Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival, March 28 - April 3, 2011

  

This was the third time I have attended the festival that is considered to be one, if not the best wine show in North America. The organization and volunteers really did a fantastic job bringing together 176 wineries from 15 different countries. The focus here is all about wine; no beer, no shooters, no cocktails, just wine (around 1,700 this year) with two feature spirits, Port and Sherry. What makes this show consumer friendly is the one entry fee, no additional tickets required; this includes all the tastings and complimentary nibblies, including my favourite Alexis de Portneuf cheese from Québec. The easy access to food and water while tasting many wines was extremely important.

It was impossible to visit every booth in 5 hours spread over two days. In the interest of full disclosure, I did not make it to the booths representing; Austria, Chile, Greece, Israel, New Zealand, South Africa and United States (with exception of Rodney Strong Vineyards). My goal was to focus on three regions in particular; BC wines, Germany and Spain, then share my thoughts with you.

British Columbia; Some of the buzz at this show, was the 95 points received by Mission Hill Oculus 2007 from James Suckling (formally of Wine Spectator). This review was part of a blind testing session held at the SAQ labs in Montréal, February of this year. In total 16 BC wines score 90 points and more. I did have the opportunity to taste The Oculus 2007 (Bordeaux blend) a wine of such power with dark fruit, leather, tobacco leaf, cedar and cassis on the nose, palate is firm with grainy tannins, balance acidity and richness of fruit. This wine has such potential and is not cheep at $80.00 / bottle, but I would not be surprised to see this wine on Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2011. I tasted many good wines from BC and here a list;

White wines: Tantalus 2009 Riesling, Mission Hill Reserve Viognier 2009, Quail’s Gate Chenin Blanc 2010, Wild Goose Mystic River Pinot Gris; and

Red wines; Mission Hill Quatrain 2007, Painted Rock Merlot 2008, Poplar Grove The Legacy 2006 and Cabernet Franc 2007, NK’MIP Cellars QWAM QWMT Merlot 2008 and Mer’r’iym 2008 (First Bordeaux blend from this winery) it was superb, this was my second favourite BC Bordeaux style wine from BC after Oculus 2007. Also available to Trade only was Osoyoos Larose Le Grand Vin Barrel Sample 2008 (Great potential and monster tannins right now).

Germany; One of the most satisfying segment of this festival for me, was tasting the Riesling from some of the seven wineries representing Germany. The Riesling grape is truly the most complex and interesting white grape and nowhere is it produced with such diverse style, than in Germany. It was very interesting talking to Winemaker Hans Hamann of Deinhard in Rheingau and his frustration with some who did not take the time to truly enjoy the complexity of his wines, drinking them as if they were shooters or spit them and move on to something else (I say you should really taste the great stuff). He realized that this was an occasion to showcase his wines to a large market (approx. 25,0000 people attend this show every year). My favourite wine of his was 2009 Schloss Johannisberger Riesling Grünlack Spätlese at $56.99.

Discussing wine with the passionate
Wine Maker Telmo Rodriguez

Spain; Every year, one country is chosen as “The Regional Theme”, and this year that country was Spain. With 32 wineries and an impressive list of Spanish winemaking stars and winery principal, the likes of Alvaro Palacios, Miguel Torres, Telmo Rodrigues and Vega Sicilia to name a few (a principal from each winery is mandatory to be an exhibitor). Some of the main attractions about the new style of Spanish wines are small producers, naturally low-yielding vines, more restrained use of oak, elegance of the Reserva and Grand Reserva level of wines from Rioja and bold wines of Priorat and Ribera Del Duero. With 32 booths and 167 wines, many of those I had never seen or tasted before. Here are my highlights; having the opportunity 

Spanish Star
Winemaker Alvaro Palacios

to speak to both Alvaro Palacios and Telmo Rodrigues, the four wines at Telmo Rodrigues booth blew me away (I did purchase two of these wines). My favourite wine from the entire show was Marqués De Riscal Gran Reserva 2003 from Rioja at $60.00 a bottle. To my disappointment, this wine was all gone at the festival BC Liquor store by the time I got there. It summary the quality of wine was very high from this country. Spain was definitely the star of this show and set a high standard for next years “Regional Theme Country” Chile.

http://playhousewinefest.com/

Here are my top 12 wines tasted at the show:(In no particular order and these are BC prices)

1- Marqués De Riscal Gran Reserva 2003, Rioja, Spain at $60.00

2-Telmo Rodriguez M2 De Matallana Cosecha 2006 , Ribera Del Duero, Spain at $44.00

3-Telmo Rodriguez Lazanga 2007, Rioja, Spain at $35.00

4-Mission Hill Oculus 2007, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia at $80.00

5-Mission Hill Quatrain 2007, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia at$45.00

6- Schloss Johannisberger Riesling Grünlack Spätlese, Rheingau, Germany at $56.99.

7-Schloss Schonborn Hattenheimer Pfaffenberg Auslese 2009, Rheingau Germany at

 $76.00 for a half bottle

8-Alvaro Palacio Les Terrasses 2008, Priorat, Spain $47.00

9-Rodney Strong Reserve Pinot Noir 2008, Russian River Valley, California at $50.00

10- NK’MIP Cellars Mer’r’iym 2008, Okanaghan Valley, British Columbia at $50.00

11-Cave de Tain Saint-Joseph Red Esprit de Granit 2007, Rhone, France at $34.99

12-Clos de L’Oratoire Chateauneuf-Du-Pape 2007, Rhone, France at 49.99

Here are the wines I have brought back from Vancouver;

Some International gems
purchased at the show.

Telmo Rodriguez M2 De Matallana Cosecha 2006 , Ribera Del Duero, Spain

Telmo Rodriguez Lazanga 2007, Rioja, Spain

Ramon Bilbao Edicion Limitada 2007, Rioja, Spain

Mission Hill Oculus 2007, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia

NK’MIP Cellars QWAM QWMT Merlot 2008, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia

Painted Rock Merlot 2007, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia

Poplar Grove Syrah 2007, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia

Poplar Grove Cabernet Franc 2007, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia

Ode To Lorraine 2006, Barossa Valley, Ausralia

BC wines purchased at the show.

Kilikanoon Covenant Shiraz 2008, Claire Valley, Australia

Orin Swift The Prisoner 2009, Napa Valley, California

I have learned a great deal about packing wine for airlane travel post 9/11, if I could have purchased more that would have been great. There were so many wines I could never find here in Ontario, specialty, small boutique wineries from BC for example. For now, these wines are a great addition to my cellar, and when I open one of these bottles, the memories of this fantastic Wine Show in Vancouver will bring a smile. I would like to say thank you to my partner Christopher DeMerchant for spending the Thursday event with me and taking photos and my former manager of the wine shop I use to work at in Victoria, Sebastian Lucero-Groisman for spending the day Friday with me, it was great to connect with a great friend and taste wine together.

Cheers,

Paul, YWG

Tasting Charles Cimicky 2005

The Autograph Shiraz from Australia