Wine Whiskey and W.S.E.T.

Well Wine Festival is over and the spring releases are on the shelves and in the cellar. I went to 3 events the Best of Varietal wine Awards, The consumer tasting at the Rotary Center for the Arts and Vintages in the Park at Father Pandosy Mission. All featured some great wines food and fun, the Rotary Center used all of the spaces and the art work and small rooms made for an interesting intimate experience. 

It was the Final Whiskey tasting before the summer break and as always we opened the purse strings a little and sampled some amazing higher end whiskeys including a stunning 30year old Glenfacalas. Aged in sherry cask it was like a fruitcake in a glass, with a finish that went on forever. It's little brother the 25year was a more conventional whiskey with more grain and malt to cut the sweetness. We also tried a Bruichladdie Guigal Hermitage Blanc cask finished  18yr old single cask that shows a seamless marriage of finish and standard  oak. There were also 2 offerings from the English Whiskey co. Chapter 3 and 4 both not quite yet whiskeys being only 18 months  old they show some promise of developing into nice whiskeys. we rounded out the tasting with a Highland Park 18, a Glencadam 15, Cardhu 12, and Weisers Select.

The last thing is I did day 1 of my WSET wine course wow what a lot to learn. It amazes me how much you can learn. The standard tasting method is a big improvement on a one off individual system it allows you to calibrate your palate to a standard so a group of people can talk about the same wine. (What A Concept).Anyway more about the course next Post. Cheers

Okanagan Spring Wine Festival

Yesterday was the start of the wine fest unofficially, at least it's my start. Spring judging marks the beginning as 30+ wine makers and industry people got together to peer judge the best of varietal wines for 2011. I was lucky enough to participate again this year and it is always one of the highlights of the festival for me. It is an amazing eclectic group of industry people a real brain trust of wine makers with a ton of knowledge, just pitting my taste buds against the rest of the panel is a thrill. About 340 wines were tasted by 4 panels of 8 people separated into varietal categories. I was on the pink team and we started with a flight of 11 chardonnays all oak finished at 9:30 in the morning this sure wakes up your taste buds. your goal is to choose the best expression of the variety using standard criteria such as color, clarity, nose, taste and finish as well as varietal character. so you start by eliminating anything that doesn't fit and then spend some extra time on those that are close. Scores for each wine are averaged to determine the winners all tastes are blind and winners will be announced next week. After Chard's  we were given 15 Pinot Noirs a category that I personally find very hard to judge as there are as many different styles as there are wine makers, nonetheless  I found a winner. we followed with 11 Gewurtztraminers, 10 Other red varietals which include everything from Gamay to Malbec with Sangiovese and Zweigelt thrown in another tough category. Well as the pink team it only made sense that we would get Blush/Rose a big group of 16 wines again with a broad spectrum of styles and Grapes. I am amazed how this category is growing and changing it is no longer your Grandma's afternoon tipple and has graduated to a serious class of wines that pair well with a variety of foods and should occupy a place in every cellar.Next up a flight of 12 Cabernet francs which were very impressive it was difficult to pick a winner from such a good line up. This variety is really starting to help define the Okanagan terroir  every year there are more single varietals made from this grape. With the end in sight we were served up a final helping of 9 Ice wines and late harvests, these also are made from a mix of different grapes. If you have been counting that is 84 different wines all before 1:00.


Next week Wine Fest starts in earnest and there are plenty of events to choose from so head out pick up some tickets and support this industry. As the weather warms up there is nothing better than sitting on a
winery patio with a glass of this years spring release
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Spring and Fest of Ale

Well Spring is here and another Fest of Ale has passed and Wine Fest is just around the corner.

It is a great time to dust off the blog and talk about some of the last few weeks highlights including some great spring whites and the judging from Fest of Ale. So first the wines get your hands on some Red Rooster Chardonnay it just won a gold medal at Chardonnay du Monde in France and it deserved it great wine for the price. I also  bought some Serendipity Viogner from a new winery on the Naramata bench I actually was the first  licensee customer. you will be impressed with the aromatics of this wine good acid balance with the fruit make this a great patio sipper.

Judging at Fest of Ale was as always a fun and informative experience there were plenty of interesting ales and a few surprises. We only judge the beers and let the public judge the other beverages just as a quick aside the Sea House Farm and Cidery has a great bourbon aged apple cider. Our pick for best Macro went to Central City Brewing for their   Red Racer IPA and this ale could have easily been best overall, when talking to them it is easy to see the passion for detail that makes this a brewery to seek out when your at your favorite store. Best Micro Brew went to Penticton's Cannery Brewing with a tie between No Justice Pale Ale (Formally No Jail Pale Ale, damn the guys at licensing branch anyway) and Naramata Nut Brown I actually think this beer is getting even better as time goes on the recipe seems spot on. A couple of other breweries deserve a mention here Crannog had 2 cask conditioned ales that scored very high and any brew by these guys is always top notch, the 2 breweries from south of the border brought some crowd pleasers as well and if you travel down south stop in at Alpine in Oroville or Port Townsend and try their offerings. Best of show went to a brew from Paddock wood in Saskatchewan for their Czech Mate Pilsner which was both well crafted and tasty

                                  

Jamesons or Bushmills

HAPPY St PATRICK'S DAY

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Whether you prefer the sweet malt taste of Bushmills or the fiery citrus of Jameson's this is a good week to stock up on some Irish whiskey. You want to have some on hand for St'Paddy's next week. It won't hurt to come down to the pub for a pint of Guinness either and don't forget to wear some green.

Next Sunday we have the March whiskey tasting event and we are featuring 2 outstanding Irish whiskey's in Tullamore Dew and Middleton Rare.

Tullamore Dew Voted ‘Best Irish Blended Whiskey’ at

2011 Icons of Whisky Awards Dinner

10 March 2011 - Last week, at the prestigious Icons of Whisky Awards dinner in London, Tullamore Dew 12 Year Old won for the ‘Best Irish Blended Whiskey’.  Chosen amongst a very competitive shortlist of other whiskey brands, the outstanding win is a true testament to the pride and care we take in producing the very best whiskey in Ireland. 

                              

I particularly enjoy Irish whiskey prior to dinner or with Seafood appetizers the citrus notes are a natural match. I have been a fan since I first started working in my mothers bar The Duke of Westminster in Edmonton in the early 80's. Even though it had an English name it was predominantly an Irish Pub with the requisite Irish entertainment ant list of characters. It was hard to get through a shift without some excuse to have a shot with the boy's. When I think back to the back bar in those days we still had Jameson's and Glenlivet but there were a lot of things like Pinch, Ne'Plus Ultra, and Captains Table that have disappeared off the Bar in the last 30 years. Maybe that says something about how those iconic whiskeys like Jameson's stand the test of time by being consistent, recognizable and tasty.

Connections

What started as a post about a great Okanagan wine story is changing into how connected we all are to the wine industry here in the Valley. Back a dozen years ago I bought some Nichol Syrah grown on the Naramata bench and was impressed that you could even grow this grape this far north and that it could be this good. I held onto it for a long time and used it for some wine paired dinners and special occaisions. But as these things go I didn't think much about it after I was out as there are so many new wines and wineries everyone gets lost in the mix.


So here is where we get to these connections I'm talking about a few months ago I get a phone call to see if I would be interested in tasting some wine from D'angelo I said yes and Christy their new rep shows up. During the tasting I find out this is her first presentation.  Turns out she has some property and is growing some Grapes for Howling Bluff. She does a good job and I buy some Cab-Merlot which sells quite well. She comes to see me this week and now has 3 new wineries in her portfolio including Robin Ridge ( good Similkameen Pinot Noir), Elephant Island Fruit winery ( I catered Miranda and Del's wedding years ago, try the Apricot Dessert wine in the Hot Tub) and Nichol Vineyard. I bought some Syrah and Pinot Gris from Nichol and wanted to try it when it arrived so opened the Syrah and tasted it with some good customers. Well this vintage is as good or better than the 98 I bought all those years ago. So Mike proceeds to explain the trellessing method that Nichol uses to get the Syrah to have all this body and I can't help thinking how every time you start a conversation about wine here in the Valley that you always end up knowing more about someone than when you started. If you stay here even for a short time you will be connected to something in the local wine industry and that creates an amazing chain of events.


By the way go out of your way to find and try this wine it embodies the true taste of the Okanagan and the spirit that makes this region unique in the world of wine.