Hello all and happy wine Wednesday! I hope your week is going well. It is a shorter post for me today as I want to update you on my second of two workshop weekends as a BC VQA panel assessor and pass along a link to my most recent article in The Alcohol Professor – a New York based online magazine.
Weekend 2 of the BC VQA Assessor Training started off as a review of the previous Saturday’s wine faults. More gnarly smells and odours to inhale…good times. Sunday was a review of the weekend before as well. I liked the review and the repetition of how and where in the winemaking process faults can and do occur…quite fascinating and scientific stuff. My nose didn’t let me down over the four days of quizzes and testing. I needed 80% to move onto the Apprentice level and I received a very welcome email on Monday that I passed with a grade of 95.54% (to be incredibly specific!)…whoooo hoo! My nose was indeed put to the test but it was all incredibly worth it. I will keep you filled in on my next steps…
Wild horses that continued to greet me in Penticton.
The workshop ended a bit early on Saturday afternoon so I hightailed it up to La Frenz Winery for a wonderful flight tasting with Melissa and got to sample the Spring releases. Highlights for me included the 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2013 ‘Peaches and Cream’ Chardonnay…some really beautiful wine indeed. I came home with a case (Happy Pre-Birthday to me) and then headed down to Poplar Grove. I had visited Popular Grove many years ago with dear friends Natalie and Sylvia but hadn’t been to the new tasting room and facility – can you say ‘stunning’??? So beautiful and bright – Jana led me through a wonderful tasting flight as well. Their ‘Blanc de Noirs’ rosé blew me away – absolutely gorgeous and maybe my favourite rosé from B.C.! I brought home a few bottles of this and a 2007 ‘Legacy’ bottle to celebrate my 10 year wedding anniversary in 2017. This gorgeous bottle of wine can be laid down for another 10 years. If you are up in Penticton/Naramata and are looking for a ‘celebration’ wine for cellaring – this is it priced at $49.90.
Door to Poplar Grove
Also this week, my article on “Exploring the Complexities of Alsatian Wine” was published in The Alcohol Professor magazine. I am incredibly drawn to this area and region of France and the more I think about it, the more I think I will start my Master class in Alsace through the French Wine Society.
All in all, a great week… Today, I head down to Granville Island in Vancouver to interview Masa Shiroki, Sake Maker and owner, at Artisan SakeMaker for my next article. I am looking forward to understanding how Sake is made and how it is more similar to wine than it is to beer (which is a general misconception).
That is it for me…have a great week!
Enjoy!
XO
C
Girls Go Grape 
The Van Mag Wine Awards also thought the Poplar Grove Blanc de Noirs was stunning, as it won best rose in the 2014 competition:
http://www.vanmag.com/Shopping/Vancouver_Wine_Awards_2014_Best_Rose_Wines
Must find!
Well – we all have good taste! You can order it from the Winery – I know that. Are you B.C. based? If you are Vancouver based – I can always bring back a case for you when I head up to the Okanagan again which will be sooner than later! Let me know…I know they have a nice wine club there with discounts on wine, if you are interested!