17
Dec
2014
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Category: Uncorked Tonight
(October 13, 2014) ... I love my neighbors, and I think we've been pretty damn lucky. I have heard horror stories about neighbours that at times put me off ever having any ... But one of my best friend's growing up was my next door neighbour, so they can't be all bad, right? When we moved to St. Catharines I found out we hit the jackpot with some awesome ones (you just know you'll get along when the first time you see them one is cleaning out the eaves with a hockey stick - it don't get much more Canadian than that - the other notices you're there without a car and offers theirs if you need it ... Definitely not in Kansas anymore Toto). My hockey-loving neighbours invited us over for our second Thanksgiving of the season ... the first was to my brother's the night before ... So of course I had to bring some wine along.
Taking into account that he is Italian I thought I'd bring over something I found delicious the last time I tasted it, Caldora 2008 Yume, Montelpulciano D'Abruzzo, this hit all the right notes for him: aromas of blackberry, cassis, black cherry, with elements of sweet black licorice lingering in the background ... Palate showed considerably less fruit but also held our interest with black cherry, white pepper, cinnamon and touch of toasted vanilla. Maybe not an exact turkey match but a delicious wine nonetheless. My next Thanksgiving offering came from France, and a region I had introduced my neighbour to with great success a couple of years back, Plan de Dieu in the Rhone Valley, alas in my haste to leave the house I grabbed the wrong bottle and instead grabbed a Cave de Monterail 2009 Seguret, Cote de Rhone Villages ... This proved not to be a very successful selection with a nose that screamed sour cherry and a palate that's most prominent feature was a bitter finish showing off a little too much oak - you can't win them all, I'm just hoping this was a flawed bottle as I have another sitting in the cellar.
10
Dec
2014
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Category: Uncorked Tonight
(October 12, 2014) ... Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada, and instead of staying in St. Catharines, as in previous years, we headed to the Big Smoke (Toronto) for dinner with my brother's family. As usual we arrived a little early to lend a hand ... But in actuality we just sit around, chat and open bottles of potential dinner wines. Tonight I had brought an array of four from different corners of the world: Of course ther's a bottle from Ontario, but also Chile, Australia and California ... none would be considered typical turkey wines.
In my basket of tricks were three Syrah/Shiraz based wines and a Zin from the Golden State ... The first to be opened was a Syrah, from right here in Ontario, produced in a so-so vintage: Fielding 2006 Syrah, which I found surprising good. You can read my full Taste it Again review here ...
We then cracked open a Tamaya 2005 Reserve - Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah from Chile. The nose showed a subtle mint nuance along with mainly blackberry fruit; palate dropped the mint for a more dark nature namely blackberry and cassis while adding a gentle spice ... The time to drink this one is now, as I doubt it'll get any better than this.
While the Tamaya seems to have peaked, the next wine on tonight's agenda has crested the hill: Andrew Harris 2001 Shiraz, I'm not saying it was bad, or tasted old, but I'm sure this had a lot more to give in its youth. Today the aromas are double-noted with the simplicity of raspberry and spice and the palate delivers on that promise of fruit with soft/subtle raspberry flavour, surprisingly it still had some jamminess to it, hinting at what it once was; now that is impressive for a 13 year old wine; but what it retained in jamminess it gave up on in acidity.
Finally, another 13 year old wine hit the bottom of my glass, this time a Dry Creek Vineyard 2001 Heritage Clone Zinfandel ... I had just tried the latest offering of this wine from Dry Creek at a Sonoma Tasting in Toronto and found it quite appealing, so that is what sparked my interest in this older version I've been letting languish in my cellar far too long. I knew it would not bear any resemblance to the fresher version I just tried, but was curious all the same. Here a nose of prunes and dried cherries ruled while flavour-wise there was some sweet dried fruit, smoked cherry and vanilla nuances ... I would have to say I was pretty impressed with this wine also, for a wine I thought might be completely dead this old girl showed signs of life.
