Wine

I don't always drink wine, but when I do, it's picked out by my friends and delicious.

This Italian brand moscato tastes like sweet juice, in the best kind of way. 

This pinot gris is imported all the way from Sonoma. It's quite nice. Is not too dry for me, and tastes light. I'm not even at level novice for wine, so all that I can say is that I'd drink it again.

Cheers to Steph for introducing the moscato and to Casey for the Sonoma import! And cheers to classing up family time with wine!

Alvar

Alvar Chardonnay Gewurztraminer 2011

Tastes fresh, and very simple. It's not very sweet and not very dry either. Very drinkable as an accompaniment to a meal (currently consuming it with pasta), but nothing to rave about in my humble opinion. Chardonnay (and its weirdo mixes) are not my favourite anyway. 

Would I drink it again? Maybe... I didn't buy this bottle, so I don't know how much it costs... but maybe if it was cheap enough. This was a donation from my brother, so cheers to him! 

Flat Rock Cellars

Flat Rock Cellars 2010 Riesling

Having previously tried the 2009 Riesling the night before, this one was a lot less dry, and it was sweeter (and less sour). The colour was very pale as well. It got dryer as I drank more of it. Quite enjoyable.

Total damage: free for me thanks to Josie! But it'll cost about $17-something plus tax at your local LCBO.

Korbel

Korbel Cream Sherry

Korbel isn't really known for their non-California champagnes. I can see why. This wine is very sweet and as Jo mentioned, it tastes like those Chinese haw flakes. I'm not a fan of those candies, so I didn't really like it. It also smells like whisky. This bottle was an apology bottle given to Casey from Korbel because of some incident. I can see why this would be free.

Would I drink it again? No.

Total damage: free for me thanks to Casey (and Korbel)!

Korbel

Korbel (13250 River Road, Guerneville, Sonoma County, California, USA)
Wine shop: 707-824-7316
Delicatessen: 707-824-7000
Wine tour hours: 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. daily
Tasting room hours: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. daily
Delicatessen hours: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. daily.

Korbel Brut Rosé

I approve. Slightly sweet and bubbly.

I actually think I prefer this over the sweet rosé they have.

Total damage: free for me thanks to Casey!

KenRidge Red Icevine

KenRidge

It's sweet like icewine and fruity like red wine. Not sour or tart at all. I liked it, even though it's meant to taste like a whole bunch of fruits that I don't like. 

Strewn Two Vines

Strewn Two Vines Riesling Gewürztraminer 2009


Chris suggested we get a riesling. I suggested a gewürztraminer. So we got a hybrid.

Chris: "It tastes like water." 

I'm going to have to agree with his assessment. There's almost no dryness to it, minimal to faint sourness, and it really does go down like water. I think it'd be a good starter wine for people who don't normally like the taste of strong wines. It's very inoffensive to the taste buds in that respect.

Would I have it again? Sure, it'd be good if I were trying to get someone drunk on wine. Just kidding.

Total damage: free for me thanks to Chris!

Korbel

Korbel Moscato Frizzante

I don't know why, but this particular wine was slightly more expensive than most of the others at the Korbel winery. It came in one of Casey's shipments, and he was kind enough to share it with me after noting my keen interest in it.

It's light in colour, and sweet. I really enjoyed this, and I'm not just saying that because I like to drink money. 

California champagne: you drink it like pop. The Korbel man said so! No swishing it around or any of that other wine nonsense.

Total damage: free for me thanks to Casey! Cheers!

Korbel

Korbel (13250 River Road, Guerneville, Sonoma County, California, USA)
Wine shop: 707-824-7316
Delicatessen: 707-824-7000
Wine tour hours: 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. daily
Tasting room hours: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. daily
Delicatessen hours: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. daily.

They call it California champagne, but legally, they're really not allowed to label it as such. Only champagne from France can be called champagne. Everything else is just sparkling wine.

Here's something interesting about the Korbel winery: the tour, which includes a tasting of four of their wines, is free.

They make brandy, too.

Tasting #1: Natural.

I like.

Tasting #2: Blanc de noirs.

Not a huge fan.

Tasting #3: Sec.

I don't remember...

Tasting #4: Sweet rosé.

It's feels a bit gimmicky, but it tastes quite nice.

Korbel Delicatessen & Market

Mimosa ($5 USD)

It was okay, but I think the orange juice actually ruins the flavour of the "champagne".

My prosciutto sandwich ($7.50 USD)

It was okay and had a decent amount of meat.

Jess's sandwich and mango salad.

There was mango in there?

Casey's BBQ pulled pork sandwich.

Casey's sandwich was way more exciting than any of our food.

Casey joined the wine club and paid for three shipments for the year. He also gets discounts on any other purchases in the wine shop.

There are lots of other wineries in the vicinity, but we didn't have time for any others.

It should be noted that if you go on the tour, they don't let you have any more tastings (free or otherwise) in the tasting room. We found this strange because that tasting room was packed with people right after our tour, but so empty before it. Also, had we not gone on the tour, we would have been entitled to four free samples of our choice each. This was discovered when the lady behind the counter was about to give us a sample, but our tour guide stopped her. After seeing my disappointed face (because I wasn't there to get drunk, but I just really wanted to try before I buy), the lady let us have one free sample anyway. Good thing too, since it gave me insight on which wines I was going to purchase.

Free tour. Free samples. It's a pretty good visit. If I return, I'll skip the tour and just try the wines that I want to try.

Turtle Jack's

Turtle Jack's (10 Vogell Road, Richmond Hill, Ontario)

Tel: 905-770-1729

Sun - Wed: 11am- 12am

Thurs - Sat: 11am- 2am

We walked in to be greeted by an unusually kind hostess. She was polite and really smiley. Her lack of general hostess bitchiness/fakery took me by surprise. That or she should be an actress.

Six ounce glass of Peller Estates Heritage chardonnay ($5.49)

It's really light and goes down quite easily. I'd like to describe it as wine-flavoured water. It's not really dry, nor is it sour, or really sweet. For me, it was drinkable and didn't offend my taste buds. I liked it enough.

Canadian smokehouse burger with mashed pototates

The meat was a bit dry and tasteless. Parts of it were saved by the bit of barbecue sauce that was on it, but that also meant that I couldn't really taste the peameal bacon. Frankly, I think real bacon strips would've been better. It could've done without the lettuce. I didn't much like that the toppings were skewered on the top side of the bun, but maybe I'm just picky. The bun was good. I like that it was slightly toasted and covered in sesame seeds. 

The mashed potatoes were really soft. Jo suggested that they were instant. It's possible.

After ordering my glass of wine, Josie found the insert in the drink menu that advertised martini Thursdays (martinis for $5.99 - 2 oz.). So she got herself one, and I think it was called French tart or something like that. It's the one with Cointreau.

It tasted like the white part of an orange. It was orangey in that way, and you can taste the alcohol. I liked it, but she didn't seem to show too much enthusiasm for it.

As we got up to leave, the hostess that greeted us on the way in went out of her way and opened the door for us. She even smiled and wished us a good evening. Wow. Customer service points! I have not come across such an enthusiastic young person working in the restaurant industry in a while. It was pretty refreshing. 

Would I return? I might wait a while, but probably. I might steer clear of their burgers though. 

Total damage for my wine and burger: $25.