Last Thursday I had the pleasure of experiencing my first wine tasting education at Sherwood Park’s newly opened Wine & Beyond. They are located near the new mega Walmart in Emerald Hills off of highway 16.
The
Education Center
Several times a month, Wine & Beyond hosts education classes in their Education Center. This Center is designed specifically for these classes and features long narrow tables in a horseshoe layout. It is equipped with a big screen projector for presentations and a small bar area for preparation. It is closed off from the rest of the store by big glass doors that ensure the class isn’t interrupted by shoppers.
The
Winery
On this particular evening, we were taking in a presentation by a representative from Bodega Norton, a winery in Argentina.
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The Bodega Norton winery was named Winemaker of the year for 2012. In 2010, Wine Spectator included Norton 2007 Reserve Malbec in their “Top 100 best wines in the world” list and in 2011, Wine Enthusiast nominated them as “The Best New World Winery of the Year" in their 2011 edition of its competition "Wine Star Awards".
I learned some things about Argentina
itself during this presentation – such as the fact is has the fifth largest
production of wine in the world. It has 300 days of sunshine with hot days and
cooler nights, making it ideal wine making weather. It is also a great place to
visit and their wine tours provide good value for your dollar.
Before I get into the wine review, a little disclaimer. I am not a wine connoisseur. I don’t talk about a wine’s “nose” or “finish”. My tastebuds know what pleases them and I will do my best to convey to you what it was I liked or didn’t like about a wine.
The Wine
Our first tasting was of a sparkling rosé wine called Cosecha Especial Brut Nature. It is made of 50% chardonnay and 50% pinot noir. This sparkling wine retails at Wine & Beyond for $20.99 a bottle.
I was rather ambivalent about this
selection as I am not huge on sparkling wines, but it was crisp with just a bit
of a tart edge and was pleasant to sip on.
The second selection was Barrel Select Sauvignon Blanc. This wine was aged in stainless steel for 90% of the time, with the remaining 10% in French oak barrels. It was a nice white wine that would hold its own with many meals. It retails at Wine & Beyond for $14.99 a bottle.
The third wine
was our first red to sample. It was a Norton Malbec ($10.99). It was described
as having “friendly tannins” and I was left wondering how a tannin could be
unfriendly and what the result of that would be!
This was the first wine we sampled that I had a definite opinion on. I didn’t like it. It had a very biting dry taste that I could feel on my teeth. I didn’t find it went down smoothly at all and left me wanting to reach for the bread to cleanse my palate – quickly. The room seemed to have a similar reaction as people politely told the presenter that it wasn’t really their thing.
The second red wine we tried was much
better. It was the Bodega Norton Reserva Malbec. As its name implies, it is
made from 100% Malbec grapes. It spends 12 months in first and second use
French oak barrels and then 10 months in the bottle before it is released.
This wine was much smoother and there was almost none of the biting dry taste of the first Malbec. You pay a little more for this wine than the Malbec - $18.49 – but it would be well worth the upgrade.
What can I say about the final tasting of the evening? The Bodega Norton Privada, priced at $24.99 a bottle, was worth the wait. It was smooth, pleasant and full bodied. It spent 16 months in new French oak barrels and was bottled 12 months before release. It has a storage capacity of 10 years but most in the room agreed it probably wouldn’t last past the first week in their house! With one exception – a gentleman who preferred the Reserva – it was definitely the crowds choice!
Note: Special Cravings Private Beer Tasting at Wine and Beyond. (Free event for Cravings members). For more info, visit our Cravings website at spCravings.com.
