Why do I drink wine?

Let me tell you...

Wine is good for your heart (in moderation).

It makes food taste better (and vice versa)

There is a grape varietal out there for everyone even if you "Don't like wine." You do, you just have not tried the right one for you yet. Have patience it is out there.

It can make unattractive people appear much more attractive.

Red wine gives you 'cougar mouth' (My best friend Melissa coined that term which I will use forever but I have to give her credit...Brilliant!)

*The purple stain on your lips, tongue and teeth*

It makes people come across more intelligent.

It is socially acceptable to have a glass of wine by yourself as opposed to a gin and tonic.

It makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside and out.

It is delicious.

It is more complex than Tiger Woods love life.

It evokes memories. Like certain songs or smells do.

It goes better with good company than anything else.

I love it. Period.

Cheers!

Bad blogger! You've been a bad, bad blogger!

I have been terrible at updating my blog on a regular basis, I am always terrible at updating my blog on a regular basis. I want to blog and give you information and stories about wine, I really do. For some reason I do not prioritize writing above my social time. Why is that do you think?

When I originally started my blog I was much better at updating and I believe it is because people were interested and keen to read what I might post next and would also suggest new post ideas. I received a lot of comments every time I posted something new so I had something to look forward to whenever I signed in. Over the last few years, I have let my blog fall off the radar. People do not bother checking if I have updated because chances are, I have not.

I apologize to my friends, family, and fellow wine lovers who I may have disappointed.

If anyone has any ideas/questions for new posts, please feel free to email me or leave me a message/comment.

I need you to inspire me.

:) Andrea

Wine gadgets.

A couple of weeks ago, I met up with my friend Dave, who I had not seen in years. We started the night at Stephos Greek Taverna for dinner. We shared an order of cheese balls, then I ordered their chicken souvlaki pita, and Dave ordered the chicken souvlaki. Our meals were delicious (and cheap!) and the company was even better.

After we left Stephos we sauntered down toward English Bay and popped into the Bayside Lounge which, from the outside, does not look like anything special. The bar has a circular design full of windows so everyone gets a view. We grabbed a couple of cheap drinks (they have daily drink specials) and found a table. When Dave got up to go to the washroom I started chatting with the couple sitting next to us and made a new friend, Catherine.

Catherine invited me to a networking event for start-up companies and entrepreneurs at the Lions Pub downtown. We went and had a really great time!

While at the event, I spoke with a very nice gentleman named Michael who has a company that sells miniature wine decanters designed to decant one glass at at time. This product is called the centellino. I was skeptical about the actual function of the gadget. The idea is that the wine will aerate in the centellino decanter better than it will in the glass. I do not believe this to be true. The pitch was that people do not want to decant inexpensive bottles of wine because they do not believe the long process of decanting will improve the wine. This is also false. Not to say that all wines will improve after spending a bit of time in a decanter but it never hurts to let your wine get a little bit of air before consuming it.

If you are not going to put your wine into a proper decanter anyway, you may as well just pour it into your glass to swirl (which also aerates the wine) and enjoy. The centellino is certainly impressive looking for a novice wine drinker but for me, I can not see myself using this product because I believe in the old fashioned swirl of the glass to let my wine breathe. That is not to say that the centellino does not work, it is just redundant. Michael was so generous as to give me one to try at home so if anyone would like to give it a try I would be more than happy to have a glass of wine (or two) with you using the centellino so you can judge for yourself.

I encourage you to check out the website and judge for yourself. I am only here to give my honest opinion.

Check out this link to an introductory video if you are not sure how it works. It is in Italian but there are English subtitles. It's only about 30 seconds long.

These are tough times.

I very recently moved back to Vancouver from Calgary and have been drinking wine with my best friend Melissa quite often since being back. Mel just started a new job and got a new apartment in the west end of Vancouver and I am unemployed and looking for work while staying with my dear friend Kathy (Also in the west end). The job market here is not as terrible as I originally thought because I am getting interviews, I am just extremely impatient.

During these difficult economic times we have to be careful about spending too much money (especially since I am unemployed) so Melissa and I are on to drinking what we refer to as "Recession wine" (Which, before the recession was called "Party wine") It is not great, it is not terrible it is just cheap. You can find some pretty good wine for $10 - $12 if you know what to look for. We should be able to drink wine often without having to sell our kidneys to be able to afford it. Mel and I like to mix it up by trying new, cheap wines but have found a couple of favourites that we often go back to. One bottle that I have really enjoyed at under $10/bottle is Fuzion Shiraz/Malbec. It is an Argentinian wine with smooth soft tannins and a little bit of spice and vanilla. It is a very easy wine to drink and has been nice to enjoy with great company. I am going to try a new bottle tonight which I plan on purchasing at this great wine shop called Sutton Place Wine Merchants downtown. They have an amazing selection and extremely knowledgeable staff (What more do you want from a wine store?)

On another note, the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival is coming up at the end of March and I already have my ticket for the trade tasting. This year there will be wines represented by 182 wineries around the world. Every year they pick a different wine region to feature and this year it is B.C. so 58 of those wineries will be from here. I am so excited about the tasting this year because I love a lot of the wines that have come from my beautiful province and like to support local wineries. The tickets run at $89 each but if you get a group of 8 or more people and buy in bulk the tickets are $80. This event is worth every penny and I promise you will not regret spending the money.

If you have not purchased tickets yet I suggest you do so immediately. Go. Do it. I am not kidding.

Wine and food pairing.

While there are no hard-set rules about pairing wine with food, there are a few guidelines that you may wish to follow when selecting the perfect mate for your tasty dish.

You can decide whether you would like to compliment or contrast your wine to your meal. Both can make for excellent pairings. For example, if you were having sea salt and pepper chicken wings, you could pair the wings with a sweet riesling. The sweetness of the wine would provide a nice contrast while toning down the saltiness of the wings or you could also pair the same sweet riesling with cheesecake where the cheesecake would bring out the less sweet flavours of the riesling that you may not have noticed otherwise.

The old rule: Red wine with red meat, White wine with white meat does not always apply today.
If you are having steak and potatoes you will probably want to enjoy a wine that will stand up to the steak in terms of flavour and weight. You would not put Steve Urkel in a boxing ring with Mike Tyson so why would you pair a big meaty steak with a wimpy wine? Just like in a boxing match, heavy goes with heavy, light goes with light.

For steak, you might want to go with a big Cabernet Sauvignon from California, an Italian Brunello Di Montalcino, or a french Côtes du Rhône. These big wines can handle a hearty, flavourful steak.

If you are eating a mildly spicy dish, I would suggest pairing the food with a sweet or off-dry wine such as a Gewürztraminer from Germany or Alsace. The sweetness in the wine will "cut" the spice of the food making for a delicious pair. If your dinner is spicy enough to make you sweat, or make your nose run, I suggest drinking something other than wine all together. Maybe some refreshing mojitos!

When you are finished your entrée and are ready to move onto dessert remember this; your wine should be sweeter than the dessert. If you have a wine that is not as sweet as the dessert, the sugar in the dish will make the wine taste tart. For my fellow chocolate lovers, I strongly suggest you try port with your next chocolate treat, the match is heavenly!

At the end of the day, you should always follow your palate. If one of my suggestions does not jive with your tastebuds, then it may not be right for your palate. Something I love you may think tastes like spicy dirt, and vice versa. There are no right or wrong answers with wine, it is 100% personal.

Wine and Stampede!

Stampede is here and the city is swarming with cowboy hats, jeans, belt buckles and boots! This is my first Stampede as we just moved to Calgary a month ago. I have purchased a hat, belt and bandannas in every colour imaginable.

I will be hosting weekly wine seminars for the serving staff at work so my blog will be updated much more regularly. My first wine seminar is this Saturday. We will be tasting 4 bottles of wine, two whites and two reds. I am going to pick two very different whites and two very different reds. My goal for the seminar is to make the servers more comfortable and confident with selling wine when they are at their tables. This Saturday I will cover the following topics, How to properly taste wine to get the full experience, How to describe specific flavours detected in a wine, and some wine and food pairing guidelines.

During the tasting process, once you are past the swirl and smell process and you actually get to taste the wine there are 3 phases once the wine is in your mouth, the front, middle, and back palate.

The first phase is the initial impression that the wine leaves on your palate. You will not notice flavours in this phase but rather weight and texture. You will feel the wine in your mouth for a second and notice whether it is light like water or heavy like milk. Whether the tannins are strong (That pucker feeling) or soft and subtle, if the wine is very acidic (tart) or flat and the overall sweetness level of the wine. Is the wine very dry or slightly sweet? If the wine's alcohol content is too high, too low, or just right. The weight, tannins, acidity, sweetness and alcohol levels should be well balanced, one should not dominate over any other. If everything is well balanced it is a good sign that you are tasting quality wine.

After the first impression you will start to notice the distinct flavours of the wine on your palate. This is the second phase. Let the wine roll around on your tongue for a few seconds and concentrate on what distinct flavours you are detecting. If you are tasting a red wine, do you taste berries, smoke, chocolate, plums, coffee, pepper, raspberry, etc...?
If you are tasting a white wine, do you taste butter, citrus fruits, grass, flowers, apples, pears, herbs, etc...?

In the third and final phase of the taste properly referred to as "The finish" You will see how long the flavour impression lasts after it is swallowed. You will also notice if any other flavours present themselves during the aftertaste. If the finish is long and pleasant, it was probably a pretty decent wine.

Hello Calgary? It's me, Andrea.

I know I have been talking about the big move to Cowtown for quite some time but it's finally here and I am thrilled. Our one month visit with friends and family in Vancouver has been nothing short of wonderful but we are definitely ready for the next stage of life.

I hope to meet some fellow wine lovers in Calgary that I can share my nerdy love of the delicious grape juice with. My husband is a very good wine drinking buddy but does not have quite the same passion for it that I do.

In my search for a job in Calgary (Via google) I applied for several jobs which sounded interesting. A potential employer reviewed my resume and stumbled across the "Interests and Hobbies" section (Which until now I thought no one ever read) where I mention my wine tasting and guitar playing interests ,and emailed me telling me that he too shares a passion for wine and also plays guitar! It was a relief to hear that there is hope for me to meet people with common interests. It can be scary moving to a new city but also very exciting because it is a fresh start.

Luckily, I have Rob or the transition would be rather lonely.

Okay, on to the wine part (Because that's what this blog is supposed to be about).

One of the nights we were visiting with some good friends in West Vancouver and we shared a bottle of Hartford Court Pinot Noir (2005) which was fantastic. It had a sort of leathery nose with black cherries. The cherries followed onto the palette with a long finish of spicy mocha flavours. The tannins were pretty soft and the wine was light. It was quite a well rounded wine that I would certainly recommend to anyone who is partial to Pinot Noir.

Goodbye Saskatoon, we will miss you.

In the last 3 years that Rob and I have lived in Saskatoon, we've met some pretty amazing people which makes it hard to leave, but we also have a lot of amazing friends and family on the coast that we're dying to see so the move will be bittersweet.

One of our Vancouver friends came for a visit in Saskatoon the same weekend that some Sask friends threw a winter barbecue (the ultimate Saskatchewan experience). Our poor friend Kathy (the Vancouverite) was a little shocked to see that we would have a barbecue/dance party outside in the snow, complete with generator (for music and lights) in February, in Saskatoon. Although she was a little scared at first she had a great time dancing in the snow and we have the pictures to prove it! We brought with us a couple of bottles of wine to drink with our hot dogs from the barbecue. A couple of friends were even clever enough to find an appropriate place to drink the newest trend...wine in a can.

The first bottle we opened was Francis Coppola Diamond Collection Black Label Claret, which is a bordeaux style wine with about 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc, 2% Malbec, and 2% Petit Verdot. The wine was a deep dark garnet red with purple edges. The aromas were chocolate, liquorice, and blackberries. The chocolate and liquorice followed on to the palate with plums and more berry flavours. The finish was soft but lingered long with pepper spice and mocha. You can pick up a bottle of this wine at most liquor stores in Saskatchewan for about $26 a bottle.

The night was perfect and ended with cocktails and dancing at BarKingFish downtown Saskatoon to celebrate our friend Erika's birthday. It was truly an experience that could only happen once in a lifetime with great friends in a great city.

Cheers,

Andrea

Hester Creek Late Harvest Pinot Blanc

My husband and I were in Vancouver for the holidays visiting family and friends and had a lovely time. While there I stopped in to the Mark Anthony's store that I used to work at to check out what was new since I left 2 years ago. The selection was incredible! I forgot that Vancouver liqour stores and fine wine stores are able to get pretty much any wine from almost any winery. Saskatchewan has an alright selection and it's getting better but it doesn't even compare to Vancouver.

While there, I purchased a bottle of Hester Creek, Late Harvest Pinot Blanc. I will admit that the design on the bottle lured me to it. It has this beautiful orange mosaic of a dolphin swimming above a person on the bottle. To my delight the wine was delicious.

I opened it on New year's eve at a party we went to with some friends that we know from Saskatoon who were also visiting family in Vancouver. When I poured the wine I immediately smelled pear and vanilla. The pear definitely followed onto the palate with some other tropical fruit flavours. It had a nice finish and was very soft on the palate.

As much as I will miss Saskatoon, I am looking forward to moving to Calgary in June for a number of reasons, one being the wine. Calgary has a few specialty wine shops that I am excited to shop at.
I have heard as a pre-requisite for moving to Calgary, I have to purchase a cowboy hat. I'm ok with that because most of us girls look pretty cute in cowboy hats, cowboy boots are totally ok too. I will NOT however where anything with tassles on it!

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

Shiraz, Shiraz, Shiraz!!!

Why is this varietal so popular right now? Everyone and their friends are drinking this Australian grape juice. What's all the hype about? Sure you can get a good bottle of it now and again, but it seems that every winery produces it the same way leaving it tasting a little bit less than unique. I find myself just skipping right past the Australian section at the liquor store everytime I am in there now.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I know it can be confusing sometimes when different regions give the same wine a different name like Syrah and Shiraz. Shiraz and Syrah are the same grape, in France it is called Syrah, but for the most part, in Australia, U.S.A, Canada, and South Africa it is called Shiraz.

Shiraz is usually made to be a New World wine (young, fruity,tannic, ripe), whereas Syrah is usually made Old World style (more elegant, complex, well-rounded). I personally prefer a Syrah from France, but would never turn down Shiraz if it's offered.

Shiraz is used in a lot of blends because it gives weak wines a full-bodied kick making them seem more complete. I personally love blended wines but I like big wines being paired with big wines, like a Cabernet/Shiraz blend, or better yet a Zin/Syrah/Cabernet blend....Drool.

Shiraz and Syrah should not be confused with Petite Sirah. I overheard a guy explaining to his wife in a restaurant that "It's like Syrah, but smaller." This is sort of true, the grapes are slightly smaller, and thicker skinned but I'm guessing he just figured the name is self explanitory. Kudos to the guy for taking a stab at it.
Petite Sirah stems from Syrah, but is a hybrid grape. It is a cross between Syrah and a grape you almost never hear anymore called Peloursin.

Petite Sirah is much more tannic and even fuller than it's sister Syrah because of the thick skinned grapes (tannins are derived from the skins and stems of the grapes).

I think I'm going to have to start drinking more Petite Sirah because I really like to feel my wine kick me in the mouth when I drink it. It should leave a mark.

Cheers,
Andrea

Congratulations to Stephane Dion!!

I know this doesn't have anything to do with wine, but I just wanted to mention how happy I am that Stephane Dion won the Liberal leadership race.

Here is a picture of me with Mr. Dion during his campaign in Vancouver.

On a wine related note, I bought a bottle of Le Petit Jaboulet the other day and opened it tonight to have with my pasta. It is about 90% Grenache (which is one of my favourite varietals) and had very strong notes of cherry. This wine is very smooth on the palate with a nice soft finish of light tannins.

Yummy. Oh, FYI it was only $13 a bottle.