South Africa – @sommeligay

2015 ends and 2016 trends

January 13, 2016January 14, 2016 by Josh

I’m a bit late to this #bye2015hello2016 stuff! Anyways, I’ve said it way too many times than you care to read: I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions. But this is the first year where reflecting and looking forward to the next year has felt the least forced. Despite my abrupt and perhaps ephemeral positivity, I won’t be superimposing any fortune cookie pieces of advice onto filtered landscapes anytime soon – March seems to be my I-fucking-hate-everything downfall month anyway, so we’ll see how much my outlook relapses.

At the beginning of 2015, I made the tongue-in-cheek resolution to be a bit more selfish: to not to be guilt-ridden about having a balanced serving of things that make me happy and to give less of a shit about what other people think.… read more

Life · Quaffing · Tasting · WSET Diploma

Exams and grand slams

June 10, 2015November 16, 2015 by Josh

It’s done. I’ve completed (or performed, rather, since we’ll find out whether or not I’ve actually completed the thing come September) the last unit I needed to complete for the WSET Diploma! I’m tempted to prance around maniacally while getting drunk really quickly on this fantastically sunny day, but September will have to wait for even bigger celebrations, I suppose. Which calls for fancy Cava instead of Champagne, maybe?! I mean, no, of course, but I bought this already so let’s.

In a couple of days I envision myself in a state of academic and mental paralysis. I will have a weird need to study, and I will give in. Someone make me watch a TV series or something!

Alta Alella “Laietà” 2011 Gran Reserva Brut Nature Cava (Cava, Spain): Fresh, lemon curd, some earth, yeast, blanched almonds, and sea spray.… read more

Life · Tasting

Vancouver International Wine Festival 2015: “All About Syrah”

February 28, 2015August 22, 2020 by Josh

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

“This bitch is definitely going to order a Pumpkin Spice Latte”: 2013 Bellingham “The Bernard Series” Vieilles Vignes Chenin Blanc

October 7, 2014November 17, 2015 by Josh

[Tasted during WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 1]

I’ve had this wine in class before. And then I had it in a restaurant forgetting that I had it in class before. And then I had it in class again – and I thought the wine was fantastic all three times. Besides the change from “Old Vines” to “Vieilles Vignes”, I’m stoked that my tasting notes were generally in the same camp. The first time around we were given 5 white wines to match with 5 different grape varieties so Chenin Blanc was basically a given, but this time around it was a little tougher.

I mean, you smell heavy oak and baked apple on the nose with that identical echo on the palate, and you immediately think new world oaked Chardonnay.… 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

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

Quaffing

Katniss Everdeen, the Girl On Fire: 2009 Scali Pinotage

December 26, 2013November 16, 2015 by Josh

Tasting Note:

Eyes: clean, med+ ruby, legs, (high viscosity)
Nose: clean, pronounced intensity, developing, candied red raspberry and strawberry, plum, cedar, smoke, vanilla, hint VA, blackberry, hint herbal, medicinal, mocha, ash, earth, white pepper, vegetal, dill, leather
Mouth: dry, med+ bodied, high acidity, high ripe tannins with a hint of coarseness, high alcohol, med flavour intensity, med+ length, red fruit + black fruit, ripe red cherry, raspberry, blackberry, hint VA, mineral, wood, ash
All in all: Very good quality: the wine is structurally intense and concentrated. While the balance is slightly off with a slightly tight tannin structure, the flavours are complex. Relatively long length. Can drink now, but has potential for ageing.

Pinotage is a grape that I’ve always been fascinated by.… read more

WSET Diploma

2010 Bellingham “The Bernard Series” Old Vine Chenin Blanc

June 15, 2013November 16, 2015 by Josh

Tasting Note:

Eyes: clear, med lemon, legs
Nose: clean, developing, med+ intensity, mineral, yellow apple, spice, butter, oak, vanilla, wet wool
Mouth: dry, med+ body, med+ acid, med alcohol, med flavour intensity, med+ length, citrus, lemon, baked apple, butter
All in all: Very good quality: persistent finish, good structure, and a balance found in both the fruit and the secondary characteristics. Drink now, but has potential for short term ageing.
Identity Guess: Mid-priced (Riesling/Pinot Gris/Muscat/Gewurztraminer/Chenin Blanc) from South Africa; 2 years old.
Is really: Mid-priced Chenin Blanc from South Africa; 3 years old.

[Tasted during WSET Diploma class – Section 1 – Week 10]

I love Chenin Blanc. I’m not entirely sure why – perhaps because it’s versatile, but in such a different way than Riesling or Chardonnay.… read more

WSET Diploma

2008 Thelema Shiraz

April 18, 2013November 16, 2015 by Josh

Tasting Note:

Eyes: clear, deep ruby, legs
Nose: clean, med+ intensity, developing, cherry, dark fruit, barnyard, spice, ash, meat, black pepper, baked fruit, medicinal
Mouth: dry, med acid, coarse med tannins, med+ alcohol, med+ body, med+ intensity, earth, red fruit, black fruit, med+ finish
All in all: Very good quality: a concentrated med+ intensity on both the nose and palate contributes to an intense wine. Along with a relatively long finish, all of the components are in balance, except for the alcohol which seems a little bit hot. Drink now: not suitable for ageing. There is no potential for the wine to further harmonize its components.
Identity guess: High-priced Pinotage from South Africa; 3 years old.
Is really: High-priced Shiraz from South Africa; 5 years old.… read more

Quaffing

nine bottles for six bodies

October 19, 2012November 16, 2015 by Josh

Yeah – part of my job is that I get to taste a lot of wines. It’s really helping with stressful midterm season, and my co-workers and I decided to taste some stuff at one of our houses (Thanks! I’m sure we annoyed your neighbours oops). Unfortunately one of us was sick and couldn’t make it, which really sucks because we tasted some pretty cool things, but I guess more wine for us OH WELL.

Also, we all had these blind with the exception for the last one, which is always fun. I’m glad everyone waited for a co-worker and I to close and travel to the place – I’m sure everyone was itching to open the first bottle, which was delish.… read more