@sommeligay

Tasting Note:

Eyes: clear, med pink, legs
Nose: clean, med+ intensity, youthful, red fruit, rhubarb, citrus, strawberry, floral, hint roses, hint herbaceous
Mouth: off-dry to medium-dry, med body, med- acid, med- alcohol, med length, pronounced flavour intensity, red fruit, candied strawberry, rhubarb, floral, roses, hint spritz, little to no noticeable tannin, slightly woody finish
All in all: Good quality: the wine is deliciously gulpable with pronounced melodies of strawberry, rhubarb, and some floral notes. A bit more structure, finesse, and length would make this wine sparkle.

This wine serves to be a bit of a delicious double-edged sword for me at the moment. I’ve been craving an off-dry no-nonsense drink-all-of-me wine since the rainy morning. And I was doing so well for not having had a drink for two days in a row, but here I am.… read more

WSET Diploma

Semen of Dionysus: NV Seppelt “GR 113” Rare Muscat Rutherglen

April 16, 2014November 16, 2015 by Josh

Tasting Note:

Eyes: clear, deep brown, legs
Nose: clean, pronounced intensity, fully developed, figs, Christmas cake, spice, wood, earth, mineral, brown sugar, raisin, cinnamon, nutmeg, white pepper, dried fruit, burnt toffee, ripe citrus, hint floral
Mouth: luscious, full-bodied, med fortification, med- acid, long length, pronounced intensity, cola, fig, earth, spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, Christmas cake
All in all: Outstanding quality: given its style, the wine is balanced, intensely flavoured, boasts complex characteristics, and has a very long length. Drink now, not suitable for ageing.

Seven HELLS this was delicious. I’m not even going to go with the vague “bodily fluids” description here like I did with that unctuous Pedro Ximénez. Where the PX was sort of verging on the “very good” to “outstanding” range, this was undeniably smack-dab in the “outstanding” category.… read more

WSET Diploma

Break-up wine and cheap buckets of ice cream: KWV Paarl Cape Tawny

April 16, 2014November 16, 2015 by Josh

Tasting Note:

Eyes: clear, med- tawny, legs
Nose: clean, med+ intensity, developing, spice, brown sugar, dried red fruit, caramel
Mouth: sweet, med+ body, med fortification, low acid, med length, med+ intensity, candied citrus, brown sugar, caramel, hint red fruit, nutty undertones
All in all: Good quality: harmonized and balanced components along with rather intense but simple flavours accompany this great-valued fortified wine. Could use more complexity and length. Drink now, not suitable for ageing.

This wine was more of a quick afterthought and I’m sad that we didn’t really talk about it some more, though it was probably overshadowed by the wines surrounding it. It was the sixth wine in our flight out of seven: the first four costed a bit more and were superlative in their respective categories, and the fifth wine was both shitty and cheap but still served to show something.… read more

WSET Diploma

#no: Brights “74” Apera

April 16, 2014November 16, 2015 by Josh

Tasting Note:

Eyes: clear, med- blood orange?, legs
Nose: clean?, low intensity, youthful?, nothing – faint scents of nuts gently macerated in rubbing alcohol if you really tried
Mouth: medium-sweet, alcohol, slightly nutty, cough syrup, med body, Halls, low acid, med length, med+ flavour intensity
All in all: No.

This was repulsive and we tasted it for educational purposes. The classmate to my left thought it was hilarious that I was writing a tasting note because it was that horrid, and I really thought it wouldn’t be.

The wine was a strange colour between pink and pale brown. The nose seemed to have faint ghostly aromas of the slightly nutty and alcoholic aftermath that were probably low-quality grapes destined for high-yielding “sherry” production.… read more

WSET Diploma

Dita Von Teese: 2011 Jean-Marc Lafage Maury Vin Doux Naturel

April 16, 2014November 16, 2015 by Josh

Tasting Note:

Eyes: clear, deep ruby, legs
Nose: clean, pronounced intensity, youthful, chocolate, chocolate-covered cherries, black cherry, red fruit, dried fruit, black fruit, earth, mineral, blackberry, RASPBERRY
Mouth: sweet, med body, low fortification, med acid, cherry, raspberry, black cherry, cherry cola, black forest cake, chocolate, pronounced flavour intensity, med+ length
All in all: Very good quality: this fortified wine has an intense and almost archetypal flavour profile. Balanced and concentrated, but could have more complexity. Drink now, not suitable for ageing.

I honestly don’t know much about Dita Von Teese. But she was one of the first things that came to mind when I was trying to come up with something or someone that resembled the fluid and seamless character of this sweet and heady wine, while also having some form of direct intensity.… read more

WSET Diploma

Overly Attached Girlfriend: 2012 Arnoux Trésor du Clocher Muscat de Beaumes de Venise

April 16, 2014November 16, 2015 by Josh

Tasting Note:

Eyes: clear, pale lemon, legs
Nose: clean, pronounced intensity, youthful, mineral, grapey, floral, orange blossom, stone fruit, peach, ripe apple, pear
Mouth: sweet, med body, low acid, low fortification, med+ flavour intensity, gummy bears, floral, hint bitterness of finish, stone fruit, med length
All in all: Good quality: the wine is a bit cloying, though this is expected. It’s concentrated and intense, though also almost too direct an one-note as a result. Drink now, not suitable for ageing.

Muscat is almost so unmistakable that some wines that it makes are sort of like archetypal stock characters. Meme-like, in a sense, hence the whole Overly Attached Girlfriend sort of thing, where this wine literally smells like a bouquet of orange blossoms, fruity perfume, candy, and it also seems to not want to completely release from the back of your palate in a bit of a partially cloying frenzy.… read more

WSET Diploma

“Here Comes the Sun” – The Beatles: Leacock’s 15 Year Old Medium Rich Bual

April 14, 2014November 16, 2015 by Josh

Tasting Note:

Eyes: clear, med brown, legs
Nose: clean, pronounced intensity, fully developed, spice, brown sugar, earth, mineral, roasted almonds, caramelized sugar, figs, molasses, hint citrus, coffee
Mouth: medium-sweet, med+ bodied, high fortification, high acid, med+ length, med+ intensity, brown sugar, spice, earth, mineral, roasted almonds, salted almonds, burnt toast
All in all: Outstanding quality: it’s unfortunate that Madeira is wildly underrated. This wine has a complex and lasting flavour profile. It has balance, intensity, and concentration.

Breakfast in a glass. I’m talkin’ flavours of orange marmalade, hints of coffee, a bit of burnt toast (but in a good way), boosted by other complex things involving toasted almonds, scorched earth, caramelized sugar, and figs. Oh boy.

Okay: the “scorched earth” thing sounds stupid and I’m pretty sure I just borrowed that one from somewhere else, but I swear by it on this one!… read more

WSET Diploma

“Sing, Sing, Sing” – Benny Goodman: Henriques and Henriques 10 Year Old Sercial Madeira

April 14, 2014November 16, 2015 by Josh

Tasting Note:

Eyes: clear, med amber, legs
Nose: clean, med+ intensity, fully developed, spice, caramel, sultana raisin, nut, ripe citrus, almond skin, mineral, cashew, fig, dates
Mouth: dry, med+ body, high fortification, high acid, med+ length, med+ flavour intensity, almonds, hint brine, caramel, spice, sultana raisin, overripe citrus, cashew
All in all: Very good quality: this drier style of Madeira is intense and well-balanced. Though the fortified wine is quite complex, there is a slight lack of concentration on the finish.

Oh Madeira. If these wines weren’t popular to begin with, then the lesser-known fortified wine in its drier version is even more of a sad and ignored little outlier. Madeira made from Sercial definitely tends to be on the drier side of the spectrum – (my way of remember this is sort of associating “SERcial” with “SERious”) but even so, a significant chunk of the class thought this was off-dry.… read more

Life · Tasting

2014 Vancouver International Wine Festival – Wine Tour de France Seminar

March 4, 2014January 18, 2017 by Josh

This year’s wine fest kicked off with me doing the blind tasting challenge on the Wednesday – the rest of my day consisted of lunch with colleagues, errands involving heavy lifting, and then seeing the new Lego movie. I didn’t get as much sleep as I wanted, which is an obvious call for trouble: the next day started off with a France-themed tasting at 9:30AM; the big, busy, and irritating trade tasting at 2:30PM; and an exciting Bourgogne-themed tasting at 5PM. A day full of constant mouth stimuli.

Since this was one of the trade tastings (opposed to a consumer one), there were lots of familiar faces. But I shamelessly admit that any human interaction is personally difficult and gruelling before 11AM (or maybe I’m just a naturally horrible human being), and so I sat down on one of the seats, smiled at the 12 glasses in front of me, got my notebook ready, and did my best not to spill anything.… read more

Life · Tasting

I suck at wine: 2014 VIWF Blind Tasting Challenge

March 1, 2014June 24, 2016 by Josh

My 2014 Vancouver International Wine Festival activities begun on Wednesday! Insert majestic trumpet sounds here.

I was really scared for the Blind Tasting Challenge (at the Pacific Culinary Institute of Arts) on said morning . This mostly meant barely being able to keep my breakfast in my stomach, listening to Glee’s rendition of “Don’t Rain on My Parade” on repeat for high energy (do you hate me yet?), and then thinking that coffee was a bad idea. A classmate saw me looking at the water as I was listening to music and taking refreshing winter breaths of Granville Island air – she was just as nervous as I, but another classmate told us we were more jittery and nervous than we needed to be.… read more