Riva Ranch

*Disclaimer: I received this wine as a sample in order to participate in a Taste Live Event. Content originally published on Wannabe Wino.

I liked this Chardonnay the best of the wines from the Wente Taste Live Event. I know, it's saying something when Chard is my favorite, as I tend to drift away from Chardonnay many times. However, I really enjoyed this wine. Apparently I'm not alone as it got an 89 from the Wine Spectator back in July, so I'll be cross-posting this entry over on The 89 Project....does anyone post there anymore? The wine is the 2008 Wente Riva Ranch Chardonnay, clocking in at 13.5% alcohol by volume with a real cork closure and retailing for around $17.

On the nose I got pear, apple, apple cider, spice, lots oh pear, a bit of cream, and white flowers. In the mouth a little oak and butter popped up, but I thought it was well integrated and found the oak to be on the toasty side. I also got more cream notes, round apples, pears, spice, white flowers, and tropical notes. I thought the Chard had some nice acidity on the finish to round out the hints of oak and butter. Overall, I really enjoyed this wine.

Cedar Creek Ehrenfelser 2008 ($19)

This is what Canadian wine geeks like me wait for all winter -- the spring release of the Okanagan whites. Ah, and was it ever worth waiting for.

If you love aromatic whites like I do, you need to taste Cedar Creek's Ehrenfelser. It's a wine to die for. Killer tropical fruit bomb nose -- papaya, pineapple, and mango with floral honeysuckle. On the palate, more tropical fruit dominated by tangerine. It's classed as off dry but I don't find it sweet at all. Glorious balance, nice acidity. Heavenly.

Anthony Gismondi, he of the fabulous shoulders, gives this wine a 89. I give it a yum.

The Ehrenfelser was released on May 1. Taylorwood Wines in Vancouver's Yaletown has 3 cases left and there may be more to be found throughout Vancouver, but it's going to be sold out in a month or two, so get yours now.

(Originally posted on Full Bodied)

This is a cross post from my blog, Wannabe Wino. This wine earned an 89 from the Wine Advocate. Since we're still talking about it days later, at $13, it's a fantastic value...and scoop it up for the QPR! Thanks for the 89 Wine Advocate, it's probably keeping the price lower!

Red wine is multiplying and having babies in my basement. We used to have just slightly more red wine than white wine down there....the red lived in 9 wine racks and the white lived in one old wine rack and 7 styrafoam shipper halves. Now, the red wine takes up the original 9 racks, plus the old rack, and more than 4 of the styrafoam shippers. I'm not really sure how that happened, but I think I need to start collecting some more white wine. My selection is dismal at the moment. So that would explain why I'm quickly drinking the few whites I got in my Domaine547 shipment last week!

On our ski trip, we decided that fondue would make a great meal after a day on the mountain. However, when I packed to go, I realized I had absolutely no bone dry Riesling in the basement to take with us. (My usual choice with fondue.) So instead I grabbed the 2007 Clos Roche Blanche Sauvignon Blanc that I bought from Domaine547 for $13. It clocked in at 12.5% alcohol by volume, had a plastic cork, and hails from France.

On the nose I found grassy aromas, citrus, hay, lemon, herbs, tropical notes, and star fruit. I also thought I detected a hint of wet stone. In the mouth I got flavors of lemon, fresh cut grass, herbs, pineapple, stones, minerals, and other tropical fruit. Overall, I found the wine to be light and refreshing, and it went fabulously well both in the fondue and with it. At $13, this is a great bargain...Matt is still talking about it days later!

Twitter Taste Live Tastes Blind

A few weeks ago I participated in the 89 Project's contribution to Twitter Taste Live. We all got 4 wine shipped to us wrapped in foil and numbered. Each of the wines had been given an 89 score from a major wine rating source. The purpose was to taste the wines blind as a fun exercise and determine if we agreed or not with the 89 score.

The first wine was a 2006 Jean-Marc Brocard Domaine Sainte Claire Chablis. It clocked in at 13%, had a real cork closure, and I purchased it as part of a tasting pack from Bin Ends Wine.

On the nose I found lemon, melons, something sweetish...honey, almonds, and minerals. I liked the nose on this wine, it smelled like the wine would have great acidity. In the mouth I got lemon, citrus, apple, minerals, and orange rind.

This turned out to be my favorite of the 4 wines of the evening. I guessed that it was a Sauvignon Blanc/Semillion blend, but clearly I was very very wrong. I thought this one deserved better than an 89, I would buy it again.