Weekend Wine - 49 North 2012 White

Happy Friday my lovelies! I thought we could kick off the weekend right with a delish and refreshing wine suggestion from Forty Nine North! At $10 per bottle, you can't beat the price point!

The grapes for this wine were harvested in October 2012 and includes a blend of grapes from vineyards in Osoyoos, Oliver, Kelowna, and Naramata in British Columbia. The tasting notes on the Artisan Wine Shop website include the following:

This is a fresh, mouthwatering white blend showing peach, pear and subtle floral notes. The crisp palate is filled with green apple, grapefruit, spice and citrus flavoured acidity. It is a wonderful accompaniment to seafood, white meat dishes or served as an aperitif. 

I really enjoyed this wine - it was refreshing, crisp and relatively dry. Let me know what you think of it or if you've tried it before!

Cheers!

Weekend Wines: 14 Hands Chardonnay

Its been a while since I've put together a wine suggestion blog post for you. So I thought we would kick the weekend off right with a delicious wine suggestion. I don't drink a lot of wine that isn't from British Columbia, but a work friend gave me a bottle of Chardonnay from 14 Hands Vineyards in Washington, USA.

Keith Kenison is the winemaker at 14 Hands and has a really interesting philosophy on wine making that clearly works well for them. His philosophy is to "let the fruit express itself" which in my opinion, it truly does. I loved the fruity yet dry taste of this chardonnay and how unique it is from other chardonnays I have tasted in the past. Keith also says  "I guide the wine [it] to its final destination with as few manipulations as possible, making every decision by taste because, ultimately, that's what matters to the person buying a bottle." Who wouldn't want to taste a wine made with that particular philosophy?

Here are the tasting notes from the 14 Hands website for the 2011 Chardonnay:

"Aromas and flavors of fresh apple with subtle hints of vanilla and buttery caramel. On the palate, notes of sweet oak and spice give way to a soft, lingering finish."

I would recommend this wine to anyone who likes a relatively dry and oak-y tasting wine. It is a unique twist on a typical chardonnay while staying true enough to the traditional chardonnay flavour that it is sure to please lovers of chardonnay! Have you tried this wine before? Have you tried other varietals from this vineyard? Let me know in the comments below! I would love to hear from you.

Cheers!

A Long Overdue Wine Suggestion

I tried this wine about a month ago and haven't had a chance to post about it yet. I figured since it has been so long since I last suggested some wine that this would be a great opportunity. White wine is a great spring drink because its so refreshing. This wine is a 2006 Chardonnay called What cha ma call it. This is a California wine that is really easy to drink and also very affordable to buy.

According to the Wine Diva this wine has "caramel, pineapple and pear aromas with mineral, oak spice and citrus notes. Toasty flavours, light spice citrus, and tropical flavours vanillin oak, crisp yet rounded on the palate with a fresh finish..."

All formal tasting notes aside, this is a great wine that will provide an excellent bang for the buck at $12-13 CAD per bottle. Give it a try and be sure to serve it well chilled. You won't be disappointed.

I hope you've all had a wonderful Mothers' Day weekend. :) I wish my Mom could have stayed long enough so we could have celebrated with her, but she will be back next month for another visit, so perhaps we can have a belated celebration then.

Have a great week! Cheers!

Weekend Wine!

Well, I finally have another wine to share with you! Its Friday and what better time to share a bottle of vino? I haven't shared a bottle of wine with you for quite some time and its not that I haven't been drinking wine, its just that I haven't been drinking wine that is really memorable enough to prompt me into a photo taking frenzy so that I have something to post on my blog! But this wine is definitely worth sharing - in fact I'm very excited to share it with you!


The 2009 Canoe Cove North Bluff Pink wine comes from a local Fraser Valley winery called Domaine de Chaberton. The vineyard's tasting notes are as follows:

"a 100% BC zinfandel wine with a very sophisticated twist. This beautiful
blush-coloured wine boasts subtle strawberry, raspberry and plum flavours that
tantalize the palate, making it a favorite for everyone on any occasion. A
light, crisp, refreshing wine with a pastel rose colour that reflects its
youthful innocence. Its delicate bouquet hints of light floral, spice and fruit
aromas. Light in body and medium dry, it has a well balanced, clean fruity
flavour. This exceptional new blend exhibits berry and citrus aromas with juicy
orange notes which make for a deliciously bright finish... Serve chilled on its
own or with many food choices."

If you're wondering what those many food choices are, you're in luck! The vineyard also posted some suggested food pairings for this wine:

• bouillabaisse
• roast turkey
• curried chicken salad
• warm grilled chicken salad with carmelized onions
• spiced seafood

To name a few...!! You can find this wine in quite a few liquor stores, but for a comprehensive listing, check out their webpage. If you can't find the wine near you, well you're still in luck! You can also order online here. And if you're interested in trying more vino from this winery, you definitely can't go wrong with their Baccus. It is amazing! Happy Friday my Friends!

Cheers!

Weekend Wines III

Well, its Friday again (woot!)! And to top it all off, for most of us, its going to be a long weekend (double woot!). So with that in mind, here are a few great wine suggestions for your LONG weekend during which you will likely be getting together with friends and family.

I have a lovely white wine and a delicious red wine to tell you about today. Both of them are local Okanagan wines, so for those of you who love to buy local, these are definitely great wines to try out.

First up is a 2008 Chardonnay from Cedar Creek Estate Winery in Kelowna. It is a beautiful vineyard with a fantastic view of the lake. Check out a few photos on their website and you'll believe me about the amazing view. They also have a cute bistro there, called Terrace Bistro. The menu looks great and can be found on their website as well. The wine shop was a little snooty compared to other vineyards my cousin and I visited that day, but the wine was delicious, so I can't really complain too much. ;)

The chardonnay was very dry, so for those of you who prefer a dry wine, this would be a fantastic wine to try. The tasting notes from the wine maker are as follows:

Aromas of vanilla, almonds and lemon citrus. Flavours of spiced baked apple,
banana, toffee and butterscotch blend nicely with subtle hints of vanilla and
toasty French oak on the palate. The creamy, complexity of this wine is due to
partial malolactic fermentation with minimum oak aging.

They also had some culinary notes regarding food pairings that I thought would also be helpful for you:

A great reception wine paired with smoked salmon, oysters and a variety of
soft to medium cheeses. Try with linguini and roasted red peppers in a cream
sauce or baked salmon.

Next up is a 2007 Syrah from the Burrowing Owl Estate Winery. This is a very full-bodied red. The complexity of the flavours and the nice fruit and spice notes will draw in most any wine drinker.

The wine maker's tasting notes are as follows:

This wine shows a dark plum core with a black cherry rim. It contains aromas
of ripe black berries, along with plum and black pepper notes and a slight hint
of vanilla and spice. The palate continues to show the plum and blackberry
flavours along with smooth, elegant tannins and lively acidity. The wine has
great length and balance and decanting would only increase your enjoyment. Drink
now through 2015.

Hope this gives you some ideas for wine selections this weekend! Enjoy your long weekend and remember to take time to relax and enjoy the last bit of summer. Next week fall starts and many people are headed back to school or back to work after vacation... back to real life. So here's to enjoying a fantastic long weekend with friends and family! Cheers!

Dunham & Froese Estate Winery

Well, its the weekend again! What better topic to blog about on the weekend than visiting vineyards! I had the opportunity to visit Dunham & Froese Estate Winery in Oliver, BC on my vacation this year. The wine maker, Kirby Froese is distantly related to my dad, so it was really cool to check it out and sample some of the wines (never mind the fact that we came home with 1/2 a case of wine!!).

The wine we sampled was delicious, though the white wines were my favorite. The tasting room was attached to the Covert Farms restaurant and was very cute and cozy. The wine can be ordered online through their website or it can be found at a number of restaurants and boutique wine stores throughout the lower mainland and the Okanagan. They list all locations on their website. Here are a few photos from our visit. As I drink the bottles we purchased, I'll blog about them and share tasting notes with you (be forewarned - it could take a while - not because I'm a slow drinker, more due to the fact that we purchased a lot of wine on our last vacation!!!).

Check back tomorrow! I'll be posting a great recipe for banana bread. Until then, enjoy your weekend my friends. Cheers!

Similkameen Valley Wine Trip

My birthday was in May and my husband decided that instead of buying me a present as per the usual tradition, he was going to plan a trip for me. Just a small weekend getaway! So he planned a little trip to the Similkameen Valley, which is prime vineyard country. We stayed in the quaint little town of Keremeos. It was a really nice trip and I was plesantly surprised with the quality of the food and the caliber of the wineries we visited. I will post about the wineries later… for now, I’m just going to post about some of the food.

On Saturday afternoon, we wandered over to Sanderson farm market, who we had heard sold awesome pakoras and samosas. The pakoras were far from the best I’ve ever had – I found them a bit tough and lacking flavour. The samosas however were AMAZING! I am pretty sure they were the best samosas I’ve ever had. They were just veggie samosas, but the spices were so perfectly balanced and the filling was amazing! The outer shell of the samosa was crisp and delicious! They could have used a bit more heat, but I guess in the market they’re catering to, they probably don’t get a lot of people requesting spicier ethnic food!

At the farm we also purchased some lovely cherries! They were so juicy and sweet! I think cherries are one of my favorite fruits.

That afternoon we went for a scenic drive – we took a back road that my husband found on google earth and proceeded to 4x4 over the mountain to Oliver, BC rather than take the highway like everyone else does. Luckily for us, we have a nice big truck that didn’t have any trouble getting over the mountain. While it was a very bumpy ride, it was also a very pretty ride and it gave us the chance to do some wildlife viewing. In Oliver we took in a couple of wineries then drove back through Osoyoos to Keremeos. It was a really nice drive with lovely weather.
For dinner that night we went to Benja Thai in Keremeos. I had my doubts about eating Thai food in a small town, but I read a few very good reviews to calm my nerves. Honestly, I had NOTHING to worry about. The food was fantastic! Here are a few pictures of the menu items we ordered:

We started with the Por Pia Todd (vegetable spring rolls):

For our meal we ordered two other dishes and rice. The first dish was Panang Curry with chicken. It was declicious – spicy and flavourful (sorry for the quality of this photo – husband was in a hurry to eat and didn’t let me get a good shot, but I wasn’t really mad about it, because honestly I was in a hurry to eat this delicious food too):

Now I cannot remember what the last dish was called… it may have been Pad Priew Waan (we ordered it with pork), but this could be the wrong name! Either way it was delicious and flavourful too and very spicy! Loved it.

For dessert I ordered thai coffee. It was declicious, sweet and creamy. I looked up a recipe later and it is made up of really strong coffee (about ¾ of the glass), lots of ice, and sweetened condensed milk. Sounds gross, but actually really lovely. I didn’t take any pictures, but it also looked very pretty – coffee stays at the bottom of the glass while the creamy mixture at the top floats without mixing much with the coffee. Stir before consuming!

Overall it was a fantastic weekend! I should also mention the bakery in Keremeos – while I didn’t take any pictures of the goods, I should have because they were fantastic. We had breakfast there one morning – we both had lemon-cheese turnovers. They were amazing! The people who run the bakery are also very kind. I forgot my purse and they put it behind the counter and had it ready for me when I realized I had left it behind! The bakery was called the Crowsnest Bakery and was owned by one of our favorite vineyards of the weekend – Crowsnest Vineyards! Annnddd they had a brand new espresso machine delivered to the bakery while we were eating our breakfast – so I would imagine that by now, they are selling lattes and cappuccinos! Yum! If you ever get the chance, do stop in – its worth it!

Weekend Wines

I tried a few new wines this weekend... two that are worth mentioning! First one was on Friday night and man was it tasty. It was a 2008 Gewurztraminer from the Okanagan winery Gray Monk. I found the wine to be quite sweet and very smooth to drink. The finish was very nice with little to no bitterness. We served the wine on its own before dinner. The Gray Monk winery has the following tasting notes on their webpage:

"Yellow green in hue, this wine has distinctive and powerful aromas of herbal
spice, fresh melon and ripe peaches. The flavours are exceptionally complex,
showing notes of lichee, melon, tropical fruits and even a suggestion of Earl
Grey tea. The finish is crisp and fresh, with notes of spice that linger on the
palate. Served chilled, this wine is appealing on its own, with salads or Asian
cuisines."

Here are a couple pictures of the bottle and label in case you decide you want to try it. It was about $17 per bottle at the government liquor store.

Another feature wine of the weekend was Dr. Loosen 2008 Reisling from Germany. I tasted this wine about 2 months ago at a beginner’s wine tasting class and wanted to try it on my own at home. The wine is fantastic – it is an off dry wine that pairs extremely well with smoky cheeses such as applewood smoked cheddar. I would recommend this wine for new wine drinkers particularly those who have trouble finding a wine that is not too dry for their tastes. Here are a couple of pics of the labels in case you decide you want to try it out:

Both of these wines are really reasonably priced and can be found in most government liquor stores... if you can find them in stock! :) Hope you enjoy as much as I did. Check back soon - I still have a few meals I cooked on the weekend to write about!