1 of 4- Review of the Rocky Mountain Wine & Food Festival- the Wine!

We walked in to the Shaw Conference Centre and the first thing Rebecca remarked was "It's like Disneyland for adults!" And that basically set the tone for us for the whole evening. The Rocky Mountain Wine & Food Festival is basically just that- playtime for adults; an annual event sure to please and electrify your tastebuds! It's one of our evening out pleasures of the year.

In a couple of words: a blast. The four of us (my mom, my sister Kristin, our good friend/adopted sister Rebecca and myself)  got a ride from my brother in law Mark to the Festival (no driving for us!) and arrive just before 6 pm. We had 4 hours to do our damage. With four of us, we had 160 tickets to start (and yes, we went back and got 80 more, possibly 120...). Tickets were $0.50 each. And we dove right in. We tried all sorts of food, wine, spirits and chatted with so many different people- all very nice and chatty. Can you see why we loved this place?

To make it easier to follow the night and touch on the highlights, I'm actually going to separate them into four separate blogs (don't worry, I'll post them all today). The four write-ups will be: wine, food, people and spirits and causes. I've got some categories going- wine, spirits, food, people and causes. For the wines, I'll also list all of the wines we managed to try from the Wine Access 2011 International Value Wine Awards. In the 4th blog, I'll end with my overall impression (can you guess what it is?) The pictures are from Thanksgiving a couple of weeks ago- but the actors (myself, my mom, Kristin and Rebecca are very real!) Let the reviewing start!

The Wine

The whole point of us going to the Festival is really and truly for the wine. There were some definite winners (and a few losers too) but overall we were really pleased with all of our wine selections. With 4 of us trying wines, we all shared so we managed to try over 45 wines. Here are my favourites:

Best overall wine: The Creator by Charles Smith Wines. Facebook and Twitter

Imported by Purple Valley Imports here in Canada ( Facebook and Twitter) It was only available at the Festival for $73.99 (and I didn't pick a bottle up darn it). By far my favourite wine of the night. It received 95 points by Robert Parker, this 2007 vintage wine is a Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah blend. To me, the wine had a very earthy smell to it and the spice kicked me hard (in a good way). I found this wine to be very full bodied and balanced. Lots of flavour as it danced around my mouth. I could pick out the berry flavour, especially the blackcurrant! I hope to get my hands on a bottle of this again soon (even if it means a trip to Walla Walla Washington to do it).

Runner up wine: Persuasion Wine (Website, Twitter, hastag #persuasionwine). If you watch the Dragon's Den, you'll recognize whose wine this is- none other than Arlene Dickinson. From the Sonoma Valley in California, this wine is just an enjoyable glass of wine. Fluid Imports is the distributor of the wine here in Alberta. Again, I should have picked up a bottle so I'll be heading out to grab myself a bottle!

Best Label and Name combo: I have enjoyed this wine since it arrived here in Alberta last year. I was excited to see they've expanded their line up of wines and I have yet to have a bad wine from them. My mom and I originally picked up a bottle of Middle Sister Wines last year because we loved the names of the two wines we tried (Rebel Red and Drama Queen). This year they were back with a few more wines to try- Surfer Chick and Mischief Maker. Both excellent wines. But visit their website and see what I mean by a great label! They are imported by Vintage West Wine Marketing and I'm really excited to try all 10 of their wines currently available (maybe we'll have a Middle Sister Wine Club Meeting). Check them out for sure (Facebook and Twitter)

Best Canadian Wine(s): We tried a few Canadian wines and I can't wait until Canada becomes just as well known for their wines as we are for our Canadian hockey players and maple syrup. I do think Canadian wines are often overlooked, especially by our southern counterpart. We're known more for our icewine than anything but we've got some great wines out there and the best of the night came from Desert Hills in Oliver, BC. Oliver is    The two wines we tried were their Gamay and their Mirage Wine (a Bordeaux type of wine using all 5 grapes found in a traditional Bordeaux). The Gamay is a Judges Choice from Wine Access. The 2010 Gamay has accents of black cherry, vanilla and a spicy finish. The Mirage is full of flavour like black currents, black cherries and plum that are predominate on the nose. Mid palate with spice and dark chocolate lingering in the aftertaste. And kudos to the winery for such a beautiful websites. Doing this blog, I've visited a ton of wine websites and I have to say this is by far one of the most beautiful and well organized sites out there. (Facebook and Twitter)

Most Fun Table: Who brings an acrobat to a wine tasting? Australia's Peter Lehmann - that's who! And not just any acrobat, she was very Cirque du Soleil like and if you were lucky enough to be around her when she unpeeled herself from her hanging fabric, she handed you goodies (we go our hands on some very nice berry flavoured lip gloss). To be fair, it's likely the wine importer, International Cellars brought the acrobat in, and it was a very nice touch. We also got some nice double pours at the table and tried three of their wines- Barossa Blonde, Barossa Brunette and Eight Songs. So do blondes or brunettes have more fun? I really enjoyed the Brunette, a Grenache and Shiraz blend. I tasted the raspberries and some cherries and enjoyed the finish on this wine. Kristin enjoyed the Blonde (coincidence that Kris is blonde at the moment and I am Brunette? Hmmmm). The Blonde is a Riesling, Chenin Blanc and Semillon blend and had great aromas of pineapple and ginger and pear with similar flavours. This is a great refreshing wine. Rebecca tried the Eight Songs Shiraz and that was also an excellent wine. (Facebook and Twitter)

And last but not least, the wines I was able to try that are on the Wine Access International Wine Award list. They are broken into three categories- Category Champion, Judges' Choice and Killer Value. I managed to only try the Judges Choice (and not on purpose either) I'll list whether it was a like, dislike or neutral for us overall.

Judges' Choice

Zuccardi Q Malbec 2009, Argentina- Like!

Gruner Veltliner Grasshopper 2010, Hungary- Like!

Boutari Moschofilero 2010, Greece- Dislike.

Kung Fu Girl Riesling 2010, USA- Like!

Desert Hills Gamay 2010, Canada- Like! (see review above)

Whitehaven Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2010, New Zealand- Like!

Vila Real Colheita White DOC Douro 2010, Portugal- Neutral.

Manium Crianza 2007, Spain- Like!

Cotes de Rouisson Villages Bila-Haut Rouge 2009, France- Like!

Santa Margherita Prosecco 'Valdobbiadene' NV, Italy- Like!

Robert Oatley Vineyards Chardonnay 2009, Australia- Like!

There are so many other great wines to try and I couldn`t list them all here but I`ve got my booklet on the ready and perhaps over the next few months I can try them again and write a review. Up next- the food!

#36- Shiraz (Syrah)

He's definitely sick. He just didn't realize at the time. Poor Craig just didn't realize his taste buds were coming down with the flu. It's the only logical explanation for his reaction to tasting the Shiraz.

A Shiraz! The go to red wine when you don't know what else to bring to a dinner party and you want to make an impression but not come across as a wine snob but also be able to impress the host and attendees with a decent bottle of wine. You can't go wrong with the Shiraz! Or can you? Craig, the youngest of our clan, has put doubt in my mind. He is a sick man (literally).

Okay, so here's a bit of the back story without the melodrama. Kristin and I love Shiraz wine. It has been our go to wine for a while as we really can't go wrong with it. I thought this wine was a slam dunk win.

The winery is Nugan Estate in Australia. Their wine is called Vision and the grape is the Shiraz grape (also known as Syrah) a very popular grape grown in Australia. It is a very dark wine, quite red, even perhaps described as burgandy (and not to be confused with the French wine region of Burgandy) but the dark colour comes from the dark skin of the grapes.

The wine itself always has very distinct and toned tastes to it. Often it's very earthy or peppery. There is nothing subtle about this wine. Both Kristin and I enjoyed this wine as we usually do. I can't believe Craig couldn't even drink it. My mother told me it took a few shots to get him to take a decent picture without a crinkled brow (and I've chosen the random picture with my other brother Jim getting his mug into the pic- just because that's how my family rolls).

So I only got four words out of him "I don't like it." Well I did. We have another split decision. There's only one way to solve this problem- drink another Shiraz! And I have just the bottle in mind--we'll defer back to the no fail winery of all wineries- Layer Cake! I have the bottle sitting and waiting in my wine cabinet and I'll whip that bottle out at the next family get together (luckily for us we have two birthdays coming up so the opportunity is upon us soon...).

Kristin and I drank this wine on Halloween and I have to say it goes very well with chocolate, even at 12:30pm at night and with a four year old hyper kid who refuses to go to bed! (though I have to give credit where credit is due and inform my loyal readers that Owen officially took this picture of me drinking the Shiraz all by himself). We may just have a future photographer on our hands- he certainly does not inherit the skill from his maternal grandmother! Oh we kid (and besides, she is very aware of her mad skillz with a camera...) I just really enjoyed this wine and found it very easy to drink and went very well with the pasta. It had an earthy taste to it which I do enjoy when it comes to a red wine. It wasn't overpowering in taste and was very typical of the shiraz I had in the past. Shiraz's are often. It's moderate in acidity but is considered a heavy wine for red so it is an acquired taste (but again, a safe bet when it comes to a red).

Being that it was Halloween, dinner was not a huge priority so Kristin made a huge pot of pasta for the family! Homemade sauce is hard to beat and her dinner was still very good, even when made en mass! But the point of the night was to enjoy our wine and send the little kiddies on their merry way to get us some chocolate. I've included some pictures for you to appreciate the cuteness that is the next generation of my family (note: I have not in any way shape or form contributed to this next generation, I only write about them).

The next grape is another grape and Craig better be better and taste buds healed...it's the Barolo grape!

#23 Primitivo (Zinfandel)

I learned a few things drinking this grape varietal. The first is that a Primitivo wine is the same as a Zinfandel wine. Here in North America we are more familiar with the Zinfandel because of the grape (identical in DNA) is grown in California and even then, many of us are mistakenly thinking of a rose wine. In fact, the Primitivo or Zinfandel grape is a red grape and also a red wine. It's considered a heavyweight wine and is moderately acidic.

It oftens contains a fruit flavour and is it reminds me anyway of a slightly heavier Shiraz or Syrah so if you like that wine, get yourself a Zinfandel. The good news is the grape is widely available.

To say I was excited about this wine was an understatement. Not only because of a new grape, but because the winery I had chosen is one of my absolute favourites! And I thought for sure this was a win win! Was it a win win? Well, the second thing I learned is sometimes it's a good idea to try the wine taste. Let me explain.

The wine I had chosen is the Primitivo wine from Layer Cake Winery. Now I shouldn't be telling you about Layer Cake because I just make it harder and harder for myself to find the wine. It sells out so quickly! I discovered this wine purely by chance on a snowboarding trip this past New Year's- sitting inconspicuously on a grocery store shelf in Whitefish Montana. I vaguely remembered reading about Layer Cake in Food & Wine magazine so I quickly snatched up a bottle of Shiraz and headed back to the house.

Well, we ended up loving this wine. And by the end of the snowboard trip and for new year's, nearly everyone had brought Layer Cake wine to the party after tasting our wine. I have since bought the Malbec as well as was excited to discover that one of the local liquor stores here carried the Primitivo. It too me three trips to the store to finally get a bottle because Layer Cake sells out so fast. It's that good!

So, I was excited about the Primitivo as their Shiraz and Malbec didn't let me down. In fact, I'll write a separate posting about them. I brought the Primitivo over to my sister's house as she was really wanting to try it.

We cracked open the bottle and sat down for dinner. Now, I actually forgot to take pictures of the dinner (cheeseburgers) so the pic below is what Craig had for dinner with his share of the Primitivo. He barbequed a roast for himself and his buddies to watch either UFC or MMA or some other three letter fight I don't know about.

Kristin's first impression of the wine- disappointment. She said it before I'd had my first sip. I'm not sure if that influenced my decision or not but my first few sips were less than satisfactory as well. I couldn't really register that I was drinking a bad Layer Cake wine. She had to leave right after dinner but I stuck around for a bit and had a second glass. I think my impression of it improved as the wine breathed a little. I noticed the acidity right away and maybe that's why Kristin was disappointed. There was a faint hint of fruit (in fact there are many) and of coffee. While it left an aftertaste in the mouth, there was nothing particularly unpleasing about it but it certainly didn't wow me like the other wines had. Best to wait.

Mom took the wine home for Craig to taste and I have no idea actually what he thought of the wine. How much did I have to drink that night? I'll have to do some follow up on this issue. Sorry about that. But anyway, I did pick up the bottle of wine after and had a glass of it the next day. And the wine was completely different. I very much enjoyed this wine so mental note to self: open the bottle a day before serving! It was absolutely delicious and I wish I'd had more than just a glass left. Good to the last drop I guess!