TCLiquors Wine Blog

HOwdy people. Apologies for not blogging the last couple of wine tastings. I resume today with my usual unusual perspective- let’s call it lay notes for the lay.

Starting with tonights white:
AN inexpensive Bordeaux Sauvignon Blanc Riserve from Maison Nicolas Ferrande. Definitely a great buy at $5 a bottle (normaly $6 - only $4 if you buy it by the case). This is an excellent crisp, dry, yet refreshing wine with some nice citrus and floral nose and a pinappley honey dew palette. 3 thumbs up. No doubt this white will be a hit tonight.

Moving along we hit Trentadue Vineyards Old Patch Red 2003. A splendid variety of 55.5% Zinfandel, 21.501% Petite Syrah, 7% Carignane, 4% Sangioveses and 1% Syrah. The nose on this is packed with fruit with a portlike quality almost sweet. Beautiful dark purple with a small amount of brown around the edges. Velvety smooth in the mouth with a good tanic balance, and lots of jammy fruits. If you like full on fruit with a velvety lush mouthfeel this is a wine for you.

Lastly we land on a a uniquely special 2003 Shiraz from Paarl South Africa: Landskroon Vineyards. This wine in brimming with roasted coffee flavours and dark berry fruits. Hits the palette in much the same way. WHIle it is not particularly tannic and has a med - full body, it is certanly a hard hitter. This is my personal favourite for the day. Weighing in at a reasonable $15 a bottle this wine is the steal deal for those of you seeking something unique and different.

C U tomorrow!

This weekend we featured Kosher wines from Italy, France, and Israel. Here’s an excerpt on kosher wines from the link on our homepage:

For wine to be kosher one percent of the wine must be discarded, a symbolic remnant of the 10% tithe, paid to the Temple in Jerusalem in days gone by. Additionally, barrels must be cleaned three times.

There are really two levels of kosher wine. The first includes the restrictions outlined above, while the second, known as “mevushal” utilizes an additional process. This is important since Kashrut law stipulates that in order for a wine to retain its ‘kosherness’ once opened and poured by a non-Jew, (such as a waiter, for instance) the wine must be “mevushal.”

Bringing the liquid to a boiling point makes this type of wine, causing air bubbles to be brought to the surface and the loss of some wine, due to evaporation. A wine that is produced in this manner retains its religious purity, regardless of who opens or pours it. A study at the University of California at Davis, has proven that it is not possible to consistently taste the difference between non- mevushal and mevushal wine.

To ensure wine’s purity, the codification of koshering wine began in the days of Maimonides. Today, a quick glance at the bottle’s label will clearly indicate whether the wine is kosher or not. Some truly wonderful kosher wine is being produced in Israel.

While the University at Davis may have concluded that you can’t consistently taste the difference between yes and not yes meshuval wine, this boy thinks that one can consistently note the difference between kosher and not yes kosher wines. While the threewhites we tried this weekend are consistently similar to their non-kosher counterparts, the reds are significantly different. They tend to have much less body and character than their female..I mean…other worldly counter-parts.

The Chateaux Camplay is a Bordeaux Superior. It is a decent wine and certainly blows away Manishewitz, so if you are having a kosher Passover serve this to your family.

THe Vin de Pays d’Oc Merlot is a decent wine and certainly blows away Manishewitz, so if you are having a kosher Passover serve this to your family.

The Venezien Pinot Grigio from Gabriele was quite good. A tiny touch of sweetness and a nice crisp herbal balance with a crisp quick finish. It is a good wine and certainly blows away Manishewitz, so if you are having a kosher Passover serve this to your family.

Yesterday’s real treat was the Moscato from Terracina Italy (West coast above the boot belt buckle (a little ways south of Roma)). Loaded with pear and violet in nose and mouth. Two thumbs up, four hands down. It is a delicious wine and certainly blows away Manishewitz, so if you are having a kosher Passover serve this to your family.

Tonight we are tasting 3 wines from Hai Winery Israel made from grapes grown at vineyards along the sea of Galilee. First is the Emerald Riesling. This wine is has a pear apricot nose and is on the dry side- a touch of sweetness masking a dry and somewhat unripe pear mouthfeel finish. The Merlot is actually decent. Better than yesterday’s inmy opinion. It has a some body and some nild tanins. Not much in the fruit end. Hai’s cabernet sauvignon is a little chewey with some choclate and decent fruit.

We also cracked open a bottle of Cantina Gabriele’s Sangiovese is quite good. A nice body with some decent dark fruits and a little bit of spice. In all, this is my favourite red wine of the lot.

I should mention that we are also selling a kosher cognac: Very Superior Old Pale (VSOP) Grand Cru from Dupuy. We are not offering this at our tasting since it is 80%…and therefore I did not have chance to try it.

More next week….

Face it people, the more we know the more we know we don’t know (sounds a little like Donald Rumsfeld) so we have to be wise in how we divest our time. There is so much to know about so many things, even in the small world of wine, that I have decided, for a variety of anthropologically based reasons, if it doesn’t have alcohol in it, why bother learning about it (disclaimer: everything I say should be taken as a joke with its roots in the comedical arts and sciences).

Happy April’s fools anyone! (Tonight’s theme).

I’m starting myself off with a little Menage a Trois, a luscious blend of Chardonnay (46%), Muscat Canelli (38%), and Chenin Blanc (16%). Sweet apricots and peaches in the nose with a lightly sweet grassy apple apricot on your tongue. This wine could be a compliment to any warm spring or summer day, and could even be consumed with food (go figure) - I’d say anything scampi to lightly breaded and fried. No doubt this wine could even be served as a dessert wine with anything super sweet and syrupy. You really get the chardonnay in the finish - why I recommend super sweet (you don’t want to drink your dessert from an oak cask(et)).

Having skipped the fourplay, I backtrack: A Sicilian blend split equally amongst Frapato Nero, Nerello Cappuccio, Nerello Mascalese, and Nero D’ Avola, the Fourplay is a medium body I.G.T (Inidcazione Geographica Tipica - one of the three legal classifications of Italian wines) from 2003 with an interestingly spicey and perfumey alcoholic nose for the medium body it offers. This wine is definitley a great compliment to an antipasta or appetizer course - hence, the fourplay (oh no, thats cause its four grape types) - especially something oily, garlicy and spicy.

Gnarly Head Old vine Zin is a treat. Lots of yummy fruit and spice in the nose with definite hints of chocolate. Lush dense fruit, spice, and chocolatey tobaccos in the mouth. Everyone loves this wine. You will too.

Tonights white is a Sancerre from Guy Saget. It is a sauvignon blanc based white with what I guess is prolly some pinot blanc, pinot grid, and pinot meunier. It definitely has a very champagny flaour. Has a mouth feel in between the clean acidic crispness more typical of the region and a mellow buttery mouthfeel more indicative of the chardonnay grape- which this blend is devoid of. Little bit of citrus in the front, little bit of oak in the finish. Truly a croud pleaser since has a something for everyone who lives life in moderation. For those seeking extremes in Oak, I recommend the beaver damn over by the humpo marsh along Rt 299 outside of new paltz at the base of the Shawangunk Ridge. For those seeking more citrus, I recommend a trip to Marlborough New Zealand.

Two Brothers Cab/Shiraz (50/50) from Colchagua Valley, Chile, is tonights favourite and is the right price at $9 a bottle. Nice drinkable dry frutiy wine.

Deloach Cab really hits with cassis in the nose and mouth and is likely to give you a black eye (if you put your eye where your mouth is). A pretty even keeled wine with mild pepper and a little bit of wood and smoke in the finish.

I’ll try to post info about last night’s wines as I am tasting these - I didnt have the computer handy to take notes so we are going to have to rely on my memory….

….let’s get started with tonights treats.

Starting with Jackson Trigg’s Suavignon Blanc - this 2003 Proprietor’s Reserve is from their Okanagan Vineyard, British Columbia, Canada. From their website :

In 1998, Jackson-Triggs leased a 410 acre site called the Osoyoos Lake Bench from the Osoyoos Indian Band. Located along striking mountain slopes that stretch above Osoyoos Lake, the vineyards enjoy plentiful sunlight thanks to its southwesterly exposure. The vineyards, planted on moderately sloping terraces, feature predominantly sand and gravel soils. High heat during the day is balanced by the night time cooling effect of the lake, providing optimum conditions for vine growth and grape ripening. Classified as the only desert found in Canada, the area’s unique climate and soils combine to create an ideal “terroir” for growing a wide selection of premium quality varietals.

Whatever they say is true. This wine has a clean astringent nose powerful in grapefruit and a little bit of uric acid. This yummy wine melts in the mouth; it hits big on the pallette and quickly dissolves from a mellow sweetness laced with citrus to a crisp melon apricot finish. A bit different from the New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs and French in that it definitely has a more flamboyant sweetness (heh). At $11 bux a bottle today, it is a treat for we Americans.

Moving right along, we dive into the Casa Lapostolle (see homepage for a link to their website). This is my kind of cab and the price ($10) is just right for a March 18th, 2006. This cab is aged for a year (plus or minus a few hours) in small French oak barrels and (wo)man, you can really taste the wood! Nice smoke and cassis in this one and full body too. I would call it voluptuous and it is actually more toasted than the toasted head.

The Toasted Head 2002 Cab from RH Phillips is a lush and leathery wine. This is actually a blend of Cab Merlot Malbec and Petit Verdot (teh website gives no info on the percentages of each). Nice smooth mellow tannins and a little sweetness from the oak aging; full of black fruits, with some chocolate and coffee notes - this is a great wine at $15.

Domaine Baron’s 2004 Sauvignon Blanc from Loire Valley France is an absolutely delightful wine with a nose of lemon and grass and full on peach, grapefruit and lemon in mouth. It’s 12.5% alcohol and you can really get a nice hit of sweetness via the rich mouthfeel but but it stills has a quick clean finish.

The Oracle, a 2004 straight Cab from Stellenbosch South Afrika, offers a cherry cordial nose and a delicious cassis, oak, and serious tobacco palette with a dense leathery mouthfeel finishing with a long mellow pepper chocolate. Defintely the bargain of the evening at 6 bucks a bottle (after our wine tasting discount).

The Chateau Grand Du Champs is a good inexpensive Bordeaux. A 2004 blend of 64% Merlot, 31% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 5% Cabernet Franc. Nice cherry and wood and some warm mellow tannins definitely good compliment to any rich meal and even suitable as dessert before dinner. Its only 13% but the alcohol but it really cuts through the nose and mouth.

Lastly, for tonight anyway, is the 2003 Cab from Estancia, Paso Robles California. This is one of the nicer California Cabs in its price category (Normally 15 a bottle). Real pepper in the nose and dense cassis on the tongue with a mellow pepper chocolate background. I’d say more about it but I am done talking for the evening. See ya next Friday at 4.

Francois Pinon puts out a lovely organic Chenin Blanc based white fromVouvray France- Loire Valley. This 2004 blend isa a mouthful of apple with some nice lemon citrus quality. With a small bit of residual sugar it is full of floral fruits and offers a warm buttery mouthfeel you might get from some of California’s Chardonnay’s, yet it is still acidic enought o have a crisp clean finish. So you got the touch of sweet candy, rich mouthfeel, crisp finish. In a sense, it is a bit of a schitzophrenic wine - and everyone is lovin it.

As one of our colleagues said, “Man, me and that Vouvray could become really close.”

Michael Sullberg’s 2003 is the queen of the evening for price quality ratio. One the full body side of medium body, great pepper and Cassis - pretty much your classic Cab, thoughI would say this is a little on the mellow side for what I expect form a full on Cab.

The Penfold’s Cab is more my style. A full on pepper tannicy cab. Hard hitting, staunch, and alcoholic. You either love this wine or its just too intense.

Lastly, and mostly, this warm, mellow, and rich 2004 cab from Columbia Valley, Wasington, is a big winner. ExLibres, a mouthful of cherry, bramble and warm-cool pepper with a smooth, dry, tobacco finish is a treasure for its price catgegory.

Starting off with Domaine Delaye’s St Veran (chardonnay from Burgundy, France), this wine gives off some nice citrus and floral essence and fills the mouth with pear and some crisp citrus overtones with a pleasing buttery smooth mouth feel - the oak coming out in the finish. Certainly not a classic chardonnay in the sense that it is perhpas a little more acidic and more into the citrus than the pear apple and oak. All the same, it is a lovely wine. Just ask me!

Next we move on to Los Vascos, a 100% Cab from Colchagua Valley, Chile. This 2004 vintage is a treat for its youthful age. Hits the olfactories with vanilla and cassis. While this wine can definitley use some more time in the bottle, as it breathes its offerning some cool violet flavours, and a most excellent balance of pepper and cassis with a chocolately tobacco finish. I say purchase a case and toss it in your basement.

This 2001 Prospero Cab from Madera California is a class of its own for the price (11, normally 12). Beautiful deep brownish burgundy in color, you really get the alcohol, chocolate and cherry in the nose. Totally fruit forward on the tongue- after it respires a bit - nice tanins, mellow pepper and a long woody bramble finish.

My guess? Drink the prospero now and stash a case ofthat los vascos for 2009 or a random party.

This March we are featuring the Cabernet Suavignon Grape and Cab Blends from around the world. Cabernet Suavignon, as you are well aware, is a genetic mix of the Cab Franc and the Sauvigon Blanc.

We started this month off with a fine Argentinian Cab. Bodega Budini is located in the Uco Valley of the Mendoza province. Budini is named after the rare and beautiful wild pampas cat of Argentina, Oncifelis colocolo budini. This 2003 vintage hits hard with pepper and blackberry and finishes clean with a mellow leathery mouthfeel and some subtle tobacco notes (musical pipe).

Hawks Crest (actually displaying what appears to be a falcon on the label), also a 2003 vintage, is actually a blend of - get this - 96.2 Cabernet Sauvignon, 2.7% Petit Verdot, and 1.1% merlot. The grapes are from vines in both Paso Robles (Central Coast) and Red hills Lake County. This blend hits the palette more in the cherry spectrum but still has a nice peppery bite to it. You can definitely feel the merlot and petit verdo in comparison to the Budini. A friendly patron correctly called the main distinction- rustic.

Rosemount Traminer Riesling is a delicious treat - with a nose of lemon candy it hits the mouth like a peach lemon apricot meringue. Rich palette but dry enough to compliment any scampi or francese.

The Turk is a Barossa Valley blend of Shiraz (48%), Cabernet (30%), Grenache (16%), and Mourvedre (6%) is blackberries and pepper offering a pretty full body.

Tonight, again, we decided to add a last minute addition to our wine menu. Croix Du Mayne, appellation Cahors, is an 85% Malbec, 15% Merlot blend. As all y’all are about to find out, other than Piemonte’s grapes, the Malbec is my favourite grape and any blend heavy in the Malbec, typical of some Bordeaux appellations and regions south of Bordeaux - such as this Cahors - ranks high on my list of desirable substances. This blend is like a cherry pomegranite fruit roll-up without the sugar- finishing in a dark tasty hickory smoke.