April

Alright, Spring is properly here!  Maybe.  Probably.  Hopefully.

It’s time to shake of the weight of winter jackets and big wines, but lets not get whiplash either.  This month our picks straddle the line between the comforting weight of winter and the lightness of summer patio season.  

Usually here I would plug the Wine Workshop, but we have a problem.  It is growing too popular for it’s own good!  Tickets went up yesterday and sold out in five hours.  We will have a think on what to do about this.  A new location?  Another monthly time slot?  I’m not sure what the answer is, but I’m also not sure if I want it to be so popular that it begins to feel like trying to get into The Roxbury.

However!  I do have other exciting news!

We’ve got another wine event coming up soon!

Nicollo from Chioccioli Winery from Chianti will passing through our little valley and we’re going to host him at Elevation Gallery as he gives a guided tasting through four of his wines!  Among them will be a Brut, and a Chianti Classico Gran Selezione, which is basically a Brunello killer.  There’ll be some other surprises there too!

Tickets are up for sale now at $18, quite a step down from our Wine Workshop, and that is because there is no bottle included with this ticket.  As this event is at Elevation Gallery we have more space, so there are twenty tickets available.

Friday May 2 is the date, so if you missed the Workshop, this is your chance to get out for an evening of tasting some fantastic wines!

Huella

Merseguera

Valencia, Spain

New to our shelves is the Huella series of wines from Vegamar.  These are produced by a mother/daughter duo from the (very) warm Spanish mediterannean.  These grapes have no issue ripening, and so they develop a great density of fruit flavour.  Those fruit flavours are preserved through obsessively keeping temperatures low during picking and pressing with the use of liquid CO2.  The resulting wines are juicy and expressive.  This Mersegura made me think of a Semillon with its aromas of honeysuckle and beeswax.  On the palate it showed a light-medium body, with a great range of flavours like ripe pear, stewed peach, and tons of apricot.  A really cool wine for this transition towards warmer weather.  Also available on our shelves is the Garnacha from this line up which shows similar dense fruitiness.

$27

Bodegas Borsao

Rose

Campo de Borja, Spain

In november of last year we featured the Borsao Berola Garnacha in our wine club, stating “I think this will be the last”.  Well I thought wrong.  Turns out Borsao also does a Garnacha Rose!  This is now the fifth wine from them on our shelves and at this point that practically speaks for itself!  This rose shows some wild character to it that I love from Garnacha wines.  Expect sharp cherry, orange peel, and some fennel/licorice notes.  At this price, it’s worth buying two for the hot days ahead.

$15

Henry of Pelham

Baco Noir

Ontario, Canada

Baco Noir!  It’s been a little while since we’ve carried one of these.  Henry of Pelham is the big name for Baco, and this wine comes from one of their sister labels, appropriately named the Family Tree.  Dubbed “The Bootlegger” the namesake for this wine comes from Ontario’s history of supplying whiskey and wine to bootleggers during American Prohibition.  Baco is a neat grape that I find similar to Zinfandel.  It’s jammy, full bodied, softly tannic, and takes well to oak aging.  The difference comes in in that Baco is early ripening and with that comes higher acidity, giving some lift to the wine.  20% of this Bootlegger spent 10 months in American Oak, giving toasty wood aromas and some spice notes.  Next time you smell your neighbor grilling burgers invite yourself over with a bottle of this, you’ll get a free dinner and a perfect pairing!

$24

UKO

Cabernet Franc

Mendoza, Argentina

As far as I can gather this wine isn’t meant to exist.  I had to take this picture myself as I couldnt find one online, nor could I find a web page, tech sheet, sales website, or review.  And yet, it existed on our Alberta purchasing site, and was so at $6 off a bottle, which we’ve passed forward to you!  

The Uco valley contrasts sun exposure which aids ripening with cool nights that slows it.  Those sunny days can really help with the bell pepper aroma of Cab Franc, making it lean more towards a smoky, roasted nature.  On the other hand any time you’ve got cooler influence, you’ve got a greater chance of showing minerality, so look for some gravel or slate in this.  As far as fruit flavours go, old vines tend to be less productive but more concentrated, so think raspberry and black cherry rather than red currant.  The tannins should be somewhat softened from time in oak - which will also give some baking spice and vanilla notes.  It’s hard to believe with all the wealth of information on the internet that there’s nothing to be found about this wine!  It has me thinking that this is a one to enjoy while disconnecting from our lives online.  

$30

Joseph Drouhin

Chardonnay

Bourgogne, France

Last week out our Wines of the World Workshop, we covered Burgundy.  Not an easy earea to find affordable wines for, but thankfully Drouhin was having a sale!  We grabbed this Chardonnay to be featured in the workshop as the “mid-range” wine, which those who attended took home to enjoy another time.

This is Burgundian winemaking at it’s most classic.  Balanced use of oak, malolactic, and lees age give this a beautiful nose of cedar and hazelnut.  The palate is tart up front with green apple and lemon, that quickly shifts into ripe pineapple and banana.  The finish wraps up soft and reasonably long with some vanilla and cream.  A great evolution on the palate for this price!

$32

Joseph Drouhin

Pinot Noir

Bourgogne, France

So if Drouhin Chardonnay was a typical expression of white Burgundy, then the red should be the same right?  Right.  No, really, there’s no other shoe to drop here. It’s just a classic through and through.  While in the wine club we often seek out unusual things, sometimes it’s good to come back to the classics, because they’re classics for a reason.  That said, classic (in this case) doesn’t mean unchanging, and like all Burgundy wines the expression of this label is tied to the growing season. 2022 was quite hot so while this will have the usual notes of strawberry and rasperry, you may also get some riper notes like rapsberry or even black cherry.  Oak use is minimal on this label, but present with some baking spice notes.  Occasionally you may get a whiff of mushroom or black tea, indicating the earthiness so famed in Pinot, but not giving you a full on manure bomb (for better or worse).  This is an introductory Burgundy Pinot, a gateway drug if you will.  Get hooked?  Come by the store, I’ve still got some Gevrey-Chambertin to peddle.

P.S.  If you look up this wine on Vivino you’ll see a 3.6.  That’s poppycock. They’re comparing it against Burgundies that cost 5-10X the price of this.  

At this level, compare it against an Oregon Pinot.

$40