ARTICLES: Latest News | Winemaking | Products

Articles & News

2010 Selection Limited Edition Series Revealed

Posted October 1st, 2010 | 0 Comments

2010 Selection Limited Edition Series Revealed

The wait is over for another year, with the revealing of the 2010 Selection Limited Edition Series. After last years outstanding best of series, we were unsure where they could go this year, well they went to places never seen in a limited quantity program before. So with out any further delay here are the wines:

January

Australian Shiraz/Viognier

The Region: The warm climate and rich sandy loam soils of Australia’s Riverland region could produce high yields, but the artisan grape growers at Salmon Gum Vineyards remove half the fruit at budburst and limit irrigation. With smaller numbers of berries and water-stressed vines, the resultant grapes display highly concentrated fl avour, aroma and body.

The Wine: Blending red and white grapes brings lush balance to this lively, deep ruby wine. Ripe berry fruit and violet aromas from the Shiraz are balanced by floral and stone fruit notes from the Viognier, with beguiling hints of orange blossom followed by toast and smokiness. There’s sufficient acidity to give it structure, but the overall impression is soft and velvety. The long, gentle finish is ripe and appealing with surprising complexity.

The Food: A great choice for game or meat dishes, it also works spectacularly with ratatouille and even soft fruit, especially combined with soft-ripened or goat’s cheeses. It’s also great all by itself as an elegant sipping wine.

Ageing: Appealingly bright and fruity when young, it will develop more of its fl oral aromas after six months, and after a year will begin to show violets and blackberry fl avours, and continue to deepen in flavour.

Sweetness Code: 0 (dry)

Pacifica White

The Region: The Pacific Rim has micro-climates and terroir as diverse and excellent as any in the world. With Semillon from the blazing sunshine in Australia, Chardonnay from the crisp valley air in Okanagan, British Columbia, and Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier from the hot sunny mornings and cool afternoons of California’s North Coast, each vineyard also has unique soil ranging from sandy river bottom loam, to stony red clay, and nearly pure limestone.

The Wine: Pacifica White showcases bright fruit, excellent structure and a long layered finish running out from a veritable fruit salad of flavours and aromas. Complex pear and honey notes, grassy citrus and grapefruit, ripe apple, fig, melon, peach, and pineapple all mellow into spicy, honey, butter, butterscotch and hazelnut flavours that linger beguilingly.

The Food: Full-bodied yet supple, this wine has a range of fruit characters and enough acidity to stand up to a wide range of foods. Off dry, but perfectly balanced it works well with spices, seafood, clams, mussels in saffron cream, and especially with Asian food.

Ageing: Delicious and ready to drink almost immediately, this wine has the ability to change with time, evolving dominant notes from one grape to the next. Sauvignon Blanc’s citrus and herbs provide crispness early on, giving way to melon and honey notes of Semillon, then Viognier rises to show stone fruit, flowers, ripe apricots and candied orange peel while Chardonnay asserts its green apple and notes of white fruits and minerals.

Sweetness Code: 1 (perfectly balanced and luscious)

February

Italian Primitivo

The Region: Puglia forms a long narrow peninsula, making up the heel of the boot of Italy. Dry and warm, it basks in the Mediterranean sun, and has a long, rich history of grape growing. The Appenine mountains give an excellent range of elevations and soil types, and it produces more wine than any other region in Italy, specializing in intensely ripe grapes from its hillsides.

The Wine: Italian Primitivo is medium red in colour veering to brick, rich, and concentrated, exuding aromas of blackberry, plums, tobacco, prunes and red cherries, with the Italian signature of firm tannins and a long, gripping finish with notes of vanilla and toast. Like most Italian reds it retains acidity to balance fruit character and marry well with food.

The Food: Primitivo shines in the company of assertively flavoured foods like lamb, pork, grilled beef, ribs, roasted red meats, wild game, spicy cheeses and pizza. Its firm backbone of acids and tannins make it work well with rich and spicy foods like Italian sausages or lasagna.

Ageing: Medium-bodied but with good grip and intensity, this wine will begin to open up after six months, the richer flavours will show at 12 months.

Sweetness: 0 (dry)

March

Austria Grüner Veltliner

The Region: Grüner Veltliner is almost unique to the Niederösterreich, Austria’s growing region along the Danube River North of Vienna. It finds its finest balance in loess, the fine grained, densely compacted glacial dust that has blown in to the vineyards over many thousands of years. This unique terrior is largely responsible for the distinctive characteristics of arguably Austria’s greatest asset.

The Wine: Grüner Veltliner produces stunningly intense and concentrated wines that start with citrus and grapefruit aromas, hinting from the very beginning at the variety’s most distinguishing characteristic, the spicy fragrance of freshly ground white pepper. In addition to white pepper they can also show aromas of sour apples, flowers and minerals— surprisingly delicate.

The Food: The steely dryness and bracing acidity of Grüner Veltliner works brilliantly with seafood, mussels, salmon, grilled halibut, fish stew, and grilled oysters.

Ageing: This wine has huge ageing potential. After three months in the bottle it will present bright, simple flavours of citrus, but after a year the tropical fruits will come out to duel with the white pepper.

Sweetness: 0 (dry)

April

Portugese Douro Tinto

The Region: The Douro valley is Portugal’s premium wine region. Situated along the Rio Douro (River of Gold), the scenery is spectacular and the soil is just about perfect for growing quality wine grapes. The climate is continental, very hot and desert-dry in the summer; cold and wet in the winter. Douro’s most memorable feature is its diffi cult terrain. Most of the slopes are so steep that the only way to grow anything is by creating terraces, the painstaking construction of dry stonewalls to support the banks of soil.

The Wine: A blend of Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz and Touriga Franca, the names may be unfamiliar, but Tinta Roriz is the same grape as Spanish Tempranillo. Together they make an intensely aromatic wine with an impressive depth of fruit and complexity. Black fruits such as cassis along with mulberry and raspberry predominate and are complemented by plums and tobacco, followed by the resinous aromas of violets and rockrose. High tannin levels and good natural acidity mean that the wine has an excellent potential for ageing without loss of structure or balance.

The Food: Incredibly flexible as a food wine, Douro Tinto will match perfectly with roasted lamb, or duck, barbecued meats, grilled eel and meat sauces. The finesse and complexity also make it intriguing just on its own.

Ageing: This wine will show black fruit, plums and a fi rm structure of acid and tannins. Six to twelve months will reveal more floral aromas and a hint of ripe berries and cassis.

Sweetness: 0 (dry)

Pricing

The price for the kits this year are $185 for on-premise and $125 to take the kit home. As usual we are taking pre-orders with a deposit of $25 per wine kit. To guarantee the kits of your choice pre-orders need to placed before December 10, 2010. We will also be offering oak barrel aging on the red wines for an additional $30 plus taxes on a first come, first serve basis. The barrel spots are limited and requests for them are high, so please let us know with your pre-order as soon as possible to ensure you are not left without a spot.

Wine Tasting Special Event

After last years successful Selection Limited Edition Wine Tasting Event there was no question that we were going to do it again this year. This year we have teamed up with Cooks 'n Corks to put on an even more entertaining evening. The event will take place on Sunday November 14th, 2009. We will have two seatings one at 5pm (only a very few left) and one at 8pm and will be located again at the Old Mill Boathouse in Port Moody. Tickets for the event are available for purchase at the store as well as Cooks 'n Corks on a first come first serve basis and are $25 each. Each seating only has 100 spots and are expected to go quickly, so do not wait too long. Even if you are not interesting in this years Limited Edition Series this night promises to be a fun night for anyone who enjoys wine. We also encourage you to let friends and family know about the event as new customers are welcome as well.

This year we will be only offering our gift for ordering any five Selection Limited Edition wine kits if you place your pre-order at the wine tasting event. The gift this year will be a beautiful wine themed gift basket valued at $80. The baskets will be available when you pay the balance of your first Selection Limited Edition kit. As well that night Cooks 'n Corks will be offering an exclusive deal for their wonderful Cooking & Wine classes.... Christmas comes early - buy any three classes and receive a 4th class for free.

The event this year is going to be extra special as with teaming up with Cooks 'n Corks, we are bringing one of the Chefs they use for their cooking classes. The chef will be showing everyone how to create a pairing dish for each of the wines. Part of the evening will be that you get to make a couple of the dishes yourselves. The chef that will be doing the event is Executive Chef Chris Whittaker of O’Doul’s Restaurant & Bar at the Listel Hotel.

Chef Chris Whittaker's Bio:

Chris Whittaker began his culinary career at the tender age of sixteen in Thunder Bay, Ontario. After working in a number of the finer restaurants with chefs of diverse backgrounds and styles, he turned his attention west. After a stop in the Rockies at the prestigious Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, Whittaker made his way to Vancouver --- a city perfectly suited to his creative and contemporary sensibility.

Since arriving in Vancouver in 2000, Whittaker has been an integral player in some of Vancouver’s most interesting kitchens. Working under David Griffiths at the Delta Vancouver Suites and later taking the helm as Executive Chef at the Pacific Palisades Hotel and Zin Restaurant, Whittaker has garnered praise for his eclectic cooking style and passion for local products and ethically sound ingredients. Chris is currently Executive Chef at O’Douls’s Restaurant & Bar on Robson where he continues to captivate guests with his creative genius!

Post filed under: Latest News, Products

» All Articles & News

Beyond The Grape

Articles & News

2010 Selection Limited Edition Series Revealed

2010 Selection Limited Edition Series Revealed

January

Australian Shiraz/Viognier

Pacifica White

Italian Primitivo

March

Austria Grüner Veltliner

April

Portugese Douro Tinto

Wine Tasting Special Event

Chef Chris Whittaker's Bio:

Post a Comment

Related Articles