Browsing “East Van Wine Academy”

For the last couple years, the East Van Wine Academy has presented “wine events that don’t suck” at the legendary Waldorf Hotel on East Hastings. Over here at Vancouver Is Awesome, we’re going to occasionally bring a little East Van Wine Academy to you, riffing on each edition’s theme — offering a portable, “home version” of our events where you can pick up a few bottles, invite some friends over, and maybe even learn a little something while enjoying plenty of cheer.   We’re going to shake things up this time around because the next East Van Wine Academy, this Monday October 15th, is raising funds for an excellent local charity, and I really want you to come out and participate this time around.So here’s the scoop: I have a dozen Wines of Argentina to review for my WE Vancouver City Cellar column, and I need YOUR help!

We’ll start off the evening with my presentation of a Wines of Argentina seminar; covering geography, climate, terroir, grapes, wine styles- the whole she-bang! Following that, we’ll tour and taste through 12 wines while I guide you through what us wine writers are looking for when we’re reviewing wines. We’ll discuss the wines one by one as we all write a couple thoughts and notes on each one!

Afterwards, I’ll compile pull-quotes from everyone’s notes and assemble crowd-sourced wine reviews for my WE Vancouver City Cellar column, hitting the streets Thursday, October 25th with your name listed as a contributor!

Net proceeds will go to the BC Hospitality Foundation’s Tip Out To Help campaign, providing financial support for individuals within the hospitality community who are coping with extraordinary costs arising from a serious health or medical crisis. For more info, please visit TipOutToHelp.com!

Just $45 gets you an Argentinian wine seminar, a dozen wines, your opinions and name in print, the support of a great charity and a whole lot of fun!

So come out and swirl some wine with me this Monday, October 15th at 7:00 p.m!

Tickets & Information at EVWA.Eventbrite.com!

For the last year or so, the East Van Wine Academy has presented monthly “wine events that don’t suck” at the legendary Waldorf Hotel on East Hastings.Over here at Vancouver Is Awesome, we’re going to occasionally bring a little East Van Wine Academy to you, riffing on each month’s theme — offering a portable, “home version” of our events where you can pick up a few bottles, invite some friends over, and maybe even learn a little something while enjoying plenty of cheer.  Poking around local wine store shelves over the last few years, you’ve probably noticed a fairly quirky blend become a lot more common. Particularly around the Australia is where you’ll see ‘Shiraz-Viognier’ on the label most, a rare blend of a red grape and white grape in the same bottle. While this seems like it might be a wacky New World idea, there’s most definitely an Old World precedent.

In France’s Northern Rhône Valley, the Côte-Rôtie appellation is known for pioneering the blend. While the Syrah grape (also known as Shiraz) offers dark fruit like blackberries, blueberries and currants, it usually also brings forth things like earthiness, smoky black pepper, espresso and dark, dusty cocoa. All of that can be a little much, right? That’s where the Viognier comes in. Usually anywhere from 5-20% Viognier will be blended in with the Syrah and then they get fermented together (in oak, concrete or stainless steel.) Viognier livens up the party, lifting aromatics with a floral touch and then nice, bright stonefruit like peaches, nectarines or apricots on the palate.

If you’re looking to follow up on the blend, a good start is to try a Syrah and a Viognier on their own separately, so you have a handle on what characteristics each brings to the table.

Here a few of my favourite examples of “Côte-Rôtie” blends you can find around Vancouver.

As a warning, the blend isn’t overly common and good examples aren’t the cheapest wines on the shelf, but all of the following punch well above their weight:

D’Arenberg ‘The Laughing Magpie’ Shiraz-Viognier | McLaren Vale, Australia | $29.99 | BC Liquor Stores 

All purple, plums and black licorice, from the sunny, cooler McLaren Vale region in South Australia.

Saint Cosme ‘Côte-Rôtie’ | Rhône Valley, France | $105 | Private Wine Stores including Legacy Liquor

When you go straight to the source you pay a premium but, my god, it’ll knock your socks off. 

Laughing Stock Syrah | Okanagan Valley, BC | $34 | Winery-Direct or Private Wine Stores

From lip-smackingly juicy Osoyoos fruit comes this local award-winner. How far BC has come!

Montes Alpha Syrah | Colchagua Valley, Chile | $24.99 | BC Liquor Stores

Chile’s come a long way in quality and elegance, as illustrated by this lively orchard of berries and spice.

As mentioned above, the Côte-Rôtie blend is the focus of the current East Van Wine Academy, tomorrow night (Wednesday,) in fact. Not only are we trying the above wines and more, but Winemaker David Enns from the Okanagan’s Laughing Stock Vineyards is bringing along a whole bunch of tank and barrel samples so attendees can try making their own blend, too!

There are a few tickets left, so hop to it if you’d like to swing by. The info’s at EastVanWineAcademy.com

Otherwise, enjoy your own discoveries of this pretty whimsical, delicious blend.

Before I had the opportunity to make a limited bottling of my own wine last year, I’d always wondered if that chance would come my way. I’ve been a city restaurant and wine guy for so long that I’d pretty much resigned myself to the fact that all of my creative output would be city-driven.I am totally a city guy, I love Vancouver. I even tried out country living once, spending five months living in a tiny cabin in the Okanagan’s Naramata wine country a couple years ago. Boredom reigned. It was a time that, though romantic and enchanting and all of that, I was reminded of how much I love city amenities, plenty of people around, and no shortage of things to do.I really thought that since I’d decided I had no desire to trade in my current Mount Pleasant life for one on Lake Okanagan, odds were quite low that I’d be harvesting grapes for my own release an time soon. A funny thing happened though, that had me doing just that…

A colleague who’d become a friend over the last few years had been straddling those two very distinct lives. Christine Coletta runs a very successful wine marketing business in Vancouver, but would occasionally zip out to her ‘country place’ in Summerland. Never one to sit idle, the country had agreed with her so much that a couple years back she’d decided to plant those country roots a fair bit deeper by building and running a winery, now known as Okanagan Crush Pad. It’s not just any winery, though. Okanagan Crush Pad is also a custom crush facility where others can make wine with their own grown or purchased grapes, by either using their equipment or using the ultra-skilled hand of OCP’s winemaker, Michael Bartier.

Okanagan Crush Pad in Summerland

Through a mix of different events, a touch of luck and a perfect alignment of the stars, I ended up making a hundred cases of white wine from the Semillon grapes that grow beautifully in a sunny Oliver vineyard by the lovely Cerqueira family, Portuguese immigrants who’ve minded vines for many years. Flying back and forth a few times over the summer to check in with the grapes, plus with a host of phone calls, texted photos and various social media sharing with winemaker Michael Bartier, I managed to do what I thought was pretty much impossible; live the city life, but feel engaged and absolutely connected with Okanagan wine country as well.

I’ve come to envy my friend Christine much more since this experience as she bridges her country and city life full-time now, balancing her time between Vancouver and Summerland. I find it fascinating that while you can be running from meetings in the office and dashing to some hot Gastown restaurant to entertain clients,  the next day’s vine pruning and irrigation could be just as top of mind.

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I recently read a theory that going for 50 coffees with people you’ve never met is the entrepreneurs equivalent to the theory that doing anything for 10,000 hours will make you an expert on it. While I get the idea, 50 coffees is far easier than practicing something for ten years, and while I’m far from lazy I’ve decided to set out on a fairly simple mission: over the next 50 weeks I’m going to invite 50 interesting Vancouverites, most of whom I have never met before, to go for coffee. I’m going to use this as an exercise in networking for myself and for V.I.A. while also using it as a platform to introduce you to some people who are doing really cool stuff in the city you live in. COFFEE #28 Name: Kurtis Kolt Occupation: Independent Wine Consultant Beverage: Americano

Meet Kurtis Kolt. Award winning sommelier, head of the Waldorf’s monthly East Van Wine Academy, wine writer, wine judge, wine blogger, wine host… to boil it down (ferment it?) he’s an independent wine consultant. An award-winning and much-respected independent wine consultant that doesn’t have the air that you might expect from someone with such accolades: Kurtis is far from a snob and in fact I would argue that he’s the opposite of one.

We sat down for coffee at Nelson the Seagull and for a brief moment I marvelled that our paths had not crossed in real life previous to our coffee, then it set in that the reason is that I’m a former alcoholic, 5 years sober, and I am automatically not attending most of the events I might run into him at including the amazing/aforementioned East Van Wine Academy that he puts on where the slant is “a wine event that doesn’t suck”.

I often have a hard time translating people’s titles into what it is that they actually do on a day-to-day so we talked about that (learn all about his work HERE) and the conversation drifted to the subject of the Rio Theatre and of the city’s antiquated liquor laws that I’m pretty sure everyone can agree need to be changed. Kurtis is a proponent for liquor license reform, and you can read his most recent piece about it HERE in WE Vancouver.

At the end of our coffee I had a light bulb moment where I invited him to do a monthly blog post on V.I.A. branded as his East Van Wine Academy, and he agreed that would be the perfect fit. Have a look at the first one HERE, then follow Kurtis on TWITTER and look forward to seeing a lot more of him here on our site!

For the last year or so, the East Van Wine Academy has presented monthly “wine events that don’t suck” at the legendary Waldorf Hotel on East Hastings.Over here at Vancouver Is Awesome, we’re going to occasionally bring a little East Van Wine Academy to you, riffing on each month’s theme — offering a portable, “home version” of our events where you can pick up a few bottles, invite some friends over, and maybe even learn a little something while enjoying plenty of cheer. Last week, the EVWA’s Kurtis Kolt battled James Nevison, of Had A Glass and The Province, in an attempt to find some of the best Under-$20 bottles available on liquor store shelves. There were eight categories where each gent presented a favourite label, letting the crowd’s votes decide the round’s winner. At the end of the night everyone attending were the real winners, as they all had 16 new favourites in their personal wine repertoire.

The following are the wines we poured for each round, with a few tasting notes to give you an idea of what to expect from each bottle. The eventual winners of each round are in bold. Do enjoy battling out the different rounds at home with friends, whether over a few different dinners and occasions or all in one epic evening, and see which wines you think should’ve taken each crown.

All of these wines are recommended and available at BC Liquor Stores. Just search ‘em on their website to see what’s in stock at a store near you! The only exceptions are starred (*) and available at private wine stores.

Round 1: Sparkling!

Cristalino Cava Brut | Spain | $12.99 | Fresh-baked bread, and lemony notes on this crisp, dry refresher.

Veuve du Vernay Brut Rosé | France | $ 13.99 | Strawberries and raspberries with a snappy, peppery finish.

Round 2: Aromatic Whites!

Donnafugata 2009 Anthilia | Italy | $17.99 | A zippy Sicilian zinger unloading a fresh basket of peaches

Ganton & Larsen Prospect 2010 Riesling | BC | $12.99 | Key lime pie in a bottle!

Round 3: Rich Whites!

Cabriz 2009 Dao Encruzado | Portugal | $17.99 | Grilled grapefruit with warm, toasted almonds.

Cono Sur 2010 Viognier  | Chile | $10.99 | An orchard of stonefruit with a couple honeyed kisses.
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