A weekend of wine

Reading week is underway and for some reason, I have yet to leave the house. A lot of crazy things are happening, and strangely, they all have to do with bad backs. First, my mother sprained her back. Then my father sprained his neck and back. It all coincided with me picking up my uncle, a family friend, from the airport, who was suffering from severe back pain. Unbelievable.

Anyways, I had a lot of wine this weekend, both good and bad. On Friday, I headed to LCBO to pick up some wines. My cellar is full of wines that I want to keep for a while, so I wanted to search out some $15 wines to try out. I wanted an Argentinian, but for some reason, I came back with 2 Spanish Riojas, a Chilean red blend, and a Loire Valley red. I was particularly excited about the Loire, because it was a new release and quite nicely priced too. And then I opened it.

The nose was overwhelmingly sweaty and hot, not unlike a terrible Eric Louis I had last week, also from the Loire Valley. It was also incredibly oaky - way too much oak. The same followed on the palate, this unripe, overly woody shit. I mean, this wine is really shit. There isn't anything else to say about it. I was thoroughly disappointed and embarrassed for the producer, Dom. Laurent Mabileau, AC St-Nicolas-De-Bourgueil. These people should be ashamed of themselves for producing this stuff. I mean, I would rather pour this stuff down the drain and take a loss, rather then put it on the market with my name on it. Fucking unbelievable.

Saturday was better. Much better. My mother cooked up a classic Shanghainese meal, of mostly fish. We had fish soup, steamed fish, and a pork, slowly simmered for 5 hours. For wine, I opened a bottle of Chinese rice spirits, possibly the only Chinese drink that I really, really love. Unfortunately, I can't type Chinese characters on this computer, so I've included a picture. I know at least one of my buddies knows this wine. It was beautiful. Full and rich, hint of spiciness with this really great sweet quality to it, and a long, long finish. I now firmly believe that there is no better complement to Chinese food than this wine. I don't care what you say about which varietals pair well with Asian flavours, NOTHING beats having Chinese spirits with Chinese food. Period.

Since the hosts were sick last week, we had our Chinese New Year's dinner with our family friends on Sunday. In the afternoon, I had to go pick up my uncle from the airport, so I was the last to arrive. The first wine I was given was a Cotes du Rhone. I don't remember the producer. Nice fruit, quite typical of the region, nothing surprising. I tried to be gracious and remembered that not everyone shares my enthusiasm for wine. The host is a wine drinker, but a very casual one. The kind that's easily influenced by what the LCBO markets. The next bottle was one from the LCBO's '90+' release. It was a Cyan, a Spanish red wine. Again, nice fruit, really ripe tannins, enough force to catch your attention. This was a good wine, again nothing to blow your mind with, but well made and well priced. The third wine was a horrible choice. Horrible. And I don't say that in a mean way because Mr. Zhang is a genuinely nice person, and an extremely generous host. But he picked up a German pinot noir. Now, I saw the bottle and I was intrigued. I knew that the Germans produced small quantities of red wine, but a pinot noir? I have to say that going in, I was biased already. Come on, you see how much I fawn over Niagara pinot noirs, so the bar was set pretty high, for any pinot noir not coming out of Burgundy. I smelled it and I said, no way in hell am I drinking this. It was that revolting. This oaky, candy-like smell to it. Just not right.

Anyways, during dinner, Mr. Zhang and myself had a long conversation about wine-making. He makes his own wine using those kits that you can buy. I've tasted it, and I only said that it was ok because I didn't want to seem like an arrogant asshole. But I think that these home wine-making kits are a waste of time and money. Thats all I have to say about that.

I'm really excited about what's coming up. I want to plan a trip up to Niagara again, visit some new properties. And I'm planning to buy a bottle of 1998 Pol Roger Brut Rose, using the gift certificates that my sis and bebe bought me. Last time I checked, the Fairview Mall LCBO had 8 bottles left, so that's the first thing I'm going to do tomorrow.