Eau Vivre Winery, out of the Similkameen Valley in British Columbia, is quickly becoming one of my “go to” wineries. By that I mean that if I were to go to a party or be invited to a dinner and needed to bring a bottle of vino, I would likely think of bringing some Eau …
The Vancouver International Wine Festival brought Italy to Vancouver this year. The festival hosted 156 wineries from 14 countries, and poured over 1, 450 bottles of wine. Wine lovers tasted vino at the Convention Centre, attended educational seminars, and sat down to combine a love for wine and food at various celebratory dinners. Among the …
Culmina Family Estate Winery graced the wine glasses at Le Crocodile, a French resto just off of Burrard St. downtown Vancouver, on Monday, February 22nd, 2016, during the Vancouver International Wine Festival. Folks gathered in the foyer of the restaurant known for its delectable foie gras brûlée eagerly waiting to see how this renowned restaurant …
Vancouver International Wine Festival Thursday, February 25, 2016 Vini Fantini by Farnese brought the bacon to the festival this year. The Farnese group has seven companies spread across southern Italy. At this time, Farnese has its wines in over 70 countries worldwide, and the combined production is upwards of 13 million bottles. …
I headed to the Union Des Grands Crus de Bordeaux Tasting in Vancouver on Thursday, January 28, 2016 with a friend of mine who was in the same WSET certification courses I attended. At this tasting, there were 45 producers from the Bordeaux region of France pouring one or two of their wines, one of which was the 2013 vintage.
The Château Suduiraut Sauternes was most memorable. I’m still side-smacked with its wonder. It was an absolute treat.
My notes – in point form – from this tasting include:
For demystification purposes, Sauternes is a sweet wine, often served as dessert or as a libation complementing particular rich foods like foie gras. This sweet wine comes from the area of Graves in France. Typically, Sauternes is made from three different grapes in varying blended percentages. The three varieties are: Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon, and Muscadelle. These grapes go through a ‘rotting’ process whereby the grapes lose water concentration by way of Botrytis cinerea, which is also known as noble rot. The noble rot concentrates the sugars in the grapes, which then concentrates the flavours for the finalized product. I know that doesn’t sound very noble, but once you smell the smells of Sauternes or taste the tastes of Sauternes, it won’t matter! Half bottles of Sauternes can cost hundreds of dollars. Now that is some serious wine.
Cheers!
The Demystified Vine 