Fun to look back on the regular Monday postings of our Blog during 2016. Pleased that the many diverse topics raised are also reflected in the Top 10. As expected you are interested in fine wine, quality food, and culinary travel. Surprised that alerting you about trendy smaller focused wine festivals topped the hits according to data. Look forward to providing some more thought provoking issues in 2017.

1. Small Focused Wine Festivals Are Trendy

2. Burgundy Wines La Paulee

3. 1986 Bordeaux at 30 Years

4. Tignanello & Guado Al Tasso Verticals

5. Seattle & Portland Tips

6. Comparing Bordeaux Twin Vintages 1989 & 1990

7. Best Italian Wines 2016 Rated By Gambero Rosso

8. Some Amazing Old Spanish Wines!

9. Magical Menu with Château de Fargues Sauternes

10. Culinary Skills of Canadian Chefs Shine Brightly

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Question: This Christmas we will have some friends visiting us from the UK. My daughter says we should serve them mulled wine. What are your thoughts?

Answer:  Excellent festive idea. Mulled wine is your own homemade recipe of usually red wine or white (or even for a non-alcoholic one use fruit juice like apple juice) boiled with various fruits, many spices and sugar to personal taste. Once made it can be served at almost any temperature you like anywhere between hot and cold. Perfect during winter when served hot and as an appropriate celebration for an old United Kingdom Christmas tradition. Similarly popular in many other countries too such as Scandinavian glogg, Chilean candola or German gluhwein. May not be the best matching wine for your turkey dinner but certainly lovely as an easy drinking warming beverage at any time over the holidays. These days if you are too lazy to make your own you can buy it already made up for you at retail. Check out the sweet cinnamon-orange Mrs. Beachley’s Mulled Wine from California selling in BC & Ontario for around $14 or the Warm ‘N Cozy one from Sprucewood Shores Estate Winery from Ontario at $12. Enjoy!

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Image courtesy: www.osoyooslarose.com

British Columbia wines are starting to make a world wide impression with their quality based on increasingly older vines, unique terroirs, and a history of vintage variations. One winery among these leaders has been Osoyoos Larose. Here is a topical guest article by Trace Acres from www.vinsights.ca (with additional tasting comments from your scribe) on a recent vertical tasting of their wines from 2001-2010:

This 10 year vertical of Osoyoos Larose vintages 2001-2010 proved interesting showing the quality wine making by Pascal Madevon together with slow but sure encouraging development from bottle age. Even the lighter drying out somewhat 2001(no malbec or petit verdot in the first year but low yields of 24hl/ha) was surprisingly elegant with fruit cake flavours – best bottle I have ever tasted of it. 2002 (first one using all 5 Bordeaux grape varieties in the blend & highest ever malbec 12%) disappoints as dirty & a musty bottle; 2003 highest merlot (75%) showed much riper fruit with some intriguing chocolate notes; 2004 softer more red currant fruit (2004 was their first Petales (second label) from a similar grape mix but more forwardly delicious now); 2005 almost Chateau Pichon-Lalande like with good herbal notes on the nose & lovely exquisite balance; 2006 medicinal almost Chateau Leoville Barton like even though from lowest Brix fruit but nonetheless impressive depth with a long finish; 2007 similar but more herbal with greener leaner fruit; 2008 bit light showing more yield & not enough green harvesting with perhaps too much unripe cabernet sauvignon showing in the mix; 2009 very Okanagan “terroir” with admirable prominent ripe grapes here & such complex amazing volume & texture on the palate made it my clear winner; 2010 difficult cooler year like 2011 is less ripe with a shorter finish – better years overall for the whites! All in all an impressive vertical showing. Certainly an encouraging future for this property. Congrats!

Have you tried a Bordeaux style blend from the Okanagan Valley in BC?

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Question: Last month at an anniversary dinner party I was served an old bottle of a Bordeaux marie jean. What is that?

Answer: That was indeed a special treat! I would need more information to give you a definitive answer on what you were served. However a Marie-Jeanne (or sometimes called Dame-Jeanne) is that rare Bordeaux unique format of 3 regular bottles (2.25 litres) between a magnum and a double magnum in size. Seldom seen currently. The best one I have enjoyed is the 1934 Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande of Pauillac with May de Lencquesaing that was truly a memorable old complex bottle of wine. Hope your experience brought you that same joy.

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By Arnaud 25. [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

One of my preferred Burgundy properties is Clos de Tart. This monopole of Mommessin since 1932 is only some 7.5 hectares but a shining star in Morey Saint Denis. I have been fortunate to visit this domaine several times with talented retired winemaker Sylvain Pitiot (now replaced by Jacques Devauges) and have been a long time collector of their wines. This month was an exciting vertical tasting-dinner of them and together with trying earlier this year 4 other top vintages (2010, 2009, 1990, and 1985) your scribe felt it was time to post an update report on this quality property:

2010: Classic structured style still young & energetic with lively firm balanced cherry fruit but closing down. Impressive quality but needs more time to come around.

2009: Riper softer almost sweet soy exotic red and black fruits. Wonderful intense power with forwardly smooth textures on entry though long finish is still quite tannic. A treasure.

2007: Light forwardly with some of that earthy barnyard character but for current use.

2005: Perfect balance but presently somewhat reluctant between that early youthful delicious clean juicy pure fruit and the bottle age development which is still to come. So promising at many levels and that dense classy Grand Cru vineyard status shows underneath. Will be a real beauty with a long life!

2003: Dark big thick and powerful. Atypical soupy Burgundy. Controversial style. Slightly strong spirits on the palate with coarser tannins lacking delicacy. This scribe prefers cooler fruit vintages.

2002: Less fruit intensity but fresh acidity & elegant and just starting upon a lovely drinking plateau especially with food.

1999: Brooding with weight and spicy gamey flavours but not singing. Still young and tarry. Like the potential but showing a coarser style at the moment.

1990: Structured and backward for a long time but now starting to drink much better showing impressive majestic opulence. Depth and complexity are there. Excellent.

1986: Palest rim of all. Some mushroom leathery bouquet with a touch of brett shows this as not the cleanest bottle. Overwhelmed by the tough company it is keeping.

1985: Always a favourite vintage and this wine from day one release has shown that delicious consistency combining power and fragrant elegance of sublime Clos de Tart terroir! Outstanding bottle tried here with complex maturity now!

1983 Regular: Dark colour. Difficult year with some rot but surprisingly sound here with good acidity. Delightful.

1983 Special:  Mise en familiale bottling of their best cask. Little bit lighter colour but very clean pure selection of only healthy grapes. Superb balance and delicacy. Amazingly fine and so much happening now on the nose and palate at 30+ years.

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