Blog # 7 A Prince Edward County Favourite from a Great Vintage

I blogged last month about my trip to Prince Edward County and one of the wineries I visited was The Grange of Prince Edward. I have had many wines from a few different vintages from this estate and I must say they always impress me. Jeff Innes, the winemaker, is really doing some fabulous work at this estate and if you get a chance to try some of his wines I would highly recommend doing so. Finally, the LCBO has begun carrying their wines so they are becoming more and more available which is great news for anyone who likes authentic and original wines that have a true taste of Prince Edward County.

One of the wines I am most familiar with from The Grange is their Trumpour's Mill Gamay Noir. As I had explained in my past blog about Prince Edward County it was the 2005 vintage of this wine that was my first PEC wine experience. That wine was very impressive as I wrote earlier with a ton of personality and uniqueness. I had a couple bottles of the 2006 vintage which were good, but nothing extraordinary. Most recently I have tried their 2007 bottling, which I am glad to say is very, very good.

It does help that 2007 was a fantastic year for Ontario red wines. It was a hot dry summer that brought about drought like conditions. The red's, especially, have shown a lot of ripeness and extraction which is great as Ontario wines can lack that quality given the very cool climate. The whites I have tried have been less impressive as many were left too long and show a lot of over ripeness and lack of precision. Certainly this is winery dependent as well. The good news is that the 2007 Grange red wines that I have tried have been very good especially their Cab Franc (that I will post about soon) and their Gamay Noir.

The Grange of Prince Edward - Trumpour's Mill - Gamay Noir - 2007 - VQA Prince Edward County - Canada

The Grange of Prince Edward's Trumpour's Mill Gamay Noir is sourced from their Victoria Block vineyard which was first planted with 3,750 vines clone, 509 on SO4 in 2001. In 2004 an additional 2,500 Gamay vines were planted using clone 565. They crop the fruit out at about 4 tonnes per acre. The 2007 was harvested in October and fermented in stainless steel it then spent 12 months in French oak and was bottled in February of this year. In total the winery produced 1405 cases of this wine.

The wine is dark ruby in colour showing quite a bit of extraction from the hot and dry 2007 vintage. The nose is fascinating with notes of cherry, spicy red fruit, old leather, red licorice, and a gamey funk note reminiscent of the 2005. In the mouth the wine is purely delicious with a ripe, round and smooth medium body full of black current and cherry cola flavours with and subtle undertone of game . The finish is nice and long with mouthwatering notes of sour cherry coming to the fore. I love the wines uniqueness and its ablility to showcase its Prince Edward County personality. This has never been your average Gamay and the 2007 is no exception. This is definitely a must try for any wine lover especially if you want to see what the County is all about. At $15 the quality, value and terroir driven character of the wine make it a real bargain.

Very Good/Excellent.

I

Blog # 6 A Great Sparkler

Domaine de Vaugondy - Vouvray - Brut - NV

I had to write about a great sparkling wine I had last week as it was really impressive. Now that we are into the holiday season I am sure many people are looking to find good sparkling wine, but so many are expensive and just as many are cheap and quite awful. Personally, I love sparkling wine when it is well made it can be so interesting, delicious and downright refreshing. Unfortunately finding a really good sparkler that is also a good price can be rather difficult, so when I do find one I get quite excited about it.

This wine produced by Philippe Perdriaux proprietor of Domaine de Vaugondy in Vouvray, which is an appellation in the Loire Valley of France. In Vouvray pretty much the only grape that is grown is Chenin Blanc, which, although rather unfashionable right now, is easily one of the greatest white wine grapes in the world. It is really only rivaled by Riesling or very well made Chardonnay in its aging ability (100 year old Chenin's are still around), versatility (dry, sweet, sparkling) and pure reverence (Coulee de Serrant).

According to the North American importer for this wine, Sevier, Perdriaux is a small individual producer who grows his own grapes and makes his own wine. He grows only Chenin Blanc on steep hillside vineyards composed of siliceous clay and limestone. His vines are roughly 20 to 55 years old which he uses to craft a dry Vouvray, a semi dry Vouvray and this dry sparkling wine. His sparkling wine is made in the traditional method (methode traditionelle or methode classique) which is the same method used in Champagne. It is non vintage so it is made from reserve wines as well new ones, the perecentage of which I do not know. I also do not know the dosage level or date. It was just released at the LCBO last weekend and retails for $18.

The wine is pale golden almost ivory in colour. The nose begins with subtle notes of spiced pear, stone fruits and fresh hay with wafts of fresh dirt/tilled earth here and there. The wine begins explosively on the palate with a panoply of flavours including sweet lemon, spiced honey, almonds and red cherries. It then settles to a lovely long sweet mineral fruit finish complicated by more subtle soil/tilled earth notes. The wine is absolutely fascinating and complex but at the same time so delicious and refreshing. It is impeccably made, so well balanced and at this price is an amazing value. Excellent.

What I loved most about this wine is that it really is so delicious and so refreshing that you could actually drink it all night long. It is a great sparkling wine for this time of year because even the most casual wine drinking would find it really tasty. But for those wine nerds around there is so much complexity and nuance that you really could talk about it all night as well. So, so good is all I can say. If you don't believe me Peter Liem probably one of the greatest wine writers and experts on sparkling wine around, gave this wine a great review as well. If you haven't read his blog or articles in Wine and Spirits Magazine then I would highly recommend doing so.

Blog # 5 Wine and Air

The other night after arriving home from a dinner I decided that I wanted a glass of wine. I had a $8 bottle of Candidato Temperanillo Garnacha 2006 from Spain sitting around so I opened it. Now I have had this wine several times and love it as just a simple, delicious bottle that is so inexpensive you could have it every day if you wanted. It always has some nice strawberry and melted licorice notes with some oak on the nose. In the mouth it is simple, tasty and highly drinkable. So I had a glass which satisfied me so I put a stopper on it and left in on my kitchen counter to have some the next night.

I arrived home after work last night and thought well I will have a other glass of the wine. What a transformation! The nose had dropped all hints of oakiness and had become a floral/berry beauty and mouth to had become much rounder and smoother with replays of that same floral berriness, it was absolutely delicious. To say the least I was stunned mainly because at that price point I would never have thought it would improve so much. This experience got me thinking about wine's fascinating relationship with air.

To wine air is both it's best friend and it's worst enemy. After first being opened, wine especially younger ones, need air to truly express themselves. Certain wines, especially if they are well made, can take up to 48 hours if not more of air contact before they have reached their optimum drinking level. However, in the end air will ultimately kill the wine and render it undrinkable. Of course to complicate matters every wine is different. Some wines only need 15-20 minutes of aeration to open up, but some aged and more delicate wines might suffer greatly if exposed to too much air. In fact some wine writer's claim that it isn't necessary to decant wine at all and that just pouring it in your glass and swirling it is sufficient enough.

Personally, I think that wine needs some exposure to air to "open up" and express its full range of aroma's and tastes. I tend to always decant red wines unless I am only having a glass, but I do not really decant whites even though some argue that should be done as well. Obviously I don't decant sparkling wine, but I do prefer them once they have been opened for 20 minutes or so. So perhaps it is really a matter of personal taste as to how much air exposure one likes.

Now as I stated earlier this is all wine dependent. Some wines are very one dimensional and will taste relatively the same from the moment it is opened to hours afterwards. Where other wines will develop over several hours and take on a range of notes. I recall having a 1999 Perrier Jouet Belle Epoque Brut Champagne a couple of years ago that seemed to change every couple of minutes darting from flowers, to stone fruits to minerals and in various continually changing combinations. That bottle was opened for a couple of hours and it seemed to morph every few minutes.

All in all its actually a pretty complicated subject and I haven't even talked about aging wine and the minute exposure to air a bottle closed with a cork receives over time that helps it age. If you would like to read a fascinating article on the subject I would encourage you to read Jamie Goode's piece http://www.wineanorak.com/alternativeclosures.htm . Jamie Goode's website www.wineanorak.com is in my opinion one of the most informative, well written and interesting wine sites around.

I guess the best thing to draw from all this that wine and air is a complex and nuanced subject. I would encourage all of you, however, to try a little experiment. Buy a bottle it doesn't need to be expensive and pour yourself a glass and write down your tasting notes. Put a stopper on it and leave it to the next day and pour yourself another glass and take those notes, continue the trend until the bottle is done and draw your own conclusions. I think you may find the results very interesting and will only better inform all of us of the interesting relationship between wine and air.

Blog # 4 Prince Edward County

Pinot Noir Vines at The Grange of Prince Edward County

A couple of weeks ago my partner (Becky) and I attended her cousins wedding in South Western Ontario. On our way back to Ottawa we decided it would be a great idea to spend an afternoon in one of the worlds up and coming wine regions, Prince Edward County. The county as it is known by people who live in the area is technically a large headland in the east end of Lake Ontario near the mouth of the St Lawrence River. It lies just south west of Kingston, Ontario and directly south of Belleville, Ontario. It has a rich loyalist and agricultural history dating back into the 1700s and more recently has become a hub for great local cuisine and now wine.

Vines have not been planted in the county for very long from what I have heard the oldest vines are roughly 15 years old. Before that I suppose no one had really thought of planting vines, it being Canada with such harsh winters. Most agricultural was devoted to livestock and fruit orchards, mainly apples. However, the county benefits from a moderating influence that being Lake Ontario, which actually allows for some great cool climate grape growing conditions. The biggest factor that makes the county very exciting is the wonderful limestone rich soils of the region which really expresses itself in the wines being made here. Moreover, many of the producers here are committed to producing high quality, terroir driven, and interesting wines.

I have tried several wines from the county and I am becoming more and more convinced that this place is really special and could become one of the greatest wine regions in the New World. In fact of all the New World wines I have tasted, PEC wines tend to always stick out in my mind as being so unique and wonderful. The first county wine I tried was The Grange of Prince Edward County's (whose Pinot Noir vines are pictured above) Trumpour's Mill Gamay Noir 2005. It was brought by my good friend Drew who had worked in the county for several summers and knew of the great wine makers in the region. He had cellared this Gamay for a couple of years and we tried it in the summer of 2008. We did not take written notes, but I remember we discussed the wine thoroughly on that gorgeous summer evening. Both of us picked up on a fascinating animalistic/gamey/meaty note that was so interesting and honestly awesome. We came away both feeling it was one of the best Gamay experiences we had ever had and from that point on I have been exploring what the County has to offer.

Unfortunately, we only had an afternoon to visit the County on our way back so our time was limited, but it turned out to be an absolutely perfect fall day and we had some truly memorable and amazing experiences. The first winery we visited was The Grange of Prince Edward County which as I explained above was the first County winery whose wine I had tried. They are owned by a father/daughter team of Bob and Caroline Granger and the wine is made by Jeff Innes who holds a certificate in vineyard and winery management from the Business Education Council of Ontario. The Grange currently holds 60 acres of vineyards with 72,000 vinifera vines which makes it far and away the largest winery in the County. The vines are planted in shallow clay gravel soils (about 12- 24 inches with the exception of one vineyard which is deeper) with calciferous limestone making up the bedrock. They grow quite a large range of wines from Gamay Noir, Pinot, Noir and Cabernet Franc to Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc. Overall they adhere to a philosophy of creating authentic, honest and terroir driven wine made all from County fruit.

Pinot Noir at The Grange

Vineyards at the Grange of Prince Edward County

The Grange of Prince Edward County

The winery's property is picturesque with a lovely loyalist barn built in the late 1820s turned into a tasting/event room and winery. We arrived early and had hoped to get a tour of the property, but unfortunately they were short staffed so we just tasted some of their wines. We started with their recently bottled 2007 Trumpour's Mill Pinot Gris which was a lovely perfumed wine with a lot of nice richness in the mouth. We then had the 2007 Trumpour's Mill Pinot Noir which I found to be quite light and rather neutral on the nose. It had an interesting sour cherry/cranberry note in the mouth with lengthy finish, I think it needs some time in the bottle but should be quite great in a couple of years. We finished with the definite highlight of the tasting the 2007 Trumpour's Mill Cabernet Franc which was so fascinating and unique we had to buy a bottle on the spot. We have now tried the bottle and I will publish the full tasting notes for it right after this blog, needless to say after spending a few hours tasting the wine it truly is excellent and if you get a chance I would highly recommend trying it.

After visiting The Grange we headed into Picton (which is in the centre of Prince Edward County) for lunch. Picton is a lovely town and I would highly recommend visiting it if you get a chance. I has a ton of great restaurants offering great dishes from local producers and of course local wine. Furthermore, it has some great little shops and coffee houses full of character and interesting products. One of the highlights was stopping at Buddha Dog which is a gourmet hot dog joint in the centre of downtown Picton. The hot dogs are hand made from seasoned beef sourced from local farms, the buns are also fresh and hand made. They offer a massive assortment of interesting toppings from fresh tomato-basil ketchup to smoky mesquite ketchups and everything in between. They also use locally sourced cheese as a topping, the Black River aged cheddar is definitely a must. I have to say these hot dogs were out of this world and for the quality really quite reasonable. If you are in Picton go to Buddha Dog it is worth the visit.

After lunch we headed down to the Black River cheese company who has a whole range of cheeses that are all so delicious. I would recommend trying their awesome salsa mozzarella and their lovely aged cheddars. From the Black River cheese company we headed south the the highly recommended (by my good friend Drew) Long Dog Winery. Very much off the beaten path Long Dog is in one of the southern-most parts of the County. Down several small winding country roads we arrived to a small house and barn on one side of the road and a small "tasting" building on the other side. We parked the car walked up to the little tasting building only to find it locked. On the door was a little printed sign claiming that they have the tasting bar open on weekends, but there was usually someone around to help if you knocked on the door of the house across the road.

Outside Long Dog's Tasting Room

Feeling disappointed as we did not want to go an knock on the door of a house we decided to take a few pictures around the property as it was very quaint. Just as we were about to start taking pictures a bearded man in a grey hoody and grape stained jeans came walking down the path across the road waving and saying "hello". We met up at the road and he asked if we were interested in tasting some wine, obviously the answer was yes. As we began talking we soon discovered that this man was actually Owner and Winemaker of Long Dog Winery, James Lahti.

James and his wife Victoria both worked in film business for years and decided in 1997 to look for a country vacation home in the County. They bought a 300 acre farm property founded in the 1840s from an acquaintance thinking it would be a nice place to get away. Pretty soon James, an already avid wine lover, noticed some small vineyards growing in the County and began to wonder if perhaps grapes could be grown on their property. After several soil samples and many consultations it was concluded that their soil and climate was remarkably similar to that of Burgundy. In 1999 James decided to import Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Gamay Noir and Pinot Blanc from France and planted 1200 vines altogether with the help of Victoria and their close friend Steven. To the surprise of everyone the vines began to thrive in the limestone rich soils and summers in the southern tip of PEC. In 2000 they decided to plant a further 3700 vines and in 2001 7000 more including some Pinot Gris.

In 2002 their oldest planted vines produced a good size crop and so they decided it was time to make wine and converted the farmstead's pig barn into a winery. James who had never gone to school for viticulture read as much as he could on wine making and applied some of his own ideas on how wine should be made and set to work. Encouraged by their initial results and realizing that this really could be a great winery they planted 8000 more vines in 2003 and in 2004 began selling their wines. Long Dog Winery is now in its 7th vintage and from what I have tasted they are creating absolutely amazing stuff.

As James invited us into his little tasting room we began talking about how common interests, the fact that we both have Finnish heritage, about how he remember my good friend Drew who had recommended visiting the winery, and of course wine. As we talked he poured us a sample of his 2007 Bella Riserva Chardonnay. This was one big Chard with notes of butterscotch and tropical fruits on the nose a creamy mouth feel with a mineral driven finish. As we tasted the wine his wife Victoria came in and we started talking to her as well. James said he had to step out as he had some work to do, but if we wanted to see what he was doing after we finished tasting to come over to the barn. He left and Victoria poured us a sample of their 2007 Otto Riserva Pinot Noir. The nose on this wine was out of this world, just pure brilliance. So complex, so floral, pinot fruit, spice, and that 'je ne sais quoi' that Pinot Noir exhibits when it is at the top of its game. In the mouth it was just as beautiful with tons of ultra smooth pinot fruit and pure County minerality, it culminated with a finish that just went on and on. We bought a bottle and are putting it away for a bit so when I do open it up I will publish the full tasting notes as I think it is going to end up absolutely amazing.

James Lahti of Long Dog Destemming Chardonnay

After we finished tasting the wines we went to see what James was up to. He was in the midst of destemming his 2009 crop of Chardonnay. He gave us a bunch of the grapes to taste which were beautifully ripe and just delicious. As we ate his grapes we began talking more about his wines. He said that great wine is not made in the cellar but in the vineyard and that the key to making great wine is by growing great fruit. All his wines are made from grapes 100% from his own vineyards that he has grown and if they are not the quality he wants he will sell them to other wineries in the County. He uses indigenous yeasts and strives to make his wines as pure expressions of his land in South Marysburgh, Prince Edward County. Furthermore everything is done by hand from the vines they originally planted, to pruning and picking. He does bring in workers to help him pick, but all are from the area as James believes in supporting the local economy.

Long Dog's 2009 Pinot Noir Fermenting

As James finished destemming his Chardonnay he asked if we wanted to see the rest of the winery. He lead us into the barn which they converted into the winery. On one side are all his oak barrels in which he was barrel fermenting his 2008 crop and on the other side of the barn was his recently picked (14 days prior) 2009 Pinot Noir grapes undergoing fermentation. As he stirred the must to keep it from burning as fermentation was kicking into high gear at this point he spoke more about wine. He said he wasn't interested in making McWine and that wine makers should be striving to create something that is an expression of its place not something that is made to suit mass tastes. Personally I am glad he has this philosophy on wine it is very refreshing in a time when a lot of wine is just manipulated to make it uniform and drinkable. James also gave us an opportunity to taste the fermenting must, which was delicious and gave an idea as to how his 2009's will be. It was a wet summer in most of Ontario, but James said he was very happy with his harvest. He said that most of the rain in their South Marysburgh microclimate came in the evenings and that they had sun in the days. Also September and October were quite dry and really helped to ripen the grapes. Overall he said the 2009s should turn out to be excellent. After that we shook hands and headed out as James had to get back to work. I would highly recommend visiting Long Dog Winery if you get a chance. Their wines are really only available at the winery or a few select restaurants and more people need to try these wines because they are awesome. On top of that James and Victoria are so personable, passionate, and committed to wine that it is a pleasure just meeting them.

After we spent so much time at Long Dog Winery, we had to get back to Ottawa. It was an absolutely fantastic time it was too bad that we could not visit more wineries, but we did not have that much time. Next summer we are planning a weekend trip and will try to get to as many wineries as possible so stay tuned for that blog next year. All I can say is that Prince Edward County is producing to absolutely stunning wines and I can only see bright things in its future. If you get a chance please visit the region as you will not regret it. It is a place where the wine, food and people really speak for themselves.

Blog #3 Some Past Tasting Notes (From France)

As I had mentioned in my past two blogs I would be adding some of my past tasting notes over time and this blog will be my first installment of a few of these notes. I have decided to add a few notes from various regions in France. I thought why not start here where wine has such reverence and there is so much diversity.

Chateau du Trignon- Gigondas - 2004 – Cotes du Rhone (Southern) - France

This Chateau was bought in 2006 by the Quiot family from Chateauneuf du Pape, so this wine marks the second last vintage of the Roux family which owned the property since 1895. It will be interesting to see the evolution of the wine now that the new proprietors have taken over. Let us hope that the new owners continue the tradition that the Roux’s have begun because this wine is excellent.

Gigondas is a very interesting appellation, essentially east of the major Rhone city Orange near the villages of Sablet and Vacqueyras it is influenced heavily by its major geological feature the small and beautiful mountain range known as Dentelles de Montmiral. This small mountain chain is essentially the foothills of Provence's Mont Ventoux and an are formed from Jurassic limestone which has eroded into jagged peaks. Now although Gigondas is situated in the hot southern French Mediterranean climeate, the Dentelles de Montmiral provide a much more elevated and therefore cooler region to grow vines. Furthermore, the climate of the region is moderated by the Mistral winds which blow through the Rhone Valley.

The soils of the region are composed mainly of red clay and some limestone. Being quite mineral laden the soil is very poor which for making wine a huge asset. Under appellation rules makers can use a maximum of 80% Grenache a minimum of 15% of either Syrah or Mourvedre and only a maximum of 10% of other varietals allowed to be grown in the Rhone valley with the one exception or Carignan. From what I have tasted Gigondas can produce some great value southern French wine with tons of personality and a real sense of terrior.

The 2004 Chateau du Trignon is Grenache based with Syrah, Mourvedre and Cinsault in supporting roles this wine shows why the Gigondas appellation can rival the best in France and certainly its neighbor Chateauneuf du Pape. Dark purple in colour with a lighter purple rim this wine begins with complex notes of cherry, currants, violets, earth and a floral lavender note. All of which combines to conjure up the smell of a freshly bloomed spring meadow. In the mouth this wine is delicate with tons of juicy red and black fruits, and a touch of creamy caramel. Given time this wine begins to change where notes of rock and graphite begin to take centre stage and floral fruit notes although still present move to the background. The wine remains very juicy and well balanced in the mouth and has a lovely long tasty finish of floral minerals. Excellent.

Chateau Combel La Serre - Coeur de Cuvee - Cahors - 2004 - Southwest- France

I have not tasted too many wines from Cahors, but after tasting this wine I think it is a region that I must explore more. I found very little information about this producer except for an address so I could not tell you much about how the wine is made. The region of Cahors, however, is very interesting in that it is the home of the currently very fashionable Malbec grape. Although it certainly has not been Cahors that has made Malbec fashionable rather it has been what is coming out of Argentina.

All wine regions tend to have some special geography that makes them what they are and Cahors is no different. In its case the region is heavily influence by the Lot river which flows throughout the region. The vines are planted around the city of Cahors on both banks of the Lot. In fact in medieval times wine from this region was supposedly called the black wines of Lot due to the dark colour of the wines produced. Although the region is in the fairly hot South West of France Cahors actually shares quite a bit in common with Bordeaux's climate which is directly north-west. This is due to the fact that the Lot river acts as a moderator to the warm weather. Cahors does however receive quite a bit of warm sunshine year round more so than Bordeaux.

The soils of Cahors are mainly marine limestone from the Jurassic era mixed with some clay. Under AOC regulations all wines must have at least 70% Malbec making up the wine the other 30% can be either Merlot or Tannat. Although I have not had much Cahors it seems to offer great value for some very unique and interesting wine.

The Chateau Combel La Serre 2004 Cahors is 100% Malbec. It possesses a deep, dark almost black colour with a red purplish rim. The nose is quite subtle but very lovely with notes of blue and black berries, red licorice, earthy spice, minerals and a fascinating smoky scorched earth note. In the mouth the wine has plenty of interest as well starting with berry flavours that become more dense with tannic fruit on the mid palate. The aggressive mid palate tannins subside for the finish which is actually very soft and pleasant with notes of lovely red berries. With air the wine took on more spicy dark fruit flavours and a great savory note while the tannins softened too. Overall the wine was very good and matched lovely to the Moose stew that I had matched it with. Very Good.

Guigal Cotes du Rhone Blanc- 2007 - Cotes du Rhone (Northern) - France

This is an entry level white wine from one of the most distinguished producers not only in Rhone but in all of France. Known for their Cote Rotie's (La Mouline, La Turque, La Landonne, Chateau D'Ampuis) Hermitage Ex Voto's and Condrieu's (La Doraine, Luminescence) all of which are out of my price range, Guigal produces some of the best wines in the world. The only Guigal's I have had are their entry level whites and reds, but I must say the focus on quality even at the lowest level is spectacular.

This wine being a Cotes du Rhone Blanc means that the grapes can be sourced throughout the Rhone valley and Guigal certainly does not have a shortage of vineyards. Being sourced from such a large area it would normally be difficult to find out what the actual grapes used in the wine were and what type of soil and conditions the grapes were grown in. However, Guigal is an extremely good company at being transparent and the have very in depth and informative technical sheets on their website. All I can really say is that they are a producer that everyone should try as they are making some very very good wines across the board.

This 2007 Cotes du Rhone Blanc by Guigal is 55% Viognier 20% Roussane 10% Marsanne 5% Clairette 5% Bourboulenc and 5% Grenache Blanc with an average age of 25 years. The grapes are grown in varied soil conditions of sediment, limestone and granite. The yields are an average of 33 Hl/Hectare and the wine is matured entirely in stainless steel.

The wine is a clear pale yellow with lovely floral aromatics. It is much like smelling a fresh spring garden along with notes of honey, white pit fruits, and subtle citrus. The nose is quite complex and even more subtle and interesting floral notes appear for brief moments then disappear again. In the mouth the wine has a lovely rich mouth feel with notes of floral spice balanced by a great stream of mineral acidity. The borderline opulent mouth feel is tremendous for an entry level wine at this price. The wine finishes with some good length and more floral spice that has a touch of sweetness to it. Overall this wine is a great value and very delicious. Very Good.

Blog # 2 Thoughts On Tasting Notes

As I stated in my first blog entry I will begin posting my tasting notes, which may take some time as I have quite a few, and they tend to be scattered about. But, I thought before I post them, it may be a good idea to share my thoughts on tasting wine and how I have decided to express what I have tasted into some sort of coherent summary.

When I first began to actually write down tasting notes for wine I thought, OK, look at the wine, smell it, taste it, then write down some score out of 100 as an overall evaluation. At the time I thought that this was the best way to taste wine and gave a good indicator as to how good the wine was. However, over time I think that this was a bit misguided. First of all, there is far much more to wine than just how it looks, smells and tastes. I know some people would disagree with me here and say if it smells good and tastes good then what is the problem? Well there actually is no problem with this assertion, but I think it really is only part of the overall appreciation of wine. For me wine tells a story, a story about where it came from, about the weather, the soil and the person who made it. I think to fully appreciate the wine we drink it is important to know the entire story. Therefore, when I write my notes on this blog I will try and share as much information about the wine as I can. I think this will allow anyone who reads my tasting notes to understand where I am coming from and hopefully learn more of the story behind the wine.

A second issue I have with tastings notes is the 100 point system or even the 20 point system. I used to use this approach when I began tasting wine, but over time I have found this to be a hugely problematic way to taste wine. First of all what is the difference between a wine that scores 92 with one that scores 93? Is it true that the one that is a percentage point higher really a better wine? Furthermore, what in the wine with the score of 93 gave it its extra 1%? It seems absolutely ridiculous for anyone tasting to actually have the ability to determine 1% differences in a wine. Secondly, how can one actually claim that a wine is 100% perfect and how is perfection being assessed? I mean is there actually a criterion that one can develop where you can say this wine smells 100% perfect or tastes 100% perfect? Again this seems quite difficult if not impossible . A third issue I have with the scoring system is the fact that it allows tasters to be quite lazy with their tasting notes. How many times have I read a tasting note that looks like this:

"Ruby red colour, blackberries, vanilla and earth on the nose, medium bodied, nose replays in the mouth, score 93."

How unbelievably unhelpful, how on earth is the taster able to put a score of 93 up while providing nothing as to why they did so? Many wines have these notes so why is it so good. This happens all too often and really misguides people.

With this in mind I have decided that my tasting notes will start with a bit about the winery and the wine maker if I cannot find this information I will be up front about it and let anyone reading this know. After that I will give as much information as I can about how the wine is made (i.e. when it was picked, type of yeasts used, aging method etc.) again the depth of this information will vary. Then I will provide my standard notes appearance, bouquet, taste, body, finish etc. Then I will give reasons why or why not I like it and what I think of the wine overall. I think that this is a much better system and really allows anyone who reads my notes to learn more about the wine and also understand why I enjoyed or did not enjoy a particular wine.

I will begin posting my tasting notes this week and will publish a full blog on the recent trip I took to Prince Edward County, one of the newest wine regions in the world. It was a great trip and I have some wonderful wines to talk about and some great stories as well. Take care and cheers.

Hunter

Blog # 1

So here it is my very first blog. Welcome to Hunting Vines, I have decided that it would be wise to use my first blog as a way to introduce myself and why I have decided to create a blog about wine as well as what I will be blogging about. I also think it would be appropriate to outline my credentials or lack thereof as to why I should even be writing about wine in the first place. So here we go and please try to bear with me as this is my first time blogging.

To begin as you may have figured out already my name is Hunter Kangas and I am currently living in Ottawa, Ontario. I received my Baccalaureate of Arts (Honours) Degree in International Development specializing in political and economic development from the University of Guelph. Clearly, this has little if anything to do with wine, but it has provided me with the ability, I think, to approach wine critically and analytically. I really paid little if any attention to wine in my youth as I come from a long line of beer drinkers, but in the Spring of 2005 I was bitten by the wine bug during an anniversary dinner with my partner (Becky). From that point on I became increasingly interested and obsessed with wine. In 2007 I began working in the wine industry as a retail sales rep and in 2009 I completed the "Ontario Introductory Course for Ontario Wines" from the Ontario Wine Council.

Now certainly my credentials are not extraordinarily impressive, I have worked wine retail for roughly 2 1/2 years and have completed a small course on wine, but I do read quite a bit and taste even more. More importantly, I absolutely love wine and have such a passion for knowing everything I can about this liquid that I feel I at least deserve an attempt to blog about it. If anyone does decide to read this blog I hope that they also think I have enough knowledge and passion to write about this subject.

With that out of the way I suppose now would be a good time to outline what this blog will be about. I envision this blog to cover a couple of things. First, I see it was a good way to publish my many tastings notes. Over the next few weeks I will add as many of my past notes as I can and as I taste more wine I will add those as well. Secondly, I will blog about various wine topics, issues and debates that I think are important to better understand wine. Finally I will blog about my wine experiences from travel to various thoughts I have about the subject. Obviously as time goes on other things may be included in this blog so I will let it evolve and see where it takes us. Above all I just want this blog to be interesting, informative and a great addition to the collective knowledge of wine so I will do my absolute best to achieve this.

I hope that this blog will begin a great dialogue about wine so please do not hesitate to post you comments on this blog or email me at hunter.kangas@gmail.com. There is not much else to say on this first post but let the journey begin. Thanks so much I am looking very forward to this.

Cheers,

Hunter