Do I pick bad wines?!

http://www.corksandcaftans.com
I just love this pic.

I was at the tasting bar at Summerhill last week (aka. my hangout) and a young man walked in wanting to try some wines that were available for sampling. He was looking for some whites. I offered up my opinion in what whites I enjoyed. I was really excited about two that I urged him to try. One was a Vouvray and the other was a Pinot Gris from Alsace. I was convinced that he would love them as well! Why wouldn’t he right? It turns out that he hated the Pinot Gris that I suggested and was “undecided” about the Vouvray. I think  his exact words were “I need to think about that one”. Gasp! How could I have absolutely loved these wines and this person not! Well, I decided not to beat myself over it. This is the nature of wine. Every person is different. Doesn’t make one’s taste any better or worse. Of course, the more you try different wines, the more you get a sense of what you may or may not like and what styles of wine you prefer. Have you ever bought a wine based on high score given by a wine critic, only to take it home and hate it? I have. This is what makes wine so versatile. There is a wine for every discerning taste. I’ve heard people say “I hate Chardonnay” or “Do you like red or white wine”. I find these statements quite funny because it’s like saying “I hate comedies” or “Do you like creme brule or chocolate mouse”.  How can you choose? There are great examples grape varieties and blends and wine styles from every region on the planet. You can’t blacklist an entire variety or limit yourself to just one colour of wine.  Maybe you don’t like overly oaked Chardonnay…maybe you prefer a Chablis. It’s the same grape just made in a different style. It took me a few moments to get over this one guy not liking my wine picks. I was redeemed when lots of other people loved those sames wines. Whew! 🙂
I don’t know how critics do it!

Happy New Year Wine Lovers!

Now that the holidays are over, it’s back to work! By work I mean that hard task of tasting and writing about wine. Doesn’t really sound like work to me. Although, I have been very liberal in how often I’ve been posting. I had every intention of posting regularly but what can you do, life got in the way. My New Year resolution is to post more often (I know, I know…you’ve heard this before) and to finally start those video blogs on my YouTube channel! I also want to start charting my own wine collection, which I’ll gladly share with you. I need to keep track of what I actually have and when certain wines will be at their peak for drinking. I had a 2004 Chardonnay last week from Thirty Bench (Beamsville, Ontario). It was a lovely wine but definitely on it’s way out the door since I waited a too long to drink it! It would have been superb a year or two ago. If I had a chart, I would have known this rather than letting it sit in my rack, ignored. I’m also reading some really great books that I’d like to share with you in future posts. Of course they’re wine related.

I hope that you all had a wonderful holiday season filled with good cheer and good wine. I was fortunate to take a last minute trip to San Francisco which included day trips to both Sonoma and Napa. It was indeed a wonderful Christmas! My husband decided to surprise me with this trip because he knew how much I wanted to go! With a phonecall to work telling me to come home and pack, we were flying the very next morning at 7am. Who knew the airport could be such crazy house at five in the morning. We had a wonderful time and drank lots of fabulous wine.  I’m currently working on some posts about the trip. It’s taking some time to go through all the pictures and tasting notes I made. See? I’m committed to traveling the earth, high and low, to bring you the findings of my on-going wine research. How dedicated am I!  In the meantime, here are two wines that I’ve recently tried and enjoyed:

Bougrier Vouvray 2008 (Loire Valley, France) $14.95
I love Chenin Blanc and having been to the Loire Valley, I love the things that come out of the region. Although this isn’t on my list of favourite Vouvray’s, this wine, for the money is pretty good.  It’s a medium dry wine (there is a bit of residual sugar) that’s easy on both the palate and wallet. Aromas of peach, citrus and pear are offered from this wine. You can certainly enjoy it with chicken or spicey south Asian dishes. Hooray for Vovray!

http://www.bougrier.fr/en/bougrier_ranges.php

Gerard Bertrand Grand Terroir Montpeyroux 2007 (Midi, France) $17.95
This is a good wine for good value. Hailing from southern France, it scored a silver medal at the Decanter World Wine Awards in 2009. This wine is the one on the right in the picture.  I know that I’ve mentioned this before, but I love wines from the south of France. I couldn’t find too much information from the producer about the actual grape varieties and percentages used but since it’s from the southern Rhone, it’s most likely a blend of the traditional varieties such as Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre or Cinsault grapes. Yum yum!

http://gerardbertrand.blogspot.com

Let’s toast to a wonderful 2010 ahead!