Let's Get Together . . . Thursday . . . Yaletown.

I'm pouring the following Township 7 wines:

2004 Merlot
2004 Cabernet Sauvignon
2006 Semillon
2006 Rose

and a few other surprises at

Taylorwood Wines in Yaletown, Vancouver

from 4:30 - 6:30 this Thursday.

Option A: Come early and help me carry this stuff in from the car. It'll be worth your while.
Option B: Come late and help me carry this stuff back to the car. It'll be worth your while and we can grab a bite!

Blasted Church Wine

Blasted Church Wine, originally uploaded by Cunning Stunt.

I'm No. 97! I'm No. 97!

Out of the hundreds (maybe thousands) of wine blogs out there, I rate number 97 on the Top 100 list by these guys.

New Winery Links

Finally catching up with my housekeeping around here and added a big whack of winery links in the sidebar.

It is by no means complete but I will keep adding the missing links as they are found.

It's the KVT Maxipress 800!

It's the KVT Maxipress 800!, originally uploaded by Dexwriter.

Press for sale! More photos at my Flickr site.
Contact me at cooper.bradley@gmail.com

Taylorwood Wines, Yaletown, Vancouver

I finally made it down to Taylorwood Wines in Vancouver's precious Yaletown after hearing lots of good things and meeting plenty of people who all had a positive Taylorwood story.

The shop is well-laid out and had a great airy feel with the south-east window frontage letting plenty of light in. There's no need for a modern shop to have poor lighting so us old folks can't read the labels. Hundreds of bottles are arranged more or less by varietal. Have a staff member show you around on your first visit.

I was in on a Sunday which happened to coincide with one of their twice weekly advertised tasting events. The place had a pleasant buzz of business with customers coming and going and congregating around the hemispherical tasting bar in the back.

One of the things I appreciate in a wine shop is a sufficient, knowledgeable staff. Taylorwood scored well on this point. Selling wine is more than order taking; customers are always in pursuit of information when they are ready to select a wine they've never had before. The better the information and the delivery then the better the relationship between the two parties. In this respect they're a lot like Discover Wines in Kelowna.

Taylorwood is the kind of place I want to sell my wines. I want people with a genuine interest in good wine and a passion for great wine to handle my best products. That's why Township 7 has wine at Taylorwood and why I'll be encouraging my other clients to have their wines there.

Online Wine Course is Concise And All-encompassing

I recently discovered an online wine course that really impressed me.

I am a bit of a skeptic. I figured there's no replacement for just flinging yourself at gobs of wine and trying to muddle through as best as possible. Perhaps emerging from sensory battle with a slightly lop-sided palate. Perhaps with the help of a slightly biased friend.

Taste of the Vine Free Courses is the perfect tool for anyone at any level of wine knowledge who wants to improve and measure their ability to enjoy wine.

The course is engaging and well-designed. There are great graphics and clearly composed content. A lot of thought and energy has gone in to the production.

Some of the features I liked (and I'm still in the process of discovery):

• you can check your progress with a visit to the wine cellar to see how many bottles (points) you've amassed.


• you don't have to take it all in one shot. As a registered user, you can sign in when you want and pick up where you left off.


• The colour diagrams (as example of the tongue and the taste defined areas), are medical text accurate.


• I like the idea of a wine tasting course in my home. Takes the issue of transportation and safety right out of the picture.

There's actually two courses. One is called the Instant and the other is the Complete. It's up to you decide what suits you best.

From the perspective of someone who tastes and works with wine everyday, I think the Taste of the Vine Complete Wine Course is a winner. Many of the details are part of my daily routine but there were points where I learned something new on practically every second page.

Soon I'll be referencing parts of my tongue with the appropriate latin terms. If nothing else, my geek stock will soar.

NEW site for help wanted et cetera

I'm in the middle of creating a new service for all the winery, vineyard, wine equipment, wine store and such businesses in BC. It's a site where you can list for free whatever it is you are looking for.

Still working on it but here's the address...

Wine & Vine BC WANTED

Global WIne Stocks Widget

If you look over in the right hand sidebar, you'll see a new widget from GWS or Global Wine Stocks.
It's a fun little gadget that finds any wine you're looking for and tells you the price and where it can be purchased.
It's kind of fun and handy at the same time.

They Love me in the Old Country

It's a well-known fact that the Irish are mad for wine made in B.C. Here's a demonstration of that feeling. There's a standing offer of a bottle of wine for the best picture of the week featuring the Wine & Vine BC URL. Extra points for tasteful displays of female skin, of course.

This one was taken in a bottle shop in Belfast, I believe.

James, you can pick your bottle up in person.

Work in a Winery

This is your last chance to work at a winery, newbie.
As mentioned in a previous post, I'll be hiring a passionate, driven zealot for a short-term experience at Township 7 this spring.
If you or someone you know finds this interesting please don't hesitate to drop me a line now.
I make my decision tomorrow afternoon at beer o'clock.

cooper.bradley@gmail.com

The Biodynamic Approach in the Vineyard

It's no secret that in the world of wine the biodynamic approach to growing grapes is enjoying considerable attention. More vineyards and wineries are experimenting and adopting this way of harmonizing their production with the cycles of nature.

Today I had the opportunity to attend a biodynamic panel tasting presented by the Trialto Wine Group. Not only were there representatives from the presenters but also each winery sent one of their top people to answer questions and present individual wines. In most cases, it was the winemakers themselves.

While I usually don't do wine reviews I think a few notes about what we tasted will help illustrate what was being presented. None of these wines are from BC so that makes yet another departure from the blog theme. Let's just let that go for today.

Domaine Ostertag Heissenberg Riesling 2004 -

Baked pear and raisin with some petrol notes in the nose. Excellent tree fruit expressions in the palate with good acidity and lingering finish. Definitive Riesling.

Nicolas Joly, "Clos de la Coulee de Serrant" 2005

The nose was all baked fruit and pastry and slightly oxidised. Somewhat attractive when coupled with rich flavours of papaya, ripe apple and perfect balance of acid and residual sugar.

Chenin Blanc is the grape.

Domaine de la Soufrandiere, Pouilly-Vinzelles "Les Quarts" 2005

A vibrant nose of spice and flint. Minerally tones and balanced use of oak in the mouth. The acid is right on, the finish is long. A delicious wine.

Domain Thibault Liger-Belair Nuits-Saint Georges- 1er Cru "les Saint Georges" 2004

Opens with clove, dusty raspberries, pepper and cardamon in the nose. The flavours of cane berries are balanced against minerally/earth notes. Some austerity as this wine just begins to age. Great tannin structure. Would love to taste again in a year or two.

Felton Road, Pinot Noir Central Otago 2005

A perfume nose with plenty of rose and blackberry. I wrote rose twice in my scribblings. Tremendous fruit driven palate of rich raspberry and dark cherry. Slightly drying.

A good example of why New Zealand Pinots are rocking the wine world.

Paul Dolan, "Deep Red" Mendocino 2004

Raspberry, blackberry, violet and white pepper. A bold structured palate with big fruit, good oak integration and tannins suggesting a long life. Didn't get the exact make-up but Syrah, Zinfandel and Petite Sirah in the bottle.

Benziger "Tribute", Sonoma Mountain Estate 2003

The primary constituent of Cabernet Sauvignon makes for the tell tale briarberry notes with leather and tobacco in the wings. The flavours are rich and sinewy, lots of blackberry and tons of structure.

All the wines were produced using natural yeasts found in the vineyards and wineries. In rare cases when there is an anticipated weak natural yeast population, some winemakers said they would use the commercially prepared product. I hazard to guess that 95% of the wine produced in BC would be using commercial yeasts.

If you do the research on biodynamic vineyards and can't quite decide to do it or not, consider this:

The least expensive wine in this group retails for $49.55 per bottle. The top one was $123.00.

Two others joined the top item in the $100.00 plus category.

A quick primer on the biodynamic approach to all things grape can be had here