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

Go for the conversation! If you're willing to chat with just about anyone, talk about what's on your plate and in your glass and enjoy meeting new people, head to the Rocky Mountain Wine & Food Festival.

I met (and reacquainted myself with) some great people at the Festival that deserve a little recognition.

First, a shout out to the organizers of the Festival itself! They did a fantastic job of marketing the event, keeping promotions going and the message alive (through various forms of social media including Facebook and Twitter). With so many wineries, and restaurants and agents there and then thousands of attendees like myself, I take my hats off to them for a job well donw.

The group at Liquor Connect (part of the Connect Logistics group) did a great job of getting their word out too regarding what they're about. I've been using the site for years and this year it went over a much improved makeover. They were also providing bamboo plates at the event that could hold your wine glass. Brilliant and we now have a dozen of them for our wine club.

At the Fluid Imports table, Jason was quick to recognize me- in fact catching me a little off guard by calling me by my Twitter name and mentioning this very blog! I have a reader and his name is Jason! Jason was great and told us all about the wines he had at the table and we ended up trying Arlene Dickinson's Persuasion Wine and Tahblik Marsanne from Australia. Both excellent wines. I really appreciated that Fluid was so progressive with their social media (Twitter and Facebook) and were one of only a handful of companies using a QR code!

While he wasn't representing a winery or a wine or even a restaurant for that matter, one of the nicest guys at the event was selling-- olive oil. And not just any olive oil- Turkey Olive Oil. The company is Nefiss Lezizz Mustafa and his partner were there to bring us the best darn olive oil this side of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. He was also sampling olives. And man were these olives delicious! We ended up purchasing olives (2 types), olive oil and then Mustafa threw in some spices and some free soap (which I might add I have in my bathroom and the smell of this soap is simply amazing). I really think his next line of product should be perfume or candles or something! You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook
Mustafa (Twitter, Facebook, website)

I didn't get his name but I am bound and determined to find out what it is. He was just so generous to us with his time, his knowledge and his wine pours. Working at the PMA island of wines, he was absolutely a fountain of knowledge for us, from Bordeaux wine to blends to single varietal wines. His wife writes a blog for Sherbrooke Liquor Store. We even chatted about ISG and the wine class I'm taking (they completed their classes and are now sommeliers). I can only hope!

In any event, this Festival is more than just food and drink. It's all about the people as well. Last but not least- the spirits and the cause!

#41- Torrontes

Oh my life has been a circus as of late so it seems wholly appropriate to be drinking a wine called Circus! Without feeling sorry for myself, I'll give you the two second scoop on what I've been dealing with- I've been laid off. It's the first time I've ever been laid off (and let's be clear here, it has all to do with budgets woes and nothing to do with my performance) so I'm experiencing something new- facing the prospect of having no job in a few weeks.

But I'm not worried. My life is/stressful with the job I'm in currently and it's likely a very good thing to be switching it up! Change is good. I'm ready for it (though I just wish it could happen without a fight which I fear is in my near future...) So drinking a circus wine seems tres appropose.

It was Kristin's birthday (happy birthday sis!) and we headed out to her house for a party that her husband organized. I helped- I picked up the cake (and drank wine #42 with it...). In any case, the Circus wine drinking began at dinner. Dinner was barbaqued steak with all the fixings. Now, if you see below, you're wondering perhaps what my definition of steak is. Well, Kristin and I actually began this wine drinking the night before- a birthday weekend so to speak. Pizza was ordered (our usual- pepperoni, mushroom and green pepper and mediterranean)- a perfect dish to go with the Torrontes wine!

So I finally get to it- the wine itself. The wine is from Argentina, specifically Bordegas Escoriheula winery.
The Torrontes grape is a white grape and is extremely aromatic. They are a young wine (not bottled very long). It's hard to describe this wine other than to say it was very fresh tasting, almost refreshing to swirl it into the mouth. I tried to figure out what flavours are in this wine but as you can see, the back of the bottle tells a story (rather good) but nothing about the wine itself. Can you spot the spelling mistake? I even tried to find more information on the website but it doesn't list this wine on the site (though the Circus wines are listed and three other grape varietals are there).

The Torrontes grape is often used for high class (read that as expensive) wines that come out of Argentina. I can't remember what I paid for this wine at Sherbrooke Liquor but I'm pretty sure it was less than $20. While it was a decent wine to drink, I wasn't overly impressed. Wine Diva though however gave this wine 89 points so apparently this is a very good wine. It was an okay wine, that's all I can really give it. We'll see what Craig says. He hasn't let me know his verdict yet but as soon as he does, I'll let you know!

#37- Nebbiolo

The wine we drank was a Barolo but the grape varietal it's known as is the Nebbiolo grape. It is also known as Italy's most noble grape so I ensured that we would indeed be trying an Italian wine. I picked up a ton of International wines (I think when I went in, I was expecting to buy two wines, I left with eight) from Sherbrooke Liquor store in Edmonton.

Now, I have been slightly lazy in my blog writing as I've been intertwining some other blog postings with the grape reviews so I'm actually four ahead (completed #40 tonight) but one thing it did allow to do was try and retry the Barolo wine along with the Barbera D'Asti wine (#38). I found both wines quite similar and I can't say that like one more than the other. But let me get back to focusing on the Barolo. The wine is from the Batasiolo winery in the Piedmont region of Italy and while the winery makes more than one Barolo wine, this is the wine that we tasted!

The Nebbiolo grape is also known as Barolo so you may or may not encounter that on the bottle when you're reading it (I had to look it up to make sure that Barolo was indeed the Nebbiolo grape). Craig tried these wines and admittedly was more descriptive in his descriptions of the wine. Now remember, Craig isn't usually a fan of red wine and recently dismissed the Shiraz! But he did not mind this wine and observed that it wasn't took oaky and a bit on the dry side. Interestingly enough, I didn't notice any oakiness taste even though I knew that this wine was in fact barreled. My taste buds are failing me.

Nebbiolo based wines can often take on tastes such as tar and roses and depending the particular region in the Piedmont, can have other tastes of rasperries, violets, tar, wild herbs and cherries. Like Craig noted, it is kind of dry and that is due to the Nebbiolo grape being very high in tannins (causing the puckering in your mouth and the feeling of dryness). Often, this wine is left to age a bit to lessen the tannins and make the wine drinkable.

Dinner that night was perogies (they were whole wheat). And in case you're not familiar with what perogies are, they are this fabulous Ukrainian dish that we are all very familiar with here in Alberta. And so easy to make!! You can either fry them up or boil them for a healthier choice. Add a little sour cream, some chives and bacon bits and you got yourself a meal. Sometimes it's really hard to cook for one person and when you have just come home from the gym after having worked out for an hour PLUS an hour of hot yoga (this is why I'm drinking wine in workout gear) and coming home at 8pm, the last thing you want to do is make a big meal. Perogies it is! Ciao!