Weekend in Woodinville - Part 3 of 3

Words and Photos by Liam Carrier
Edited by Sheila MacCallum

Novelty Hill/Januik

The first boutique winery on our itinerary was the joint venture Novelty Hill/Januik. The two firms share the same winemaker, Mike Januik, who was head winemaker at Chateau Ste-Michelle for ten years prior to leaving in 1999. The partnership is handy for a winemaker who, as a result, can increase his resources and production while showcasing his own label. The two wine lists are heavy with Washington State’s signature grape, Cabernet Sauvignon. Both lists offer single-vineyard terroir-driven wines, as well as blends and entry-level labels. The distinction between the two independent wineries, who share a production facility and tasting room, is in how they source their grapes. Januik wines are made from grapes sourced from select Columbia Valley vineyards; Novelty Hill relies primarily on grapes grown on its estate vineyard, Stillwater Creek.

By this point in the day, my wife was done with wine tasting. However, she found something else at the winery to satisfy her taste buds, something more precious and appealing to her palate than wine: pizza. On the day we visited the tasting room, the winery was offering stone-oven baked pizza as a lunch specialty. She enjoyed most of the pepperoni pizza, while I tasted wine for a $10 fee:

Novelty Hill 2005 Merlot – Columbia Valley. - $22
92% Merlot; 6% Cabernet Sauvignon; 2% Petit Verdot. 87pts.

Novelty Hill 2006 Sangiovese – Stillwater Creek Vineyard. - $25
95% Sangiovese, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. Paired nicely with our pizza. 86pts.

Januik 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon – Champoux Vineyard. - $50
Wine Advocate rated the '05, '04, ’03, ’02 and ’01 vintages 93 pts, 93 pts, 94 pts, 91 ptsand 95 pts, respectively. 92pts.

Januik 2006 Reserve Red. - $65
90% Cabernet Sauvignon; 7% Cabernet Franc; 3% Malbec; 2% Merlot. Wellstructured and balanced. This wine should age nicely with its high tannins and acidity. 93pts.

Brian Carter Cellars

We finished our Woodinville wine-tasting adventure at the smallest of the day’s wineries: Brian Carter Cellars. This was a wonderful way to end the day, as BCC strive for quality over quantity, making nothing but blends - thisadds uniqueness to the tasting experience compared to a standard winery that would offer both blends and varietal-specific wines. Many of the blends mimic famous regional specialties, but the flavours are pure Washington.

BCC uses grapes sourced from a number of different vineyards in Eastern Washington and creates a number of familiar blends: Bordeaux, white Rhone Valley, Chateauneuf-du-Pape and Super-Tuscan. When we visited they were tasting four wines, but, sadly, not their flagship Bordeaux blend “Solesce”, whose current release is from the 2005 vintage and retails for $58.00.

At BCC I tasted:

2006 Oriana - $24
This is the winery’s take on a Rhone Valley white blend of 45% Viognier and 35% Roussanne with 20% Riesling added to aid the acidity and aromatic notes. This is a lovely wine full of apple blossoms, apricots and tangerines; would pair nicely with spicy seafood. 89pts.

2006 Tuttorosso - $30
69% Sangiovese, 19% Cabernet Sauvignon and 12% Syrah. Floral and berry notes, medium-bodied pleaser with a spicy finish. Pair with pizza or tomato-sauce pasta. 90pts.

2005 Byzance - $30
This is BBC’s take on a Chateauneuf-du-Pape blend of 57% Grenache, 22% Syrah, and 21% Mourvedre. Lots of spicy notes with a good balance of tannins and acidity. A satisfying long finish. 90pts.

2005 L’Etalon - $30
A Bordeaux-style blend of 55% Merlot, 28% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc and 7% Malbec. Layers of dark fruits, chocolate, leather, licorice with balanced tannins and acidity. This wine should age nicely for many years. Pair with your favourite cut of red meat when you pull it out of the cellar. 91pts.

In Conclusion

The Seattle/Woodinville wine region has a wide variety of wines and wineries to offer the consumer. It is a unique wine tasting experience for any enthusiast used to visiting Estate Wineries (like those from the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia). Other wine regions could learn from this “bring not only the wine but the winery experience to the people” mentality. However, not all Washington producers follow this model, including some of the top Estate Wineries.

I very much look forward to my next trip to the Woodinville wine region as I only scratched the surface this time. There are many top producers that I have yet to visit, and many of the best wines that I have yet to taste – what a happy thought! I do have more anniversaries, both traditional and made-up, to celebrate in the years to come.

With the alcohol limit of 1.5 liters per person (with a 48-hour or longer visit to the U.S.A.) we were limited to bringing two bottles each home to Vancouver, BC. Having tried lots of great wine at the wineries we visited, I would have loved to have come back with a case or more, especially of the Brian Carter beauties. However, not wanting to break any laws, we stuck to the legal limit. Here’s what we bought for the cellar:

· One bottle of the fantastic and well-priced L’Etalon from Brian Carter Cellars, purchased direct, at the winery, so my tasting fee would be waved.
· One bottle of the spice-fest Byzance for $24.99, purchased at the Burlington Costco at a savings of $5 from the winery price.
· Two bottles of the 95-point scoring Flora Springs 2005 Trilogy for $39.99 each - also purchased at Costco.

Full-disclosure: the bottles of Flora Springs have nothing to do with the wineries in this article. They were simply too good a deal to pass up. Having visited Napa Valley’s Flora Springs earlier in the year and not being able to secure this fantastic wine, I was eager to add the bottles of Trilogy to my collection. Hopefully, this purchase will be a success story for The Cellar Experiment. - LC

Below are links to all of the wineries I visited on this trip:

http://www.ste-michelle.com/
http://www.columbiawinery.com/
http://www.noveltyhillwines.com/
http://januikwinery.com/
http://www.briancartercellars.com/

Weekend in Woodinville - Part 2 of 3

Words and Photos by Liam Carrier
Edited by Sheila MacCallum

Chateau Ste-Michelle

The first winery on the tour was the iconic Chateau Ste-Michelle, Washington State’s oldest winery. We visited their appealing Chateau and took the free tour of the on-site facility that produces the winery’s white wines. (The red wines are made closer to where the grapes are grown in Eastern Washington, at their Canoe Ridge Estate.)

Navigating the selection of brands that Chateau Ste-Michelle produces can be a bit daunting. They make everything from entry-level whites and reds to single-vineyard terroir-driven wines. They also have a couple of interesting partnerships with two formidable European houses: Germany’s Dr. Loosen (the “Eroica” Riesling) and Italy’s Familia Antinori (the “Col Solera” super-Tuscan).

We tasted three wines as part of the tour. Sadly, they were not pouring the two partnership wines; Col Solera and Eroica.

Sadly, they were not pouring the Col Solera or the Eroica, but we did taste three wines as part of our tour:

2007 Indian Wells Chardonnay – Oak-aged Chard with tropical fruit flavours.
2003 Columbia Valley Syrah – Muted fruit flavours with Viognier and Cincault added to the final blend.
2007 Columbia Valley Muscat Canelli. Semi-sweet sipper with nectarine/apricot flavors.

I didn’t have enough time to fully score and review these wines, but I will say that the Muscat and Chardonnay impressed us (as did the friendly guide who took us on the tour, despite his excessive use of the word “especially”). However, the Syrah was bland and disappointing, an example of a unfortunate trend at some wineries to refer to their muted-palate Shiraz as “in the French style” and label it a “Syrah”, ignoring the fact that with a syrah, you still need to deliver a complexity of flavours.

Chateau Ste-Michelle has a great patio area near the entrance to the wine shop which gets lots of sun on a good day. They also have lovely picnic spots around the property, should you plan ahead and bring your own food. Looking at the hot, sunny patio we decided to buy a bottle of the 2007 Viognier and sit down to enjoy it in the sunshine.

The Chateau Ste-Michelle 2007 Viognier ($17) is a happy little wine out to please. It has crisp tropical flavours with just a touch of spice and residual acid. 25% is barrel fermented, adding a bit of gold to the colour and melon to the palate. An enjoyable summer sipper. Pair with seafood or a hot patio. 85pts.

Columbia Winery

We re-corked the Viognier from Chateau Ste-Michelle after consuming half of the bottle, to save our senses for the rest of the wines we would taste that day. We didn’t have far to go. Across the street from the Chateau Ste-Michelle gate is the entrance to Columbia Winery, which is currently undergoing renovations to revamp its tasting room and event facilities.
Columbia Winery sources their grapes from numerous vineyards east of the Cascade Mountains and like, Chateau Ste-Michelle, produces an array of brands ranging from their entry-level “Core Series” to their “Vineyard-Designate” wines from the Red Willow, Otis and Wyckoff vineyards.

At Columbia we tasted:

Yakima Valley 2007 Viognier - $26.00
Slight oaky and tropical fruit flavours with some spice and mineral notes. Tasty, but over-priced. 86pts.

Wyckoff Vineyard 2005 Chardonnay - $20.00
Lightly oaked Chard with apple, citrus and mineral flavours. 84pts.

Otis Vineyard 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon - $28.00
95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot blend. Medium garnet colour. Cassis and cherry notes with good tannins and acidity. Restrained flavours and subtle layers. Still developing. 88pts.

Red Willow Vineyard 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon - $30.00
95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Malbec blend. Dark garnet core with vanilla, berry and pencil shaving notes. Full tannins and acidity. Shows good promise with more time to mellow. 90pts.

Red Willow Vineyard 2002 Syrah - $30.00
3% Viognier. Nicely matured Syrah ready to drink now. Pepper and smoke flavours with a lengthy finish. 88pts.

Tasting the Red Willow Cabernet Sauvignon side-by-side with the Otis Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon is an exercise in the difference terroir makes on any grape variety. Both vineyards have old plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon, both have steep southern slopes and sandy soils; however, the Otis vineyards yield wines that are more challenging and best enjoyed with food, whereas the Red Willow product is more accessible, with bold flavours that can be enjoyed solo. Discover for yourself which single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon you love best and experiment freely. There are many examples in Washington to choose from. - LC

In Part 3 we visit:

Novelty Hill/Januik

Brian Carter Cellars

Weekend in Woodinville - Part 1 of 3

Written by Liam Carrier
Edited by Sheila MacCallum

A Weekend Away

To celebrate the only-important-to-newlyweds milestone of six-months of marriage, my wife and I went on a weekend trip in June 09’. We weren’t celebrating six months because we thought it unlikely that we would make it that far, but rather because the date landed on a Friday and it gave us a nice excuse to plan a weekend away, something we rarely do. Also, due to a fantastic engagement party that my mother had organized to which everyone had brought a bottle of wine for us to consume when special conditions have been met, we had a nice bottle of champagne to be opened on the occasion of our six-month anniversary. Why not plan a trip around that?

And so we found ourselves at Tulalip Casino & Resort, in Washington State, about two hours south down the I-5 from Vancouver, BC or roughly thirty minutes north from Seattle. This resort caters to gamblers and shoppers with a 200,000 sq. ft. casino floor and adjacent outlet mall. Not big gamblers, I was eager to use the hotel primarily as a staging area for my assault on Washington State wineries, and my wife was eager to shop.

My goal for the trip was to visit two large wineries (Chateau Ste-Michelle and Columbia Winery) and two smaller boutique wineries (Novelty Hill/Januik and Brian Carter Cellars). (I would have loved to visit more wineries, but I had made a compromise with my wife: equal time for shopping and wineries.)

However, every trip to the US demands a visit to Costco, the world’s single largest wine buyer. Driving down from Vancouver on the Friday afternoon we had made said obligatory stop to the Costco near Burlington, WA. Prior to the trip I had done my research to choose which WA wineries we would visit on the Saturday, and I wanted to see if Costco carried any of their wines. I wasn’t disappointed.

The Burlington Costco carries two of these wineries including three of their signature wines:

Chateau Ste-Michelle 2005 Col Solare - $54.99 US
Chateau Ste-Michelle 2007 Eroica Riesling - $19.99 US
Brian Carter Cellars 2005 Byzance - $24.99 US.

Instead of purchasing the above wines on reputation alone, we decided to purchase a couple bottles that we were more familiar with for our evening consumption. These were:

Francis Ford Coppola 2006 Black Label Claret – $14.99 US. This claret is a beautiful Bordeaux blend, rich in colour and aroma. Strong tannins do not distract from the taste but do shorten the finish slightly. 89pts.

Edge 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon - $15.99 US. Edge is Signorello Vineyard’s entry-level Cabernet Sauvignon and a big seller north of the border. This is a Napa Valley Cab Sauvignon charmer. 89pts.

Both of these wines retail around the $30 mark in Canada - how lucky the Americans are to drink such good wines at the $14-$17 price point!

When we arrived on the Friday night we also enjoyed our bottle of champagne, Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve, to celebrate our “anniversary”. This was fabulous champagne, full of citrus and melon aromas with comforting yeast notes. Crisp lemon zest and mineral flavours with a pleasing long finish. 91pts. -LC

In Part 2 we visit:

Chateau Ste-Michelle

Columbia Winery

Winnipeg Wine Scene? - Part 2

Winnipeg Wine

There is one local wine producer based in Winnipeg: DD Leobard Winery. This winery specializes in fruit wines and are known for a curious little oddity called Tansi (Birch Wine) made from fermenting the sap of the birch trees.

Tasting notes: Semi-sweet wine. On the nose: light bouquet of damp, freshlycut wood. On the palate, mild fruit flavours, low acidity. For a full review of this wine, please visit our sister site: http://www.iconscores.blogspot.com/
DD Leobard have stated that they are working on two new table wines made from outsourced grapes, essentially, blends made from imported juice concentrates. For more information about this winery, visit their site: www.ddleobardwinery.com/

Wine Lists

Many Winnipeg restaurants do have decent wine lists, but few had much more than house wines or one white and one red for by-the-glass sampling. Even a couple of the restaurants using “Wine Bar” as part of their marketing had very few options for by-the-glass. On the plus side, the use of the term “Wine bar” in these restaurants’ marketing material would indicate that they are starting to realize that interest in wine is on the rise, but they must produce the goods or remove the word ‘wine’.
Our favourite night out came in an area of Winnipeg called Osbourne Village. This neighbourhood is home to many of the city’s young and not-so-young hipsters who patronize the many restaurants, bars and funky shops. The area is also home to the city’s two true wine bars: Noir, and Fude. Noir () had an impressive by-the-glass wine list (impressive in length if not in quality). They offer wine flights, which is a fun way to try more wines than you normally might in one visit. Fude (www.fude.ca/) is slightly more of a restaurant but did have a good selection of by-the-glass wines and small plates to nibble on.

Where to Buy

Manitoba’s provincial liquor board authority has outlets all over the city which offer a reasonable selection of wines priced in the $10 - $25 range. Sadly, the name they came up with for these stores was “Liquor Mart” because nothing says “fine vintage wine” like “Liquor Mart”. In fairness, the name appeals to the majority of Winnipeg consumers who aren’t purchasing wine but, rather, are choosing from a large selection of spirits and beer. Many of the Liquor Marts do have small “Vintages” sections where they showcase a few premium import wines, and a few stores also had a premium Canada section with some of the top brands from Vincor and Peller Andrews.
I was able to locate only one private wine store during my stay. Luckily, it was a good one. Fenton’s Wine Merchants is located in tourist area called “The Forks”. This area is a fun place to spend a day or afternoon and offers a public market, restaurants, live entertainment and antique shops. Fenton’s has a great selection of Californian, Spanish, French and Italian wines and was reasonably priced. I picked up a fine Francis Ford Coppola Pinot Noir which I had to consume right away since I could not bring it home due to Canada’s antiquated liquor laws.

In Conclusion

There is no denying that Winnipeg is a beer and spirits city. However, if the younger generation frequents restaurants like Osborne Village’s Noir and Fude more often, and the wine festival continues to increase attendance year after year, there is hope in Winnipeg’s future for a true wine scene to develop.. As I will undoubtedly be revisiting Winnipeg for family obligations in the years to come, here’s hoping. - LC

Winnipeg Wine Scene? - Part 1

Winnipeg, Manitoba

Whenever I travel to a new city I am always curious to investigate the local wine scene and see what, if anything, stands out. Such was my goal for my recent trip to Winnipeg, Manitoba (July 2009). The impetus for the trip was to meet more of my wife’s extended family based in Canada’s central-most provinces. Manitoba, to a west coaster like me, seems more like the centre of the country than a western cousin until you visit the province and recognize the same laid-back approach to life that we are accustomed to in Vancouver.

Manitoba may be the land of 100,000 lakes, but the area around Winnipeg is pure prairie. You can literally see for miles and miles - a unique experience for someone used to mountains in every direction.

The province has a short and (normally) very hot growing season which is not ideal for growing grapes but is ideal for growing fruit. 2009 has been a bad summer for sunlight hours, which will lead to many crops ripening very late. The effect on the province’s fruit wine producers remains to be seen.

Winnipeg is the cultural and economic capital of the Manitoba and is by far, its largest city with over 600,000 residents. A few of them drink wine… but more on that a bit later.

To determine if the city you are exploring has a wine scene, you must first establish your evaluation criteria.. For me, a fair standard would be: a yearly wine festival, the existence of a local wine industry, long and diverse restaurant wine lists and the ability of the city’s residents to purchase a wide variety of wines.. With those being the criteria, Winnipeg scores on all counts. However, to be fair to the fine wine cities of the world, it scores pretty low.

Wine Festival

The yearly Winnipeg wine festival runs in May and is attended by the city’s glitterati and wine enthusiasts. The six-day festival offers many different tasting events to attend. Some are perennially booked and others are one-off specials. This year the festival chose to set as the theme for the festival “The Wines of Chile.” Thirty wineries from Chile were showcased including these Chilean stand-outs: Luis Felipe Edwards, Miguel Torres Chile and Concha y Toro. For more information about the Winnipeg Wine Festival, visit their website: www.winnipegwinefestival.com/

continued...

The Spittoon List - Part 1: Regions

The Spittoon List... Part 1: Regions

The idea of The Spittoon List is to write down the wines and wine regions that you want to drink and visit before you die. It's a challenge to yourself to fulfill the items on your list... anyway you can. Maybe you can't purchase a bottle of 2005 CH Mouton Rothschild, but you can purchase a ticket to Bordeaux tasting at your local fine wine shop. Any way you can...

Here's our list: The Regions

• France - Bordeaux


• France - Burgundy


• Italy - Tuscany


• Italy - Piedmont


• Chile - Central Coast


• Australia - McLaren Valley


• Australia - Barossa Valley


• Argentina - Mendoza


• USA - Santa Barbara


• Canada - Nova Scotia

Regions that we have already been able to visit:

• France - Alsace


• USA - Napa Valley


• USA - Sonoma Valley


• Canada - Okanagan Valley


• Canada - Niagara Peninsula

What's on your list?

Trip to Alsace - Part 5

Words and Photos by Liam Carrier
Edited by Sheila MacCallum

Colmar By Night


Colmar was founded in the 9th century but its physical allure is rooted in its well-preserved 17th century architecture, a preservation due to the town’s remarkable ability to have avoided major damage during the French Revolution and other wars through the centuries. This has made Colmar’s old town a Mecca for tourists. Be sure to try out your French (or German) to begin a conversation with the locals who mange the town’s many shops, as this will unlock the natural charisma the French possess. You’ll get brownie points for the effort, even if they respond to you in English. In one such exchange with a friendly French-only speaking wine shop owner, my wife and I were introduced to a small producer we’d never heard of whose grapes nonetheless came from a Grand Cru level vineyard near Riquewihr. We might never have found this vintner had we not approached the shopkeeper with our broken French. Courage! Toujours Courage!

There are beautiful canals that circle the old town area and form districts within; all are worth exploring. The very centre of the old town is where you will find the greatest concentration of restaurants and shops that feature wines, cheeses and various regional charcuteries. There was even a mini “super-store” grocer that had an impressive selection of wines at very approachable prices. I picked up a Grand Vin du Sauternes for next to nothing.

Should you not have the time or resources to visit each producer’s tasting room or village then ordering wine by-the-glass in a Colmar pub or restaurant is a great way to sample the best the region has to offer. Each establishment that we visited had an impressive wine list that was not limited to Alsace or even French wines. However, there is something very satisfying about drinking a famous region’s wines in that region!

As our evening turned into night, the lights of the city came alive, allowing us to appreciate the effort the city has made to highlight their well-preserved buildings. The prominent steeple of Église Saint-Martin can be seen pointing to the sky, and the canals are treated to a light show worthy of a theme park without the kitsch (or animatronics figures). The old town has a bustling nightlife that never feels primitive or immature; it has a sense of sophisticated inebriation. That is not to say the town doesn’t have a few pubs that cater to the younger, louder, non-traditional crowd, but these are fun to visit as well, only adding to the balance of nightlife that keeps the town from being pompous and boring.

Our weekend trip in Alsace ended the following day with a swift drive north and back over the Rhine to Germany where I was to return to work in Heidelberg and my wife to Vancouver. Our trunk, while not full, was definitely enhanced with Alsace wine, ready to bring back home to our cellar. There the bottles now sit, perhaps waiting to be introduced to an unsuspecting wine novice invited over for dinner, convinced that they just don’t have the palate for wine….If they only knew what was waiting for them! - LC

(Photos by Liam Carrier - Copyright 2008)

Trip to Alsace - Part 4

Words and Photos by Liam Carrier
Edited by Sheila MacCallum

Colmar


Using our rental car’s GPS unit, we programmed in our next destination, Colmar, using the device’s “direct route” setting. This is the best option to avoid getting lost but to also have a bit of an adventure driving through a series of gorgeous small towns as the setting avoids the faster route of the highways.

As an aside, I do highly recommend a GPS unit if your Alsace trip involves a rental car. Although not perfect, it does help navigate the narrow, twisty roads of the country villages. Occasionally it will lead you astray - in one case our GPS’s pleasant voice cheerfully recommended a route through a restaurant. Apparently there was a road on the other side of it that we needed to get to. However, despite the occasional satellite confusion on our exact location I’m sure we’d still be in Alsace if it weren’t for our GPS companion.

Driving into Colmar for the first time is an alarming experience as the town’s outer sprawl has not maintained the charm of its original centre. However, once you get past all of the near ghetto-looking low apartments and budget shops you arrive at the most charming of city centres. Colmar’s old town is truly a diamond in the rough.

Bypassing the more expensive executive hotels near the old town centre we stayed at an agreeable Holiday Inn near the train station. This left us more money to spend on food and wine, which was the point of our trip. Arriving at 6 pm we quickly checked into our room, changed, and hurried out to explore the beautiful old town while we still had daylight. Little did we know that Colmar’s charm increases dramatically as the sun sets. - LC

Part Five

(Photos by Liam Carrier - Copyright 2008)

Trip to Alsace - Part 3

Words and Photos by Liam Carrier

Hugel et Fils

One of the top Alsace producers is Hugel et Fils (www.hugel.com/) whose store front is right in the centre of town on the main street. Hugel has been making wine in the Alsace region since 1639 and have a reputation of quality over quantity. They have skipped vintages of lesser quality to preserve this reputation and sold-off the grapes to other producers.

Hugel’s wine shop is very plain with no frills; the wines take centre stage. To accentuate this truth, the main decoration on the small tasting room is that of wine bottles of vintages past, bejeweled with the famous yellow Hugel label.

When we visited, the shop was manned by a very modern and hip twenty-something young man who explained to my wife and me that he was a university student from Strasbourg (the region’s capital city) working his way through school and unrelated to the Hugel family. I found him to be an interesting contrast to the rich history of the Hugel brand that has had continuous family participation for nearly 400 years. However, the more we spoke to him about the wines and Hugel’s process, the more I realized he reflected the company’s harmonious approach to blending traditional values with modern ingenuity.

Next door to the wine shop are the cellars where the wine is produced. Hugel produces four lines of wines Classic, Traditional, Jubilee and their premium brands; Selection de Grain Nobles (select reserve) & Vendage Tardive (late harvest). Each line is made from estate-grown grapes except the Classic line, which is made from grapes grown by local farmers on long-term contracts and sold to Hugel. Their wines are available in 100 countries worldwide including the United States and Canada. The Classic line will be the easiest to find; however for the true Grand Cru experience see if your local fine wine shop or liquor board can order from the Traditional or Jubilee lines.

My personal favorites are the Traditional Muscat, Jubilee Riesling and the Vendage Tardive Gerverstraminer. In my repeat trips to the region I’ve managed to stock my cellar with these much-loved wines. The finest Alsace wines will age much longer than traditional white wines, especially the late harvest wines. The star of my Hugel collection is a bottle of 1998 VT Gerverstraminer which I plan on cellaring until 2018. - LC

Part Four

(Photos by Liam Carrier - Copyright 2008)

Trip to Alsace - Part 2

Words and Photos by Liam Carrier
Edited by Sheila MacCallum

Riquewihr

Our first stop in Alsace was the little town of Riquewihr; resting comfortably in the foothills of the Vosges Mountains, watched intensely from above by a medieval castle. The beautiful mountain range lining the valley acts as the backflow of a crowning wave pulling you up from the valley floor below to explore its many treasures. The crown jewel is Riqewihr which, with its three Michelin-starred restaurants and famous wine train, should be explored with an empty stomach and at a leisurely pace.

The town’s narrow cobble-stoned streets are lined with buildings dated from the mid-16th century to mid-17th century. As with many old towns the buildings seem to lean towards the street below in a way that feels as if they are trying to shield you from the sky. It reminds you that anything that humans construct is, in part, as alive as the beings who constructed it. Of course, the same can be said for wine, and Riquewihr has plenty of wine.

Being a prime tourist destination with a large tour-bus-only parking area, Riquewihr could be expected to have lost its once authentic charm, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Sure, most small French villages can’t boast three Michelin-starred restaurants but the town has absorbed these tourist attractions so well that it seems as though they have always there.

Many wine and wine-friendly-comestibles shops line the main street smack in the middle of the medieval fortified walled village. The shops have an extensive list of Alsace wines available along with wines from the other major French regions. The prices can vary from shop to shop so you are encouraged to visit many and compare. However, for the true wine enthusiast experience I suggest visiting one of the producers who have set up shop in the village. - LC

Part Three

(Photos by Liam Carrier - Copyright 2008)

Trip to Alsace - Part 1

Words and Photos by Liam Carrier
Edited by Sheila MacCallum

My love affair with wine began 8 years ago much like my first foray into the world of dating; out of curiosity. What was all the fuss about? Well, after your first great kiss, you’re hooked.

Sometimes it takes a few tries; finding the right partner, because it’s not just any kiss that hooks you for life, but rather it’s that first knock-your-socks-off, time-stands-still kiss when you realize just what the fuss is all about.

The same goes for wine; it was not my first glass of mass-produced California “Chablis” at my uncle’s wedding when I was 20 that got me hooked on wine. That came 5 years later at a quiet dinner party amongst my mother’s friends in the form of a fine Alsace Riesling matched with spicy Thai food that awakened my curiosity. From that point on, I gradually sought out more challenging wines for my late-blooming palate and thus began my life-long love-affair with the noble nectar.

Today, my tastes range from old ports to Nouveau Beaujolais but the “gateway” wine that started my addiction, the white wines of Alsace, remains a sentimental favourite. How fitting then, that my first visit to the wine regions of France would be a weekend trip across the upper Rhine River from southern Germany into Alsace.

Driving into Alsace in the modern EU is far from ceremonial. A small plaque on the bridge we were traversing which spans the Rhine is the only sign that you have left Germany and entered its neighboring country; France. The only difference noted by my wife, the main driver in our relationship, was the existence of speed limits posted on the highway (the pleasures of driving in Germany deserve their own article).

The similarities of Alsace to that of southwestern Germany are due to a long history of the region having passed back and forth between the French and Germans. You will hear both languages spoken in the small villages around the valley, along with English in some of the higher tourist traffic areas. The wines, however, are far from similar despite the use of the same varietals.
On the German side of the Rhine you will easily find sweeter and lower-alcohol content whites. In Alsace the whites are dryer and more complex. For me, this complexity and the abundance of fruit aromas make the drinking of an Alsatian wine a very different experience from that of its German counterpart. - LC

Part Two

(Photos by Liam Carrier - Copyright 2008)