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I have to admit that I haven’t an Irish bone in my body so my involvement with St. Patrick’s Day is no more than a poor excuse to wear green, eat corned beef, and drink Irish libations.  A little Irish creme in my coffee, a pint of Guinness, and green wine??!!  Can one drink green wine on St. Patrick’s day?  My answer would be yes, but not because it has anything to do with Ireland.  Neither is it actually green.  And I didn’t wear much green today apart from my underwear.  I just happen to like wine.

There are two different kinds of green wine:  There is the eco-friendly ‘green’ wine and then there is the Portugese Vinho Verde.  The first is the kind of wine that is made by environmentally conscious wine farmers or ‘vinaroons’ (an Old English term for a farmer/winemaker) and drunk by those of us who consider that what we consume affects the world around us.  I am very interested in these wines, the process of educating the average wine drinker, and the marketing issues surrounding the industry but I won’t get into this today.  Eventually, I plan to write quite a bit on this topic, but there is so much to learn, and talk about that I will reserve that for another post.

The latter, Vinho Verde, is actually called green wine because of its youth– not its colour.  It is harvested late and bottled early and should be drunk soon.  The wine is moderately alcoholic with some residual sugar and a fresh acidity that can stand up to anything rich and creamy or greasy.  I am thinking pub food here and for those who know me know that I am a big fan of bubbly wines with carbohydrate laden food.  (Champagne + Perogies + Bacon = Shabby Chic.)  There is a small amount of petillance (bubbles) to tickle your tongue and the refreshing lime and pear notes would make this perfect to sip on a hot summer day.

After work today, I sent Brent to pick up some Casal Garcia – Vinho Verde while I nervously rattled on about green wine to Buzz Bishop on the radio (Virgin 953).  I will have you know that I took a stand for unadultered wine by refusing to add food colouring to my glass this evening.  No.  You can have your green beer.  But unless my glass is tinted (oddly, the bottle was actually tinted blue), this wine will be straw coloured.  Or red, because you can have red green wine.

I still have half a bottle left and some Flogging Molly to listen to, so I will bid a Slainte to you and clink my glass to whatever you are drinking tonight!

The pleasure was all mine when I met Bradley Cooper and his wife the other day to sample his latest creation.  You may know Brad by the famed wines that he has produced for Township 7 Winery; heralded for his ability to transform a BC Syrah into a nectar compared to those from Northern Rhone or for the sparkling wines compared to a Gloria Ferrer.  But this time, I was sampling something very different;  not in quality but in name.

You see, not long ago Brad joined up as a winemaker for a fellow to make wine for a new label.  Due to economic instability and other factors it ended abruptly with a large stock of wine and no winery to put on the label.  After considering keeping a small portion of the wine to cover the final bills, Brad and his wife decided to make lemonade out of this dark and disappointing situation.  They say the experience was like a “Black Cloud” over them, and once they decided to purchase back the remaining lot of the wine that he produced, they begun to see a “silver lining”.

Hence, the name Black Cloud was bestowed upon the wine.

Black Cloud - Pinot Noir 2006

It was a relatively quick turn around from the time the deal fell through to its recent release.  During those four months there were a lot of t’s to cross and i’s to dot and with the generosity of Mike Raffan of Township 7, Brad was able to complete the necessary requirements through them.

You aren’t going to find this wine in a big press release or in many stores… yet.  Brad is using this release as a bit of a social media experiment.  This approach has less overhead than major press releases, and it relies largely on reputation and recommendation.  Brad already has garnered the reputation of a trusted wine maker, and he is spreading the news of this new wine ‘virally’ (meaning through networks of people on various social media outlets)  such as: Twitter, Blogging, Linked in, etc.  After having experienced the wine for myself, I personally believe this wine is going to develop a bit of a cult following.

I opened my bottle with some friends last night to get a variety of opinions on this wine.  At first, we noticed a slight disconnect with the nose to the taste.  The nose was heavy like a sherry and the taste was mildly earthy.  After about half an hour, it opened up into beautiful black cherry, blackberry, and blueberry flavours.  I loved the smokiness of a cigar in the finish.  It maintained its familiar pinot-earthiness and we savoured every sip until the bottle was empty. A lovely example of a new world Pinot Noir.

This wine has influences of the Oregon and New Zealand style of Pinot Noir:

New Zealand Pinot noir is fruit-driven, forward and early maturing in the bottle. It tends to be quite full bodied (for the variety), very approachable and oak maturation tends to be restrained. High quality examples of New Zealand Pinot noir, particularly from the Martinborough region, are distinguished by savoury, earthy flavours with a greater complexity. (Wikipedia)

Where  can you find it?  It is currently on the shelves at Broadway International Wine Shop and Whatcom Wine and Spirits.  I doubt it will be there for long, and if they happen to sell out before you procure your own you can contact Brad through his Blog or through Twitter.

What can we expect in the future from Black Cloud?  This wine will have another vintage of Pinot Noir, and likely a white to compliment it.  Brad has quite a few ideas up his sleeve, and I trust that we will not be disappointed.  He has transformed a black cloud, to one with a silver lining, to one that I expect will garner a golden reputation.