JANUARY 2022 FEATURED PREMIUM WINES
WINE ONE: BROC CELLARS VINE STARR ZINFANDEL
About: The two vineyards that supply fruit for this cuvée are Arrowhead Mountain (30%) and Buck Hill Vineyard (70%). Soils here are volcanic, and Buck Hill even has a small terraced parcel planted on white volcanic ash. The grapes are destemmed and fermented in five-ton stainless steel tanks. After a short time on skins, the wine is pressed off and aged in neutral French puncheons for ten months until bottling. This vintage features a gorgeous new label for their flagship wine. Only 183 cases were made this vintage because of fire damage.
Taste: This wine is medium purple in the glass. The nose is thrilling with aromas of raspberry coulee, apricot pit, mountain wildflowers, purple plum skins, balsam, and red velvet cake. It is buoyant and cheerful, packed with energy and freshness. The palate is dry with soft acidity, not unlike blood oranges. It has modest tannins that add structure, and the mouthfeel is soft and velvety. It is truly sumptuous. You’ll find further flavours of nougat, strawberry jam, candied roses, milk chocolate, red currant, and hibiscus tea. It seems to have a shortcut to the pleasure centres of my brain.
Pairing: There are few things as delicious as Zinfandel and BBQ. If you’ve got the patience to make a brisket, please start immediately. If not, it’ll be equally happy with some saucy ribs, bacon-wrapped corn cobs, whiskey beans, and beer-can-chicken. Let us know what your favourite Alberta smokehouse is; I’ve given myself a terrible craving.
WINE TWO: BROC CELLARS WHITE ZINFANDEL
About: Grapes for this project come from two sources: Arrowhead Mountain Vineyard (95%), featuring 20-year-old vines planted on volcanic rock in Sonoma, and Ricetti Vineyard (5%) in Mendocino County. The Zinfandel is whole-cluster crushed by foot before a four-hour maceration. It is then pressed into stainless steel for fermentation. The wine is then racked and allowed to age in tank for eight months before bottling. A small amount of light red wine was added for structure. Four hundred sixty cases were produced.
Taste: This wine is a soft, humming, glowing, electric pink. The nose is jubilant and wide-eyed, rosy cheeks and not a care in the world. You’ll find aromas of watermelon candies, white strawberry, sugared breakfast grapefruit, silver needle tea, papaya, and cherry blossoms. The palate is saline and bouncy. It tingles and shocks yet is soft like fleece. It’s a middle-weight with pronounced flavour intensity and mild phenolics on the finish. You’ll find further flavours of rosehip, breakfast radish, pink lady apple, marshmallow, and cinchona. It’s got me giddy.
Pairing: This wine is perfect with raw fish dishes. Ceviche in all its iterations would be ideal - the citrus and protein playing nice with this wine’s salty fruits. Grilled prawns or crawfish would also be unreal! It can handle a little bit of heat, but Old Bay will do just fine.
WINE THREE: PINARD ET FILLES BAMBINE BRUT 2.0
About: This cuvée is equal parts La Crescent and Frontenac Blanc. The grapes were co-fermented on skins for three months before being pressed into neutral 400L barrels. The wine is then bottled for traditional method secondary fermentation. After a year on lees, the wine is hand disgorged. It is unfined, unfiltered, and bottled without SO2 or dosage.
Taste: This wine is a haunting amber in the glass. The nose is astonishing; you’re going to want to be sitting down for this one. You’ll find aromas of raw pumpkin, fresh ginger, ripe persimmon, ume plums, Taiwanese oolong, crème brûlée, sponge toffee, warm hay, baked apricot, marmalade, brazil nuts, and nutmeg. The palate texture is impossible to describe, somehow frothy and creamy and unctuous and revitalizing all at once. It cascades, spilling like warm morning light; unimaginable richness. You’ll find further flavours of crème caramel, butternut squash, roasted cashew, malt, clementine, sea buckthorn, and tiger lily. It’s an emotional wine.
Pairing: I’m sorry to keep it so simple, but I’d like this wine with a box full of croissants. I want to lay on my living room floor, listen to Glen Gould’s Goldberg Variations, and drink this wine all morning, then take a nap to recover from such divine indulgence.