La Gourmandesse

2007 Candidato Tempranillo Garnacha, $7.70. LCBO#523811.

Lately I’m loving Spanish wine. It is coming close to dethroning Italy as my fave source of old world wine. Or maybe I should call it old world with a new world price twist?

This bottle is simple and enjoyable. Medium bodied, a bit oaky, incredibly smooth. Need I say more?

We had it with burgers, which were a great match. It was still tasty to sip after dinner, the smooth finish helps it do well without food.

Overall, I give this wine 8.5/10 for taste and 4.5/5 for value.

2007 Penascal Estate Tempranillo, $9.00. LCBO#343434.

I’ve been wanting to make another forray into Spanish wine for a while now. I went to a wine tasting a few years ago based around Spain and Portugal, and I just loved the earthy robustness of the wines.

I can’t exactly call this bottle robust, but it is certainly interesting. I don’t usually go for Tempranillo, although I love the word, so I don’t know exactly what I should expect from it.  The bottle was a bit earthy/funky upon opening, which never deters me, in fact it usually makes me hopeful that something delicious lurks beneath the stink.

The wine is a deep and luscious purple, making me wish I had a dress or scarf, or something luxurious to wear, in the same shade. Beneath the earthy nose are grapefruit and pepper tastes, with a light to medium body and a dry, tart finish. The LCBO says sour cherry, but I’m sticking to grapefruit. Whichever fruit you choose, this wine isn’t too tart, just sort of zippy and fresh.

I read an article recently about red wines that can be chilled in the summer, and I think this Tempranillo might be a candidate. It’s light and fresh, yet interesting, and probably is best enjoyed in the summer.

Overall, I give this wine 8/10 for taste and 4/5 for value.

I’m going to confess right off the top: this is not my invention. I can take no credit for my friend Laurel’s genius creation, and only hope she takes no offense at the “lazy” moniker. I only mean that is easy to make (and to drink). Heck, even drunk people can do it.

For the version pictured above, we threw a bunch of wild raspberries and blueberries in a jar, and topped those off with some sliced strawberries. Next, a bottle of cheap red went in, home made will do. Add to that a bottle of prepared Sangria wine, I can’t remember which brand we used but I have to assume they all contain some wine, some booze and some fruit juice. When you’re ready to serve, mix that together with the secret ingredient- Orangina! Who knew this cute little bevvy, the one I ordered so politely on 8th grade French fieldtrips, would come in so handy later in life.

This combo produces the perfect blend of fruit, wine, booze and fizz.  It disappeared pretty quickly, and we started topping it off with more wine, some orange juice, and even a scoop or two of lemonade powder when the going got tough. As long as there is fruit at the bottom of the jug, you’re obligated to refill.

Once you’re suitably tipsy, play some sort of board game that makes people reveal what they really think. We recommend True Colours……it’s fun any time, but so much more so with a glass of Sangria by your side.

2008 Cono Sur Bicycle Merlot, $9.95. LCBO#457176.

I found this bottle in a list from Wine Align. It scored 88/100 for the 2007 vintage, and I thought it was a worthy candidate for the $10 wine list. It is the first bottle from Chile that I’ve tried on my quest for a cheap and worthy wine.

I’m disappointed to report that I found the bottle to be only average. It starts out well, the colour is a deep and satisfying purple, but it doesn’t have much of a nose.  The taste is very even, and the wine is medium bodied and soft, as you would expect in a merlot. I don’t have much else to say about it.

Maybe the problem is that I like things a bit fruitier, a bit deeper and more complex than the average merlot can deliver. There’s nothing offensive about this wine, it’s easy drinking with almost no hint of tannins.  It’s a bit on the dry side, so that might be a turn-off for some, but it’s very smooth and would probably pair well with most food.

I would say this is a decent wine, but not one that’s interesting enough to make it into my wine basket on future trips to the LCBO.

Overall, I give this wine 7.5/10 for taste and 3.5/5 for value.

2007 Gnarly Head Old Vine Zinfandel, $15. LCBO# 678698.

When is wine at its best? When shared with a dear friend, of course. My long-time best buddy Laurel and I drank some of this fantastic Zin one weekend while at her family’s cottage on Brereton Lake, Manitoba.

We went out for dinner at the only restaurant in the area, found at the Brereton Lake Resort. The wine selection consisted of two reds and a white, so when the waitress listed Gnarly Head as an option, I nearly fell off my chair, and then jumped at the chance to order it.

I saw this bottle in a January LCBO Vintages release, and was too slow to get a bottle. That’s my greatest beef with this province’s giant fascist liquor system- they get a bunch of something great, it gets snapped up, and then you have to wait til next year. No ordering it from somewhere else for you, oh no no. Meanwhile, small town Manitoba has cases of the stuff. The injustice!

I love Zin, especially when it hails from California. There’s something about the way they make it out there, the balance of fruit and oak, softness and zip, that nearly always pleases me.  And this bottle lived up to my expectations, and definitely surpassed anything I thought would be offered on a wine list in the middle of nowhere.

The wine is a wonderful dark purple, promising a deep full flavour and ripeness. The nose is a bit musty-dusty, and the taste is fruity, as one would expect, with plums and berries up front. There’s a touch of oak to add some complexity, and the finish has a bit of a spicy bite. Which makes for a perfect glass, full of ripe fruit, with a sweet-tart contrast as you swallow.

When I got back to Ontario, I made one more attempt at getting a bottle of this gem, but was unsuccessful. I did, however, find a bottle of the same winery’s Cabernet Sauvignon for $16.95. I plan to taste it soon in case it is also lovely and I need to stock up.

Overall, I give this wine 10/10 for taste and 4/5 for value.

The glasses are waiting........

I’ve just passed the 6 month mark on my adventures in the world of blogging.  At first, it was satisfying simply to check out my stats and see that I had readers who weren’t me or Kevin.  And then I enjoyed seeing where the strangers that stumbled upon my blog hailed from. It’s fun to think about how different my wine life is from readers in Mumbai, Kiev or Katowice.

Lately, though, I’ve been craving some interaction with the blogosphere. I’m a bit weary of searching out affordable wines to try on my own, and have also hit a string of duds from $10 wine lists. I need some reader faves to keep things interesting- and hopefully more foolproof when it comes to drinkability.  I have only 2 criteria for suggestions:

1. Try to stay $10 and under (although I am straying to $12 and under as my quest continues).
2. If the wine is Canadian, the grapes must have been grown in the same place it is cellared.

As well, I’ve instituted a weekly poll to make things a bit more interactive. Suggestions for poll questions are welcome.

Cheers to (hopefully) many chats to come about reader wine favourites!

Thanks to Smaku for the lovely image.

2008 Spinelli Montepulciano D'Abruzzo, $7.40. LCBO# 454629.

I’m long overdue for a review of a new $10 wine, and have had this one waiting to be sipped and judged for a while. I paired this Italian red with our pizza masterpiece, as it only seemed fitting. Unfortunately, it was far less spectacular than the pizza.

While this bottle comes in at the same price point as one of my Italian favourites (Farnese Sangiovese Daunia, $7.40), it doesn’t have nearly the same body and soul. I know I’m comparing apples to oranges as far as grape varietal, but I’m really comparing value for money and drinkability in the cheap Italy aisle at the LCBO.

Part of this wine’s weakness may be the alcohol content- it sits at 12%, which gives an almost watery quality. While it does go down easy with nothing much to complain about taste-wise, it’s also missing something to make it interesting.

It started out promising, a nice ruby red colour and slightly earthy nose. But the taste is a bit indistinguishable; the LCBO references dark berries, leather and herbs. My palate picked up “mediocre but very affordable red wine.” It also says this is medium bodied, where I would call it light.

I think this is a case of what you’re looking for in a red. When I pick up an Italian table wine, I’d like it to be full and robust, and bring something to the meal. Hence my love of Farnese. However, if you are not a full bodied red kind of person, this wine might be your style. It’s light, easy to drink, and doesn’t overpower the food. It might also be good to drink on its own- not so much flavour that it overwhelms your taste buds.

Overall, I give this wine 7/10 for taste and 3.5/5 for value.

Our 8 economical bottles, ordered from highest score to lowest.

I am very happy to report that last night, a good time was had by all.  We hosted our very first $10 wine tasting, which I hope is only the first of many variations on that theme.

The rules were: you must bring 2 bottles of your favourite $10 wine (red or white), one for tasting and one for the prize basket. The bottles for tasting were wrapped in brown paper bags and were sampled “blind,” ordered from white to red and randomly numbered.  The bottles were scored out of 20 (5 for nose, 5 for taste, 5 for finish and 5 for overall impression). We picked the basics: how does it smell, do you like the taste, how does it leave your mouth, and what do you think of it overall? Here is a copy of the $10 wine tasting score sheet for those who want to host a similar event. The score sheet is certainly not designed for wine snobs and sommeliers, but for ordinary folk who might not be thinking of uppity terms like balance, complexity and bouquet.

Last night we had 13 attendees and 8 bottles (5 white and 3 red). The winner was Beringer California Collection Cabernet Sauvignon 2008, $9.95. Sadly it was not my entry, but a wine I’ve reviewed in the past and been very pleased with regarding quality at its price point. Good choice, Eve & Tomek. Congrats on winning 8 bottles of wine, and thanks for sharing a few with your hosts!

Kevin and I entered our latest favourite white, Sogrape Gazela Vinho Verde 2009, $8.95. Unfortunately it was not a fan favourite, and we came in 6th. I think our crowd enjoyed off-dry whites the most, and weren’t into its crisp dry spritzy quality.  But I still love it!

Here is a list of the 8 wines and where they fell in the ranks:

1. 2008 Beringer California Collection Cabernet Sauvignon, $9.95. LCBO# 113001. (California)

-Soft vanilla and oak flavours, very smooth finish and medium-full body.

2. 2009 Deinhard Green Label Riesling, $11.95. LCBO# 8094. (Germany)

-Off-dry, fruity and fresh.

3. 2009 Ruffino Orvieto Classico, $11.75. LCBO# 31062. (Italy)

-Slightly off-dry, clean and crisp with flavours of apple and pear.

4. 2009 Copper Moon Moonlight Harvest Pinot Grigio, $9.45. LCBO# 158303. (Ontario, Canada)

-Off-dry with flavours of citrus and melon.

5. 2009 Argento Chardonnay, $9.95. LCBO# 591701. (Argentina)

-Fruity with a sweet, almost maple syrup finish.

6. 2009 Sogrape Gazela Vinho Verde, $8.95. LCBO# 141432. (Portugal)

-Dry, light and effervescent. Flavours of citrus and tomato leaf.

7. 2008 Finca Flichman Misterio Malbec, $7.95. LCBO# 28803.  (Argentina)

-Oaky nose and blackberry flavours. Medium-bodied, fruity and toasty.

8. 2009 Funky Llama Shiraz, $9.90. LCBO# 614685. (Argentina)

-Black currant flavours with a hint of oak, medium-bodied.

All the bottles were enjoyed and represented great quality for price. My personal top 3 were the Beringer Cab-Sav (17.5/20), Gazela Vinho Verde (16/20) and Ruffino Orvieto Classico (16/20). Funnily enough they are all wines I have reviewed before and really enjoyed.  Even with a “blind” tasting, I still like what I like!

I’m not typically one to browse the German section of the LCBO, especially because smaller stores seem to mainly feature such atrocities as Blue Nun, wine that Germans themselves would never touch.  So I am not terribly familiar with German varietals and wineries.

2008 Pelee Island Gewurztraminer, $9.95. LCBO#135970.

By some strange coincidence, however, two Ontario wines based on German grape varietals have crossed my path this week. Last night, our friends Mac and Stacy dropped by for dessert and brought a bottle of Gewurztraminer that was a great partner for my Fudgy Layer Cake.

Pelee Island Winery’s 2008 Gewurztraminer is floral, fresh and fruity.    Most of Pelee Island’s wines are VQA, but this one is a 30% domestic/70% foreign blend, cellared in Canada. We’ll have to forgive them as a little research has informed me that Gewurztraminer is a very temperamental grape to grow. A crisp pale straw colour, with a typical bouquet of roses and flavours of peaches and pears; it is very balanced with a smooth finish. Definitely on the sweet end of the spectrum, it’s a great dessert choice, but is quite sippable and could pair well with spicy asian food.

Overall, I give this Gewurztraminer 8.5/10 for taste and 4/5 for value.

2007 Trumpour's Mill Riesling, $11.95. LCBO#28258.

Tonight, our spring salad with baked salmon needed a white wine partner, so it was the perfect time to break out a VQA Riesling we got this fall.  It’s from the Grange of Prince Edward County, an incredibly charming little winery on a farm property near Picton, ON. Their Trumpour’s Mill 2007 Riesling is an interesting bottle. We got it as part of a food and wine festival door prize, and I’m not sure I would ever have picked it up on my own.  We had 2 bottles of it, and looking back at my November 2009 notes, this second try has me drawing the same conclusions.

The wine has a strange chemical quality to both the nose and the taste. Kevin and I agree that it is reminiscent of cheap dollar store erasers. I have to admit it ruins the wine for me, I can’t get past it. If the chemical aspect was absent, it would be a nice, crisp, off-dry wine with a taste of apples and citrus. It has a bit of a tart finish that leaves you puckering in a good way.  Maybe future years of this wine will not have the same chemical issues. Until then, I will pass.

Overall, I give this Riesling 7.5/10 for taste and 3/5 for value.

2009 Argento Malbec, $9.95. LCBO#591693.

I have been so happy with my latest wine picks, all of which have been coming from Wine Align‘s red wines rated 85 and above for under $10.  When I started this a few months ago, the first few bottles were thin and wimpy wines, and I worried that most wines in the $7-10 range would be total let downs.  But never fear, my wine loving readers, I have persevered (it’s such hard work to drink 1-2 bottles of wine a week, let me tell you).  And the fruit of my labours is yet another lovely wine to share.

This Malbec hails from Argentina’s Mendoza region and is produced by Bodegas Esmerelda. Apparently their high altitude vineyards make for fruit forward wines.  I wouldn’t call this wine extremely fruity, but it has a well balanced sweet-tart berry quality while still being fairly dry. It is a cheerful deep ruby-plum colour with just enough oak for a smooth finish.

I could sip this on its own, but it would also be a great addition to a girl’s night or appetizer gathering. It’s also an excellent dinner wine. I’m embarrassed to say we had it with spaghetti and garlic bread…..I feel like I’m always pairing things with pasta!  What can I say, carbs bring me comfort and almost always go well with wine.

Overall, I give this bottle 9/10 for taste and 4/5 for value.