Culmina Estate’s seated seminars are a big hit
We love the idea of Culmina Estate’s exploratory winery tastings tagged the Sunday Sessions.
The intimate seated seminars that run from noon to 2 p.m. are followed by snacks and a festival-style tasting of several other wines from the portfolio.
This Sunday, the topic is Gruner Veltliner, featuring all five historical vintages of Unicus as well as the N° 002 Wild Ferment Gruner Veltliner.
On Aug. 12, it’s Chardonnay and Riesling from Margaret’s and Stan’s Bench and finally it’s Bordeaux Varietal Blends Sept. 9 featuring the flagship winery Hypothesis.
Tickets are $50 and available online.
The French are combining their love of wine and graphic novels.
According to a Japan News report, the success of the Japanese manga series Drops of God turned the French on to the potential of comics about wine.
“The story of a Japanese beer company employee, who must correctly identify 13 wines from his father’s collection to inherit his wealth, made several obscure French winemakers stars overnight in Asia.”
The French have devoured Les Ignorants, which explores organic and natural wines.
You can read the English translation The Initiates: A Comic Artist and a Wine Artisan Exchange Jobs. It’s now available on Amazon.
B.C. WINE OF THE WEEK
Blue Mountain Reserve Pinot Noir 2015, Okanagan Falls, Okanagan Valley
$39.90 I 90/100
UPC: 626452551152
The BM “reserve” is all that and more most years and a wine that should be cellared for a minimum three to five years to allow it to become the complex Pinot it is.
The 2015 may be an exception given the ripeness here and a sweetness that beguiles if only because it has been a rare, hot year.
Look for a smoky, savoury, spicy and sweet Pinot where the Russian River meets the Okanagan with sweet raspberry, ripe cherry and spicy filling in a plump palate.
Warm, round, silky and soft, this will fade sooner than later like a shooting star, but why miss the party?
Duck, salmon and pork all work here.
WINE FOR THE CELLAR
Trapiche Tres 14 2011, Vista Flores, Valle de Uco, Tunuyan, Mendoza, Argentina
$44.97 I 91/100
UPC: 7790240095746
Tres 14 or 3-14, better known as the mathematical equation pi, also happens to be the name of the winemaker Daniel Pi, who makes this impressive Malbec.
The vines are oldish at 20 years and own-rooted, in essence connected directly with the high-altitude soils of the Uco Valley.
Given the virtual dearth of interesting Malbec in government shops, it’s a delight to have access to this affordable small-production label.
Pi uses second-use French and American oak for nine months to shape this Malbec without interfering with its sense of place.
The fruit is intense and almost wild, mixing plums and cassis with a stony, floral undercurrent.
You can drink this now or cellar it for another five years. Impressive.