Wimpy wine, anyone?

Gotta love this site : http://www.engrish.com/

Hola, Espana!!!!

Our fabulous hosts, Tanya and Erik, raised the bar yet again with an incredible evening of wine, food, and tons of cheeses, all Ibericanly inspired.....

Below are the names and associated links of the 7 bottles that so kindly gave up their lives for us:

2007 Burgans Albariño Rias Baixas ($18.95 at the LCBO)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rías_Baixas

2004 Fontal Crianza La Mancha ($14.94 at the LCBO) http://www.intowine.com/la-mancha-spain-s-largest-wine-region

We all enjoyed the food - from Spanish cheeses to local Ottawa ones made chez Tanya (see her blog for more details), olives, jamon, potato tortilla, grilled tuna with tapenade....

2006 Arrocal Ribera del Duero ($17.95 at the LCBO) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribera_del_Duero

2003 Los 800 Priorat ($19.95 at the LCBO)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priorat_

(DOQ) 2001 Bodegas LAN Reserva Rioja ($20.95 at the LCBO) http://www.klwines.com/detail.asp?sku=1039408

http://www.bodegaslan.com/en/vinedo.htm

1999 Baron de Ona Rioja Reserva (purchased in Spain)

http://www.skurnikwines.com/prospects.cgi?rm=view_prospect_detail&prospect_id=448



1999 Los Molinos Gran Reserva Valdepenas ($14.95 at the LCBO) http://www.catavino.net/region/wines-of-valdepenas/

Good company, fun stories about our various travels in Spain, cheesey anecdotes....
So which wines were our favorites? Check out the comments and add yours...

An invitation from Erik & Tanya

Hola nuestros amigos!

Looking forward to our evening of food, drink and conversation on Saturday, Oct 25th.
Don't worry about cheeses and meats, we will have plenty to go around and have now become quite the aficionados on the subject. Your list of delicacies looks really good! We were thinking that if each person brought one item, we would be good.

When: Saturday, October 25th, 2008 @ 19h00
Why: Our wine cellar is bursting at the seams with Spanish goodness!
Who: OOI members

Hasta Sabado!

OOI Summer Whites Event 6 August 2008

OOIers: Leah, Donald, Richard, Dave, Veronique

After another of our never-ending summer downpours, we started our summer whites event on Dave and Vero's back deck - the sun came out and we started our evening!

We tried 5 white wine grape varietals which we sampled in order of increasing body strength. We had several scents available to help us with the nose, and paired them with a variety of nibblies.

Our lovely Smell-ier, Richard.

We started with a Pinot Gris Rosehall Run 2006 VQA (Ontario, Prince Edward County), recommended by the neighbourhood LCBO. We were all surprised by the dark colour, and the strange nose - not like any Pinot Gris we had ever had. More like apple cider with no finish. Decided that it was corked and should be returned - an odd start to the evening, but we were ready for something better...

Next, a lightly oaked chardonnay - Macon Blanc Domaine Ferrand 2006 (France) (recently recommended by Beppi in the Globe & Mail). Subtle in many ways - oak and fruit - but well balanced. We sampled some lovely cheeses, including a Bluebry (from Pontneuf, QC) and the intense Tiger Blue (from the Okanagan) with this wine.

Our third wine was a classic Stoneleigh Sauvignon Blanc 2007 (New Zealand). Super grapefruity, tart, and zingy. Discussed the concept of a wine having a "mineral" taste. We paired this with some sauted scallops. (Leah and Donald ALWAYS bring this wine....).

Our 4th wine of the evening was a Baron Philippe de Rothschild Viognier 2007 (France). Surprising nose, incredibly flowery, melon flavours. The herbed bruschetta was perfect....

Our last wine of the evening, and the most robust, was a Wolf Blass Yellow Label Chardonnay 2007 (Australia). Lots of oak and vanilla, full bodied,.... Had smoked salmon with capers and onion, as well as a nice smoked gouda.

A fun evening under the stars!

OOI Summer Whites Invitation

Our summer event, OOI Summer Whites, will be held on Wednesday August 6th at Dave & Vero's

Goal: Have fun
Objective: learn about the different white wine grape varietals
Methodology: Choose one bottle from the following list (or add another if you really want), which are listed in order of increasing body strength:

* Garganega
* Pinot grigio / pinot gris
* Unoaked chardonnay
* Riesling
* Semillon
* Sauvignon blanc
* Viognier
* Gewurztraminer
* Oaked chardonnay

I would recommend selecting a wine that best represents your chosen varietal (to the extent possible, based on the best available information), as this event is meant to compare across varietals rather than within (another event another time, say Thursday?). Of course, this is difficult given the regional variations on varietals.

It's up to you how much you want to spend but it's nice to introduce everyone to good wines under $20

Try to find reviews of your chosen wine online and bring them to the OOI event

We will not be trying to guess the varietal (although we could try that at the end), but instead we will all try to describe the characterics and then compare our reviews to "professional" reviews
We could also bring some fruit & stuff to compare the aromas:
* Lemon
* Grapefruit
* Green apple
* Peach
* Pear
* Melon
* Apricot
* Pineapple
* Lychee
* Vanilla
* Freshly cut grass
* Flowers
* Honey

Also bring some appetizers that will go well with your chosen wine
This is not meant to be serious, except that everyone MUST have fun.

Welcome to OOI!

Welcome to the Ottawa Oenological Institute Blog, a site where OOI members can remember good times past (if they drank too much to remember them), share reviews and finds, and generally waste time in front of a computer when they're not drinking.....