Wine, Ziraldo, Bicycles

Here’s a few wine notes accompanied by some ramblings, peregrinations and oenophilic musings of late. Make of them what you will, though I would like to hear your feedback if you’ve tried any of these or if you have other suggestions.

Of late, my “buy-of-the-week” has been an ’09 Milcampos tempranillo from Ribera del Duero region about 80 miles north of Madrid, Spain. Sure, it has Parker all over it (and his 91 points), but for a cheap bottle of wine it is awfully good, at least the three or so bottles I’ve tried (and I’d love to have been able to find more).

I agree with (e-)Robert Parker and this value.

The wine had a fresh, crisp cherry flavour and was pretty perky, but it also had a lot more depth and roundness than I had been anticipating in a relatively young wine. The real point of interest for me, however, was the value the wine offered: I believe it was just under $10 at the LCBO. For its flavours and versatility either as a table wine with grilled meats or a sipper, that is incredible value. Yeah, so I’m agreeing with e-Robert Parker.

Next, I recommend trying a “DZ” … icewine king and vintner icon Donald Ziraldo has developed a pretty tasty ’08 Vidal icewine through a relatively new enterprise of his called Equifera, which out of its Latinate form is “wild horse.” There is nothing wild about this luscious bottle … but, wait, maybe there is. I hate overly sweet, sickly saccharine ice or dessert wines that have little control or balance. That is not the case here thanks to some very good acidity.

Not wild but some acidity keeps the sweetness from going savage.

Ziraldo’s imprimatur on the wine industry–and his seemingly ceaseless role as a Canadian “wine ambassador”–is easily several chapters long and this is not the place to open them up. Suffice to say that I really enjoyed both Equifera Riesling and Vidal icewines. Icewine is one of the vine’s greatest paradoxes: it has to be blazing cold (-10 C?) to pick the grapes and make the stuff, and yet I somehow think of it as a cool-weather and winter sipper, but maybe that’s me. But then, with that noticeable acidity, the Equifera wines work for me. So there. Give it a try; I think it is about $50 (375 mL at 9.8% alc) and that could make it a good Christmas gift or an even better seasonal and festive bevie.

Finally, this last selection is something of an intellectual pursuit rather than a gustatory one. Cono Sur (is that a pun on connoisseur?) makes an ’08 Syrah from Valle de Colchagua in Chile. I would say it is okay, but not anything to drive any length to get, even though it is a Reserva. I was expecting a lot more.

It was the label that got me: a bicycle.

Intrigued, I read the back of the bottle and instantly started thinking Gabriel Garcia Marquez or Jorge Borges or some other fabulist or magic-realist writer. Here is a transcription, verbatim, of the back label. Please send in your deconstructionist, hermeneutical, or phenomenological interpretations.

Unlike any other bicycle I have ever drunk.

“A bicycle is a viewpoint and a lifestyle. For us it is also a statement of our wines: essential, relaxed and joyful [I guess I can see that in my '63 Schwinn Sting-Ray bike]. Both in life and in wine we believe in returning to bicycle basics [I guess I can buy that too], to the simple things you never forget [ah, you never forget how to ride a bike. Not original but true]. Vigorous and upfront Syrah. Concentrated and intense notes of morello cherry, blackberry and cassis combine with a toasted wood and spicy feeling, coming directly from its extensive wood ageing [sic]. Nicely persistent.”

Making allowances for translation from Spanish, most of that is just fine, though the bike image has lost me completely as has there ability to keep the theme consistent in their description. Oh well: the bottle checks in at about $13 and Tony Aspler says it represents good value, and I trust him. My own tasting notes? I thought I picked up a hint of banana with the vanilla and black currant–but maybe that was just the seat of the bike that goes along with the nice big ape-hanger handlebars?