Category Archives: Wine

Wicked Gamay

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Reader Warning! This blog post is rated S as it contains content of a smooth, sensual, slightly sassy and Chris Isaak nature. Palate discretion is always advised.

With apologies to Mr. Isaak, the crooner himself:

What a wicked Gamay you play
To make me feel this way
What a wicked thing to do
To let me dream of you
What a wicked thing to say
You never felt this way
What a wicked thing to do
To make me dream of you
And I don’t wanna fall in love
(This Saint-Amour is only gonna break your heart)
And I don’t want to fall in love
(This Saint-Amour is only gonna break your heart)

Mmmm… This wine I’m enjoying tonight is arguably as sexy as this song’s music video.

Saint-Amour… Ahh, the eponymous wine of love. This small, obscure Cru (classified) appellation is in the northernmost part of Beaujolais, which itself is technically part of the Burgundy region of France. Like its bigger sisters, Beaujolais and Beaujolais-Villages (and let’s not forget France’s illegitimate love child, Beaujolais Nouveau), Saint-Amour wines are made of 100% Gamay.

Gamay (rhymes with gold lamé, a very sexy fabric) reigns supreme in this part of the world (Beaujolais and parts of the Loire Valley), and found only in trace amounts elsewhere – Canada is in fact one of the only other major locations where Gamay is used in commercial winemaking.

What else is sexy about this wine? Okay, how about the kick-ass 2009 vintage. It was one of the best years for winemakers in France in recent history – perfect weather conditions during the growing season and at the time of harvest helped render these grapes into vinous va-va-voom.

Henry Fessy Saint-Amour 2009

Owned by Maison Louis Latour, the house with the most Burgundy Grand Cru acreage in the world, Henry Fessy’s Saint-Amour land totals 1 hectare.

She is a trendsetter with her iconic orange neckwear. Even the label, her shirt, is looking sultry as it peels off the chilled, condensation-coated bottle, seductively. And a moustache logo to boot? Win, win and win.

Brilliant ruby in colour, this wine exudes a gentle nose of raspberries, red plums, blueberries, mineral and a hint of violets. The palate is juicy yet delicate, with incredibly silky texture, a fairly light to medium body, low tannin and an intriguingly un-intense but persistent finish – like the time your romantic date with The One ended exactly the way you wanted. Oh, you know what I mean. Hey, this wine made me blush too.

Pair this elegant beauty with silk pajamas; or better yet, creamy moussaka, baba ghanouj, rare lamb chops, skin-on grilled chicken thighs (skin is sexy, my friends), rabbit or duck breast. I enjoyed it immensely slightly chilled, and I hope you will too.

$25 in BC Liquor Stores. Recently rated 92 points by Wine Enthusiast.

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Chateau Haut-Bergey Blanc 2007

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Dear Readers,

Let me boldly interrupt my summer-long hiatus from blogging by introducing to you the best wine I’ve enjoyed so far this year, hands down: Ch Haut-Bergey Blanc 2007 from Pessac-Léognan.

A find from last fall’s BC Liquor Stores Bordeaux Release, an annual promotion I’m proud to say I used to work on, this wine waited patiently on my wine rack for nearly a year until I decided to uncork ce petit chiot (“this little puppy” in French, naturellement) on my birthday in August.

And what an excellent gift this wine was to the tastebuds, indeed!

A little bit of background info:

Together, Ch Haut-Bergey and Ch Branon (Pessac-Léognan) plus Ch Barde-Haut (St-Emilion) and Clos l’Eglise (Pomerol) comprise the Bordeaux properties of Vignobles Garcin, a small family-owned wine conglomerate.

The white wines of Haut-Bergey come from a mere 2 hectares of Graves soil, well known for a high gravel composition (from which Graves gets its name), excellent drainage, and the unique trait of imparting particularly mineral-tasting characteristics into wines from that area. Graves is 50 km inland from the Atlantic coast, along the southern edge of the Garonne, an estuary of the famous river Gironde in Bordeaux.

I’m sure by now you’re asking, “So… What the hell did it taste like?!” Indulge me while I offer a few more fun facts.

Made of 82% Sauvignon Blanc and 18% Semillon from mature vines (35 years on avg.), only 8,000 bottles of this wine are produced. Hand-picked grapes, grown under la lutte raisonée (philosophy of minimal intervention), are fermented in stainless steel vats; 30% of the grapes then aged in French barrels over 12 months.

Ahh… Okay, now let us give the tasting note.

Ch Haut-Bergey Blanc 2007, Pessac-Léognan

Lemon in colour. The nose reveals an inimitable Bordeaux white wine bouquet of crushed granite, ripe apple, freshly sliced citrus, burnt grass and hints of tropical fruit with cerebral intensity. Not to be outshone by the heady scent, the palate is at once radiant and delicate, with wave after wave of juicy citrus, quince, mango, gravel and subtle warm spices from the oak aging. Supported by a firm acidic backbone, the velvety textured wine feels rich in body yet refreshing at the same time. The only thing holding one back from rushing to down the entire bottle is the wine’s delectable finish.

Fantastic with oysters on the half-shell (which was the food theme of my birthday party), and I’ll wager that a slice of that heavenly chèvre (soft goat’s cheese) with preserved lemon from Les Amis du Fromage would be another mouth-watering pairing. $59 last year at BCLDB.

Some echoes of praise from the pros:

Profile: This white wine is very accomplished: it is just a shame that they have such a miniscule vineyard. They are almost Burgundian in style with their plushness and creaminess. If you can find a bottle, these are well worth picking up for they are very reasonably priced given their scarcity.
- 92-94 pts, Wine Advocate

Golden. Oaky nose. Palate also quite oaky, with nice weight of fruit. Creamy-rich, with nice freshness. Oak tannin on the finish a little dominant. Sound effort. Drink 2012-18.
- 15 points / 3 stars, Decanter