Spain Trip - Part 3 - Priorat wine region

After a very beautiful wedding at a stunning villa and the multi-day party that surrounded it, it was time to go relax by the ocean. We had booked a nice place beside the beach in Peniscola which is about a 2 hour drive from where we were staying near Sitges. 

We decided to detour inland at the coastal town of Tarragona to experience one of "National Geographic's Drives of a Lifetime"; The Priorat wine region. The route meanders through the heart of the region hitting most of the highlights, and then about 2-3 hours later you rejoin the main roads at Tortosa.

Grapes have been grown in this area since the 12th century back when it was a stronghold for the Knights Templer. Throughout the route you will see a few Templer castles and other early remnants from another time. 

It is only in the last 20-30 years that Priorat has been reborn and rejuvenated. Even elevating its status of their wines to the highest DOQ (DOCa) rating in Spain. The only other wine region in Spain achieving this distinction is the famed Rioja. I have now driven through both, and they are very different geographically, but both very beautiful and charming in their own way with friendly people and delicious wines.

Garnacha (Grenache) and Cariñena (Carignan) are to 2 main grape varieties grown here creating big, high tannic, high alcohol reds. The local wines we got to try were delicious, so much so, one of them actually bumped one of our Rioja Reserva's from our 4 bottle Canadian import limit.

Unlike North America, most of the vineyards that I saw were not vertically trellised but the vines were bush trained and low cropping due to lack of water.

It was definitely a drive of a lifetime and I had a blast navigating the twisted narrow back roads. You drive through amazing little towns all perched high up on hills. Most of the vineyards have to be hand harvested due to the steep slopes, and a lot of the grapes/wines are sold through local Co-ops. In the different co-op shop/tasting rooms you can get the whole gamut of great wines from the local producers. Some of them are only available in that town. The shops vary in size from anywhere from 10 to 100+ different producers.

The villages all on hill tops seemed to be bustling with locals and tourists alike with lot's of local flare, but nowhere to park. This also left the roads empty for me to enjoy, always watching for the mini tractors and vineyard machinery.

The only disappointment from our drive was that the one ferry was "in the shop"; so we were unable to go tour one of the main Knights Templer castles. I thought about trying the old Dukes of Hazzard jump, but the run-in was all wrong. I calculated the possible detours into the GPS, and at 2 hr+ to get to the castle and back we decided instead to b-line it about an hour to the awaiting beach.




For the next 2 days it was sipping Rias Baixas and Verdejo wines on the beach, dipping in the sea, and eating the local famous paella's.

Bonus: our B&B had a specialty Gin & Tonic bar with 15+ Gins, and 8 Tonics from all around the world! My favourite gin turned out to be the Spanish one, Gin Mare.

... and lucky us, Peniscola has a Templar castle and old city for us to go explore, so turned out Dukes of Hazzard was not needed. 

I definitely will come back to explore this area one day; as a 2.5hr road trip was just but a taste, and I want the whole damn bottle!

Thanksgiving Wine tasting

I had a last minute tasting at the house last Friday after a request from a co-worker. Unbeknownst to him I had already started working on a tasting flight for Thanksgiving wines. I had 9 people come on short notice for a varied flight of 8 tasty wines; several which are on sale until the end of the month at the BC Liquor stores.



1. VILLA CONCHI - Brut Cava - NV - Spain - $15.99 - BC Liquor.

Cava is Spanish Champagne and is very food friendly and can pair with several Thanksgiving dishes. If you see Brut in the name it means it will be dry it can range from dry to off-dry. This one is dry with crisp acidity and a creamy mousse. It had nice aromas of biscotti, fresh bread, with some citrus and ripe pear. Soft yet full flavour in the mouth and really good value bubbly.





2. PEWSEY VALE  - Eden Valley Riesling 2015 - Eden Valley, Australia - $17.99 - BC Liquor

Riesling is a grape that loves food and it's natural high acidity and lower alcohol makes sure it won't over power your dish. This one was a dry Riesling but the sweeter ones will pair well too with a nice caramelized coating. This typical Eden Valley Riesling showed nice notes of citrus, lime, herbs, minerality, and a hint of the petrol/rubber hose note that some can develop. Which is usually sought after, and especially present in aged German versions.



3. TINHORN CREEK - Gewurztraminer 2015 - BC - $15.99 - BC Liquor

This Gewurztraminer (gə-ˈvu̇rt-ˌstra-mə-nər) took a few people by surprise and turned out to be the top voted wine of the night.  If you have never tried a Gewerzt it is worth seeking out, but can get over floral turning some people off. It originally hails from Germany but has also found a home in Alsace France. This wine has notes of some orange with tropical fruits like lychee and banana. There is also a nice floral note and a hint of sweet spice. It was off dry but well balanced, and also had the typical rich oily note that usually accompanies this grape; a great example of a BC Gewurztraminer.




4. BENCH 1775 - Viognier 2015 - BC - $23.55 - Swirl Wine Store


Viognier (vee-own-yay) is another aromatic french grape doing well in BC. This one from Bench 1775 one double gold at the National Wine Awards of Canada. Typical Viognier has orchard fruits with nice perfumey floral notes. The best ones tend to come from the northern Rhone in France. This wine had orchard fruits, tangerine and a floral note on the nose, with a nice floral lingering finish.






5. WENTE - Morning Fog Chardonnay 2014 - California - $18.99 - BC Liquor

Buttery oaked Chardonnay can pair well with your Thanksgiving feast, especially with those buttery mashed potatoes. This California Chardonnay is restrained in style; helped by the cooling morning fogs that roll in from San Francisco Bay keeping the grapes cool. It is aged half in oak and half stainless steel. This wine has aromas of vanilla, toasted coconut,banana, with a smooth buttery note and tropical fruits on the palate.

6. BROUILLY - Chateau de Pierreux 2015 - Beaujolais, France - $15.99 - BC Liquor

Brouilly is one of the 10 Cru (best) villages for making Beaujolais which is always made 100% Gamay Noir. Most Beaujolais wines won't see any oak, but most of the 10 Cru's will see some oak and have the potential to age. This wine is light to medium body with juicy bramble-berry, plum, and clove on the nose. With some cherry, dark chocolate, and spice on the palate. The wine has some nice subtle complexities to it and finishes smooth in the mouth.





7. BOURGOGNE - JC Boisset les Ursulines - 2014 - Burgundy, France - $23.19 - BC Liquor

This is an entry level Burgundy made with 100% Pinot Noir comes from the Côte de Nuits region and a well respected Producer. It only saw 10% new oak that was very lightly toasted to not impart too many flavours and allow the wine to speak for itself. This wine has refined red fruits, blackcurrant, and a hint of pepper. Young, fresh and simple.




8. FONTANAFREDDA BRICCOTONDO - Piemonte Barbera - Piemonte, Italy - $15.49 - BC Liquor

Barbera is a high acid, low tannin, Italian grape from the Piemonte region. It is light to medium bodied and can take to oak pretty well. The main region for Barbera is Barbera d'Asti and is rarely found outside of Italy. There are a few popping up in North America with a delicious one from Sandhill in Kelowna. This wine showed aromas of dusty sour-cherry and plum, with a nice spicy black pepper note. Smooth and delicious on the palate with red fruits, spice, and a lingering savoriness. Definitely a food friendly wine that will only show better with the right dish.



Let me know what you think if you try any of these wines. Other wines that can also pair well with Thanksgiving meals are: Chenin Blanc, Pinot Gris, Zinfandel and Lambrusco.


Happy Sipping!

Spain Trip - Part 2 - Wine Fight

La Batalla del Vino


If you ever find yourself in Spain at the end of June I suggest a trip up to Haro. Every June 29th there is the great Batalla del Vino (Battle of wine) during the Haro Wine Festival. Picture 1000's of people throwing 1000's of litres of wine at each other, all for a tradition many don't actually remember!

There is a tradition of pilgrimages up to the Crags BiLibyan (fight location) on June 29th that goes back hundreds of years. There are many stories about when and why it all started, but mainly it revolved around a mass, a feast for the town and celebrating the day of San Pedro. The first mention of throwing wine is around the 1900's as the newspaper mentioned it being the reason there was low female attendance. See here for more details.  https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batalla_del_vino

The festivities actually start the day before in the town center. We were doing our wine tours this day and just squeezed a tasting in at Muga. They were closing early that day so all the staff can participate in the festivities. That night the whole town comes out to party and drink. All generations socializing in the streets creating Haro's biggest night of the year. Most revelers will make it to the wee hours and may catch a few hours of rest. Some parties will go all night with people drinking right up to the 7am start time.

That's right at 7am the procession of people, cars, trucks, and tractors with trailerts make the 5km trek out of town and climbs the hill to the chapel of The Crags BiLibyan. Those without a mode of transport can take buses the town provides for free to within a kilometer of the site. This was pretty cool because I was expecting old school buses not nice new charter buses that just had everything covered in plastic.


We were in what would have been considered the second wave, as we chose to skip the Catholic Mass. I also chose to forget my Gopro in the car as we rushed to catch the bus that ...um runs every 5 minutes.

Wearing the customary white shirt with red bandanna, and equipped with mini water guns and a Camelback (full of wine) we headed up the hill. We could hear lot's of loud festive music with hundreds of people singing along in almost every key. Some people were already coming down by this point and were quick to point out the whiteness off our shirts; ...as they would eagerly unload their last few drops of ammunition. It is also at this point you notice the small river running down the ditches of pure wine and well maybe the odd flip-flop.

The fight is pure fun! There is no aggression or violence; just thousands of people gleefully wasting a small towns yearly consumption of wine in a few hours. There is technically two sides to the battle yet everyone is dressed the same and once it starts all chaos ensues. Our tiny guns were no match to the trailers with 250+ gallon containers filled with wine and armed with hoses. There were people with forestry fire backpacks hand pumping wine, and guys hiding in the bush throwing pitchers of wine on everyone that walked by. It also seems if you are a pretty girl in a tight shirt you got 10x more drenched. I was not one of them.

It was an absolute blast and I can't wait to go do it all again. After the battle wears down the locals head back to one of the 3-4 parking lots where about every second vehicle has their own small fire going with homemade sausages cooking and good wine flowing. With our wine rations depleted and a cool morning breeze blowing through us, we made the trek back to the bus rendezvous. With a minor change of clothes and towels in the trunk to protect our rental car we headed back to our B&B in Bastida. We did our best not to stain the bathroom ....or entire room pink.

We didn't know much about it going into it this year, but when I go do this again; I'm bringing friends and booking well in advance so we can get accommodation right in Haro. This way we can experience the fullest extent of the 2 day party and all the wine festivities in the heart of the madness.

So who's up for a wine fight?

Spain Trip - Part 1 - Rioja wine tastings

How was Spain? Well I saw wine for as cheap as 0.90€ ($1.30), and was once given a free bottle of wine with lunch! My plan was simple - rent a car and road trip my way to the Batalla del Vino (wine fight) in Haro Spain; deep in the heart of the Rioja wine region. I had 5 days to kill before needing to be back near Barcelona for a wedding; which i figured is just enough time for me to learn Spain's 4 lane roundabouts.

Rioja is Spain's most famous wine region about 4.5-5 hours from Barcelona, or 1.5 hours from Bilbao. I made a loop out of the trip; leaving from Barcelona you can split off the main route at the town of Lleida and head slight north towards Pamplona. From here you head south west down to the Rioja. On the way back you take the main route down through the beautiful city of Zaragoza and back to Barcelona. 

This way you also get to travel through the foothills of the Pyrenees, see some stunning rivers and lakes, and also experience the Navarra DO wine region that is just north of Rioja. I ended up staying in a cute small town called Aibar in a nice B&B in the old part of town. The next day it was on to Pamplona and then south west down to Haro for some wine tasting and tours. 

First stop on the self guided trip was Bodegas GOMEZ CRUZADO est 1886 in the heart of Haro. It was on a weekday with only one English group and one Spanish group, so they combined the tours into one. I didn't mind this as I could take my time checking out the equipment and taking lot's of pictures. 

After a full tour of the beautiful facilities and a nice detailed run through of their practices I enjoyed a flight of 4 wines. First was their Gómez Cruzado Blanco, a blend of 85% Viura and 15% Tempranillo blanco. Then it was followed by 3 different categories of their Rioja wines, the Vendimia Seleccionada (Vintage Select), Reserva 2006, and their Honorable a field blend dominated by Tempranillo with Garnacha, Graciano, Mazuelo and Viura in the mix all which are from over 50 year old vines.


Next stop was directly across the street at the oldest winery in Haro, Bodegas R. Lopez de Heredia Viña Tondonia est 1877. Here I got to try 3 of their Tondonia wines; their White Reserva, Red Reserva, and Red Gran Reserva. It was a good tasting, however the only wine that stood out was the Gran Reserva but it was out of my price range.



Our next tour wasn't for a few hours and knowing that Bodegas Muga was literally half a block around the corner I had to stop in. Not realizing they were about to close early so staff could participate in the pre-festivities for the wine fight, I promised to be quick if they could offer me a full flight.

The full flight starts with some sparkle with both their white and rose Cava's, both delicate and delicious. Next up was their white, which like their white Cava is based on the grape Viura. Followed by a rose and 3 of their Rioja reds; their standard Rioja, Special Selection, and Torre Muga. All superbly crafted, showing well, and easy drinking; making it easy to fly through the flight in 10 mins.



Last stop of the day was at the stunning Bodegas Eguren Ugarte est. 1870 in Laguardia. An absolutely stunning winery and hotel. We had a lovely English tour through the winery and their hand dug cellars. There was only one other person in our tour. A cute elderly Scottish man who missed the morning tour with his wife because he was too hungover :) The tour guide was super knowledgeable and friendly.

 Their 2km worth of tunnels/cellars were all hand dug, mostly by Eguren and his son's as part of their weekly chores. Members of their VIP wine club can store their wine down there in allotted personal caves. There is even nice little tasting room like nooks throughout the tunnels to hold your own private tasting's. There is also one special area were the founders ashes are stored with his wife's and a few bottles of every vintage ever made. They will keep adding to it, but never drink from there in honor of Eguren.

The hotel on site looks wonderful and I would love to stay there one day. The tour finished off with a tasting in their shop of 3 of their wines accompanied with their own delicious canapes. I ended up buying their Reserva 2010, and their white Rioja made with Viura.



It was a great way to cap off a beautiful day of tasting, prepping ourselves for the upcoming wine fight. (I was going to go into great detail about the great wine fight, but I think it will easily become it's own post, so stay tuned for the follow up blog about the wine fight.)



Because the wine fight started at 7:30am and was done by 11:00am, we found ourselves back at our B&B bored, thirsty, and still smelling a lot like cheap wine. So I booked a last minute tour at the famous Bodega Marqués de Riscal. The hotel at the winery is world renowned and was designed by Canadian architect Frank Gehry. An amazing building to get to see in person..


Again being a weekday my wife and I were the only English speakers booked for the 4:30 tour so we got a nice in depth private tour. It started with a video about the history of the property, its wine, and the building of such an iconic, beautiful, yet controversial hotel (locally).

Our guide was fantastic and wasn't annoyed by my many wine geek questions. You get to see the entire grounds, the winery, bottling line, cellar, and is the only way to get close to the hotel without paying $350+ a night. The tour was followed by tasting their white, Rueda Verdejo, and their Rioja Reserva. Due to my charm or many questions we were treated with an extra taste of their 2006 Gran Reserva; which was excellent, and then instantly purchased.

Besides the winery tours we also got to drink lot's of great Rioja's when we were in the region. In Rioja 90% the wine you can buy comes from Rioja; when we were in the Navarra region 90% of the wine you can buy comes from that region. It was weird to see at first, but then I realized that some of these wines are only available in that particular town, and was able to find some true gems. Luckily for me my favorite Spanish white, Rias Biaxas was available almost everywhere!

I would go back in a heart beat, and probably will as there is way too much to see and taste in one trip.

Stay tuned for future Blog's about the wine fight, driving one of National Geographics Drives of a Lifetime through the Priorat wine region, and a comparative tasting of two BC Albarino wines tasted alongside their forefathers, Rias Biaxas also made with Albarino.