#97- Marsanne

On the 5th day of Wine-mas my true self gave to me- a bottle of Marsanne! (please sing it and it totally fits...you know you will).

It's Sunday and I've been chilling and cleaning all weekend. A chill cleaning type of weekend if that's possible. I wasn't really looking to cook much and I've gained too much weight to eat much more than a salad with my wine. I switched my wine last minutes from a red to the Marsanne from Tahblik.

Interesting to note that this white wine is one of the few whites that has really good aging potential- as long as ten years! Might have to grab a bottle just to see.

I got this bottle at Unwined in St. Albert. And what a place! Such amazing people. A wine tasting was going on that evening so I was immediately given some wine to walk around with. And then two lovely people helped me out to find new wines to try- one was the owner Bill who immediately grabbed my grape list and started walking around pulling wines for me (so much so I didn't really know how much I was paying for each wine). He reminds me of Guiseppe from Pinocchio- he's literally the walking talking wine drinking version of him. And so lovely. They all were. I can't say enough about UnWined.

The wine itself is quite crisp with medium acidity. Off the top I get orange and lots of tropical notes to it.

The Marsanne grape is the most widely planted white grape in the Hermitage region in the Rhone region. It's often found in a blend, especially with the rousanne grape. This wine in particular is from Australia and is not blended with other grapes.

Like I mentioned before, I paired the wine with a green salad. Mixed with lots of vegetables and topped with a cava vinegar (made sense to me) and pure virgin olive oil and some Mediterranean spices, I was ready to go and settle down to watch the Survivor finale. I have three minutes until the Dexter finale so must write quickly.

I do like this wine. I like how it paired well with the salad. I like how easy it is to drink. I've had three glasses of the stuff and I'm guessing I will be finishing off the bottle tonight. Five golden rings has a new competitor on the block- and that's a bottle of Marsanne from Tahblik. If you're looking for an easy white wine to drink, I do recommend this one. And feel free to have more than a salad...

Tomorrow's wine has already been drunk (I will admit) and I'm looking forward to sharing the 6th day of Wine-mas with you!

Let's raise a glass and toast!

Cheers!

#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.

Recapping Grapes 61 - 80

I am officially 20 grapes away from 100 grapes. It's unbelievable! It's time to review grapes 61 through 80 and it goes back as far as March as I was away for quite a while there so it's good for me to recap for my own review as well.  I give you the grape varietal, whether it's red or white, the name of the winery, the country and of course my rating (a very simple one- like, dislike or neutral).

Like: 15
Dislike: 2
Neutral: 3

Red:10
White: 10

Countries: France, Portugal, Italy, Canada, United States, Slovenia, Germany, Greece, Spain, Austria

61. Pinot Blanc (White) LIKE
Alsace Willm, France

62. Baga (Red) LIKE
Luis Pato, Portugal

63. Greco (White) LIKE
Feudi di San Gregorio, Italy

64. Baco Noir (Red) LIKE
Henry of Pelham, Canada

65. Montepulciano (Red) LIKE
Cantoni Talamonti, Italy

66. Concord (Red) DISLIKE
Manischewitz, United States

67. Tocai Fruilano (White) NEUTRAL
Movia Winery, Slovenia

68. Cabernet Franc (Red) LIKE
Tinhorn Creek, Canada

69. Fer (Red) LIKE
Domaine de Brau, France

70. Inzolia (White) NEUTRAL
Abbazola Danta Anastasia, Italy

71. SIlvaner (White) NEUTRAL
Dopff & Irion, France

72. Dornfelder (Red) LIKE
Dr. Zen Zen, Germany

73. Melon de Bourgogne (White) LIKE
Chateau du Coiung de St. Fiacre, France

74. Roditis (White) DISLIKE
Phtinthe Winery, Greece

75. Mencia (Red) LIKE
Peique Bierzo Tinto, Spain

76. Vilana (White) LIKE
Kreitikos Winery, Greece

77. Aglianico (Red) LIKE
Villa Matilde, Greece

78. Muscat Ottonel (White) LIKE
House of Hafner, Austria

79. Falanghina (White) LIKE
Villa Matilde, Greece

80. Dolcetto (Red) LIKE
Poderi di Luigi Einaudi, Italy

#74- Roditis

It can also be spelt Rhoditis. Where do I even begin with this Greek wine?

I had this bottle of wine visiting my parents. We had chinese food and I know probably not the best food to eat with a Greek wine but after drinking this wine, I'm not any food would have done. And besides, I hadn't had chinese food in a while and I didn't care. It's not about perfect wine/food pairings anyway this little experiment of mine.

So what about the wine? I'm pretty sure that even if you didn't have a good wine palette, you'd be able to figure this one out. In fact, Craig pegged the smell and taste right away while my mom and I took a few sips (very strangled sips) to determine exactly what it was.

The taste is pine. Yes pine! Imagine sipping on Pine Sol cleaner and it's pretty much what you get with this wine. It was so bizarre. For the first while it was quite undrinkable, the stringent pine taste and smell was too overpowering. It just didn't seem right to be drinking a wine with such a pine taste.

I let the wine sit for a while and it did become a bit easier to drink but I'm not entirely sure if it's because you become instantly drunk (or high?) off the first few sips and then don't give a damn.

The Roditis grape is a lightweight and very similar to a Silvaner, Greco and Inzolia wines. Except I liked the others. I wouldn't buy this wine again unless I was attempting to show people an unusual wine of aromatic proportions (it's not often you get to pull a pine smell and taste from a bottle of wine- a long ways from the usual berry or tropical taste we're used to in a white wine).

So do I suggest you pass on this wine? Certainly not. It's one of the wines you have to try it to believe it. But don't say I didn't warn you...