Wine Recap – October 2019

Welcome to the Wine Recap for October 2019. With all the festivals and overtime going on, it was an obvious progression of events that drinking anything alcoholic was not going to as abundant seeing as everything needs a clear mind to write or work. With that said, this month’s recap is much shorter than usual and actually probably is more average as well. Nothing amazing but nothing that we hated either.

Let’s check it out!

La Vieille Ferme Rosé Recolte 2018

Producer: Perrin et Fils SA
Alcohol Content: 13%
Location: Vallee du Rhone, France
Taste Tag: Fruity and Medium-bodied

A very rare taste tag that we usually choose from for this one. While that usually doesn’t say too much to us, this one was rather fruity in the more acidic range and definitely was drier than our usual wines. However, La Vieille Ferme for its taste tag actually was fairly mild. It had a nice smooth taste especially as its end notes. However, its first sips are rather in the dry range and a little more than what we are accustomed to. For those who do like drier wines, this one is a pretty decent option especially as it is the Recolte 2018 which is a little more special than the normal.

Kim Crawford Chardonnay 2018

Producer: Kim Crawford Wines
Alcohol Content: 13%
Location: South Island, New Zealand
Taste Tag: Aromatic and Mellow

We’ve seen the Kim Crawford wines around quite a bit and never actually tried it before. While Chardonnay is not exactly our go-to white wine variety, we wanted to give this one a go as it fell into some other wine taste tags that we’ve tried before that had a lot of depth in its beginning sips to its end notes. Kim Crawford is pretty good as well. Its well-balanced and not too dry. There was a slightly more acidic finish to this one.

Petit et Fils Rose Sparkling Cider

Producer: Verger Petit et Fils
Alcohol Content: 6.5%
Location: Quebec, Canada
Taste Tag: Fruity and Sweet

A nice sparkling rose cider which is lighter than our normal wines and deliberately so as this was in the middle of the huge rush and more meant as a fun little cider to just relax. Petit  & Fils is rather good and we had bought it a few years back (if I remember correctly) and it didn’t disappoint so we were excited to give it a try again. As expected, it was not quite as refined to our palette as we had remembered it but as a sparkling rose cider, it still was rather fruity and sweet but leaned a little closer to the medium-bodied.

That’s it for this round of Wine Recap!
Short and sweet for October with some decent choices!

What have you been drinking lately?

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?