#104- Longyan

On the 12th day of Wine-mas my true self gave to me, a bottle of wine from China.

China.

Uh huh. China.

I kind of find it surprisingly fitting that my final wine of the year and for the 12 days of Wine-mas is a Chinese wine. I have no idea why but it's just fitting.

It's also my first Chinese wine. And I liked it!

Next year is Year of the Dragon and I happen to be born in the year of the Dragon. 2012 is gonna be my year so be forewarned that 2012 is Erin's year. Not yours; Erin's.

All because of a bottle of wine. Yup.  The wine is called (funnily enough) Chinese Happy Wine. It is made from the Longyan grape variety. They describe it as a sweet full bodied wine; a delicate blend of white wine and Osmanthus flowers making it a floral and floral aroma. It also comes in French but is surprisingly absent of any Mandarin or Cantonese, please excuse my ignorance of where Chinese wine is grown in China.

But I really do like this wine. The colour is hard to describe so I've taken a picture in case I can't do it justice. It's pink, it's copper, it's orange- it's interesting. I was very unsure about this wine but I'm three glasses in and this is considered a dessert wine so imagine my surprise that I continue to drink it!

I did not drink it with dinner I'll be honest though I like to think it would have gone well. I made myself a turkey salad and with this wine being practically a rose, I'm sure it'd be a winner. In any case, the wine was my dessert. I am officially done with turkey for this season as this was the last of the leftover turkey my mom sent me home with. I had a turkey sandwich at lunch. I can now look forward to Ramen noodles for lunch again....

It is my first Chinese wine as I mentioned. And again, I liked it.

I have read that China is an emerging wine nation among other things. Up until yesterday when I picked up the wine, I had yet to see one from China. I was pleasantly surprised to find this one at Liquor Depot for a whole $12.99 in the dessert section. I didn't care how bad it was, I wanted to say I'd had a Chinese wine.

I did think it would be awful.

And I stand corrected.

The Longyan grape comes from the Zhuolu County in China. 104 tastings- I have always found a write up on Wikipedia about the grape. This is the first time that there is no write up- though in the description of Zhuolu County, they do mention the grape. But that's about it. So I'll check back in a few years and see if they have more to say about it. Right now, know that it's a grape grown in China. And it's yummy.

And with that, I have completed not only the 12 days of Wine-mas, but I have completed week 52 for 2011 and week 104 for the Weekly-grape-- in week 104!

I'd like to think I'll continue this pace into 2012. But I do know that I'll be moving on to blends as trying to find single varietal wines in Albert has tested my patience and my abilities these last few months. There are many more grapes to try but I will now try them in blended variety. And I can't guarantee that it will be every week either. But knowing me, the perfectionist, I will do my best. I must get a hold of that wine where 110 varieties of grapes are used in one bottle- then I'm good until 2014...

until then, thanks for being loyal readers, all five of you! May 2012 bring you nothing but love and happiness. And may the next glass of wine that touches your lips bring nothing but joy and good flavour.

All the best to you my friends.

Erin

#102- Grechetto

On the 10th day of Wine-mas my true self gave to me, a Grechetto from Sportoletti.

First and foremost, a Merry Christmas to everyone. Hope Santa was good to you this year. Apparently I was a good girl as I got some pretty amazing stuff. I have to say though I'm most excited about my new Ninja blender! I'm going to be a smoothie making ninja in no time. I wonder if there's a wine smoothie recipe out there?

So dinner was the usual fixings- turkey, potatoes, turnip, brussel sprouts, vegetables- you get it.  Mom makes a fabulous turkey each and every year. It was just the four of us (mom and dad and the two childless kids- Craig and I) but we enjoyed ourselves and had a lot of fun. Rounds of Family Feud and this Celebrity movie matching game were played and even a dip in the hot tub!

The wine is from Sportoletti in Italy from the Assisi region.

The first thing yo notice about the wine is how yellow it is. It's very dark. Remind me of apple juice. I'm not a particular fan of this grape to be honest. There is some sweetness to it but there's nothing about this wine that stands out for me. It's just rather blah.

The Grechetto grape is usually used as a blending grape and I would suggest that it is a better option. I'm just not a fan of it unfortunately. Maybe it's not cold enough or something but it's just not sitting well with me. The aftertaste is just not great.

So I'd say pass on this one for sure.

But hey it's Christmas- there's lot of other cheer to get into, so have at 'er!

And again, Merry Christmas!

#51- Assyrtiko

Happy New Year! I hope 2011 has been spectacular for you. For me, the year is going by as well as it can for one who is without a job (long story but let's just say I was thrilled to see 2010 come to an end). I've been more relaxed than I've been in a long time and can't wait to see what awaits for me this year. 11 is my lucky number so I'm hoping this year is a turn around of sorts for me.

But no matter! Some things do stay the same and this blog is one of them. Okay, an excuse to say that the wine drinking continues but hey, all done in the name of research! Year two and 52 more wines to try. Craig, my family members and I are up to the task. I've got my lists ready of new wines to try, what stores carry them and we've got a half dozen already waiting in my wine cabinet.

We did manage to try 52 wines last year, I'm just slightly behind the writing (not a new year's resolution as that will never change). But I hope to be caught up this week as Craig and I have already had wine #1 for the year (and #53 on the list). So, let's get on with it shall we?

Christmas at the Stevenson household can be a little chaotic with 8 adults and 3 children (2 of which are just 7 months old) so I brought the wine to get us through the day. I chose a Greek wine to go with the turkey dinner (it is suggested the wine be paired with poultry) being prepared (mom thought it was a good idea to cook a 32lb turkey- the bugger was huge!). With nearly a dozen of us sitting around the table, the delivious meal was devoured and dessert inhaled. Mom and Sharon did a bunch of baking as did Kristin and I (we had a couple of disasters as neither of us are round the year bakers...). Christmas was fabulous as usual.

Too bad I can't say the same for the wine. My idealistic views of Greek wine are now evaporating before me as this is now two Greek wines in a row I haven't liked. The white wine is made from the Assyrtiko grape and the winery is the Boutari Santorini Winery in Greece.  But to be fair, Craig didn't mind it so we consider it a neutral pick.

All I could taste with this wine was apples. It tasted like very dull apple juice. And petroleum. The taste of alcohol was too overwhelming for me and left a really bad taste in my mouth afterwards. The taste is very lingering and aromatic.The acidity of this wine is very apparent when you drink it. You're supposed to be able to taste a citrus flavour but my tongue tasted none of that. It was almost as if the wine had started to go bad. It didn't taste enough like wine for me to like it.

#33- Kerner

Well well well. We have ourselves a winner! And not just a winner. Craig has officially declared this wine his favourite to date. I'm not even exaggerating when I say Craig and our mother went on and on about how good this wine was! Liquid goodness.

So what wine is this? Amazingly it's a Canadian wine and from a winery that I've actually been to. The grape however, is new to me. I'd never heard of the Kerner grape before but I do like the Gray Monk Estate Winery in Kelowna, British Columbia (that's our western most province in case you're not from around here). The Kerner grape is very aromatic, very acidic and is a lightweight wine. The colour of the wine was straw, but very blonde.

Like I said, I am familiar with this winery. I lived in Kelowna in 1996 for my radio practicum and we were lucky enough to get a winery tour and drink some fabulous wine. I bought my very first ice wine from them! Being in a cold Canadian climate, ice wine is a great wine to buy from here.

I chose the wine based on its pairing with my dinner. Now, looking at the picture of my dinner, I wouldn't want to eat it. But trust me- this dinner is delicious! (if I could serve this at my wedding without being laughed at I would). The dinner is Creamed Turkey on Toast, a meal that uses your left over turkey. It is so good. Made with mushroom soup and vegetables, you pour it over a bed of rice or pieces of toast. To die for. The Kerner wine mentioned it went well with white meat.

So I was pretty excited to try the Gray Monk Kerner wine. Nicely chilled, I poured myself a glass.I immediately liked it and thought it paired well with the turkey. While I was able to pull out the fruity flavour, Craig was immediately able to taste the pear (maybe because the bottle had been open for a while, the flavour became more pronounced). The wine did remind me a bit of a Riesling and looking at the varietal table, it is the most similar grape I've tried to date (though it is very different in overall taste, there is definite hints of riesling). 

The wine is also quite sweet but not overbearing. I definitely wouldn't serve it on its own. Craig would disagree and so would my mom. I'm pretty sure if I plopped a couple of wine bottles of this in front of them, they'd down them! Maybe an experiment is in order...

Anyway, the wine is fabulous and I had two glasses before putting the cork in it to take over for others to taste. I would definitely stay with a lighter food or supper with this wine and the high acidity was nicely neutralized with the mushroom sauce. Overall-  a great dinner and wine!

The next wine on the list is a red wine- the Petite Syrah!