Note: my new wine blog is at Sharp Rich North - Wine.
In early 2006 I took the Wine & Spirit Education Trust Level 1 Foundation course in wine tasting. The course was taught by James Cluer of Fine Vintage Ltd in Vancouver. For these posts I am using the Systematic Approach to Tasting Wine (PDF, 50K). Wine is evaluated according to Appearance (clarity, intensity, and colour); Nose (condition, intensity, and aroma); Palate (sweetness, acidity, tannin, body, flavour characteristics, and length); and a conclusion on overall quality. I prefer whites, or I am more familiar with them, so that is what I will focus on, at least initially. I will sample wine from a variety of countries, and search out good BC wines. Let me know if you have any comments or something to suggest.
Visit Local Wine Events, a great source of tastings and other happenings for many locations in Canada, the U.S., and other countries. And vote for this blog!
Medium clear yellow appearance. Nice lemon-petrol nose. Very earthy palate with strong lemon notes and a hint of citrus; nice acidity. Very distinctive, and unlike many of the recent, mostly German, Rieslings I’ve tried. I quite enjoy this one; recommended, particularly at the price, about $20 Canadian.
Pale gold appearance; medium intensity apricot nose with obvious sweetness. Slightly low acidity but good body and a nice apple quality with that appealing Riesling sugar on the palate and a good finish. This is, along with the Joie 2007, a promising signal for BC Rieslings. Unfortunately, it is difficult to find; I bought it at the vineyard in Naramata. Lang Vineyards.
Light silver-gold appearance. Medium, classic slate-petrol Riesling nose. Dry, medium body with good acidity; mineral, lime, and apple notes. Quite good, but overpriced at $30 from Kitsilano Wine Cellar.
Clear light silver appearance. A fascinating (I don’t drink Muscadet) light lemon-grapefruit nose and a hint of almond. Dry with great acidity, tart lemon, and excellent finish. Very nice!
Clear, medium lemon appearance. Wonderful intense apricot-honey nose. Very nice balance, excellent acidity against significant minerality; strong sweetness and fine body. An excellent wine, highly recommended. Weingut Markus Molitor.
I’ve gone off Chardonnay a bit recently (as have many others, from what I’ve read), but this was a staff pick at Kits Wine Cellar, so I thought I’d give it a try. Clear light lemon-gold appearance; classic Chardonnay nose with nut and oak qualities. Strong acidity with tasteful oaking; pretty one-dimensional, though. Good body and length.
Another bottle I picked up at Nancy’s Wines for Food in New York.
Clear, medium gold appearance. Nice apricot-petrol nose. Good acidity balancing earthy sweet honey qualities. Excellent.
A birthday gift from my wife, bought on my first visit to Everything Wine in North Vancouver.
Clear, pale silver-gold appearance. Straightforward Riesling nose with honey, melon, and slate qualities. Good body. But the apricot-honey palate seems to be working somewhat in opposition to the acidity, and a bit of lingering minerality in the length disappoints slightly. Still, a nice drinkable Riesling.
I tried the 2006 a couple of weeks back and quite liked it. Same silver-gold appearance; more of a Pinot-sage nose, with strong grapefruit qualities. Good acidity with strong citrus fruit palate; lime and grapefruit dominate. Quite nice, and quite different than the 2006.
Medium lemon-gold appearance. Clean, light nose with apricot-pear qualities. Medium body with nice acidity and nice balance of sweetness and fruit flavours with mineral and floral notes. Very good.