled with momentos of the past. Photos, documents, maps, and laboratory equipment are all well documented.  We tasted the Sebella Chardonnay and the current release of the Hanzell Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Though it is unfair to judge these wines so young as they are not intended to be opened so early you could still enjoy the quality and care that is evident. In some words you can taste how the wine will develop over time.   

Notes on the wines:

2009 Sebella Chardonnay – Bright clean citrus with a bold minerality are balanced by a rich creamy texture. Acidy is vibrant (medium plus) with notes in the mouth of lemon peel and crisp apple. This balanced wine would rival a Cru Chablis.

$36.00

2009 Hanzell Chardonnay – Brilliant Gold in color with glints of green make this wine look electric in the glass.  The nose comes across as more floral in character and then transitions into the lemon zest and melon.  Youthful and tightly wound the bold minerality is backed by lemon, pears and tropical fruits. Hints of coconut remain. What captured my heart was the texture. Rich and full. This is a wine that if given enough time to develop will be a show stopper.  Decanting two to three hours before serving is recommended.

$75.00

2008 Hanzell Pinot Noir - Red fruit aromas of cherry and pomegranate are enhanced by scents of pipe tobacco, woodsy forest floor. With time, the wine unfolds to reveal orange peel and cardamom. Surprising tannins and balanced acidity sustain the persistent fruit through a long finish. The concentration of the characters show the time needed to fully integrate the wine as a whole.  From the first sip to the last the wine had developed into a new entity. This wine will require 5-10 years to fully be appreciated.  Decanting one to two hours (or the night before) is recommended.

$95.00

Beronia Gran Reserva 2004

So my blog has been really slacking lately.  Sorry to those loyal readers that are hoping for more regular posts J

Unfortunately my day job prevents me from keeping this up. Spring is my craziest time making signs and therefore I need to take a break here and there to do actual work. J I am still drinking lots of wine but unfortunately only time to make ‘mico blogs’ aka tweets, about them.

Here is my attempt at getting back into the real blogging!

Beronia Gran Reserva 2004

SKU: 200782 | 6 per Case

 This wine is a wonderful example of how time can play such a role in wine development.

Gran reserva wines in Rioja require a minimum of 60 months of aging (24 of it in oak).

This is certainly evident when you first open the wine and smell notes of oak and cedar coming through quite predominantly. Given an aggressive decant or time in the glass you will begin to notice the fruit coming through. Dark earth gives way to dried cherries and plums. Cedar turns to blackcurrant leaf. Vanilla beans follow. Silky (medium) tannins and mouth-watering (medium+) acidity balance out this rich (medium+) body wine.

Still a bit young for my drinking style with a few hours of decanting this wine is very apt to develop into a beautiful evening J Drink now till 2017

Available in Edmonton at Vines of Riverbend –

 (780) 434-9444   -2331 RABBIT HILL ROAD NW

Taste of Spain!

First off i need to say a huge thanks to David Gummer, Sandi Hollas, and Curtis Bawden for all their hard work that went into this event. I am sure there are many others as well that deserve props.
October 5th for the 1rst Annual " A Taste of Spain " held at the Winspear Center.
 We tasted over 100 wines from some of Spains most popular regions such as Rioja, Penedes, Ribera del Duero, Priorat and Catalonia.
Grape varietals as Garnacha Tinta, Tempranillo, Carinnena, Samsoo, Moscatel, Monastrell and more.

This was a great night and all the tables had high quality, premium wines for sampling.
Silent auction was also a great success to raise mony for the MS Society.
I walked away with a great gift basket with a 2001 and a 2004 Gaudium by Marques de Caceres. All for a great cause right?
Highlighst of the night for me included a 2010 Marques de Riscal white rioja, 2001 Sierra Cantabria Rioja,  2006 Torres Mas la Planas and the 2006 Condado De Haza Ribera del Duero. So many other stellar wines but i can list them all!

Foie Gras Overdose!!

FOIE GRAS

I have been hunting for a good supply of Foie for a while now. It turns out that if you have friends in the food service industry that you just need to ask a favor and they are more than willing to help out. I was blessed to find out that a new friend was willing to order in a whole lobe for me from the blue pear. (Why not make it 2 if you are going to order one) Yeeha! This is the beginning to a night of foie overdose.
I had to call in the big guns. ( @chefjered ). I need to find out how to clean and prepare the foie. Up till now all i knew was how to eat it :)
We came up with a few ideas on how to serve the treat and invited some friends over.
It is amazing how many people in YEG have never had or are not willing to even try something like this. I am glad to have very adventurous friends!

So @chefjered and i began to prepare and cut the foie. What an experience. The advice we received was to heat the knife up and let the knife melt through the foie. It worked very well and before long we had some in the hot pan sizzling.

Now i like to think of myself as an unofficial expert on this subject. Only due to the volume of dishes sampled. This was so exciting for me to try and prepare on my own.

Grilled Cheese with a twist

The first Creation of the night was a mini baguette grilled cheese sandwich with anjou pear and dubliner cheese. Topped off with foie and fried in the foie fat. Rich and over the top. Yum.

The second creation was a lentil, root vegetable pan fry topped with a slab of foie. This was a more traditional french dish and was great.

The third dish was inspired by a local restaurant 'Bistro LaPersaud'. Savory truffle french toast topped with foie spread. Nom Nom!!

Foie and Lentils

The last idea we had was to play with the salty sweet combo. We layered from the bottom up, Brownie topped with sliced strawberries, slice of pan fried foie, icing sugar, and sea salt. I was hocked by how well the flavors all worked together.

After we served a deconstructed flavor plate with smoked paprika, white pepper, sea salt and xtra rare foie. This was a kitchen treat for @chefjered and i to enjoy after our hard work. Not to mention all the delicious wine we also had that night to pair with.
Simply put a night to remember.

Brownie topped with strawberry and foie

The wines we had are as follows

1. 2010 Stags Leap Viognier

2. 2003 Beaurenard Chat. du Pape

3. 2010 Champalou Sparkling Vouvray

4. 2009 Drouphin Laforet Bourgogne Pinot Noir

5.2010 Errazuriz Late Harvest Sauv Blanc (noble rot)

WOW! This past week and a bit has been so exciting that I do not even know where to begin. Let’s start off on Saturday evening when I received a surprise dinner in my house. A fully catered 14 person epicurean delight! Duck terrine, pork belly, marinated pork shoulder, and more. Wow cant even begin to describe my delight. My wife is so good to me and I had no idea she was even planning it.

I guess I should mention the wines as well. J We began the night with classic martinis from the bartender (my great friend Brent @brentschaitel ) We then Moved on to a flight of fantastic wines such as (in no particular order and I may have missed a few) – My notes are blurry and messy but here is what I remember.

 2006 Mount Boucherie Melange Noir ( one of my favourite blends from this winery)

2006 Wayne Thomas Petit Verdot (just delightful),

2007 Glorioso Rioja Crianza (just a great ripe tempranillo),

2005Marques du Riscal Rioja Reserva (wow a picture of old rioja. I could have consumed this whole bottle myself)

2003 domaine Vieille Julienne Chateauneuf du Pape (sandy gravely tannins. A delight)

2006 Deerfield Old Vine Zinfandel (a thick and syrupy concentration of zin. Delicious)

2008 Enkidu Diener Ranch Zinfandel

2007 Cave Spring Late Harvest Riesling- (Great acidity to balance out the candy sweetness)

It is Crazy that this post does not end there. But no I then go on to a Canadian wine tasting on Tuesday Night hosted by a Long Time Friend Phil Greet @philgreet. Linda Beth (his wife) and his daughters travelled to the Okanogan and brought back some lovely wines to share. They are all great pictures of the quality of wines that should be shared from the Canadian Market. Again short notes but ill share what I have.

2009 Mt Boucherie Chardonnay – UnOaked. Bright and clean with a blast of citrus. Still had a thick mouth feel well suited to food.

2009 OakBay Merechal Foch -  Concentrated aromas of black fruit and tobacco. Short pallet and finish with lighter tannins

2006 Quails Gate Reserve Foch – Blast of Cigar Box, ‘Animal’, wet leaves (in a good way). This was a delight to drink. Great depth and character on the pallet with a balanced acidity and long finish.

2008 Red Rooster Reserve Meritage – This was a Cab Franc, Merlot and Malbec blend. Heafty oak but was one of the most intriguing of the night with reductive fruits and mushrooms on the pallet.

We had a pair of Poplar grove wines. Always a great treat in my book (secret fan!)

2007 Poplar Grove Merlot- Rich and deep with blackberry, cassis, and hints of chocolate. Yum

2006 Poplar Grove Cab Franc- I stole these notes of their website as I could not have said it any better, This is a stellar wine and most people in Canada should be proud to have these in their cellars.  “…almond, vanilla and black forest cake. Blackberry and chocolate with Sage and toast. Silky Tannins“

By the End of the night I was absolutely convinced of the quality of wines in my own back yard!

Dry Riesling

I have been very lax on my blogging lately so i want to apologise to my followers. It seams as though my time to write has been swallowed up by life's more important things i.e. family, friends, work etc.
Well here i am on the brink of a seafood adventure. I am heading out to the Atlantic province of New Brunswick tomorrow and in celebration of my soon to come shell fish gluttony I thought it was fitting to try a new Riesling.  I am normally more of an off-dry, classic German style, Mosel Riesling fan but today we venture to a different style. Bone dry, High acid, crisp and sharp Aussie Riesling. Boy was I pleasantly surprised.

Alkoomi Frankland River 2008.
The current release for this winery is 2009.   This Frankland River selection is one of their site specific wines.
I found the wine to have a great mineral nose. Burnt rubber and Petrol were certainly there but in a subtle and pleasing way.
The palate was very clean. Hints of effervescence. High acid (to be expected).
Lime zest and peaches are my follow up fruits.

This would be one heck of a seafood wine! I am glad i gave it a year before tasting. I think the time has helped take the edge off the wine and added some older Riesling notes.  For those looking to pick some up I found this one at Vines Riverbend and would certainly recommend for others to as well.


I have stuffed only one bottle of wine to take with me as i will find it an adventure to see what i can find in New Brunswick for wine. But i had to take with me a Signorello Seta for a big lobster feast. Should be delicious.

Carpe Vinum
@YEGWine

Aglianico- Italian IGT

Aglianico is a grape I am just becoming familiar with. It is a local grape grown in a few Italian regions. Some have been found north of Tuscany and some as low as Campania. This week I have enjoyed 2 different Aglianico's and it is amazing the difference in the styles. Some grapes seem to be made in a very similar style and I think this is one that is still varied from producer to producer.
The history as I understand is this grape has been grown in Italy for years. Brought there by the greeks.It is not exported near as much as the main stream grape varietals. It is often found in smaller parcels and smaller wineries.
Some rumors even say that before this grape was clasified as an 'IGT' Grape it was produced under the disguise as other well known grapes.

The first wine I enjoyed was a Dei Fuedi Di San Gregorio. I was not a huge fan of this wine. There was nothing wrong with this one but i felt it was lacking in dimension. Warm red fruits and hints of lavender and tar.  It had low acid and low to medium tannins. Nothing at all stood out to me in particular with this wine. I would have expected more from this winery.
The second wine I had was from Villa Matilde.
This wine was much more complex and i quite enjoyed it. Still ripe red fruits but this came accross with a much nicer mouth feel. Full body, even tannins, with a chewey velvety texture. Plum and hints of chocolate. All around a richer experience.