Wine Scent Kits: Seriously?

So you know-somethings will prolly have already heard of wine scent kits, but for the rest of us know-nothings, let me give you the run down. It's a wee box, full of wee vials of 'aromas' found in wine (ie.vanilla, rose, lavender etc..), along with a bunch of flash cards and guide book. There are several companies who make wine scent kits, but they're all basically the same (the one pictured above, Le Nez du Vin, seems to be the most popular. Why is it when people try to make things sound fancy, they say it in French? Why not Italian? Hungarian? Greek? Does 'Il Naso del Vino' not sound fancy enough? And doesn't it all translate to "The nose of wine"? Do French people find this hilarious? Inquiring minds want to know!). And what will this box 'o smells cost you? Try $400.00. Yup.

Call me a cheap wine know-nothing, but methinks this is a grown up version of smelly-stickers: a scented little something to collect, but ultimately a waste of money. I'd rather spend that money on actual wine.

For Pete's sake, if I want to know what cilantro, or vanilla, or apples smell like, I'll go look in my cupboard! If I can't remember what a rose or lavender smells like, maybe my nose is so dead that I'd never become serious about wine in the first place. There's a world of smells out there--for cheap or free!

In fact, learning about all of this has inspired me to do some nose training. Happily, I have a husband who imports and wholesales spices. Marvellous. I'll start there. I'll create a little test for myself and let you know how it goes.

Smell ya later,

Barb

Supertaster test!

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Barb, why is your tongue blue?" Have I been licking the sky? Giving blowjobs to Smurfs? Overdosing on Slushies? No, NO and no. I have been doing the Supertaster Test.

What is a supertaster? It's a person who has lots and lots of papillae on their tongue, which makes their sense of taste more acute. Makes sense. Thirty-five or more papillae in a 7mm hole radius makes you a supertaster (less than 15 and you're an undertaster).

The at home supertaster test sounds easy. Swab some blue food colouring on your tongue near the front, put one of those binder page reinforcer stickers on your tongue and count the number of papillae on your tongue (the blue dye makes those little pink bumps easier to see).

If you're going to take this test, let me give you some words of advice. Do not do this in your newly cleaned kitchen, as you will get blue dye on your counter, which will probably stay there forever. Also, do not try and discipline your children whilst taking the supertaster test, as they will not take you seriously if you're yakking at them with a blue tongue. Also also, make sure that half the lightbulbs in your bathroom are not burnt out/missing, as you will look foolish squinting at yourself, mouth agape, trying to count those invisible tongue bumps.

In the end I had to get my sharp-eyed son to do the count. We have no binder-reinforcer sticker thingies, so I used a piece of 3 hole paper and placed it over my tongue. The hole in the piece of paper is a few mm. bigger than the size required for the test, but it had to do. In the end, I had blue fingers, a blue tongue, a blue counter, a 50 papillae count and a bewildered son. Not sure how accurate my son's bump count was in this very scientific test, but I'll go with it.

Gotta go. The Smurfs are on.

'Til next time,

B.

Humble dinner, nothing really...

Just look at that coq au vin. Doesn't it make you want to just leap through the screen and gobble up every little bit? It was just that good, kittens, no lie. And my first time making it too! Seriously, if you've never made coq au vin, you should. It's not hard. It's actually kind of humble. And while you're hovering over your stovetop, slowly reducing the fragrant concoction of wine, chicken stock, herbs and butter into a delicious sauce, you can giggle and natter away with a friend over a glass of wine (or two). This is an excellent way to spent a late Sunday afternoon. Don't take my word for it, do it next week and you'll see. Also, I think all of that steamy wine vapour that billows upwards from the sautee pan is good for your complextion (not really, but you can use that as your excuse as you greedily huff the wine-scented steam with your face 8" from the burner).

So traditionally you'd fill your glass with Burgundy to wash down your coq au vin. I would have settled for any nice Pinot Noir, French or otherwise. Fat chance. There were 3--count 'em, THREE--varieties of Pinot Noir available at our crummy LCBO. How sad is that? More Cabernet Sauvignon than you could wave a manure-filled cow horn at, but Pinot Noir? Forget it, dream on. This seriously gives me the grumpies. Curse you, LCBO! I settled for a bottle of Merlot/Pinot Noir blend called Flourish. A 2009 vintage on sale for $10, I didn't have high hopes. The picture on the bottle was pretty though. I scooped up another bottle as a backup plan: Montsant Latria 2006 from Spain.




Thank goodness for the backup plan. Flourish was an ultra purple syrup suitable for treating chest congestion. Seriously, I've never seen a wine so Crayola purple! Not yummy. Phleh.

The Latria, however, was totally yummy. A blend of Grenache and Carignan, it was a nice balance of fruit and spice. It reminded me of rhubarb chutney. This would be a very good choice for Thanksgiving, people, and only around $18 to boot, so hustle your gustle to the store and buy some before it all goes away.

Good news sweetie peaches! Karen and I are definately road tripping to Niagara's wine region a week from Tuesday. Squeee! Those empty spots on my wine rack will be plugged in with some of the best Ontario has to offer. Colour me happy!

'Til next time!

B.

Hello Mystery Wine..

So here it is, my sweetie peaches. The last of the Cambridge 5. I tucked it into the fridge tonight before leaving on a 5 hour outing to an laser tag/arcade/glow in the dark mini golf/money-hoovering gameland in Barrie, complete with a car full of boys (it's my son's 10th birthday today). I thought to myself, "Self, you may need a glass of wine when this was all over." Truth be told, the boys were all very good--excited and silly, but good--however I still earned that glass of wine at the end. And why shouldn't I have a toast? My boy is 10! I've been a mother for ten years! This is something to celebrate, non?

This last of the 5 was a bit of a mystery. The name: Il Coroncino Fattoria 2007. Not a word of English on the label. 100% Italian. No matter, I jumped in and this is what I found: lovely golden yellow colour; an acidity that snakes right up your nose; aromas of apple, apricot, nectarine and lime. Taste was wah-hoo! Racy, acidic, limey, slightly bitter but not in a totally unpleasant way. I figured right away it wanted something fatty to go with it, so I rummaged through the fridge for a piece of cheese and ahhh..that's much nicer. It was, for me, the Corona of wines. I so wish to enjoy this wine on a hot day at the beach, preferably in Capri, where it is served to me by a handsome shirtless man named Marcello.

Still, the grape was a question mark, so I had to dig a little further. What the hell grape is this? Turns out, it's Verdicchio; an Italian variety that has a classic bitter almond taste. Okay, now I know what bitter almonds taste like.

Now that the 5 are gone--le sigh--I'll have to turn my attentions elsewhere. I'm very much hoping to sniff out another lovely, delicate Pinot Noir, as I had in the Belle Pente Yamhill-Carlton 2007. I called the CBC yesterday when their visiting wine expert, Konrad Ejbich, was answering listener's wine questions. I explained to Konrad my Pinot Noir conumdrum--mainly I'm having a damned hard time finding one I like--and he recommended the Long Dog Winery's Otto. So, methinks a roadtrip is in my future. I've been in touch with Victoria at Long Dog, and she promises barrel tastings of their 2008 and 2009 vintages! Squeeee! I've never been to a barrel tasting!! Oh I'm wiggly to go!!

Another promising thing on the horizon is my sister goes to San Francisco in October. She very generously offered to share accommodations if I wanted to tag along; alas economics stand in my way. But, knowing her wily ways, I have no doubt she will procure a few bottles and sneak them across the border. And whilst in Californ-i-eh, she is more than welcome to guest blog as she tastes her way through bottles of grape and sunshine.

My boy is in bed, my girl is sleeping over at Grandma's, and my husband waits patiently for me while I finish up here. I'll get him to take his shirt off and serve me another glass of that wine. I just hope he doesn't mind if I call him Marcello.

Ciao!

B.

Your treat for the day..

As I likely won't be drinking any wine today, I decided to treat myself--and you all--to something else.



You're welcome.

*le sigh*

Ta

An anti-climactic end (sort of)

Tonight we dined at Chez Maurice, and totally stoked to do so because Beef Bourguignon was on the menu. I'd never had Beef Bourguignon, but as it was being made by a superior cook (Mlle. Karen)and the recipe calls for 3 cups of Pinot Noir, I knew it would be an instant favourite. And so it was! Karen never disappoints in the kitchen. I suggested we should have our husbands shack up together and she could just move in with me. She's all aboard with that, except I think I'll have to retract my offer. If I lived with Karen I'd be 500 lbs. in no time. Sorry Karen. Unless you want me to be scooter bound, washing myself with a rag on a stick, you'll have to stay put (for now).

Of course the preferred wine with Beef Bourguignon is red Burgundy, and 'le shock' I just happened to have one that travelled home with me from Quebec. I was so tickled, wandering through the SAQ Selection in Montreal, marvelling at the Latours and Margauxs and Rothchilds, amazed at the sheer quantity of fine wine. Average bottle price ran around $250. Le ouch. So when I picked up a bottle of Bouchard Pere & Fils 2006 Premier Cru Pommard, I was tickled to find such a deal--$64.50 on sale for $50! But beware my little kittens, not every deal is all that it's cracked up to be.

Don't you just hate it--HATE IT--when you have real, wiggly, high expectations for a bottle of wine, and it turns out to be a dud? What a let down. I wrote notes directly on the bottle with a sharpie. First sniff: Dead ringer for cherry-kool-aid. Second sniff: Cherries. Tasted of--you guessed it--cherries, but was accompanied with this bitter grapefruit/citrus that was for me, unpleasant. Tangy and fruity, it had none of the lovely underlying spicy pepperiness that I've come to expect from Pinot Noir. A bad bottle, perhaps? I don't know. I just know that next time I'll be more cautious about what the wine store is pushing out the door.

Turning the page, I'm working on a wine bucket list. You know, stuff to try before I die. Do you have any life changing wines that I need to put on my list? Then speak up! Life is short, and I've got lots of drinking to do!

'Til next time,

Barb

Wine makes me better..

True dat.

B.

Check out these Wiccans of Wine..

I've read a bit about biodynamic winemaking in Natalie MacLean's 'Red, White and Drunk All Over'. There are those winemakers who take a mystical approach to managing their vineyards, burying cow horns full of manure every 3 ft. under the full moon and so on and so forth. Methinks it's their organic approach that makes their wine yummy (everything organic tastes better, non?), rather than magical vortexs. Watch the following clip and decide for yourself:

Bien Oui! Drinking in Quebec.

Well aren't I the cosmopolitan kitten? I've just come back from 4 days in la Belle Provence, and oh me oh my they are sophistimicated. I felt like a rube wandering the streets of Montreal, where they're all high-heels and blown-out hair. I was all sneakers and jean jacket, and had mustard on my nose all afternoon after enjoying a gianormous corned beef sandwich for lunch. What can I say? I'm a classy lassie. But forget that-- the wine, people, the wine! Lord the French are clever. Good wine is everywhere, and in between my meanderings on narrow cobblestone streets, I managed to sample 4 wines that were new to me. I might have had more, but I was travelling with a non-drinker (my mother) who thinks all wine smells like paint thinner, and she doesn't egg me on the way my wine-drinking friends do.

So dinner on night one was just a bunch of stuff thrown together, you know roast suckling pig marinated a l'orange, barley risotto with mushroom and asparagus. And with what did I wash down this humble offering? Try Baron Phillipe de Rothschild Merlot (no vintage provided, but who cares)! By the glass! For $10! I know!! I'm guessing you've jumped up and started packing a bag for Montreal, but finish my blog first. Hilariously, it was brought in a giant footed water glass and filled to within a centimeter of the rim. For reals. God I love the French. Seeing as the glass was very full, there was no swirling and sniffing lest I ruin the white table linens, but basically it was what you would expect: beautifully balanced, ripe red fruit without being too juicy, probably the Merlot that all Merlots aspire to. Delicieux!

Dinner the following night was in St. Foy at Le Manoir du Spaghetti. This is no cheesy spagetti factory people. This is pasta heaven. I alternatingly stuffed the most delicious seafood linguine into my face and slurped up two wines: Mission Hill Pinot Blanc before dinner, and Castello di Gabbiano Chianti (no vintages given on the wine menu).

The Pinot blanc was a bit of a surprise. I chose it because I'd never tried this grape before, and because I remembered how much I enjoyed Mission Hill's Pinot Noir. Our waiter said it was 'refreshing'. I wouldn't quite put it in the refreshing category, but it was a sunshine-filled white that screamed orange/yellow fruit (peaches! apricot! pineapple!). Not a trace of oak. Sweet, but not cloyingly so. This is one of those wines that could potentially convert non-wine drinkers.

The chianti was soo good. Black fruit, not too acidic for my taste, I'm guessing 13-14% alcohol. I don't know why I don't drink more chianti. It was easy drinking and I was sorry when it was gone. Incidentally, dinner for two with those two big glasses of wine was around a very modest $60. God I love the French.

Our last dinner was had in an adorable tourist trap-area of Quebec City. I tried to convince mom we should dine at la Lapin Saute, but she refused to eat anywhere where they served rabbit, so instead we ended up at Le Cochon Dingue. I figured since this was as close to Paris as I'm going to get, I'd have the Steak Frites. I order 350mls of Ste Croix 2008, a blend that no one had any clue about other than it came from Quebec. I taste or two told me it was Grenache with a bit of Syrah. It was the right choice for steak anyway. Quite tangy, and probably would have liked a little airing out before drinking. No matter I drank it anyway. It came generously poured into this adorable glass bottle. Too adorable!

Technically, that's not the end of my French wine adventure, as I bought a bottle of wine at the SAQ in Montreal. But that my petite chou-chous is for next time.

Au revoir for now!

*kiss kiss*

B.

Totally should have been my gig.

Check out this woman, who has THE BEST JOB EVER. Man, that totally should have been my gig. Well done, madame, well done.


NakedWineShow1063-Domaine Antugnac Pinot Noir 2008
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Shame on Me

Shame, shame double shame. Well, not really, because I'm pretty sure I'm incapable of feeling shame, but you get the gist of what I'm saying. Shame for not posting. My wine loving groupies, you must have thought I'd given up wine and moved on to the next thing. Not true. Sort of true. Definitely not drinking as much wine lately as the summer found me busy as a Japanese beaver and fussing over my waistline. But after tonight I say dammit! Damn it all to heck! Because good food and good wine are what makes life extra lovely. So I'll just waggle my behind a little harder up the street on non-wine drinking days, and indulge guiltlessly on the days I do tipple. Because life is short, and there's so much good wine to be had!!! Do I hear an amen?!

I have been thinking about the wine blog over the last few weeks. See?


Now darlings, this is what becomes of your wine journal when you've had one glass too many. Notes on this wine are actually 4 pages long; this was one of the more entertaining pages. Sadly, this is the Chianti that Lorri brought home from Cambridge. We enjoyed it two weeks ago at Karen's poolside, and instead of blogging about it diligently I flopped my pen about paper in my goofy state and took haphazard notes that does no one any good. I didn't even note where the wine was from for cripe's sakes! Oh bad me! Bad, bad, bad me! Lorri, you're reading this I know, and I'm sorry. Not only did I drink this wine without Eileen's permission, I can't even blog about it properly.

So, I'm not making that mistake with the next wine, which is the 4th of the 5 wines that came home with my sister. Tonight we had Steve and Karen over for a dinner of Herbes de Provence chicken, roasted garlic new potatoes and Trevor's spectacular Caesar salad. What did I wash this gastronomic masterpiece down with? Les Aphillanthes L'Ancestrale du Puits 2007 Cairanne, a Cotes de Rhone Villages which went sooo perfectly with our meal. Decanted for about 2 hours before drinking, there is a lightness to this wine; you would be surprised after trying it to learn it's 14.5% alcohol, because it doesn't taste hot. I expected this wine to be a little more muscle-bound. I taste Grenache, but not Syrah. I suspect there's Mouvedre in there. Creme Caramel, tobacco, black fruit are the first flavours that jump out at me. Definitely an understated wine. It lifted the flavours of our meal nicely. Le sigh. Content.

FYI remember that mind blowing Pinot Noir from Oregon I tried last time? I contacted the winery; there are no wine distributors who carry Belle Pente wines in Ontario. This is a travesty! I peeked at the LCBO's special order page; they advise that prices per bottle go up THREE TO FOUR TIMES their price in their home country, due to THEIR MARK UP. They actually baldly admit that on their site. So that $35/bottle (U.S) suddenly becomes unreachable. What the hell? Really? Seriously? I mean, is this a communist freaking country? I can't import my favourite bottle of wine from the States without the government rubbing their grubby, greedy selves all over it? For crying out loud, it's not like I'm importing nuclear warheads or heroin. I'm a wine lover for cripes sakes! And I'm being penalized for it! Time for a revolution, my loves. We'll call ourselves Friends of the Noble Grape. We'll wear berets and meet in secret rooms, smoking cigarettes from extra-long cigarette holders. We'll wear red lipstick and have code names like 'Purple Rose' and 'Terroir Hund'. We'll plot the demise of a dictatorial government that restrains our liberty and right to enjoy good wine. And we'll start just as soon as I finish this glass.

xoxo

Til next time

B.