Wow!  This week has been incredible and now that it is Sunday night I am going to try to sum it all up for you.  There were some great wine highlights, food, and interesting encounters.  This will be a longer post than usual as I am attempting to cram in most of my week.

I attended more consumer tastings in this week, than I have attended period.  I have only been to a few years of Playhouse Wine Fests and thinking back to my first, I have come a long way… especially because I had my gall bladder removed 3 days earlier and I didn’t have enough sense to spit.  A little wiser now, I still didn’t spit very much but I tasted with more selectivity and restraint.  I am slightly ashamed to admit that I wore a white and black coat on Thursday night (mostly due to lack of time to change beforehand) and managed to avoid any spillage.  If you follow me on Twitter, you will occasionally hear about my unsightly, bib-requiring eating habits.

I focused Thursday’s consumer tasting mostly on, you guessed it, whites.  And bubblies.  A few BC whites grabbed my attention such as Cedar Creek’s Ehrenfelser (highly aromatic with nice residual sweetness), Road 13 Jackpot Chardonnay (I finally got to try it, and you should too), and Twisted Tree Viognier Roussane.  My (short) attention was distracted by the ’shiny’ bubblies and I managed to try some knock-yourself-out-blow-your-mind-deep-pocket sparkling wines.  Topping my list is Champagne Deutz 1998 Vintage Cuvee William.  At $175.99 a bottle, I couldn’t pass up sampling this one and going back throughout the week to sneak a few more.  I adored the honey, nutty, and breadiness.  I ran over to try out Piper Heidseck 2000 Vintage Brut when a friend mentioned that it was like butter popcorn.  I love popcorn.  I loved Piper Heidseck.

Some interesting BC sparking wines were Elephant Island’s Pink Elephant which is very much like a Kir Royale,  Township 7’s Seven Stars Sparkling with pear and apple notes, and Blue Mountain’s Brut Gold Label.

Friday’s trade tasting proved more conducive to sampling and chatting with the winemakers, principals, and exhibitors.  I took the opportunity to try out some BC wines that I hadn’t quaffed before and was not disappointed with what I found!  One of my favourite wineries from Friday is Stoneboat Vineyards who was showcasing their pinot-rific wares.  Upon visiting with the owners and growers of this 3 year young winery, I learned that they are not as new to the scene as their label is.  Lanny Martiniuk has been growing for large wine producers since 1983 and his tennure shows in the quality of his wines.  The pinot noir is a full bodied, spicy, fruity, contender; but once you try the Pinotage you will find out why they call it, “a pinot on steroids”.  The pinotage packs a wallop.

After the trade tasting and then pouring in the hospitality suite, I had a bite to eat with some colleagues and dragged my aching body home to get a little rest before Saturday.  Drinking wine is serious business and not for the faint of heart, but insoles and jetted tubs, I determined are very necessary.

Saturday morning, I rushed out to the press conference and then took a very entertaining cab ride to Dockside at Granville Island for the Aussie Barbie.  By entertaining, I mean the driver sang to me, and told me stories that I shant repeat here or anywhere else for that matter.

I found the perfect wine to pair with Kangaroo.  No lie.  Bleasedale Frank Potts Cabernet-Malbec-Shiraz-Merlot Reserve was a perfect match. It made me return a few times for more and for some of their Sparkling Generations Reserve Shiraz.  Oh yeah, and I did I mention that I ate kangaroo?  Seriously.  Lean like elk or bison but not as gamy and reminded me a little of a tender jerky.  I don’t know where you can find the stuff, but if you can find a place that cooks it just right let me know!

I was fascinated by the differences in a Cabernet Sauvignon from the western coast of Australia and the more fruit forward Peter Lehman Cabernet Sauvignon from the south eastern region.  By the way, if you didn’t get a chance to meet the winemaker, he is the friendliest most jovial man who was the only exhibitor to walk around with his wines to refill peoples’ glasses while they ate.  Another regional favourite is the Verdhelho by Tyrell Wines.  A portugese grape that is new to the region and has some lovely lemon and green apple notes and is also used in white port.  White port?!  That was my response.  I hadn’t even heard of it and now I am off to find some and read up on it.  I also took some advice to check out the Two Hands booth which was ‘hands down’ some of the finest Australian wines this year at the festival.

My final exposure to the consumer tasting was on Saturday night.  This was date night so I left my cell phone and any agenda behind and let my fiance do most of the leading with a little gentle backseat driving by yours truly.  He is a very sympathetic wine taster.  By that I mean that he seeks out the tables that look ‘lonely’ and feels that he has accomplished his mission when he leaves after a crowd draws up.  He did learn that sometimes, just sometimes, there was a reason why the tables were quiet, but there were a few really nice surprises.  Surprises like a wine that tastes like coffee (KWV Cafe Culture Pinotage 2008) because of the toasted barrels and the wood maturation.  I liked the uniqueness of it, and he didn’t care for a wine pretending to be something that it isn’t.  Another winery that we both really liked for its uniqueness was Galil Mountain & Yarden, the only Israeli wines featured at the festival.  We both really enjoyed the Galil Mountain Yiron Cabernet-Merlot-Syrah 2005; the characteristics of the fruits and cloves made for a refreshing blend.  We left just before 10pm and barely found the strength to drag ourselves back home, but before we left we stocked up on Terra Breads, Freybe meats, cheeses, Ritter Chocolates, and free water.

I have talked to several people about their impressions of the wine festival.  While most people raved about how much they love to have an opportunity to discover for themselves new wines and new regions, some people were confused by the alphabetical set up this year, and some felt that the prices for the consumer tastings are getting too high.  I do hope that people wishing to learn about wines take opportunities throughout the year to do so. I suggest attending informative events and tastings and also attend the smaller events during the Wine festival to get the most exposure.  Keep an eye out on my events page for local events to attend while you brush up in preparation for next year’s Playhouse Wine Festival.

Wine Blogging Wednesday (WBW from now on, because I roll with acronyms like that) is a new concept to me since my blog is still in its infant stages, but I instantly fell in love with the concept that a multitude of wine bloggers all blog on one ‘topic’ once a month.  It feels very unifying;  We can hold inter-webbed hands across the giant blogosphere and share our tales of the glass while somewhere in the distance, iTunes is playing kumbaya… .

The Mission:

The topic of this month’s WBW is North vs South and is Rémy Charest’s (winecase) brain child and it suggests something almost antithetical to this peace pipe picture of togetherness.  I expect the patriotic wine banter to be deliciously ripe with Canadian vs American comparisons, which is why I decided to go another direction.  I wanted to be original and stand out from the crowd, I wanted to think outside the boxed wine (although that might make an interesting topic sometime), and be as unpedestrian as possible.  BUT, don’t get your hopes up too high here.  This is only my first WBW post and I drew a complete blank when I walked into the specialty wine shop with only North vs South as my compass.

The Acquisition:

I wandered from wall to wall until a clerk  rescued me from my ever changing mind with a suggestion that I thought would be as unique as it would be tasty.  She suggested Grenache and my mouth watered so  I *finally* decided on comparing Spain vs Australian Grenache.  France would have been the obvious choice, but I was curious on how Australia managed with a Grenache and the origin of the varietal is actually most likely from Spain or Italy (Grenacha).

The Varietal:

I was actually surprised to learn that Grenache is one of the most widely planted grape varietals in the world, and up until recently was third in California to Zinfandel and Cabernet Sauvignon.  It is a strong varietal in arid and dry conditions and is often used in red blends to offer its strength as a backbone.  Grenache puts the G in GSM along with Shriaz and Mourvedre and on its own, it ages very quickly and is prone to oxidization.

The Food:

Lamb and herbed meatballs, with stirfried vegetables and mushrooms.  Brie and roasted garlic on fig and rye crisps.

The Wines:

North: Vina Alarba – Grenacha Vinas Viejas 2004

• Nice balance of earthy notes with black cherry, prune and licorice
• Spicy peppery kick in the finish
• A lighter more subtle nose than I am familiar with for the varietal
• We liked this one best with the meatballs and figure it would compliment any steak or burger with mushrooms and onions

South: Yalumba – Bush Wine Grenache 2006

• More fruit forward and had a smooth sweetness with less spice than North
• Black cherry with sweet figs
• We enjoyed this better with the brie and crackers.

Conclusion:

Both wines shared some similarities due to the arid conditions in which they were grown, but I found the Australian Grenache to be more fruit forward as tends to be the norm down under.  I will probably need to drink more.

This concludes my inaugural WBW post and I hope I managed to keep your attention despite the lack of controversy and if not, then I hope you at least ran out to try some Grenache yourself.  I have a hard time finishing these posts with as much excitement as I started them, because I am either drunk to too tired.  I should really start blogging earlier… but rest assured that by next month’s WBW post, I will be a little more fine tuned. 

Final note:  A big thank you to Remy for the great suggestion of North vs South.  Check out Wine Blogging Wednesday for more participants and to find out how you can participate as well.