Wining with Mel

Discover your wine style, one glass at a time

Category: Whining (Page 2 of 2)

The Wine Shower: the wine lover’s alternative to a wedding shower

March 17, 2016 / / 0 Comments

I have another confession to make: I really do not enjoy showers. Be it the wedding or baby variety, there is nothing I would like to do less than sit around for an afternoon surrounded by squealing women playing ridiculous games like Guess the Mess in the Diaper or The Toilet Paper Bride. And God help you if it is a dry event. I don’t care if the guest of honour is pregnant, the rest of us should still be able to indulge so the poor girl can drink vicariously through us.

All this to say, when I was in the horrible throes of planning my own wedding, I made it clear that there were to be NO SHOWERS. However, knowing my penchant for wine, one sneaky friend managed to convince me by suggesting a novel concept: the wine shower.

How It Works

Each guest is invited to bring two bottles of wine:

  • one for immediate consumption at the shower
  • one for the couple to cellar as a souvenir of their year of marriage

You can see why I was so easily convinced. It’s a FANTASTIC idea for any wine-loving couple. First of all, you get to taste lots of different wines at the actual event, then you get to keep as many bottles as guests for your collection!

As a nice touch, my friend brought a lovely little “guestbook” where each guest wrote the name of the wine they brought and drank, and the one that they left for us.

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Our friends are the best

It has now been three years since our wine shower, and we still have a few bottles left. Last weekend we decided to open one, and we were not disappointed!

Domaine St-Pierre Vacqueyras 2009

Vacqueyras is an appellation in the Côtes du Rhône region. Located in the south of France, it is just north of the city of Avignon (famous for being the papal seat starting in the 14th century) and west of Orange. It is a region where you can still feel the influence of the ancient Romans, and it has lots of beautiful (and in some cases still used) ruins to show for it. It is an amazing area, with some of my favourite wines.

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The amphitheatre in Orange dates back to the 1st century and is still used as an outdoor music venue in the summer

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A brilliant Rhône Valley map c/o WineFolly (http://winefolly.com/review/cotes-du-rhone-wine-with-maps/)

This Vacqueyras was a blend of grenache (one of my favourite grapes) and syrah. The colour was a deep, rich ruby red that was practically opaque. On the nose, a fruit explosion. We pulled out the large Riedel glasses for this one, and the fruit aromas just filled the bowl. It was heavenly: dark fruit, plum, cherry, fig, sweet spices, cassis and mint/cedar/eucalyptus. When I finally got over sniffing my wine and tasted it, the flavour was just a continuation of all the lovely aromas, with the addition of more dried fruit like raisin and prune (a result of aging), plus some leather, sweet spice and smoke, due to the 6-12 months this wine spent aging in oak barrels. It was still a medium-full bodied  wine, with medium acidity, and after 7 years in the bottle, the tannins had softened right out. This wine was incredibly drinkable and I’m glad we didn’t leave it in the cellar any longer! If you still have a bottle of this lingering in your cellar, now is the time to drink it.

 

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The first thing I did after drinking a glass of this wine was email Erica to thank her!

So the wine shower…great idea, right? Who’s with me?

Happy wining, friends!

Awkward! For more amazing spitting stories and images, check out this appropriately themed article on Vivino: https://www.vivino.com/wine-news/how-to-spit-wine-like-a-pro

Spit or swallow: the great debate

March 7, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Please don’t get the wrong idea. If you are a teenager who just googled the first part of this post’s title, I’m afraid you are going to be sorely disappointed. But if you are of legal drinking age, keep reading and you may learn a thing or two.

The question

Someone recently asked me why wine snobs bother spitting the wine that they are tasting. Doesn’t that impact on the taste? Do you really get the full flavour if it doesn’t go to the back of your mouth and down your throat?

The short answer is, no, you don’t really get the full flavour of a wine if you spit it out. That said, you can get a pretty good idea of the wine’s qualities by swirling it around in your mouth for about 5 seconds while sucking in a bit of air, hence the hilarious gurgling/slurpy sound effects that are a constant source of mockery for the rest of us.

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Awkward! For more amazing spitting stories and images, check out this appropriately themed article on Vivino: https://www.vivino.com/wine-news/how-to-spit-wine-like-a-pro

To explain why wine pros spit, let me tell you a story.

Background

I was recently invited to a team tasting in April organized by wine writer extraordinaire Natalie MacLean. When describing the event to me, she said there would be at least 70  bottles to try and potentially review. 70. Bottles.

That is a lot of wine.

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So much wine! Picture from a previous Natalie MacLean team tasting. To see what I am in for, check out the whole blog post: http://www.nataliemaclean.com/blog/wine-team-tasting-reviews-ratings/

I have a confession to make: I rarely spit….when tasting wines (why did I feel the need to specify??). While taking my courses, I rarely drove to class so I could fully enjoy the various wines we tasted, which were often above my wine budget. No spitting there. Even at wine events, I may not finish a two-ounce pour, but I feel like spitting is sacrilege.

Case study #1

I have been to a couple of wine shows around town, the first being the Ottawa Wine and Food Show, back in 2012. That one was not a great experience for me. You pay $30 just for your ticket and the “privilege” of standing in line outside for an hour, then you have to buy drink tickets, with each glass going for 2 or 3 tickets, or as many as 10 tickets for Bordeaux wines you won’t find at the LCBO. Another issue is the people who attend these shows. Sure, you’ve got the industry reps and the people who are legitimately interested in trying new wines, but for the most part, it seems to be 20-somethings who want to get dressed up then get wasted, but on wine so it’s classy-like.

The day leading up to this big event, I followed all the rules: I hydrated well, ate a big meal before going, and wore comfortable shoes.

Buuuuuuuut I still got drunk.

Rookie mistake – I wasn’t just tasting the wines, I was drinking them. All of them. I think we were home by midnight.

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Case study #2

This past November I attended another event organized by the Ottawa-based Savvy Company called Outstanding in their Field. This really fun event brought in wines from Niagara, Prince Edward County and even the Ottawa Valley.

However, with the price of entry, you received a tasting glass and free reign to try over 60 wines. Danger!

We were only there for three hours. In that short time, we found 6 bottles we wanted to buy (the minimum purchase for free shipping) and I managed to get…very social. Yup, I was definitely more than tipsy, and on a work night no less.

The answer

Going back to the original question: why do wine pros spit out their wines? As you may have guessed from the above case studies, the answer is basically this: so they don’t get drunk. Also, there is such a thing as palate fatigue. Wine tasting becomes a rather fruitless endeavour if you are so drunk you can’t taste the wines anymore. I discovered this at the Wine and Food Show, after leaving the aged Bordeaux as my last wine of the night. It tasted like…wine. What a waste.

So while I am looking forward to this team tasting in a month, I am also kind of nervous. I have always felt that spitting out wines is…rude somehow. So lately I have been asking myself all kinds of soul-searching questions, like:

  • Do I have to taste every single wine?
  • How do I decide which  ones to skip?
  • Will I have the strength, will-power and discipline to taste rather than drink?
  • What wine tasting note format am I going to use? Old school notepad or high-tech tablet? Or maybe just my phone?
  • Is everyone going to be watching me?
  • If I spit, is there a way of doing so gracefully?
  • What happens if there is a little dribble? (note to self: do NOT wear white)
  • Oh god, what if I miss the spittoon entirely?
  • Are all the other wine tasters going to judge me? They’re all going to laugh at me!

Clearly I am going to have to do some spit practicing as I seem to have some hang-ups in this department. Sounds like the perfect excuse to open some of those not-so-great bottles in my collection!

Wish me luck, and happy wining!

Under the Weather Wining

November 29, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Going to the dentist. Taking a flight. Going on a first date. Having no kleenex/soup in the house.

All things that SUCK when you are sick.

That’s right. Yours truly has come down with a cold. And considering the subject of this blog, I must add to the above list: drinking wine.

Just like going out for a nice meal when you are sick, drinking a nice bottle of wine when you have a cold is such a waste. It just takes all the enjoyment out of it. And yet, some research shows that moderate consumption (8-14 glasses per week) of wine, particularly red wine, may help prevent the common cold.

Now when I first read these articles’ claims, I pshawed*. First of all, that seems pretty high for a “moderate” weekly consumption. And second of all, I drank wine all week and look what good it did me! However, after a bit of thought, I realized that 8-14 glasses is likely exactly where my weekly consumption is at so I clearly need to stop being so judgmental. And secondly, I had a glass (or two) of red wine every night this week until last night, which is when the sinus explosion hit me. Maybe this research is onto something and I should be increasing my red wine intake.

So my friends, learn from my errant ways and go ahead and drink that second glass of immune-boosting red wine tonight. Otherwise soon you may be the one sitting at home in sweatpants with a blanket and a box of kleenex at 8 o’clock on a Saturday night.

* Although Google Chrome disagrees, “pshaw” is actually a word, thank you very much. The fact that the Oxford Dictionary considers it dated makes me think I maybe read too much Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie as a child.

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Luckily, I drank a couple of nice bottles before getting sick (over the course of the last week, not one right after the other in the name of prevention), so I at least have something to report this week. They may or may not have played a pivotal role in me making it through the work week before this cold hit.

  1. Gérard Bertrand La Clape 2011

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This wine was the perfect way to start a weekend. This Coteaux de Languedoc from the south of France boasts a lovely blend of syrah (aka shiraz), carignan and mourvèdre (one of my favourite varietals, FYI, and a key component of Côtes du Rhône wines). Medium ruby red in colour, there is definitely a hint of garnet, which is sometimes a sign of age (how was 2011 already 4 years ago??). On the nose, it’s quite fragrant, showing dark fruit, floral notes and spices.

The structure of this wine is really nice and quite balanced: medium bodied, medium tannins, medium acidity. On the palate, same dark fruit, with cedar, black pepper and those spices again (Kim Marcus describes them as “savory herb flavors”).

We paired this with some leftover Moroccan beef stew and the pairing was surprisingly fantastic. I wasn’t sure how the Moroccan spices would work with the wine, but they actually brought out its fruit flavours, which was delicious.

There aren’t too many bottles of this left in Ontario (we’re pretty much out in Ottawa – I bought this bottle a couple of months ago). So check stocks at the LCBO nearest you, and maybe grab me a bottle (Mom?). This wine is also available at the SAQ for those of you in Quebec.

2. Viña Bujanda Rioja Reserva 2010

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A delicious pairing at Das Lokal

Earlier this week, the ladies in my yoga class and I decided to reward ourselves with a nice glass of a wine. A restaurant in the area called Das Lokal offers half-priced bottles of wine on Tuesday, so we decided to check it out! We were not disappointed with this decision. We ordered the abovementioned Spanish rioja and could not have been more pleased.

It was pretty dark in the restaurant, but the wine’s colour seemed dark ruby  to me, and smelled of dark fruit (by this I mean plum, blackberry, blueberry, black currant, etc.), cedar, tobacco and sweet spice. This is the type of wine aroma that makes me swoon a little. This particular rioja spent 20 months in oak so that really brings out the last three aromas.

On the palate, this rioja was very dry, but with juicy tannins. There was dark fruit here too, specifically blackberry and red currant, and it had a loooooong finish.

Though we had it with the typical German sausage dish pictured above, I found it went really nicely with the balsamic/oil the restaurant served with their sourdough bread.

Keep well, friends. Keep taking your vitamins and a healthy dose of red!

Cheers!

September 19, 2015 / / 0 Comments

cheers

“Cheers!”

In my mind, this expression should be reserved solely for toasting. When used in different contexts, it has always bothered me for some reason.

Obviously, in the UK, it is commonly used as a way of saying “Thanks”, or even “Goodbye”. But in North America, there are very few situations where “Cheers” seems natural. Unless you are British and/or you have just served me a drink and are using it synonymously with “Enjoy”, it just seems contrived and pretentious somehow.

I am clearly not alone in this sentiment. One blogger on the interwebs went on a bit of a tirade on the matter in 2007. I didn’t even make it through all the comments – half the commenters whole-heartedly agreed, while the other half accused him of being too pedantic or xenophobic.

From what I gather, this expression started gaining popularity on this side of the Atlantic in the early 2000s. All of a sudden, everyone was saying “Cheers” the British way. In bars, servers would say Cheers as a way of saying “Here you go – enjoy!” In those days I attributed this sudden appearance of the expression to the fact that I just hadn’t been frequenting bars much before that point, but now I see that its use outside of drinking establishments was also quickly spreading across the continent. Instead of saying “thanks” or even in some cases “you’re welcome,” people were using the dreaded term. Why don’t you just call me a wanker before hopping into a lorry!? What’s even worse is that these days, you see more and more people signing emails with “Cheers” as a valediction (i.e. closing or farewell) – even in business emails, which I find particularly inappropriate. Even this British blogger agrees: “Americans could use it in English pubs, but should avoid the other situations as it sounds wrong with an American accent. Sorry!”

Not surprisingly, this practice is rampant in the wine business. There are so many wine bloggers who conclude their posts with the telltale sign-off that even in that context (i.e. its original context) it feels like it’s beginning to lose meaning. I’m finding it all very problematic, since I’m often tempted to use it in this blog, but again, it seems pretentious and now so unoriginal.

All this to say, I will say “Cheers” when raising a glass with friends, but I think the English language already has plenty of excellent expressions for giving thanks, wishing enjoyment, or saying goodbye without having to resort to slang from across the pond.

But enough whining, on to wining!

This week’s discovery was the Tessellae Grenache-Syrah-Mourvedre (or “GSM” in the wine world). Prominently featured in the most recent Food & Drink magazine (page 33, if you have a copy at home), this $17 bottle is being advertised as an excellent value wine. And I have to agree! GSMs are one of my favourites. While this popular blend generally hails from the Côtes du Rhône region in the southeast of France, this particular bottle is from the Côtes de Roussillon appellation, which is further west.

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Side note: I took the liberty of highlighting the town where I was born!

GSMs tend to be medium bodied with fruity characteristics (i.e. dark cherry, raspberry) and a bit of spice from the syrah (aka shiraz) grape. The most famous (and expensive) example of this type of wine is probably Chateauneuf-du-Pape. The GSM blend is an excellent, often food-friendly wine that most people will enjoy. As a result, it’s one of my go-to’s as a hostess gift when going to dinner parties where I don’t know what will be served.

The Tessellae definitely fits the bill. It is indeed medium bodied, though the aromas are less in-your-face than your typical GSM. This wine is more delicate, with the aromas needing a bit of coaxing out of the bottle. As a result, open this bottle ahead of time so it has a chance to breathe. You still get the lovely fruity characteristics, such as cherry, raspberry and blueberry, but also some licorice and something slightly floral.

In terms of food pairing, this is not a heavy wine, so not something to serve with a juicy steak. It would be a good match for burgers or pizza. Remember, you never want your food to overpower your wine, or vice versa.

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Photo credit: The Husband

And on that note, instead of signing off with the dreaded word, I will simply say happy wining!

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