Henry Yuen (Original Chinese posting: http://taiyangbao.ca/author/henryyuen/?variant=zh-hans )

Arrived and ready for lunch with the hosts.

When I first found out I was to embark on a wine tour hosted by the Wines of Chile Organization, the impression I got from the invitation was that it would be some sort of a “fact finding” mission. Not knowing what to expect, I told my friends exactly that. I quite liked that term – it sounded official, congruous and business-like. It also carried a resounding purpose which made the trip an important one to look forward to. Little did I know the wine tour awaiting was to be so much fun and such an eye-opener; and that I would be meeting some great folks and learning immensely during the entire trip.

Two certified sommeliers and wine experts (Treve Ring & Terry Threlfall), a veteran food & wine writer (Tim Pawsey) and a retail wine expert from Calgary (Kevin McLean) round out our 5-person group. With the same passion for food and wine, everyone has adventurous stories to tell; there’s no inhibition in exploring into something variant or new, we all looked forward to what lied ahead. The first leg of the flight saw us stopping in Toronto for a few hours where we began sharing the excitement anticipated.  Followed by a 10-hour overnight flight to allow us to rest and prepare for the journey ahead before greeting Santiago in the morning.  Time flew during transit, when stories were exchanged; interesting topics were discussed and few pints were consumed. Once we were picked up at the airport upon arrival, off we went to our first wine tasting session in the country side where a luncheon reception was waiting.

Having the Wines of Chile as the host organization was a definite plus.  The entire trip was planned strategically with efficiency and detail-oriented. Each step was taken care of in a first class manner to make sure the stress level was reduced.  This is especially important when visiting a foreign country where a different language is spoken. From being picked up at the airport to each winery visit, it was carried out with precision so we were able to relax and enjoy the experience and of course, the wines!

The Central wine regions of Chile were where we spent over a week visiting wineries and vineyards. Since Chile is a relatively big and long country, there was just not enough time to visit all the interesting wine regions stretching from North to South. It made perfect sense to concentrate on the Central wine regions such as Maipo, Colchagua, and Cachapoal. I would rather spend time visiting more wineries than dozing off on the tour bus.

November is spring time in the southern hemisphere.  The weather was excellent when we were there, without a drop of rain to douse our enthusiasm and spoil those outdoor fun activities. Chile has the mild Mediterranean climate with the geographic diversity of the Pacific Ocean moisture and the cooling effect of the AndesMountains, forming ideal conditions for vines to flourish. In spite of such a climatic gift from Mother Nature, the wine industry only took off in the 1990s even though the Spanish missionaries first planted grapes in Chile long time ago.

While European vineyards were constantly devastated by pest and mildew, vineyards in Chile seldom experience similar problems. This unique feature did give Chile the advantage which allowed the industry to grow and draw international attention sighting Chile as a favourable grape growing region. None the less, it was not entirely a smooth ride at first as the lack in winemaking technology and vineyard management hindered. Chile was only able to produce wines generally good enough for bulk quality. This volume-producing era saw Chilean wines commanding lower price and garnered few wine awards.

The wakeup call came in the 1990s as the Chilean wine industry as a whole realized the potential could be wasted if nothing was done to improve the overall quality. Consultants and experts were called in with various joint venture activities structured. Improvements on the wine-making skills and revolutionizing the vineyard management techniques were implemented. The efforts were rewarded and results were astounding! Nowadays, universities in Chile are offering Oenology programs to produce home-grown second generation winemakers to continue to enhance and strengthen the industry. They began to embrace the natural advantages and understand their strengths behold, with relative to the other wines regions of the world, and has started to learn, improve, enhance and push forward. 

Unlike most Canadian wineries, specifically the Okanagan wineries, Chilean wineries generally are much larger in scale. While the number of wineries might be comparatively lower, they are mostly substantial in size and volume. Currently, the wine industry of Chile employs over 80,000 full-time working on 500,000 acres planted while producing 300 million gallons of wine each year. Evidently, it is an important industry vital to the overall economic health of the entire country. Both the government and private businesses are therefore more than ready and willing to put a lot of emphasis on the growth and well-being of the wine industry. There seems to be a common accord and intuition amongst the general population that supporting the wine industry is essential to their overall economic sustainability. They are not only proud of their wines but regard those in the wine industry with relatively high esteem.

We spent 6 days visiting 12 selected wineries in the central regions and had a glimpse of the latest developments in vineyard management and tasted spectrums of their wines, from the entry level wines to the highest level of what they term “icon” wines. My next two articles on this Chile Wine Tour will report on the tasting of the wines from these 12 wineries, and on intimate and candid conservations with their winemakers.            

A bottle of Concha y Toro iconic wine

Stephanie Y

(For original Chinese posting, pls log onto http://taiyangbao.ca/author/stephanieyuen/?variant=zh-hans )

BC does not yet have huge vineyards or ancient and mega wineries, but that doesn’t stop our wines appearing on the global A-list constantly.  To me, being small nourishes authenticity, characters and staying in-touch; it further showcases the behind-the-scene hard-working souls’ diligence, intelligence, perseverance and passions. 

Take Stag’s Hollow for instance. A name known to BC wine lovers but not to some casual drinkers, probably due to the fact that once released; their wines are scooped up by loyal followers, members of their fan club, restaurants and sommeliers. When I asked a few of my wine-drinking friends who fancy French brand-named products and California wines about Stag’s Hollow, most of them had vague or no idea. But after a blind tasting lining Stag’s Heritage Block with a California red and a Bordeau red, were they taken by surprise! While there are many reasons behind these wine drinkers’ preferential wine behavior (which is not going to be discussed here), I’m glad they took on a new perspective, a rather positive one, on the fine products of our very own BC wineries. 

We went on to taste more of Stag’s wines and I had the pleasure of sharing news and information about the winery and the folks with my fellow tasters,  including my recent encounter with founder Larry Gerelus and Celler Dwight Sick who pour their hearts and souls, their blood and sweat into crafting the their wines. Amazingly, despite their background and age difference, these two share the very same philosophy when comes to growing grapes and making wines. They believe good grapes don’t rely justly on Mother Nature, but manual attention and tedious hard work a definite must. Such as constant observation, physically checking and feeling the grapes; winter pruning and cropping; making sound decisions and willing to compromise to ensure to maintain “small intense berries that ripen year after year”!

Tasting Notes:

The Heritage Block 2009: My friends surely love this full-bodied, aromatic Bordeaux-style blend of Merlot, Cab Franc and Cab Sauvignon, loaded with structure and velvety roundness, thanks to the 18 months French and American oak aging. Ripened plum and black cherry filled the bouquet, and lengthy yet soft tannins with a subtle tobacco-smoky flavour. Guarantee to go nicely with Braised ox-tails, beef briskets, Dong-bor Pork and even BBQ duck.

2010 Syrah: A popular grab amongst Shrah fans, the dark berry bouquet, laced with smoky meat and lively spicy hints captured the tasters on site as well. The lengthy and earthy tannin may remind us of the Rhone region of Saint-Joseph style, but none-the-less, but a Stag’s Hollow product that spells of BC’s soil and climate.  Slice some BBQ sausages and ribs from the Chinese BBQ store, or go to your favourite deli for some prosciutto and salami.  

Renaissance 2010 Pinot Noir:  One Pinot Noir to easily fall in love with, this wine calls for continuous sniffing and swirling so the glamourous oak spice, fruity tannins and balance of acidity keep on making love to your nose and palate. I recommend enjoying this on its own if possible, next to a glowing fire place, with soft music on.  If you must drink it with food, a not-too-heavily seasoned roast beef or pork chop; a salmon filet steamed with a light bean sauce; or a cacciatora will work just fine.

Cabernet Franc 2010: A classic and elegant full-bodied wine with a lingering, smooth mouth feel and fruit-forward, well-balanced acidity, the ripened berry flavour, lightly mingled with a hint of tobacco, keeps you wanting more. Pair this wine with smoked salmon candies, charcuteries and BBQ Pork chow-mein; and wok-fried root vegetables seasoned with light soy.

Henry Yuen (Original Chinese posting: http://taiyangbao.ca/author/henryyuen/?variant=zh-hans)

Want to know how flourishing the wine industry in the Pacific Northwest has been?

Compared to British Columbia who has more than 200 wineries in BC and is still growing, with new vineyards planting  in previously unknown regions, the same is happening across the border in the State of Washington. Currently, there are over 700 wineries in Washington State and the momentum don’t seem to be slowing down. Same situation is happening in Oregon too. So are the explosion of wineries and wine being a popular beverage a good thing? Would it benefit wine operators more or are the consumers the ultimate beneficiary? Is there a down side to all the positives?

A trip to the City of Bothell, Washington confirmed a few things.

A short drive from Bothell is the district of Woodinville where over 80 wineries sprouted conveniently for the wine enthusiasts to explore, from the established such as the award winning Chateau St. Michelle Winery to the small scale operations run by individual proprietors.  What is interesting is there are over 40 wineries set up tasting rooms in a cluster within the same vicinity in similar industrial-shop-style setting. Here, you don’t come for the scenery or the view; there is no vineyard or relaxing patio to sip the wine or stretch your legs.  In this warehouse zone, the format is park your car, walk around the industrial complex, enter a tasting room, sip and buy. You will find different tasting rooms representing different wineries.  Sorry, not much of the operations to be seen and no winery tour to speak of. The business model is strictly wine tasting and buying wines on the premises. Customers pay an average of $5 tasting fee for trying out about 5 different wines at one ounce each pour. The fee is waived if a wine is purchased. So from a pure business sense, the wine tasting fee is the break-even proposition even if no wine is purchased. 

It’s somewhat a good way to try different wines from different wineries within short walking distance. You can no doubt discover a lot in a short period of time and have more time to explore other venues, a full day of convenient wine tastings and urban wineries excursion if desired for sure. 

Since it was impossible to cover all 40 wineries so I just walked around a bit and visited a few of the tasting rooms. My observation is that while the concept is quite sound as it would draw a lot of people, casual visitors or wine-lovers alike, to come and sip wines. It has also become a tourist attraction so to speak. Yet, it’s not an area truly conducive of a winery setting to enhance the wine tasting atmosphere. Calling these tasting-rooms “wineries” may be misleading, a discount to the pleasure of visiting real wineries for authentic wine-drinking and winery-touring experience. 

I was given this impression that while some wines were good, there were more that were not as exciting or up to the expected standard. You would think with over 40 wineries packed in the same zone, the competition would push up the quality and lower the prices!  However, with that many wineries, there are unavoidably very young operators/winemakers; amateurs and even pretenders. The down side is that it’s difficult for visitors/consumers to know which ones to choose and the consequence of one bad sip may be costly.

I could see similar concept taken hold in the lower mainland. However, the operators must ensure the overall wine quality and price points to be highly competitive for customers to enhance this urban winery experience so they become repeat customers to sustain this business model.

Henry Yuen 阮公子 (For Chinese posting log onto http://taiyangbao.ca/author/henryyuen/?variant=zh-hans)

Perhaps BC is not yet a hot bed for crafting sparkling wine, but we cannot ignore the fact that there are a few local wineries with fairly long tradition and history in producing delicious sparklings. Sumac Ridge Steller Jay, Summerhill Cipes and Blue Mountain Brut easily come to mind.

With longer bottle fermentation and aging process to ensure the wine is precise and complex, crafting sparkling wine is a more labour-intensive task. It requires both remarkable attention to details and relentless patience. Younger and less established wineries may not want to border to even put their hands into it until after they master their skills and techniques on basic reds and whites.  Because of the more complicated and longer process, sparkling wines are usually more costly to make.  Wineries have to be cautious of the bottom-line impact when deciding whether to add sparkling wines into their portfolio.

Lucky for us bubble lovers, Summerhill Pyramid Estate Winery has quite a different approach. And the result is rewardingly noticeable, both at home and away!

They have been making the very desirable Cipes brand of sparkling wines for so long that they are now in a perfect position to elevate their sparkling wine program. Instead of crafting only young and fresh sparkling wines, they capitalized their foresight to craft a sparkling wine with extended bottle aging. The result is the recent release of their hand-crafted Cipes Ariel 1998. The extended bottle aging for more than ten years allows the wine to fully mature in the bottle.  The captured fragrance and aroma jump out to greet you once the cork is popped – that is the ‘wow’ factor that mesmerized the drinker instantly.

An elegant bottle design to reflect the beautifully crafted wine within.

A signature product of Summerhill.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using 100% estate grown grapes from the Summerhill Vineyard in Kelowna with 59% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay and 1% Pinot Meunier, it is all about crafting with comprehensive attention each step along the way, an epitome of the excellent quality of BC sparkling wines indeed. The nose is met with baked apple-infused fragrant, a hint of fresh lemon zest and frozen raspberry. The mouth feel is smooth on the entry, underlined with a creamy texture.  Dry nuts, a mellow dried apricot sweetness and slight peach flavour add to the complexity that lingers along with the silky mouth feel.

A well-crafted BC sparkling wine, Cipes Ariel 1998 speaks volume to the efforts and dedication wineries and masters that focus on making paramount quality sparkling wines regardless of the hefty investment and financial challenges. The popularity of Summerhill’s sparkling is no doubt very deserving.                       

 

 

 

Henry Yuen (Original Chinese text: http://taiyangbao.ca/author/henryyuen/?variant-zh-hans/

Ever wonder which wine to bring to a dinner party since you have no idea what food the host may be serving?

Being in Vancouver where ethnic-influenced dishes may pop up on the table, having a flavourful wine with good versatility is never a bad choice for the dinner table. Of course you could bring a few different ones to cover all bases but I suppose it would be more appealing and satisfying to bring one or two bottles that are all-around to complement whatever are being served.  Hey, for wine lovers, it does feel awesome to find good food-pairing wines!

A medium to full bodied wine would certainly suit most occasions. If the wine happens not to be commonly available at the liquor stores, it will likely induce a surprising element and becomes a conversation piece at the dinner table – a place where good conversations, good food and great wines are called for!

With that in mind, I started looking for wines that fit the occasion.  Being a fan of BC wines, it’s natural for me to begin the search here.  The Averill Creek 2009 wines from the Cowichan Valley in Vancouver Island were the ones I recently sampled. The wines are 100% estate grown thus make them true products of the Vancouver Island. The fact that 2009 was a great year for vineyards increased the excitement preceding the tasting.  And I’m glad to say that their wines took me by surprise.

The Averill Creek Prevost 2009 (Marachal Foch/Foch-Cab/merlot) was the first bottle I opened the other evening when my wife and I were grilling a couple steaks for dinner. Prevost is the name of the Vineyard’s home, aptly used for this medium to full-bodied wine inlaid with silky-smoothness. Interestingly, Marechal Foch is not a common varietal found in BC but the blending result is brilliant. Fruit-forward of berries, a slight touch of clove and mint in mid-palate with beautiful tannin and a naughty hint of peppery spice, the bottle was done not even half-way, we therefore had to open another bottle.

Their Foch Cab Reserve 2010 is a Marechal Foch/Foch/Cabernet Sauvignon blend, a very approachable red wine was the 2^nd bottle to join in for dinner. We both agreed that it went well with our steaks, but were convinced it would also complement various dishes including pasta, poultry dishes and barbequed provisions such as salmon. 

Equally impressive was their Pinot Noir 2009 we tried days later when friends were over for an Asian dinner.  Everyone was impressed with how lovely it went with a pot of braised ribs as the main, and BBQ Pork Chow Mein as the carb dish. The Pinot Noir has been crafted to truly express the terroir of the Island’s small but unique wine region. These wines certainly piqued our interest around the dinner table and provided lively conversations regarding the potential of Vancouver Island being another BC wine region that is so worthy to explore.  It’s nice to note that their 2009 Pinot Noir Reserve won a gold medal at the Wine Access Wine Award and the 2009 Pinot Gris got a bronze medal.                   

CowichanValley may still be a relatively young wine region in BC but is making great strides due to its temperate weather and long dry summer months. It took Averill Creek almost 10 years to produce the desirable results in the 30 acres planted around the south slope of MountPrevost in the rain shadow of the Malahat region. Good viticulture practice compensates for the supposedly wet condition surrounding the island and proper winery management allow the grapes characteristics to manifest themselves.  I look forward to seeing their wines reaching far and wide in the near future.