Bordeaux – @sommeligay

24 wines for turning 24

April 11, 2016June 24, 2016 by Josh

This post serves two purposes: a sincere smile-and-nod to the 23rd year of my life, and a spring cleaning wine dump of, coincidentally, a number of bottles that equals the number of anniversaries since I was pushed out of my mother. Alas. The past prime number of a year has been good to me, and I’m stoked for the next. Beyond this whole becoming-an-adult thing, I’ve done many things including completing the WSET Diploma (i hate to keep mentioning about it – but perhaps the youngest in BC to do so!), changing jobs, travelling to New York, travelling to France, travelling to Spain, and other things that would probably be best not to put on the internet. Heh.

And home. Oh God – connecting to your roots and family – sometimes I dig myself way too deep into wine culture and its countries that I forget where I come from.… read more

Tasting

A bored ho tastes Bordeaux (2013)

February 18, 2016February 19, 2016 by Josh

Bordeaux is in a bit of a tough spot at the moment – which isn’t saying much – but it’s far from being an underdog: Eric Asimov discusses this in a New York Times article in May 2010. The region in question once simultaneously exuded both normalcy and the unattainable; a seemingly conventional gateway wine to all other wines, yet having this aura of hubris and higher social status. But now that so many more wines are available, and with a new generation seeking wines that are anything but normal, it seems that less people are raising their hands for the classic French region. But I mean hey: people still whore out special bottles of Bordeaux for likes on Instagram, and a blog post on the mass-produced Mouton Cadet 2012, for some reason, is quite statistically popular.… read more

Tasting

16 Wines to Pair with your Disappointing New Year’s Resolutions of 2016

December 2, 2015December 2, 2015 by Josh

Rarely do I scroll through my phone in the morning (still in bed, furthermore) and decide to go to an event on a whim especially after a slightly pixilated night involving absinthe and a plethora of Real Housewives taglines, but making quick decisions was one of my resolutions for the year – malformed somewhere in the summer – prompting a quick change and a leap out of the door. Were we supposed to RSVP? Yes, says my phone. Whatever.

I remember attending the Annual Champagne and Sparkling Wine Tasting at Marquis Wine Cellars last year: it was a last-minute invite by text after the first Guild of Sommeliers blind tasting seminar held in Vancouver. I remember forgetting my wallet, so I had to borrow money from a friend to donate to the Big Sisters of BC Lower Mainland, the charity who the event supports. … read more

Tasting

Josh tastes 118 wines at Top Drop

September 18, 2015November 16, 2015 by Josh

If there was one unforgettable takeaway uttered by a wine god during this year’s Wine Bloggers Conference, it was the keynote speaker Karen MacNeil (author of the Wine Bible) who opined – and I’m paraphrasing, here – that people should pay more attention to tasting the wines during such events. Of course, I was thrilled, because that gave me even more validation to ignore people. Ha! Key advice when the militant goal is to taste every wine during a well-curated tasting, but it’s harder than it sounds because I guess I like to wave and flail at people.

A regretful ode to the few tables I did not get to visit: Anthonij Rupert, Badia a Coltibuono, Elio Altare, Giusti, Latta, Montenidoli, Orofino, Scribe, Spottswoode Estate, and that miscellaneous Australia Table.… read more

Life · Quaffing · Tasting

Post-Pride and Pre-WBC15 Wine Dump

August 6, 2015November 16, 2015 by Josh

Bit of a tasting note dump between the Maryland trip and Vancouver Pride, since I am not drinking for a week in a simultaneous effort to recover from Vancouver Pride antics and to prepare my liver for the Wine Bloggers Conference in New York. Huzzah. I am surprisingly doing well so far, and I have stepped into the world of non-alcoholic beer.

(I’ve failed miserably.)

There’s not really a common thread here, except for maybe the general Old World?

I’ve also found out that my travel buddy had to cancel her attendance to both the Wine Bloggers Conference and our pre-conference trip to NYC due to a health issue, so I’m semi-alone in NYC (semi- because I’m meeting up with some Vancouver friends still) and I’m a little scared but also super excited. … read more

Life · WSET Diploma

WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 9: Workshop #2

December 20, 2014November 16, 2015 by Josh

Okay, let’s be real here: it’s the holidays, and during the entirety of the WSET diploma, there was inevitably going to be at least one class that combined horribly with a hangover, and that day was today. I’m stubborn and quasi-meticulous: I’ve never missed a class nor have I ever not written about a wine we tried, but I just don’t have the willpower to give birth to separate posts this time around. Not that anyone’s really counting on me, anyways. Insert booing crowd here.

The last workshop we had consisted of one flight of three wines and some written practice. Today consisted of two flights of wine and no written practice (thank the gods), and we promised our instructor that we would practice on our own as if we were promising our parents to not have a house party while they were gone for a week.… read more

Quaffing

Château le Puy 2009 “Expression Originale du Terroir”

November 11, 2014November 16, 2015 by Josh

I’ve finally finished doing the Bordeaux portion for the WSET diploma, but that’s just mostly note-taking and reading. I still need time to dedicate the thick pages to memory, but I thought I’d hold a mini-celebration and open a bottle of Bordeaux, anyways. It’s just an excuse to drink, really. Tomorrow I’m sure I’ll find a dirty quarter on the ground, and it’ll be an excuse to open a beer.

I bought this guy months and months ago while needlessly going on a wine shopping spree at some other store. It was the last bottle they had of it (I’m always a sucker for things like that), and it was somehow mentioned in Drops of God, which is a wine-themed manga I have yet to read.… read more

WSET Diploma

When life gives you rot, make it noble: Château Coutet Sauternes-Barsac 2000

October 30, 2014November 16, 2015 by Josh

[Tasted during WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 3: Bordeaux]

I was in the middle of tasting the first three wines in our second flight when I saw the instructor pouring the first bits of the fourth wine into her own glass. Bordeaux class, so Sauternes, unquestionably.

Yeah, gurl.

How often do you get to try one of the most prized dessert wines of the world? I’m not bragging, because all we get is a wee dram enough for tasting, and God knows I’m poor as fuck from WSET diploma tuition, anyways. This is as close as it gets, except for that time I knocked over my boss’s glass of Château d’Yquem. It shattered all over the floor and in perceived slow motion, I’m sure.… read more

WSET Diploma

“Time of the Season” – The Zombies: Château La Cabanne Pomerol 2005

October 30, 2014November 16, 2015 by Josh

[Tasted during WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 3: Bordeaux]

Pomerol and Saint-Émilion are the two famous appellations on the right bank of Bordeaux. Pomerol is the softer and the less drier appellation of the two, not to say that it’s necessarily sweeter, but perhaps just riper and broader in its fruit. Merlot rather than Cabernet Sauvignon reigns supreme on the right bank: this particular blend is 92% Merlot and 8% Cabernet Franc.

My palate was going at this point, as the 7th wine of our fight of 8, but there was a subtle nose of dried red fruit, dried black fruit, plum, a hints of leather and graceful herbaceous notes. There was a bit of opulent “plum jam”, according to the instructor, along with a soft texture and silky tannins.… read more

WSET Diploma

The Burger King of Wine: Mouton Cadet Bordeaux 2012

October 29, 2014November 16, 2015 by Josh

[Tasted during WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 3: Bordeaux]

I predicted that this was Mouton Cadet just because it feels almost integral in a class about Bordeaux, and the profile clicked well: youthful fruit that isn’t particularly aromatic or muted, dotted with unripe herbaceous character and a disjointed hint of confection. There’s oak, apparently, which is impressive for such a mass-produced bottle, and there’s also some earthiness which anchors its identity, at least, to the old world. Though relatively balanced, the wine seems just a bit thin and simple.

I sing the same ditty every time we approach one of these mass-produced wines, and even moreso for the more doctored wines of the world: Mouton Cadet in itself isn’t horrid, but neither is it great for the price point.… read more