2011 Catastrophe White, Cattail Creek Estate Winery, VQA

Christmas is the time to please everybody, and as this blend proves, this wine matches well with everything! We at RWR endorse choosing blends as a way to please! At the end of this post is a review of some blends for your christmas table, but this one is one of my favourites! Since A is going home to a house with 7 cats, she likes this wine that donates some of the proceeds to pet charities. Good for the palate, AND the heart!

Tonight I recieved the second of my La pizzas. This one was made in exchange for extensive wool-winding labour. I have called it the "A2" pizza. What goes on an "A2"? Pears, mushroom veloutte, blue cheese, camambert, pine nuts, pancetta, arugalla, fresh cracked black pepper, and caramelized onions, all on a cold-fermented dough. YUM! This sweet but balanced wine was an excellent compliment to a very salty pizza. The pizza brought out the fruitness of the wine, and the wine mellowed out its saltiness. All in all, an excellent combination. Catastrophe White is a blend of Chardonnay Musqué, riseling, and gewurtztraminer grapes and is available at the very reasonable price of $13.95 at the LCBO.

A - This wine is really citrusy, appley, and all around fruity smelling, it smells quite crisp as well. It is quite light tasting, with a bit of a caramely fruity flavour to it. It is quite zingy and fresh-tasting, like a summer fruit bowl or orchard. It manages to be really fruity without being syrupy or overwhelmingly sweet, which is weird but good. I would like to drink this again, and would reccomend drinking it at its coldest.

L - It doesn't smell like anything to me, except maybe grapes. It was tart tasting and not sweet enough for me. I like my wine's sweet and syrupy, like Ironstone Obsession's Symphony wine.

K - This wine smells like a pear. I would drink this wine again, but didn't feel like wine tonight so only had a sip.

La - This was a lovely wine and I would drink it again. It is a well-balanced blend. As a non-white wine drinker, it can take a lot for me to like a white wine but I liked this one. It was bright, and citrusy but was a sweet balance of fruits like white peaches, pears, and grapes.

A Review of Other Christmas Dinner Friendly White Blends:

Peninsula Ridge Equinox - A Chardonnay forward blend for those who want a traditional match but also a little something different!

Palatine Hills Quattro - A lighter kickier blend for those who like it tart and citrusy. This would go well with my dad's orange stuffed turkey! (Available at the LCBO)

Gypsy White Blend, Kacaba Winery - A sweet blend for people like my sister who hate wine normally. Trick them with this beautiful blend! (Available at the LCBO)

Happy Holidays! We have one more post on non-drinkers special drinks and a champagne substitute left before we start a new year!

2010 CHOA Chardonnay, VQA blend, Karlos Estates

 This wine is my parent’s favourite wine and it was a gift from them. Given the $25 price point I was planning to save it for a special occasion, but what is better and more special than a night with P? I should warn you that this is a serious wine-drinkers wine, and that there was a lot going on in this bottle. Our choice to consume it on its own was probably ill-advised but we plowed ahead and made a nice night of it. My advice would be to savour this wine in small amounts and with food, because there is a lot going on and it would be easy to get overwhelmed! Perhaps if you were going to Christmas with your partner's wine connoisseur parents this would be a good choice as it says "I know you like wine and think you are savvy, because this one is complex" but also "I know we will be eating turkey so brought chardonnay."

P – This wine has a very intense smell, that is very winey, both oaky and grapey. It has a very strong typically chardonnay taste to it as well [editor’s aside: we learnt at our wine party a lot of people don’t like the taste of a chardonnay, so if that is you, steer clear!]. It also has a very alcoholy taste to it, maybe created by the wood flavourings. The tastes are very present and this is not a subtle wine. I couldn’t drink a lot of this wine because it was too dry and oaky for my tastes.

A – This wine tastes quite strongly like dried fruits and almost vanilla-y. It also has an aftertaste of alcohol that is quite tart. This is a very serious wine, and having tasted it I am not sure that I have the skills to do justice to everything that is going on in this wine in one review. It is not as woody as you would expect. The woody taste does not become subtle as it breathes. The varied ageing helps cut down a little on the oakyness, without making it disappear. It is also a pretty dry wine that makes your face pucker a little. It gets softer as it sits out and the vanilla and fruit taste becomes more prominent. It also becomes less alcoholy.  It is a light wine that is not as syrupy as I expected it to be from the deep yellow colour it had, which was almost like amber. This is not a sipping wine necessarily, I think I would drink this with food, perhaps a chicken dish with a creamy gravy, like a pot pie, or a dessert that was spicy yet sweet, like an apple pie.

A Wine Fit for a Prince...or at least priced for one

Breaking news: Cliff Richard, a UK pop singer turned vintner, has created a sparkling rosé named Celebration in honour of the birth of Prince George and the 10 year anniversary of his ownership of Adega do Cantor vineyard in Portugal. As big fans of the Royals, A & M would love to give this rosé a try, but we won't lie at £19 ($32.53 Canadian at current exchange rates) this royal vino is too rich for our grad school bloods. 

If you want to read more about Richards and his Celebration rosé you can here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2512870/Cliff-Richard-launches-sparkling-ros-wine-honour-birth-Prince-George.html

If you want to check out slightly bizarre predictions of what Prince George will look like as a teenager you can here:
http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/snippets/30-Jul-2013/prince-george-as-a-teenager

2011 Gamay Noir, Ridge Road Estate Winery - Grey Cup Half-time live blog

A sad game, but a happy wine choice! Tonight I am drinking Ridge Road Estate Winery's Gamay Noir. A more forceful grape than the Baco, this proved to be the right choice, not just because it was made in Hamilton but also because it is an excellent manly wine, appropriate for watching a football game. Available for $15.95 from the winery, it was delicious!

My half-time game face

This wine is oaked in French and American oak, unlike most bacos, and is a less juicy wine overall. It tastes peppery with a bit of a dry finish without being a particularly dry wine. You can taste that it has aged in wood without being overwhelmed by it. It is quite tasty, and is more like a cocoa-y, peppery wine than a juicy fruity wine. It is a good choice for winter nights, but is pretty sophisticated, and is probably not for everyone. You'd have to be up for a drier, spicier wine, maybe not those who drink Bacos but those who drink oaky whites or heavier Shirazs. It is easy to drink if that's your kind of wine and I finished a glass pretty quickly. Important for this scenario, it is also not too sweet so you can drink it for the whole game without getting gross lingering wine headahces. It would go well with a roast or cayenne pepper spicy food (Mexican or Italian spice, not Thai or Chinese spicy). It is very tannin-y, it tastes thicker, and is more of a mouthful than some. It's a deep burgundy, nearly brown in colour.

In terms of what to eat with this wine, we ate it with our dinner of a slightly spicy homemade mac and cheese, and a simple salad with a light honey dijon dressing. It overpowers the simple salad but it pairs well with a slightly spicy homemade mac and cheese. Will it go with donuts or poutine flavoured chips? Only time will tell!

OSKEE WEE WEE! OSKEE WAA WAA! Grey Cup wine tips for Tiger Cat fans

Dear readers, A loves Hamilton more than anything else in the world. A also loves the Hamilton Tiger Cats, seeing at least one game a year live for as long as she can remember. And so tomorrow, A will be watching the Grey Cup, with a Tiger Cats shirt and a Tiger Cats manicure, and Hamilton wine. I will live blog my wine pick for tomorrow, possibly a 2011 Gamay Noir from Hamilton's only winery, Ridge Road Estates. But if you are feeling in the mood for Grey Cup wine serving RWR reccomends...

Ridge Road Estate Winery's 2011 Baco Noir

Hamilton has no craft brewery's but it technically has one winery, so if you are going to go strictly local we suggest this perennial favourite! Baco's are good for football games because they are fruity without being sweet, smoky without tasting like an ashtray, and have good body. This means they are good for drinking on their own, but easy to pair with snacks as well. As a more widely available Baco, we also suggest this year's Sandbanks's Baco Noir. Since Prince Edward County is my wine home away from home, and is widely available, it is a second only because it isn't from Hamilton's only winery.

Konzelmann Four Generations Fresco

Since Hamilton will definitely win, you will want some champagne on hand, and this one is universally drinkable. Non-wine drinkers and wine drinkers alike enjoy this affordable choice. And hey, the price is right! This fruity wine would mix well into spritzers to last you through the whole game too.

A good rosé!

Cattail Creek's Serendipity Rosé was a classic, and has now been joined by the Catastrophe Rosé (a different blend available only at the winery). Rosés are good for parties because they are well-liked and easily drinkable. It is something you can sip the whole game and serve to all your friends at your Grey Cup party. If you are cheap, the Fuzion Shiraz Rosé is an easy drinker at a great price. While not complex, I doubt your football friends are going to be looking for hints of vanilla in between plays.

If you must serve beers, serve a craft beer! The University of Guelph has been gracious enough to host the Tiger Cats during their stadium renovations, and since Hamilton has no craft brewery of its own it is only fair to pay tribute to that generosity by reccomending Wellington Brewery Beers. I particularily like the Imperial Russian Stout, since I like my beer dark and chocolatey. But they have 5 beers available at the LCBO, so take your pick. But one thing I hope you pick is to enjoy the game and cheer for the best team. TIGERS! Eat 'em raw!

MYSTERY BROWN BAG WINE TIME! (Wine #1, Peninsula Ridge Equinox, 2002)

Revenge is sweet in this case. After putting my parents to the test with the brown bag challenge, they got An and A back two fold, with two blind wines. I don’t mind saying that I did pretty well, guessing that both had the same grape in them almost immediately. Here are our blind impressions though. I found blind tasting to be fun, because I had less bias and was forced to work like a scientist and observe with all my senses. Enjoy! (My parent’s reviews are shorter because they chose them).This wine is on sale at the winery at $16.95 a bottle.

An – Alright, I will say it. This wine is the colour of pee. It smells like white wine, a little sweet, but more tart than sweet. It is really fruity, like stone fruits like peaches and nectarines, not citrusy fruits. It is definitely not a dry wine and doesn’t have a strong aftertaste. It does leave a strong first impression. I like it and would buy it if it were on the cheaper side, because I am generally easy to please so go for cheaper wines. I agree that it tastes good with spinach dip and also would taste good with hard cheeses.

A – This wine is a very distinct yellow. It smells like apples and tastes a little like strongly brewed black tea, a little bit bitter and yet fruity and sweet. I like that it isn’t too dry. It tastes good with spinach dip and probably would go well with other snacky foods. I would eat it with a lighter meal, but not with a steak, or a roast, or souvlaki, I might drink it with fruitier pork chops. I like it a lot. It tastes like pears and vanilla (I have a tea with these flavours, which is probably why I thought it tasted like that too). I would buy this wine again.

D – This wine tastes like a lightly oaked chardonnay (this was my mom’s pick so he wasn’t cheating). It had a nice body to it and a really good aftertaste. I really liked it.

M – I think this wine tastes oaked. I find it to be a full mouthed wine with lots of flavours and it has a very distinct, strong aftertaste I just could not put my finger on, but I liked it.

Non-Alcoholic Special - Paul Brassac Sparkling Apple Juice, Peach and Pomegranate, from Costco

All the M has ever wanted in life was a surprise party. So E and I threw her a surprise baby shower. M has been lamenting the grossness of most non-alcoholic fancy drink substitutes (reviews to come!) for most of her pregnancy and so I wanted to give her something more special than Sprite to sip at her shower. So while at my local Costco I found these babies, packaged in a three pack. This is Paul Brassac sparkling juice, packaged like champagne (cork and all) and sold in a three pack for $6.99. The three pack we got included one apple-peach and two apple-pomegranate, for red and white drinkers!

SURPRISE!!! I accidentally chose a good one! I mean of course I hoped it was good, but according to M, in addition to tasting good, this juice has no added sugar, which is hard to find in non-alcoholic fancy drinks much mostly load on the sugar in place of the booze. Since M is trying to stay healthy, this non-added sugar appealed to her. It is also only 90 calories for a cup, which is another added bonus for people who want to have fun but be healthy too!  It is also organic, which is good if you go for that kind of thing. And if you don't care about sugar, calories, or organic fruits, this is still a great non-wine option for parties! It set the beverage tone for M's special night.

M - I thought it was a really fancy drink and was surprised it was so affordable. I was also surprised it was so relatively not bad for you, given my past experiences with non-alcoholic special occasion drinks. The bottle was also pretty, which makes it well-suited to serving at occasions where presentation matters, like baby showers or wedding showers (especially the pink bottle). In a good way, this is not the best drink to serve to children, since it felt too sophisticated. So I would say overall that this is a good non-alcoholic fancy drink. It has a nice fizz, a nice bottle, and it tastes like it is fancy, not every-day. I liked the peach better than the pomegranate.

E - This juice tastes like Rekorderlig Pear Cider. I liked both the Peach and the Pomegranate. It's good and has a nice aftertaste. I would buy this again.

A - I like that this juice is not overwhelmingly sweet or dry, which is sometimes the case with sparkling juices. It was good with our festive party foods because it balanced the sweetness of the cupcakes and cookies, but also matched well with hot hamburgers, a Northern classic. I would serve this at dinners to friends or family, like at Thanksgiving, weddings, Christmas or New Years. You could even add peach schnapps to make a tasty cocktail, if you aren't abstaining.  I think I preferred the pom to the peach.

Guest Review - Porcupine Ridge Syrah 2012

AND NOW FOR THE TREAT! A guest review from one of our L's! Happy Halloween!

Since M is pregnant, she asked if I would do the honours of picking my favourite wine, perhaps from Canada, and write a review for the wine blog. Truthfully, my favourite wine of all time is Henry of Pelham's Baco Noir Reserve, ca. 2006. Now clearly this was a long time ago, and even in 2007 it was an almost exclusive wine at select restaurants. I thought of a few more choice Canadian wines I've thoroughly enjoyed over the last 10 years( As of Monday Oct 21st!) and found very few, with most of them from tiny wineries in Niagara-on-the-Lake that hardly had a chance to see the fluorescent light of the inside of the LCBO. So, to solve this problem I went to the source - Miss LCBO.

 Now, I didn't have a plan per se. I know I like deep, rich reds, so that was the only criterion I had set out for myself. After perusing the small vintage section I stumbled upon a highly praised and reasonably priced selection from South Africa - Porcupine Ridge Syrah - at a grad-student-friendly $14.95. This wine is made at Boekenhoutskloof Winery (wasn't that fun to try and say, even in your head?) and is of Swartland origin. The wine is named for the crested porcupines that are native to the region. The little LCBO sign told me it was a "Vintage Essential" and a "stellar value", and with a super adorable porcupine sketch on the label, how could I resist?  *(For enviro-conscious wine drinkers, this wine has "Integrity and Sustainability" certification.)                                           

 

 

In the past I haven't had much luck with wines from South Africa, but I have to say this wine was exceptional. The colour is a deep plum, with an amaranth or deep raspberry glow. The body and texture of the wine are just as complex and deep as the colour. It is smoky and very smooth, beginning with a taste of blackberry followed by a bit of spice or pepper, ending on notes of vanilla and the hint of (French) oak (you can tell the oak is super-classy! lol). There is zilch in the way of that tart, acidic aftertaste most grad-student-friendly priced wines often have. It's a lovely, mellow wine that is perfect for sipping alone or with any meal. (This bottle lasted me 6 tastings! And I was satisfied each time - from sipping on its own to paring with Asian fare.)

I had initially looked at this wine because I wasn't sure I had encountered a 'Syrah' before but have since discovered it's just another way to say "Shiraz". I am typically not a fan of Shiraz as I often find them to be too bright, hot, young and acidic. This Syrah, however, has changed my mind. It's on my new favourites list and I look forward to my next encounter with a Syrah.  -L