September « 2017 « deVine Thoughts

September 30, 2017

Thanksgiving Wine Recommendations

Filed under: deVine's Daily Blog Article — Dirk @ 5:21 pm

Author: Dirk Chan

Wow…Thanksgiving week is already upon us, where did September go? So here is our annual picks to accompany the classic turkey and/or ham dinner with all its fixings. Start your evening off with a sparkling wine, followed by whites, reds, a dessert wine and perhaps a port to end.

Sparkling Wines

Sparkling wines are a great way to start any function whether its a greeting aperitif or to pair with appetizers. Lively and clean, these will get everyone ready for what’s to come next.

NV Cune Cava Brut (Catalonia, Spain) – $19.99

NV La Tordera Saome Prosecco DOC Brut (Veneto, Italy) – $21.99

NV Laurent Cognard Co. Cremant de Bourgogne Blanc de Noir (Burgundy, France) – $59.99

Champagne

Now if you serve Champagne, your audience will immediately know you’re here to do some serious partaking and celebrating.

NV Champagne J-M Seleque Solessence Brut (Champagne, France) – $49.99

NV A. Margaine Rosé Premier Cru (Champagne, France) – $59.99

2005 Nicolas Maillart Blanc de Noirs Premier Cru Les Francs de Pied (Champagne, France) – $149.99

2002 Bollinger R.D. Extra Brut (Champagne, France) – $349.99

Whites & Pinks

Whites with a touch of sweetness is preferred because of the sweetness of some of the fixings – candied yams, cranberry sauce, and honey for the glazed ham. A completely dry white will seem more austere and void of fruit due to the sweetness of the food so I recommend Rieslings (dry or off-dry, both work), Gewurztraminers or other Germanic or Alsace varietals. Having said that, some will always go with a dry creamy Chardonnay irregardless and that’s perfectly fine. Also, don’t forget that rosés work really well too!

2016 Hess Family Amalaya Salto Torrontes Riesling (Calchaqui, Argentina) – $16.99

2015 Thomas Henry Chardonnay (California – Sonoma, United States) – $21.99

2015 Hexamer Meddersheimer Rheingrafenberg “Quarzit” Riesling QbA (Nahe, Germany) – $24.99

2014 Belisario Cambrugiano Verdiccio di Matelica Riserva (Marches, Italy) – $37.99

2014 Domaine Weinbach Cuvée Ste.Catherine Pinot Gris (Alsace, France) – $79.99

2014 William Fevre Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos (Chablis, France) – $139.99

2016 Domaine Montrose Rose (Languedoc-Roussillon, France) – $18.99

2016 San Filippo Le Coste Rose (Tuscany, Italy) – $29.99

Reds

For reds, try to avoid the big oaky tannic monsters. Oak and tannins are the enemies when pairing with slightly sweet food, try for a red with lots of up-front fruit, little oak and a soft tannins like a Beaujolais (served slightly chilled) or a Pinot Noir.

2015 Undurraga Sibaris Reserva Pinot Noir (Maipo Valley, Chile) – $18.49

2015 Dominique Piron Beaujolais-Villages (Beaujolais, France) – $22.99

2012 Bodegas Chayee Bourras Bonarda (Mendoza, Argentina) – $24.49

2014 Clos du Soleil Grower’s Series Syrah (BC, Canada) – $31.99

2013 Roche de Bellene Cote-de-Nuits-Villages Vieille Vignes (Burgundy – Cote de Nuits, France) – $49.99

2012 Domaine Lafond Roc-Epine (Chateauneuf-du-Pape, France) – $51.99

2009 Livio Sassetti Pertimali Brunello di Montalcino (Tuscany, Italy) – $69.99

2013 Quinta do Vale Dona Maria Red (Douro, Portugal) – $74.99

2006 Quintarelli Valpolicella Classico (Veneto, Italy) – $109.99

2005 Domaine d’Ardhuy Corton Hautes Mourottes Grand Cru (Burgundy – Cote de Beaune, France) – $149.99

2000 Château Lafon-Rochet (Bordeaux – St. Estephe, France) – $169.99

2013 Somerston Celestial Cabernet Sauvignon (California – Napa Valley, United States) – $199.99

Dessert

Sweet dessert wines and Port are always good for the final touches of a meal:

2009 Royal Tokaji 5 Puttonyos Aszu (Hungary) – 250mL – $24.99

2003 Château Suduiraut (Bordeaux – Sauternes, France) – $59.99

JM Fonseca Trilogia Moscatel de Setubal (Portugal) 750mL – $104.99

2001 Avignonesi Occhio di Pernice Vin Santo (Tuscany, Italy) – $349.99

2011 Porto Quevedo Late Bottled Vintage Port (Douro, Portugal) – $33.99

NV Taylor Fladgate 325th Anniversary Limited Edition Tawny Port (Douro, Portugal) – $47.99

1985 Fonseca Vintage Port (Douro, Portugal) – $389.99

Note our regular store hours are in affect this long weekend, except holiday monday when we’re open from noon-5pm.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

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September 24, 2017

Greek with Paul Martzoukos

Filed under: deVine's Daily Blog Article — Dirk @ 10:32 pm

Author: Dirk Chan

deVine welcomes Paul Martzoukos of Tannin Fine Wines for a Greek sit-down wine tasting on Saturday, October 14 @7pm – $40.

This is our first Greek tasting for a few years (since Paul came from Calgary last time actually), we’ll taste wines from various regions. You get to taste some retsina, and various indigenous white and red grapes. You’ll be thrilled with the quality and the pricing of the wines.

Only 34 spots available for this special sit-down event. Perhaps Paul’s father will cook us some Greek food with the tasting and there’ll also be a surprise at the end that will bring a tear to your eye!! Don’t miss this one!

Book your spot to Greek with Paul Martzoukos tasting here..

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September 22, 2017

Paulaner Oktoberfest to Go

Filed under: deVine's Daily Blog Article — Dirk @ 11:13 am

Author: Dirk Chan

Arriving for the upcoming Octoberfest, Paulaner is the best-selling Oktoberfest bier in the world, in the form of the very popular and highly successful Oktoberfest to Go gift set – this is everything one needs to pour a perfect liter of Oktoberfest bier in the glass that complements it best, just as it is done at the world famous Munich Oktoberfest.

The Oktoberfest Mug Set includes an exclusive one-liter can of Paulaner’s Oktoberfest Wiesn, the only beer served in the Paulaner Oktoberfest tents and the best-selling bier at the Munich Oktoberfest, along with the original Paulaner one-liter dimple glass mug in one convenient pack. It doesn’t get much more authentic than this to celebrate a festival that’s been around for over two hundred years!

The Paulaner Brewery is one of the largest breweries in Munich, Bavaria in Germany and is part of the Paulaner Brewery Group. The Paulaner Brewery Group unites the brands Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr, Auer Braeu, Hopf and Thurn and Taxis. Since 1634, Paulaner represents the finest brewing tradition for top quality crafted beer specialties in Germany and worldwide.

An amber beer style that was developed to celebrate the original Oktoberfest over 200 years ago – this full bodied yet mellow beer with its rich malt flavor, dark toffee note and underlying fruitiness has a masterful hop balance.Very balanced harmonious taste, it finishes with a very pleasant hops. Stock up early to avoid disappointment.

Paulaner Oktoberfest To Go (Germany) – $18.49

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September 14, 2017

Taylor-Fladgate 325th Anniversary Tawny

Filed under: deVine's Daily Blog Article — Dirk @ 4:08 pm

Author: Dirk Chan

To mark the 325th Anniversary of the foundation of Taylor-Fladgate, the house has decided to release Taylor’s 325th Anniversary Limited Edition Tawny Port – $47.99.

This unique blend has been made from the extensive reserves of tawny stocks stored in the firm’s lodges in Vila Nova de Gaia. Only the best lots of 10, 20, 30 and 40 Year Old reserve Tawnies have been carefully selected and blended by Taylor’s Head winemaker, David Guimaraens and blended to form this opulent and seductive aged tawny. The etched bottle is based on a unique late 17th Century sealed bottle, first made at about the same time as the foundation of Taylor’s in 1692. It is the earliest example of an intact bottle bearing the merchant’s mark, in this case the ‘4XX’ Symbol still used as the Taylor’s trademark to this day. Tagged at an affordable price, the philosophy is this special bottling can be enjoyed by everyone!

Winemaker Notes: “Deep chestnut brown core encircled by a narrow brick rim. A rich figgy nose with a background of toffee and mocha, notes of plum and apricot, spicy hints of blackpepper, nutmeg and fleeting scents of jasmine, all come together in a heady complex harmony. Dense and luscious on the palate, with a wonderful velvety smoothness. The mellow flavours of butterscotch and molasses merge with rich jammy red berry flavours, a perfect blend of youth and maturity.”

NV Taylor Fladgate 325th Anniversary Limited Edition Tawny Port (Douro, Portugal) – $47.99

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September 10, 2017

2017 Beaujolais Nouveau Pre-Order

Filed under: deVine's Daily Blog Article — Dirk @ 3:40 pm

Author: Dirk Chan

Every year on the third Thursday of November- on the 16th this year, the famous Beaujolais Nouveau is released with great fanfare to the world. Freshly made, the tradition and hype lead to much merry-making with fireworks and numerous parties where the wine is the star.

As usual, we are offering the Georges DuBeouf Beaujolais Villages in the painted bottle – $26.49, a wine we feel offers the best quality with the requisite beautiful bottle packaging. With better planning this year, we are asking all interested parties to purchase what you need by pre-ordering in advance, specifically pre-purchase deadline is midnight Wednesday, September 20. Please note that due to AGLC regulations, we are not able to (as in the past) go to the St. Albert warehouse on the day it is released but that we will only be able to have the wine in our store on our regular weekly receiving day, which in our case will be Wednesday, November 22nd after 2pm for pickup. Of course, we will have several cases for general sales but we cannot predict demand so we don’t want you to be disappointed – thus this pre-sale.

What is Beaujolais Nouveau? It’s a light, fruity red made from the Gamay grape. Strawberry, raspberry, cotton candy and banana on the nose with a light fruity palate and literally no tannins. Serve this slightly chilled. How is Beaujolais Nouveau made – well the grapes are harvested by hand but do not go thru the typical fermentation process. Rather, they go throug a carbonic maceration – instead of crushing the grapes and allowing the juice to ferment, carbonic maceration allows the whole grapes to ferment. The grapes are put into a vessel and the weight of the grapes will crush some of the bottom grapes which begin to ferment. The remainder of the juice still inside the uncrushed grapes will also ferment. The wine is pasteurized to prevent secondary malolactic fermentation. The whole process can be accomplished in about six weeks. This type of fermentation can produce a drinkable wine more quickly.

Beaujolais Nouveau is meant for current drinking, capturing its freshness and fruitiness, it is not meant for aging at all. So go ahead, place your order, and be comfortable in the knowlege you can send out invities to your Beaujolais Nouveau party and your wines will be there for your event!

2017 Georges DuBoeuf Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau (Beaujolais, France) – $26.49

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