Tag Archives: syrah

To the Moon Alice

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Named in honour of Felicette, the first cat in space,.

This is an easy drinking white from the Languedoc. Using Grenache Blanc and a little Viognier it’s fresh and fruity. 

The grapes are harvested, destemmed and then either hot macerated to extract colour a beautiful dark red colour, and some are cold fermented to get the best possible varietal fruit extraction. The fermentation is then conducted at controlled temperature with gentle pumping overs to extract only the better tannins. The different pressings are then blended before Christmas and are aged in stainless steel tank to preserve fruit and round tannins. 

Grenache Noir 90% Syrah 5% Merlot 5%

An elegant supple, succulent and aromatic Grenache Rouge, and a mineral, crisp, and fresh Grenache Blanc, both IGP Pays d’Oc and indigenous to the region. Both have been carefully crafted to be subtle, sassy and food friendly.

A typical modern southern French wine. Good level of acidity, soft tannins, not excessively alcoholic but lots of interest. 

 Medium-bodied on the palate, soft and juicy.

PAYS D’OC GRENACHE ROUGE – FELICETTE CATS IN SPACE 2019

$17.49 regularly $18.99

14% Alcohol

UPC: 05060110825073

Raising the bar

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Some wines just deliver year in and year out and this Rasteau is one of them. A nice savoury, spicy palate. Dark red, slightly jammy red fruit.


A blend of Grenache (70%), Syrah (20%) and Mourvede (10%) brings out the earthy terroir tones. 

 It’s full bodied and concentrated. It’s fresh and fruity yet earthy, complex and elegant too.
Egg noodle pasta, with mushrooms, spinach, red peppers, onion rings and shrimp worked so well with this.


RASTEAU – CAVE DE RASTEAU LA DOMELIERE 2019

$21.99 regularly $26.99

14.5% Alcohol

UPC: 03506707066419 

Plays nicely with Prosecco

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Summer lunches with friends on the deck are always a great way to spend an afternoon.  We let South Australia play with Italy.

And proved Real Men do eat quiche.

A gentle blending of Syrah, Cab Sauv and Grenache from Tread Softly got us started and then pushed ourselves away from the table to quafe away the Prosecco after downing ginger frozen yogurt.

Low carbon footprint (and trying to eliminate it), Tread Softly is planting native trees for every dozen sold.  Harvesting in the cool of mornings and then regular fermenting in steel with lots of erating … then a 3 month sleep before bottling.

It’s delicious and freshly flavoured.  Long Crisp dry finish.

Tread Softly – Rose

$16.99

10.9% alcohol

UPC: 09344154013969

Laughing at their Spelling

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But loving their attitude.  Laughing Stock Vineyards is back with another 100% Okangan grown wine.  

A play on imbibe & embezzle, IMBZZL. Big. Bold. Full and quite unique..Lots of Citrus (peachy). Heaven forbid I say it, but pristine.

Syrah dominant, Merlot and Cabernet Franc grapes go into the tank and a juice stabulation technique from Gascony (and now much in vogue in Provence) leaves the juice on lees for 17 days prior to cool fermentation.Nice and full (13.9%). 1st night was with mussels.  Second night an omelette

IMBZZL – RUSE ROSE

$17.99 regularly $19.99

13.9% Alcohol

UPC: 00063657043189

Elevating Burger night

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On the rocky soil between Valréas and Vinsobres, where Grenache (75%) meets Syrah (25%), emerges this cuvée infused with a full-on Rhone identity.  The 9 to 12 months of élevage in concrete produces a wine first revealing accents of fruit , then making way for mild spices. The finale is supple, heady and persistent.

Father and son produce wines with a lovely expression of the rhythms of Valreas terroir.

It boasts big fruit, balanced by hints of orange zest and clove. It’s full-bodied, intense and concentrated, with supple tannins and a long, slightly warming finish.

A Very polished Cotes du Rhone Villages.

We heavied up on the rosemary for the burger spicing but kept in the subtleness of a little tarragon.

COTES-DU-RHONE VILLAGES VALREAS – MAS DE SAINTE CROIX TENDRE

$18.99 regularly $20.99

14.5% Alcohol

UPC: 03760236590290

Whiners and Winers

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Montreal wHines about another foot of snow.

Oak Bay wHines about lawnmower noise instead of snowplow noise.

Calgary wHines about Minus 40 and Snow.

Summerland wHines about Minus 15 and Not enough snow for skiing.

North Saanich wHines about not enough colour for his sunset shots.


We go visit the Goddess and wine.


Even if you aren’t a carnivore, you’ll enjoy this one.  You could do fish or just share with nachos. A cheese plate would go wonderfully with it.


We chose to make a big, fat, thick homemade stew that filled the house with warmth. 

Beautifully structured from aroma to finish.  A vineyard we very much like.


A true 93 pointer of Syrah/Shiraz.  Deep rooted, organically grown vines that are at least 25 years old. Around 12 months ageing. 85% of which takes place in concrete tanks to preserve the freshness and minerality of the fruit. The remaining 15% is aged in barrel which gives the wine consistency and power, along with aromatic complexity.

CROZES HERMITAGE – CHAPOUTIER MEYSONNIERS ORGANIC 19

$29.99

14% alcohol

UPC: 03391180001749

Is it the 1%?

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33% Grenache, 33% Syrah, 33% Mourvedre & 1% Other

Berries, Cherries and Plums are the predominant flavours. Lots of silky, smooth bright cherry, blueberry and spicy.

Carbonic maceration is typically undertaken with light to medium-bodied wines to make them fruitier and to soften their tannins.  The grapes are not crushed, rather put whole bunch into a fermentation vessel then carbon dioxide is added and the vessel sealed so no oxygen can interact with the grapes.  There is no yeast to cause the grapes to ferment.  The fermentation happens within the grape where the carbon dioxide is used to break down the sugars and malic acid within the grape. Once the alcohol level reaches 2%, the berries burst to release their juice and at this point fermentation using yeast is undertaken to convert the remaining sugars from the grape juice to produce the wine.

Other reviewers give this a 91 points. I’m tempted to go a little higher. It’s robust and exceptional value.

CORBIERES AN 806 GRENACHE SYRAH MOURVEDRE – GERARD BERTRAND

$17.99 $19.99 regularly

14% alcohol

UPC: 03514123101768

Naramata Bench Excellence

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This is a lovely vintage with all the characteristics of a good Malbec.

Excellent tannins and oodles of flavour, and a long, lingering finish.

It came as a gift, and we treated it with honour and respect – by enjoying the entire bottle whist doing dinner prep, with dinner, and lingering with chit chat before dessert.

LaFrenz Malbec 2018

Rockyfeller Vineyard

Blend: 88% Malbec and 12% Syrah 

Alcohol: 14.8%

Wakey Wakey

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This one announces itself with a big fat bouquet and a resounding wake up call to your taste buds on first swirl. All your senses are alive by the second sip.


By the 3rd sip I wouldn’t say MY senses were balanced, but I’d decided it was delicious.


Syrah was first planted by the Phillips brothers in 1982. This vineyard is just a hop, a skip and a jump from the winery, and is one of the earliest plantings of Syrah in California. With Michael’s son Kevin continuing the Phillips grape growing tradition into the 6th generation, this Syrah vineyard was one of the first he tended to as Vineyard Manager of Michael David Winery.


Our rendition spent 16 months – 64% French oak (18% new), 36% American oak (11% new).


Thank You K for bringing it to lunch.


Michael David Syrah 2012  6th Sense

15% alcohol

Twas a dark and stormy night

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We started out with a traditional Pinot from Chile.  Then moved up the mountains in Argentina for a Malbec, and then hopped over to Portugal for a blend.


What a Week!


There was no pushing the food around on the plate. It was all inhaled. The meals were hearty fare that were built to fend off the damp Fall and bring out the moody mysteries of the wine.  I’m going to have to turn back the scales 5 kilos as well as the clocks.


The medium-bodied Pinot was silky with fresh red berries there to pick up the earthiness, Flashes of spice to perk up the acidity. 


PINOT NOIR – UNDURRAGA GRAN RESERVA SIBARIS LEYDA VALLEY

$15.99

14.0 % Alcohol

UPC:07804315304722

A rich, solid blend of Touriga Nacional, Tinto Roriz, Syrah and Alicante Bouschet.  It is bold, smooth, dry, and soft – spicy and toasty It has a fine balance between cool tannins and bold black fruits. 

ALENTEJANO – CASA SANTOS LIMA QUID PRO QUO

14.2% Alcohol

$15.99

UPC: 05604424433014

Today, Argentina is a world leader in high-altitude grape-growing and Malbec is thriving at 1,000 to 1,500 metres in elevation. The benefit of altitude is cooler nights and large temperature swings between day and night of the kind most winegrowers never experience. Grapes do much developing in the final four to six weeks of ripening where the temperature is the determinant of any single component of flavour or aroma.

Since varying flavours and aromas are produced at different temperatures, the best wines need a vineyard with a range of favourable temperatures to capture all the desirable flavours and aromas. A good start is a nighttime temperature in the low teens followed by daytime highs in the mid to high 20s.


MALBEC – LA LINDA PRIVATE SELECTION OLD VINES 2018

$17.49 regularly $19.99 

14.2 % alcohol

UPC:07791203001675