How to hold a wine glass.

A lot of people hold their wine glasses by the bowl not knowing that the proper way to hold it is by the stem. The purpose of stemware is so that you don't have to touch the bowl so your hand doesn't change the temperature of the wine. A lot of wines need to be served at certain temperatures. If you serve a wine that is supposed to be very well chilled and hold it by the bowl the heat from your hands could change the flavour of the wine making it not very good.

I found this picture of a wine snob sniffing a glass with his big snobby nose! BUT, he's holding the glass properly! I couldn't resist.

By request...Gewürztraminer (Guh-Vehrtz-trah-meen-er)

Gewürztraminer, is my favourite white wine to drink in the summer. I remember sitting on the patio at Cielo's(my favourite restaurant in White Rock, B.C.) drinking a bottle of Gewürz' with Rob while staring at the ocean and enjoying some the best bruschetta I've ever had in my life(seriously, I challenge you to find a better tasting bruschetta).

If you pick up a nice bottle of Gewürztraminer from the Okanagan in B.C.(I really enjoy Mission Hill's Five Vineyards Gewurztraminer) you'll find that its slightly sweet, very floral(honeysuckle and roses), jam-packed with tropical fruit flavours like mango, and lychee(gives it a hint of nutty flavour), and it'll have a little hint of spice.

"Gewürzt" means "Spicy" in German, and "Traminer" means "Coming from Tramin" which is a small city in South Tyrol, Italy where the grape was originally grown. Gewürztraminer comes both dry, and sweet. Depending on what your personal taste is like, you should be able to find a gewurz' that's right for you.

Any reputable wine shop will have knowledgeable staff that should be able to help you pick out a good Gewürztraminer or any other wine, just tell them what characteristics you like or don't like, they can then use the process of elimination to find a wine that you'll enjoy.

My friend Katharine from back home in beautiful White Rock, B.C. requested this post because her favourite wine is Gewürztraminer. Hope you enjoy! I'll bring a bottle for us to drink when I'm back in town in one month!

Wine Glasses

This is a Cab/Merlot/Bordeaux glass

I don't have any new wines to review, but Amanda asked a good question regarding wine glasses. Being that there are about a billion(Thats probably not true) different types of glasses out there, its really difficult to know what style of glass to buy for your wine drinking needs.

First you'll probably want to ask yourself, Do I tend to drink reds, more then whites? or vice versa? If you drink reds the majority of the time, and rarely drink whites, you would benefit from a Cab/Merlot/Bordeaux style glass. The more standard style tasting glass is called a Chimney Shape, its usually wider at the bottom of the bowl, and narrows a bit at the top. The wide bottom makes it easier to get a really good swirl, and the narrow top holds in the "Bouquet"(as Mark so eloquently put it ;)), so you can get your nose right in there for a good whiff!

I personally love really big wine glasses, the bigger the better! Its important when drinking some wines, to have lots of room for the wine to breathe. These large glasses are great, especially if you don't have a wine decanter.

You should also select glasses that are clear, and don't have any engravings, so you can clearly see the wine.

Also, when you're washing your wine glasses, don't use soap(I know this sounds weird, but you're not supposed to) Rinse each glass under really hot water for 20 or 30 seconds each, and hand dry. It sounds really annoying to do, but the soap, overtime, can actually ruin the glass, and eventually the taste of soap will forever be stuck in your glasses. Its pretty gross when you get a nice glass of red and you can taste a hint of Sunlight, or whatever brand you use.

(Hope all this helps Amanda) The glass on the right is a standard tasting glass

Poker and wine..again.

My wine drinking in the last couple of weeks seems to be revolved around Rob and Mark's poker nights. Last night, Rob, Mark and some other friends got together at their friend Josh's house to play poker. Since I didn't want to sit at home and do nothing, and I had a bottle of wine just sitting in our little mini winerack collecting dust, I decided to give Amanda a call. She invited me over to watch the movie "Waiting" with Ryan Reynolds(which we didn't end up watching) and to drink some wine. Amanda is my unofficial wine drinking partner, my last 3 wine reviews have been wines that I drank with Amanda.

The bottle I brought over to her place last night was a 2003 Inniskillin Cabernet Sauvignon(VQA). It had blackberry, and currant on the nose, and plums, cherries, and oak on the palette.
Inniskillin has vineyards in both Ontario and in BC. I'm hoping to get out to the Okanagan this summer to do a little wine tour. When I worked for Mark Anthony Fine Wine Merchants, I didn't get the opportunity to visit their winery(Mission Hill), which was disappointing. I've heard that the Mission Hill winery and vineyards are gorgeous. I've seen pictures, but I'm sure they don't do it justice.

Anyway, back to the Inniskillin. It was yummy, the tannins were a little strong at first taste, but softened up after being exposed to air for awhile. I think this Cab Sauv would compliment any kind of pasta with a thick tomato-packed marinara sauce.

Osborne SOLAZ 2003

On Friday night, Rob and I went over to our friends Mark, and Amanda's place to play some poker. We brought the bottle of Castano Monastrell, and Amanda had also picked up a Spanish wine called Osborne SOLAZ. It was a 2003 Vintage and is a blend of Tempranillo and Cabernet Sauvignon, a very tastey wine. I found it to be big in fruit(cherries, raspberries and blackberries), with a little bit of spice and a nice long finish. It was a very rich cherry red colour, and had been aged in oak barrels a minimum of 4 months.

Tempranillo pronounced: Temp-rah-nee-yoh, is a very strong aromatic spanish grape which has different names in different regions in Spain. It is the most widespread grape varietal in the world.
Cabernet Sauvignon in Spain is mainly grown in Catalonia, Navarre, and Ribera del Duero.

This blended wine would pair very well with Barbequed red meats, and pasta. You can pair any kind of wine with whatever food you'd like, whether you like your wines to contrast or compliment, is totally up to you. Contrast, example: A spicy chicken stirfry with slightly sweeter white wines(Gewurztraminer, Riesling). Or Compliment, example: Big Full bodied Cabernet Sauvignon with Steak and Potatoes.

I give a big thumbs up to Amanda for picking this wine!

Oh and when I say that we went over to their house to play poker, I mean that everyone else played poker while Amanda and I sat on the couch gabbing with our plate of fancy cheeses a bottle of wine(or two) and the Trivial Pursuit SNL edition DVD. Much more fun then losing money, in my opinion.

Essays and Midterm are done!

So as I promised, now that my essays are handed in and my midterm is done, I'm back on the blog!
Tonight I picked up Rob's favourite under-$20 bottle of wine, called Castano Monastrell. Monastrell is a thick-skinned sweet grape, which in France is known as Mourvedre.

Until recently, Mourvedre was rarely bottled by itself. It is usually found in blends with grape varietals such as Syrah(Shiraz) which is usually a little bit spicy, and has very good strucure, as well as Grenache, which is a very rich grape.

The grape on its own has a very gamey taste to it when drank young. If you get a good year, it can be a very intense, fruity wine with a hint of blackberry on the palette. You could age this wine, if you're into that. Me personally, I just like to buy it, and drink it. None of this, waiting 10 or 15 or 20 years to drink a bottle. I'm just WAY too impatient. Get me a corkscrew!

I was very tempted to buy a bottle of port(fortified wine) while at the liquor store but stopped myself. Next time I will buy the port, and I will tell you all about it. If you like sweet, body-warming alcohol that you don't drink, you sip very slowly whilst enjoying good company, you'll love port. Thats for another time.

Also I'd really like it if anyone had any ideas for topics on wine that I could write about. I'd love to hear any questions. If you're looking for wines to pair with food, and you're not sure what compliments what, I'm your lady.