WSET Diploma

Untuned Violin: 2011 Château Grand Renom Bordeaux Blanc

2011 Château Grand Renom Bordeaux Blanc[Tasted during WSET Diploma – Unit 3 – Week 1]

Inaugural WSET Diploma Unit 3 wine! In other words, it’s the wine that begins the descent into the most tortuous unit of the whole shindig. The first sip has sealed the deal and I feel like I’ve sold my soul to the devil. What have I done?!

Sauvignon Blanc is such a gettable grape that it almost freaks me out that it didn’t come to me on the first sniff. Simple minerals and citrus, I thought, so this must be a run-of-the-mill white bread Pinot Grigio from Italy. Luckily the two other white wines in the flight were distinct – from the baked apple and oaky glass of the second, to the soft floral lychee of the third – so when I came back to the first wine the typical greenness was a little more evident.… read more

Quaffing

Liquid Love Handles and Marshmallows: 2011 Treana White

Tasting Note:

Eyes: clear, med+ lemon, legs
Nose: clean, med+ intensity, developing, oak, vanilla, baking spice, sweet spice, marshmallow, stone fruit, nectarine, orange peel, floral, perfume, ripe citrus, nuts, honey, hint tropical
Mouth: dry, full bodied, med acid, high alcohol, med+ intensity, savoury, oak, butter, ripe citrus, orange peel, savoury, baking spice, sweet spice, peach, floral, nutty, med+ length
All in all: Good (to very good) quality: one of the poster children of complex hedonism. Fantastic concentration, body, and balance of oak – but the alcohol is slightly imbalanced, and the structure may be lacking for some consumers. Drink now, not suitable for ageing.

2011 Treana WhiteI haven’t had wine in 9 days (for some dumb pseudo-reason like being really sick or whatever) with a few servings of both horrible and delicious beer in between.… read more

Quaffing

Glinda the Good Witch: 2010 Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Herrenweg de Turkheim Muscat

Tasting Note:

Eyes: clear, pale lemon, legs
Nose: clean, med intensity, youthful, spice, ginger, citrus, stone fruit, ripe peach, hint mango, mineral, petrichor, floral, orange blossom, tea
Mouth: dry, med+ body, med+ to high acid, med+ flavour intensity, med+ alcohol, strong minerality, wet stones, petrichor, citrus, white peach, stone fruit, hint spritz
All in all: Good quality: the wine has fantastic structure for a Muscat, and a strong minerality carries on to a med+ finish. But both the nose and palate could benefit from more fruit intensity and concentration. Drink now, not suitable for ageing.

herrenwegmuscatAfter much debate at the liquor store – which also made it probably look like I was suspicious – I finally came to the conclusion that this was a day I where the whole “should-I-spend-x-less-dollars-for-this-wine?”… read more

Quaffing

Dido – “Thank You”: 2009 Kumeu River Village Chardonnay

Tasting Note:

Eyes: clear, med lemon, legs
Nose: clean, med+ intensity, developing, pear, citrus, white peach, melon, cream, lees, hint butter, hint oak, mineral, flint, nuttiness
Mouth: dry, med+ body, med+ acid, med alcohol, long finish, med+ (to pronounced) intensity, cream, butter, lees, pear, white peach, mineral, savoury, lemon, nuttiness
All in all: Good (to very good) quality: the developmental secondary characteristics are showing fantastically, with intense lees-y and buttery flavours coming through on both the nose and the palate. The wine retains structure and isn’t blousy, but could use a hint more concentration and complexity. Drink now, but suitable for short-term ageing.

2009 Kumeu River Village ChardonnayIt’s currently a cloudy Vancouver day. We’ve had the rounds – a cold and grey morning, mist here and there, some heavier rain in the afternoon, and the weather gods have decided to reign back on the rain (pun intended), so we’re back to a slightly muggy greyness.… read more

Life · Tasting

Wine Bloggers Conference 2014 – Blends: 2 + 2 = 5?

Okay! So flashback to Day 2 of the the Wine Bloggers Conference: it’s one of those times where we have to choose between three different seminars. There’s a seminar each on Merlot (hosted by Rutherford Hill and Duckhorn wineries), something on “How Pros Taste” (hosted by Jackson Family Wines), and then one on wine blends (hosted by Winebow), the last seeming like a strangely divergent topic from the former two. And I know – I should probably be basking in the Californian-based seminars (when in Rome etc.), but I couldn’t help but be intrigued by something less specific and more amalgamate in style i.e. the idea, at the time, of trying a row of Napa Merlots in the California heat made me scrunch my face.… read more

Tasting

Wine Bloggers Conference 2014 – Speed Tasting i.e. Tinder for Wines

Speed tasting. It’s one of the unique events of the Wine Bloggers Conference that’s always explained to you if you’ve never heard of the WBC before, kind of like the warning nod of the hangover to the newly legal. It’s always described as “speed dating but with wine” – though in this case, it’s only a one-way road of looking at your date in disgust. So there’s a plus, and it’s sort of like a Tinder swipe-left-or-right sort of situation.

In the essence of the Live Wine Blogging event, you have 50 minutes to taste through 10 wines. In each 5-minute session, the winery representative pours you wine and gives you a bit of a quick overview before moving on to the next table.… read more

Quaffing

Loras Tyrell, the Knight of Flowers: 2010 Kettle Valley Semillon Sauvignon Blanc

Tasting Note:

Eyes: clear, med lemon, legs
Nose: clean, med+ intensity, youthful, herbal, grassy, floral, ripe grapefruit, citrus rind, hint honey, hint butterscotch, nectarine, lemon
Mouth: dry, full body, med+ acid, med+ alcohol, long length, med+ to pronounced intensity, ripe grapefruit, nectarine, mineral, citrus, lemon, citrus rind, honey, savoury
All in all: Good (to very good) quality: the wine gains points for intensity in flavour and texture, while length is also a plus. The wine lacks a bit of alcoholic balance. Drink now, but has potential for short-term ageing.

2010 Kettle Valley Semillon Sauvignon BlancAn interesting day deserves interesting wine. Or does it, because it’s 10PM on a Saturday and all I want to do is be boring and sleep. I’m an exciting 22-year-old.

I had tried this exact wine for the first time just two days beforehand, and I remember it being fantastic.… read more

Quaffing

Margaery Tyrell: NV Skillogalee Sparkling Riesling

Tasting Note:

Eyes: clear, med+ lemon, bubbles
Nose: clean, med+ intensity, youthful, citrus, lemon, lime, lemon zest, petrol, floral, white flowers, mineral, green pineapple, hints of yeast, hint smokiness
Mouth: dry, med body, high acid, med alcohol, med+ length, pronounced flavour intensity, lemon, lime, lemon zest, floral, citrus explosion
All in all: Good (to very good) quality: the wine excels in its uniqueness, flavour intensity on the palate, and relatively persistent flavours. Slightly more complexity would have propelled the wine into a higher category. Drink now, not suitable for ageing.

mt2

NV Skillogalee Sparkling Riesling

A wine that smells and tastes like flowers, citrus, and sparkles like royalty. Hence the whole Margaery Tyrell sort of thing and the eternal sun that Highgarden seems to be in.… read more

Quaffing

Bree Van de Kamp: 1997 Dr. Bürklin-Wolf Ruppertsberger Gaisböhl “R” Riesling Auslese

Tasting Note:

Eyes: clear, med+ gold, legs
Nose: clean, med+ intensity, developing, mineral, ripe citrus, lemon curd, marmalade, red apple, baked apple, apple pie, peaches, petrol, spice, honey, floral
Mouth: medium-dry, med+ body, med acid, med- alcohol, med+ length, pronounced intensity, ripe apple, honey, spice, minerality, earth, lemon, peach, dried apricot, slate, pastry
All in all: Very good quality: this unctuous Riesling Auslese achieves great balance with the body, intensity, sugar, and acid. Alcohol has just the slightest imbalance despite a mere 11.5% ABV and there could be a little more complexity. But the intense concentration of what flavours are there is impressive. Drink now, not suitable for ageing.

1997 Dr. Bürklin-Wolf Ruppertsberger Gaisböhl "R" Riesling AusleseIt’s a Friday night. I’ve been home all day studying (and recovering from last night, for that matter) just to give myself an excuse to open something fantastic given I work through this fat stack of Champagne flash cards (which I did).… read more

Life · Tasting

2014 Vancouver International Wine Festival – Wine Tour de France Seminar

This year’s wine fest kicked off with me doing the blind tasting challenge on the Wednesday – the rest of my day consisted of lunch with colleagues, errands involving heavy lifting, and then seeing the new Lego movie. I didn’t get as much sleep as I wanted, which is an obvious call for trouble: the next day started off with a France-themed tasting at 9:30AM; the big, busy, and irritating trade tasting at 2:30PM; and an exciting Bourgogne-themed tasting at 5PM. A day full of constant mouth stimuli.

Since this was one of the trade tastings (opposed to a consumer one), there were lots of familiar faces. But I shamelessly admit that any human interaction is personally difficult and gruelling before 11AM (or maybe I’m just a naturally horrible human being), and so I sat down on one of the seats, smiled at the 12 glasses in front of me, got my notebook ready, and did my best not to spill anything.… read more