Christmas and wine

As the malls are getting busier, the line at Starbucks longer, the air colder, and the days shorter, people tend to get a little stressed this time of year. Luckily for me I finished my shopping in November (first time ever so I'm really proud of myself) so I get to just relax and enjoy the next month leading up to Christmas. We have our flights booked to Vancouver and are counting down the days.

Since my husband and I moved to Saskatoon, I've looked forward to Christmas even more than I did when I lived in Vancouver (which believe me, if you know me, you would think that was impossible). I've been listening to Christmas music and finding cookie recipes online so I can make tasty treats for friends and family back home. I've handmade beeswax candles and have purchased and packed about 15 cookie tins as well as ingredients to make some very special gift baskets. Needless to say, I'm feeling pretty good about Christmas this year.

The thing I look forward to most about Christmas is the amazing quality time spent with family. I look forward all year to having a blueberry tea with my mom after turkey dinner when we're all sitting around chatting and reminiscing. I also really look forward to having the perfectly paired glass of wine with my turkey dinner. Rob and I are pretty spoiled at Christmas time because we get three turkey dinners. One with my mom and her sweet boyfriend, another with my dad and his wonderful wife, and another with Rob's mom and dad.

When I'm selecting wine for turkey dinner, I usually go with two bottles, a red and a white. I've found the perfect white wine pairing is riesling. You can choose the level of sweetness with a riesling because most liquor and specialty wine stores will have everything from dry to very sweet in this grape varietal. I really enjoy Mission Hill 5 Vineyards dry riesling from B.C. which is a little off-dry, and has subtle but very nice tastes of pineapple but if you want to go with something sweeter, try Dienhard Riesling for an off dry white, or Dienhard Piesporter Riesling for those of you with a bit of a sweet tooth.

For a red I would go with pinot noir for sure, A little pricier than a riesling but well worth it. The reason for the higher price tag is because pinot noir is a very delicate grape. To produce a quality pinot noir the grapes need a climate that's warm enough to ripen the grapes but also cool enough to keep the thin skins from shrivelling up like raisins. Not only is it difficult to grow, it is also very difficult to ferment. If this grape were a person, it would be a very high maintenance diva. One of my favourite bottles to drink over the holidays is Inniskillin Reserve Pinot Noir. It's got a hint of vanilla and cherries with nice smoky tannins. It would go very well with your turkey dinner.

I'm going to close this post with a cheesy Christmas joke for your amusement.

Where do Snowmen go to dance?

Snowballs!

P.S. the glass shown to the left is a pinot noir glass.

The Swear Jar.

A couple of months ago my very good friend and co-worker Breeyn and I were at work. We were going about our shifts as usual, being silly and making each other laugh, when she started to tell a story about her sleeping experience the night before (Or lack there of). She was staying at her boyfriend's place who has a pool in his backyard and a couple of rowdy roomates. She was trying to sleep but couldn't because one of his roomates decided it would be a good idea to go for a midnight swim with some friends. Amongst these friends were men and women all of whom were drunk and I guess thought it sounded really sexy to swear like a sailor. Poor Breeyn looked out the window to see who was out there and give them heck for being so loud when she saw one of his roomates was not wearing any clothing and had a body that resembles Peter Griffin from The Family Guy. She was so shocked by this that she quickly looked away and went back to bed with the image of Peter Griffin's naked body burned into her retinas.

Of course by this time I'm laughing hysterically while she describes what he looked like shuddering while she's trying to speak. I pull myself together and she tells me that there was actually a point to the story. Swearing. These women her boyfriend's roomate was hanging out with swore like truckers the entire night and Breeyn couldn't help but wonder if that is what she sounds like when she's at the restaurant. It is so unattractive but working in the industry that we do it's really hard not to pick up the bad habit. We decided that we would start a swear jar at work and we would trust each other to be honest about it at home too. The fee was $0.25 per swear. Over the next couple of weeks we realized how much we were swearing and made a very conscious effort to kick the habit. Ok, so we didn't completely kick the habit but we at least got the conversational swearing under control. We decided that the money the jar accumulated would go toward one fabulous bottle of wine to reward us for cutting back quite a bit.

We purchased a bottle of the 2002 St. Hallett Old Block Shiraz from the Barossa Valley for about $50. We decanted the wine for a couple of hours before drinking it. I bought some cheese and treats to enjoy with the wine as well which I found at the Bulk Cheese Warehouse, along with a cheesecake I purchased at Calories Bakery and Restaurant.

The wine was a really dark purple colour. I started to swirl the glass and instantly I could smell chocolate. When I tasted the wine it was very full bodied with very strong smooth tannins. The chocolate taste followed onto the palate but there were also strong flavours of plums and raspberries. The finish lingered for quite a while with a slightly smoky taste.

Overall this was a really well balanced wine and I strongly recommend it to anyone who has an extra $50 lying around. It would be a great wine to save for a special occasion such as a birthday or anniversary, or perhaps a Tuesday ;).

Cheers,
Andrea

Wine parties!

Since living in Saskatoon, SK, Rob and I have had a number of wine and cheese parties which have always been a pretty big hit amongst our circle of friends. We're having a few friends over tonight so I picked up a couple of bottles of wine and figured I should share what I purchased with my friends in the blogosphere. I bought Rob's favourite tried, tested, and true Castano Monastrell for a red which I've written about before here is the link. It is really reasonably priced, full-bodied and deliciously fruity. In Saskatoon it comes to $11.11 per bottle. We bought a bottle of this while my mom was in toontown visiting us and she said she really liked it (We must have a similar palate because we often like the same wines) so this wine has been mommy approved!

I also purchased a bottle of Dienhard Piesporter Riesling which is quite a bit sweeter than I usually buy but I know it'll go really well with the cheeses I also bought for tonight. My friend Erika and I went over to this great little shop in Saskatoon called the Bulk Cheese Warehouse and picked up some fabulous cheeses and smoked salmon to go with the wine. It should be a fun night with some great people!

See you soon!
Cheers,
Andrea

P.S. There's a really good chance that our "Wine and Cheese" party will eventually turn into a strobelight dance party. Thanks Ian for lending us your dance party kit while you are out of town!

Summer wine

When deciding on a good summer wine to sip on your patio or by the pool, you should take some tips from nature with the green grass, crisp air, and blooming flowers. The sun is shining, kids are playing frisbee in the park, and the patios of every restaurant in town are full. Get outside and enjoy the sunshine with a nice refreshing glass of wine.

I tend to buy or order very crisp and floral white wine during the summer months, maybe with a little hint of tropical fruit like pineapple or lychee. When you're thinking of floral and spicy whites, think of Gewurztraminers, Muscatos, and Rieslings. These wines are a touch on the sweet side but are refreshing nonetheless. If you're someone who prefers a crisp, tight, dry, citrussy or grassy wine, you might enjoy a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand a little more than it's sweeter sisters. Try Kim Crawford, or Cat's Phee On A Gooseberry Bush.



Of course we can't forget about the delicious Italian Pinot Grigios out there either. Pinot Grigio is a great summer wine and goes well with so many different dishes. Try a Pinot Grigio with barbequed salmon cooked with lemon and dill or enjoy it on its own while lounging in your backyard.



If you're not a fan of drinking a glass of wine in the summer, try a refreshing glass of sangria. You can make it at home with a cheap bottle of any red, some fruit juices, sprite, and fresh fruit.

Confidence is key.

You don't have to know much about wine to appreciate it or serve it. When serving a wine it's important to be confident, and besides everyones palettes are different so what I love, you might hate, and vice versa. It's not about how expensive it is, or what some wine critic says about how good it is. Use your own tastebuds to decide whether or not you like it and will buy it again.

My husband loves earthy wines like South African Pinotage, and I hate earthy wines. To me, earthy is a polite way of saying "It tastes like mud." I've tried to like Pinotage, and I just can't do it. I've gone to wine tasting parties where one person's favourite is another person's least favourite.

It's sort of like taste in men (or women), I like my guy the way he is, tall, fit, but not bulky at all, and clean cut. A friend of mine likes her men stocky and not too much taller than her, with a very sure of themselves (cocky) attitude. This friend probably has the opposite taste in wine than me too, and that is totally acceptable.

Be confident, and have fun trying different wines.

Oh Malbec..You came and you gave without taking.

A couple of days ago some girls from work and I organized a potluck dinner at my place and invited a bunch of people over. There was so much amazing food that I ended up with a few leftover dishes (which was fine by me). Everyone brought a bottle of wine so we had quite a few to taste (Also fine by me). My friend and boss, Neil, brought a bottle that we had purchased for him for his birthday called Trivento, it's a 2003 Malbec from Argentina.


When we opened the bottle that night I had already had a few glasses of different wines and had eaten way too much food to appreciate it. There was a glass of it leftover from the party so I poured it for myself with dinner tonight. It has some intense smells of chocolate and mint, it's very complex and has strong flavours of oak and cherries. It finishes off with some nice smooth tannins and a hint of mocha.

I'd like to find a dress in the colour of this wine, a deep rich inky colour with purple edges.

This is a beautiful wine and I recommend you try it.

Cheers,
Andrea

Old Vines

You've probably noticed on some bottles of wine the term "Old Vines" and wondered what this means.

Old vines means exactly what it says, the vines are old. If a portion of a vineyard has old vines, meaning the vines could be upward of 125 years old, the vines yeild much lower crops than young vines but produce much more concentrated and intense wines. The term has no legal meaning in the wine world like "VQA" because a winery could call vines which are 20 years old "Old Vines." If you see the term on a bottle from a reputable winery then it is probably more likely that the wine is actually from very old vines.
A disease called dead arm can afflict old vines in some cases making the wine even more concentrated and intense. This disease is caused by a deep rooted wood rot in the arms of the vines. Over the years the arms of the vines will die individually until eventually the entire vine dies.

So I guess the old adage is true, but in reverse.

Wine is like women, it gets better with age.

Let's talk about Mar-Ket-Ing!

We've all fallen victim to the cute animals on some wine bottles (Aw! It's a cute little turtle!), only to discover that when we brought the bottle home it tasted more like childrens grape cough syrup than wine. This is what I call the Yellowtail epidemic. After Yellowtail became so popular because of the cute little kangaroo with the yellow tail on the label, wineries started catching on as to why it was selling so well. The wine is not good, the marketing is.

In the last 3 years, 18% of around 500 brands of wine have featured some type of creature on their label. These wines sell nearly twice the amount of wines without furry creatures on the front. Why? you ask...Because marketing works. You don't know what a wine is going to taste like until you buy it and bring it home so the only thing wineries can do to entice you to buy their wines is to draw your eye to their bottles with bright colours and cute animals. Once you've picked up the bottle, perhaps to read what they say it's supposed to taste like they make promises of "Blackberries, smooth tannins and currant." I have found that the reds are way too sweet (red wine is not supposed to be sweet) and the whites leave nothing special on your palate either.

Don't be afraid to pick up an "ugly" label. Not to say that if a label isn't bright and colourful that the wine will be good, just don't fall victim to selecting your wine based on the label alone.

I know not everyone is as big a nerd as me and might not want to read reviews before they shop for wine but it may help you to select a wine that is both affordable and pleasing to the palate.

My dad bought my uncle this book for Christmas called "Had a Glass: Top 100 wines under $20 for 2006." They are putting this book out every year with the newest wines. I glanced through it and found I had already tasted a lot of the wines in the book and liked almost all of them. If you see this book, it's probably around $15 or so, I suggest picking it up. It will save you time in the liquor store and you will discover some wines that you would never have tried otherwise.

Just because skunks are cute, little, furry, creatures doesn't mean they don't stink when you get too close to them.

Not a very long life...

If you are like me, when you open a bottle of wine, it's unlikely that you are going to enjoy it alone. I tend to open a bottle of wine (or two!) when I have company over or on special occasions with my husband (such as Valentines day) so it is unlikely that the bottle(s) are not finished the same evening they are opened. Once in a while after a really long day at work, I'll come home with aching feet and crack open a bottle just to wind down and enjoy one glass whether or not Rob will join me. In these situations I will then either invite someone over to enjoy the rest of the bottle the next day (if Rob will not) or I'll have another glass or two over the next couple of days and hope I finish it before it goes bad.

A bottle of wine is generally "good" for about 3 to 4 days after it has been opened. Not to say that you couldn't drink it after then (it's not going to kill you), it would just taste much more acidic, or start to smell like a wet newspaper once it is passed it's prime. The reason for this is oxygen. I know this seems strange because we're always being told to decant wines to let them "breathe" before drinking them, but this is only for short periods of time. The wine can become exposed to too much oxygen which turns the alcohol into an acetic acid making it taste a tad like vinegar.

I know it can be difficult to poor out what seems to be a perfectly good bottle of wine because you didn't drink it quickly enough, but sometimes we just have to make that sacrifice if we have left it too long.

So you see, wine is sort of like a puppy. If you neglect it for too long it will turn bad.

Cheers,
Andrea