But that’s where the usual link between bricks and mortar and the internet end. Gary’s site is an alive and active blog with stories and tastings and humour and videos as he rolls around tasting wine and sharing his passion with the world.
Gary’s key goals are twofold: “First, I want people to try different wines. How can you have a favorite if you only know a few? Second, I tell people to trust their palates. If a wine appeals to your palate, then it’s a good choice. Don’t feel pressured to like popular brands or what experts recommend. Buy what ‘brings the thunder’ for you.” [source]
Jen and I have described wine as tasting like band aids, musty, fruity etc.
O RLY?
Gary is out to prove it. He recently went on Conan, where he had the host taste some wine, taste some dirt - and realize, “Hey! It’s the same!”
Yesterday was one of those days. Le Grand Monsieur is fighting a stuffy nose and congestion. Yeah, I gave it to him. It took me 3 days to kick it, hopefully the little guy can get it done quicker.
So Jen tried for an hour to get him down, no luck. Then he played for a bit before keeling over for 40 mins at around the time he should just be waking up. Poor guy. Poor Mommy.
So when I got home Jen had a bottle of Lindeman’s Bin 95 Sauvignon Blanc 2007 freshy ‘corked’ and poured on the counter.
From the website: The generous flavours and contemporary, easy-drinking style combines easily with food and most social occasions to deliver maximum enjoyment from the first glass to the last.
From the label: Lifted tropical flavours, with a crisp, dry finish.
The Sav Blanc hit the spot for Jen. Easy drinking, fruity and crisp. You could have it with a salad, mussels, fish - or on it’s own, after a tough day. Green apple and grass without a lip puckering tartness - that’s the difference between the Aussie and New Zealand Sav Blanc’s - the kiwi ones have a bit more mineral and gooseberry tang to go with them.
One other cool thing about this selection is it has a screw top. It’s all good, they’re cool now. Jen preaches the screw top as the best way to have just a glass and keep the bottle in the fridge door - for the next hard day.
Lindeman’s Bin 95 Sauvignon Blanc is “beyond a bargain,” Jen says, for ONLY $12.95 at your BC Liquor Store. You CANNOT get a local wine of this quality at this pricepoint. As we move into spring break, a long weekend and then summer - stock up and get some on standby.
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In September 06, Jen and I went to Onterrible (as she calls it) for a cousin’s wedding. They live in Stoney Creek, just south of Hamilton out towards Niagara Falls.
The Niagara Escarpment is the big wine growing region in Ontario, so we took the opportunity to visit some of the wineries. The one we enjoyed the most and spent the most time chatting with the staff was Thirty Bench. We left with a couple of bottles and this week we cracked one.
Thirty Bench 2002 Benchmark Blend.
From the label: This wine contains 50% Cabernet Franc, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot. The wine was fermented in small bins using various yeasts to gain complexity, was left to macerate for a few weeks to soften its tannins, and was subsequently aged in french and american oak barrels for almost a year. You can enjoy this wine immediately after its release, but it will improve considerably with age.
From the website: Tasting notes of toffee, oak and stewed tomatoes on the nose.
We made the mistake of having it with spicy food, chicken, beans and yam fries. It didn’t stand up very well, not at all. It was fruity for me, exploding in blueberries and plums, and while it was probably fine with roast beef, pork chops, or a flank steak, it just couldn’t handle our spicy food.
Even though we didnt pair it properly, Jen was still disappointed with her palate on the decision. She thinks we should have drank it right away when we got home, or maybe they served us a ‘better bottle’ at the winery. Even still, she says if she tasted tonight what she tasted then, she wouldnt have bought that bottle.
It’s one of those things that happens when you go to a winery, you can get romanced into buying things that just don’t quite taste the same when you get home. We also picked up a Pinot Meunier Rose when we were there that, on site, tasted like Thanksgiving Dinner - cranberries and sweetness and excellence, however at home - it wasnt anything like that.
So we’re 0 for 2 from Thirty Bench so far. Beautiful winery, not so much with the wine.
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However, this past weekend, Jen and I along with a couple of other couples, had our own little wine fest! When you’re married to a wine rep, and head over to a colleague’s house is a wine rep, and also married to a wine rep, you know some grape will be poured and 4 bottles of beauty hit the table on Saturday night.
First the menu: There was a spicy sausage and creamy cheese tray with baguette while we chilled, then dinner was a beef tenderloin that absolutely melted with white asparagus, green beans and potatoes. A roasted tomato and spinach salad was on the side.
Here are 2 of the 4 wines we polished off:
Domaine de Montfaucon 2005 Viognier - Now I don’t recognize this grape right off the bat either, it’s not a big 6, but this Viognier was smooth and easy drinking. Right away I could taste the honey, our hosts said honeysuckle, but I thought it was richer, right to honey. Wiki says: The color and the aroma of the wine suggest a sweet wine but Viognier wines are predominantly dry.
Pinotage - Jen thinks this one tastes like band aids, the South Africans at our table were drifting back home as they talked about the smell being like an African camp fire. After all, it is South Africa’s signature grape. In the end, I agreed with Jen, it had a dusty medicinal taste that just didnt do much.
Some interesting choices there for your weekend sipping, or maybe you’ll head off to the ‘Fest and get your glass on. Before you do that, have a quick look over the Insiders Guide for Wine Festivals.
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For 3 nights the Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre will be turned into one giant juice pit as thousands turn out, glass in hand.
Jen is a wine rep. She’s worked this event for.years. I picked her brain to get the tips and tricks as you head down to get your grape on.
Respect the pourer. They’re not $10/hr hostesses, but actually knowledgeable sales reps, maybe the President of the company, or perhaps even the Winemaker
Respect your palate. Start with the light wines and finish heavy (ie save the Ports til last) If you’re going on 2 separate nights, do white one night, red the other
Leave your big purse at home. It’s tough to balance all that and a glass, a wristlet with your id and keys should be enough. That said …
Bring a journal or notebook to take notes on what you’re trying. Trust me, 5 glasses in you’ll forget what you had first
Try something different than what you always buy – here’s your chance to go on an adventure with minimal risk
If you like it, buy it. All wines poured on site, are available at the store on site, so if you really love something, pick up a couple bottles before you leave as many “show exclusives” are brought in for this event only
Don’t wear white. Even if you don’t spill, someone else might. Jen saw someone in a beautiful white suit one year, with a lovely streak of shiraz right down her back
There are no dumb questions, you’re there to learn, and the pourers are there to help
Have something to eat before you go. You’re going to be drinking a lot, and you don’t want to do it on an empty stomach. Which leads us to …
Spit spit spit spit! You’re going to be drinking a lot, so even if you’re looking to get your drunk on, spit
Don’t rinse your glass with the water at the table, people think they’re spittoons (see #10). Instead, ask the pourer for a splash of the wine you’re about to sample to rinse out your glass.
The good stuff will be gone by Saturday night, all the expensive bubbles etc are in limited quantities, so look for them Thursday and early in the night on Friday
That may sound grand, but not all is wonderful, there are some pet peeves of the staff working the event you should try to keep in mind to keep your experience the best.
This is their Christmas. Most pourers have been pulling 12+hour days pouring wine and entertaining VIPS all week, so be patient with them.
Sloppy drunk people may be fun at the Roxy, but they’re not fun at WineFest. Have a good time, but keep it under control
Raising your glass and clinking it on the bottle isn’t necessary. Say “when”, when you mean “when” and they’ll stop pouring
Perfume and smelly hairspray. One of the most powerful qualities of wine, is its bouquet. Dousing yourself in Curious by Britney Spears and emptying a bottle of Final Net on your head before you leave will not only kill all your senses, but those of the people around you. You think we’re kidding, we’re not. Not even a quick spritz. Go au naturel to this event. PLEASE!
Going right for the decanter. It’s not necessarily the most expensive. Jen and her team have been known to take the cheapest bottle they’re pouring and drop it in a decanter just to fool the smart asses. ASK first, they might even reach under the table and pull out a secret bottle for you to sample
The know-it-all is almost as bad as the candy perfume girl. Yes, you’ve been to Napa. Maybe you’ve even golfed with Ernest and Julio, but remember tips 1 and 8 from above. You may be bragging to someone even more special than yourself, and, in the end, everyone is there to learn and have fun
So now that you’re well versed in the behind-the-scenes secrets of WineFest, you’re almost set. One final thing to remember: visit the Get Home Safe Booth for a free transit pass to get your buns home safe.
Everyone loves wine. Nobody likes a dead drunk.
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I’ll talk you through something Jen and I have had in the past week with enough time for you to grab yourself a brown bag of the stuff in time for the weekend!
This week’s pick is Penfolds Bin 2.
The Penfolds website says:
Bin 2 is a multi-regional blend drawing fruit from warmer vineyard sites including Barossa Valley, Clare Valley, McLaren Vale and Langhorne Creek.
The two varieties complement each other well, making an easy drinking wine which is not overtly concentrated, but has plenty of fruit, texture and flavour length.
Originally failing to find favour in Australia the 1980 and 1981 vintages became an immediate commercial success in the United Kingdom.
We had it twice this week once with Chorizo Lasagna, the other with Chocolate Cupcakes.
The Penfolds Bin 2 is a Shiraz Mourvedre blend making it peppery, smoky and smooth.
The lasagna is my own recipe. Just a can of basic tomatos with chorizo sausage meat instead of ground beef. I dont spice it up beyond that, the sausage meat has it all done already. Layer it with noodles, ricotta and smoked mozarella and you are in heaven. The pepper and mustiness of the wine just wound it’s way through the layers with ease.
I LOVE this wine with the cupcakes - REAL cupcakes, with thick creamy butter icing. Take a lipsmack of icing and cake, a swig of the Bin 2 and swirl the whole mess together in your mouth. Heaven. Absolute heaven.
Thirty Bench 2002 Benchmark Blend. 
Domaine de Montfaucon 2005 Viognier - Now I don’t recognize this grape right off the bat either, it’s not a big 6, but this Viognier was smooth and easy drinking. Right away I could taste the honey, our hosts said honeysuckle, but I thought it was richer, right to honey. 
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