Tag: California

Life · Travel

Wine Bloggers Conference 2014 – First Impressions

Posted on by Josh

Day 1. First off: intentionally-chosen attire: Brettanomyces shirt. Onwards.

By something like 4AM on the day of my flight, I was excited out of my mind. I was absolutely stoked for the Wine Bloggers Conference, but I also love early morning flights – I love the feeling of escaping while the whole city is asleep (though I hope that this doesn’t say more about my myself than I’d like). There’s also something I find weirdly satisfying about successfully passing the airport security portion. Like, I’m fine – why do I even worry? The metal detector can’t check for bad personalities.

“Sir, can you please step over here? We looked at the scanner and we noticed that you enjoy puns. Can you Gew over there for a pat down, please?”… read more

Life · Travel

Wine Bloggers Conference 2014 (in Santa Barbara!) – Scholarship Recipient

Posted on by Josh

My knowledge of any sort of Wine Bloggers Conference begun in 2013. It took place in Penticton (so close to home!) and so it was a bit of a bummer that I couldn’t make it. The knowledge of the next one rolled around and a friend stirred up my excitement – I was eventually convinced to go, leading to eager registration during a tight schedule, i.e. attempting to apply for the WBC scholarship on an iPad during a movie night with friends. (For the record, we watched “The Purge”, which would have paired nicely with a smoky and gamey Pinotage reminiscent of gunpowder and revenge.)

Obviously I was thrilled when I found out that I had earned the scholarship, and thusly I immediately had a 5-minute Madonna dance party where I replaced all instances of “Holiday” with “Chardonnay”.… read more

WSET Diploma

“Embers” – Just Jack: NV Gloria Ferrer Blanc de Noirs

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Note:

Eyes: clear, pale onion skin, bubbles
Nose: clean, med+ intensity, developing, hint yeast, citrus, hint brioche, floral, red apple, hint red fruit, red berry, spice
Mouth: dry, creamy mousse, med+ acid, med body, med alcohol, mineral, med flavour intensity, hint yeast, mineral, citrus, hint red fruit, med length
All in all: Very good quality: a balanced structure supports a fair amount of secondary characteristics. Flavours are intense and present but don’t have more than an average length.
Identity Guess: Premium Non-Vintage Blanc de Noirs Champagne.
Is really: Premium Non-Vintage Blanc de Noirs Sparkling Wine from California.

NV Gloria Ferrer Blanc de Noirs[Tasted during WSET Diploma class – Section 2 – Week 4]

Austere Champagne really does call for the pairing of either the equally austere string-driven royal classical numbers, OR, what I personally deem the quasi royal-ish equivalents of frowned-upon current times.… read more

WSET Diploma

2010 Redtree Petite Sirah

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Note:

Eyes: clear, med+ purple, legs
Nose: clean, med+ acidity, youthful, black pepper, damson, jam, raspberry, red fruit, spice, vanilla, earth, black cherry, cloves
Mouth: dry, med body, med+ acid, med+ fine tannin, med alcohol, med flavour intensity, med finish, black pepper, jammy red fruit, raspberry, blueberry, ripe
All in all: Good quality: has rich and concentrated jammy fruit that doesn’t veer onto the depths of confection. The wine has a good amount of structure, but the finish is slightly overripe. Drink now; not suitable for ageing.

2010 Redtree Petite SirahI am not one to cradle Petite Sirah out of all grapes. Petite Sirah, a crossing between 1880 Peloursin and Syrah (also called Durif). I’ve never loved a wine that Petite Sirah has touched – it’s not unusual to find this in a jammy (and sometimes confected or even off-dry) Californian Red; more than a few examples have been enough to condition me away from it.… read more

WSET Diploma

2008 Benziger Merlot

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Note:

Eyes: clear, med+ ruby, legs
Nose: clean, med+ intensity, youthful to developing, plum, spice, oak, cherry, raspberry, floral, strawberry, red fruit, black fruit, juicy, sweet baking spice
Mouth: dry, med+ body, med fine tannin, med acid, med+ alcohol, med flavour intensity, med+ length, cherry, plum, spice, prune, vanilla, baking spice
All in all: Very good quality: there is a good concentration of fruit and developing characteristics here, and balanced structural components for Merlot. The alcohol is a little warming, but the wine has a long length. Drink now, but has potential for short-term ageing.

2008 Benzinger Merlot

[Tasted during WSET Diploma class – Section 1 – Week 9]

Where Cabernet Sauvignon is vanilla, Merlot is chocolate, and the voluptuous grape that makes textured, fuller mid-palate wines is often blended with the former grape, sort of like a McDonalds vanilla-chocolate swirl ice cream cone.… read more

WSET Diploma

2009 Ravenswood Old Vine Zinfandel Lodi

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Note:

Eyes: clean, deep ruby (or purple), legs
Nose: clean, med+ intensity, youthful, dried (yet vibrant) dried fruit, mineral, earth, white pepper, cherry, raspberry, bramble, plum, oak, herbal, spice, smoky, charred wood
Mouth: dry, med+ body, med acid, med fine  tannin, med+ alcohol, med length, red fruits, strawberry, sour cherry, med flavour intensity, raisin, vanilla, stewed, plums, cherries
All in all: Good quality: moderate complexity, but needs a little more tannins to support the structure and the alcohol is slightly imbalanced. Concentrated fruit. Drink now; not intended for ageing.
Identity: High-priced (Tempranillo/Barbera [d’Alba]/Sangiovese/Pinot Noir/Nebbiolo/Zinfandel) from Italy.
Is really: Mid-priced Zinfandel from California; 4 years old.

2009 Ravenswood Old Vine Zinfandel Lodi

[Tasted during WSET Diploma class – Section 1 – Week 8]

Compared to the Ribera del Duero, this was much more vibrant.… read more

WSET Advanced

2008 Schramsberg Blanc de Blancs

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, pale to med- lemon, aggressive froth upon pour
Nose: clean, med+ intensity, mineral, citrus, reserved fruit
Mouth: dry, med+ body, med+ acid, med+ to long length
All in all: Very good quality; drink now, but has potential for ageing.

2008 Schramsberg Blanc de BlancsSheesh. I’m wishing I had more time to get to know the sparkling wines better because we were rushed through them due to time constraints. Oh well.

I later tried a Schramsberg Blanc de Noirs (2007 vintage, I believe) some time later that autumn (for an amazing send-off dinner for a friend), and I remembered why I loved Californian sparkling wines. Unfortunately the information from trying the 2008 Blanc de Blancs didn’t sink in well enough, and I didn’t realize that I’ve tasted a wine from this iconic producer in the past.… read more

WSET Diploma

NV Franciscan Vineyards California Red

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Note:

Eyes: clear, med- ruby, legs
Nose: clean, low intensity, stewed red fruits, cherry, vanilla, spice, confected
Mouth: off-dry, med- body, med- acid, med alcohol, low tannin, short length, light flavour intensity
All in all: Acceptable quality: easy drinking and inoffensive. The light flavour intensity is not balanced and comes across as dilute. The lack of balance is evident from a low acid structure with a bit of back-palate tartness. And a short length.
Identity guess: Inexpensive red blend from British Columbia; NV.
Is really: Inexpensive red blend from California; NV.

NV Franciscan Vineyards California Red

[Tasted during WSET Diploma class – Section 1 – Week 3]

This is one of those wines that really could’ve been from anywhere because it had no soul.… read more

WSET Advanced

2008 Caymus Zinfandel

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, deep ruby (to slight purple)
Nose: clean, med+ intensity, developing, spice, dried black fruit, oak, raisins
Mouth: dry, med+ body, med+ acid, med tannins, med to med+ length, high alcohol, med+ intensity, dried black fruit
All in all: Very good quality; can drink now, but has potential for ageing.

I distinctly remember having the exact same wine for the Intermediate level of WSET and it’s so easy to see why a relatively new wine drinker (especially someone more akin to the more masculine and hearty grapes), would like something like this. This is an intense, big, and well-concentrated wine that made me fall in love with Zinfandel, much to the dismay of other wine enthusiasts who gave me a look whenever I told them Zinfandel was my favourite grape (at the time).… read more

Quaffing

NV Cul-de-Sac Cabernet Sauvignon

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, med- ruby
Nose: clean, med intensity, youthful, dried cherry, confectionary (turkish delight), cola, bubble gum
Mouth: dry, med- body, low acidity, med- length, med+ alcohol, low intensity, low tannin, slight tartness, dilute
All in all: Do not want.

Haha, after having come together for a small meeting at school (UBC Wine Tasting Club  collaborated with le Club Français UBC), I did a bit of wine research and writing blog posts and what have you. You know, instead of doing homework. So, after, instead of going home from school like a good boy, I caved in on my own desires and stopped by a different branch of the private liquor store I work at. I ended up spending a ridiculous amount of time there, and left with 6 bottles even though I planned to maybe buy 1 or 2 at the most.… read more