deVine Thoughts

Author: Ed Fong

Al Fresco is cancelled, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a block party! Come out and celebrate the centennial year of many of the heritage buildings that line our special street. Happy 100 years with many more to come!

The Centennial Block Party will take place on “Super Saturday”, the weekend where Downtown Edmonton comes alive with the Pride Parade. This year, Super Saturday falls on June 8th, so save the date!

Super Saturday gets started at 8:30 AM with the Downtown Edmonton Community League’s Annual Pancake Breakfast. This event is held in conjunction with the Downtown Farmer’s Market which runs from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. The Pride Parade runs down 102 Ave starting at noon. Once again, deVine Wines will enter a float. We’re hoping to be graced with Marlene Dietrich’s presence and fabulous fishnets this year.

deVine Wines will be pouring wines at the store throughout the day beginning at 12:00 PM. In keeping with the celebratory mood, samples of bubbles will be served. In addition, we will be pouring our own Promenade Red. The label’s artwork was designed by Daniel Chmielewski, who many of you know from his exquisite large scale monochromatic stencil works that he has donated in support of the Al Fresco silent auctions. deVine Wines is donating $1 from the sale of each bottle in support of the Centennial Block Party. To learn more about the Promenade Red, please follow this link here..

The Block Party gets swinging at 4:30 with a BBQ, street performers, salsa lessons, a live band and MORE! Make your way down the Promenade to learn about the history of our Heritage buildings. At 6 PM there will be a balloon release and official celebration. At 8 PM, the party moves indoors to Mercer Tavern with live music from Russ Dawson throughout the evening and Josh Johnson starting at 9 PM! Mercer will also have special centennial food and drink specials throughout the day!

At time of writing, some of the restaurants are making plans to extend their patios. Stay tuned for updates by checking out the deVine Wines blog at www.devinewines.ca or by following us on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/deVineWinesEDM

Our street community is very fortunate in so many ways. To help those who are struggling with trying to meet the very basic necessities of life, we are assisting the Edmonton Food Bank. Please don’t forget to bring a food donation when you head down to the party! Food donations can be dropped off at deVine Wines at your convenience.

Hope to see you all there on the June 8th Super Saturday!!!

Author: Dirk Chan

deVine and International Cellars present 4th generation winemaker and proprietor of the Vietti Estate, Luca Currado for an evening of Piedmonte wines at the store on Thursday, May 30th at 7pm. Currado is a most interesting speaker, an avid spokesman for the Piedmonte region with a vast opinion that he is willing to share with all who will listen. His opinions on biodynamics is intriguing, and so is the history of his custom designed labels – this promises to be a night to remember.

The Vietti estate was founded in 1919 in the quaint town of Castiglione Falletto. In the last decade or so, Luca has raised the quality to a completely new level where it competes now with the best in this relatively small region.

We will taste their Arneis, a white grape that was nearly lost in the late sixties that Vietti is responsible for bringing back into prominence and in fact thriving and taking over from Gavi as the preferred white grape. The Dolcetto and Barbera d’Alba Tre Vigne will also be sampled, alongside the Barbaresco Masseria and what Vietti is most known for, their Barolo’s. This is a sit-down event with a duck confit food pairing. We’ll end with another Vietti favourite, their aromatic sparkling dessert wine – the Moscato d’Asti. Here is a rare opportunity to speak with a great winemaker, an alumnus of California’s Opus One, and of Bordeaux’s Mouton-Rothschild. Only 18 seats available, and advance registration is required.

Complete tasting information and registration here..

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Author: Dirk Chan

deVine’s first ever custom wine has arrived! A year in the making, it is named the “Promenade Red”, in the spirit of the 104th Street Promenade. We’re thrilled to have it in the store and are throwing a special launch party for this Spanish red on Saturday, May 18th coinciding with the opening day of the City Market. Please join us from 11am to 3pm

The label for the “2011 Promenade Red” is the product of local self-taught stencil artist Daniel Chmielewski, whom many of you know from his exquisite large scale monochromatic stencil works that he has donated in many Al Fresco auctions. Daniel will be on hand at the launch party to autograph bottles and we will be sampling the wine in this free, drop-in event.

The wine is made by Nathalie Bonhomme of Les Vins Bonhomme, whose Spanish red “Le Petit Bonhomme” has adorned our shelves over the last two years. She had one barrel (only 56 cases) of a special cuvée and thus the birth of our custom wine. The wine is a blend of 50% Monastrell (Mourvedre) and 50% Cabernet Sauvignon from the Valencia region in the Eastern coast of Spain.

Dark cherry in color with a nose of assorted red and black berries, plums and noble wood. Clean and precise on the palate, this serious red has lovely minerality, is medium-bodied mouthfeel with juicy ripe fruit flavors, fine acid balance and structured yet with soft tannins that makes it eminently enjoyable with a short decant now. Pair with roasted meats.

Visit the market and then come in for the special Promenade Red Launch Party on Saturday, May 18th from 11am to 3pm with artist signing and the sampling of the wine. We look forward to seeing you!

Our sincere thanks to International Cellars for brokering this wine for us!

Purchase the wine here..

Info on the Launch Party..

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Author: Dirk Chan

You are invited for a free drop in tasting of Portuguese wines on Tuesday, May 7th with Mariana Rocha Ferreira, Export Director of Vinihold, one of the biggest suppliers of deVine’s Portuguese portfolio.

Mariana was born within a noble port family of the Tabuaço region where her great-great
grandfather was Mayor back in the old days. Her mother’s family – the Macedo Pinto’s, were the owners of Quinta de São Pedro das Águias where they produced both port and olive oil.

Mariana has a Bachelor of Business Administration and worked for a multinational dairy company in Porto. After a few years, she took a Master’s degree in Hospitality Management in Spain, where she graduated with honors and top of the class. At this time she was already in a relationship with Fernando van Zeller, whom she knew since she was in elementary school and whose family was very dear and well known to her own. Mariana is a fascinating lady so we hope you can drop by and visit with her this Tuesday.

Houses represented include Barao de Vilar, Quinta de Maritavora, Quinta de Mimosa, Quinta da Lixa and Casa Ermelinda. Please visit with Mariana from 5:30pm to 7pm to talk and sample wine. Note this is a drop-in tasting, no advance registration is required.

More details on this event here..

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Author: Dirk Chan

Amidst the hoopla of VinItaly, through agent Serge Levesque of Longo & Sincini,
Annabelle and I were invited to a special dinner at the Tedeschi Winery in Veneto.
The Tedeschi family has owned land in the Valpolicella region going back to 1630
with winemaking since 1824. Since then five generations have continued the stellar work.

Today, this medium sized estate is ran by Riccardo, Winemaker and Export Director along with his sisters Antoinette and Sabrina (who graciously drove Annabelle and
myself to their winery home – I must say she is a great driver to successful negotiate the traffic
out of Verona).

The multi course dinner for 45 invited guests was wonderful, set right next to the cellars (that’s me
queuing for the self served cheese course amidst the huge wood barrels). We sampled numerous wines from the portfolio – I was surprised how well the San Rocco and Amarone went with beef, while the Monte Olmi was great with cheese. The dessert course was paired with the very unique Vin de l Fabriseria, a Vino Passito, made from Garganega and Saorin white grapes done in the same raisin-dried style – delicious and hopefully to arrive in our market soon. The consistent theme of the wines was clearly indicated from the winery motto – “be as good as possible, but also as personal as it can be, while letting nature lead the way.”

Riccardo is once again coming to Edmonton in the summertime, and we look forward to his visit. We’ve carried the Tedeschi line ever since the store opened, and in stock currently for your consideration are:

2010 Tedeschi Soave Classico – $17.99

2010 Tedeschi Valpolicella Superiore – $18.99

2007 Tedeschi Ripasso Superiore Capitel San Rocco – $25.99

2007 Tedeschi Amarone della Valpolicella – $49.99

2005 Tedeschi Capitel Monte Olmi Amarone della Valpolicella – $84.99. The 2007 Olmi just received 94 points from the Wine Spectator, we await its arrival in the fall.

You can visit the Tedeschi website here..

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Author: Dirk Chan

VinItaly is an expo of Italian wines, it is held in Veronaannually, and the world descends on the Romeo & Juliet made famous town. Annabelle and I decided not to fight the traffic and instead took the one hour fast train into Verona from Venice daily to partake in the fair.

Our first appointment was to taste bubblies with Mattia Vezzola (pictured above with Annabelle), longtime (since 1981) enologist at the famous Franciacorta (in the Lombardy region) property of Bellavista (which in Italian means ‘beautiful view’), the estate that makes Italy’s finest sparkling wines.

With 200 hectares of vineyards situated in the western part of the Franciacorta zone in glacial stony soil, the terroir provides a perfect environment for the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir to grow (note no Pinot Meunier). Mr. Vezzola prefers the Chardonnay grape, it is very elegant and very sexy, akin to Bollinger, his favourite Champagne house. We spent quite some time tasting through the specialty range of his sparkling wines, many which are currently not available in Alberta, but that we hope will be soon because they are great, including:

The 2010 Uccellanda Curtefranca is made from 100% cru Chardonnay, oak-fermented and aged 12 months in barrique. Lovely marzipan, spice and Golden Delicious apples and quince fruit. Ageworthy.

The 2008 Gran Cuvee Saten (Saten is the Italian version of Blancs de Blanc) is made from 100% Chardonnay, barrel-fermented, thus very delicate and it has great minerality, with notes of straw, peach, honey and walnuts yet has a steely full-bodied palate. Gorgeous.

The 2006 Grande Cuvee Pas Opere is zero dosage, lovely old vines with south and southeast exposures revealing a great gold color, astonishingly fine tiny but persistent bubbles with notes of wood, flower, vanilla and spice. This spends five years in the cellars before release.

Then to cap the tasting, the ultra-rare 2006 Vittorio Moretto (dedicated to the patriarch owner), made from 55% Chard and 45% Pinot Noir – it is only made in the very best years. Florals, creamy texture and a huge and long palate, this is meant for aging.

We only have one Bellavista sku in stock presently, you can try it for yourself – NV Bellavista Cuvee Franciacorta Brut (Lombardy, Italy) – $44.99

We were impressed with this selection, it is clearly in the league of fine Champagne, and obvious that Mattia Vezzola loves his job, and pours his heart into every bottling. What a lovely visit!

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Author: Dirk Chan

The Bersano winery dates back to the end of the 19th century in Nizza Monferrato, the heart of the Barbera d’Asti district in the Piedmont. Arturo Bersano founded the winery based on the motto “If you want to drink well, buy yourself a vineyard”. While it’s hard to do that nowadays, their 230 hectare holdings (in Barbera d’Asti, Barolo, Barbaresco and Gavi) produces enough wine for all wine enthusiasts to enjoy. They are the largest privately owned grower in the Piedmont.

Carmen Pergola, the Export Director for 20 years at Bersano and a member of the famed Donne del Vino (The Women of Wine) met us for lunch before visit the estate. First, a tour of the Museum of Old Farm Tools, a pretty walk among old wine barrels, presses, hoes, ploughs and trains. The Fine Wine Prints Museum showcased a marvellous collection of old wine labels, maps, views of castles. The jewel though was the “Pomona Book”, the first book detailing the complete collection of grape varieties in Italy dating back 1817.

Carmen tasted us through several wines from Bersano’s huge portfolio, including the 2012 Cortese with beautiful Moscato like nose of white flowers in a dry context. The 2012 Gavi was more complex with lovely peaches and pineapples. The 2012 Barbera d’Asti with a charming personality, clean cut and made for young consumption. The 2011 Barbera d’Asti Costalunga was a big hit from their ‘Classic’ line – roasted meats, beautiful concentration and balance with a fruity cocoa finish. The 2008 Barolo Nirvasco is made from fruit from Serralunga, La Morra and Monteforte and showcased barbecue meats aromatics, spice and leather, again easy earlier drinking style. At VinItaly, we tasted the 2009 Barolo Badarina, with intense fruit, blackberry and balsamic notes, for mid-term drinking. Finally, the 2012 Moscato d’Asti Monteolivo was less sweet than most, with a saline finish amidst acacia flowers, delicate sage , peach and lemon notes – a great way to end a tasting.

What a treat Carmen was, and we thank her for her generous hospitality and more importantly her time (spent away from her young son). We will have some Bersano wines in the store soon, and we are hoping Carmen is able to visit Edmonton in late September when we can set up and dinner/tasting with one of the great women of Italian wine.

Pictured above, our travelling group consisting (left to right) of Peter Rae, Michael Shuster, Norman Gladstone (all of Internatioinal Cellars), Carmen Pergola and our own Annabelle Evaristo.

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Author: Dirk Chan

The Burlotto family is one of the oldest and most famous historic producers of Barolo, dating back to Commendatore Giovan Battista Burlotto (1850-1927), having achieved great fame as a winemaker (his wines were served to royalty). There are some great artifacts at the winery of his decoration and achievements including the pioneering of selling Barolo in bottle rather than cask. Today, his great-great grandson Fabio Allessandria is the winemaker here. The estate is located in Verduno, a commune in the Province of Cuneo in the Piedmonte area, only 50km SE of Turino.

We had a cellar visit with Fabio (the entire property is undergoing a major renovation) before our grand tasting which started with the 2012 Sauvignon Blanc – this had a lovely gooseberry character that jumped from the glass, very classy mouthfeel. The indigenous 2011 Palaverga was arresting – Palaverga is an ancient grape indigenous to the Verdouna area, i’d say a Pinot Noir like density and a light, slightly deeper than a rose in color, but wow, what great florals, an unique startling white pepper nose, some bacon fat alongside fresh strawberries, this is a most interesting and great wine that can be served chilled ala picnics, yet with enough stuffing to work with red meats like pork or beef. Unfortunately, not much history is known about the origin of the grape. The 2011 Dolcetto d’Alba offered up fresh flowers, and a seamless cherry palate, while the 2011 Barbera d’Alba was one of the wines of this tasting – violets, velvety, finesse and svelt tannins that screams ‘drink me now’.

Onto the Barolos, the 2009 Barolo from a blend of fruit from various vineyards had raspberry and strawberry notes, yet the smooth tannins make it already very enjoyable and restaurant friendly. The 2009 Barolo Acclivi (meaning ‘slope’) was made from a selection of the best Nebbiolo from his Verduno vineyards and serves as a Riserva bottling – a more serious red – here the tannins are a little bit more pronounced indicative of bottle aging potential. The 2009 Barolo Monvigliero with intense strawberry notes, noticeable lighter than the others in color, yet so delicate giving off an intriguing olive note alongside grippy tannins and quite superb. The ageworthy 2009 Cannubi is definitely more earthy, yet has a Nuit-St. Georges Burgundy rustic feel and sheer class about it.

All in all, Annabelle and I were very impressed. With extensive renovations ongoing, I can see even greater things down the road. We are hopeful of perhaps getting some of Burlotto’s wines into our store at some point because the finesse and class is obviously besides offering up an excellent quality price ratio too, something we all want in a wine.

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Author: Dirk Chan

We had a lovely visit to the Elio Grasso estate in the Langhe hills of Alba, where the estate’s 14 hectares are under vines. We visited with Gianluca Grasso (pictured), son of Elio where it was bottling day and it was fascinating to see Gianluca overseeing the assembly line.

We did a lovely winery tour (see picture of the architecturally superb cellars when you click ‘read full article’ that reminded me of a high tech James Bond tunnel car chase). A lot of money and time has been spent at this estate and the wines show. We tasted the 2012 Dolcetto d’Alba dei Grassi (that we saw being bottled), very clean and cherry and cranberry notes. The 2012 Langhe Nebbiolo saw a long season with no removal of canapy leaves. The 2010 Barbera d’Alba Vigna Martina had lovely notes of peach, balsam yet surprisingly structured for a Barbera.

Of course, we’re in Barolo territory, and we tasted the 2009 Gavarini Vigna Ciniera (clean and precise, perfumy, soft and velvety tannins. Quite approachable. The 2009 Ginestra Vigna Casa Mate had perfume, spices and will require easily a decade in the cellar.

Then to the Barolo Runcot Riserva’s, the 2007 was very complex aromatically with coffee, herbs yet very balanced and fresh. The 2006 will be a great great wine down the road – fine acidity and chalk like tannins behind abundant ripe vanilla-tinged fruit, the long tea finish quite superb. Finally, a treat of the 2000 Runcot Riserva, with archtypical aging, savory spices, mushrooms and autumn leaves, superb!

With a focus on true terroir expression, and first and foremost dedicated farmers, it is no wonder the wines of Elio Grasso have garnered so many fans in Western Canada, including yours truly.

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Author: Dirk Chan

Vietti has a long and distinguished history in the Piedmonte, dating back to the 19th century – the winery located in the quaint town of Castiglione Falletto. With Luca Currado (pictured above overlooking his massive vineyard holdings) at the helm, the winery continues to thrive. Luca has strong opinions about Barolo, winemaking and biodynamics that is a pleasure to hear.

A visit to the cellars included fascinating historical facts – we saw an ancient escape route that led from the castle to the town, some Napoleon bottles, some hidden cellars that kept bottles from German invaders, and a history on the customized Artists labels that adorn numerous Vietti bottlings – all very fascinating.

Back at the tasting room, we sampled no less than 24 wines, all incredibly balanced and pure. The 2011 Barbera d’Asti Tre Vigne (very floral), the 2010 Langhe Perbacco is earlier drinking (minerally), the 2010 Barbera d’Alba Vigna Scarrone (white pepper, white flowers) were all beautiful. We also had the rare privilege of tasting bottled samples from various vineyard sites that will eventually make the final blend for the 2010 Barolo Castiglione. These included individuals tastings of the Rocchette, Ravera, Bricco Fiasco, Scarrone, Fossati and a mix – a fascinating exercise. We even blended our own.

The great 2010 Barolo’s finished off the tasting, with highlights including the usual suspects – Rocche, Lazzarito and Brunate all future greats. There was also the 2010 Ravera Riserva that I have not seen (last made in 1999), and a 2010 Villero Riserva (with cool climate feel) too. We proceeded to dinner and drank some old Vietti Barolo Rocche, the highlights being a ready to drink and complex 1989, a still young but very fine 2001, and the very special 1995 that was explosively good (alongside a lot of Champagne). What great hospitality that was appreciated by our travelling group.

Luca will be visiting Edmonton in late May or early June, and we look forward to his visit with great anticipation.

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