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How Sweet It Is

Posted by on February 28, 2010 No comments

What is it about sweet wines getting such a bad rep? When offered a sweet wine, in my experience most people respond with a “No thanks. I don’t like sweet wines.”. Really? Are you sure about that, or are you basing that on the one cheap Asti you tried 15 years ago or the infamous Black Tower days of the 70s era? It’s kind of like the “I don’t drink white wine” syndrome that is purely based on the lesser, usually heavily-oaked Chardonnays we all had to choke down at weddings.

If you’re not drinking sweet wines, you are missing a big party in your mouth.

I recently took a few wine courses and tasted more than 30 wines at one go or over the course of a few hours – every kind of wine across the board. Reds, whites, cheap, expensive, sparkling, fortified, sweet… you name it, we tried it. It’s easy to swirl, swish, taste and spit when you’re on a mission. With a lot of wines to get through when you’re learning about this stuff, you want to spit and be sober at the end to know what end is up or down, for the most part. It’s the sweet wines that sneak by you, or rather, by your mouth. The “whoops, had to let that one slip down” wines – the mouth feel and taste on these guys are just so damn good you can’t spit them out.

So what is a sweet wine? Well, a few things. Firstly, a sweet wine is commonly referred to as dessert wine, simply because it’s nicely matched with, you guessed it, dessert. Sweet with sweet – a classic pairing. Sweet wines can be fortified, distilled, late harvest, Nobel Rot, enjoyed as an aperitif or with dessert.

I am hoping that laying out sweet wines in a bit of a mish-mash list might help to inspire you to hunt down and try some of these suggestions, starting with some fortified. Port is a perfect place to begin.

Port and Sherry are perhaps the better known fortified wines. Wines can also be made as dry and semi-dry, but my point here is to direct you to the excellence of the sweet ones. These can be strong and maybe even an acquired taste, but like all grape varietals and wines, you can always find one you like.

PORT:
Port is typically sweet, can only be called Port if it is produced in Portugal (in the Duoro Valley in the north) and is made by adding a neutral spirit such as Brandy to the fermentation process. Other countries make fortified wines in the port-style but cannot be called Port, such as Rutherglen Muscat, a dark-sweet syrupy wine from Victoria in Australia. You’re not going to find a specific varietal on a bottle of Port; they are made as a blend. Try these:

  • Late Bottled Vintage (Noval Quinta do Noval)
  • 10 Year Old Tawny (Graham’s)
  • 20 Year Old Tawny (Taylor Fladgate)
  • Vintage Port

SHERRY:
Like port, Sherry can only be called Sherry if it comes from a specific region. This time it’s Jerez, Spain, and like port it’s fortified with a grape spirit, but after fermentation. To most it is an acquired taste, but it’s so fine if you can get there. For the sickly sweet ones, look for Oloroso or PX on the label. It’s one of those things you just need to try it to believe it:

  • Lustao Pedro Ximénez
  • Sacromonte Oloroso

MADEIRA:
Very similar to port, this is a fortified wine but specifically made on the island of Madeira, off the coast of Portugal. Ranging from bone dry to luscious, these fine wines are most famous for their high refreshing acidity and their longevity, some able to last a 100 years+. The sweeter styles are sometimes labeled with the grape Malmsey or ‘Doce’, which means sweet. Next time, rather than a bottle of port, give Madeira a shot.

ICE WINE:
Frozen grapes on the vine typically only happens in cold climate countries, Canada and Germany being the most famous for their ice wines. The grapes used are often Riesling, Vidal, Cabernet Franc, Gewurtztraminer. Some Made In Canada picks:

  • Henry of Pelham Cab Franc Ice Wine
  • Inniskillin’s Vidal
  • Tinhorn Creek

SPARKLING SWEETS:
A little sweet bubbly never goes astray. Your cheap and fresh recommendation is Moscato d’Asti. Try Cava dulce from Spain and of course there’s much to choose from in the Champagne aisle. Look for “Doux” on the label for the sweetest you can find.

LATE-HARVEST:
Saving the best until last. I love late harvest anything: Luscious and mouth-watering. Late harvest simply means the grapes were left on the vine longer than a typical harvest in the hopes of developing Nobel Rot, or “Botrytis Cinerea”. Yes, a thing called Nobel Rot is a very good thing when it comes to these grapes and wines. Some of my favourites and must-tries:

  • Sauternes – from the Sauterne wine region in France, these wines are arguably the finest created (made from Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc grapes). Hunt down a Chateau d’Yquem. You’ll pay dearly, but it’s worth every cent.
  • Tokaji from Hungary, a National Pride. Try Oremus Tokaji Aszu 3 Puttonyos.
  • Late Harvest Riesling – Winery Schloss Johannisberg from the Rheingau is a good place to start.
  • Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc – look for the affordable Errazuriz Late Harvest from Chile.
  • German Wines – check for Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese on the label – these are harder to find specialty items, age-worthy, and absolutely delectable.

Best pairings for some of these luscious wines are some of the best foods that by no coincidence also melt in your mouth: cheese (stilton for Ports, soft cheese for ice wines), rich chocolate, nutty desserts with Sherry works well, or match up sweet or fruity desserts – and foie gras can definitely slip down with it all!

Winter Wines and Comfort Foods

Posted by on February 4, 2010 No comments

Cornucopia Food and Wine Festival in Whistler

Given the recent blasting of snow on the east coast of Canada and the US, along with some rainy, foggy days of winter in the west, it’s definitely a time to shake off the cold, lock the doors, light the fire and crack into some seriously delicious wines with steaming hot comfort food.

Shorter days with the sun setting at 5pm in most parts of Canada is reason enough for dinner to be relatively quick and easy, but this does not mean the food has to be blazé. And it certainly is no excuse for not balancing your palate with the right wine. Think of it as a reward for your hard day and an escape from the ugliness happening outside. It really does enrich the food experience when you’ve got the right wine to match. And it goes both ways – wine tastes that much better with the right food. It seems a lot of people don’t pay particular attention to food and wine pairing. Maybe it’s a mix of not being properly equipped with the knowledge, a general misunderstanding and plain ol’ laziness after a long day of work. Time to add a few suggestions into the weekly menu rotation and to start to think about balancing meals with wine pairings.

A heaping bowl of pasta is pretty easy for most to whip up after a few hours of shoveling snow. A very easy and basic fresh tomato, basil and parmesan recipe goes a long way when you pair it with the classic match: Chianti. There are a lot out there to choose from, but here’s one that will definitely please: Castello di Bossi, Chianti Classico ($35).

Nothing says comfort food like a big pot of stew. Provided you’ve gone with beef, bring out a big gun like a Syrah, a Zin or a Cab. Try this: Cote-du-Rhone Domaine de la Veille Julienne ($30). There’s a savoury note in the wine that brings out the salt in the dish.

Homemade soup is always an easy bet. Make it when you have the time and stick it in the freezer for those nights when all you really want is to polish off a whole bottle. Whether it’s roasted pepper, leek and potato, or hearty vegetable, piping hot winter soups would be fantastic with this 80-year-old Grenache vines wine Capcanes Vall del Calas ($25)

How about a little roast chicken dinner? A Sunday meal on a Wednesday sounds good. Pop a few herbs, onion and garlic in the chicken and the roaster, cover the chicken in butter and huck in a pile of veg. The oven does the rest. A beautiful red with soft tannins to pair with this dish is the Vietti Tre Vigne Barbera d’Alba ($45). Keeping with the softer tannins, try a Merlot or a fruity Beaujolais. Whites that work are dry Rieslings, Alsatian Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay.

Some would consider making a traditional cassoulet without duck confit is sacrilege, but a vegetarian cassoulet dish can be as tasty. I’m not a veggie, I love my meat, but either way you definitely have to enjoy it with a French wine. A Burgundy or Rhone Valley works. The classic for this dish is a Gigondas – a well-balanced, full body red from Southern Rhone.

Ordering something spicy for take-out? Forget about the reds. People who love their red wine have a hard time getting around this one, but it makes such a difference if you head straight for a Gewürztraminer with spicy food. Gewurtz means ‘spice’ in German, so there is something to the madness. Choose a wine that is refreshing with crisp acidity and also look for wines leaning toward off-dry. You need a wine that can cut through the heat and the spice of the dishes. My personal favourites include German and Alsace Rieslings. There are several levels of sweetness in these wines. Lucky for you: to find the one that suits your taste, you get to try them all. Bubbly and rose are great choices for spice as well.

I, for one, have occasionally resorted to the straight-up chocolate and cheese dinner. It’s incredibly liberating, not to mention satisfying. Taste-test the various dark chocolate options in your grocery and pop into your local cheese shop for a few samples of soft, hard and stinky. You are sure to melt your mouth with a side dish of Late Bottled Vintage Port.

Creating a list of dishes with one wine choice for each can be a challenge. There are so many great wines to try. This is a barely-touching-the-surface starter list. Let me know what you’ve paired and tried. I’m always up for getting through some tough home work assignments.

My WSET Fine Vintage Favourites

Posted by on October 31, 2009 No comments

Hubbard Photography @ VinoCamp CheeseCamp 2009What better time to start writing about wine then when you’ve just finished tasting roughly 18 wines a day over 6 glorious days?

Having recently completed Level 3 of the Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) with James Cluer at Fine Vintage, I have to give my props to the wine in this Top 20 Wine List that we were fortunate enough to taste while studying. Listed in no particular order and according to my own personal preference, with price point estimates (BC, Canada) and a few notes I managed to scribble between the drooling, Ooo-ing and Ah-ing. A few of these, let it be known, I simply could not merely taste; some just slipped right down!

WHITES:

1. Domaine Weinbach, Riesling Schlossberg, Alsace Grand Cru 2005 $70 – crisp and beautiful – spend the dough on this one, it will not disappoint.
2. Vinvent Girardin, Puligny Montrachet 1er Cru Les Referts Burgundy 2006 $99 – oh-so-much-goodness. Melts in your mouth. Drink now.
3. Charles Heidsieck Cuvée 1995 $200 – Heavenly way to start the morning.
4. Zilliken Riesling Auslese Mosel (‘Auslese’ = German Late Harvest = sweet = FAB) 1995 $58
5. Muenchberg Grand Cru Alsace Riesling 2004 $104
6. Nicolas Joly Savennières Les Clos Sacrés (Les Vieux Clos) 2006 $47 – Bio-Dynamic
7. Château de Fesles Bonnezeaux 2003 $65 for the HALF L.
8. Château Dereszla Tokaji 2003 $30
9. Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Gewürztraminer Alsace 2004 $58
10. Kinheimer Rosenberg Riesling Kabinett 1999 $26 – Great value!

REDS:

1. Alentejo Incognito 2003 $67
2. Torres Salmos Priorat 2005 $35
3. Pio Cesare Barbaresco 2004 $114
4. Smith Woodhouse Tawny Port 1986 $65
5. Louis Jadot Gevrey-Chambertin 2002 $110
6. Château Beauséjour 1er Cru Saint Emilion 1998 $70
7. Château Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2001 $125 (All 13 grapes!)
8. Guigal Saint Joseph 2004 $110
9. Felton Road Pinot Noir $110
10. Luce, IGT Super Tuscan, Montalcino 2005 $100

I’d be happy to expand on the what and who on any of the above. And if you are thinking of taking a wine course or two, and happen to live in Western Canada or Northwest US, you have to seek out James Cluer’s classes – you’ll be learning from the best, tasting great wines and receiving an awesome and supportive energy.

2008 Highlights and Revelations Leads To 2009 Master List

Posted by on January 15, 2009 2 comments

I write this and put it out there because then I’ve written it and it’s out there.

Personal Highlights in 2008:

  • In life, I married the most amazing man on the planet, and get to laugh with him every day.
  • In work, I tried some new concepts and participated in some new ventures and cool experiments. I established new working relationships and continue to better understand my business. This is good. :p
  • Two nights before my wedding I got to experience Torquil from one of my favourite bands “The Stars” give the official word at 2am NL time that “Barack Obama is the next President of the United States of America!!”. Where were you?
  • I saw a ton of great music.
  • I did a really fun hour-long webcast on ustream with Jim Louderback from Revision3 at nextMEDIA in Banff. Dodgy Internet though. (pics)
  • I had a fun interview with Dr. Richard Florida, “Who’s Your City?” in Banff.
  • I finally made it to France. It is heaven on earth.
  • I got sick too often. Not really a highlight, but definitely worth highlighting. In December, three times alone. I think I take pretty good care of myself, but clearly not good enough – I need to see someone about that. Any suggestions?

2008 Revelations:

  • As a woman, you are nothing without inspiring, trustworthy women in your life. I am forever grateful to mine.
  • There is such a thing as social media fatigue. I purposefully took somewhat of a backseat or an incognito position in 2008 to a degree. I was really selective about my participation and took more offline time. My revelation: I needed that, and it’s forced me to focus on what is important.
  • I will try not to use “these marks” so “much”.
  • Getting married puts you and your mate on some sort of next level of peace. It also puts you in a place where you are completely committed to working your arse off giving it all you’ve got.
  • Twitter is just easier and far more immediate than blogging: fact. I like that.

Those items listed above got me thinking at the turn of the year on January 1st, and into my official another-year-older on January 9th, and have led me to my Master List of 2009, in no particular order or relevance to the above. Call it resolutions, goals, whatever your fancy. I just like to have a list of positive reminders heading into another year. And, like the French, I’ll revise and review again in the *actual* new year that begins in September.

1. The small, insignificant things don’t matter. These aren’t the droids you’re looking for, move along.
2. Have compassion, don’t judge.
3. Accept people’s short-comings and move on.
4. Continue Laughing.
5. Work hard. No wanker policy.
6. Play guitar again.
7. Play piano again.
8. Go to bed EARLY, wake up EARLY.
9. Be good to my body: run, yoga? and potentially a naturopathic Doc…
10. Read.
11. Write.
12. Italian!
13. More wine studies.
14. Moisturize.
15. Floss. That’s a tough one.