Aug 04 2012

Wine tasting review – 04 August 2012

At the Saturday tasting today, the wines were all in the 90+ point category, so it made for some great choices! Four of the wines were from the West Coast of the United States (three from California and one from Washington), and one was from Argentina. I didn’t leave with any of them today, but one in particular was quite nice. As a quick sidebar, there isn’t a photo this week because apparently I couldn’t hold the camera steady whilst taking the photo; sorry about that.

The first wine was a 2011 Riesling from Columbia Valley, Washington. Known as Poet’s Leap, it was the 90-point recipient from Long Shadows Winery. It was a light golden colour at the edge, and nearly clear when viewed straight on. It had very few legs, but the ones that were there were thick and slow-running. There was a great peach flavour, and I picked up some hints of honey in the mid-palate and at the finish.

The second offering was Domaine Eden’s 2009 Chardonnay. Receiving 90 points from Wine Spectator, it exhibited a light yellow colour throughout. To me, the acidity was light, and the wine was not as crisp as the previous Riesling. Interestingly, this wine reminded me of a potato soup that I had at a nice restaurant several months ago. I believe that it was likely due to the combination of the buttery mouth feel and the mild flavour of dill.

The third pour was the 2008 ‘Q’ Malbec from Zuccardi Wines, and it received 91 points from The Wine Advocate – E. Robert Parker. Zuccardi is the largest family-owned estate vineyard in Argentina, and they have been producing for over 40 years. It had a medium garnet colour with medium, quick legs. There were hints of plum and some mild spice that came through to me. However, I thought that it had an almost astringent mouth feel, and that the finish was a bit dull.

The fourth wine was the 2009 Tanbark Hill Cabernet Sauvignon from producer Philip Togni, and it received 93 points from The Wine Advocate. It had a deep red colour that was nearing purple, and thick, slow legs. There was a mild spiced scent of cloves, and a fantastic finish that had hints of smoke, tobacco, to me, some black olive. Though I didn’t purchase it today, it was my favourite by a long shot.

The final pour of the day was 2008 ‘Muldoon’ (which is a Syrah [57%] and Grenache [43%] blend) from Grey Stack Cellars, which took home 92 points from the Wine Spectator. It had a deep red centre, with a medium red edge. It was a bit cloudy, but that is due to the producer using absolutely no filtering or fining, and as such, it had some nice depth. There was a beautiful cigar and suede scent to it, but those aromas didn’t seem to manifest themselves in term of flavour to me. Instead, I picked up a heavy blackberry flavour. Along with it came a very heavy mouth feel and a huge punch of fruit at the finish. It was nice, but a bit tannic given the age. I think that it will be fantastic in about four or five years.

Cheers,
Zach

Aug 03 2012

Ip Man review

I’ve been an Amazon Prime member for quite some time now, but one aspect that I don’t use nearly often enough are the prime videos on demand. This past week, I took advantage of the free films that were available and watched one entitled Ip Man. I thought it was a little unusual that a martial arts film would have such high ratings, and considering I was in the mood for something like it, I decided to give it a go. I was very pleasantly surprised!

Ip Man - Donnie Yen

The film focuses on Yip Man (also spelled Ip Man), who was a martial artist in the southern Chinese town of Foshan. Foshan was known as one of the primary kung fu hubs for many decades, and many travelled there in order to learn from one of the many masters who opened martial arts schools in the city.

Even though there were several inaccuracies about Ip Man’s life (which were likely there for cinematic effect and drama), much of the story was factual and based during the Second Sino-Japanese War (taking place from 1937 to 1945). During that time, the Japanese were infiltrating regions of China and attempting to enforce their cultural beliefs and systems. Though I’m unsure if Foshan was one of the targeted cities, or if Ip Man really had any influence on the war, it was fascinating to get a little bit more background regarding an event about which I essentially knew nothing.

Yip Man studied the martial art of Wing Chun, and trained many students throughout his career. Amongst those students was the very well-known Bruce Lee. Having not read anything about the film before I watched it, I actually didn’t know that until right at the end as the credits were starting to roll.

As I said, the film was surprisingly good! I expected just another martial arts show, but this one had a great story (no matter how embellished it may have been regarding his life, the war, et cetera), some great drama, and nice cinematography in spots. The only problem was that the version to which I had access was dubbed instead of subtitled, and the voices were a bit distracting. In any case, I would recommend you watch it. It’s not the most exceptional film I’ve ever seen, but it was entertaining, and provided some perspective on a historical event. I would say that it’s deserving of 7 stars:

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Cheers,
Zach

Aug 02 2012

Fortune cookie wisdom part IV

It’s that time again, where I’ve accumulated far too many of those little scraps of paper wisdom from fortune cookies. Before reading these little Confucian tidbits, you may want to check out parts I, II, and III (which are all examples that I eat far too much Asian food ;)).

Anyway, here are the ones from the past few weeks:

  • They say you are stubborn; you call it persistence.
  • There are a lot of bumps on the road to easy street.
  • Opportunities multiply as they are seized; they die when neglected.
  • Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.
  • Those who can endure most are rewarded most.
  • The most beautiful adventures are not those we go to seek.
  • Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.
  • Our life is the creation of our mind.

I thought that these ones provided a good mix of existentialism, Eastern philosophy, and internal versus external perspective. The first one is something that I say all the time when discussing doctoral programmes–you don’t need to be intelligent, you just need to be stubborn (or the more nicely connoted “persistent”). I am particularly fond of the penultimate one though, as I have found it to be true throughout my own life, and sometimes personal anecdote turns something sterile and cold into something rich and warm.

Cheers,
Zach