The Grape Escape

This weekend is Calgary Co-Op’s Wine, Spirit and Beer Festival, The Grape Escape.

Once again, it’s completely sold out, but I do have a couple of tickets to the Friday afternoon VIP tasting session to give away.

I’ll be pouring Nollen Notorious Rooster Riesling, Road 13’s Honest John’s Red, Castano Monastrell and Freixenet Carta Nevada at the Grape Escape.

Nollen Notorious Rooster Riesling 2010
“Every once and a while an inexpensive Germany riesling, almost always from the Mosel, over delivers and that is the case with Notorious a delicious little riesling. We love the fresh nectarine skin aromas and the peachy, watermelon fruit all with freshness and balance.”
– Anthony Gismondi

Castano Monastrell 2009
“It is a dark ruby-coloured wine with a fragrant nose of underbrush, blueberry and plum. Super-juicy on the palate and densely packed, this is a pleasure-bent effort for drinking over the next 2-3 years.”
– Robert Parker

Honest Johns Red 2010
“The fruit explodes out of the glass with aromas of red currant, black raspberries and bing cherries. The nose also shows signature Okanagan character, followed by subtle layering of chocolate, cedar and tobacco.”
– JM Bouchard, Winemaker

Freixenet Carta Nevada
“As semi-dry Cavas go, it’s hard to lodge a complaint against this one. It has a full bouquet of powdered sugar and white fruits, and the palate is sturdy and shows sweet mango and papaya flavours.”
– The Wine Enthusiast

**UPDATE** Congratulations to Erin Darroch for winning my tickets!

Calgary Needs A Champagne Friday Food Truck

The Freixenet Tastings & Tapas Truck

I like to celebrate Champagne Fridays. It’s nothing fancy, just at the end of each week a cork flies across my home office instead of getting cracked with a corkscrew.

In Dallas, this week, Champagne Fridays took on an entirely different meaning as The Freixenet Tastings & Tapas Truck rolled into town. It’s been cruising across the states all summer offering people the opportunity to taste Freixenet [87 points Wine Access] sparkling wine, nibble on “tapas” and play games.

The perfect definition of a Champagne Friday, in my books.

Today, in Calgary, we experienced our first snow of the season and the food trucks are turning their menus to more comfort food selections. Still, a little rolling Freixenet Friday in the Stampede City could do us all a bit of good.

Don’t you think?