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: Rhône
Sissy That Wine: Trixie Mattel and Katya
My current journey has led me to San Francisco’s tech world, where the constant and profuse flow of genius rarely wanes. This city has drilled its tech life into me so viciously that I regretfully find myself trying to turn every non-work situation into a slightly more productive one. Did I buy a bottle of Dolcetto to enjoy before going to see Trixie Mattel’s drag show, only to force myself to write a detailed draft blog post on the grape? Possibly. Did I hand out two sets of business cards to four people I met in line for Katya’s drag show? Maybe. Did I use the 60 seconds I had, meeting Trixie and Katya, to ask what their favourite wines were?… 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
Chenin Flair in Savennières
I’m scared and embarrassed to accept what Erin and Theran say is true, which is that I inadvertently speak with a bit of a French accent when I talk in English with other French people. Gross. If I were a travel bingo card, would that be one of the squares?
Right as we arrived in Angers, our Airbnb host Julien (who created this, by the way) drove us to our designated living quarters, in the centre of the city, where seemingly ancient buildings, castles, and churches were spiffily fused with fresh energy and bright streets you could get lost in. Not unlike the vitality of a non-vintage Champagne that has a dollop of older reserve wine added to its house blend, you know?… read more
JOSH IS ALONE IN NEW YORK CITY: Day 1
So this year, the Wine Bloggers Conference is held in New York, and a small group of us decide to spend some time in NYC as a pre-pre-conference excursion before heading to the Finger Lakes. But it was only literally just a couple of days before our flight to New York that I found out my airplane buddy Donita could no longer go due to a health issue, so besides the couple of Vancouver friends I would meet up with later, I came to the realization that I was going to be mostly alone in a city I recently denounced as being crowded and scary. THIS IS IT, YOU GUYS. GOD IS TESTING ME.
I was late to the interview to my current job because I couldn’t figure out how our own buses work and I’ve lived in Vancouver since I was born.… read more
Vancouver International Wine Festival 2015: “All About Syrah”
Legit tried to give my ticket away or sell it just hours before like a chump, because the previous day’s Australian Shiraz tasting made me seriously question what possessed me to buy a ticket to an event where I was subject to taste eleven more Syrah wines. No ma’am. I couldn’t even give my ticket away to someone for free, as he reluctantly looked at me as if I’d just knocked on his door and asked if his life had been saved by Syrah yet.
I thought it was a bad sign when some sort of false fire alarm went off right when the beginning of the event rolled around. As soon as I was going to test if the rhythm would match up with an Iggy Azalea song, the blaring Windows 98-like noises stopped.… read more
WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 6: Rhône
I’m so behind. Too many things!
I recently attended a Blind Tasting Seminar led by the Guild of Sommeliers. Geoff Kruth MS and Jennifer Huether MS led the whole shindig, and we tasted six wines: a Sancerre, a white Crozes-Hermitage, a Rias Baixas, a Chianti Classico, a Saint-Estèphe, and a weird hipstery Morgon from Beaujolais. More on that in another post! It was legitimately exciting! So many exclamation marks!
!!!
A friend texted me soon after to join for a sparkling wine event at Marquis and so I did, and all was well in my soul.
In the same week I attended a big dinner that had way too much wine and beer, but the gods did not think it appropriate to cast a hangover on me, and instead I felt rather okay the next day.… read more
“Soldier’s Poem” – Muse: Lucien Barrot 2009 Châteauneuf-du-Pape
[Tasted during WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 6: Rhône]
Just from the looking at our flight of five, it was obvious that this was the most aged from the orange-tinged garnet hue, but I’m pretty sure everyone pegged it as Châteauneuf-du-Pape because it was the last wine (including myself, perhaps). The most kingly appellation in the southern Rhône can offer some level of variety like other southern Rhône blends, allowing something like 13 different grapes (18 including mutations) into its wines, with top producers varying their recipes dramatically. Château de Beaucastel, for example, is known for making a Châteauneuf-du-Pape with all of the allowed varieties, while Chateau Rayas makes one that’s virtually a Grenache clubhouse.
The most evolved wine of the bunch of course had more leather, nuts, spice, and earth to match the stewed and dried fruit.… read more
Cancelled plans: Brunel 2012 “La Gardine” Côtes du Rhône
[Tasted during WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 6: Rhône]
In our flight of a rosé (obviously Tavel, being in a Rhône-themed class) and four reds, this was the penultimate wine of our tasting. Everyone in the room had the middle three muddled up because they were the most similar. Perhaps three levels of Côtes du Rhone blends, we all thought.
I surmised that this was the lowest quality out of the three middle wines we tasted. In the wine’s defence, it probably tasted washed out because of the two bulkier blends before it. I thought it was less than ordinary at only the acceptable level: though it had peppery fruit on the nose, the palate just seemed less vibrant and rather light despite the high alcohol, like someone decided to go to a party and then cancel right when it started.… read more