Tag: Muscat

Tasting

My favourite position is Dogliani style

Posted on by Josh

Real talk: installing six pieces of IKEA furniture on a Sunday with subsequent plans to write, study, and plug away at a work report is a stupidly ambitious goal, but I knew plans wouldn’t work out as soon as I woke up hungover to see the delivery truck arrive just outside the window. Who says yesterday’s steamed golden lava bun-stained shirt isn’t fashionable? Cue scenes with nails that won’t screw and Viognier to quell such frustrations, and then Googling how many calories are spent putting furniture together for eight hours. And then, do you ever have fucking fantastic conversations with an AIDS physician on a Saturday night and 5-more-minutes yourself way too many times? Jesus Christmas.

Piedmont week is the thicc daddy of the Northern Italian portion of the Italian Wine Scholar, so you might imagine such panic coinciding with work and moving.… read more

Life · Quaffing · Tasting

2016 was questionable, so here are 20 wines to pair with 2017

Posted on by Josh

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

Tasting

12 other white Italian grapes for when you’re over Pinot Grigio

Posted on by Josh

It’s clear that we’ve taken a departure from the experimental seminars of 2015’s Australia to the tacit themes of longevity and traditionalism of 2016’s theme of Italy for the Vancouver International Wine Festival. It’s expected that the colossal tasting room is skewed towards the stars of Tuscany, Piedmont, and Veneto, so this leaves the underdogs few and far between. There is not one Dolcetto (yeah I know: who cares) nor one pearl-clutching Franciacorta being poured during the whole festival, nor are there enough Montepulciano for me to make a terrible d’Ab(ruzzo) joke, so last year’s boner for Australian Touriga Nacional would have to be partially satiated by a seminar on all things white and distinctively not Pinot Grigio. I often find the whites of Italy frustratingly subtle – which probably says more about my taste above anything else – but this’ll be a nice opportunity to break things down past this pigeonhole.… read more

Life · Quaffing · Tasting · Travel

Barcelona: Cava to end the Saga

Posted on by Josh

Spoiler alert: my few days in Spain were better than my two and a half weeks in France. Sorry, France. I was rooting for you, we were all rooting for you. #BeQuietTiffany

Our hostel was superior to the one in Paris: Erin and I helped cook dinner one night, we met a Canadian from Edmonton, and we made a cab driver go through McDonalds after a hostel-hosted bar-hopping session that eventually ended on a club next to a beach. And then drinking on said beach, which was a reaaaaal big blur. Have you ever drunkenly told someone they look like Ygritte from Game of Thrones way too many times?

There’s a story later that night involving myself ejecting the Devil’s Liquids from my soul, but let’s just summarize here and say that I fucking covered that up better than all of the Desperate Housewives would have, combined.… read more

Tasting

Josh tastes 118 wines at Top Drop

Posted on 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

WSET Diploma

On the list to retry: Zinck 2012 Muscat

Posted on by Josh

Zinck 2012 Muscat[Tasted during WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 5: Alsace]

At this point in time we’re halfway through the wines that we need to taste and we’re being a bit rushed. It doesn’t help that my stomach, for some reason, is angry with me. Ahh!

A grapey and floral aroma reminiscent of a subdued and more elegant Gewurztraminer is my benchmark for tasting Muscat blind, but burnt hair and matchsticks are my benchmarks for sulphites. By this point I was rushing and had too little wine in my glass before I could reassess, so retrying this wine is something I need to do. The general consensus was that there was some sulphitic character in the wine that needed to blow off.… read more

Quaffing

Glinda the Good Witch: 2010 Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Herrenweg de Turkheim Muscat

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Note:

Eyes: clear, pale lemon, legs
Nose: clean, med intensity, youthful, spice, ginger, citrus, stone fruit, ripe peach, hint mango, mineral, petrichor, floral, orange blossom, tea
Mouth: dry, med+ body, med+ to high acid, med+ flavour intensity, med+ alcohol, strong minerality, wet stones, petrichor, citrus, white peach, stone fruit, hint spritz
All in all: Good quality: the wine has fantastic structure for a Muscat, and a strong minerality carries on to a med+ finish. But both the nose and palate could benefit from more fruit intensity and concentration. Drink now, not suitable for ageing.

herrenwegmuscatAfter much debate at the liquor store – which also made it probably look like I was suspicious – I finally came to the conclusion that this was a day I where the whole “should-I-spend-x-less-dollars-for-this-wine?”… read more

WSET Diploma

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

Posted on 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.

NV Seppelt "GR 113" Rare Muscat RutherglenSeven 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

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

Posted on 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.

2012 Arnoux Trésor du Clocher Muscat de Beaumes de VeniseMuscat 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

2011 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Muscat

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Note:

Eyes: clear, pale lemon, legs
Nose: clean, med+ intensity, youthful, orange blossom, spice, ginger, stone fruit, peach, citrus, cardamom, lychee, fig
Mouth: off-dry, med+ body, med- acid, med alcohol, med+ flavour intensity, savoury, med+ length, ripe peach, apricot, lychee, spice
All in all: Good quality: the wine has aromatic and concentrated fruit and a complex flavour profile, but lacks some structure. Drink now; not suitable for ageing.
Identity Guess: High-priced (Riesling/Pinot Gris/Muscat/Gewurztraminer/Chenin Blanc) from Alsace, France; 2 years old.
Is really: High-priced Muscat from Alsace, France; 2 years old.

2011 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Muscat[Tasted during WSET Diploma class – Section 1 – Week 10]

I often get Gewurztraminer and Muscat mixed up. As soon as I took a sniff, it was perhaps a mistake to write “muscat?… read more