Wine Recap – February 2019

With colds plaguing me yet again this month, I took it a little easier on the whole drinking front so that it was mostly for relaxation when I needed it and not coughing my lungs out or sniffling away. However, let me just say in advance that the three choices here were all quite decent wins.

Let’s check it out!

Bulles de Nuit Mimosa

Producer: Bulles de Nuit
Alcohol Content: 6.9%
Location: Montreal, Canada

After trying the other three varieties: Original, Rose and Pinot Grigio, Mimosa was the last one to try out. I don’t usually drink a lot of mimosas. Perhaps only one or two times before. Its a nice light drink and its usually fruity in my memory. The mimosa for Bulles de Nuit tasted a bit like spiked Crush. Its not a bad thing but I still think the other three products are much more to my taste.

Chateau Ste Michelle Riesling 2017

Producer: Ste Michelle Wine Estates
Alcohol Content: 12%
Location: Columbia Valley, Washington, USA
Taste Tag: Fruity and Sweet

A huge thanks to John Rieber for recommending this wine to me in the last wine recap.

Chateau Ste Michelle Riesling is quite accurate in their category. Being a big fan of riesling usually, this wine is fruity and sweet. There’s a lot to love about it from the way it tastes to the undertones. Its very smooth. There’s a bit of acidity but its balanced really well. I’d say the last riesling I had that had a similar texture and taste would be Kung Fu Girl. I’m not sure if I’ve ever talked about that one in any of the recaps.

Peter Lehmann Layers

Producer: Peter Lehmann Wines
Alcohol Content: 11.5%
Location: Australia
Taste Tag: Delicate and Light

I found this wine while browsing the sales on the SAQ site. Its unique because it has 4 varieties in one wine and three of them, I like quite a lot and one I haven’t tried any before so have no opinion on it. Its hard to find moscato in general but the few that I’ve really loved have been from Australia. With that said, this one gave me quite a bit of hope and I’m glad to say that this is one of those spontaneous purposes that turned out to be a pleasant experience. This one worked on many levels. Its a nice blend and a unique experience. If you haven’t tried it before, its worth giving it a chance.

That’s it for this wine recap!
I have to say that the two white wines are pretty good.

What have you been drinking?

Wine Recap – December 2018

Welcome to the wrap-up for 2018’s December wine recap. Its one of the final wrap-ups of this year. I’ll do a little wrap-up at the bottom for my fave wine of the year and the one that was disappointing for us (as it should stand-out). Without further ado, December is a gathering month and holidays and our health is slowing climbing back to par so we had a few other drinks to relax and enjoy.

Here it is!

Petit & Fils Sparkling Rosé Cider

Producer: Petit & Fils Cidrerie
Alcohol Content: 6.5%
Location: Quebec

If I remember correctly, we picked this one up at Costco. Its pretty light and more on the semi-dry area in taste. We liked it okay. I can’t say that it left a very memorable sort of feeling. It wasn’t quite on our palette but it also wasn’t a hard one to drink. Plus, if it remember correctly, the price was fairly reasonable.

Note to self: Should really make a note of the price and where I bought it for 2019 recaps.

Bulles de Nuit Sparkling Pinot Grigio

Producer: Bulles de Nuit
Alcohol Content: 6.9%
Location: Quebec

I’ve been a big fan of these Bulles de Nuit collection of sparkling wines. I like the Rose a lot and enjoy the normal one but surprisingly, this pinot grigio one is quite fantastic. I’m not usually a fan of pinot grigio because it tends to be on the sour and dry side of the spectrum but this one is really good. I would consider this one almost better than their Rosé one and I like that one a ton.

Bow & Arrow Cider

Producer: Groupe Geloso
Alcohol Content: 4.5%
Location: Quebec

I’m a big fan of these type of ciders. This one is made in Quebec. I got it for its cute can. I won’t lie about it. However, this was super delicious. Its light and fruity. The way I like my ciders. It doesn’t feel dry and is very pleasant overall experience. I’d definitely get this one again.

Blanche Jasmine Ginseng De-Glutenized Beer

Producer: Brasseurs du Monde
Alcohol Content: 4.9%
Location: Quebec

I’ve pretty much given up beer since 10 years ago mostly because when it comes to gluten-sensitivity, nothing hits me as hard as beer does. Its not a huge loss since I was never a big fan of beer anyways. The taste just never quite worked for me. We’ve been trying to lower gluten in our diet a little bit and since my husband liked the deglutenized beers that we had bought before but I never covered here, we’ve been giving that a go until they don’t sell it anymore, I guess. If you think my wine terminology is bad, wait until you see my beer terminology. This White Jasmine Ginseng Beer actually is pretty tasty for a beer. I have to say that it does quite please my palette. I’ve only taken sips of the other 3 flavors so I will share that when I actually have a glass of it.

Albert Bichot 2016 Chardonnay Vieilles Vignes

Producer: Alex Bichot
Alcohol Content: 12.5%
Location: Bourgogne, France
Taste Tag: Aromatic & Mellow

An actual wine, everyone! We had this at my friend’s place for the holiday gathering. I have to admit that French wines are usually a hit and miss for myself. I think it depends on the region and the variety. This one was a bit too dry for my taste. It had a very sour finish and was pretty tough to drink overall.

Moving on to the picks of this year…

My Picks of 2018

Banrock Moscato 2016
Queen Street 501 Cider
Frisky Beaver VQA 2015
Somersby Red Rhubarb Cider
J.P. Chenet Ice Edition

Surprise: Rodney Strong Chardonnay

This wraps up the December 2018 Wine Recap as well as my picks of the year!
Did you try any new wines (or alcoholic beverages) lately? What was your fave of the year?

Wine Recap – March 2018

If you missed the last Wine Recap, check it out HERE.

Time sure does fly when you’re having fun. Well, I can’t classify this past month as fun but hey, the wine adventures sure did help as they are our winding down times or hanging out with friends time or in this case, travelling time. Lovely little moments to say the very least.

We have a lot to get through this month so lets jump right in!

Saint Aix Rosé 2016

Producer: Domaine de la Grande Séouve
Alcohol Content: 13%
Location: France
Taste Tag: Medium-bodied & dry

Rosé wines are always a little tough to judge. We’ve had some great ones but quite often they can get quite dry. Aix Rosé is something of an acquired taste. It did feel sour and dry when we first started drinking it but as it aired a little more, it seemed to taste better. Regardless of the initial taste, I think it had to do with smooth taste when we swallowed it. Its definitely not our favorite but its still pretty decent. On top of that, for Chinese weddings, this one would be great since the bottle itself has the double happiness symbol.

Brickworks Ciderhouse Queen Street 501

Producer: Brickworks Ciderhouse
Alcohol Content: 5%
Location: Ontario, Canada
Taste Tag: Medium-sweet & Fruity

I like to take breaks from wines every once in a while and fall to drinking something a little lighter like ciders. I’ve tried other ones like Angry Orchard, Smac!, Somersby and there was another Okanagan Valley one that I had tried when I went to Kelowna but can’t remember the name. Its somewhere some of the previous posts for that trip. While I think that all of the above are quite good. I have to say that this one was one of my favorites, possibly even more than the others. Thats a definite compliment because I do like Angry Orchard a fair amount. Sad was that I only had bought one can of this and enjoyed it at the hotel after the EGLX day so none to take home. Its on my to-buy list next time we head out to Ontario.

Bulles de Nuit Rosé Mousseux

Producer: Bulles de Nuit (I think)
Alcohol Content: 10.5%
Location: Montreal, Canada
Taste Tag: n/a

This one isn’t exactly a new find since I have this every other month or so. Its this bubbly rosé sparkling wine sort of thing. I’m usually not much of a champagne or sparkling wine sort of person. Everyone once in a while, I’ll try one that I like. This one is really good. I’ve had the original and the rosé and I like this one more. It has a much more fun taste to it. What is a fun taste? I have no idea. It could be because the alcohol content is a little more here and the taste is pretty decent and it just feels so lovely to drink. It has quite a kick though so for myself, when I crack on open, I usually sip it throughout an hour or so.

Rodney Strong Sonoma Chardonnay 2016

Producer: Rodney Strong Vineyards
Alcohol Content: 13.7%
Location: California, USA
Taste tag: Full-bodied & Rich

Give it to our spontaneous purchase that peaked my husband’s curiosity and was very different the wines we usually would buy to be the surprise in this recap. Rodney Strong Chardonnay is a dry wine and yet, the dryness is somehow cut into a very pleasant smoothness that tastes really rich when we swallow it. I’m starting to understand what these full-bodied and rich terms are all about because I’m starting to taste the difference. I haven’t had a Chardonnay that I’ve liked before but this one has won me over.

Fresh Beginnings Moscato 2016

Producer: Diamond Estates Wines & Spirits Ltd.
Alcohol Content: 11.5%
Location: Ontario, Canada
Taste tag: Off-dry & Fruity

Well…isn’t that a problem? I forgot to take the picture of the glass before we finished the bottle. Actually, to be honest, Fresh Beginnings was a little bit on the sour taste for our palette. However, while we’ve hit a lot of really great moscato, particularly in the last recap, I’ve definitely hit some moscato white wines that have this sort of taste. This one was more on the dry territory and with the fruity flavors it didn’t work as well as we’d wanted it to. But isn’t the bottle so charming and beautiful to look at? I actually still have it just to look at since its so pretty for the counter and really rings in Spring (even if we dipped down into the below zero Celsius days the past week).

This wraps up the March 2018 Wine recap!
A nice little mixed variety this time around, right?
Some sure winners and some acquired tastes here.

Which stood out for you? Have you tried any of these?
Any wines that you’d recommend that we try?