Which wine are you drinking? Tell us about it

It was a long time ago, circa 25 years but we drove from Calgary to Vancouver and sampled some Canadian wines along the way. I hadn’t realised Canada even made them. Perhaps it was the Okinagan ? Anyway they were truly atrocious and expensive. I stuck to beer after a few tries….:flushed:

It’s probably too cold a climate for many of the vines they’ve planted, but I’m not certain of that.
I have tried many times to like them, but I’m sure not going to pay a premium for a lesser product.

My BC friends won’t pay the asking price. I like the Pinot Noirs but prefer those from Washington State.

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Yes, excellent Pinots in Washington. Different from a Burgundy Pinot, but in a good way. I don’t know if I’ve ever met a Pinot noir I didn’t like …
I have no idea why the Canuck juice is so over-priced.

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The vineyards near me are known as Cote de Thougue (the h is silent). They’re mostly no longer as bad as that sounds though I’m told there used to be quite a few that were. I’ve not had anything undrinkable anyway.

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Church Road Grand Reserve Merlot Cabernet 2019 Hawkes Bay
This is a very approachable wine. Dark in colour with sweet cassis and very smooth ripe tannins. Absolutely delicious and for £15 here in NZ , great value. It’s their mid-range wine and my favourite from this producer.

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The hotel gave us Veneto merlot with our room yesterday … not great but drinkable when diluted with 1:1 iced water.


Sadly only bought 6 bottles off Wine Collective in Australia.

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It’s a lovely wine IDAK

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@Bevo Church road does not have the cachet of more prestigious Hawkes Bay wineries such as Te Mata. But like Penfolds they knock out great wines at all price points. Best value is at grand reserve level. Their top Cabernet “ Tom” is overpriced at $250 and not worth it.

Been out to our local for “steak night” drinking the house red. It wasn’t that bad but nowhere as good as a Cab/Sav from my favourite wine maker.

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A bit disappointing but my traveling companion likes her PN and it went well with a tasty ribeye at the rising sun in Lynmouth.

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Con Mariano en Colonia.

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Still in Colonia (Köln).

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Not tried Kayra wines in maybe 10 years but they were quite well made. Greek wine seems to be improving all the time as well. The Wine Society carry an excellent selection.

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I really like De Moor - they do a number of White Burgundy cuvées as well including an aligote which is pretty reasonable. They seem to qualify as a natural wine as Alice has presented them at Real Wine in London pre-COVID.

Favourite Macedon Range has to be Curly Flat.

Been offline for a while as we have made our way from Vancouver through the Rockies to Jasper and Banff then back to Vancouver and now relaxing in Tofino. Following previous discussions with @david1111 on BC wines, I have made a point of focusing on the BC VQA wines. I do agree that pricing is shall we say, optimistic. I did try a glass of one of the Checkmate Chardonnays, which retail at C$125 and double that in restaurants and felt it was substantially over priced, however the rieslings and Pinot Gris we have tried have been consistently good and better value. Fizz has been inconsistent but Blue Mountain the best so far at C$38. Taking home a few just for the label and name - the Blasted Church Vineyard labels are excellent and anyone naming their vineyard Dirty Laundry sums ups this stage of the vacation. Will try and note down the ones we preferred once we are done.

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Indeed Quickbean

First Curly Flat Pinot I had was the 1999 vintage from memory , hooked ever since

Their Chardonnay is pretty sensational also

The great thing is their prices haven’t shot through the roof

I must say though the top range Bindi block 5 from Macedon nudges the curly one out and so it should for the extra price

For me Macedon Ranges and Tassie Pinots ( not all from Tassie mind you) are the regions

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That’s intersting Quickben, nice post. You bring up a good point in the naming strategies of many Canadian wines. Quite a few of the Ontario wineries seem to get a weird kick from nventing as odd a name as possible … an attempt to be memorab!e maybe?
They are just ludicrous at times and appear to be deliberately poking fun at, or having a go at the wine industry and it’s age-old traditions. Maybe they think it’s too austere or something?

But I will never buy a wine called Dog Fart Red, or Squirrel’s Nuts Pinot Noir. Something very similar to the Squirrel one is the name of a Canadian cider, so it’s not just the wine names.
I don’t believe there’s actually a Dog Fart yet, but seriously, the names are very close to that and uneccessarily goofy, or rude, or just plain stupid. Very poor creativity.
As a Canadian, I find it embarrassing that we have to be such a bunch of clods in that way.
JMHO though …

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