VANCOUVER VINO

Christmas and New Year visiting in Vancouver meant we had to mark the seasonal celebrations with the occasional glass of wine.

To this end Dawn and Alastair pulled out bottles kept for High Days and Holidays and I purchased some as a gift for the household.  By the way, I was delighted to see many outlets for purchasing wine in  the form of Wine Shops as there has always been only the one outlet, i.e. Government Liquor Stores, which sold alcohol in the past. 

This bottle Dawn had saved from a trip to California: Maggio, Petite Sirah, Lodi, 2011.  As a website says, the wine is made from "old P[etite] S[irah] vines when he bought Oak Ridge Vineyards in 2001 and couldn't wait to bottle it."  Every mouthful was absolutely lovely!

Another one of Dawn's with happy memories of being taken around the establishment: this is Chateau  Montelena, Napa Valley, Chardonnay, 2007.   Lots of details of crop and character are here. We all agreed that it was "an elegant, well balanced, classically styled Montelena Chardonnay with exceptional precision and nuance."

We bought this bottle in Edgemont Fine Wines, North Vancouver, V7R 2N4 (no website yet): Callipoe, Figure Eight,  Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, 2011. I bought it because of the label i.e. it is the name of a fiddle tune (jig) written by D Richardson.  I bought it thinking it was an "elegant" wine. 

 

At the same time I bought this wine: Killer Cab, Cabernet Sauvignon, 2010, Pacific Breeze Winery, New Westminster,  because of the funky label and it said it was an Urban Wine.  I bought it thinking it was a "funky" wine.

When  served at a meal for friends the Callipoe was acclaimed by all; the Killer Cab was not.  Well, no surprises here, I guess. (Give KC a miss.)

This Gloria Ferrer Sonoma Brut (Pinot Noir and Chardonnnay) was lovely at New Year.  One of Dawn's and enjoyed by all.  Award winning ... read all about it here. 

 

A New Year visit at Auntie Mary's in Salmon Arm.   I bought this bottle of Sileni, Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand, 2011, in the Government Liquor Store on Front Street. It was lovely for a lunchtime drink after coming in from the snow-covered street with icicles dripping in the midday sun.

*  See Post-Script below...

Our last day before flying home: a bottle of Cloudy Bay, Chardonnay (?2011) in the hotel bedroom while packing our bags.  It really was nothing special despite being twice the price of most brands.  Was it the fact that all there was to drink it out of was the bathroom tumbler?  Nice, but not twice or three times as nice as some of the above lower priced labels.

 

Upon arrival home after flying Vancouver to London to Glasgow Maggie offered this Trah Lah Lah Lah, Carcassone (France),  65%Merlot/35%Cabernet Sauvignon, no year on label, with the evening meal she had prepared.  It was heavenly!  (Yes, I was travel-weary and ... yes ... I was glad to be home!)  I am out to buy a case ... which was the point of her showing me this bottle knowing I would just love the label!  Available from Naked Wines here. 

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*  Post-Script to this story:

Now this wine I have talked about previously here.  (October 17, 2012) I said it was an "Australian Shiraz 2008.   It is from South Eastern Australia (is from 20-60 year old Barossa vines and raised in American oak) and produced and bottled by R Wines."   I bought it for the label which is quite an interesting story.

It is one I bought in Vancouver a year ago (from the Government Liquor Board store in Oakridge mall) and tried to buy some more on line after returning to Glasgow.  Not possible.  I found the firm had gone into receivership.  When I checked out the possibility of Alastair getting more he and I found there were very few bottles available, according to the website of stocks in various places in B.C.  I let the matter drop.

However, when I was in the (relatively) small Liquor Store in Salmon Arm, lo and behold,  there were DOZENS of these bottles on display! As they say in Canada  "Eh?!"

My advice: go and buy some ... I cannot but you may as well enjoy it while stocks last.

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Post Post Script!

Indy 'helping' Dawn and I with our trolly of shopping!