Fat Bastard Bit Fugly

Vancouver Magazine's 2010 Wine Awards just came out. Okay, they came out in January, but only now, with the advent of my pretentious food blog, can I justify spending the money to test out their recommendations.  Given a recently-developed affinity for the big reds (yes, yes, a result of influence- like when people start to look like their Chow Chows) I decided to start with their "Best Rich Red Wines" category.  Accordingly, this afternoon I took a trip to Vancouver's flagship government liquor store, the Signature shop at Cambie and 39th.  This liquor store is a Vancouver ethanol oasis.  There is so much beautiful wine there; they even have a section devoted exclusively to wines for litigators, surgeons, and cosmetic dermatologists!! (Confession: staff at the 39th and Cambie liquor store were busy this Saturday and I wasn't able to verify the accuracy of my assumption regarding the target market for their velvet rope section; with wines ranging from $60 to $885, I feel confident in waiving this one wee fact-check.)


If I may interrupt my own wine review for moment, I will give another plug to the Cambie wine megastore by saying there was a big party going on there today, involving a delightful tasting of Spanish wines (a thin Tempranillo with lilts of burnt rubber and an even thinner mild Rioja) and appetizers, including meatballs in tomato sauce and crispy risotto cakes.  I didn't try any of the food, but only because an hour earlier I had been at the Cookworks on Broadway and Granville, which had a tasting of waffles with syrup, fruit compote, and whipped cream. (This I enjoyed for its high carbohydrate content, though lamented later when I didn't have room for its fatty cousin, the fried risotto.) The atmosphere at the shop made for a singularly fun wine-buying excursion. I don't think anything could go wrong in the lives of any of you should you decide to make regular trips to the 39th Avenue liquor outlet. 

En tout cas. I ended up buying four wines off the Vancouver Magazine list: the 2007 Shotfire Barossa Quartage, the 2005 Mount Langhi Ghiran Billi Billi Shiraz, the 2005 Wolf Blass Grey Label Shiraz, and the 2008 Fat Bastard Shiraz, the only non-Australian (French, in fact) one in the bunch.  Given its conspicuous nationality vis-à-vis its competitors, my companion and I decided to try the Fat Bastard first.

For those of you who may want to try the 2008 Fat Bastard, note that its price at a government liquor store in B.C. is $16.99.  In the context of Vancouver's ostentatiously over-priced libations, it is a perfectly acceptable wine, that is for sure.  Yet I am slightly less than downright shocked that it ended up on anybody's list of wines to applaud.  "You know what I don't like about this wine?" I determined.  "It has absolutely no character.  I feel like I'm at a reception."  My companion agreed.  "There is nothing to it," he said.  "It is just wine.  There is no finish. There isn't even anything up front.  It isn't objectionable, but it's definitely not spectacular." Still, it is possible to pick up a cheap shiraz that's actually special, such as the 2008 Rosedale Chook Shed (Australia, $14.99 at BC Liquor stores).

With this, my companion went to the fridge and cut us two spectacular chunks of Spanish Manchego cheese.  This we did applaud, and, thankfully, it heightened our experience of the Fat Bastard.  "You know, this might not be a bad wine if you put it down for a while," my companion said as I grabbed my computer to access my pompous weblog.  "Oh, should I hold off writing the review?" I asked.  "No," he said, "I mean put it down for a couple of years."

Which we didn't. Manchego cheese is soooo good, we drank the bottle before heading out to dinner, wishing to wash away the memory of mediocrity with a marvelous Meritage (e.g., Burrowing Owl, Okanagan, 2005)...