Wine Maven – November/December 2014

by Mary Bailey

Eau Claire Distillery

Eau Claire Vodka
Eau Claire Vodka

“Interesting thing about whisky,” says David Farran, of the new Eau Claire Distillery. “If you can make good beer, you can make good whisky.”

Eau Claire Gin
Eau Claire Gin

He would know. David started his career at Big Rock where he first met Eau Claire’s master brewer and distiller Larry Kerwin. “Larry knows grain, he knows brewing, he knows distilling — he’s a mad scientist.”

Eau Claire is Alberta’s first craft distiller. Home is a 1929 theatre in Turner Valley, close to the grains they buy direct from local ranchers. They have just released their first products, a rich and full-bodied vodka with a zesty lemon note on the finish; and a soft and fruity gin made with 15 botanicals (one of which being saskatoon berries.) Look for their distinctive bottlings at better wine and spirit shops.

Clairette de Die

Cave Monge Granon Clairette de Die
Cave Monge Granon Clairette de Die
New to Alberta is Clairette de Die, a traditional Muscat-based, naturally sparkling wine from a small area in the Rhone, southeast of Valence in the hilly Drome river valley.

Made from 15 per cent Clairette, and 85 per cent Muscat, the wine forms its soft bubbles through the traditional methode Dioise ancestrale unique to the area. Here’s how it works. The grapes are picked and undergo a long slow fermentation. The wine is bottled before the fermentation is finished, leaving some natural sugars in the must, then ferments quietly over the winter, stopping naturally at about seven per cent alcohol. The result? The Cave Monge Granon Clairette de Die has fresh fruit salad flavours, refreshing acidity and just a touch of sweetness. Delicious, and affordable, around $20.

Tasting Taittinger and Domaine Carneros

Mikael Falkmann, Taittinger; Larry Stewart, Hardware Grill, Eileen Crane, Domaine Carneros

It doesn’t get much better than this for lovers of bubble. Tasting Taittinger and Domaine Carneros with Eileen Crane the doyenne of Sonoma’s Dom Carneros, a self-professed, dyed-in-the-wool bubblehead, and the gregarious and sophisticated Mikael Falkman from Champagne Taittinger at a dinner at the Hardware Grill.

Montes Alpha

Sebastian Alvial of Montes (Chile) led a group through a tasting of current releases over lunch at Pampa
Sebastian Alvial of Montes (Chile) led a group through a tasting of current releases over lunch at Pampa.

Montes Alpha delivers great value and flavour. The Chardonnay, for example, puts paid to the idea that new world Chard in oak must be big and buttery rather than focused and elegant. This wine is a delight. Every year the Folly label features a different painting by Ralph Steadman, after he and founder Douglas Murray struck up a friendship on a plane. Folly, from Syrah planted high on volcanic slopes, is concentrated, heady, with white peppery and menthol notes. The biggest change at the winery is the commitment to sustainability. Dry farming is being phased in, saving water, reducing the size of the crop and increasing the quality of the fruit.

Bruichladdich

Alison Philllips, Aligra, master distiller Jim McEwan, Bruichladdich, Tara Smith, Sherbrooke, and Steve Buzak, Royal Glenor
Alison Philllips, Aligra, master distiller Jim McEwan, Bruichladdich, Tara Smith, Sherbrooke, and Steve Buzak, Royal Glenora

Tasting with Jim McEwan. He’s telling the story of the early days of Bruichladdich, trying to make gin, not knowing how,asking botanists on Islay to pick wild plants, making the gin (The Botanist) in a beaten-up old pot still called Ugly Betty. Telling us the gin kept Bruichladdich alive. We’re riveted, this guy is an amazing storyteller. We haven’t had a drop of malt and we’re on the edge of our seats. He’s funny and yes, the accent helps. He should go on the road. Oh, he is on the road. The perseverance paid off, they bought the distillery for six million dollars and sold it for close to sixty million. “All employees had shares, even toilet cleaners, everybody got thirty thousand or so pounds.” Apparent above all, is Jim McEwan’s fierce love for Islay, his pride in its people and his appreciation of good whisky.

Greywhacke

Kevin and Kimberley Judd (Greywhacke) at lunch at Continental Treat
Kevin and Kimberley Judd (Greywhacke) at lunch at Continental Treat

Kimberley and Kevin Judd are on the last leg of a trip that had them crisscrossing the US and Canada for several weeks.

“We export 93 per cent of our wines,” says the man who helped create the worldwide thirst for Kiwi wine with his first vintage for Cloudy Bay in 1985. “We have to go to the other side of the world to see our customers.”

Now the Judds make wine under their label Greywhacke, named after a rock, a type of sandstone common in the Marlborough region of New Zealand. I have been an unabashed fan since my first whiff of Wild Ferment Sauvignon Blanc a few years back. But it’s not just Sauvignon Blanc with the Judds. The Pinot Gris is rich, spicy, textural, with a honey charcoal aspect, and long finish. “I like to pick the gris ripe, when it starts to shrivel,” says Kevin. “Sometimes there’s a bit of botrytis.” The Riesling also has a savoury note with lovely acidity. Both have spent time in barrel.

What would be Kevin Judd’s last drink? Chardonnay. I don’t know why I’m surprised by that answer. The Chardonnay we just tasted is outstanding, hand picked, whole-bunch pressed, with full throttle ripe pear notes — a lovely combination of power and finesse.