Tag: White

Quaffing

2010 Alain Brumont Gros Manseng – Sauvignon Blanc

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, med lemon
Nose: clean, med+ intensity, youthful, mineral, pink grapefruit, citrus, nuances of stone fruit, slight grassiness
Mouth: dry, med+ acid, med bodied, med- length, med alcohol, med+ intensity, tart citrus explosion, mineral
All in all: Good quality; drink now.

Unpopular opinion, but I mostly hate Halloween. I mean, it’s nice to hang out with friends, eat candy, carve pumpkins, and eat pumpkin-flavoured things, but seeing drunk-ass half-dressed teenagers à la Mean Girls gets tiring, annoying, and mind-grating, and all I want to do on Halloween is lock myself in my room and do homework. Of course that all changes when you go on Facebook seeing everyone have fun but you, and you wish you weren’t such a bitter old man stuck in a college-boy’s body.… 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

Quaffing

nine bottles for six bodies

Posted on 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

Tasting

wine 101 @ UBC

Posted on by Josh

So yeah! I led the first tasting of this school year at the UBC Wine Tasting Club. It was awesome and complete with me spilling wine while demonstrating swirling, me speaking horrendously quietly and fast while avoiding the tens and tens of eyes on me, and me silently freaking out and wondering if people were getting bored as I barked on and on about the noble grape varieties. Which is great, because that’s me being normal.

Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating.

What was also fantastic was that Holly brought her Le Nez du Vin set which was amazingly fun. People were trying to quiz each other with smells or just smelled the little vials in general. My favourite picture was the one with the goat-looking beast with weird fangs (“Musk”).… read more

WSET Advanced

2010 Joseph Drouhin “Laforet” Chardonnay

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, pale lemon
Nose: clean, med+ intensity, youthful, sweet, peaches, tropical fruit
Mouth: dry, med- body, med to med+ acidity, med length
All in all: Good quality; drink now; not intended for ageing.

Tasted against the 2006 Louis Jadot Chardonnay Meursault Genevrières.

Initially the really ripe fruits had me guessing a New World Chardonnay from a hot area (unfortunately I didn’t pick up on the acidity), but lo and behold, this was an entry-level Burgundian Chardonnay that borders on that New World ripeness.

Although this is a good entry-level Chardonnay on the lower end of the mid-price range, I feel like I wouldn’t go back to it because there are either wines with a bit more complexity for the same price point or cheaper wines with just-as-ripe fruit.… read more

WSET Advanced

2006 Louis Jadot Chardonnay Meursault Genevrières

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, pale to med- lemon
Nose: clean, med+ intensity, developing, flinty, leesy, apple, oak, butter, nutty
Mouth: dry, med bodied, med+ acidity, long length, med+ alcohol, med+ intensity, citrus, mineral
All in all: Very good quality; Can drink now, but has potential for ageing.

Tasted against the 2010 Joseph Drouhin “Laforet” Chardonnay.

Although I did record my tasting notes and the quality of this wine, the fact that this expensive-as-shit wine wasn’t entirely memorable sort of worries me a bit, and I’m wondering if it just didn’t have enough character in the end. I did note that this wine was well-balanced but could have had more complexity for the price.

Buy this if you’re filthy rich. Otherwise, for the same price, you can buy a cheaper bottle of Chardonnay, dinner, and still have leftover money to do so for the next day or so.… read more

Quaffing

2005 Domaine Mersiol Grand Cru Frankstein Pinot Gris

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, deep lemon
Nose: clean, med intensity, honey, floral, wood spice, sweet and oxidative notes (caramel), secondary aromas dominate, ripe apples
Mouth: off-dry to med sweetness, med+ body, med- to med acidity, med length, oily mouthfeel, bitter finish
All in all: Very good quality; drink now, but has potential for ageing.

So I had this wine picked out for me. Really interesting stuff. Beautiful deep lemon colour, coupled by an interesting nose quite reminiscent of a Vouvray I tried a couple weeks back. Instead, though, the honey and woodier spices were more pronounced, with the fruit taking a bit more of the back seat role in the vehicle that was this wine. Oh man. My analogies. Oxidative notes were present and integrated well with the spice notes.… read more

Quaffing

2011 Wild Goose Autumn Gold

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, very pale lemon – almost water white
Nose: clean, med intensity, green fruit, lychee, notes of stone fruit, sweet aromas
Mouth: off-dry, med body, med- to med acidity, med- length, tart, round, tropical fruit finish
All in all: Good quality, drink now.

Maybe it’s because of the label, but compared to the Sauvignon Blanc I tasted next to this, this was more ripe and more spring sunset than spring sunrise. Don’t worry, I’m not sure I know what that means either, and I’m not even sure why I said it. Typed it. Whatever.  

On the nose, you get a whiff of green fruits – almost-ripe apples and pears – with a touch of stone fruit, all wrapped up in this light and sweet tone.… read more

Quaffing

2011 Chateau Cailleteau Bergeron Sauvignon Blanc

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, pale lemon
Nose: clean, med+ intensity, passionfruit, floral, citrus (rind), grapefruit
Mouth: dry, light body, med- to med acidity, med- length
All in all: Good quality; drink now.

Compared alongside the 2011 Wild Goose Autumn Gold.

This is SUCH a spring wine. On the nose you get hit with a glass of passionfruit in a garden. The floral notes are well-echoed into the palate with this touch of bitter citrus rind. What was interesting was the acidity, which was lower than what I would have expected from a Sauvignon Blanc. Although an Old World wine, I’ve heard interesting comments about the fact that this wine sort of bridges between the Old and New World styles, being more fruity and outgoing in character.… read more

Quaffing

2010 Tranchero Moscato d’Asti

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, pale straw, few fine bubbles
Nose: clean, light intensity, lychee, green apple, touch of stone fruit, orange/tangerine
Mouth: med sweetness, med acidity, light body, med finish lychee, orange, citrus
All in all: Great quality; drink now.

I bought this wine one Saturday night where I think I decided that I needed to treat myself to an entire bottle of wine and an uninterrupted evening of 9gag and SNL. It was pathetically amazing. So there.

Moscato d’Asti is such a crowd pleaser. A typical one will be sweet but light, along with beautiful fruity and floral notes. I recall aromas of lychee, green apples, notes of stone fruit, and oranges. It had a medium sweetness with a perfect balance of acidity to clean off the palate.… read more