Weekend Wines II

Well, it's Friday today! Happy Friday to all you working folk out there - your weekend officially starts soon. In light of the fact that it's Friday today, I thought I would share three wines with you that I've tasted over the past few weeks. If you're trying to decide upon a bottle of wine to buy for the weekend - check out the rest of my post!

While camping in Jasper my mom and I tried a lovely 2009 Rose wine from Oregon called Jose's Rose. I actually chose this wine because it was one of the only bottles of wine in the Jasper liquor store that wasn't $40-50 per bottle! This one was around $18 per bottle in Jasper and probably about 3-5 dollars cheaper in any other liquor store! It was deliciously refreshing with a nice balance flavours.

The wine maker's tasting notes include the following:

Jose’s Rose. exhibits hues of a late summer sunset. This wine tickles the
nose with aromas of strawberries, cream and fresh cut watermelon. The
light-bodied mouth feel is fresh and fruity with flavors of citrus fruit
balanced by refreshingly crisp mouthwatering acidity. The clean finish
lingers while putting a blissful smile on your face.

This was one of my favorites - I would encourage you to try it if you can find it in your liquor store!

Next up was a wine brought over by a friend of my husband (this guy always brings great wine!) - it was a 2009 Kerner from Oliver Twist Estate Winery. I had never heard of a Kerner wine before and upon looking it up found that it was a blend of riesling and trollinger. I found this wine to be a little on the off-dry side - almost too sweet for me, but the flavours were lovely as was the aroma. This would be an excellent wine for beginner wine drinkers who like the sweeter taste and aren't yet accustomed to a drier wine.

The wine maker's tasting notes on this one include the following:

"Appealing to both white and red wine drinkers. This Kerner has a delicate
aroma, offering notes of exotic fruits, white peach and a hint of spice, with a
fruity finish. Pairs brilliantly with turkey or ham or simply chilled and sipped
on its own."

Next up was a small bottle of 2008 Optima from Quails Gate in the Okanagan Valley. Be advised - this is a sweet syrupy dessert wine. I actually had to mix mine because it was far too sweet for me to drink even a small glass on its own (but keep in mind that I prefer a much drier wine than this!). What I found interesting about this wine were the wine makers notes. I'll quote them below so I don't get any of it wrong, but this wine was actually the result of a fungus finding its way onto the grapes before they were harvested, which caused the grapes to become raisin-like and produce a very sweet juice for fermentation. Interesting that something this sweet could be the result of a fungus that would normally be perceived as a very negative thing!

Here are the wine maker's notes:

"Picked late in October, the Totally Botrytis Affected (TBA) Optima grapes
were foot-stomped in the picking bins to get the juice in contact with the skins
prior to pressing. The soft skinned grapes were thoroughly dehydrated from the
‘Botrytis Cinerea’ mold. This harmless fungus pierces the grape skins causing
the fruit to shrink and raisin, leaving the remaining juice naturally sweet.
After gentle pressing and cold settling in the tank, the juice was racked then
fermented cold over a 10 day period. The 2008 season provided good natural
acidity to balance the residual sweetness in this unique dessert wine."

And the wine maker's tasting notes:

"This succulent dessert wine exhibits a very aromatic profile of baked pear,
fig, orange and ripe citrus with a classic honey bees wax note derived from the
Botrytis mold. The palate is full of candied sweetness balanced by firm natural
acidity. Enjoy with créme brulee or soft, flavoured cow’s milk cheese."

If you enjoy a sweet wine and are looking for something to accompany your dessert course, this would be an excellent wine to try out!

I hope this post helps you in your choices for wine this weekend! I absolutely loved how different tasting each of these bottles of wine were. There is something here for any wine drinker! Happy Friday - enjoy your weekend! Cheers!