Tag: Sparkling-other

WSET Diploma

Five-cent candy: NV Yellow Tail Bubbles

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Note:

Eyes: clear, pale lemon, bubbles
Nose: clean, pronounced intensity, youthful, candied pear, pear drop, ripe citrus, orange, candied fruit, ripe, gummy bears, floral
Mouth: dry, med- body, med- acid, med- alcohol, short length, pronounced flavour intensity, candied green fruit, candied pear, hint mineral, gummy bears, ripe citrus, delicate mousse
All in all: Acceptable quality: though the wine has expressive flavours, their sweet simplicity doesn’t have the acid to support it, nor the persistence. Drink now: not suitable for ageing.
Identity Guess: Inexpensive Non-Vintage Prosecco from Italy.
Is really: Inexpensive Non-Vintage sparkling wine from Australia.

NV Yellow Tail Bubbles[Tasted during WSET Diploma class – Section 2 – Week 2]

The third wine in our flight was an obvious shift in quality and style.… read more

WSET Diploma

A quick and messy party: NV Veuve du Vernay Brut

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Note:

Eyes: clear, med lemon-green, bubbles noted
Nose: clean, med intensity, youthful, candied pear, banana, bubble gum, confection, apple, slight unripe/vegetal character
Mouth: dry, aggressive mousse, med acid, med- body, med+ flavour intensity, med- alcohol, confectionary, candied pear, banana, mineral, short length
All in all: Acceptable quality: though the wine has intense aromas and flavours, the sparkling wine lacks persistence, complexity, and acid to balance the sweeter fruit. Drink now: not suitable for ageing.
Identity Guess: Inexpensive tank method Non-Vintage sparkling wine from France.
Is really: Inexpensive tank method Non-Vintage sparkling wine from France.

NV Veuve du Vernay Brut[Tasted during WSET Diploma class – Section 2 – Week 1]

The rows of sub-15 French sparkling at the BCL always intrigue me but I’m always too afraid to commit to what might be a bottle of sad, but it goes down faster anyways.… read more

Quaffing

Peeta Mellark, the Boy with the Bread: NV Zuccardi Blanc de Blancs Cuvée Especial

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Note:

Eyes: clear, med- lemon, bubbles
Nose: clean, med+ intensity, developing, brioche, bready, hint nuttiness, orchard fruit, red apple, citrus, hint minerality, hint butter/malolactic?, hint spice
Mouth: dry, med- body, high acid, med alcohol, med+ flavour intensity, citrus, lemon, red apple, green apple, mineral, bread, brioche, hint nuttiness, citrus zest, med+ length
All in all: Good (to very good) quality: the wine has impressive structure and length. There is a clunkiness in balance with acidity and alcohol that leads to a slight lack in finesse, but there is an interesting and present character. Drink now, but has potential for short-term ageing.

NV Zuccardi Blanc de Blancs Cuvée EspecialI bought this particular bottle because I was both intrigued by its uniqueness and tired of bottles of sparkling that disappointed me.… read more

Quaffing

Oh Land – “White Nights” (Big Ugly Yellow Couch): 2009 Blue Mountain Brut Rosé]

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Note:

Eyes: clear, pale orange, bubbles
Nose: clean, developing, med- intensity, biscuity, bread, yeast, delicate red fruit, hint of apple, strawberry
Mouth: dry, med bodied, med+ acid, med alcohol, med finish, med+ flavour intensity, mineral, savoury red fruit, some toast, biscuit, tart strawberry, cranberry, citrus, fine and mouth-filling mousse
All in all: Good (to very good) quality: the wine rules with finesse, elegance, and balance, though some intensity and complexity are further in the background. Drink now, not suitable for ageing.

2009 Blue Mountain Brut RoséI did it. I promised myself I wouldn’t spend more money on alcohol, let alone on a bottle that’s more than 30 dollars on the shelf for a lonely Friday night, but I really couldn’t help buying the new and hip bottle that recently made store status.… read more

WSET Advanced

2008 Schramsberg Blanc de Blancs

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, pale to med- lemon, aggressive froth upon pour
Nose: clean, med+ intensity, mineral, citrus, reserved fruit
Mouth: dry, med+ body, med+ acid, med+ to long length
All in all: Very good quality; drink now, but has potential for ageing.

2008 Schramsberg Blanc de BlancsSheesh. I’m wishing I had more time to get to know the sparkling wines better because we were rushed through them due to time constraints. Oh well.

I later tried a Schramsberg Blanc de Noirs (2007 vintage, I believe) some time later that autumn (for an amazing send-off dinner for a friend), and I remembered why I loved Californian sparkling wines. Unfortunately the information from trying the 2008 Blanc de Blancs didn’t sink in well enough, and I didn’t realize that I’ve tasted a wine from this iconic producer in the past.… read more

Quaffing

holiday wines with the co-workers

Posted on by Josh

Overdue post, but it’s all good. Some time in December one of us hosted another staff get together complete with an amazing multiple-course home-cooked meal, which included:

– roasted celeriac soup
– kohlrabi slaw with cranberries and walnuts
– beet salad (with goat cheese)
– braised white beans
– roast chicken

It was so good that most of the food is still weirdly vivid in my mind despite this being around 4 weeks ago. Alas, I don’t remember the wines as well – I do remember one of us trying to act as a lion for a charades clue. The phrase was “The Chronicles of Narnia”.

Oh, and one of us was sick which sucked, which means we had no mashed potatoes.… read more

WSET Advanced

NV Yellow Tail Bubbles

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, pale lemon, large bubbles
Nose: clean, youthful, med intensity, tropical fruit, fresher than comparison wine (Cava), grapey
Mouth: off-dry?, more aggressive bubbles, med+ body, med acid, med+ length
All in all: Very good quality; drink now.

Yellow Tail is such an interesting brand. It’s one of the only wine brands I knew before I started getting into wine (and more specifically, their Shiraz), and it’s probably one of the brands that is well-known in the wine world. Winecouver states it perfectly – I would say that the touch of residual sugar (in the wines I’ve had, most notably the Shiraz and Bubbles) makes it so welcoming to the non-wine drinking masses, and combined with (what I would guess is) inexpensive winemaking and marketing so brilliant that it makes its way into marketing textbooks, you have a success that angers no one but the wine savvy, who make a Shakespearean grimace into the distance and wonder why people aren’t drinking other wines.… read more

Tasting

I NEED A BIGGER KNIFE. (UBC Wine Tasting Sesh #2)

Posted on by Josh

Long-ass day. Doesn’t seem so bad in retrospect, but I woke up early for a 9AM thing at UBC, took the 99 to the last stop for work, and then needed to travel all the way back to UBC to lead Part 2 of the sort-of-intro-to-wine themed tasting, all while wearing pants that weren’t jeans, one of those shirts you’d hate to spill wine on, and shoes that didn’t fit just enough to make my feet cry. The garb was fitting for all of the day’s events but for this day in particular, I would defs have lead a wine tasting wearing nothing but seven layers of random comfortable 7-foot-long linens, cinnamon-bun-Homer-Simpson style. I was that uncomfortable (ugh rain + sickness).… read more