Tag: Friulano

Tasting

Collio Me by Your Name

Posted on by Josh

Real talk: Call Me by Your Name was one of the only few new films I watched in 2017 and it was beautifully made and acted and needed in this world and deserved all its accolades, but I thought it was slightly overhyped? Bye! We can argue about this offline over an actual glass of Collio something. I mean, part of the film took place near Lake Garda so we could hypothetically sip Soave Classico or Lugana instead, but they also travel to Bergamo so I wouldn’t mind tossing out drunken thoughts over Franciacorta. Or all the above.

I can’t believe I already fly out to Japan in less than a week for a conference, and I’m severely underprepared in so many ways.… read more

Tasting

Swiping left and right on flavour profiles, 2017 edition

Posted on by Josh

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

Quaffing

On pairing wines with moods: Keber 2015 Bianco Collio

Posted on by Josh

I suppose pairing wine with a mood is sort of like pairing wine and food, where you can either complement the atmosphere, like a melty and indulgent oaked Viognier for a broken heart – or contrast – like a taut and high-acid sparkling Riesling to slap you in the face and tell you to get your shit together. There are classic pairings, though, like oysters and Muscadet, and pairings like Champagne and merriment weave together well enough that their sales correlate with the average American income in the following year; wines like vintage port seem fitting as a pensively cerebral way of celebrating a journey involving arduous efforts.

What a surprise, then, that this wine from northeast Italy was an unintentional complement to the previous night, providing cologne-like florals, gentle intrigue, but a nice level of restraint.… read more

Life · Quaffing

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

Posted on by Josh

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