Viura – @sommeligay

Barcelona: Cava to end the Saga

November 26, 2015November 26, 2015 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

Life · WSET Diploma

WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 16: Spain

March 12, 2015November 16, 2015 by Josh

Fun: wine fest, sort of.

Not fun: PEOPLE EVERYWHERE. I’m debating whether or not I should squeeze another post dedicated to the Wine Fest 2015 because that’s what I’ve done in the past, but I feel like I’m being a late bitch.

I mean, these posts should be good enough. Right? Meh. Fun:
Decades Apart
Shiraz: Aussie Superstar
All About Syrah
Mod Oz

Not fun: falling right back into wine class right after wine fest.

Fun: Spanish wine, and definitely ignoring half the lecture to write in my journal because I’m a bad student.

Not fun: Having an odd week-long and spirit-encompassing feeling of wanting to do nothing, including sleep or eat or work. Not sad or happy or tired or angry, just a state of existing.… read more

Quaffing

Monday afternoon in a bottle: 2012 Artero Macabeo Verdejo

January 13, 2014November 16, 2015 by Josh

Tasting Note:

Eyes: clear, med- lemon, legs
Nose: clean, med- intensity, youthful, mineral, pear, citrus, hint orange, stone fruit, peach, white flowers, hint herbal
Mouth: dry, med body, med- acid, med alcohol, med flavour intensity, med length, mineral, pear, citrus, stone fruit, floral
All in all: Good quality: while the wine lacks in complexity and persistence, there is a balance and moderate intensity on the palate.

This wine serves as a symbol of my half-assed sort of not really “New Year’s resolution” to try all the cheaper value wines in the store. It was also my house “emergency wine”, just in case I decided I wanted to drink today (which evidently I did), and it also served as my reward wine – so I had a goal of studying a certain amount of things (Which happened to be Champagne) before I was allowed to open the wine.… read more

Quaffing

holiday wines with the co-workers

January 16, 2013November 16, 2015 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