#99- Prieto Picudo

On 7th day of Wine-mas my true self gave to me- a bottle of Prieto Picudo.

From Spain.

So naturally when drinking a Spanish wine, the most obvious thing to do would be to pair it with some tapas- n'est pas? Pardonnez mon Francais, I do not speak Spanish. And tapas I do not have.

Being in good Alberta, we do have a lot of one thing-- perogies!! Bring on the Ukrainian version of the tapa. And yes, I've made that up. But it's Christmas time, I'm in the middle of a video shoot and I don't have time to cook let alone come up with a perfect wine pairing.

So yes, I paired a Spanish red wine with a  Ukrainian dish of perogies.

And it worked.

Ha! Yup, cheese and potato perogies went very well with this wine. Maybe it was the synthetic bacon bits, the ooey gooey mess of margarine and light sour cream or maybe it was just me willing this pairing to work, but I feel this did in fact work.

I'll be honest, the wine- Estay and the grape is Prieto Picudo was quite a bit tannic at first and hard to drink. But as the wine had time to breathe in my glass, I found it drinkable and am now working on my third glass of it.

This is indeed a very complex wine.

The wine is produced by Dominos DosTares in Spain and is considered to be one of their premium wines. If you ca speak Spanish, you can ready all about the Estay wine.  The wine is quite dark, a garnet, almost black wine. It's fairly aromatic. It's full of floral and fruity notes and reminds me of a tempranillo. No doubt about it though, this is a very tannic wine but man is it smooth on the tongue once the tannins dissipate. It is rather lovely. Lots of red fruit like cherry on the tongue. Yum.

The Prieto Picudo grape is primarily grown in Spain. There's really not much else to know about this grape other than I would definitely buy this wine again. If you know someone who likes big bold wines but likes to stray from the normal Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz wines, give them this one. It won't surely disappoint.

I can't believe tomorrow I write review #100. Merry Christmas to me. That also means one thing...which I'll share on Thursday!

#95- Pedro Ximenez

On the 3rd day of Wine-mas my true self gave to me- a bottle of Pedro Ximenez.
From Spain of course.

Yes, two days in a row, I've had a sherry (or sherry like). But the two sherries couldn't be any more different. While yesterday's Palomino was dry and limited in taste, the Pedro Ximenez is the exact opposite.

This wine is sweet and deep and full of flavour. But first, the most obvious thing to look at for this 2001 bottle of Alvear is the colour. The colour is a deep copper, bordering on a luscious dark brown colour. You can tell it's been aged, almost like a tawny port. The aromas are overwhelming- full of caramel, toffee, almonds, vanilla and raisins. The alcohol content is high and you can certainly smell the alcohol.

Taking a sip, you get much the same as you do on the nose. It is almost sickeningly sweet. But if you like sweet wine, you'll like this wine.

The grape is a white grape much to my surprise. For some reason I thought it was red for some reason but hey- we all learn something new everyday!

With a sweet sherry, my only logical choice was a dessert. I haven't bothered to make anything for Christmas (I'm way out of shape and need to get my ass in gear, not add to it) but I did have a box of Queen Anne chocolate covered cherries nearby so I allowed myself just one chocolate to pair it with. Surprisingly it wasn't bad. A chocolate covered cherry is quite sweet and I was pleased to see the sweetness of the chocolate was cut down by the Pedro Ximenez.

The Winery is Alvear, in the Montilla region of Spain. 

What can I say, I do enjoy this wine, and more so than yesterday's. But certainly not more than an ounce or two. That's all I've had tonight and it's more than enough for me. And with the high alcohol content, it's definitely all I need. The great thing about Sherry is it doesn't go bad so this wine will last for quite a while- or maybe just until Christmas Eve. My mom loves sherry so I might have to bring the sherry as a Christmas cheer.

Cheers to day three!

#94- Palomino

On the 2nd day of Wine-mas my true self gave to me- a bottle of Palomino. From Spain of course.

So I'm very glad I waited a couple of hours to write this blog as what I'm writing is very different than what it would have been at six o'clock.

And to make it clear- I'm not a fan of sherry on most nights so I was taking on a bottle of wine that I had my doubts I would like.

And at first, I didn't like this wine. At all. But I forced myself to drink a glass with dinner (I had a long day of shooting so I stopped by the local sushi joint and picked up some California rolls as well as Canadian rolls. The sushi was delicious however I did not finish all of it (you don't need to know this but hey, it's what happened).

I chilled the wine as recommended. The top is not a screwtop nor a cork. It's a combination of it but it's meant for me to be able to recork it easily so I knew this wasn't a bottle I'd be finishing this evening.

I cant' really describe this wine other than to say that over time, I started to enjoy this wine. It's like I got used to the taste, which I still can't describe. On the Gonzalez Byass website, it describes the wine as almondy and delicate. While I'd say it was neither, I'd say that you have to give it a chance before dismissing it. I'm glass I did.

It's a beautiful colour and it's very inviting to drink. The smell turns me off slightly and maybe that's why at first I didn't like it. But you have to appreciate sherry for what it is and the process it goes through. It is a fine wine with a 15% alcohol content.

I'm not sure I'd buy the wine again but it's because I'm not a sherry drinker and I'll never say never.

#86- Verdejo

Off to my miniature wine cellar and when I say mini- I mean about 40 wines or so. I haven't yet set up my wine fridge and I should get on that but truth be told I don't really own any wines that need to be cellared or aged for that matter. One day when I strike it rich perhaps I'll start cellaring wine.


In any evernt, there was one wine that stood out. It is a wine that pairs with so many different dishes and is a great wine to have on hand for its versatility alone. It pairs with fish, shellfish, white meats, pasta dishes and selections of cold red meats. I was lazy tonight to make any food so I grabbed some fresh sushi (California rolls and some shrimp/avacado rolls) from Superstore. They actually make their sushi fresh and I can say I was very pleased with my rolls and ended up eating all 16 of them that night. I got home and changed and while I was getting ready I grabbed a bottle of  Herederos Del Marques de Riscal Rueda 2010 and put it in the fridge to chill.

Marques de Riscal is a Spanish wine in the Rueda Appellation of the country. It is known for making fresh and crispy and fruity wines and this wine was no exception. With flowery aromas and a hint of herbs, I could pick out the citrus on my nose almost right away. It is very strong and I would almost say grapefruit. It also has a grassy (hence the herbs) smell to it. The Rueda wine  is bright yellow in colour and clear as anything. It's quite glossy to look at. This is a very pleasant wine and to be honest, I've had it open quite a while in the fridge (and somehow the cork has disappeared) and it's still easy to drink after weeks of being open.

It is very smooth, aromatic in the mouth and has a medium finish. It's quite balanced and I am enjoying the sipping the wine as is. I really wish I had some sushi right now- if I wasn't still in my pyjamas (hey- I've been cleaning and doing homework all day- don't judge!) I would seriously consider going out.

The verdejo grape is native to the Rueda appellation in Spain even though it is believed to have come from North Africa first. It's not very acidic but is a medium to full bodied wine. An interesting note about this grape- it's harvested at night! This allows the wine to enter the cellars at a cooler temperature than most other wines. It's great chilled.

I should save some wine for Craig seeing as it's still good. We'll see how much I have left at the end of catching up on my blogs!

#75- Mencia

I had to go and purchase another bottle of the Peique Beirzo Tinto Mencia bottle of wine so Craig can try it (I'll bring it on our camping trip next weekend) so we may have a slight revision to this post. I purchased the wine at Aristocrat Liquor in Edmonton. it looks like a total dive but I'm rather impressed by the selection of wines they have there. I was able to pick up 5 wines there that I hadn't tried before. Never judge a book by its cover I guess.

The wine is from the Peique Bierzo in Spain.

We drank the bottle of Mencia at our wine club last weekend and with us having just drank 6 ports, sherries and Australian stickies, it was really hard to determine if I liked this wine or not. Anyone drinking it there loved it simply because it wasn't sweet. I know our host Miranda and her husband ended up finishing the bottle so I can imagine it was half decent.

From what I can remember, I liked this red wine. It's not a grape that shows up on the Wine Grape Varietal table but it is a grape unto it's own and the bottle is very specific saying it is 100% Mencia grapes. It is a Spanish wine and it is similar to a Cabernet Franc. it is a bit on the sweet side and I'm guessing that's why there was very indistinguishable characteristics to it at the wine club. Here's hoping the second time around I can pull some more aromas and flavours from it. This type of wine (Mencia) is gaining popularity in Spain so look for it more and more.

We paired the wine with a Calabrese salad (Italian but similar in regions) as a Calabrese salad goes well with sweeter wines. I would say it was a great match and highly recommend the pairing. Besides being a very pretty salad, it's super easy to make and really good for you!

I am really looking forward to trying this wine again and seeing what I come up with this time. 

#54- Macabeo (Viura)

The first white wine of 2011 and we have- a split decision, bordering on thumbs down.  I was neutral to the wine (and had a couple of glasses as it was neither good nor bad in my opinion) but Craig didn't like the wine at all.

The Viura or Macabeo grape is a Spanish grape grown in the northern region of Rioja and southern regions such as Barcelona. It is pale yellow in colour and has some fruity aromas. This bottle was from the Castillo de Manseran Winery in Spain. You could taste the pear and some mineral to it which made it slightly less sweet that a wine typical of fruit like flavours. The pear was not at all overpowering, just light hints of it.  I found it sweet enough and pleasant enough to drink quite easily.

The wine was fairly cheap, $11.99 picked up at Aligra Wine and Spirits at West Edmonton Mall. They have a great range of wines there and Craig and I were quickly able to find the selection of wines we were looking for.

I drank this wine while I was on my week of salad dinners- I had different salads each night of the week and that night, I paired the wine with a cold steak and spinach salad (with onion and feta and black olives- a cross between a spinach salad and greek salad). As a side note, did you know that a Greek salad can be considered a fruit salad? All the "vegetables" found in a Greek salad are in fact fruit (they all have seeds) so the next time you bring a fruit salad to a party, bring a Greek. Okay, I digress. but the salad I had was absolutely delicious!

Overall, I woulndn't run out and get this wine again as I've had better Spanish wines but I can't quite give it the the thumbs down Craig gives it. He didn't like it and found it bitter. My mom found it to have a terrible aftertaste. I don't remember that part so maybe that occurs after the bottle's been open for a couple of days.

If you're looking to try a new white and like it, take a pass on this one.

#31- Tempranillo

I would have thought the Tempranillo grape would have tasted similar to the Bonarda grape. Both are very similar in terms of acidity and are both considered middleweight wines. Both are usually flavoured with hints of strawberries or raspeberries. Both are spanish wines. But they didn't taste at all the same.

Kristin tasted both wines as well and like the Bonarda better but quickly wondered if it was because the wine had been open longer and had time to breathe. Perhaps. I keep making a mental note to myself to decant my reds from now on. The tempranillo did have a slight oaky taste to it so that could be it (as Kris is not a fan)

TheTempranillo wine was a celebration of sorts. This night was a special one. My brother was coming home with his baby boy Liam and his girlfriend Sharon. Born four months ago in Ontario we had only seen Liam through pictures. To say the family was excited to meet Liam was an understatement. So of course being the family that we are, we celebrated with wine!! On another note, I am happy to report that Sharon likes wine so she'll fit into this family just fine.

With hearts full of love, we turned to our other love and opened the wine. The great thing was that I had six (yes, six) bottles of wine for us to drink. Craig and I had been nice enough to leave enough wine in the bottles for people to try out the wines. So we dug in.

But Kris, Craig and I tried the tempranillo along with our turkey dinner. I know I know, a red with white meat is a huge no no but do I look like someone who cares? It was the only wine I had left in my cellar (ha, cellar...) and I wasn't about to go and buy a white wine for dinner when I had to rush there before they arrived home. So red wine and turkey it is! Mom made the dinner as she had to serve 10 of us at least. It's a quick and easy dinner to make and it was delicious!

The tempranillo wine was purchased at the Cellar in Calgary for $18.95, a great deal for this wine. The winery is Bordegas Ercavio Mas Que Vinos in Spain. I'll definitely want to try this wine again (maybe tomorrow night if there's some left) and see if the taste has changed at all. I still liked it.


So who knows what wines are next for me? I am still behind on my once a week deal so I have some catching up to do! I'm about to leave on a three week European vacation with stops in some of the most amazing wine countries in the world (France, Italy, Germany, Austria) so I'm hoping I remember and am sober enough to pick up some bottles of wine I can't pick up here! So this is it for me for a few weeks.

#29- Albarino

Oh Albarino you are one lucky grape. You could have been the worst tasting grape ever and we still would have enjoyed you. The circumstance called for the enjoyment of a glass of wine. Let me explain a little but first, about the bottle of wine.

The Albarino grape is a popular grape in western europe/mediterranean area (Portual and Spain). Our bottle of wine is from Spain, in particular from Rias Baixus.

The Albarino grape is not at all acidic and is very crisp and light tasting, especially after a ridiculous hike (more later, I promise it's coming). It's very floral and aromatic and I really enjoyed this wine. Craig did not (or he didn't like it as much as the Cattarratto). I blame his cold for his lack of taste. Or the lack of air perhaps. Time will tell.

But I really did like this wine and couldn't wait to get back to the campsite to drink more. You see, we did limit ourselves on our first wine tasting because of our location. Craig and I didn't do just any old hike last Sunday. No we did a hike that took us up a staggering 425 metres in less than 2km. In other words, we did a super steep climb.

Our hike started off normal enough. Craig and I did a nice 6km loop called the Overlander Falls circuit. Beautiful Falls and a nice walk along the Fraser River is what greeted us as we started out on our trek. We ended up back at the visitor centre and Craig and I decided to do what we thought would be a quick and easy hike up to the Viewpoint for Mt. Robson. Wrong. Oh so very wrong.

Back to the wine for a quick moment. Keep in mind that I am hiking with over 25lbs of weight on me to prepare myself for my trek up to Nepal. I also had a full bottle of wine and two wine glasses in my pack. Ok, now back to the story.

Craig and I stared out climb up to the viewpoint, mistakenly thinking it was only 0.5 km up (after another 1.2km hike into the woods) and a slight climb. We should really learn to read before trying these things. At 0.5 km or so, we realized we were wrong as the trail climbed very steeply and started into switchbacks (always a clear indication that your hike is gonna be tough). We kept going. We got tired. We swore a lot. It started to rain on us. No one else was on the trail other than a nice older Japanese couple who shut us up quickly (if they could do it, we have no excuse) and we climbed some more. We took breaks. We lost our breath. We wondered if the top of the mountain would ever appear.

It did. But it was a seriously tough climb, the last 0.6 km were ridiculously tough. But then we came to the viewpoint and ran into another young couple from the Edmonton area. What a sight! (the pictures don't do it justice nor do they show how high we actually were). So Craig and I celebrated by cracking open the bottle of wine and whipping out some snacks to carb up (note to selves: do this prior to hiking up, hiking down isn't as hard) with beef jerky, dehydrated mango, some chocolate and trail mix.  We also drank a ton of Gatorade while we were at it.

Craig and I spent about 40 minutes at the top, enjoying the view that we had just hiked nearly three hours for to enjoy. Heading back down, we made it in what felt mere minutes, grateful that our lungs could breathe the air and our legs weren't shaking from being pushed to the max.

I realize I am not near the shape I need to be in for Nepal (do they drink wine there? I'll have to check) but it was still worth every painful step to the top. Wine included.

 The next wine is our last wine we brought with us- Pinotage.

#24- Xarel-lo

So I screwed up on this wine tasting but I swear it's not my fault. I gave my sister a list of wines that couldn't be found for purchase here in Alberta as she was doing her annual family trip to the States. On the list was the Xarel-lo grape, a spanish grape and the only grape starting with the letter X. 'Lo and behold she finds it, buys me a bottle and my brother and I proceed to try the wine almost immediately. The mistake I made was not leaving her any to try and that was the only bottle she brought back! Oops! My apologies to my sister and if anyone would like to help me make amends, ship me a bottle of Xarmant Txakoli.

Yup, that's the name of the wine and I'm not even really sure how you pronounce it. The vineyard is Txakoli de Alava in Spain. The whole website is also in Spanish so I'm not going to be able to add much here at all. The important thing to know is that Craig and I really liked this wine.

We had a lovely meal made of left overs from Craig's barbequed pot roast. It was his second meal of the roast, my first. I added a lovely side salad a la Greque.  It was a nice lovely weekend and I was prepared to enjoy a nice glass of chilled wine with my meal.

It was good! I wish Alberta would really import this wine! This grape is absolutely delicious. If you are familiar with Cava, then you have tried this grape. I did find the wine had a very fresh taste and smell to it, very refreshing to the senses for sure. It was quite aromatic, almost a grassy undertone to it. It didn't take us long to finish the bottle of wine (again, with apologies to Kristin).

Though an unusual grape, it packs a punch and it's really too bad that we can't get the grape variety here in Alberta. And just in case you're wondering how I do go about figuring this out, the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission has a website that they don't market at all but is a wonderful tool for anyone searching for wine, spirits or beer and want to know what liquor retailers carry it, if at all, and in proximity to their location. The website is the Alberta Liquor Guide. Bookmark it as it comes in very handy when you least expect it. I've let several friends of mine know about it and really- the AGLC should be doing a much better job promoting this great website, it's an excellent tool.

That's my rant for the evening (and yes, I've ranted about it before). Our next wine is another muscat, this time Muscat of Alexandria. And the perfect opportunity to drink this dessert wine- a birthday party! Can't wait!

#8- Mourvedre

Move Over Dear. That's how one website artfully has you remember the name of the Mourvedre grape. The grape is considered an emerging grape so you'll likely hear about it more and more. It also goes by a couple of other names (think Syrah and Shiraz as an example) so it's also known as a Monastrell, Matero and Balzac grape.

The wine I was looking for was sold out at Liquor Select in Edmonton that carried this hard to find wine. Apparently it's on wine lovers' radar screens and I was out of luck to pick up a bottle from California. But as luck would have it, the store manager was pretty knowledgeable about wines and directed me towards a Spanish Monastrell wine she had in stock and quickly explained to me it was the same grape. Perfect! I was on my way.

The wine is from the Altos De La Hoya, Bodegas Olivares in Santa Ana, Spain. The vintage is 2006 and the bottle cost me $18.99. I bought it and headed over to my parents house who were having a little birthday celebration for my brother (happy 27th Craig!) and it was the closing of the Olympic closing ceremonies. A nice red would end our two weeks of showcasing our country to the world and a strong show of patriotism just nicely.

Chili was the order of the day for this meal. With the wine chilled to the right temperature for a red (yes, chill a red for about half an hour in the fridge) and the 42 inch television calling our name, I cracked open the bottle and poured ourselves a glass. The first thing I noticed (and only the second time I've had this), the wine had a black cork. I'm still not sure what to think about that. No matter, it doesn't affect the wine. At first, both Craig and I noticed a biting acidic taste to the wine and no wonder. On the grape varietal table, this grape is a superheavyweight and has very high acidity. We let the wine settle a bit and the bite wasn't as severe as dinner went on.

I really liked this wine. it was full of flavour and I found it very satisfying. What I mean by that is that I enjoyed how this wine played on my tongue. It was like all of my taste buds were busy figuring out this wine. There was a bit of an oak taste to it (from being aged in barrels), but it was not an overpowering taste. Craig, not being a red wine lover, especially enjoyed this wine and turned to me and said "I think I'm becoming a red wine lover, what's happening to?" You know it's a good red when...

I highly recommend this wine and I'm looking forward to getting my hands on that California Mourvedre that was out of stock. So the next time you're looking for a new red to try and don't mind a little acidity and bite to your wine, go grab a mourvedre.

On another note for any of you who live in Alberta, do you know that there is a website that helps you track down your favourite bottle of wine (and other sprits)? The website is the Alberta Liquor Guide and I use this site regularly to find those hard to fine wines. And you're welcome. The next grape on the list is one of my favourites- the Gewurztraminer.