#81- Arneis

Old Fort Point in Jasper National Park. That is where we got to drink this bottle of wine. It was Owen's first big hiking trip with Craig and I and we decided to do a short but steep hike with breathtaking views of Jasper and Mount Edith Cavell amongst other beautiful views of the rocky mountains.

He only stopped about 100 times but we did make it to the top of Old Fort Point. What a nice little trek. We got to the top and we immediately set out our picnic lunch. The wine was chilled from our cold morning and Owen was all prepared to yet again pour our wine for us.

The wine is from Italy (as it is the Italian wine weekend) and is from Cascina Bongiovanni Winery. I really do need to learn more Italian so I can tell you exactly where this wine is, which upon a little reading- the region is Langhe (Piedmont). The website is only in Italian. The grape is the Arneis grape (and the bottle is called Langhe Arneis). The name Arneis means little rascal.

It's not the easiest grape to grow hence the name. It is also floral and fruity and is a very crisp wine (I'd have to agree with this description). It's a dry wine and the fruit notes are often pear and apricot.

According to some sites, this wine should have been drunk in 2008 or 2009 but I'm guessing it's tough to get this wine into Canada period. Maybe we got the cast offs. When I learn more about vintages, I'll be able to determine if this is a bad year for the Arneis grape.

In any case, I still liked this wine. I loved the richness of this wine. It was a bit smoky but quite aromatic and fruity. It was easy enough for us to enjoy as we sat atop the hill (you can see from our pics what we were looking at) and we whipped out our sandwiches (yes, white bread and lots of meat!). We also had a couple of pieces of fruit, some cheese and mixed nuts.

It's a great wine, regardless of what they say and when they say to drink it. I'd definitely buy it again, hiking or not. Craig agreed that it was a good wine as well so two thumbs up from us.

Owen's a funny man and was constantly making goofy faces so we tried to get him to do his best "mean face" impression. This is what we came up with.

But never one to fake it, he went right back to being good old lovely and loving Owen as we made our way down the hill. That's him and Uncle Craig ahead of me on the trail. Enough said.