BIN905
MARCH 08
Sampling Those Special Bottles by Alex Keevil
It probably won’t come as a surprise to hear but the part of my job I enjoy the most is having the opportunity to sample some very special bottles of wine. It always serves to brighten my day and remind me why I am so passionate about wine. Another advantage these tasting opportunities provide me, which I hadn’t considered, but became apparent while chatting with a client is that I have a much better idea where to look, and what to expect when I want to purchase a bottle for a special occasion. It can be a daunting experience trying to find a wine you’re comfortable spending $50, $100, $150, or more on when you haven’t had the chance to try it.
When you do shop in boutique stores the educated staff members are always a great resource for information and will do their best to steer you in the right direction make help you leave happy. But there really is no substitute for tasting. So what’s the solution? Get a job at a wine store! Or, a more practical solution, and one which doesn’t create more competition for myself; look around for local tasting events.
Most high end boutique stores will always have wines open on the tasting bar. They will be of varying prices but are always worth trying, you might even find something you didn’t even know you were looking for. Better yet, look for free tasting events promoting new products and producers where you can try a range of wines from entry level to reserve bottlings. But the best option for sampling premium wines is to attend a sit down tasting.
At Bin905 we offer a wide variety of sit down tastings, at a range of prices, so there is always going to be an event for you. We also offer custom tasting events where you can bring a group of friends, or we can come to you, and sample whatever your heart desires. Prices will vary depending on your choice of wines, but split between 12-14 people drinking some baller wine becomes surprisingly affordable. Check out our website at bin905.com/events for more information.
MARCH 01
Breaking the Magician’s Code by Alex Keevil
I remember the old FOX TV show called ‘Breaking the Magician’s Code’ and while it was cheesy and overdramatic, your typical ‘reality show’, I feel the title is an apt way to sum up my feelings about this week’s Blog. My topic du jour you ask? Riesling, specifically German Riesling.
So why do I feel I’m breaking the Magician’s, or in this case Oenophile’s, Code? Quite simply, because Riesling is ruefully unheralded and underappreciated by the general wine consuming population, and it can still be had at a fantastic value.
The idea of drinking 1st Growth Bordeaux or Grand Cru Burgundy from top producers for under $200 is laughable. Those wines represent the pinnacle of their respective styles and set the bar to which all other Pinot Noir or Cabernet Sauvignon wines aspire. Naturally, the price tags reflect this.
Riesling on the other hand hasn’t had the same international exposure, and what exposure it has had can be said to be detrimental, Black Tower anyone? But for those in the know, the people who don’t want me writing this, Riesling represents what is arguably the best value in the wine world. You can drink the top estate bottlings, from the best producers, from Grosse Gewächs’ (Germany’s Grand Cru’s) for much less money than any other culmination of winemaking acumen. You can also drink Riesling in such a wide variety of styles; from dry and crisp with racy acidity to viscous and sweet like nectar from the gods, it is the master of the bait and switch and can always keep you on your toes.
So now you’re in the know........ Supply will go down, prices will go up, and I’ll get lynched........ Best use a pseudonym........
Breaking the Magician’s Code: By Nigel Bousie
FEBRUARY 23
Practice Makes Perfect by Alex Keevil
I can’t think of too many things which are more entertaining for the wine professional (If you seen a few of us down at Bin905 you’ll know I’m using the term loosely) and more terrifying for the average wine enthusiast than blind wine tasting, especially when us ‘the professionals’ are around. I think the biggest mental hurdle for a lot of people is realizing the most important part of blind tasting is the journey, rather than the answer itself. The best piece of advice I have ever received was that the worst thing you can do is not guess.
Just to be clear, blind tasting doesn’t involve drinking wine with the lights out or a blind fold on. Your eyes are a key sense involved in the process, I can think of a Blanc de Noir (white wine from Pinot Noir grapes) that would be hard to indentify as white without seeing it in the glass. What blind tasting involves is being poured a glass of wine without knowing what the wine is.
The first part is relatively easy, is it white, red, or sparkling. The harder work starts when you ask what color of white or red is it, or what size are the bubbles. These are clues which will help you narrow your search. The next step is to you ask yourself what you smell. Is the wine clean or faulted? Do you smell bouquet; smoke, leather, or vanilla? Or is it aroma you smell; cherries, blackcurrants, or peaches? Again these clues help narrow your search even further. Lastly you taste the wine. Is it full bodied? Is there tannin? What’s the alcohol level?
When all is said and done you’ll know what the wine in your glass is.........
Of course in real life it isn’t so cut and dried. Sure there have been times when I’ve hit the nail on the head, and when that does happen, I make sure to lean back and bask in the glory, because all too often the hammer comes down squarely on my thumb. But like I said, it’s not the destination, it’s the journey. Only practice can make perfect and when we’re talking about wine, is there anyone out there reading this who doesn’t enjoy practice?
That right Allen Iverson.......... I’m talkin’ ‘bout practice!
FEBRUARY 16
Olé Spain by Alex Keevil
Spain was the topic of study in my Sommelier Diploma class earlier this week and while I certainly learned some new and interesting information, what I enjoyed most about the class was the pleasant reminder it offered, There is some amazing value to be found in Spain.
I would be surprised if what I’m saying comes as a shock to anyone. I’ve known for years that the Spanish section can be a great place to look for good value when perusing the shelves of your local wine store, but what I had forgotten is that it should be one of, if not the, first place you should look.
I’ll admit to being as guilty as the next consumer when it comes to following the trends. I’ve looked to The Languedoc, The Loire, Chile, Argentina, even California and their ‘virtual vineyards’ for value far too often over the past year or so. Thankfully, learning more about Spain and tasting a flight of Spanish wine has snapped me out of my Spanish wine siesta. Olé
A few great values at Bin905:
Bodegas Palacio ‘Glorioso’, Rioja, Crianza, 2007, $17
The wine has a deep, intense ruby red color. On the nose there is a intense aroma of dark and red fruits, black currant, and raspberries with a touch of vanilla, coffee and mocha from the French oak. The mouth feel is full bodied and fruit packed with a long and complex finish and elegant balance.
Fillaboa, Alabrino, Rias Baixas, 2010, $23
The wine is a straw-yellow color, bright and vibrant appearance. There are powerful apple and pineapple aromas combined with hints of citrus. Subtle memories of yogurt and stone fruit give the wine its distinctive freshness. Soft on the palate, the wine exhibits a well balanced flavor profile, enhancing its freshness and complexity. A lingering finish and well integrated and juicy acidity makes this wine unctuous, soft and refined.
Bodegas Muga, Rioja, ’Selección Especial‘ Reserva, 2003, $53
After 9 years this wine is really showing its brilliant character. Against a background of red berries, jammy fruit and liqueur fruits, spices such as cloves, black pepper and vanilla come through. At the same time you can detect leather, smoke toasted wood and a feral nuance. It is a wine without end.
JANUARY 22
New Year, New Beer by Alex Keevil
I no longer make New Year’s resolutions. Long ago I made a resolution to never make another one and, unlike most resolutions, I’ve stuck to it. With that being said it is nice to start a new year with something a little different. Something to help you define this year from last, not as tangible as turning the page in a calendar, but a proverbial line in the sand none the less.
I drank my fair share of beer in 2011, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself in the process. The problem was that by December there were times I found myself staring blankly at the beer cooler, unable to make up my mind, truly, in need of something different. Thankfully, I’ve been able to start my new year, with some new beers, so far it’s been thoroughly enjoyable.
Here are a few of the new beers which have been tickling my fancy over the last few weeks:
Les Trois Mousquetaires, Porter Baltique, (750ml)
St. Bernardus, Abt 12, Belgian Quad, (750ml)
Ommegang, Hennepin, Belgian Style Ale, (4-pack)
Ommegang, Rare Vos, Belgian Style Amber Ale (4-pack)
OCTOBER 30
Rigorous Research by Alex Keevil
After two days rigorously spent coming up with creative new tasting events I figured I’d take a little time and let everyone in on the creative process, as well as offer up a few teasers pertaining to some of the upcoming events. It all starts in the specially designed Bin905 sensory deprivation chamber. Without the distracting influence of fine wines, bubbles and beer we get to work crafting the most entertaining, innovative, educational, and transcendent tastings our minds can concoct. After countless hours of sweat blood and tears (don’t worry the chamber is disinfected afterwards) we emerge, victorious and ready to present our tastings to the world.
Excuse me while I take my tongue out of my cheek and finish this last oyster.
In all seriousness there is lots of hard behind the scenes work that goes into every Bin905 event. The staff spends many hours researching the products we plan to present and putting together concise, educational and entertaining presentations. The goal of all our tastings is for the customers to go home thoroughly entertained and a little more knowledgeable about wine (at least by the next morning when all the wine wears off). The benefits for the staff are simple, the work is fun and when you’re having fun it hardly feels like work at all.
It’s fun going through Bin905’s extensive library stock to see what awesome vertical lineups we can pull out for our new ‘Vertical Series’ tasting events that will be beginning in the new year. It’s fun thinking of holidays and what events we can base around them. Like the French Love Affair, a food and wine event for Valentine’s Day. Or the April Fools blind tasting event where we try and throw you, the customer for a loop. It’s fun to spend a little time thinking about what we want to taste and how we can develop that idea into a tasting event.
That’s how last Thursday’s lunch evolved into an oyster feast. We were hashing out the details for our December 9th ‘Oyster Pairings’ tasting and trying to work through the logistics of shucking and serving 20+ dozen oysters when we realized it was getting dangerously close to lunch time. Heading some famous advice; “no battle plans ever survives contact with the enemy” we decided we’d better get shucking and put our plan of attack to the test. The test proved to be both informative and delicious but our data is still a little inconclusive. I think I see some more rigorous research on the horizon.
SEPTEMBER 12
BBQ and Chenin Blanc by Alex Keevil
I love to Barbeque, and I especially love when I can make my entire dinner on the Barbeque. Obviously there is going to be some kitchen prep needed (peeling, dicing, marinating, etc.) but once everything is ready to start cooking you can relax outside and enjoy the weather while the delicious aromas waft by. A juicy steak and a great bottle of Bordeaux usually complement this endeavor very nicely but when the sun is beating down and the thermometer is still pushing 25 degrees I prefer to opt for some lighter fare, and one of my favorite white grapes; Chenin Blanc. Here are a couple meals I’ve done recently which paired beautifully together.
Char crusted chicken breast sliders with apple coleslaw and corn on the cob.
I like to keep the prep pretty simple, and I didn’t make the coleslaw at home.
1. Coat the chicken breasts in Char Crust (I used the sundried tomato flavor)
2. Slice a tomato, the mushrooms and an onion, put the mushroom and half the onion in tinfoil with olive oil
3. Cook the chicken, corn and mushrooms/onion (in the tinfoil) on the grill
4. When it’s all cooked slice the chicken breast, peel the corn on the cob (I cook it with the husk on) and bring it all to the table
5. Assemble sliders in small rolls with char crusted chicken, tomato, sautéed mushrooms/onions, fresh onions, mayo and some coleslaw.
6. Eat them with the corn and more coleslaw on the side.
I paired this meal with the Chateau Pierre Bise Anjou White and it was awesome. The ripeness of the Chenin Blanc complemented the sweetness in the coleslaw and harmonized with the spice of the Char Crust. The wicked acidity held everything together wonderfully. The glass I drank while cooking everything was pretty good too.
Spicy Italian Sausage with a roasted sweet potato/onion medley and grilled asparagus.
1. Score the sausage so it can cook through without having to char the outside
2. Peel and dice the sweet potato and onion, put then in tinfoil with olive oil and garlic salt
3. Brush the asparagus with olive oil and garlic salt
4. Put the sausages and sweet potato/onion medley on the grill first. The asparagus takes less time
5. I also brushed some honey onto the sausage as it cooked for a little added sweetness
6. No assembling or peeling for this one. Just cook and serve
I had a bottle of off-dry Montlouis with this dinner. The sweetness went great with the sweet potato and the honey glaze on the sausage. It also balanced the spice in the sausage very well. The oily mouth feel worked well with the sweet potato/onion medley as well as with the olive oil brushed asparagus. I think a Demi-Sec Vouvray would work even better with this meal as well.
Here’s Hoping last week’s excellent weather returns for an encore and we all get a few more chances to enjoy spending the evenings outdoors
SEPTEMBER 05
Cleaning the cellar…the fun way by Sylvain Courel
When i go visit my family in France, the first thing i do when i arrive there is to go down “a la cave” and see how my wines are doing. This time i’ve been brave and worked my way through a massive reorganization and exhaustive inventory of the cellar my dad started 35 years ago and i followed up for the last 7 years. Alissa, my fiancee, and a bottle of Deutz NV were great help in this difficult task.
First move was to extract all those bottles that are way passed prime, some unknown Chateaux mostly from Bordeaux from the late 70’ and early 80’s. I brought those bottles up and opened all those wines; they all had a somehow pleasant fragance (saddle leather, sous-bois) when first opened but the palate was far from being attractive: no fruit left, high acidity, vinagary finish? So off they went down the drain.
Secondly, i reorganized the cellar by section: Bordeaux, South West, Loire Valley, Rhone, Burgundy, Whites and New World. On a quick note here, all the wines from the latter section comes from BIN905, i had to bring them back 24 bottles at a time instead of loading my luggages with clothes...it’s all about priorities, wear clothes or fill the cellar up.
Thirdly, draw some directions into the collecting program: drink what needs to be drunk, but also eliminate those single bottles (by drinking them). I find it very frustating to enjoy a great bottle of wine and not being abble to revisit again. On the other hand, when i found multiples, i open away to figure out where the wine’s at, how much more time for it to peek, unless i know the wine very well.
So here are a quick sumary of my encounters.
Chateau Bouscasse Vieilles Vignes Madiran 2002: Last time i was in France, i visited the winery and snapped this bottle straight from there, then cellared it for couple years; This beautifull beast impresses with its opaque color, when you see it you know it’s a tannic wine that could make your teeth fall. Made out of 100% Tannat, the wine boasts aromas of Cassis, black cherries and chocolate toast; It is so big that it makes those 2005 left bank looks like babies; i also found it bigger than Montus 2005 we drank with my coworkers the week before in Calgary.
Chateau La Grace Dieu Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 1996 Bordeaux France: Light red core to lighter rim, this wine was surprisingly soft for a 1996 Bordeaux. A lot of Capsicum on the nose at first which eventually blew off to let some room for traditional sous bois aromas from Bordeaux. You always expect much more from those Bordeaux wines that use the words “grace”, “god” and “grand cru” on the same label; it leads you to believe an archangel will show up as soon as you pop the cork...it didn’t.
Chateau Bouscasse Madiran 1999: Tannat 65 %, Cabernet Sauvignon 25 %, Cabernet Franc 10%, medium garnet core to light cherry core, a nose of wild berries, sour cherries and saddle leather. A full bodied wine with a lot of lenght; However not my favorite vintage, a touch ferrel when i would care for more fruit...perfect match with Duck Magret anyway, which was cooked “a la Plancha”.
Domaine Labranche Laffont Madiran 2003: Baught in Dando Distribution, this was a “coup de coeur” wine or featured wines by the caviste; purple fuschia color, shiny, cassis jam, black currant, blueberry jam, this was overall an extremely modern wine from an atypical vintage; my first impression was: Am i drinking Malbec? a great buy that we enjoyed side by side with the Bouscasse 1999, and i hate to say it but it was the table’s favorite.
Rockburn Pinot Noir 2002 Central Otago New Zealand: We were having salmon and despite my love for Madiran as you might have guessed, it was time to let go the Tannat and bring in something a touch lighter. The color was quite intense, a black cherry core to a cherry rim, a touch reductive, the wine was quite full bodied and boasted some aromas of Cherries, leather, wild forest and more dark notes; 14.5% alcohol, a light wine?
Maxwell Lime Cave Cabernet 2002 Mc Laren Vale Australia: A dark cherry core showing a little bit of color degradation. From the nose to the palate, this wine is trully Australian with even more acidity one might expect from it. Raspberry, Chocolate and menthol/eucalyptus. The structure is seductive with those round sweet tannins, a perfect wine to kick off a fun party when guests only drink red wine. Amazing bang for the back.
Scali Syrah 2002 Paarl South Africa: Only 18 barrels where made from this wine. I recalled it being quite ferrel and tannic at the time, but now it shows beautiful; The color is still really deep with a black cherry core to slightly lighter color on the rim, the wine boasts aromas of sweet espresso, chocolate and black berry with some leather notes; the tannins are round and sweet. A great product from South Africa that i should keep collecting.
Tablas Creek Vineyard Esprit de Beaucastel 2003 Paso Robles United States: 50% Mourvedre, 27% Syrah, 16% Grenache, 7% Counoise. If you like Chateauneuf du Pape, this wine is for you. A little bit of age on this bottle added so much more to it. Its was salmon-orange hue was brilliant and shiny, its fragrance was dominated by raspberry and strawberry flavors, the palate reflected the nose plus it also had some spicy note to it, like cinamon and white pepper. If you have some of that in your cellar i recommend to let it age another 5 to 10 years, the tannins would get even softer but the fruit content would stay for sure. Tres chic.
Penfolds Koonunga Hill Shiraz 2002 South Eastern Australia: I believe this bottles had passed its prime unfortunately, or maybe it is not meant to be aged. The fruit bomb became a rotten fruit splash and the wine was unbalanced, probably due to the lack of acidity in it.
A la votre!
Sylvain
AUGUST 13
Drink Canadian Eh? Part II by Alex Keevil
The question I posed before leaving for my trip was ‘how much of the enthusiasm (for Canadian wine) I once had returns with me from Osoyoos’. The problem is that I’m not sure how to answer that question. My knowledge of wine, my taste for wine and my ability to judge wine has changed considerably (I’m hoping for the better) since my first trip to Okanagan.
While tasting wines on the first day in Osoyoos I realized, I’ve lost the blissful ignorance I once had and I can no longer be as enthusiastic about Canadian wine as a whole. While that statement may sound negative, I see it as a positive. The Canadian wines I do enjoy I can enjoy on a much deeper level. Even as a ‘blissfully ignorant’ consumer I always knew when I really liked a certain wine, but I never had the ability to properly understand, or voice what it was that I liked so much. What was so enjoyable about my latest trip was being able to pinpoint the wines I really enjoyed and then being able to understand and communicate what attributes in those wines spoke to me.
Overall it was a fantastic trip. Osoyoos, and the whole Okanagan, is such a beautiful part of B.C. I certainly found lots of wine I really liked (I came home with a mixed case) and I’m going to make a point of going back next summer to checkout some of the wineries I didn’t have time to visit. One thing I know for sure is that there are so many different wineries, doing so many different styles of wine, if you look around there really is something for everyone.
AUGUST 03
Drink Canadian Eh? Part I by Alex Keevil
My plans for the days off I have coming up include a quick jaunt down to Osoyoos as part of my commitment to cram as much summer fun as possible into the month of August. Naturally, while I’m down there I plan on sampling some of the wine and that got me thinking, I really don’t drink much Canadian wine these days. Probing further, that thought raised the question, where did my enthusiasm for Canadian wine go?
It was late August 2005 when an impromptu trip, destined for Osoyoos, sparked in me what has become a true passion for wine. From those humble beginnings I have spent the last six years sampling different wines and learning as much as I can about wine, I even had a brief affair with winemaking, albeit in the basement of my house. Looking back, I think the more I discovered new regions and new styles I had never tried, my enthusiasm for Canadian wine was pushed aside.
I have a friend from Kelowna who is unabashedly pro Okanagan. If I ask him to bring a bottle of wine to a BBQ, I know where it will be from. I don’t expect to return feeling quite that way, but I am interested to see how much of the enthusiasm I once had for Canadian wine returns with me from Osoyoos. I’ll explore that in part II.
