I often hear stories told by wine professionals about how their earliest exposure to wine involved a grandparent who let them taste a spoonful when they were young, which maybe planted a seed that they would eventually revisit later in their life. Others involve stories of someone’s “aha” wine, or the wine so profound that it inspired them to get into wine, whether it be a simple Chardonnay or a rare Puligny-Montrachet. Neither of these have sparked that beginning for me, to be honest, partly because wine culture never seriously permeated my family’s traditions, but more so because it was the idea of wine itself that I gravitated towards: the fact that wine was a drinkable intersection between art, science, culture, and gastronomy was one that soothed my overly curious mind – the stereotypical mind that switched courses and majors way too many times.… read more
Tag: Marsanne
Gay wine culture: the uncontrollable urge to pair Arroyo Grande wines with Ariana Grande
The stroke of December leads to the dawn of pregnant holiday plans which I’ve decided to not spend in Vancouver for the first time. Christmas, the first of my big two, has passed – and I planned for the Eve to be a quiet one, and it was legitimately fantastic. Why don’t I roast vegetables more often, while listening to Ariana Grande’s Christmas music, and then watch episodes of Grand Hotel while sipping Crémant? I spent the 25th at a friend’s, a polar opposite yang to the previous night’s yin. Ever watch someone combine your Premier Cru Champagne with Korbel, but then have your cringe melt into a shrug because it’s Christmas? Yeah.
And then the other holiday evenings. Y’all. One night involved all of attending the opening of a new exhibit at the GLBT Museum, attending a fantastic art exhibit at Strut, and then drunken shenanigans for a friend’s birthday.… read more
2016 was questionable, so here are 20 wines to pair with 2017
I ended a past blog post – themed: a review of 2015 – with the words “Welcome, 2016. I will cut you.” Though I feel like I did personally make some substantial dents in this crunchy titanium can of a year, the general consensus seems to be that we created a blueprint for goodness, but then said blueprint was stolen, lit on fire, and then puréed with an unwashed beige-coloured towel embroidered with the words “~fUcK yOu~”, styled in Comic Sans MS.
I won’t fill this post with hopes for 2017 so that I don’t build myself a bigger bowl of disappointment, but instead will list wines that remind me of an upwards trend of hope, a vague connection to the vapid consolation of Pantone’s Color of the Year, a fresh and flora-driven yellow-green named “Greenery“.… read more
24 wines for turning 24
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
Canadian Wines with Rhodanien and Tuscan Influence
In August, I was invited to a tasting on two wineries with very specific philosophies and inspirations. Le Vieux Pin and La Stella are wineries linked by winemaker and ownership but emit different energies when it comes to their wines, the former evoking elegance and finesse, the latter evoking power and density. Both take inspiration from the Old World: it’s clear that that Le Vieux Pin channels the Rhône, but La Stella channels Tuscany, and more specifically, from the beefy wines of the Maremma coast.
They manage to coax the personality of the grapes into a proper expression of the climate in a particular vintage – and without stretching the malleability of the grapes into anything that isn’t intrinsic or primal.… read more
Vancouver International Wine Festival 2015: “Mod Oz”
It just feels slightly unfortunate that this seminar didn’t sell out – I mean, if the idea of Australian Shiraz is being purportedly tired, why aren’t we getting excited about every other fucking grape that can be grown there? Did you see Australian Grüner Veltliner coming? The answer is no. You didn’t.
I mean yes – I tire my face out by tensing my eye sockets and resisting an eye roll every time someone says they “don’t like Australian wine”, which is somewhat fair considering that the market can be saturated with its own stereotypes. I suppose it’s just good business sense, but there’s so much potential past the generic back-of-the-bottle tasting notes that preach deep berry fruit, “smooth”, and an empty promise that it’ll pair well with barbecue.… read more
Vancouver International Wine Festival 2015: “Decades Apart”
I’m feeling inconveniently gross because I was supposed to study the rest of Australia last night, so it seemed like a good idea when my best friend posed the idea of doing some late night work together at a café. We drove around, and the few places we could think of were all full at 9PM on a Tuesday, so we thought we could grab a small bite at the Union before heading back out to scout a place to get some shit done.
It was not a small bite. We did not do work afterwards.
Long story short: it’s the day after. I’m tired and gross and for some reason I decided to wear this really thick button-up because I’ve been saving it for semi-relevant moments like these, and I’m thanking God that there isn’t a saccharine Chardonnay in the flight that raises my body temperature by a few degrees.… read more
“Scenic World” – Beirut: Tahbilk 2011 Marsanne
[Tasted during WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 7: Australia]
I’ve had this wine several times in the past, and I’m stoked that I had it in a blind setting to confirm my thoughts! I had this wine for the first time a couple of years ago (though a different vintage, I’m sure) when I was just getting into wine, hardly knowing that Marsanne was a grape and that Australia grew it. Upon smelling it, at the time, I was reminded of some sort of rubbery and mineral-driven Australian Riesling with a similar limey edge, but with lower acidity.
There’s a hint of that honeyed element that I find some descriptions exaggerate, in terms of Marsanne, but I’ve been able to pick it up the more and more I try this wine, and now blind. … read more
Liquid Love Handles and Marshmallows: 2011 Treana White
Tasting Note:
Eyes: clear, med+ lemon, legs
Nose: clean, med+ intensity, developing, oak, vanilla, baking spice, sweet spice, marshmallow, stone fruit, nectarine, orange peel, floral, perfume, ripe citrus, nuts, honey, hint tropical
Mouth: dry, full bodied, med acid, high alcohol, med+ intensity, savoury, oak, butter, ripe citrus, orange peel, savoury, baking spice, sweet spice, peach, floral, nutty, med+ length
All in all: Good (to very good) quality: one of the poster children of complex hedonism. Fantastic concentration, body, and balance of oak – but the alcohol is slightly imbalanced, and the structure may be lacking for some consumers. Drink now, not suitable for ageing.
I haven’t had wine in 9 days (for some dumb pseudo-reason like being really sick or whatever) with a few servings of both horrible and delicious beer in between.… read more
Wine Bloggers Conference 2014 – Speed Tasting i.e. Tinder for Wines
Speed tasting. It’s one of the unique events of the Wine Bloggers Conference that’s always explained to you if you’ve never heard of the WBC before, kind of like the warning nod of the hangover to the newly legal. It’s always described as “speed dating but with wine” – though in this case, it’s only a one-way road of looking at your date in disgust. So there’s a plus, and it’s sort of like a Tinder swipe-left-or-right sort of situation.
In the essence of the Live Wine Blogging event, you have 50 minutes to taste through 10 wines. In each 5-minute session, the winery representative pours you wine and gives you a bit of a quick overview before moving on to the next table.… read more