White – Page 10 – @sommeligay

I’ve gone on and on about how I’ve never had a Condrieu. Huzzah!

If old world Sauvignon Blanc reminds me of a violin solo with taut and delicate strings, old world Viognier reminds me of the cello’s smooth purr. Finesse and restrained charm is still there, but if lower pitches strain your ears less, then lower acid does exactly the same for your mouth. California and Australia also enthuse over the grape, but that’s where they can get less Bach and more Meghan Trainor.

Condrieu is the classic area for Viognier in France, where the oily wines are balanced with finesse and more structure than their new world equivalents.… read more

WSET Diploma

Salted caramel ice cream and pride glitter: Domaine René Muré 2007 Riesling Vorbourg “Clos Saint Landelin” Sélection de Grains Nobles

November 19, 2014November 17, 2015 by Josh

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

I’m sad I didn’t have more time to spend just tasting minuscule sips of this wine, whose colour I haven’t seen for a wine in a very long time, and the same colour you’d swear was more akin to sherry than a Riesling. Add a Sélection de Grains Nobles wine to the list of wines that are so rare, such that getting to taste one is simultaneously enough and not enough.

Fuck.

It was reminiscent to the first wine in our flight of three, in that there was a real evolved pomaceous fruit character, with bruised red apple and dried pear that met with dried peaches, some apricots, honey, spice, mushroom, and apple jam.… read more

WSET Diploma

“Chelsea Dagger” – The Fratellis: Trimbach 2012 Riesling

November 19, 2014November 17, 2015 by Josh

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

Continuing on our speed tasting train. This is the brightest wine of our flight of three, and also the palest. Our flight of three was obviously chosen to display three different styles or quality levels of Riesling (the Alsatian grape we hadn’t tried yet in that session), the one previous to this being a Grand Cru Alsatian Riesling, this one being one at the regular Alsace AOP level, and the third being a Grand Cru Sélection de Grains Nobles.

This is a great example of its style, where bright Alsatian Riesling is mouth-commanding and almost abrasive, reminding me of a young and irritatingly chipper business-forward politician or Daenerys Targaryen.… read more

WSET Diploma

Liquid autumn and potpourri: Domaine Eblin-Fuchs 2010 Riesling Rosacker Grand Cru

November 19, 2014November 17, 2015 by Josh

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

We literally start the last flight of three wines with six minutes left in class, so everyone’s struggling to speed taste, sort of like that scene in the first book of Harry Potter where Hermione has to figure out what potion Harry has to drink in order to make it through to save the world from Apothic Red, or whatever. They may have cut that scene from the film?

Originally there were simply three appellations for Alsace, and you may still very well group them in that way: there’s regular Alsace, there’s Crémant d’Alsace (sparkling), and then there’s the Grand Cru appellation which implies higher quality than the regular, but of course it’s still a subject of controversy.… read more

WSET Diploma

On the list to retry: Zinck 2012 Muscat

November 18, 2014November 17, 2015 by Josh

[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

WSET Diploma

Not enough dirty socks, but good anyways: Pfaffenheim 2013 “Pfaff” Pinot Gris

November 18, 2014November 17, 2015 by Josh

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

I’m a big fan of Alsatian Pinot Gris. I was supposed to make a post on one by another producer last week but drank it too quickly to leave any trace of sobriety (“I’ll just buy another bottle, srjgkglrahhh”), and plus I knew the theme of the upcoming class was Alsace, so tasting a Pinot Gris was definitely something that was going to happen, anyways.

The wine was notably Pinot Gris (if not Gewurztraminer) from just looking at it with its coppery tint from pinkish grapes (another reason to love it?). Not as exuberant on the nose like Gewurztraminer or Muscat, but there are hints to stone fruit, mineral, peach, some sort of sweet orange floral notes, and a bit of mango.… read more

WSET Diploma

Gewp: Domaine Zind-Humbrecht 2012 Gewurztraminer

November 18, 2014November 17, 2015 by Josh

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

Indisputably Gewurztraminer on the nose (if not Muscat), where it was like liquid Bed Bath and Beyond. I might as well have taken a big whiff of my grandma’s purse, and it probably would have been more accurate had she been the source of my late aunt’s durian-eating habits. I mean I guess the wine isn’t so much durian-driven than it is lychee and peaches, but still.

I noticed a bit of bubble by just looking at the glass, as did some other classmates, and indeed there was just a hint of spritz on the palate that other people detected. What’s interesting is that we had the exact same wine no more than a couple months prior, and then it seemed perfectly fine, but an in-bottle malolactic fermentation was a possibility for the bit of spritz for this time around.… read more

WSET Diploma

Vanilla, but not in an oaky way: Hugel 2011 Pinot Blanc

November 18, 2014November 17, 2015 by Josh

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

Pinot Blanc is one of the exceptions to Alsace, where the region itself is an exception to the non-varietally labelled wines in France. Unlike Alsace, the rest of French wines are typically labelled by their appellation rather than the grape – so unless there’s an informative back label, the average consumer might get lost with regions that sound like they’ve come from a George R. R. Martin novel. It’s a big conversation. Alsace, for the most part, dodges this.

Many (political) reasons led to this general rule, but then there’s poor little Pinot Blanc, which may very well have some Auxerrois in its blend despite the fact that it’s labelled “Pinot Blanc”. … read more

Quaffing

Tonight’s vote-watch wine: La Monacesca 2012 Verdicchio di Matelica

November 16, 2014November 16, 2015 by Josh

Today (Nov. 15) was the municipal election in Vancouver. I had to work in the morning, so I had the option of heading to the polling station either before or after work. I decided that the former option was better, so I arrived shortly after the nearby polling station was open. Though I spotted a roll of “I voted!” stickers, I was for some reason not offered one, and then I remembered that it was 8AM on a Saturday morning and I probably looked like a troll who was able to make high heel shoe-esque sounds with ratty sneakers that boomed throughout the solemn elementary school gym. I was given shifty looks, as if the workers were definitely sure I was going to write “penis” 300 times all over the ballot.… read more

Quaffing

Caruso & Minini 2013 “Terre di Giumara” Inzolia

November 11, 2014November 16, 2015 by Josh

Gotta be up at 6AM tomorrow for a distillery tour. I’m already tired and exhausted and maybe on the verge of being sick, but it’s hard to tell if it’s the fatigue or if it’s the bugs in my system. Let’s keep our fingers crossed because it’s supposed to be sunny this entire week and I’m excited about that. Brisk air and sunshine! My favourite kind of weather. Now lets try and kill these bugs with alcohol.

You’d think I wouldn’t bother buying any wine because I’m already tired and don’t need more things to put in my system, but I’ve never had the grape Inzolia before, in its commoner Marsala form or otherwise. Plus, a warmer climate implies lower acidity with riper fruit, and that’s exactly want I want right now.… read more

@sommeligay

Tag: White

Bach Cello Suite No.1 in G: Domaine Louis Clerc 2011 Condrieu

Salted caramel ice cream and pride glitter: Domaine René Muré 2007 Riesling Vorbourg “Clos Saint Landelin” Sélection de Grains Nobles

“Chelsea Dagger” – The Fratellis: Trimbach 2012 Riesling

Liquid autumn and potpourri: Domaine Eblin-Fuchs 2010 Riesling Rosacker Grand Cru

On the list to retry: Zinck 2012 Muscat

Not enough dirty socks, but good anyways: Pfaffenheim 2013 “Pfaff” Pinot Gris

Gewp: Domaine Zind-Humbrecht 2012 Gewurztraminer

Vanilla, but not in an oaky way: Hugel 2011 Pinot Blanc

Tonight’s vote-watch wine: La Monacesca 2012 Verdicchio di Matelica

Caruso & Minini 2013 “Terre di Giumara” Inzolia