#21- Petit Verdot

This wine was a special wine. We're still trying to determine if it was the setting, the timing of the drinking of the wine or that the wine itself was very good. My suggestion to you is to try it yourself and let me know.

Now why do I ask such questions? Well, have a close look at our pictures. This wasn't just a regular wine tasting nor a walk in the park. No, it was much more than that.

Craig and I decided to a weekend of camping and hiking in Jasper National Park here in our home province of Alberta. If you're not from Alberta, you definitely want to come for a visit and see the spectacular Rocky Mountains. If you're from this province, you know what I'm talking about. Jasper National Park is about 3 hours west of Edmonton Alberta and close to the British Columbia border. It is a stunning park with lots of activities to do, both in summer and winter. While I could tell you about our mishaps snowboarding (I probably did come to think of it...) our summer activities are a little less dangerous (though I could post the picture of my cut up finger after I slipped on a rock trying to take some funky pictures).

So, Craig and I planned our weekend of hiking in Jasper. To make a long story short, and one I'll revisit a few times over the next 10 months, I am trekking to Base Camp Mount Everest next May so I have to train for my 25 day excursion. Craig and I chose to tackle two hikes- Geraldine Lakes and Valley of the Five Lakes.

A 12km round trip, Geraldine Lakes is a challenging hike and it takes a couple of hours to make it to the second lake (and where we stopped to drink wine and pose for pics). After hiking 6km, we're not sure if everything tastes amazing or not, but the Petit Verdot was absolutely delicious.

Finally, I'm talking about the wine! The wine is an Australian wine and is from the Deen de Bortoli Vat Series (4) winery. The Petit Verdot was a common grape used in a blended wine such as the Bordeaux in the "Old World" countries. In the "New World" countries, such as Australia, it is often used as a single varietal.

The wine is very acidic and is considered a heavyweight. I'm starting to think it was indeed just the combination we needed to make this such a fantastic wine to drink on a hot day and and at the end of a 2 hour climb (that and we didn't have to worry about keeping the wine chilled). It did have a spicy kick to it and according to the website, blackcurrents (how appropos for a hike in the mountains!)

Being responsible climbers, Craig and I only had a small glass each (plastic wine glasses too) and it was our incentive to get back to camp and drink it with dinner. After heading down the trail, Craig and I decided to do one more hike that evening (Valley of the Five Lakes) before we got back to our campsite at Wabasso campground. And just as Craig and I pulled up to the site, the sky decided to pour buckets of rain on us. We quickly set up our "kitchen" to stay dry and Craig quickly set to work barbequing us dinner. And what a fantastic dinner it was! There's nothing like a great steak on the barbeque. The potatoes were put in tin foil right into the fire. We had some vegetables to round out our dinner. And guess what? The wine was just as fantastic as it had been 4 hours earlier. This complimented the red meat beautifully and we were quickly able to finish the bottle off before dinner was done!

The next wine is a white wine- A Verdehlo. It too was brought on the trip for day two of our hikes but Craig felt a little under the weather on Monday so we came home instead. But not to worry, we always find a way to come through for our loyal readers!