It has been crazy busy in the wine and spirit world lately and MyVanCity.ca has had an opportunity to check out a number of events.
French Wine Connection
This was an incredible afternoon of wine tasting with so many more wines than you could ever hope to taste in one day. In order to accomplish my goal of letting our readers know what is happening I decided to focus mostly on rosé wine with a little white or sparkling for good measure.
Armed with a handy catalogue I started at the beginning. The event took place in the revolving room on top of the Renaissance Hotel on Hastings Street. The venue was ideal, lots of room to navigate and a constantly evolving view of the city.
Conveniently numbered tables that corresponded to the catalogue made it easy to take notes as I circumnavigate the room.
Antech Limoux wines from the Languedoc-Roussillon region. I started with a sparkling white (couldn’t resist) Brut Nature which was very good. The Emotion 2012 rosé was very light.
A selection of their wines are available at Marquis Wine Cellars on Davie Street.
Aubai Mema producers of bio dynamic wines. Also from the Languedoc-Roussillon region I tried the Albion 2012.
Champagne Bernard Robert to sample four wines; Champagne Cuvee Reserve, white, sparkling and absolutely delicious, Champagne Cuvee Blanc de Blancs white sparkling also very good. Champagne Cuvee rosé which I found a bit acidic for my taste, Champagne Cuvee le Treizot Grande Reserve 2009 white sparkling which was my favourite, a very good and a very drinkable wine.
Caves de Rauzan from the Bordeaux region, Chateau le Cluzet 2013 Rose.
Chateau Pigoudet Aix en Provence sipping a Pigoudet Premiere 2013 rosé which smells heavenly, a Cuvee la Chapelle 2013 rosé which was light but very tasty, Pigoudet Classic 2013 rosé, a little acidic, and Pigoudet Insolite! 2013 rosé which is harvested at night, chilled and pressed directly having no tannins. I think this was my favourite of their wines, it was very, very nice.
Domaine de Montgilet from the Loire Valley. I sampled their only rosé, a Rosé D’Anjou 2012.
Just to mix it up I also tasted Claude Lafond from the Loire Valley, this time a Les Grandes Vignes 2013 pinot noir.
Domaine Couly-Dutheil from Loire Valley a Rene Couly 2013 rosé which was very tasty and refreshing.
Domaine Laurent Miquel from the Languedoc-Roussillon region. I tasted a Pere & Fils Cinsault Syrah 2013 rosé which was pleasant. Very reasonable price point and available at private wine stores.
Jean-Pierre Girardeau from Loire Valley where I tasted a rosé that was not listed in the catalogue, a Rosé de Loire 2012 a bubbly Saumur demi sec.
Loire Vins Domaine from Loire Valley two wines, a Rosé de Loire 2013 which was light and delicious and a Cabernet D’Anjou 2013 rouge which was excellent.
To round out to an even dozen Domaine des Antilles from Guadeloupe/Caribbean Islands. A still La Banane 2012. I think you would have to really like bananas to appreciate this one.
For my last stop of the day was Brasserie des 2 Caps to taste their delicious beer. My favourite was the Guenel, a non filtered dark ale. Had to also try the D-Day blond beer which I also enjoyed.
With 40 French producers from 10 regions there were over 250 wines, spirits and beers to taste.
So if you are wondering how you can enjoy tasting a number of wines in one sitting here is my suggestion. Get some friends together, I would recommend at least eight people. Have everyone bring a wine. You can choose your wine by varietal or region whichever you like. Be sure to ask your guests to put their wine in a brown paper bag so that you can do a “blind tasting”. You will have a lot of fun tasting and choosing your favourites. Perhaps a potluck dinner, or with the better weather not far away, why not a bbq and wine tasting evening.
Enjoy!
