Author: Josh

DipWSET, Certified Sommelier, garbage person.
Quaffing

2010 Fattoria Colmone della Marca Bianco del Moro

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, water white with peachy tinge
Nose: clean, low to med- intensity, youthful to developing, vanilla, spice, floral, subtle woodiness, apple
Mouth: dry, med body, med- to med acid, med+ alcohol, med- intensity, med- length, bitter citrus rind
All in all: Good quality; drink now.

DSC_0540

Blind tasting time!

A clear, almost colourless wine. I wasn’t sure whether or not the hint of peachiness in the wine was due to the red stains in the wine glasses we were using or because of some strangely coloured grape. Like Gewurztraminer.

The nose was weird. I captured little to no fruit – just an ethanol-like spice, a slight neutral vanilla fruitiness, and neutral wood. Further smelling revealed a flutter of apples and more notably, nuts.… read more

WSET Advanced

2011 Quintay “Clava” Sauvignon Blanc

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, pale lemon, watery rim
Nose: clean, pronounced intensity, youthful, grapefruit, green bell pepper
Mouth: dry, med bodied, med+ acidity, med length, med+ to high intensity, citrus, grapefruit
All in all: Good quality; drink now.

Chilean Sauv Blancs, to me, are distinct such that they have a little more of that methoxypyrazine-ness (green bell pepper, green bean) along with a heavier and sometimes an almost stewed characteristic. I know some people who hate methoxypyrazines so much that they almost think it’s a flaw and needlessly evangelize so to new wine drinkers (cue FNH 330 prof, here), but it’s an interesting aroma to appreciate.

2011 Quintay “Clava” Sauvignon Blanc

As said, there was a little bit more of that vegetal character and a little bit less of that floral aspect, but it was still noticeably our good old friend Sauv Blanc – the queen of the grassy; the mother of the Cab Sauv.… read more

Life · Tasting

2013 Vancouver International Wine Festival

Posted on by Josh

2013vanwinefest

Wine festivals. Picture a huge room with a high ceiling and huge windows; women either embrace Old World Pinot Noir in style with subtly classic and fashionable outfits, or New World Pinot Noir – upfront fruit with upfront skin. Ninety percent of men are straight up masculine Cabernet Sauvignon being done up in a suit and tie; a small percentage of laid-back Carmenères put a smile on my face, whether they be clad in a sweater and jeans or all plaid everything. I’m somewhere in the middle like a Pinotage: a cardigan the colour of its juice (purple – close enough) with notes of leather (Doc Martens).

Needless to say, there were many events like wine minglers and seminars, but I only had time to go to one of the big trade tasting days, where, upon being surrounded by uptight suits and dresses, really just made me want to Harlem Shake with everyone in the room which would probably replace being born as the record for the messiest 30 seconds of my life.… read more

WSET Advanced

2009 Koyle Carmenère Reserva

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, deep ruby
Nose: clean, med+ to high intensity, youthful, blackcurrant, green bell pepper, soy
Mouth: dry, med body, med- to med acid, med to med+ (but soft) tannin, med length, med+ intensity, med+ alcohol, a bit of tartness
All in all: Good quality, drink now.

Carmenère is an interesting one. Although it usually does have that methoxypyrazine character found in many Chilean wines plus that Chilean “funk”, the hallmark of Carmenère (to me) are usually the said characteristics plus darker fruits and a soy sauce character that I can find in lots of aerobic winemaking-type wines like some Spanish Tempranillos, except a bit fleshier. It’s tough explaining the “soy sauce” bit to customers sometimes without making it sound repulsive.… read more

Life

2013 Term 2 Week 8 – “Catching up”.

Posted on by Josh

Reading break. Can’t say it was particularly productive as I thought it should’ve been, and instead, my budgeting app decided to colour everything red because I spent too much this month.

What I planned to do:
– Catch up on all school readings! Complete notes, sample problem sets, and previously undone worksheets.
– Hang out.

What I actually did:
– Memorized all 61 Châteaux of the 1855 Bordeaux Médoc Classification including respective growths and communes.
– Hung out.

Saturday and Sunday were full of work and the self-promise of getting started on readings at the very least. That totally didn’t happen, and the waterfall of deferring work had begun.

On Monday, I hung out with co-workers at the Alibi Room for their 400th beer list; subsequently hung out at the Punisher’s place for a crappy beer marathon, classy food, and Cards Against Humanity.… read more

WSET Advanced

2011 Susana Balbo “Crios” Torrontes

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, pale lemon, watery rim
Nose: clean, med+ to high intensity, youthful, tropical fruits, spice, ginger, soapy
Mouth: dry (but ripe), med bodied, med- to med acidity, med alcohol, med length, med intensity
All in all: Good quality; drink now.

2011 Susana Balbo “Crios” TorrontesAt its worst, Torrontes can be too floral in the soapy sense, not unlike that old lady perfume smell that Viognier can easily morph into. Then again, I’m personally not a big fan of floral things, and some of my co-workers love things like jasmine-flavoured beers where I would rather be having a red ale.

Wines like this are great for the new wine drinkers – once the newbies get bored of off-dry Riesling and Moscato, this generally inexpensive grape variety carries tropical fruit characteristics with floral tones which are just as pronounced.… read more

WSET Advanced

2011 Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, pale lemon-green, watery rim
Nose: clean, pronounced intensity, youthful, asparagus, grapefruit, (grassy, herbaceous, vegetal)
Mouth: dry, med- to med body, high acidity, med length, med to med+ alcohol, med+ intensity, asparagus, grapefruit, passionfruit
All in all: Good quality; drink now.

2011 Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc Well if it isn’t Kim Crawford. Advertisements for this wine are plastered throughout the city, and this is one of the wines that I undoubtedly remember that customers always ask for even though (and probably because) it’s heavily listed and well-known. For good reason, too – this wine screams typicality at a good price, with grassy and vegetal aromas that are intensely displayed on the nose. Could be more complex, though.

Palate-wise, this is great. High acidity makes it zippy, patio-worthy, and food-friendly.… read more

WSET Advanced

2010 Tolloy Pinot Grigio

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, pale lemon, watery rim
Nose: clean, med intensity, youthful to developing, almond, floral, neutral + vague fruit
Mouth: dry, med+ to high acidity, med body, med+ intensity, med to med+ alcohol, med length, citrus, minterality
All in all: Good quality; drink now.

Pinot Grigio. Who’d’ve thunk it?

I’m not a big fan of Pinot Grigio, and even recently, one of my newer co-workers and I excitedly burst into complete excitement into how we both disliked this particular variety. “Oh my God, you hate Pinot Grigio, too?!”

It’s very middle-of-the-road and generally crowd-pleasing: its characteristics don’t seem to reach many extremes very 2010 Tolloy Pinot Grigiooften. Acidity, body, intensity, and so on, are usually kept in check, which perhaps gives the quaffable and enjoyable quality – unfortunately, this varietal seems to lack character at the same time, which I find happens in many Italian whites.… read more

WSET Advanced

2011 Yalumba “Y Series” Viognier

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, pale lemon, watery rim
Nose: clean, pronounced, youthful, apricot, canned peaches, spice, honey, FRUIT LOOPS
Mouth: dry, med+ bodied, med- acid, med+ length, med intensity, med+ alcohol, apricot, canned peaches
All in all: Good quality; drink now.

This was a wine I featured in one of the articles that I wrote for the Ubyssey.

I had the exact same wine for my WSET Intermediate class, and even now, I still get that distinct note of Froot Loops – that slightly spicy canned stone fruit sort of smell. I have no idea what cardamom smells like, but I blind-tasted this wine again with my co-workers and apparently that’s a legitimate scent that you might get from both this wine and in actual Fruit Loops cereal.… read more

Life

2013 Term 2 Week 7 – Finally sort of.

Posted on by Josh

The last push until reading break, which will pass by just as fast as any other week. But hey – no school, and guilt-free no school at that. I can already see my study plans failing miserably. OH WELL.

This week was chock-full of meetings and classic school avoidance, so reading break will be a combination of me relaxing (procrastinating) and catching up on things to prep myself for the crappy latter half of this semester, which will mainly involve me begging my BIOL 210 to let me write my exam on another date. I have my first WSET Diploma class on that day! Legitimately sucky.

Monday was BC’s first Family Day, and I spent it with co-workers since two of us were leaving for other things.… read more