Vancouver International Wine Festival, February 25 – March 3, 2013

It was another great year for the Vancouver International Wine Festival (VIWF). I attended the trade tasting events of Thursday and Friday afternoon, in total; 175 wineries from 15 countries; 960 wines available to taste. This year VIWF “Regional Theme Country” was California and the Global Focus was on Chardonnay. My plan of action this year, one hour tasting wines from British Columbia, an extensive tasting of Chardonnay, California wines and my list of vineyards from around the globe. I didn’t taste as many California wines as one might expect (the festival featured country), since the California Wine Fair will be visiting my home town of Ottawa in April. Which also explains why the California Wine Fair will not be visiting Vancouver this year. 

Winery principals;  An important feature of this festival is that a principal from each winery must be in attendance at the festival, included in this are winemakers and proprietors. These people are in the know and there to answer questions about their wines and vineyards. Some of those principals were so inspiring and passionate about their wine and what they do. I find that listening to their stories very invigorating. Here are three of those principals which made this festival so memorable for me.

• Champagne Pol Roger from France was represented by Hugues Romagnan, their International Export Director. I tried to taste their wines on the first day (Thursday) but it was so busy, people lined up, three to four deep. I decided to try first thing the second day (Friday) afternoon. Our group of four arrived first at the table, where Hugues Romagnan led us through their selection of 5 Champagne. All of them where excellent, but the last three where absolutely outstanding; Brut Blanc de Blancs 2002, Brut Vintage 2002 and Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill 2000. Which other wine festival could you have the opportunity to taste a wine dedicated to the great British Leader Sir Winston Churchill,very few. The Champagne from Pol Roger were the highlights of the festival for me, by far. Thank you Hugues for sharing your wines and the great insight on the Pol Roger style of Champagne.
  
   

•  Marimar Estate from California was represented by Marimar Torres, born into Spain’s iconic Miguel Torres wine family. What a lovely lady with such passion about food and wine. I really enjoyed tasting her line up of organically grown estate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from the Russian River Valley vineyards. All four wines tasted were very good but my favourite was La Masia Chardonnay 2009.

• Stag’ Leap Winery was represented by their passionate winemaker Christopher Paubert. Born and raised in Bordeaux, his style of wine making is very much French meets California. Terroir driven, well structured and balanced wines with ripe California fruit and French oak with a real attention to details. A real joy to taste all four of his wines; Chardonnay 2011, Petit Syrah 2009, Merlot 2009 and Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 all of them outstanding and very enjoyable wines, I also enjoy the opportunity to converse in French, here in Vancouver, while speaking with Christopher. After Pol Roger this was my most enjoyed table at this festival. 

Chardonnay;  In total I tasted 21 Chardonnays from Argentina, Australia, California, Canada, France and Italy. In general I prefer a cool climate Chardonnay (lower alcohol with better acidity) where the oak treatment is used to soften up acidity that gives it slightly sweeter flavours with a creamy texture and not an oaky one. Here are four of that I really enjoyed;

• Marimar Estate La Masia Chardonnay 2009 Russian River Valley California – There is a nice cool-climate feel to this very classy, elegant Chardonnay, estate organic grown fruit (Don Miguel Vineyard), nine months sur lies with maturation in 100% in French oak (30% new). There is a nice elegant texture on this Chardonnay with flavours of pineapple, pears, orange zest, gentle oak spices and light roasted nuts. The finish is long, lightly creamy and very smooth.

• Stag’ Leap Chardonnay 2011, Napa Valley, California – This is a beautiful, rich full bodied Chardonnay with flavours of pineapple, tree and citrus fruit, wood spices, crème Brulée, light vanilla notes with great length and depth  on the finish. This is a big, delicious, well made California Chardonnay where ripe fruit is well balanced by fresh acidity and carefully managed well integrated French oak.
  

• Mission Hill Perpetua 2010, Okanagan Valley, BC, Canada – Mission Hill winemaker John Simms has a great hand with Chardonnay. This wine is 100% estate grown Chardonnay fruit (Osoyoos Vineyard estate), maturation in new French oak, eight months sur lies and alcohol coming in at 13.5%. Medium bodied with flavours of citrus and tree fruit, light minerals, vanilla and gentle wood spices with vibrant acidity. This is a very elegant and lightly creamy Chardonnay with great balance between fruit and acidity.

• Domaine Larouche Chablis 1er Cru Les Vaillons Vieilles Vignes 2008, Burgundy, France – Of all four tasted from Domaine Larouche Chablis, this was my favourite one. Made with 100% Chardonnay grapes and opened up with a very complex aromatics of yellow plum, pear, citrus fruit, light minerality and flinty. On the mouthfeel, a medium-full bodied, creamy texture with an underlining minerality and well balanced by its natural acidity and ripe fruit. The wine finish is long, very elegant and enjoyable.

British Columbia Wines; Again this year I noticed that a few of my favourite BC wineries where not in attendance at the festival. Over the past three years these wineries, which used to attend the wine show where missing; Blasted Church, Borrowing Owl, Hester Creek, Laughing Stock, La Stella, Le Vieux Pin and Tantalus. Which means, many new wineries which I had never heard  of before I passed in favour of the more familiar wines that returned.

• Blue Mountain Vineyard and Cellars – As usual their Chardonnay and Pinot Noir (both from the 2011 vintage) were well made and quite enjoyable, especially the Pinot Noir. This is the style of Pinot Noir I enjoy, low alcohol (12.5%), minimum amount of oak, ripe berry fruit and light floral, vanilla and spices notes. Feminine and pretty.
  
  

• Mission Hill Family Estate – From their Legacy series of wines, I tasted Perpetua 2010 (Chardonnay), Compendium 2009 (Bordeaux blend) and the second vintage of Martins Lane Pinot Noir 2011. All of them were very good.
  
  

• NK’Mip Cellars – Aboriginal owned and operated winery in the south Okanagan Valley, four wines tasted here with their QwAM QwMT Syrah and Mer’r’iym (Bordeaux blend) being my favourite. I truly enjoyed the savoury character of the Syrah but the QwAM QwMT Pinot Noir is definitely not my style, much more extracted and tannic.
  
  
• Painted Rock Estate Winery – Represented by Proprietor John Skinner. Again this year, a great line-up of wines with their Merlot 2009 and Red Icon 2009 (Bordeaux Blend) being my favourite. I didn’t enjoy their Syrah 2010 as much as their 2009 vintages. But overall, they make beautiful full bodied wines.
  
  
• Poplar Grove Winery – One of my favourite BC wineries, their Cabernet Franc 2009 was stunning, one of them is now resting in my cellar.
  
  
• Tinhorn Creek Vineyards - Represented by Sandra Oldfield winemaker and CEO, I very much enjoyed their wines in the past but this was my first experience visiting there booth. All three wines tasted here; Oldfield Series Merlot 2009, 2 Bench Red 2009 and Cabernet Franc 2009 were superb. Sandra asked which wine I preferred, I had to say, the Oldfield Series Cabernet Franc 2009. She told me it was so Canadian of me to choose the Cabernet Franc. I just love the poise, aromatics and elegance her Cabernet Franc.
  
  
• Township 7 Vineyards & Winery – I had heard a lot about this winery, they have won many medals for their Merlot. There Merlot Reserve 2009 certainly lived up to my expectations, full bodied, rich and structured with a very masculine style of Merlot. Township 7 Reserve 7 Meritage 2008 is also very nice, a blend of 75% Merlot, 17% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Cabernet Franc, very savoury flavours and  smoother than the Merlot.

 

Tinhorn Creek winemaker Sandra Oldfield.
Thirsty anyone? How about this great Merlot

                                                                                                   

Here are my top 20 wines tasted at the Festival;

(In no particular order)

1- Antica Cabernet Sauvignon 2009, Napa Valley, California

2- Marimar Estate La Masia Chardonnay 2009 Russian River Valley California

3- Stag’ Leap Chardonnay 2011, Napa Valley, California

4- Stag’ Leap Petit Sirah 2009, Napa Valley, California

5- Catena Zapata Malbec Argentino 2008, Mendoza, Argentina

6- Wakefield St. Andrews Cabernet Sauvignon 2009, Clara Valley, Australia

7- Wakefield St. Andrews Shiraz 2009, Clara Valley, Australia

8- Blue Mountain Pinot Noir 2011, Okanagan Valley, BC, Canada

9- Mission Hill Perpetua 2010, Okanagan Valley, BC, Canada

10- Painted Rock Red Icon 2009, Okanagan Valley, BC, Canada

11- Tinhorn Creek Oldfields Series Cabernet Franc 2009, Okanagan Valley, BC, Canada

12- Champagne Pol Roger Blanc de Blancs 2002, Champagne, France

13- Champagne Pol Roger Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill 2000, Champagne, France

14- Famille Perrin Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2010, Rhône, France

15- Les Halos de Jupiter Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2010, Rhône, France

16- Gunderloch Nackenheim Rothenberg Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel 2009, Rheinhessen, Germany

17- Antinori Guado Al Tasso Bolgueri Superior 2008, Tuscany, Italy

18- Antinori Tignanello Toscana Igt 2008, Tuscany, Italy

19- El Nido Clio 2010, Jumilia, Spain

20- Nathalie Bonhomme Dominio de Pingus PSI 2010, Jumilia, Spain

Festival wine store

Here are the wines I purchased at the Festival;

1- Ateca Atteca 2010, Aragon, Calatayud, Spain

2- Blue Mountain Pinot Noir 2011, Okanagan Valley, BC, Canada

3- Domaine Larouche Chablis 1er Cru Les Vaillons Vieilles Vignes 2008, Burgundy, France

4- Gunderloch Nackenheim Rothenberg Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel 2009, Rheinhessen, Germany

5- Jacob’s Creek St. Hugo Cabernet Sauvignon 2007, Coonawarra, Australia

6- Painted Rock Red Icon 2009, Okanagan Valley, BC, Canada

7- Poplar Grove Cabernet Franc 2009, Okanagan Valley, BC, Canada

8- Stag’ Leap Chardonnay 2011, Napa Valley, California

9- Tinhorn Creek Oldfields Series Cabernet Franc 2009, Okanagan Valley, BC, Canada

BC wines purchased

                                                         

                                                                                                          Foreign wines purchased

One element to consider, when I am interested in purchasing wines at the Festival, is their availability either in my own province of Ontario (LCBO) or neighbouring province of Québec (SAQ). The difference in pricing between provinces is shocking, the taxes on alcohol in BC are much higher. I usually try to purchase wine that is not stocked at my local LCBO, such as British Columbia wines.

After several years of attending this Festival I noticed they always have Québec cheese producers in attendance. I was born in Québec, and of course I love Québec cheese, but this year the cheese was a product of British Columbia. I must admit, I really enjoyed the cheese from BC and the people representing them. Whoever made the decision to change to cheese from BC should be congratulated; it makes a lot of sense to promote your own cheese industry.

Well another great festival this year, as always, the organization runs a very smooth festival and I thank the many volunteers, your efforts and pleasant nature are much appreciated. The highlights for me, was the selection from Italy and especially France. It was announced that next years Theme Region for 2014 will be France and the Global Focus will be sparkling wine. I am excited with these choices, with centuries of wine making in display and so many styles of wines, regions, terroir from la Loire to Champagne, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Alsace, Rhône Valley and le Midi. They impressed me with 13 wineries I can’t even imagine what they will bring with what could be over 70 wineries. The Vancouver International Wine Festival continues to be my favourite wine festival, simply can’t wait for next year.

Cheers

Paul YWG