This past weekend, I visited Banff for the Rocky Mountain Wine & Food Festival. As per usual, this event was sold out and attracted wine enthusiasts, importers and wineries from around the globe. I was fortunate in getting to try some amazing, unique wines, perfect for our WineCollective and Tannic wine clubs.
As a challenge, we tried to stick to different wines, either in winemaking style or grape variety. Some of my favourites included:
Chapoutier Bila Haut Blanc (Robert Parker, 92 points)
A blend of Grenache Blanc and Grenache Gris. The wine was aromatic and fresh, with pink grapefruit, honeysuckle and golden raspberry.
Rivino 2012 Estate Viognier
True aromatic and flavour characteristics of the grape, such as white peach and tangerine, but with more of a fresh and light mouth feel.
Adega de Borba Reserva
From the Alentejo region and with a unique cork label, this wine is a blend of Portuguese grape varietals for flavours of coffee, black fruits and spice.
One of our trusted wine representatives, Gold Medal Marketing had some amazing tastings for us, including Enkidu Wines from Sonoma, California. Winemaker for Enkidu, Phillip Staehle was there to pour his blends including the 2010 Humbaba. This wine is a blend of Syrah and Petite Sirah, with slight touches of Rousanne and Grenache Blanc. The wine is co-fermented meaning the grapes are all harvested and go through the winemaking process together, instead of being separated by variety and blended later. You may see Enkidu in upcoming Tannic sales.
Andy, from Gold Medal had some amazing Scotch Whiskeys to try, including the previous Tannic feature, Springbank Single Cask as well as some Telling Premium Irish Whiskey.
With North by Northwest Wine Importers and our friend Jeremy, we were able to try some delicious Fox Run Vineyards wines that will definitely be making their way into WineCollective packages. We also got to try some tasty and lively bubbly from the New York winery to finish off the evening!
If you didn’t get the chance to head to Banff, the Rocky Mountain festival will also be coming to Calgary on October 17 and 18, and to Edmonton on October 24 and 25.
Again, if you are outside of Alberta, we would love to hear about some of your local wine festivals and events! Leave us a comment or send an email with some details about previous and upcoming events so we can share with the rest of the WineCollective community!