Let's talk Turkey.

With Christmas just around the corner, many of you are getting ready for the big holiday feast. And for some this may include a traditional turkey dinner with all the fixins. You may even be wondering, what wine to serve. Lucky for you, Winesnob, much like Mightly Mouse, is here to save the day.

I've made a few turkey dinners here in Italy (pictured above was my latest) and I've experimented with some different wine pairings and I've found that reds work best. But not a heavy, tannic Cabernet Sauvignon because the turkey doesn't have the fat needed to work with those tannins. I'm talking about a lighter bodied red.

Everything I'm going to recommend can be found through the BC Liquor Store. I checked their website and I've found these wines listed. It's up to you to figure out which store carries them. Or you can just hit one of the specialty wine shops that I've mentioned in previous postings.

Let's start in Italy. I have a few recommendations which you may be unfamiliar with but it's a good opportunity to try something other than Brunello and Chianti. Brunello di Montalcino is too heavy for the turkey but if you want to stay in that area, try his little brother Rosso di Montalcino. This is a DOC rated wine which comes from the same area, made with the same grapes but not aged as long as Brunello thus making it much more affordable. Not too far from Montalcino is the town of Montepulciano. The wine from this area is called Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. It's made with a type of Sangiovese grape called Prugnolo Gentile. It's a gentler Sangiovese than Brunello but just as good. It's a DOCG rated wine (like Brunello) but more affordable. Avignonesi is a good producer. My last Tuscan recommendation is a wine called Morellino di Scansano. This wine is also DOC rated and shouldn't hurt the wallet if you need to buy multiple bottles. From the Umbria region you could try a Sagrantino di Montefalco (a DOCG) or if you prefer something from the Veneto a Valpolicella (DOC) should work nicely as well.

Just a quick note about Italy's wine ratings. DOCG means Denomination of Guaranteed Controlled Origin which is the countries highest standard. DOC is Denomination of Controlled Origin and it comes in second. For a wine to receive a DOCG rating it has to follow very strict guidelines which includes how many vines can be planted per hectare as well as how much wine can be produced. There are also specific ageing guidelines that need to be followed. DOC wines have many of the same guidelines but are usually aged less and production is sometimes higher.

If you'd prefer a Spanish wine, I would try a Rioja. The wine ratings there are Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva. Gran Reserva being the oldest. I wouldn't go for a Gran Reserva as it may be too intense for the turkey but a Reserva should work just fine. Marques de Riscal and Marques de Caceres are two producers to look for.

Last but not least is my buddy Pinot Noir. I think this could be a perfect choice for your turkey feast. Your options here are endless. You can stay local and grab a good BC wine or venture a bit further south into Oregon or California. If you wanted to stay in BC, try to find a Burrowing Owl or Nk'mip. I like both of those. I also enjoy the Gray Monk Pinot Noir. In Oregon, Domaine Drouhin is a producer of note and the price reflects that. In California, look for something from the Russian River Valley or Santa Barbara County.

There are some reasonably priced French Pinot Noirs as well from producers Lous LaTour, Jadot and Drouhin. But if you're feeling like splurging, try to find a Pinot Noir from one of Burgundies top villages like Gevrey-Chambertin, Vougeot, Vosne-Romanèe, Flagey-Echèzeaux or Nuits-St-Georges. At my last turkey dinner, one of my guests brought a Pinot Noir from Vosne-Romanèe. It was spectacular. I highly recommend trying Pinot Noir from those villages. It's an unforgettable tasting experience.

So with that, I wish you all Happy Holidays and Buon Appetito!

Cheers!

When good wines goes bad.

A few years ago I took a trip to Avignon in France. In 1309, Pope Clement the 5th, left Rome and brought the papacy to Avignon. A summer palace was soon built in what is now commonly known as Chateauneuf-du-Pape (literally translated means New Castle of the Pope). Most of you have probably tasted or at least heard of the wine by the same name. So, it was only logical that I visit the site during my trip.

The wine comes from a major appellation of the same name in the Southern Rhone. This region has a very strong wind that blows through called the mistral. I got to experience this wind first hand during my visit and it is quite potent. There were a few times it almost knocked me off my feet and wine consumption had nothing to do with it. The vines stand like small bushes, low to the ground and the trunks are twisted and gnarled from fighting the wind.


When one thinks of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, it's as a red wine. The wine is actually made up of 13 varietals (14 if you count the the white and red grenache independently). Of the 14, 6 are white varietals. The predominant grape in this area is Grenache and it is the base for Chateauneuf-du-Pape. There are very few producers that use all 14 varietals anymore. Chateau Beaucastel is one of the producers that still does.

During my trip, I discovered that Chateauneuf-du-Pape is also produced as a white wine. It is one of the most enjoyable whites I've had. There is a restaurant near the remains of the Popes' Chateau and it was there that I enjoyed a glass of white Chateauneuf-du-Pape with a plate of local cheeses. As I had never seen this wine before I had to bring some home. I went to a wine shop in the village and I purchased a 1999 Chateau Beaucastel White Chateauneuf-du-Pape.Instead of drinking it immediately, I decided to wait to let the wine reach it's peak. After doing some research, I figured it would hold until 2009. Unfortunately, it didn't.


I was doing some inventory in my wine cellar the other day and I came across the bottle. I thought now was as good a time as any to enjoy it. The sad thing was that it was past it's prime. The wine was very amber in color and it resembled a Marsala wine to the taste. You may be familiar with the Sicilian wine Marsala if you've ever had veal scalloppine cooked in it at an Italian restaurant. Marsala is a great wine but it's not the flavour I want in my white Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Needless to say I was very disappointed. I had been looking forward to this wine for a long time but I waited too long.


So, the moral of the story is, always buy two bottles. Drink one several years before you think it's ready and if it appears to still have the structure, keep the other one a bit longer.

I also have a 1997 Red Chateauneuf-du-Pape that needs drinking. It was a strange year so I bought it to see how it would develop in time. I guess I best get to it. I'll keep you posted.

Oh and for all you keeners, the 14 varietals are as follows
Red: Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Cinsault, Muscardin, Counoise, Vaccarèse, Terret Noir.
White: Grenache Blanc, Clairette, Bourboulenc, Roussanne, Picpoul, Picardan

Let's talk about Rieslings

I know it's been a while since my last post. My apologies. It's been a hectic couple of months and now I'm back in Italy. At least for another few weeks.
Last night I attended a tasting dinner which featured Thai food paired with German Rieslings. In Vancouver you can find Thai restaurants on practically every corner. That isn't the case here in Lucca thus making the dinner a bit more unique.

Rieslings have been the go to wine to pair with Asian cooking for a while. It's very difficult to pair Asian cusine not only because of the spices and sauces but also how it's served. You get several dishes served all at once and each dish has it's own unique flavour. This makes wine pairing a challenge.

The problem I find back home is finding a really good Riesling. Most of the ones I've tried tend to be too sweet. Rieslings are a sweeter wine but a good Riesling will balance that sweetness with acidity. This balance works very well with Asian cuisine.

Without getting into a mini-course on Rieslings, I just want to give you some basic guidelines when looking at German Rieslings. This will help you understand the labels that much better. German wine categories are based on a ripeness scale. Tafelwein (literally table wine), QbA and QmP. QbA wines are everyday, inexpensive quaffing wines. QmP wines are the highest class of German wines and these in turn have 6 sub-categories based on ascending degrees of ripeness. No sugar can be added to QmP wines unlike wines in the QbA category. The ripeness scale is as follows, starting with the least ripe, Kabinett, Spatlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese, Trockenbeerenauslese and Eiswein (literally Ice Wine).

Kabinetts are probably the most food friendly, Spatleses are late-harvest wines with more strength and intensity than Kabinetts. Ausleses are made only in the best years from very ripe grapes, and the final three categories are all very intense and usually expensive due to the low production.

All the wines we tasted last night were from the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer wine region. This is the Napa Valley of Germany. The wines from this area are considered better than all the rest. We started with Pad Thai which was paired with a Markus Molitor 2007 Kabinett Zeltingen Sonnenuhr. Zeltingen is the village the wine came from and Sonnenuhr is the vineyard name. This wine was 7.5% alc/vol and was very round with some sweetness but not a cloying sweetness. This paired very nicely with the Pad Thai.











Next came Chicken in Green Curry Coconut Sauce and a Spicy Basil Pork. A St Urbans Hof Oekonomierat Nic Weis 2006 Kabinett Ockfener Brockstein was served. Ockfener is the village and Brockstein is the vineyard. This was 9% alc/vol and was much more mineral than the Markus Molitor. It also had a hint of kerosene smell in the nose. This is a good thing in a Riesling. Not at all a defect. In fact, Kerosene is one of the characteristics of Rieslings. Kind of like Cat Pee in Sauvignon Blanc. I really enjoyed this wine with the dish. It worked really well.

The Sea Bass in Chili Sauce and Garlic Pepper Prawns came next. With this a Willi Schaefer 2003 Spatlese Graacher Domprobst was paired. Graacher is the village and Domprobst the vineyard. We've moved into a richer category now with a Spatlese, also an older wine (2003). The wine was more intense in color and smelled a bit like lamp oil (also a good thing). There is a nice balance of sweetness and acidity in this wine. Willi Schaefer is a very good Riesling producer. This wine was 7.5% alc/vol. Also served at the same time was a Winninger Hann Spatlese 2006 Feinherb. At 14% alc/vol this wine had a light kerosene nose and a high level of acidity. I prefered the Willi Schaefer of the two with this dish.














To end the evening, we were treated to a 1976 Thornichen Ritlch Sankt Urbans Hof. It was incredibly rich in color and you could smell dried apricots and candied fruit. A nice wine to sip and enjoy.














Hopefully this post will encourage you to try some German Rieslings. In Vancouver there is so much Asian Fusion that finding a reason to try a Riesling won't be too hard. I did check the BC Liquor Store website and the only label they had was the St Urbans Hof. But check the year and the village/vineyard as well as the category (Kabinett, etc). There are many excellent wine shops in Vancouver like Liberty Wines, Sutton Place, Marquis and Everything Wine in North Vancouver. I'm sure with a little research you can find something amazing. Then make sure to let me know if you do.