What Wine Are You Drinking Today?

[Okanagancook]

We are lucky enough to live on the Naramata Bench in the Okanagan, British Columbia, Canada. It is becoming a destination for wine lovers. There are numerous wineries/vineyards up and down the valley with varying soil types and climates. Many grape varieties do well here especially Merlot. Here is an informative website: http://www.winebc.com/discover-bc/okanagan-valley/wineries?page=1

We buy local wines on our winery trips and are becoming very impressed with the development of the wine industry in our backyard. We are also members of the Opimian Society which is Canada's largest wine buying co-op. We've been getting wine through this organization for over 30 years. We did this mainly because in the early days the provincial liquor control boards didn't bring in very good wine. Nowadays that has changed but we still enjoy the wines that are offered. So, our cellar has a mix of local wines and these Opimian sourced wines from all over the world. The local wines tend to be very fruit forward and that's what sells but there are wineries that are producing some very nice Burgundian/Bordeaux style wines with great aging potential. As an example a friend, who is also one of the first wine makers here, brought a 1995 Cab-Franc for a sous vide short rib dinner I was making. The wine was amazing. Still had fruit.

Anyways, I ramble. I didn't see a thread on daily wine consumption and thought that might be a good idea.

I'll kick it off with Poplar Grove's Pinot Gris from 2012:

http://www.poplargrove.ca/index.cfm?method=products.productDrilldown&productid=F97D8CBA-AE23-68B5-93B0-4A99A5B482E5&pageID=5d44c13d-0740-b62f-57aa-53c49126d253&sortBy=DisplayOrder&maxRows=12&

A nice mineral bouquet with distinct apricot and pear notes as promised. It gets a little more interesting as it warms up with a few more mineral notes coming through. We are going to have the rest of the bottle with seared scallops, a couple of cubes of crispened sous vide pork belly, fried polenta and lightly grilled summer zucchini. I think the wine has enough body to stand up to the pork.

What are you drinking today?

[Okanagancook]

Today it's Orfino Riesling 2011. Orfino Winery is in the Similkameen Valley which is one valley west of the valley where most of the south Okanagan wineries are located. The Similkameen Valley gets the most 'heat units' of the whole Okanagan. Here is their website: http://www.orofinovineyards.com/orofino-wines.php

We found this wine to have the fruit flavours as described on their website except we found the acidity a bit too much at this point in time. We think it needs more time in the bottle to smooth out the acid and develop a bit more complexity. Unfortunately we only bought one. So much wine and so little time.

[SylviaLovegren]

We just came back from Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, which is also wine country. We picked up a number of different wines but our favorite so far is the Trius Cabernet Franc, 2012. Lots of tannin but rich berry flavor. Delicious.

[Raamo]

I just got my latest club shipment yesterday from Whitehall Lanes out of St Helana

Last night we started in on a 2009 Belforte which is fortified desert wine and absolute amazing.

So I'll be drinking some more of that tonight.

[Okanagancook]

SylviaLovegren: How are the vines in Niagara after the terribly cold winter they just had? If wine country got -25 degrees C there will be some major losses.

[Kerry Beal]

SylviaLovegren: How are the vines in Niagara after the terribly cold winter they just had? If wine country got -25 degrees C there will be some major losses.

Bet we'll get some fabulous ice wines this year!

Niagara is protected somewhat by the escarpment and the lake effect so it often takes less damage from the icy temperatures than the surrounding areas.

[SylviaLovegren]

SylviaLovegren: How are the vines in Niagara after the terribly cold winter they just had? If wine country got -25 degrees C there will be some major losses.

What Kerry said. The lake effect usually protects the Niagara area. This year the polar vortex prevented the lake effect at times and the vineyards were frozen more than normal. The vineyards will have to wait until spring to see how severe the damage is, if much at all. They don't really know.

Edited February 27, 2014 by SylviaLovegren (log)

[Okanagancook]

Let's hope for the best. People are pruning here.

[AnnaMag]

As a wine lover working in the industry, I have been lucky enough to try a lot of new wines right when they come out, and tonight I plan to open a bottle of one of my new favorites, Brancott Estate Flight Song Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. I live in Los Angeles, where the weather is currently calling for a crisp white, and this one is perfect. And as an added bonus, it is actually lighter in calories (by 20%) than other sauvignon blancs. I definitely can't taste a difference though. I highly recommend this wine and I can't wait to have a glass tonight!

Also, if you prefer other white varieties Brancott Estate Flight Song also has a new Pinot Grigio, that is also lighter in calories.

[Okanagancook]

We can't get Brancott Estate wines here in Western Canada. There are only a handful of wineries that export to Canada. When we visited New Zealand in 2011 the wineries we visited said there is just too much paperwork involved mainly because each province has it's own set of rules and regulations regarding importation. We did visit Wither Hills which is just down the road from Brancott Estate. Not sure if their wines are available in your area but if you like the Brancott sauv blanc you'll probably enjoy the Wither Hills sauv blanc. What we really enjoyed at Wither Hills was their rows of grape varieties which you were encouraged to taste. As you can see there were a lot grapes to taste.

[djyee100]

I opened 2010 Alysian Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley Selection. An off-year vintage of a well-known wine from Gary Farrell. I bought it on sale for about $35. Decent fruit, black cherry with a hint of smoke. Well-balanced in tannins, acidity, and alcohol. Restrained in the style of European rather than Californian wines. Fine, sweet fruit aroma. Very drinkable, and promises to match well with food.

[jayt90]

Two recent wine openings,

 

Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc 2013, a very nice ,low priced but crisp, well made wine. Displays the varietal well. No flaws. May hold for a few years.

 

Cline Zinfandel Bridgehead vineyard 1996.  Peppery and spicy, still holding well, with medium fruit. I'm glad I kept this one, though it wasn't meant for keeping more than 10 years.

[Okanagancook]

Did not know that Zin will hold that long! Love Zin so I will have to check my cellar to see what we have.

Opened a

Seven Stones 2011 Syrah last night. The winery is over in the Similkameen valley with ten year old vines. We thought the wine was quite mature already. Not much in the way of tannins left with some nice fruity notes. We have two more so I think we'll drink those soon.

[Paul Bacino]

This is a Blend of Syrah and Grenache..Larner Vinyards..Santa Ynez...08

Really love Larry's wines, very value driven and great balance.

I advise ..a try if you find any of his wines, mostly Rhone varietals..

His favorite is 100%. Mo.ved. But I like his Grenache Blanc

[Okanagancook]

Tonight it's Hook and Ladder Chardonnay 2012 from Sonoma County, Russia River Valley. The wine was fermented in a combo of small French oak barrels and stainless steel then aged on its lees for nine months for added complexity.

Delicious! Not much in the way of a nose. It has been oaked but not overly so and it is doing it's job. Complex flavours with mineral notes and a nice long finish. The acid is lime. Only one left :-( Purchased through the Opimian Society.

[patrickamory]

I was lucky enough to drink this last night.

 

[Max101]

I am drinking a delish glass of Rhubbarb wine from a local winery.  We had it at a cousin's wedding and it was so good.  Had to buy a case just for myself.  It is from the Amanas.

[djyee100]

I've never heard of this wine from the Amanas. Live and learn! Was your wine sweet or dry?

[djyee100]

I was interested in the rhubarb wine that Max101 mentioned upthread. For anybody else whose curiosity may have been piqued, an article from the Iowa Arts Council about this traditional regional wine:
http://www.iowaartscouncil.org/programs/folk-and-traditional-arts/place_based_foods/assets/amanacolonies.pdf

 

Max101, which winery did you buy the wine from (if I may ask). I'd like to try it.

[ChrisTaylor]

A local-ish wine: Buckshot Vineyard's Zin circa 2009. I had, at one point, the 07 and it was fucking great. Maybe the first Zin I had. Or second. But either way it sort of defined Zin for me. Mostly the Zins I've had have been local ... and it's not like many people in Australia are churning out Zin. The 08 was merely good. Anyway, I happened upon a bottle of the 09. Opened it tonight. And it's ... cooked. It's like jam. It's not even good. It's just okay. I mean, I've warmed to it, but four standard drinks in you'll warm to any damn thing.

 

I'm not a wine-type guy. That's where my tasting notes end. Jam. Cooked. Not my favourite thing in the world.

[Okanagancook]

Poplar Grove 2012 Chardonnay: recent award winner. Delicious. And at $19.00 for wine club members a bargoon.

Silver Medal win for our 2012 Chardonnay at the 2014 International Chardonnay Du Monde competition held in Burgundy, France.

[patrickamory]

Another 1975 Kabinett. Unfortunately this one was totally oxidized.

[Okanagancook]

We were talking about wine gone bad the other night. My hubby is very sensitive to the taste/smell of corked wine. A friend was saying, yeah, once you recognize that you now immediately if a bottle is corked. We belong to the Opimian Society of Canada which is a long standing wine buying coop. We have contacted the local reps to say that such and such a wine was corked and we got a credit immediately. One week we had two corked bottles to report so I asked if they have a lot of requests for credit for corked/spoiled bottles. The answer was surprising..no, they do not get a lot requests for credits for corked bottles...certainly not enough to cover the number of likely corked bottles there are based on the number of bottles sold.

Could the oxidized wine be taken back for credit? We did that once for oxidized local wine but returned it within a week.

[lesliec]

Corked and oxidised aren't the same thing. 'Corked' is an off taste caused by a fungal infection of the cork; oxidised just means the wine has had too much exposure to oxygen for whatever reason.

[Okanagancook]

Yes, TCA and/or TBA is the chemical responsible for the taste of a corked bottle. Totally different from oxidized wine.