Pairings

Pairing Lumpia and Pancit with Wine: on Journeys through Filipinx Identity

Sometime during my childhood, some Filipinos I knew started identifying as “Pacific Islander” along with “Asian”. I didn’t think anything of it. In the present day – probably some time in 2018 – I go on a persistent Scruff date with a native Hawaiian. A bingo card for gay first date topics might include burned family connections or sexual shenanigans, but for me, a square always includes identity – which easily glided from an identity-driven blind wine tasting game at this wine bar. He comments: yes, why do Filipinos like to check the Pacific Islander box? I don’t get it. I don’t disagree. The rest of the date is fine, but I feel bad about partially wondering how to escape this date unscathed because I’m in the mood for accelerated drunkenness with my friends and this wine just isn’t doing it.… read more

Pairings

On Filipino Food and Wine Pairings: an Experiment

I never thought it would feel this quick, but I’ve spent almost 10 years in the wine industry, accompanied by all types of grapey gripes. They range from folks who think red wines are served too warm (which is a perfectly reasonable thought that I also vibe with), to those who decry Chardonnay as if it was Satan manifested into a liquid. Some are oddly offended by the slightest hint of sugar to the point where anything remotely sweeter than battery acid is considered a flaw. I’m not here to yuck anyone’s yum (even when said yum yucks other yums), but damn. Let’s loosen our sommelier pins just a smidgen.

Onto what Lagrein-ds my gears: I fucking hate pairing suggestions that generalize off-dry wines into super generic categories for particular cuisines, like this line: “try this German Riesling with Asian food”.… read more

Tasting

Swiping left and right on flavour profiles, 2017 edition

Fourth year at the Wine Bloggers Conference and I still haven’t tapped out of the speed blogging portion, you guys! The chaos was unbeknownst to me during my first year in 2014 and I was confused why people chose to skip the session and eat fries at the neighbouring restaurant instead.

The rules to this WBC mainstay are simple: the wine representative has five minutes to pour you wine and talk about it. At the same time – and if you’re playing the game to its fullest – one takes notes, snaps photos, and maybe thinks of something witty about the wine to tweet in that moment. There are ten rounds in total. Speed dating! If this is Tinder for wines, is there a Grindr for wines?… read more

Tasting

Putting the Rain in Monterey’s Thermal Rainbow

It’s a partial shame that I was in the USA for Canadian Thanksgiving and in Canada for American Thanksgiving. I didn’t get my fill of holiday food – and I’m not headed back to Canada for the big holiday extravaganza (much to the discontent of my colleagues and family) – so I’ll have to make do, and I’m not mad at that. Huzzah! Maybe my mind will change (it won’t), but nothing sounds better than eating take-out, drinking an entire bottle of Champagne, and binge-watching feel-good movies.

But yes, Canada: I’m perpetually unafraid of rocking my combination of short overalls and thick plaid jacket, but I was greeted with all of Vancouver’s rain: I realized my mistake during my ride-share to the San Francisco airport.… read more

Tasting

On Sonoma and my 4th Wine Bloggers Conference

I vigorously decided not to attend the Wine Bloggers Conference this year (in Santa Rosa) until the very last minute. Why not go? I live in San Francisco, and the theme for the previous Tuesday’s California Wine Appellation Specialist class was, well, Sonoma. A sign. Even though I missed all the early bird discounts, I decided that I would be absolutely insane not to attend. After some nudges from fellow wine attendees and comforting caresses to my bank account, I clutched the part of my chest that encased my liver and headed up.

I can’t believe it’s already been my fourth year! I still remember my first, which brought me to the relatively nearby Santa Barbara region after I earned a scholarship to attend.… read more

Tasting

Napa’s 2017

Napa. Its seemingly daunting wine is made up of relatively simply shaped sub-regions. The clean-cut sixteen seem well-fit into a geographical puzzle compared to the overlapping Russian nesting doll appellations of every other region in California, and I am 100% here for that.

I finally ended last week’s mental tug-of-war on whether or not to attend the Wine Bloggers Conference in neighbouring Santa Rosa, and I’ve decided to go but with as much cost-cutting as possible. Though it was super fun, one of the most interesting sessions was the discussion on the recent wine country fires: the panel included George Rose, photographer; Patsy McGaughy, of Napa Valley Vintners; and Pierre Bierbent, winemaker of Signorello Estates.

The descriptions and statistics of the damage were heartbreaking, including 75,000 total acres burned and 652 homes lost. … read more

Tasting

Mendocino’s medicine-o

What terrible timing it was for the recent fires in California to start wreaking havoc around the same time as I started the California Wine Appellation Specialist course. It’s so unfortunate that a recent masterclass helped surge personal interest in a wine region that went relatively ignored during my WSET diploma studies, only for the terrible news to ensue. I hope that by learning more about the region I’m doing a part to support them – and thusly I may also retract my decision to not attend this year’s Wine Bloggers Conference in Santa Rosa? Sigh. We’ll see.

Testing my just-in-time schedule, I rushed out of the door from work to make it to class, being the last of the group that was on time, but that seems to be my Thing, anyways. … read more

Quaffing · Tasting

Sissy That Wine: Trixie Mattel and Katya

My current journey has led me to San Francisco’s tech world, where the constant and profuse flow of genius rarely wanes. This city has drilled its tech life into me so viciously that I regretfully find myself trying to turn every non-work situation into a slightly more productive one. Did I buy a bottle of Dolcetto to enjoy before going to see Trixie Mattel’s drag show, only to force myself to write a detailed draft blog post on the grape? Possibly. Did I hand out two sets of business cards to four people I met in line for Katya’s drag show? Maybe. Did I use the 60 seconds I had, meeting Trixie and Katya, to ask what their favourite wines were?… read more

Life · Quaffing

On Nova Scotian bubbles, mature Friulano, and aged Californian Chardonnay

It’s an odd feeling – I’ve spent a decent spoonful of my adult life working outside of Canada, enough that I have to think twice about which boxes and lines I have to fill out on forms. Also very real: living through the lengthy process of waiting at the DMV, and wondering whether I should list my height in centimetres to throw the workers off, only to realize that it’s probably best not to potentially risk going back to the end of the line. Can Fahrenheit not?

Wine availability, politics, and markets are markedly different in Vancouver compared to San Francisco, and keeping my nose close to both is a bit of a challenge, especially with the constantly evolving wine scene in Canada.… read more

Tasting

16 sparkling wines to drink alone in your room on New Year’s Eve

Girl, do not limit yourself. You can pick any day! New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, or fuck: why not March 6th? I support you.

On that note of celebrations, though, I don’t understand why it’s ridiculously vogue to aggressively bluster about how you’re over partying with large crowds and noisy beats. We get it. Can you stop making me feel bad for not fitting into your definition of introvert, for once? I can be the biggest withdrawn human endlessly swaying to Björk and eating baby carrots, but maybe my version of Saturday night Chopin and Netflix occasionally involves enjoying a Hillary Clinton drag impersonator rip off four layered tearaway pantsuits in a row at a bar where I’ve made just the right amount of mistakes over the past few months.… read more