Canti Estate Barbera D'Asti Superiore, 2010.

SAQ essential!

Take a pine forest, lay it on some pavement and bake it for a while, add some sweet fruit, some leather and tannic elements and slap a $12.00 price on it and you have an Italian fave in our house. A DOCG wine, it contains a minimum of 85% Barbera grapes and as a superiore it has achieved a min. 12.5% ABV (13% in this case) and was aged for over a year, 6 months of which was in Oak or Chestnut casks. I am going to go out on a limb to say that this was aged in chestnut.

I read that the Superiore can be aged for 10-20 years. Hard to do in this house...

Kakor Chokladflarn

This is not a wine post.
This is a warning.*

Kakor Chokladflarn. Dwarvish for a portal to the underworld? C.S. Lewis! how your tales would have doubled in colour and depth if only Ikea had been such a provider of monikers then as it is today.

Kakor Chokladflarn. No, not a portal, but a doorway nonetheless to a hollow part inside of me, between my right knee and my kidney, that can contain myriad delectable chocolate crisp after delectable chocolate crisp. For Kakor Chokladflarn is not a name coined in the dark years before fire, before warmth, where dwarvish men found comfort eating nits from each others' beards. It is a name devised to define a confection, a double chocolate crisp, produced in Swedish factories. So clean, so white they must be; so knowing.  So all-Sauron-seeing that it, the factory itself, as though propelled by a purpose more hidden, more born of demonic subterfuge, knows that out there there is a soul who, upon opening the innocent package, will simply EAT the chocolate crisps, unstopping, uncaring, unguided. Derailed from the straight lines of morality and conscientiousness, moved to abandon the most basic dessert laws, such a soul finds itself now, at this very moment, 5 crisps in and clawing at his eyes, the carton, his eyes again, defying himself in full knowledge of the futility of doing so to not eat another.

Oh Kakor Chokladflarn. I see now why the Dwarvish never dared to put a word to your particular evil. 

*Brought to you by Terra Andina Chardonnay, Central Valley, Chile, 2010

Wine Men of Gotham Shiraz Grenache 2008, Australia, 14.2% LCBO Vintages, 14.95

One time as a student I was delivering a load of futon frames and futons to Pearson airport for transport to the Arctic. I know, I didn't get it at the time either. En route, or as Christian Mingle-dot-com Clean Coal F*ck head americans like to say, "On Rowt", I saw the trailer of a truck hauling gravel come off its hitch and skid at full speed across 2 lanes of the 401. It stayed upright, supported by two metal skids on the front end from which a shower of sparks arced a trailer length behind the careening mass, gravel spraying everywhere. It was really unexpected but I drove on somehow unphased- obviously consumed by the Futons to the Arctic campaign.

Same for this wine! What body! What flavour! BAM! Shiraz, Grenache; the grenache does something to the shiraz that makes it not so much jammy as chutney-y. Ketchup. Yet I drink on unphased.

"Not a house wine", says my rock, my soul, but definitely a hallowe'en wine I say. Or a late night pizza wine, where it might give you just enough pause to avoid burning the roof of your mouth. Try it, for sure.

Crios Torrontes, 2011, Argentina. LCBO Vintages, $12.95

Have you ever eaten a flower? Have you ever wondered what could possibly be the sheet to Saffron's duvet? Ever wanted all of summer spent by an ocean paradise distilled and poured into a condensation-jewelled glass by an invisible hand that was not only unapparent, but generous?

Twelve-ninety-five friends! This somewhat tortured grape (high elevation, dry weather, intense sun and cool nights) from past-blogged-about Crios (Bonarda) has bled for your sins. Drink it!

Chemin de Terre, Oregon, 2006

Hi. Oregon is known for logging and pretty coastline and in my mind a little town in the North called Astoria. Apparently wine is made in Oregon as well. (I joke- our good friends and WC mates did a WC on Oregon and it was fantastic). Like this one, picked up at Vintages for $14.95, its a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Cabernet Franc, Sangiovese, Grenache and Pinot Noir. Its made at a winery called A to Z Wineworks, which now makes sense to me. Its also eminently drinkable, as attested by my sweetie; quote: "This wine is so addictive. I mean, more than the usual wine-addictive." Cherry and black licorice on the nose, a little tannic Cab Sauv on the palate, and an "oh, please, stay just a little longer" finish. Not outstanding, but delicious and somewhat obscure, which is all around pleasing. I bet it would cellar for years, so maybe worth getting a bottle or two?

De Bortoli Traminer Riesling, 2009, Australia

Sneaky.

An Aussie wine like a German wine like an Aussie wine. A fragrant white at a non fragrant white price. At $11.95 this wine has a nose that is really very inviting, but not over the top sweet or fruity, despite what the label may say. I love the nose. Floral, but back in there is that petrol Riesling, that wet slate. A bit like smelling the lilacs at the side of my house as the bus goes by on a rainy day. No joke! This happens often in the late spring, as I leave for work after the kids have left for school, winding down another year of growth and becoming. Sneaky, how these children change. And change you.

Sneaky how playful whites like this help you cook! We were preparing for a very important evening tomorrow, doing as much advanced cooking tonight as possible. Sneaky how fast they disappear.

Sneaky how 10:30 becomes 12:12.

Sadly, this wine does not really go well with the chocolate chips I am sneaking from the extremely obvious and giant Costco bag of chocolate chips. But it would go very well with some spicy shrimp. Sadly, there is no giant Costco bag of spicy shrimp that I can sneak.

Best sneak to bed.

Tardieu-Laurent les Becs Fins, Cotes du Rhone Villages, France, 2009

A serious wine post.

I found this at the SAQ Selection for $17.95. What a lovely wine. It does not have that Cotes du Rhone up front "spice" I was expecting. Its really very sweet, cherry-berry on the nose with a mild tannic bite and a bit of a spicy finish. Its kind of like dessert AND dinner rolled into one. Enjoyable.

A Very Mature Wine.

Impress your elders with this wine. Yum!