Halloween Candy Wine Pairings
Everyone has a favourite Halloween candy, but did you know you can kick your Halloween up a notch this year by pairing your favourite candies with a glass of wine?
Limited Release Wine Tasting With Sommelier Tim Ellison
Please join us November 22nd for another wine tasting to remember!
This year the event will be catered with gourmet pairings by Valley Blue Catering
(please let us know if you have any allergies/dietary requests- we will do our best to accommodate)
When: Sunday November 22nd
Where: Cardinal Hall, Lynn Valley 3590 Mountain HWY.
Contact us to reserve your tickets before November 15th 2015
604-986-7475 or email corkitwinemaking@gmail.com
These always sell out fast- reserve yours today!
Sommelier Tim Ellison will be taking us through 5 specially chosen wines that we will release in January 2016.
Read about the beautiful blends we chose below:
White wine, citrus, pear, riper tropical fruit and crisp finish
Sweetness: Dry Body: Light-Medium Alcohol: 13%
Food Pairing Ideas: Simple Chicken. Grilled Shrimp, Brie, Baked Cod cakes with lemon herb tartar. Avoid spicy, sweet, salty, and tomato.
White Wine, Pear, Grapefruit, Lime with an off-dry finish
Sweetness: Off-Dry (slightly sweet) Body: Medium Alcohol: 12%
Food Pairing Ideas: Spiced Chicken, pork, Slamon, Hoison, Oyster sauces, Savoury Asian flare
Red Wine, Blackberry, Raspberry, Smoke and Spice With Smooth Tannins
Sweetness: Dry Body: Medium-Full Alcohol: 14%
Food Pairing Ideas: Braised Meats, rich sauces, game meats, rich pastry, steak, asiago. Avoid spicy foods.
4. 3 Country Cabernet ( California/ South Africa/ Spain) Grapeskins
Red Wine, Ripe Black fruits, cocoa, vanilla, oak, blackcurrant, blue plum,black tea
Sweetness: Dry Body: Full Alcohol: 14%
Food Pairing Ideas: beef, mushroom kabobs, lamb, prime rib, root veggies, strong cheddar
5. Pinot Noir Merlot Syrah ( South American Chile/ Argentina)
Red Wine, red fruit notes, dry tannins, plum, cherry, and red berries, smoky oak
Sweetness: Dry Body: Medium Alcohol: 13%
Food Paiirng Ideas: grilled/roasted meats, veal chops, beef tenderloin, brisket, meat based pizzas, shepards pie, meatloaf, Portobello sandwhich. asiago
Tuscan Wine Tasting
Tuscan Wine Tasting
Touring Tuscany With Melodie Devlin Joyal
This summer I was lucky enough to spend a few weeks in Tuscany at my good friends villa just outside the ancient walled city of Lucca.
Tuscany is world famous for its wine regions, Renaissance art and delicious food!
First stop on our list was the Chianti region. Chianti is a red blend (mostly Sangiovese) and is possibly the most recognized wine outside of Italy. It is as essential to Italian cuisine as extra virgin olive oil. There are few pleasures as distinct as a tart, spicy, herbaceous Chianti wine next to a plate of sliced prosciutto or pasta al pomodoro.
We drank it as it should be (complete with a straw wrapped bottle) and our travelling companion whipped up a fresh batch of puttanesca pasta with a delicious tomato based sauce.
For desert we had a glass of Chianti Grappa.
Grappa is a clear alcohol distilled from the seeds and skins of wine grapes. It was much stronger than the wine! Definitely an acquired taste. We grew to love it and found the price of the bottle greatly influenced the taste.
Cork it Comparison: 6wk Sangiovese
Next stop on our wine tour was inside the ancient walled city of Lucca, known for its Renaissance architecture, food, wine and exceptional olive oil.
Lucca is located in the north of Tuscany:
We decided to do a wine tasting that featured traditional Tuscan wines from the surrounding vineyards. Our sommelier told us she had grown up in a small vineyard laden town called Montecarlo (not to be confused with the famous French city of the same name)
She gave us the address of her favorite vineyard and we booked a tour for the following morning.
Tenuta Del Buonamico
Visit their website here: www.buonamico.it/en/
We arrived early for our tasting appointment so we killed time running through the vineyard eating grapes.
We sampled each wine the vineyard had to offer, whites, reds and to our surprise sparkling wine as well.
Montecarlo is known to be one of the only Tuscan regions to produce large amounts of sparkling white and blush wines.
Unfortunately wine from this vineyard is not available in Canada 🙁 So I won’t bore you with the detailed tasting notes on each one we tried… but I can give you a few of the Cork it comparisons.
Reds:
Super Tuscan – 8 wk Winery Series
Rosso Fortissimo – 8 wk Showcase
Rosso Grande / Big Red Rosso – 6 wk Cellar Classic
Brunello 6 Week Selection
Sangiovese 6 Week Selection
Barolo/ Nebbiolo 4 Week California Connosseur
Whites:
Pinot Grigio – 6 wk Cellar Classic
Viognier- 6 wk Showcase
Sparkling:
Pinot Grigio 6 wk Cellar Classic
White Merlot – 6 wk Selection Dry (no sweetening pack)
Viognier – 6 wk Selection
All in all it was a fantastic food and wine adventure. If you ever find yourself in Tuscany I recommend visiting Lucca and eating all the local food and wine you can get your hands on!
Chao!
Melodie Lee Devlin Joyal
Source: Cork it Blog
Summer Sangria Recipe
When it gets hot, its important to stay cool. Why not whip up a simple sangria recipe for friends and family on a hot summers day? Sangria is a delicious fruit “punch” originally created in Spain. If you are not a fan of red wine, swap out the recipe with white wine or Rose. They are made with red wine, fresh fruits and soda water. They are so easy to make! We love this recipe from the epicurious.com
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/red-sangria-238184
Ingredients:
- 2 oranges, thinly sliced
- 1 lemon, thinly sliced
- 1 lime, thinly sliced
- 4 cups fresh firm fruits, prepared and sliced as appropriate
- 1 gallon full-bodied dry red wine, such as Cabernet Sauvignon
- 1 1/2 to 2 cups orange liqueur, such as Cointreau or Triple Sec
- 1 1/2 cups brandy of your choice
- 2 bunches lemon verbena, washed and stemmed (about 2 cups)
- Fresh soft fruits, prepared and sliced as appropriate
- Club soda, champagne, or sparkling wine
Preparation:
Combine citrus slices and other firm fruits in a large container. Add wine, liqueur, brandy, and lemon verbena. Cover and refrigerate overnight (or up to 3 days). When ready to serve, put some soft fruits into each wine glass and fill two-thirds full with the Sangria. Top off with a splash of club soda.
Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Source: Cork it Blog
How to properly store your wine
Summer came early this year and the forecast calls for an extra hot one. Its great news for beach lovers but bad news for wine!
Here are 6 steps you can take to insure your summer batch stays tasty and ages to perfection:
1. Keep It Cool…. Ideally 12°C
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| Very few homes come with a built in vaulted ceiling wine cellar these days |
Heat is wine’s number 1 enemy. Temperatures higher than 22° C will age a wine more quickly than is usually desirable… And if it gets too much hotter, your wine may get “cooked,” resulting in flat aromas and flavours. This means never leaving your wine in your vehicle while parked in the sun! Get your batch to a cool area as soon as you can after bottling.
2. ….But Not Too Cool
Keeping wines in your fridge is fine for up to a month or so, but it’s not a good bet for the longer term. The average fridge temp falls well below 6° C to safely store perishable foods, and the lack of moisture could eventually dry out corks. Dry corks allow air to seep into the bottles and damage the wine. Also, don’t keep your wine somewhere it could freeze (an unheated garage in winter, forgotten for hours in the freezer). If the liquid starts turning to ice, it could expand enough to push the cork out.
3. Steady as She Goes
More important than worrying about achieving a perfect 12°C is avoiding the landmines of rapid, extreme or frequent temperature swings. On top of cooked flavours, the expansion and contraction of the liquid inside the bottle might push the cork out or cause seepage. Aim for consistency, but don’t get paranoid about minor temperature fluctuations.
4. Turn the Lights Off
Light, especially sunlight, can pose a potential problem for long-term storage. The sun’s UV rays can degrade and prematurely age wine. One of the reasons why vintners use colored glass bottles? They’re like sunglasses for wine.
5. Don’t Sweat the Humidity
Conventional wisdom says that wines should be stored at an ideal humidity level of 70 percent. The theory goes that dry air will dry out the corks, which would let air into the bottle and spoil the wine. Yes, this does happen, but unless you live in a desert or in arctic conditions, it probably won’t happen to you.
6. See Things Sideways
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Traditionally, bottles have been stored on their sides in order to keep the liquid up against the cork, which theoretically should keep the cork from drying out. If you’re planning on drinking these bottles in the near- to mid-term this is not necessary (less than a month). We will say this, however: Horizontal racking is a space-efficient way to store your bottles, and it definitely can’t harm your wines.
So Where Should I Keep My Bottles?
If you haven’t been blessed with a cool, not-too-damp basement that can double as a cellar, you can improvise with some simple racks in a safe place. Rule out your kitchen, laundry room or boiler room, where hot temperatures could affect your wines, and look for a location not directly in line with light pouring in from a window. You could also buy a small wine cooler and follow the same guidelines: If you keep your wine fridge in a cool place, it won’t have to work so hard, keeping your energy bill down.
One other piece of advice from collectors: Whatever number you’re thinking of when it comes to bottle capacity, double it. Once you’ve started accumulating wines to drink later, it’s hard to stop.
Source: Cork it Blog
Wipe that wine off your smile!
Whether you call it merlot mouth, tannin teeth, or even a wine tattoo, everyone from the daintiest drinkers to the most serious connoisseurs can fall victim to the unattractive dark film that red wine stain leaves on your smile.
Never fear! Cork it has the perfect solution for you and your purple mouth:
Wine Wipes®
Drink your favourite reds and look good doing it!
Wine Wipes are a quick and easy way to remove red wine stains from your teeth and mouth. The components in Wine Wipes proprietary blend of stain-removing and teeth-protecting ingredients combine to provide a refreshing and gentle experience without interfering with the flavour of the wine. Wine Wipes neutralize the palate and are the perfect partner for your next red wine experience. Pick up a pack for yourself or someone in need (we all know someone who could use this) for only 8.95 + tax
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| only $8.95+ Tax |
History:
In 2006, faced with the decision to either switch to Chardonnay or develop a remedy to remove red wine stains from her teeth, Kimberly Walker, Founder of Borracha, crafted an all natural recipe to remove red wine stains from teeth while protecting the enamel from acids in wine. She enlisted the help of a world-renowned laboratory to turn the recipe into a first-of-its-kind formula, and in 2008, Wine Wipes were born.
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| …said no one ever ???? |
Source: Cork it Blog
Summer Down Under Wine Features
Crikey!
Nothing goes better with a summer barbie than these 8 Australian wines.
Ready in 6 weeks and ranging from $180-$185 for 30-750ml bottles… We’ll let you do the math but the price per bottle can’t be beat!
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| We’re also featuring a limited number of this Australian Chardonnay in our Big Oak Barrel. Only 10 spots (batches) are available at $220 per batch. Get your name on the list this will sell out fast! Call: 604-986-7475 or email: info@localhost to reserve a spot. |
Cheers!
Cork it winemaking
1427 Crown St. North Vancouver BC
Source: Cork it Blog
Get ready for Canada Day Eh!
2 New Cheeky Monkey Limited Releases Now Available
These cheeky canucks are now available for order but you better act fast! Much like Canada’s other elusive legends of Bigfoot and Ogopogo, these limited releases will be gone so fast it will leave you questioning if they were ever really here…
Ready in only 4 weeks
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Chardonn-Eh $145.00 for 30 bottles |
From the Niagara wine region Ontario, the Chardonn-EH is the perfect summer sipper for enjoying those long cottage weekends kicking back in your patio chairs. Refreshing as a dip in the lake but not leaving you shivering for days. From Ontario this Chardonnay Musqué*, is a natural fruit-forward mutation of the famous white wine grape. This unique off-dry limited release is a cannonball of peach, apple, and tropical fruit aromas followed by a gentle splash of lush stone fruit flavors. This un-oaked wine with the grapes lightly blended presents itself as a total surprise. A wine perfect for summer. Drink whilst young.
*This clone of Chardonnay, originally from Burgundy, is a natural mutation that shows pronounced Muscat aromas. Today, the clone is rare in France yet popular in Ontario, Canada. It shares Chardonnay’s aromas of crisp apples, stone fruit and citrus aroma and gives them a bright lift. Citrus blossoms and musk stick swirl about. The flavors in our wine are fresh, succulent and juicy.
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Cabern-Eh $150 for 30 bottles |
BC wine from Okanagan
BC wine lovers, pay attention. This is exactly what you have been looking for!
We proudly present BC’s Cab Sauvignon scoring with bold dark fruit aromas and flavors of black cherry, blackberry, and blackcurrant. Layered with toasty oak, assertive tannins, and a zesty finish like a flavor slap shot right to your palate, this isn’t a wine for the lighthearted.
Full-bodied and burly but with undeniable finesse, this Cabern-EH will make you gain respect for BC reds.
Source: Cork it Blog
Wine Degassing: An extra step for a smooth finish
You may have heard us mention “degassing” when we talk about the different processes we use when making wine at Cork it.
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| What are all these tubes??? |
Right before we filter your wine we take an extra step to improve its taste and smooth finish. This process is called Degassing and we do this with a new system developed in New Westminister by a fellow wine maker.
Our custom made degassing machine takes the saturated CO2 left over from fermentation out of the wine without introducing Oxygen – Unlike traditional degassing methods (vigorous stirring/drill mixing)
It doesn’t seem like it should make a big difference, but leaving carbon dioxide in your wine can have 3 negative effects on your wine.
1. It leaves what should be a still wine carbonated.
While white wines often have a bit of fizz to them reds generally shouldn’t. Fizzy Cabernet is not cool.
2. Suspended carbon dioxide prevents wine from properly clearing. White wines are especially sensitive to the amount of suspended carbon dioxide. An improperly degassed white wine can have a haze to it that won’t clear through fining.
3. Carbon dioxide increases the sensation of acidity in wine. While the acid isn’t really there it tastes like it is.
Our Degassing machine works via Vacuum:
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| A vacuum pump is hooked up to a series of tubes attached to the wines. We place a rough metal diode in each carboy to increase CO2 release… The diode acts in much the same way as a Mentos does in Diet Coke (much less intense of course!) |
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| We degass right before the final step of filtering your wine. |
When there’s negative pressure in the carboy the carbon dioxide will come out of suspension (form bubbles) and float to the top of the carboy and out of your wine.
Now you know why Cork it wine tastes that much better 😉
Source: Cork it Blog
How to Host a Blind Wine Tasting
The folks over at Wine Folly put together a great article on blind wine tastings http://winefolly.com/update/blind-wine-tasting-party/ click the link to read the full article or read our highlight version below:
Blind tastings are great because they teach you what you actually like – and not what you think you like
1. Get a group of friends together and have each person bring a different bottle.
2. Remember to mix it up – Cheap/Expensive/Homemade/4wk/8wk/Barrel Aged/White/Red
3. Tinfoil works best for covering up the label… go a step further and remove the shrink wrap and remember no peeking! Record and number/letter the bottles and keep the master list hidden. Brown bags can work too especially if you’re going for a hobo-esque theme.
4. Ideal wines to bring: Blended reds and whites are not recommended for beginners, but rules are meant to be broken!
5. Start with the Whites! Red wine can over power the palette very quickly.
6. Remember to go easy at first… take small sips of each one or use a spit cup. Save the big gulps for when you’ve already tried ’em all!
7. Follow the 5 step wine tasting program here: http://winefolly.com/tutorial/how-to-taste-wine/
8. Enjoy yourself! Watch the wine snobs pick the cheap-o 4 weekers and be blown away by the magic of barrel aging.
Happy Tasting!
Source: Cork it Blog