About a month ago a delivery man knocked on my door with a medium sized box addressed to me. I don't often get much mail, especially of the boxed variety. It wasn't my birthday, my mom hadn't told me to look out for something, so I was intrigued. Upon opening the box I saw two bottles of wine. Two bottle that I had never seen before. It was then that I found a note from the Andrew Peller Corporation explaining that they are from a new brand they are launching this year, Crush Wines. Well let me just say, getting two surprise bottles of wine in the mail is never a bad things as far as I'm concerned!
I pulled the bottles out from the box along with their tasting notes and set about to decide who I should have a tasting with. I tried to coerce my parters in no reEATS crime to escape their families for an afternoon and come over for some wine and cheese, but even baiting them with a bit of vino couldn't pre-empt their mommy responsibilities. I had even planned on going to visit some friends in the West End who had tried to bribe me with delicious sounding ribs, but then errands, house stuff and my life got in the way so that didn't happen, lucky for me the Boy was getting home from work at a decent hour so I thought I'd start the tasting on my own and if there was any left when he got home he could try it too.
While I was out running errands, I picked up some of the recommended cheese for the wines. The tasting notes include a few dishes along with the cheese but since I was flying solo for much of this cheese was the easiest and let's be honest my favorite thing to pair with just about anything. When I got home, I cozied up onto the couch and set to tasting.
I started with the Crush White, a blend of Pinot Grigio, Riesling, Gewurtztraminer, Muscat and Chardonnay. It was actually a fairly warm day, at lest for April, and on of the first such days we had this spring. So I was excited to try a nice cold glass of white, plus it was recommended to be paired with Brie or Camembert and well you know how I feel about cheese. So I dove in with a smell first and got tons of fresh apple, which is always a good start for a white, with me anyway. Took a sip and tasted the fresh juiciness of the grapes with hints of some citrus. It was really pleasant and a wine I could absolutely see drinking in the sun on a restaurant patio or the dock at the cottage. Plus, accordingly to the tasting notes it goes well with sushi which I'll absolutely be trying next time I get take out from my fave sushi spot in TO Sushi Marche!
Next it was onto the Crush Red, a blend of Shiraz, Merlot, Pinot Noir & Cabernet. The notes recommend it with a one year Canadian Cheddar. Before I get into the wine, I should have taken the time to go to my local cheese monger to get a really great one-year cheddar, but instead relied upon my grocery store. They generally have very nice cheese, but I do find that young cheddar can be quite flat, especially to some who often eats cheddar that is five years and older.
All that aside I gave the big bowl of red wine a sniff (don't you just love red wine glasses? they are my absolute fave!). The predominant smell I got was the black pepper that I associate with Shiraz. Next came the taste, again for me it was very Shiraz in the up front, which while that is not top on my list of varietals worked nicely in this blend. The tasting notes say that is food friendly and I can absolutely see that. It too had a fresh, juicy quality, like the white, which is the whole premise behind the Crush Wines.
By the time the Boy got home, I was deep into my second glass of each. I offered him up some, but after a long day at work my guy is the kind that would rather throw back a couple of beers than wine. So he took a few sips of the red, said it was nice and then moved onto a beer.
All in all with their $12.95 price tag and fresh flavor, these wines will absolutely be making it into the rotation on my LCBO trips this summer, especially that white!
*** These wines were sent as a gift from Crush Wines with no promise of any kind of a review, positive or negative. All opinions are my own ***
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