unauthorised autobiography of matthew simpson

Originally published at Vinoholic.ca -- Wine Appreciation in Vancouver, Canada. Please leave any comments there.

Are you cooking a steak tonight? Because if you are I’ve found the wine for you.

Stick your nose in to find a pronounced nose full of rich dark fruit, blackberry, black cherry and plum, as well as nice vanilla and spice components that underscores the whole thing.

It’s full bodied on the palate, dry with a decent amount of acid and high on the tannins. More of the dark fruit comes through in the flavour as well as the nice smokey toasty oak flavours you were expecting after the vanilla and spice on the nose. Has a decent finish as well, to let you know what you’re missing when it’s gone.

Rating:

“Check this one out”. It’s got a lot going on, in the good way. Drink it with a steak dinner and enjoy it thoroughly.

Links:

• Clos de los Siete 2006 on Cork’d

Originally published at Vinoholic.ca -- Wine Appreciation in Vancouver, Canada. Please leave any comments there.

People ask me how I’m liking taking the wine classes and you know what? I freakin’ love it. How could I not? I’m learning about stuff I’m actually interested in, and we get to drink too (of course we spit it out, but still).

Here’s another one from classes, a 2007 Valpolicella Classico. In the glass it’s a clear pale ruby red. Swirl it up and stick your nose in it and you get a softer nose full of raspberry and cherry, but also with a subtle earthy, leafy, damp forest kind of aroma which is intriguing.

On the palate it’s a dry light bodied red with a good amount of acid and light on the tannins. All the red berries and fruit come through, and so does that earthy thing as well and it has a pretty quick finish.

Rating:

A “Solid Choice”. I’d love to kick this up a notch but I just can’t. It’s not terribly complicated, and in fact the only thing that really stands out is that sort of damp vegetation aroma on the nose. If you’re not used to high acid reds then this will be worth checking out, but it’s not really that exciting overall.

Links:

• Bolla
• Bolla 2007 Valpolicella Classico on Cork’d

Originally published at Vinoholic.ca -- Wine Appreciation in Vancouver, Canada. Please leave any comments there.

Another one from class. I haven’t tried many Orvietos but this one seems to fit with the others I have tried. It’s a pale lemon colour with light aromas of citrus and green apple.

On the palate it’s a light bodied dry white wine driven by acidity, and it tastes pretty close to how it smells. Tart green apple, citrus and an undertone of mineral.

Rating:

A “Solid Choice”. Orvietos aren’t really known for being wild and crazy wines, they’re just known for being easy drinking. If that’s what you’re looking for then go find this one.

Originally published at Vinoholic.ca -- Wine Appreciation in Vancouver, Canada. Please leave any comments there.

I have no clever introduction for this wine, it’s simply one that I’ve encountered in my WSET classes. It’s a nice one, too. In the glass it’s a light gold colour, and when you stick your nose in it I get a nice buttery oak aromas, as well as some earthy and vegetal scents; sort of a cabbagy brussel sprouts type thing going on on the nose.

On the palate it’s a dry, medium bodied white with a decent but not overwhelming amount of acidity. The same buttery notes are on the nose are there on the palate, along with a lot of pome fruit and a nice toasted coconut note to boot.

Rating:

I nearly put this down as a solid choice, but you should really “check it out”. Maybe that’s just my personal taste for the smoky quality this wine exhibits, but that’s why you’re here right? To get my opinion.

Links:

• Morgenhof
• Morgenhof 2006 Chenin Blanc on Cork’d

Originally published at Vinoholic.ca -- Wine Appreciation in Vancouver, Canada. Please leave any comments there.

I’ve never really been as big a fan of ice wines as many people I’ve talked to. They’re quite a big deal in the Okanagan, but I’ve always found them to be expensive and honestly, pretty much too sweet. I like sweetness, but dear god some of them are sweet.

I haven’t tried many late harvest wines though, and I think I might have just found a new favourite type.

Errazuriz 2006 Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc is a medium golden colour in the glass, and has a nose full of tropical fruit: apricot, lici, passion fruit, pineapple and so on.

On the palate it’s medium+ bodied and nicely sweet, but not overly so with high acid. All those tropical flavours are there, plus the addition of honey and caramel candy flavours rounds it out nicely for a medium length finish.

Rating:

“Go buy it now”, for serious. Not only does this one have a lot going on, but it’s not that expensive either. At 15 bucks (CDN, 375ml bottle) this wine is just a great value all around. Plus, it addresses the issue that I have with other desert wines (ice wine, I’m looking at you) in that while it’s rather sweet I didn’t feel my teeth rotting when I tasted it, and it’s not ridiculous pricey either.

Seriously, why are you still reading? Go buy it, and get some fresh fruit and ice cream to enjoy with it.

Links:

• Errazuriz Vineyards
• Errazuriz 2006 Late Harvest Sauv Blanc on Cork’d

Originally published at Vinoholic.ca -- Wine Appreciation in Vancouver, Canada. Please leave any comments there.

I’m back in classes which means I should have a lot of new wines to tell you about. In an interesting twist, we tasted our wines blind last week. I wasn’t sure about it at first, but you know what? I think I might do that as much as I can in the future.

Not knowing what it is you’re drinking is great. Takes away any bias or preconceptions or prejudices you might have, you just have to drink the wine and enjoy it. It’s great.

This wine showed up in my glass. It was a nice gold hue, and sticking my nose in it revealed a lot of aromas. Floral scents were dominant but there was a lot of nice honey and stone fruit as well. Apricot, or maybe a really ripe yellow plum.

On the palate the apricot and plum flavours really come out along with some pear. Medium body and dry, soft on the acid and a moderate finish.

Rating:

Check it out. Nicely complex, but not over the top. This is some tasty wine, if you see it give it a try.

Links:

• Pfaffenheim

Originally published at Vinoholic.ca -- Wine Appreciation in Vancouver, Canada. Please leave any comments there.

Still out at Chill Winston a second bottle of wine was ordered. Friend Janelle asked about it and our server and another server responded quite enthusiastically. With such a recommendation, who were we to turn it down?

It showed up and the first thing I noticed is that is has hardly any colour. Like the flesh of a lemon, and old died out lemon with hardly any colour left. That’s what it looks like. Horrible descriptor, I know, but still.

My nose found all kinds of pome fruit and floral aromas, pears and roses in particular, with hints of peach as well. On the palate it’s a light-medium bodied wine with crisp acidity, dry, and lots of flavours of tart green apple and pear. In fact, we remarked that it was kind of like drinking apple juice. No foolin’. A bit of mineral on the finish, which was not too short and not too long.

Rating:

A solid “check it out”. It’s a hard wine to describe, really. It’s got a lot going on on the nose, but not as much on the palate. What I can say is that it’s got a certain… something that other wines I’ve tried don’t. A certain je ne sais quoi, that makes it worth a try.

And if you can’t find it at the BCL or your local shop, Chill Winston apparently has plenty on hand.

Links:

Gres Saint Paul homepage (translated)

Originally published at Vinoholic.ca -- Wine Appreciation in Vancouver, Canada. Please leave any comments there.

A night out with friends at Chill Winston (write up pending) the a few evenings ago involved the drinking of two bottles of wine I hadn’t tried before, both white.

This first one from Gray Monk is a Pinot Auxerrois, something I haven’t seen too much on its own and as such was pretty excited to try.

Deep whiffs of citrus and green apple from sticking my nose in the glass, with hints of other fruit as well, but nothing distinct enough for me to put my finger on. Just sort of a general fruitiness.

Light bodied on the palate, with light sweetness and a delightful underlying acidity all come together to highlight the flavours of green apples and lime. The apple flavour is almost like an under ripe apple too, not quite a tart flavour but a touch sharp all the same.

Rating:

This one is a solid choice. It’s good, but it’s not great. I’m glad I tried it, I might order it again when I am out with some different people, but I’m not going to be looking for it at the BCL any time soon.

Links:

• Gray Monk Estate Winery

Originally published at Vinoholic.ca -- Wine Appreciation in Vancouver, Canada. Please leave any comments there.

The other night my roommate had some people over for dinner and be bought a bottle of wine. I wasn’t there in time for dinner, but I was there in time to rob a glass of the wine.

Fetzer Vineyards from California are apparently all about environmental sustainability, and while I don’t know the entirety of their process what I can tell you is that they make a tasty Cab Sauv. this one, while mostly Cabernet Sauvignon is also blended with some amount of Carignane, Petit Sirah and Merlot.

The wine is a nice deep red with a ring of crimson around the outside. Stick your nose in it and there’s some interesting and subtle aromas but really this one is all about the vanilla. Yes, there’s some pepper in there (thanks to the Petit Sirah and Carignane, I’d wager) and some nice earthy stuff if you really whiff deep, but vanilla is what this wine is all about. It’s the first scent and last scent you’ll get out of it.

On the palate there is a lot to be had, but mostly chocolate. A nice medium dark chocolate, like a 60% cocoa type chocolate. Not quite that bitter dark, but not quite the sweet milk chocolate either. There’s also more vanilla, and some berry flavours on the finish. Medium tannins in a medium bodied Cab Sauv make Matt a happy camper.

Rating:

This is some tasty wine, and you should check it out if only because it’s very inexpensive. I didn’t know how much it cost when I tasted it, but I found it at the BCL for 15$. At that price I’m not sure anyone can afford to not at least try it.

Links:

• Fetzer Vineyards
• Fetzer 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon @ Cork’d

Originally published at Vinoholic.ca -- Wine Appreciation in Vancouver, Canada. Please leave any comments there.

I’m originally from a little British Columbian island called Salt Spring, which you can find on your map just off the south-east coast of Vancouver Island. It’s a pretty small town but there is a lot going on there including in the last few years, wineries.

Salt Spring Vineyards is located right at the top of a little hill named after a bunch of people I’m related to, and they’ve built themselves a picturesque place to make and taste wine.

Last time I was on island I picked up a bottle of their 2007 Aromata wine, which is a blend of Bacchus and Schönburger. First off, let me say that this is not a blend I’ve seen many other places. It’s interesting and unique, which is as easy way to set them apart from the rest.

When I first poured a glass the first thing I noticed was the colour, it barely had any. It is about as close to being transparent as it can be with just the slightest hint of a straw yellow tinge.

The nose has a nice aromas of tart citrus, grapefruit, tangerine and apples. Some floral notes but it’s the fruit that carries this one home. On the palate it’s a medium-light bodied wine with some nice soft acidity and just enough sweetness to make you nod approval. Flavours of grapefruit dominate, with the same spartan apple undertone found on the nose.

Goes very nicely with the Salt Spring Island Goat Cheese I paired it with.

Rating:

Check it out. This is an interesting and solid wine. The only issue I can see is that like all Salt Spring Vineyards wines it was a fairly limited run and you might not be able to find it anymore. If they do it again the blend will likely change as well (I know that the 2006 version had some Blanc de Noir in the mix) so it won’t be the same again.

Links:

• Salt Spring Vineyards
• Salt Spring Vineyards 2007 Aromata on Cork’d
• Salt Spring Island Cheese Company

Originally published at Vinoholic. Please leave any comments there.

I have had one problem with the idea of reviewing the wines I drink and that problem is “I hate the 100 point system.”

Before I go on, here’s the rundown on the 100 point system that Cork’d has published:

• 99-100 Points A jaw-dropping, heart-stopping effort—not just everything you’d expect, but MORE than you could reasonably expect from a wine.
• 96-98 Points Overwhelming. A rare level of greatness for wines that knock your socks off with their massiveness or make your hair stand on end with their elegance.
• 92-95 Points Rocking wines that achieve something special within what they try to be. Occasionally wines in this range are a bit one-dimensional, but that one dimension will blow you away.
• 90-91 Points High quality wines that make you go back to the glass looking for (and usually finding) something more. Wines that are not just enjoyable but pique one’s curiosity.
• 85-89 Points Above average wines that perhaps lack that little something extra that makes them worthy of a 90-point score. Satisfactory. Drinkable and unobjectionable.
• 80-84 Points Something about the wine just rubs you the wrong way, but it has some redeeming features.
• 70-79 Points Very average wines capable of quenching thirst but little else. Straightforward and unremarkable.>
• 60-69 Points Flawed wines to avoid at all costs. Practically undrinkable.
• 50-59 Points So poor that the 60-69 range is insufficient to describe their inadequacy. Undrinkable.

While I can see the merit in it from one one hand, on the other a simple number tells you jack squat. Nothing about body, flavour, nose, anything. On top of that everyone’s palate is different so my 95 point pinot might only be an 80 for you. Even Robert Parker, the man behind the system, admits that it doesn’t tell you enough and to read the tasting notes on anything you’re considering buying.

So I am going to avoid using it. Instead I’m going to drink wine, tell you what I smell, taste and think and then put it into one of five of my own (admittedly still subjective) categories which I feel are likely more useful. While you can argue that this is as subjective as the 100 point system, at least when I’m using it I don’t feel like I’m pulling numbers out of my ass, you know?

The five categories I’ve come up with are:

• “Go Buy it Now” This means I pretty much loved it, and I think you should go out and find yourself a bottle, a 1/2 litre or a glass as soon as you can.

• “Check It Out” This means it’s a great wine. I don’t know if you should thrown on a jacket and run out for it right now, but keep an eye out for it when you’re next in your local shop.

• “Solid Choice” This means I think it’s just that, a solid choice. These are the safety dances of wine. No one is going to dislike it, no one is going to love it, it’s just good wine for drinking.

• “OK, I Guess” This means it’s OK, but I wouldn’t go looking for it. If someone offers it to you go ahead and take it, but I wouldn’t spend my own money on it.

• “Avoid” This seems like a pretty self explanatory category to me.

So that’s the plan for the Vinoholic Rating System. For those of you who want to be able to glance at the ratings I’ll also be tagging every review with flavours, aromas, region of origin, and other relevant data. I hope you find it useful, but I do encourage you to remember to read the notes. It really doesn’t matter if I love a wine if you can’t stand citrus aromas in your red, or sweet acidic whites, or anything that I might love and really we’re all here to enjoy it, right? Right.

Originally published at Vinoholic. Please leave any comments there.

In the last little while I’ve tried a number of Chilean wines and let me tell you this: Chilé is my new favourite country. Seriously, I haven’t met one I didn’t like yet.

Tonight I tried a bottle of Morandé Pinot Noir that my roommate brought home. We paired it with some white cheese (blue, and aged Irish cheddar) and went to town.

The wine itself is a nice consistent ruby red colour, and there’s a lot of aromas in there that my nose picked up. There are floral and soil undertones, a hint of maraschino cherry, citrus fruit and most surprisingly: grapes. I kid you not, there was a strong aroma of fresh picked red grapes. Caught me a touch off guard, I couldn’t place it at first.

On tasting we agreed, this wine is like a party in your mouth. It’s light-medium bodied with a nice oakyness, soft tannins, and a crisp acidity and sweetness. Then comes the flavour brigade; earth, citrus, maraschino cherry. To say this wine is fruit driven would be an understatement.

Rating:

To say this wine has a lot going on would be putting it mildly, especially at it’s ~20$ price point. Go buy it now.

Links:

• Viña Morandé Homepage

Originally published at Vinoholic. Please leave any comments there.

The same night I treated myself to some Therapy (Therapy Vineyards 2006 Merlot) my friend Miranda came over with this bottle. Italian wine is one area that I enjoy but haven’t had too much of so I was pretty enthusiastic at her choice.

This one features a beautiful nose of molasses and liquorice. I could smell the alcohol in it (despite being less than 13%), but that didn’t really irk me as I was simply reminded of Ouzo.

On the palate this has a nice mix of red raspberries and cranberries which has a nice sort of yin-yang effect of soft and harsh. The tannins are soft and there’s a nice amount of acidity to balance that out as well for a nice medium bodied drinking wine.

Would probably go very well with tomato based pasta dishes, and does go well with cheese.

Rating:

This wine is interesting, but not overly terribly complicated, nor for it’s <25$ price tag would I really expect it to be. It’s a saftey bottle. If you show up at a party with it no one is going to dislike it, but no one is going to be falling over themselves to get the last drop either.

I’d rank it in the high mid-80s if I had to, and here I’ll call it as “solid choice.”

Links:

• Masi Homepage
• Masi Modello Delle Venezie Rosso 2006 on Cork’d

Originally published at Vinoholic. Please leave any comments there.

December is always a long month for me, owing mainly to my day job in retail management. Last night I was Christmas shopping and happened into the BCL in South Granville. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular, or anything at all really, I just like to browse. Then I saw a bottle labelled “Therapy” and thought to myself “oh, I could use some of that.”

First off let me just say I love the labels from this vineyard. That’s some brilliant marketing right there. I have to wonder how many people like me there are who saw the label and grabbed it based on that.

The wine itself has a nice nose, raspberries and blackberries and a hint of something more intense, currants maybe? I couldn’t quite put my finger on it since a) my nose is a bit stuffed up thanks to the snow and b) it was almost overwhelmed by the cocoa and vanilla aromas. No, seriously, cocoa.

Full bodied, and full of berries on the palate. Same raspberries, blackberries, with a nice amount of oak and tannin. Not so much that it’ll send you to puckertown, but just enough that you can feel your cheeks straining, you know? Finishes off smoothly, and lingers for a minute or two which is nice. A bit high on the alcohol at 13.5%, which does give the finish a bit of a sharpness, but otherwise this is a good solid wine that I could drink all the time.

Rating:

Check it out if you can still find it. The 2006 vintage isn’t even on their website anymore, so I’m somewhat surprised to have found it.

Links:

• Therapy Vineyards
• Therapy Vineyards 2006 Merlot on Cork’d

Originally published at Vinoholic. Please leave any comments there.

Over this past summer I started drinking a lot more Rieslings. No idea what brought it on, I was just in the liquor store one day and thought to myself “fuck it, I want to try something I haven’t had a lot of before.”

So that’s what I did.

Ex Nihilo’s 2006 Riesling is one of the better ones that I tried. It’s a nice light bodied wine with good, crisp acidity and just enough sweetness.

On the nose I picked up papaya, peach, apple, and other tropical fruit, flavours which dominate the palate. There’s a hint of minerals in there too, but only just enough to notice and make you say “huh, nice.”

Rating:

A solid “Check it out”.

Links:

• Ex Nihilo Vineyards
• Ex Nihilo 2006 Riesling on Cork’d

I will be blogging at Stretched.ca from now on. Please redirect your browsers there.

Mission Hill Family Estate, originally uploaded by mattsimpson.name.

Mission Hill Estate is a pretty sweet place. That covered area is the dining area of their restaurant, and the hill is actually a grass amphitheatre.

Shell, originally uploaded by mattsimpson.name.

This is from last year, actually.

I’m not bored at all.

Pin-up; Polaroid Impulse, originally uploaded by mattsimpson.name.

This evening I spent a few hours photographing a model in various states of undress and all I could think about was seeing my baby again.

And I think that's awesome.