Wine fest pairings for Thanksgiving dinner

Opinion

Another Winnipeg Wine Festival is in the books, with thousands of thirsty wine lovers having descended upon the RBC Convention Centre to swirl, sniff and sip their way through the 400-plus wines being poured.

This year’s fest saw the return of the private wine stores, a welcome addition that saw the eight stores, in double-wide booths, take the place of the non-wine booths (ready-to-drink cocktails, beer and such) of previous years.

The private store booths each offered a welcoming look and feel and a reprieve from the slightly more crowded booths in the main tasting area. Each of the shops tended to focus on wines available exclusively at their respective stores, although they pretty much all had at least one sparkling wine, the theme of this year’s fest, on offer.

Unlike the wines in the main tasting area, which were available for purchase in the on-site store, private store wines were available for purchase from the booths, but could only be picked up as attendees were on their way out. This caused a slight bit of confusion for guests and for the stores — probably something to tweak for next year.

I checked out both the Friday evening and Saturday matinée events, and attendance seemed decent, albeit not elbow-to-elbow as it has been in some previous years. The festival had been offering a buy-one-get-one ticket sale for the week leading up to the public tastings, leading one to wonder whether sales were a touch weaker than organizers would have liked heading into the weekend. (With a Bomber game on the Saturday afternoon and a Jets game that night, plus Nuit Blanche, Winnipeggers had plenty of entertainment options.)

The “luxury cocktail corner” was busy throughout the weekend, offering those in attendance the chance to try a number of different wine-based cocktails — think spritzes, sangrias and mimosas. The VIP champagne lounge, located next to the cocktail corner, seemed decidedly less busy. For those who were looking for a taste of the good stuff, a few booths in the main tasting area (and a couple of the private stores) were also pouring champagne.

I tasted some pretty nice festival-exclusive wines, but writing about products that aren’t currently available in stores doesn’t really do anyone any good. Based on what I tasted, there’s a good chance a few very nice sparkling wines and other products will be landing in our market in the not-too-distant future.

In the meantime, here are five wines sampled at the fest that are available for purchase…

The Vaporetto No 8 NV Extra Seco Spumante (Prosecco, Italy — $22.99, The Winehouse) wasn’t the most mind-blowing bubbly tasted, but it sure is fun. Making its Manitoba debut at The Winehouse’s booth, it’s pale straw in appearance and aromatically brings fresh pear and red apple notes as well as secondary chalky and melon notes. On the mainly dry, light-bodied palate the apple, peach and pear flavours show well, with a hint of lemon coming with the bright bubbles and medium acidity. Decent on its own, or try in a spritz or other sparkling wine cocktail. 3.5/5

There were some great German wines on offer this year, and the Dr. Loosen 2023 Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Kabinett (Mosel, Germany — $28.99, Liquor Marts and beyond) was among the best. Grapes for this stellar German white are grown in red-slate soil on the steep hills of the picturesque Mosel Valley. The wine is pale straw in appearance and aromatically offers gorgeous white peach, sweet red apple, tangerine, lemon zest and chalky notes. On the off-dry, light-plus bodied palate there’s a beautiful viscosity that comes with the ripe tree fruit and tropical notes, while the medium acidity sees all those flavours linger, despite the relatively low 8.5 per cent alcohol. Delicious now (and an ideal Thanksgiving wine), but could be put away for many years. 4.5/5

One of the more compelling lighter red wines tasted also came from Germany — the Wildner 2023 Red Cat (Rheinhessen, Germany — around $26, De Nardi Wines), a blend of Dornfelder and Cabernet Dorsa (itself a cross between Blaufränkisch and Dornfelder) poured by De Nardi Wines. Pale cherry in appearance with bright raspberry, violet, red licorice and plum aromas, it’s mainly dry, light-bodied and juicy, leading with cherry and red licorice flavours, and a nice balance of acidity and tannin on the relatively short finish. Chill this for 15 minutes, and you’ve got a solid red for Thanksgiving. 4/5

One of the reds with the biggest buzz at the fest was the Faustino I 2016 Gran Reserva (Rioja, Spain — $39.99, Liquor Marts and beyond). Brick-garnet in colour, this iconic Spanish red offers deep raspberry, plum, red and black licorice, earth and spice notes aromatically. It’s dry, full-bodied and dense, offering deep red berry, plum and spice notes wrapped in grippy tannins and with a long, satisfying finish. Exceptional stuff that’s tasting great right now, but could be put aside for some time (case in point: the 2016 was being poured at the fest alongside the incredible 2004 vintage). 5/5

Last but certainly not least, fans of big Argentine reds would do well to check out the Colome 2021 Estate Malbec (Calchaqui Valley/Salta, Argentina — $39.99, Liquor Marts and beyond). Sourced from four different vineyards — including one located 3,100 metres above sea level, the world’s highest-altitude vineyard — this Malbec offers fresh plum, blackberry and pepper aromas as well as rich earth and dark chocolate/espresso notes. It’s dry and full-bodied, bringing deep dark fruit along with vanilla, white pepper and tar (thanks in part to 15 months in barrel), and there’s a brilliant bit of salinity that runs through the whole package. Not your typical Malbec, in the best possible way — drink now or set aside for five to seven years. 4.5/5

 

uncorked@mts.net

@bensigurdson