Wine Recap – October 2018

Time for last month’s wine recap! We are back to our healthy selves, well, physically, I’d say so. We’ve had stuff to celebrate last month and stuff to grieve over. So, different times to relax while drinking some wine and other varieties.

Rose Nodo Bobal Garnacha Spain Wine 2017

Alcohol Content: 12%
Location: Spain

Nodo is a wine that I picked up randomly at the supermarket. I still am in search for a Rosé wine that can beat the two that I currently like. However, if there’s anything that I’ve come to learn is that Spanish wines are fairly dry and this one was extremely on that end. If you prefer something dry, this one definitely will be up your alley. Unfortunately, for myself, it wasn’t as enjoyable.

J.P. Chenet Ice – Sparkling Wine

Producer: Grands Chais de France
Alcohol Content: 10.5%
Location: France
Taste Tag: Fruity and Sweet

JP Chenet is the wine that my sister in law brought over for our Thanksgiving dinner. Its light and fruity and sweet. Very beautiful and delicious. It is one that definitely is a crowd pleaser. It finds a nice balance between being very smooth but also feeling like there is a decent amount of layers in the drink itself. The star of October for us has to go to this wine for sure.

Millebois Original

Producer: Millebois
Alcohol Content: 4.8%
Location: Quebec, Canada
Taste Tag: Light and Dry

I can’t say I agree with taste tags all the time but this one nails it. Millebois is a company that we discovered when we went to Sherbrooke to the Public Market there. You can see the haul HERE. Millebois is one that makes maple syrup based alcoholic beverages. Light it is and also dry it also is. I can’t say that I loved it but its tolerable on the dry scale, something like a semi-dry sort of feelings. I think the harder part for this drink and is more of an acquired taste is the maple syrup based portion. I’m not sure that I’m a fan but then I’ve never been a particular fan of maple syrup based alcohol.

Milton Cidre de FeuProducer: Cidrerie Milton
Alcohol Content: 10%
Location: Quebec, Canada
Taste Tag: Sweet

We’re a big fan of ice cider in our home. However, if you haven’t had fire cider, well, you are missing out. Its our favorite thing ever. We’ve never had this Cidrerie Milton version though. This one is pretty good. It had all the elements of a fire cider that we love and has more layers. It tastes a lot like drinking apple juice which also makes it a silent attack for those who drink this quickly.

Willm Riesling Réserve 2017

Producer: Alsace Willm
Alcohol content: 12%
Location: Alsace, France
Taste Tag: Fruity and Vibrant

I’m usually a big fan of Riesling. They usually find a nice balance of texture and not being too dry. Willm Riesling is definitely more on the dry side of things. Its one that took a little bit of an acquired taste. Its also the first time (in my memory) that we’ve chosen a Fruity and Vibrant taste tag (and what are the chances that the wine below also is). Dry it may be, but if you like dry wines, this one does goes down really nice. There’s still a good texture to it.

Yalumba The Y Series Viognier

Producer: Yalumba Wines
Alcohol Content: 13.5%
Location: South Eastern Australia
Taste Tag: Fruity and Vibrant

Australian wines are something of a hit and miss for us. We’ve had some lovely ones like Jacob’s Creek who never fails to deliver. But Moscato is a different variety so can’t be compared to something like this one. Yalumba Y Series Viognier is a really dry wine. I mean, just a whiff of it and you know it. I can’t say its a bad wine though because there is a nice texture. Its just more than we usually like to handle from the dryness. However, I would recommend it for those who like dry wines. Saying all that, I was doing a little bit of research on what else they offer and they have some other variety that I wonder if the SAQ here holds to try like the Riesling and their organic wines as well.

It seems like there was a lot of dry wine varieties in October.
However, we did have a few enjoyable wines that worked for our preferences. 

Have you discovered any wines (or cocktails/liquors, etc) lately?

Sherbrooke Public Market Haul!

I’m getting something a little quicker to put together out first today. No worries. I have a Halloween post in the works and will be released a little later today tomorrow.

Following up with the Eastern Townships this weekend, this is just a quick little haul post so you can see. We’ve already tried some of the stuff so I’ll also talk about that quickly. We made a few stops but the most noteworthy in terms of shopping was at the Sherbrooke public market, Marché de la Gare de Sherbrooke. The one thing to be careful for is the parking here. They have some odd regulations on where has a limited time free parking and which rows are paying spaces. If you do go there, double check first. Second, its surrounded by a lovely little surrounding including some beautiful wall art in the vicinities to check out.

Without further ado, let’s see what we found!

We are big fans of Kombucha. The feeling that we get from it is fantastic. It makes us feel great and thats why we drink it a few times a week if we have stocked it up. At the market, we found two brands that we’ve never seen before including very original flavors as well.

Sencha Kombucha (original Sencha flavor)

I’m a pretty big fan of Sencha in general so when I saw this kombucha flavor, let me tell you that it was an exciting moment. What works even better is that it tastes really good. Plus, its a really nice portion for the bottle so good for a nice dose of kombucha to just detox a little. The husband liked it also but not quite as much as I did.

Kombucha Fous de L’Ile (Vivace-Perennial)

The husband was a huge fan of this one. The ingredients showed lemongrass and chlorophyll which is pretty good. It had a rather floral and grassy taste and was a little more concentrated than what I’m used. However, its still not a bad one. However, if you take a look at the other flavors on their website, there’s a few that I’d love to try out eventually.

I can’t remember what the boulangerie there is called but this is the bread that my husband wanted to get. Its some risen bread or something. I’m not a bread connoisseur so I honestly don’t know what to say about it. However, the bread was fresh and delicious.

Cep d’Argent: Fleur de Lys
Cidrerie Milton: Cidre de Feu
Millebois Original
Millebois Ambré

Since I have the wine recap segment, I will be covering these ones there instead of here. So far, we’ve tried out 2 of these. However, the Fleur de Lys is one that we’ve already had before. My husband had tried this before and likes it a lot. Our taking a chance moment here is for Millebois which is a maple syrup base drink.

That’s it for the haul!
The Marché de la Gare de Sherbrooke is pretty cool. I do feel like its kind of off season. 
However, just to say that if I had cash on me, I would have bought some fresh produce as they looked really nice.
Something to remember for the next visit!
I see that they have a Christmas market or something so maybe we’ll take a trip there later this year.

Wine Recap – July 2018

July was a big month in terms of events and event coverage. In case you don’t follow any of the other stuff, you will know that when I do event coverage, I tend to lower my drinking in general. My tolerance isn’t incredibly high so I need to limit more to just keep a clear head for all the writing that needs to be done. However, we did get some lighter stuff to enjoy on the off days to relax during the heat wave month that we had. Montreal broke some temperature records so it was quite the experience.

Rekorderlig Wild Berries Cider

Producer: Ab Abro Bryggeri
Alcohol Content: 4.5%
Location: Sweden
Taste Tag: Sweet & Fruity

We had quite a debate over this one. On one hand, I thought it tasted really nice. The berry blend worked so well and the alcohol was just enough and not too strong. It was fruity and crisp which works so well as a cider. However, my husband didn’t like it and thought it tasted it funky. I think it all comes down to the fact that whenever anything alcoholized has berries in the mix, its always a toss-up on how it will taste. It did taste a little like a light version of cherry-flavored cough medicine but then, I thought it was more pleasant than that which is great. I think for its lightness and fruitiness, this one works really well as long as you like berry flavored drinks.

Radio Boka Rosé

Producer: Hammeken Cellars S.L.
Alcohol Content: 13%
Location: La Mancha, Spain
Taste Tag: Easygoing & Fruity

I swore that I thought I had taken a picture of this one but its gone MIA so there’s the stock photo from LCBO. Regardless, Radio Boka Rose is one that wasn’t really our cup of tea. While it is fruity, its one of those one that also linger in the weird aftertaste moment. A lot of the ones we’ve drank before actually had depth in the sense that it started out a little dry or acidic and then would have this pleasant moment when it went down our throat. This one was the exact opposite.

Big House The Birdman Pinot Grigio

Producer: Big House Wine Co.
Alcohol Content: 12.5%
Location: California, USA
Taste Tag: Light & Crisp

Big House comes in both cans and bottles. While I never talked about the canned ones, we actually did get one that my husband had drank and I took a sip or two of. The can version is definitely very dry and actually not too good. It was what made this bottled one sit on our shelves for a little while longer than we intended. However, it was a pleasant surprise because the bottled one seemed to round out the flavors more. Maybe its the bottle or how it gets to air out a little or maybe its the fact that its being drank from a glass and not a can. I’ve been reading up on wine appreciation a little and it seems like all these things make a difference to the experience. Big House isn’t exactly as light and crisp as it describes it. It lingers in the semi-dry zone for ourselves and has this rather acidic taste. However, its expected with a pinot grigio. The bottle version definitely worked out much better than the can so if you do want to give this a go, shell out the money for the bigger glass format than the cans.

Muscat des Papes

Producer: Vignerons de Beaumes de Venise
Alcohol Content: 15%
Location: Vallee de Rhone, France

Phoebe aka Starry Traveler is the one who introduced us to Muscat des Papes which is in stock for her at the restaurant Fuschia in Montreal because its the one wine that she loves the absolute most. She is a little more selective of alcohol so this one tickles her fancy quite a bit. It says a lot about the quality of this one. To be fair, this one is very smooth. It has this lovely texture and is very light and sweet. It is also a little bit between a fruity and floral sort of aroma. It has that sweetness that we love from Moscatos.

Milton Star Sparkling Cider

Producer: Les Vergers de la Colline
Alcohol Content: 4.5%
Location: Quebec
Taste Tag: Fruity and Sweet

Its very significant of how my month of “wines” went when it starts and ends with ciders. Milton Star is a sparkling cider that I’ve only ever seen around a lot but never tried. And boy, do I feel like I missed out! This is a really lovely one. Its actually very light and suitable for a casual setting of drinking to relax but never feeling like its going to feel heavy in the alcohol department. Very cider description to be honest but this one is also very nice level of crispness for the apple element to pop. They have a few other varieties that I’m going to try next time I drop by to pick up some more wine.

That’s it for this July recap!
Some ciders and some wines. A pretty decent mix and way more international than previous months.
Have you tried any interesting wines/ciders/cocktails lately?