I am really so single minded?

I just spent some time reading through my previous posts. About 2/3 of the way through I thought "do I really put this much energy into drinking and then writing about it?" Am I that boring??? Well, yes and no. Life is not that exciting. I work, eat, sleep, see the occasional movie or go out for dinner or drinks or have tea. When life does get interesting, it is usually in a bad way. So I will take boring. But in my own defence, I only write about wine here, not my day to day life. The constant stream of neurotic/inspired/dark/happy/self-absorbed thoughts that runs through my head does not need to be shared, certainly not on the internet. So no, I am not so single minded. Thirty posts in two years is not really that much, and I do enjoy wine.

So on with the blogging...

We opened some BC wines for my Mum's birthday on Wednesday. Unfortunately, the Summerhill Pinot Noir was well past it's prime and tasted quite bad. It probably was fairly nice for a Pinot Noir at some point, but I think it was a 2000, and it just didn't last, particularly not in my rather unideal basement "cellar". Oh well, life goes on. Perhaps there are a few things down there I should be drinking sooner rather than later...

We also opened the... um... (can't remember the winery name - it has an unfortunately ugly label but makes good wines) Cabernet Franc (can't remember that really well either, could have been Cab/Merlot - and I'm not forgetful because I drank too much, I just wasn't paying my usual attention to winery and varietal). It made up for the Pinot and was quite nice. We had two whites also: The Golden Mile Chardonnay, and a Chasselas produced by Blasted Church in combination with another winery. The Golden Mile Chardonnay was a bit of a disappointment. It was recommended by a staff member at the wine store I frequent in Victoria, and I have generally found their advice to be good. I usually request Chardonnay with a bit of oak, but not too much. This one tasted like someone spilled the spice rack into my wine. The background wine flavour was a nice, crisp white, but the oak was so overdone it was shocking. Very spicy so it must have been new American oak. As the wine was fairly crisp rather than heavy and rich, the oak just didn't blend in at all. It tasted like an accident (if you can accidentally leave wine in the barrel for several months too long). I don't even know if a heavy red could stand up to that much oak. It reminded me of the Syrah I had enjoyed one year so much that I bought three of the next years release (three is a lot for me, I prefer one of everything). It had a similar oak problem and was very reminiscent of fruit cake. Too bad, as the previous year was glorious, balanced and peppery with a lovely moderate and very complimentary vanilla flavour from the oak - I almost drank the whole bottle myself. I don't know what happened the next year, but I haven't sought it out again. Good think I didn't buy a case I suppose.

The Chasselas was another I picked up on the same trip as when I got the Golden Mile. I had never had Chasselas before. I actually thought it was a newer grape, possibly one developed in Canada as you don't see it much. I think I've only seen this one, and one from Chateau de Charmes in Ontario. Turns out that Chasselas is actually a very old grape (though not a highly regarded one in most areas), planted throughout the world, particularly in Switzerland, Hungary and Romania. I thought it was a nice, light white not unlike a cheaper Pinot Blanc or Gris, or a not quite right Riesling. It did need to be cold, or it started to taste a bit less pleasant, but it was a nice table wine. I think it cost at most $15, so I am happy with it and got to try something new.