Friday, June 24, 2005

RH Phillips Sauvignon Blanc


RH Phillips Sauvignon Blanc

Our apologies for the lousy label photo; this is the best the pinhole camera in the cellphone could manage, and we didn't have our good camera with us. This R.H. Phillips Sauvignon Blanc (if it had a vintage on it somewhere on the bottle, we missed it) was of the citrusy rather than flinty variety. Very tart, very dry; nice and crisp to drink on its own, but not at all food-friendly--it didn't go with steak (which might be expected), but also didn't go with any of the various salad items, or even the bread. Our rating: 6.5/10.

Interesting note: R.H. Phillips has embraced the screwtop.

Hawthorne Mountain Riesling 2003


Hawthorne Mountain Riesling 2003

We had this Hawthorne Mountain Riesling from British Columbia at the annual German Wine Society barbecue, so it was natural to think of it in terms of how it contrasted with a typical German Riesling. It was nice and fruity, with lots of flavour--more flavour, in fact, than many a German Riesling, Ed thought at first, but after noting that it's a whopping 13.2 percent alcohol (many German wines are under 10 percent), he decided it was probably the higher alcohol content that gave that impression. It was also quite dry--dryer than many German wines--but well-balanced. Our rating: 7/10.

Clay Station Petite Sirah 2002


Clay Station Petite Sirah 2002

This Clay Station Petite Sirah took us aback on opening because of a touch of vinegar on the nose, but that cleared off with a bit of swirling of the Riedel glass. (It's a $21 bottle of wine here; we wanted to give it a chance to show itself off.) The initial impression may also have been influenced by the fact that garlic was cooking at the time. Good tannin--it no doubt would have aged longer--but also lots of fruit; Margaret Anne detected blueberry notes. Very nice. Our rating: 7.5/10.

Pokolbin Creek Cabernet Sauvignon 2001


Pokolbin Creek Cabernet Sauvignon 2001

This Pokolbin Creek Cabernet Sauvignon is a very nice, very typical Cab; fruity, but not jammy; well-balanced. Our rating: 7/10.

Riverwood Semillon Chardonnay 2002


Riverwood Semillon Chardonnay 2002

This Riverwood Semillon Chardonnay is very nice--although it tastes like a Chardonnay; we couldn't tell you what difference the Semillon makes. Not a fruity wine; very dry, with a bit of oak (not too much!) and a nice buttery mouth feel. Our rating: 7/10.

Stoney Ridge Single Vineyard (Butlers' Grant) Reserve Chardonnay 1995


Stoney Ridge Single Vineyard (Butlers' Grant) Reserve Chardonnay 1995

This wine explains perfectly why Stoney Ridge was Margaret Anne's favorite Niagara winery 10 years ago (we haven't had any new Stoney Ridge wines recently, so can't say if that's still true). It has nice tropical fruit, characteristic of Stoney Ridge Chardonnays in the 1990s; just a little oakey, a touch of pineapple, a touch of vanilla, quite dry. Lovely, lovely, lovely. Our rating: 8.5/10.

Domaine St. George Chardonnay 1999


Domaine St. George Chardonnay 1999

We won this bottle of Domaine St. George Chardonnay as a door prize at the Society for American Wines dinner blogged about earlier, and wasted little time trying it. Grapefruit on the nose; very fruity, with lots of grapefruit and melon on the palate, but not cloying. A more refreshing Chardonnay than most! Our rating: 7/10.

Thursday, June 23, 2005

An MRI for wine

If this catches on, no one may ever have to suffer through the heartbreak of a spoiled bottle of wine again.

Then again, it is a $50,000 device, so it won't be in your kitchen any time soon. And we have our doubts about it completely replacing the human palette when it comes to judging these matters. If a customer sends back a bottle of wine that's been scanned by this thing and pronounced goo, what, is the restaurant going to argue with him? He may be full of hot air, but if he doesn't like the wine, he doesn't like the wine.

Still, for high-end restaurants, auction houses and places like that, it makes a lot of sense, if it works as advertised.

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

A Symphony, a Riesling, a Chardonnay and two Cabs

We attended the Society for American Wines dinner in the lobby of the Saskatchewan Centre of the Arts on Sunday evening, and had a wonderful time. Ed took notes with his new toy, an Audiovox PPC-6600 Harrier cell phone/PDA. It wasn't quite liveblogging--although it could have been!--but it was the next best thing.


The reception wine was a 2003 Ironstone Obsession Symphony. We found it sweet, and fruity (both citrus and melon, but more the latter than the former), with a touch of effervescence. It went very well with the appetizers, especially the spring rolls with plum sauce. It wasn't bad with the chicken satay, but the satay was perhaps just a bit too spicy for it. weet, fruity - melon, citrus (more melon than citrus) - a bit of effervescence - went very well with appetizers especially chicken satay and spring rolls with plum sauce - better with the spring rolls, the satay was a bit too spicy. This wine is $15 or 16 here.

Here's a bit more information about the Symphony varietal, from an article by Sharon Rosenbaum in the November 2004 newsletter of A Taste of California:

"Symphony is a white wine cultivar developed by Dr. Harold Paul Olmo, Professor Emeritus of the Department of Viticulture and Enology at the University of California (Davis). The first wine samples were produced in 1948 and it has been the most thoroughly tested of all new cultivars. The grape’s ancestry is derived from crossing two French vinifera varieties – the Muscat of Alexandria with Grenache Gris – the aromatic Muscat character shows in perfumed yet delicate fruit and flower aromas and a pleasant hint of bitterness; its white Grenache parentage shows a snappy crispness that's not common in pure Muscat. Symphony wines are unusual in that they can maintain their color, flavor and bouquet for ten or more years in the bottle at cellar temperature.

The Symphony grape is grown here and there in
California, but not in great amounts, and only a few producers are currently making it as a varietal wine. Symphony wine is extremely drinkable, lusciously brilliant and full of tropical fruit flavours. The finish is crisp and clean. The name is said to have been suggested by a wine scientist who, on tasting one of the first wines, declared that it showed “a Symphony of aromas and flavors.”

The wine served with the luscious butternut squash soup was a 2000 J. Lohr Estates Arroyo Seco Riverstone Chardonnay (the wine's name comes from the hard rock beneath the surface of the dry riverbed near Monterey in which it is grown). Not as buttery as some Chardonnays, this Monterey-area wine did very well with the sweet, pumpkin-flavored soup. Ed liked it more than Margaret Anne; Ed enjoyed a caramel aftertaste when the two were combined. Margaret Anne felt that the match was OK, but "not one of those synergistic matchings that takes you to a higher plane" (honest, those were her exact words). She thought it was perhaps a bit too sharp. Margaret Anne actually thought it went better with the salad that followed, as did Jeff Ruf, our dining partner, and Margaret Anne's mother, Dr. Alice Goodfellow.

Two reds, both Cabernet Sauvignons, arrived with the main course of mustard-smeared lamb (which probably had a much grander-sounding name than that, but we lost our menu). The organically grown 1999 Bonterra Cabernet Sauvignon was fuller and fruiter than the 1987 Torres Mas la Plana Gran Coronas, but Margaret Anne nevertheless preferred the Spanish Cab with the lamb. The Torres was perhaps past its prime; it was very brown, some bottles had a lot of sediment, and Alice said it tasted watery to her.

Finally, with dessert (a mousse--which, in concert with the soup, had a pumpkin flavor--served in a sweet tulip shell), came the 2000 Hogue Johannisburg Riesling. We were warned that it was "very sweet," but to us veteran German wine-lovers, it didn't seem particularly sweet at all--in German terms, maybe a Spätlese, but certainly not an Auslese. If anything, it was less sweet than the Ironstone Symphony, at least to Ed's mind. Despite its name, it isn't a South African wine, but one from Washington State. It had a decided green apple taste (Golden Delicious, said Jeff). It went remarkably well with the mousse but was overpowered by the sweet shell.

And that was that. Best thing about the evening: we won a bottle of 1999 Domaine St. George Chardonnay. Watch for our take on that in the near future.

Saturday, June 04, 2005

Lustau East India Solera Sherry, bottled 1997


Lustau East India Solera Sherry 1997

From the back label:

"Trading ships sailing to the Indies in the 16th Century frequently carried casks of sweet Sherries lashed to their decks.

"After traveling through the tropics it was discovered that the heat and humidity had matured the wine to a great smoothness. The House of LUSTAU has recreated the same conditions for the ageing of their EAST INDIA SOLERAS and has thus revived this unique style.

"One of the rare Sherries that ages beautifully in bottle, East India Solera becomes rich, unctuous and remarkably smooth with wonderful flavours reminiscent of ripe figs and raisins."

Couldn't have said it better ourselves. "Rich, unctuous and remarkably smooth...wonderful flavours...ripe figs and raisins."

This is a fabulous sherry; we purchased this half-bottle a couple of years ago in Calgary (price: around $20) ostensibly for Margaret Anne's mother, who didn't get a taste of it until Saturday night's dinner. We have promised to only drink more of it when she's around.

We had it with dessert, which was nothing more complicated than iced cherries, and it went beautifully with the fruit. The nose was so rich that it made Ed think more of chocolate than anything else. Much more complex than Bristol Cream, the sherry probably people are most familiar with.

Highly recommended. At least 8/10.

Fetzer Echo Ridge Fumé Blanc 2002


Fetzer Echo Ridge Fumé Blanc 2002

This Fetzer Echo Ridge Fumé Blanc 2002 was very good, very typical Fumé Blanc (which is essentially a Sauvignon Blanc that's had some aging in oak). This bottle, which set us back about $16, was purchased specifically to go with a parsley-and-cumin chicken salad. Cilantro and yogurt, both of which the meal contained, are traditionally flavors that go well with Sauvignon Blanc. Curry is another, and cumin is a part of that--so it really was a match made in heaven. (Or India, or wherever our recipe came from.)

This was not a citrusy wine; it was much more on the herbal/flinty end of Fumé Blancness. "Refreshing," was Margaret Anne's mother's take on it. With the caveat that we did not try it on its own, but only with the meal, which was well-designed for precisely this kind of wine, we rate it 8/10--and would definitely buy it again.

Summerhill Pyramid Winery Kissed Gewurztraminer 2002


Summerhill Pyramid Winery Kissed Gewurztraminer 2002

We had this at the Willow on Wascana restaurant, where we were celebrating Margaret Anne's birthday (for the second or third time--hey, why not?). Although it was highly praised by one of the restaurant's co-owners, we weren't overly impressed. It was very dry, almost sharp, rebuffing your palate instead of welcoming it in. We've had many other Okanagan Valley Gewurtzes we enjoyed more. Our rating: 5/10.

P.S. Ed loves the label, though, since it ties in with that whole fantasy-and-science-fiction-writing thing he does. (Visit www.edwardwillett.com for more details). The artwork is by the great fantasy artist Brian Froud. So the rating for the label is 9/10.

Watering wine in California

Professor Bainbridge offers a very enlightening post about "California's dirty little secret"--the process of adding water to wine during the fermentation process.

His own take on the matter makes eminent sense to us.