Reading of the last whites (and reds)

It were so simple #caprese

It’s that time of summer when transitions begin to set in, in paradoxical slow surges and breezes, sonic wallows and fond, rueful, ironic gaps. It also brings the unofficial last one of the season (gasp), the upcoming VINTAGES August 20th release. The limits of probability, possibility and potentiality are great, delineated and distilled to 17 wines tasted, reviewed and laid out right here.

Calamus Steely Chardonnay 2013, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (210062, $14.95, WineAlign)

The barrel need not be employed to gain success for chardonnay from the excellent Niagara 2013 vintage. Calamus has done right by the no-wood approach, allowing the slow-ripened fruit to shine solo and brightly. Steely chardonnay for steamy days. Drink 2016-2017. Tasted August 2016 @calamuswinery

Val De Vid Verdejo 2015, Do Rueda, Spain (452086, $14.95, WineAlign)

Quite a racy Rueda with lemon and lime juiced and cooling the warm stone aspect. Were the acidity a touch more in tune this would really plug in the senses. But it is delicious and worthy of some seafood tapas. Drink 2016-2018. Tasted August 2016 @DORueda @rogcowines

Schloss Schönborn Riesling 2011, Qualitätswein, Rheingau, Germany (653535, $16.95, WineAlign)

Schloss Schönborn’s basic, entry-level, come and get it Qualitätswein is seemingly riesling from out of a designate void and no strings attached. It’s actually highly specified riesling but without label verbiage and from a most excellent vintage. The oscillation runs the gamut from propellant to scintillant, with pumped in air and rising cool temperature behaviour. There is a balanced, posit tug between acidity and sweetness, over the line and back again. The cumulative flavours recall long lasting pastilles, of gin, tonic and agave. Drink 2017-2025. Tasted August 2016 #schlossschonborn @HHDImports_Wine @germanwineca

Contini Pariglia Vermentino Di Sardegna 2014, Doc Sardinia, Italy (455238, $18.95, WineAlign)

Stoic and aerified vermentino emanating like semillon or riesling, with a vapour trail and simply terrific mineral feel. You might imagine riesling from calcareous soils or semillon off of dry, arid plains, but this vermentino is striking on its own accord and illuminates as a developing experiment. The next big thing perhaps for geeks and mineral freaks in search of a profound, axiomatic, aromatic experience? More than perhaps and Sardegna beckons. Terrific tonic and beneficial bitters mark the rather lengthy finish. Drink 2016-2020. Tasted August 2016 @WineOfSardinia @vinosardegna

Quinta Nova De Nossa Senhora Do Carmo Colheita Tinto 2011, Doc Douro, Portugal (452748, $19.95, WineAlign)

A blend of four endemic varieties, two from touriga and two by tinto. The label tells us it’s “unoaked.” Brilliant. Such knowledge is power and usually an exclusive bit reserved for whites, especially chardonnay. Why not tell us your red wine spent no time in barrel? This is nothing short of awesome for the consumer. And so we have pure fruit, excellent extraction, very little in the way of masking or shrouding (if any) and a simple, unadulterated experience. Terrific summer red when procured with a chill that will serve and protect your palate and your will. At five years of age it has held up beautifully, a testament to hands off and trustworthy winemaking. Drink 2016-2018. Tasted August 2016 @LeSommelierWine @winesportugalCA

Lighthall Progression Sparkling 2014, Ontario (468090, $20.00, WineAlign)

Charmat or otherwise, grapes grown on Lighthall’s beautifully stark, wind-swept and electrifying property destined for sparkling wine does so with profound meaning. This is lit with the finest Ontario spark of vidal, also known as “Ward 5 Brut.” Unparalleled in its treatment to effect continuum, Progression is possessive of real intent and fine-grained precision. It’s simply meant to be. Their are notes of green apple and grapefruit, sweetness from extract, wild and wooly texture. This and fresh summer basil pesto would work every time. Just imagine the possibilities when Glenn Symons adds further lees and traditional method applications to his sparkling fruit. Just you wait and see what it does to elevate the category in Ontario. Drink 2016-2019. Tasted July 2016 @lighthallvyard

Thörle Feinherb Riesling 2015, Qualitätswein, Rheinhessen, Germany (420091, $20.95, WineAlign)

Tart, waxy, off-dry, herbal and very sapid. Tremendous appeal on the scales of sweet, sour and racy. Great acidity and a fine pesto of herbs. Balance is spot on. Really well made. Drink 2016-2021. Tasted August 2016 @thoerle @UNIVINS @germanwineca

Campopazzo Chianti Classico 2012, Docg Tuscany, Italy (454512, $20.95, WineAlign)

From Radda in Chianti on the Monterinaldi Estate, here the prevalent liqueur of intuitive and naturally occurring sangiovese wafts like ripe, red fruit warming in compote with wildflower honey. While this may seem a touch raisined (and even slightly volatile) it is in fact both those things. But it’s beautifully bitter and richly old-school. A certain kind of CC and a style that is slowly dying out but there is something to be said in support of drying sangiovese fruit once steeped and macerated in its own narcissistic liqueur. I for one am happy to spend time with this and like my grandfather, would know to miss him when he’s gone. His old and drying tannins really grow on you. Great deal in old-school Chianti Classico. Drink 2017-2021. Tasted August 2016 @monterinaldi @chianticlassico

Jean Marc Brocard Domaine Sainte Claire Chablis 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (356634, $23.95, WineAlign)

In a year for acidity and total, utter freshness the Saint Claire rushes and wells with excitement. Beautifully green apple tart and crunchy. The saline temperature is measured in an ooze running through and with the lees. Cracker vintage keeps the deep salinity intense, vital, searing and so naked to the world. Pure Chablis with length that stretches away from richness and into a lean lingering. Drink 2016-2019. Tasted twice, July 2016 @chablisbrocard @BIVBChablis @purechablis

André Goichot Les Guignottes Montagny 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (455139, $26.95, WineAlign)

As in the case of Chablis, 2014 is a stellar vintage from the ever-increasingly excellent Côte Chalonnaise subregion from which chardonnay fervently shines. André Goichot’s fruit is rich, ripe and beautifully pressed, expressed and plays with the determination of the mineral obsessed. Oh the vitality and the range this displays, with balance and exceptional layering. Breath is actually taken slightly away on the acidity’s back side and the airy, elemental finish. Simply wow Montagny. Drink 2016-2022. Tasted August 2016 @vinsdebourgogne @BourgogneWines

Dutschke Jackson Cabernet/Shiraz 2012, Lyndoch, Barossa Valley, South Australia, Australia (447037, $27.95, WineAlign)

This marriage of shiraz (60 per cent) and cabernet sauvignon is a deep well filled to overflowing with Barossa berry and Lyndoch savour. The smell of ripening pomegranate and red berry is in the air but the blend is grounded by a lactic-limestone like liquid chalkiness. This is seamless stuff, pretty and modern but also following down a very direct line. The dualistic varietal speak is a thing of seamless, duet, two-part harmony. Will pair and compliment anything you throw at it over the following five years. Drink 2016-2021. Tasted August 2016 @DutschkeWines @Wine_Australia @TFBrands

Closson Chase Vineyard Chardonnay 2014, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (148866, $29.00, WineAlign)

Keith Tyers’ follow-up to the tour de force that was the hypnotizing 2013 is a step forward in the vineyard’s progression out of a vintage that takes a step back from buttressed substance. Taking into account that 2014 was cooler than the year before, the barrel swaddle needed to also scale back, but just a bit. This CCV chardonnay takes a clean and lean precise line, drawing up PEC mineral with mining acumen and wrapping perfectly phenolic ripe fruit coiled like gelid citrus around a gemstone wire popsicle stick. The palate does provide an orchard meets stone fruit creamy respite from the rocks of entry and exit but it is the mineral County notes that make the biggest impression. Terrific balance is struck, on flint and over the course of so many levels. Leave this a year to stretch and flex while you enjoy every waking moment with the ’13. Drink 2017-2023. Tasted May 2016 @ClossonChase

Mazzei Fonterutoli Chianti Classico 2013, Docg Tuscany, Italy (977629, $29.95, WineAlign)

Fonterutoli’s “second wine” pays exceptional attention to fruit quality, drawing from five different limestone sites and bringing them all together with balance. The minor tonic is an asset to the major fruit and a tie of acidity. Classic Castellina in Chianti richness and sun-driven excellence. Few CC’s are as firm and structured within the arena of such exceptional fruit. This is so modern and bright you might have to wear shades but the stylistic is achieved with grace, class and culture. Never forget where you are from. Mazzei. Fonterutoli. Castellina. Chianti Classico. Drink 2018-2024. Tasted August 2016 @MarchesiMazzei @chianticlassico @ProfileWineGrp

Jean Collet & Fils Montée De Tonnerre Chablis 1er Cru 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (405720, $37.95, WineAlign)

Just amazing pitch and imploding vitality from a climat that demands traditional winemaking (in 100 per cent old wood) so as not to detract from a classic flinty, steely Chablis direction. No bells and whistles, just rocks and stones and straight ahead chardonnay. Takes what the vintage gives and tackles the rest. Drink 2018-2024. Tasted August 2016 @BIVBChablis @purechablis

Losi Millennium Gran Selezione Chianti Classico 2010, Docg Tuscany (459735, $38.95, WineAlign)

Every great wine dissolves a genre or creates a new one and in the context of Gran Selezione, Pietro Losi and Giorgio Baldi’s Millenium 2010 concludes the latter. In a category where so much changes and yet nothing at all, the choice to pick individual plants, specific vines and particular bunches of grapes as destined for a vision of greatness defines the ideal that wine is indeed made in the vineyard. This Chianti Classico Riserva sees 36 months in 10hL barrels and it is a wine that has essentially been made since since 1997. It went to market again in 1999 and then it was 2000 that prescribed the Millenium, followed by 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009. Subsequent top quality vintages are 2011, 2012 and 2015. The selected vines and particular bunches produce on average and approximately 4800 bottles. Take note of the most perfume and yet not the most savour, forest or truffle but there are hints, with some fennochio and the most grip to lead a sangiovese (with five per cent each canaiolo and malvasia nera) structure. The finest tannic grain runs through, lifted by tang meets sour over tart so round and specific to Gran Selezione. This wine is a highly accomplished specimen and a portal in ode to a great grandfather who started his day with wine and cheese, for energy. He imbibed for everyday consumption, just as water would nourish as it should be with this wine for food and contemplation. A wine with a finish minutes long. Drink 2018-2028. Tasted May 2016 @Valerialosi @chianticlassico

Humility only exceeded by impossibility @normhardie #pec #countyinthecity Pinot Noir 2014

Norman Hardie County Unfiltered Pinot Noir 2014, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (125310, $45.20, WineAlign)

A second taste four months later confirms the impossibility from Hardie in 2014, a vintage that just begs for Norm’s magic handling, from exemplary, slow-developed fruit off of a vintage’s hyperbole of low-yielding vines. The low alcohol continuum persists, the freshness and richness of County berries magnifies and the development of flavour is beyond and above. The tart is a membrane and the sweetness a virtue, feigned and delicate. Tremendous work made easy by Norm and a pinot noir that will live longer than any he has produced before. Drink 2017-2027. Tasted August 2016.

In Prince Edward County and for Pinot Noir there is no substitute and no comparison. Quixotically sweet Pinot Noir fruit, from the lowest of the low yields, scrupulously heeded and handled with care and yet also, somehow without a care to the world. As self-effacingly pretty and impossible as ever though in 2014 the tensity is lower, the anxiety bereft and not so crucially or dearly developed. There is almost no crisis from out of this first of the near-crisis vintages. This is an early to love Norm Pinot Noir, brought to life and with red citrus that only a Hardie low alcohol Pinot can bring. Humility only exceeded by impossibility. Ready to enjoy younger than most. Tasted April 2016 @normhardie

Domaine Drouhin Pinot Noir 2013, Dundee Hills, Oregon (961284, $52.95, WineAlign)

Beautifully firm Dundee Hills pinot noir requesting some patience before it will submit and offer near instant gratification. The fruit is wonderfully, naturally sweet with an underlying saline current and so much ripe yet tart currant fruit. This gift wraps French Beaune soul and Oregon soil in one exemplary pinot noir package. Will develop righteously for up to ten years. A stroke of balanced genius from winemaker Arron Bell. Drink 2018-2023. Tasted August 2016 @DrouhinOregon @FWMCan

Good to go!

Twitter: @mgodello

Instagram: mgodello

WineAlign

Chablis from Dauvissat to Vocoret

Aug8

The new temple of #chablis Eleni & Edouard #vocoret #vignerons #vocoropoulos #offthecharts

He’s a seventh generation Chablis winemaker and she’s Greek-German. He has worked with Daniel Barraud (Pouilly Fuissé) and she with Vincent Dauvissat. They met during the 2010 harvest in New Zealand and currently farm five hectares in Chablis. Their tiny domain produces just a few wines, Chablis Bas de Chapelot (just beneath Montée de Tonnerre), Chablis Premier Cru Butteaux (next to La Forêt) and Chablis Les Pargues (bordered by La Forêt and Butteaux). Their karma, instinctive roots and beautiful impossibilities can only intrinsically and kinaesthetically be linked to family, tradition and to the work of Vincent Dauvissat. I have met and tasted the future of Chablis and its name is Edouard Vocoret and Eleni Theodoropoulos.

That undeniable truth might come to fruition were Edouard and Eleni looking to expand their empire. The current output (the catastrophe of 2016 notwithstanding) is somewhere in the vicinity of 15,000 with the vineyard capacity to produce up to 30,000 bottles. The future is bright but it’s also invisible. Good luck finding a single bottle of “Vocoropoulos” Chablis anywhere, not in Canada or even at the modest, cramped, rudimentary and perfectly tidy domain. The couple have no plans to get bigger.

The ferments are all spontaneous, the barrels old. They ignore sugar levels and always pick on acidity potential. “We are looking for minerality and tension,” explains Vocoret. Their Chablis achieves exactly that and with off the charts levels of dry extract and ulterior tannin. The wines are receptive to new sensations yet restrained by old sensibilities. The spiritual education being witnessed is writing the couple’s bildungsroman. Who would not be engrossed in reading through the chapters of their life?

So why would two reluctant rock stars want to limit themselves to such an insignificant quantity of output when the Chablis they craft is such a perfect amalgamation of traditional values and forward thinking, naturally approximated execution? “We wouldn’t be able to make the same wines,” evinces Theodoropoulos. I’m not sure I agree. These two could make wine from water. What’s 3,000 more bottles in the grand quality scheme of things?

Kickin’ back with the gentle #chablis renegade giants, Edouard Vocoret and Eleni Theodoropoulos #domaineelenietedouardvocoret #vocoropoulos

My visit with Eleni and Edouard happened at the end of a day filled with many Chablis pursuits and was followed by the most extreme of pivotal days. It began with a breakfast of champions visit and tasting in the cellar with Patrick Piuze. On Piuze’s wines I will examine later. Patrick then made the introduction with Vincent Dauvissat who had just come down from assessing climatic and mildew damage in his vineyards. His face said it all. The man, the ghost. No grapes. Vincent is not alone this summer in Chablis as a vigneron possessive of a complicated vintage that officially turned to one word. Catastrophe.

A great pleasure and exercize in humility to taste with #vincentdauvissat in his cellar @BIVBChablis #humanity #chablis

Vincent Dauvissat the professional and the gentleman shook aside the sudden realization of mother nature’s cataclysmic consequence and led the way down into his cellar. And then without a noise, magic simply happened. We tasted through barrels and older wines, opened a week earlier. The musicality of Vincent Dauvissat’s wines are self-conscious without being self-regarding. Their aromas, flavours and textures tend to themselves, to Chablis and to the world at large. In a good year Dauvissat produces approximately 75,000 bottles. Petit Chablis, Chablis, Premier Cru Séchets, Vaillons, Montmains, Forêts, Grand Crus Les Preuses and Les Clos. Oak is always used in the range of 10-15 per cent. Prices will be raised as a result of what has happened in 2016. One hundred per cent vineyard loss to hail, more hail, rain and mildew. Total, utter devastation. Disaster. Stock up on 2014 if you can and in the case of Dauvissat and Vocoret, ’15 as well.

Here are the wines tasted at the two domains, mostly from barrel.

Domaine Eleni et Edouard Vocoret

Domaine Eleni et Edouard Vocoret Chablis Les Pargues 2015, Burgundy, France (Barrel Sample)

The block (with duplicitous exposure) to the adjacent climats of Premier Cru La Forêt and Butteaux was destroyed by hail in 2016. All of it. Though 2015 was a solid, middle of the road, commercial hit vintage, Les Pargues by Vocoret is anything but. On a line somewhere between 12 and 12.5 per cent alcohol it exhibits such body and gorgeous texture made ethereally corporeal by its complex carbohydrate-mineral reality. In this sense we are graced with Chablis sometimes peculiarly histrionic and at others, stubbornly passive. The dichotomy is amazing. Will emerge as one of the great 2015s and live well into the end of the next decade. Drink 2018-2028. Tasted July 2016

Domaine Eleni et Edouard Vocoret Chablis Bas de Chapelot 2015, Burgundy, France (Barrel Sample)

Another block with Premier Cru exposure and situation, just beneath the Montée de Tonnerre and what others might refer to as cuvée première, though Edouard and Eleni simply let the wine speak for itself. It hailed and rained just before picking but the washing away of impurities trumped what damage and/or dilution may have resulted. The élevage was the same as Les Pargues which means “do nothing.” Extract and concentration are extraordinary in a Chablis that is courteous in its acceptance of paradox and dialectical ministrations in which things that are old are inexplicably made new again. Raveneau enters the discussion here (along with Dauvissat), at least in terms of potential aging but Vocoret is not either of these two domains. Edouard and Eleni are the new gentle, renegade, go it alone Chablis giants. We’ll see just how far this goes. Drink 2017-2027. Tasted July 2016

In the cellar at Domaine René et Vincent Dauvissat

Domaine René et Vincent Dauvissat

Domaine René et Vincent Dauvissat Petite Chablis 2015, Burgundy, France (Barrel Sample)

Crisp, clean, pure and classic Chablis. If I were to buy only one Petite Chablis, this would be it. Drink 2016-2019. Tasted July 2016

Domaine René et Vincent Dauvissat Chablis 2015, Burgundy, France (Barrel Sample)

Repeats the virtues of the Petite Chablis with a wider open window of clarity and acidity a rung up the terroir ladder. Fully realized phenolic ripeness, naturally optimized and fully consumed, basic Chablis potential. A wine void of addition or adjustment. Pure Chablis. Drink 2016-2021. Tasted July 2016

Domaine René et Vincent Dauvissat Chablis Premier Cru Séchets 2015, Burgundy, France (Barrel Sample)

Linear, focused, precise and of an acidity aquiver in ever so slight oscillation. Chablis that delves into the poor, calcareous soil and angles of its slope. Dauvissat uses Séchets as if to avoid being overly serious while allowing its vines to procure fruit able to walk an unwavering, straight line. An erudite experience in the absence of profundity. Drink 2018-2025. Tasted July 2016

Domaine René et Vincent Dauvissat Chablis Premier Cru Vaillons 2015, Burgundy, France (Barrel Sample)

A heart and soul textured Chablis, round and yet demonstrative, in wonderful balance. Acidity and alcohol work in and out of one harmoniously smooth groove, leaving freshness to stand clear of the tension. The clarity of Vaillons and its southwestern position in relation to the village of Chablis are broadcast with utter clarity from out of a Dauvissat barrel. More approachable than the rest. Drink 2017-2023. Tasted July 2016

Bits of Dauvissat terroir

Domaine René et Vincent Dauvissat Chablis Premier Cru Forêts 2015, Burgundy, France (Barrel Sample)

Only Forêts breathes like this, with the confidential creak of oak, in the Dauvissat way. The density here is deeper, the layering consummately plied and the citrus interwoven into atmosphere. The quite politesse of its consummation pumps air into intelligent texture, like mousse, of soft curd, creamy and also tart. The length is outstanding. Drink 2018-2030. Tasted July 2016

Domaine René et Vincent Dauvissat Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses 2015, Burgundy, France (Barrel Sample)

Vincent Dauvissat thieves a sample of Les Preuses before Les Clos, even though there are some who feel you can never follow Preuses. In Dauvissat’s world you can. His Preuses is a living, breathing incarnation of the Grand Cru, with kimmeridgian organza as a sheath to cover and protect the delicasse of fruit. The level of orchard phenolics is unprecedented, even for this Cru and the operative word is purity. Intoxicating clarity. Les Preuses by Vincent establishes my experience of his actual wines as opposed to others’ claims made on their behalf. Drink 2020-2035. Tasted July 2016

Domaine René et Vincent Dauvissat Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 2015, Burgundy, France (Barrel Sample)

I am quick to concede that a mere sample of Dauvissat’s Les Clos is the epitome of the class, calm and distinction that defines the most famous and largest Grand Cru. Purity here is drawn of a bigger picture, with lines that demarcate the perfect orchard within the gates of an untouched Eden. The magnitude of the Cru is impressed with just two sips and I’m left with a feeling of “my goodness.” I nod and there is understanding. But there is some wood there, felt in a way no previous sample has put forth. Following Les Preuses makes perfect sense in Dauvissat’s world. Though this is five years from readying itself, Les Clos winds down just enough so that it may be heard, surveyed and thus enjoyed. Drink 2021-2039. Tasted July 2016

Domaine René et Vincent Dauvissat Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 2001, Burgundy, France

Tasted from a bottle opened five days prior which is nothing really for a wine that can age easily for 30 years. It resides in a perfect state. Vincent concedes “over 20 there is nothing to be gained” and yet the still terrifically raging acidity would suggest this 15 year-old specimen is only halfway there. The texture is nothing if not persuasive. In 1931 Vincent’s father began this journey. Here 70 years later is a wine so perfectly intact, the lemon-waxy aspect almost on the edge of the hive. But not quite because of the taut bracing and tight embracing. There is a chew to this and Dauvissat shrugs. “What’s to say?” Nothing but a great piece of his history and his father’s legacy. If this wine is a sentimental tribute to a childhood village, it is never uncomplicated. Drink 2016-2031. Tasted July 2016

Good to go!

Twitter: @mgodello

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WineAlign

Fifteen in VINTAGES July 23rd

Jul20

#toast

While life is a blur there is always wine. In the past month the WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada, Chablis and three VINTAGES releases have seen me taste through more than 800 glasses of wine. This is something I do often in a four-week stretch but this, this was something other. It was intense.

During the same stretch I completed my tasting notes on 50 Chianti Classico (including 18 Gran Selezione) and those ruminating thoughts will be published in the coming weeks. Tomorrow I head down to Niagara for the sixth annual International Cool Climate Chardonnay Celebration, or as it is affectionately hash-tagged, #i4c16. Just in case I didn’t have enough tasting notes to transcribe, edify, pop-culture aggrandize, indoctrinate and embellish, well, get ready for 100 more.

For now there is the upcoming July 23rd VINTAGES release and 15 wines I recommend with Godello certainty. Now if I could just get off this grid.

Sutherland Sauvignon Blanc 2014, Wo Elgin, South Africa (203877, $14.95, WineAlign)

A pungent, insistently perfumed cooler clime sauvignon blanc from a big, need to be picked quick crop. Spice, grapefruit, agave and yellow flowers and with more texture than its Thelema ’14 cousin. Fleshy, tropical, juicy, ripe and spirited. Classic Elgin cool savour running linear like a beam through the joist of structure. High quality fruit ready for all comers. Drink 2016-2018. Tasted September 2015 and July 2016 @ThelemaWines @WOSA_ZA @WOSACanada

Castillo De Almansa Old Vines Selection 2010, Almansa, Spain (586719, $16.95, WineAlign)

Rich and concentrated, nicely balanced between roping fruit and ripping acidity. Has real firepower but enough sense to remain calm at the right moments. Plenty of verve, concentration and development from old vines and the stuffing to stand up to blessed char off the grill. Terrific summer BBQ red. Will also work for winter stew. Drink 2016-2020. Tasted July 2016 @BodegasPiqueras @almansaturismo @DionysusWines

Vinedos Y Bodegas Pablo Menguante Garnacha Selección 2012, Cariñena, Spain (313833, $16.95, WineAlign)

Two years on and with more oak this is a very different animal than the subdued ’14, integrated but on the other side of the aromosphere. The oak is dominant, vanilla and cocoa are the great waft in what is ostensibly pitch perfect fruit, in bottle on the dark side of the moon. Coconut, vanilla extract and cinnamon. The wood brings layered and sheathed character. Very plush and notes Jorge, “if you come to Cariñena to experience Garnacha, this wine will allow you to discover the wonders of American oak.” The deep fruit and earth melded into and by the barrel makes for a very pleasurable drop. The ’08 released into the Ontario market in November 2014 lends credence to the ageability of this Garnacha. Drink 2015-2019. Tasted October 2015 and July 2016 @GranViu @VinosCarinena @DoCarinena @Vinexxperts

Quails’ Gate Gewürztraminer 2014, BC VQA Okanagan Valley, British Columbia (354480, $17.95, WineAlign)

The ripest Quail’s Gate gewürztraminer ever may be some kind of anomic desert hyperbole but wow is this fleshy, extracted and beautiful. Spicy too, with a minor citrus pith and almost into slight effervescence. Fun with gewürztraminer. Drink 2016-2018. Tasted July 2016 @Quails_Gate @hobbsandco @AMH_hobbsandco

Santa Rita Medalla Real Syrah 2012, Limarí Valley, Chile (443523, $17.95, WineAlign)

From the northerly clime of the Limari this is seductively floral syrah with an edge of peppery spice. It just feels balanced on the nose and silky sweet in mouthfeel. Pushes characterization towards incomplex tautology. Linger with it long enough and the fine tannins will rear and bring everything back to earth. Cue the value jingle. Drink 2016-2020. Tasted July 2016 @SantaRitaEst @WinesofChile @DrinkChile @ImportWineMAFWM @MarkAnthonyWine

Redstone Limestone Vineyard South Riesling 2012, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario (381251, $19.20, WineAlign)

The lower bowl of this Tawse-Redstone plot is the shiny one, as in happy scintillant of riesling proportions. A year on the attitude persists, in lime and honey, acacia and beeswax. Terrific tartness and direct enjoyable deposit. Enough mineral to satisfy a calcaire lover’s soul. @RedstoneWines @Tawse_Winery @DanielatTawse

From my earlier note of May 2015:

So much lime and liquid chalk make for desired and dreamy texture. The lime slides like a slick of oil into the full flavours, spiked by peach and white plum liqueur. Terrific 20 Mile value. Drink 2015-2019.

From my earlier note of May 2014:

This inaugural Riesling foray from atop the Twenty Mile Bench out of the Limestone Vineyard is a sister to the Tawse exploration from same. The comparisons end right there. Paul Pender’s take is kinetic, frenetic and electric. Redstone winemaker Rene Van Ede tends to and lends from a reconnaissance that heralds Mosel. His first, fixed take is off-dry (in obvious ubiquity) with circular acidity. The co-agitation is early picked at low brix, with realized high residual sugar (36.4 g/L) and low alcohol (10 per cent). Toothsome, with a ying/yang, lemon/lime, push/pull. The case load is formidable for a first go ’round (1000 plus) yet paddled through limestone acreage with effortless strokes.

Last tasted July 2016

Corte Giara Ripasso Valpolicella 2013, Doc Veneto, Italy (83964, $19.95, WineAlign)

Lovely Ripasso liqueur with pretty red fruit and compressed earthy accents. Resides on the correct side of tart and the exemplary aspect of sweet, fine-grained tannin. Accomplishes Ripasso intimacy by doing so at a mimetic remove. Lingers like a perfect pastille. Drink 2016-2019. Tasted July 2016 @AllegriniWine @C_Valpolicella @RegioneVeneto

William Fèvre Champs Royaux Chablis 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (461640, $24.95, WineAlign)

The Champs Royaux is Chablis drawn from a selection of Fèvre’s better grower contracts and five to 10 per cent is aged in old oak, the rest in stainless steel. It is a generalized but oh too important expression from kimmeridgian soil, hedged and qualified from all over Chablis. Takes all the hills, valleys, les clos and slope/aspect dimensions into account. It is textbook Chablis, a guarantee of quality, especially out of the cracker 2014 vintage. The fruit is ripe and the acidity a study in Chablis exactitude. The balance may be the best this cuvée has ever shown. Drink 2016-2020. Tasted July 2016 @williamfevre_ @WoodmanWS @BIVBChablis @purechablis

Roger & Didier Raimbault Sancerre 2014, Ac Loire Valley, France (82255, $26.95, WineAlign)

This white scintillant by Raimbault from Sancerre is laid out with clear instruction, like Rimbaud through Van Morrison, in precisely what sauvignon blanc needs to impress from the Loire. The beseeching immanent, insulated implosion of fruit, searing mineral and tannin multiplying within a bubble. This is tres fort fricative stuff, tart without any excess tang, notes all important and leading to a grand result. Pungency does not enter the vocabulary but the mouthful of stones is palpable and sonant. Raimbault’s 2014 offered up a sense of wonder, “showed me ways and means and motions. showed me what it’s like to be. Gave me days of deep devotions, showed me things I cannot see.” Essential sauvignon blanc with poise, precision and mandatory feel. Sincere Sancerre tore down a la Rimbaud. Drink 2016-2022. Tasted July 2016

Château Des Charmes St. David’s Bench Vineyard Cabernet Franc 2012, VQA St. David’s Bench, Niagara On The Lake, Ontario (453415, $27.95, WineAlign)

I’d put my money down on a French woman to work magic from cabernet franc grown on the warm, generous and giving St. David’s Bench. Lo and behold here is Amélie Boury with such fruit of spot on varietal countenance, magnified by the exhort of 2012. The gifts of that vintage could have been clouded with oak smothers but that case is not presented nor was it predicted. Boury certainly makes use of the barrel but its presence is textural, with mellow spice and for la longeur. This will develop efficiently and with grace, from this current anglaise stage into something modern Loire Valley en croute. It will accrue its culture and its character over seven to 10 years. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted July 2016 @MBosc

Bachelder Hautes Côtes De Beaune 2013, Ac Burgundy, France (445247, $27.95, WineAlign)

My sweet Beaune from Thomas Bachelder, as in sweet on the spontaneous haute ideal, not the cloying of residual imbalance. From a winemaker who lets his wines narrate themselves. Exemplary by George (well, Thomas) of a Beaune perfume with an underlay of acidity and tannin. No bitters here, nor astringent behaviour, nor harassment, which is nice. My sweet Beaune. Hm, my Beaune. Hm, my Beaune. Though a touch firm at present, a year ahead will see it come closer to hallelujah harmony. Drink 2017-2020. Tasted July 2016 @Bachelder_wines @BourgogneWines @vinsdebourgogne @LiffordON

Querciabella Chianti Classico 2013, Docg Tuscany, Italy (728816, $37.95, WineAlign)

Remarkable sangiovese so fleshy and forthright, modern and of an extreme brightness of being. There is an underlying Greve truth be told in moderation, tradition and historical meets varietal significance but it’s a new oration. This means that the structure is both sound and hermetically sealed. The lightness of volatility is a reminder of the past but it treads so delicately you just know this is a shining star pointing the way to the future. A brilliant “normale” without the the new slang of Gran Selezione but in many respects it may as well be. Drink 2018-2025. Tasted July 2016 @Querciabella @chianticlassico @rogcowines

Fisticuffs Cabernet Sauvignon 2012, Napa Valley, California (457507, $49.95, WineAlign)

From Pavi Wines comes this study in hedonistic Napa Valley balance from out of a top-notch vintage. Ripe fruit and oak spice dance a simple cabernet sauvignon language with rope-a-dope drupe, right-handed acidity and a solid tannic left. A peremptory wine but its message is an assertion rather than a persuasion. Not a heavyweight by any means but behold the high-strung, svelte and agile middleweight. Possessive of the stuffing and the stamina to go a full fifteen rounds. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted July 2016

Flowers Sonoma Coast Chardonnay 2014, Sonoma Coast, California (215210, $68.95, WineAlign)

A near perfect vintage after a mild winter was presented to shape this ripe gathering of increased extraction. Though the previous years pale in comparison, there can be no mistaking the load of impression. The causation supplied by extreme coastal vineyards with dramatic altitude stretches and elongates the fruit and so it is hard to get to know the oak. The bite is toothsome into great green apple, perfectly ripened grapefruit and a far eastern note of Indonesian sasak (snake) fruit. The materials and the handling are as one, from purchased coastal fruit to winemaker Dave Keatley’s acquiescent dispensation. Delicate fortitude from Sonoma. Where else before but here can chardonnay sire and develop such a family? Drink 2016-2022. Tasted July 2016 @FlowersWinery @rogcowines @sonomavintners

Two Hands Samantha’s Garden Shiraz 2013, Clare Valley, South Australia, Australia (67355, $71.95, WineAlign)

This is simply gorgeous shiraz from the Clare Valley. A wine of balance, precision and focus. It seems the wood regimen has been relaxed in welcoming retreat. On a rare occasion when a garden of flowers can bloom through despite so much fruit and an equal tempering by wood, well that is a joyous thing. The texture is woven from pure silk and the quality of the ganache painted with the finest brush. This never over soaks, runs roughshod or lays down the hammer. It is a fine-tuned shiraz of the highest esteem. Drink 2018-2030. Tasted July 2016 @twohandswine @bwwines @Wine_Australia

Good to go!

Twitter: @mgodello

Instagram: mgodello

WineAlign

Raveneau’s Grand Cru Blanchot 2009

Jul11

Down by the river with #raveneau #grandcru #blanchot #chablis @lafolieauxerre #2009 #francoisraveneau #thankful

A week crawling through Chablis is blissful beyond imagination. Though 2016 has been and will always be the most challenging and complicated in recorded recent history, Chablis will survive and its ethos will persist. I will be penning a chilliad of Chablis thoughts, memories and tasting notes in the coming months, but for now there is Raveneau.

The peerless Kermit Lynch has referred to Domaine François Raveneau as “the most sublime and the most celebrated estate of Chablis.” Production is minuscule, quality at the apex of the Chablis psyche and availability rare as endangered species.

Dinner at Auxerre’s Restaurant Le Folie was accompanied by a Raveneau rarity, the Grand Cru Blanchot 2009. On this I wrote my note.

Domaine François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Blanchot 2009, Burgundy, France

It would be misleading to address Raveneau’s Blanchot as chardonnay even as we know it as such because Raveneau produces wines as unique as door keys. They are so inimitable and each will only open the gate to its own unique perception. Blanchot is the southernmost of the seven Chablis Grand Cru climats and blankets the southeastern side of Les Clos. The Raveneau narration does not convey the notion of manifest feeling but instead splits the axiomatic atom of the climat. A sip and you are inside the Blanchot, gliding and passing through rock as if you are the ethereal and the wine is the solid foundation of thought, pathos and avowal. There are aromas that combine citrus and umami with a sweetness that can’t be denied or defined. The wine is just a child, complex, shy and yet unable to express both its meaning and power. But you try to get inside its head, stumbling over kimmeridgian rock replete with the smithereen-crushed shells of ancient fossils. This is a calm young Blanchot and you melt away while under its spell. Three more years should render its hidden meaning. Drink 2019-2034. Tasted July 2016.

Singular setting. Diversified flavours. In a word, merveilleux. @LaFolieAuxerre #julienmartinat #auxerre

Good to go!

Twitter: @mgodello

Instagram: mgodello

WineAlign

Drink now or save it for later?

Jun9

Olivier & Lafont Gigondas 2013 and Domaine La Fourmone Le Poète Vacqueyras 2013

When you face the reality of finding yourself in VINTAGES ambivalence, slowly pacing, randomly, to and fro across the wine map of the world. These are times when you don’t have the faintest clue why, or what, or, for what reason and to what end. It’s not simply a matter of what wine should you pick. No, it’s deeper than that and even if you don’t realize the magnitude of the decision, the lucubration is also there. The exercitation of the intellect incites the self-reflective question. Drink now or save it for later?

It does not matter if you have come to this place to purchase a bottle of wine for tonight’s dinner. It matters not if that wine is a dinner invitation gift, in fact, it matters more. You might bring that purchase home and decide that another more prescient bottle is ready. Your friend may choose to save your contribution for another, further down the cellared road day. And so every purchase is fraught with trepidation, with dichotomy, with doubt.

Don’t bother trying to explain them
Just hold my hand while I come to a decision on it

Price is the most obvious demarcation point for early, middle or late consumption. The number is not a hard one nor is there a guarantee for success. Everything is based on probability, risk, reward and chance. Twenty five dollars can buy you 10 years and in some cases, 10 months. If provenance is near-perfect, before and after purchase then the odds increase dramatically. Any bottle of wine, whether $10 or $100 that spent time in the sauna of a storage tank, tanker or storage tomb will take their leave in adolescence. You have to ask yourself the question, level up or level down? Spend $15 or $50. Crack it tonight or in 2025? Remember this. Contradictions are what make wine interesting. Consistency is for cooking.

I have spent the last 30 years considering wine in some respect. The last 15 much more so. The tries, trials, errors, tricks, and tribulations have taught me one thing. I prefer and receive much more instant gratification from drinking wines young but nothing compares to the insight and the exhilaration of partaking in older wines. Fifteen years are that terminus, at least for me. You will notice that five wines reviewed below fall into the near breaching $30 price category. A certain kind of sweet spot for wines that can spend quality time in the cellar.

As the weekend approaches, the VINTAGES June 11th release brings the two worlds together, as it always does, to tease buyers into making yet another bi-weekly decision. Drink now or save it for later? The answer is both. Some things never change. I’ve 15 recommendations for you. After all, isn’t that the magic number?

Crios De Susana Balbo Chardonnay 2014, Mendoza, Argentina (243196, $13.95, WineAlign)

Fresh, reductive and herbal scented chardonnay from winemaker Susana Balbo, nicely delineated from ripe 2014 fruit. There is a decidedly toasted barrel edgy spice and good tart complications. Simply stated, properly made chardonnay. Drink 2016-2018. Tasted May 2016 @susubalbo @sbalbowines @ProfileWineGrp @winesofarg @ArgentinaWineCA

Emiliana Organic Brut Sparkling, Charmat Method, Casablanca Valley, Chile (451914, $15.95, WineAlign)

Waves of natural, fresh-air, verdant meadows running cool with rapid run-off springs aromas make this Casablanca Valley sparkler feel fresh and inviting. The palate takes it to a very citrus place, albeit within the context of pale, lucid and pellucid. Great value and fresh as there is. Drink 2016-2018. Tasted May 2016 @VinosEmiliana @WinesofChile @DrinkChile @WinesOfChile_CA

Jardin Sauvignon Blanc 2014, Wo Stellenbosch, South Africa (663302, $16.95, WineAlign)

Reductive and so very pungent, here we receive sauvignon blanc from Stellenbosch with a real sense of high-spirited purpose. Carries a bit of fresh Sancerre proposition in its heart and seeks to take matters up to another South African level. It mostly succeeds. Drink 2016-2018. Tasted May 2016 @AbconWine @WOSACanada @WOSA_ZA

Château Des Charmes Estate Bottled Old Vines Pinot Noir 2011, VQA Niagara On The Lake, Ontario (256834, $18.95, WineAlign)

Perhaps a difficult vintage for pinot noir but not so for healthy, established, confident old vines. From berries to beets and cola, all wrapped up in cozy sweetness, here pinot noir sings uninhibited and free. It is surprisingly easy to drink and not at all astringent. Thanks afforded the vineyard and the winemaker’s deft, less is more touch. Drink 2016-2020. Tasted May 2016 @MBosc

Tawse Spark Limestone Ridge Riesling 2014, Méthode Traditionnelle, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario (370361, $19.95, WineAlign)

A rich, heady, toasty and vital Riesling from the terrific Twenty Mile Bench Limestone Road Vineyard, tilted out with preserved citrus and waxy, lemony concentration. At present this outlays on the sour-rutaceae-rusticae ledge and I can see why it would be both confounding and misunderstood. The vineyard and its riesling in sparkling form search for a coming together, in bottle, without the assistance of gross lees. A few years are required and needed for the sugars to work their magic and strike fear into the citrus for future balance. I think this will come around and really find its aim to please. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted May 2016 @Tawse_Winery @DanielatTawse @Paul_Pender

Byron & Harold Rose & Thorns Shiraz 2013, Great Southern, Western Australia, Australia (453183, $19.95, WineAlign)

Just as every rose has its thorn, Western Australia has its knight is shining armour in Great Southern. Shiraz from this place is possessive of its very own, singular and distinctive perfume, like roses in hyperbole and varietal specific oak-imparted exotic spice. Byron and Harold does shiraz as if by Shakespeare, of the Dane, with his courtesans on call. A cool, long drink of shiraz soliloquy, finished with currants, citrus and relative cool climate acidity. Special value here. You can pick the right poison with this power ballad. Drink 2017-2024. Tasted June 2016 @ByronandHarold @KylixWines @Wine_Australia

Flat Rock Nadja’s Vineyard Riesling 2015, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (578625, $24.95, WineAlign)

This is an outlier for the Nadja’s Vineyard riesling, with deeper concentration and compression than before. More Mosel and less Twenty Mile in 2015, of light alcohol and an increase in off-dry, extract meets acidity. There have been Nadja’s with more air and exhale but I can’t recall one with such density in vitality. A great Nadja to be sure but of a deferential sort of character. Two or three years should bring it back into its self-imposed and created line. Drink 2018-2024. Tasted May 2016 @Winemakersboots @brightlighter1 @UnfilteredEd

Seresin Sauvignon Blanc 2014, Marlborough, South Island, New Zealand (735043, $24.95, WineAlign)

Sauvignon Blanc borrows a page from its first Marlborough golden age in this Serezin 2014, finning balance in the most important facets of its character. Ripe fruit, natural acidity and memorable dry extract. The citrus is exotic, the stone fruit balanced between tart and ripe, the finish long and meaningful. With so much pungency in surround abound this exhales a true breath of fresh spring air. Were Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc always like this I would be glad with a glass, every day. Drink 2016-2019. Tasted May 2016 @SeresinEstate @DionysusWines @NZwineCanada @nzwine

Tabalí Talinay Pinot Noir 2013, Coastal Limestone Vineyard, Limarí Valley, Chile (443440, $27.95, WineAlign)

Limestone and martime influences converge in this highly perfumed pinot noir. It smells of red berries, soft, wet rock and mollusc shell. The crustaceous salinity is a new drift for pinot noir but not entirely out of the happy equation. Loquacious and malleable, the flavours replay what red berry meets white light the nose had given. This is quite singular in expression, natural and handsome. At $28 it is a terrific, unexpected find. Drink 2017-2023. Tasted May 2016 @TabaliWines @hobbsandco @WinesofChile @DrinkChile @WinesOfChile_CA

Oldenburg Vineyards Syrah 2012, Wo Stellenbosch, South Africa (443457, $27.95, WineAlign)

Indicative of the new and improved Stellenbosch for syrah, in which perfectly ripe phenolic fruit meets consumer appeal. Quite a traditional upbringing means clean, pure, rich and plenty but it does not embrace new or outside the box. For the price this represents tremendous, albeit traditional value in a syrah with no fraying or funky edges. It will live a perfectly long life. Drink 2017-2027. Tasted May 2016 @Oldenburgwines @WOSACanada @WOSA_ZA

Domaine La Fourmone Le Poète Vacqueyras 2013, Ac Rhône, France (452268, $29.95, Wine Align)

Poetic and stunning Vacqueyras, so fluid, natural and effortless. From raspberry to plum, by garrigue and though dusty, delicate underbrush, the cure is cut with hands-off dedication. A certain kind of delicate spice just pricks here and there but you know it’s there. This is exactly what restrained Rhône and vacuous Vacqueyras need to be. The tannins are so fine. Such great structure will take this very long. Drink 2017-2025. Tasted May 2016 @Lafourmone @VINSRHONE @RhoneWine @TFBrands

Concha Y Toro Terrunyo Peumo Vineyard Block 27 Carmenère 2012, Entre Cordilleras, Peumo, Cachapoal Valley, Chile (562892, $29.95, WineAlign)

Concha Y Toro’s Block 27 has always dominated the price meets profundity of this signature varietal success story for Chile. Calling out a vineyard its equal for correctness and depth at under $30 Canadian is a tall order. Gobs, waves and oscillations of dark fruit, intense savoury scents and the rush gained from a syringe-injection of its lush elixir perpetuate in 2012. This albeit with a roast and a confiture of black currant and bell pepper. Or vice versa. Ripe acidity and tannin add layers, not opposition. The overall amalgamation seems a bit sweet though in actuality the grit is what stakes claim and standing. Nothing but huge in 2012. Drink 2018-2023. Tasted May 2016 @conchaytoro #escaladewines @WinesofChile @DrinkChile @WinesOfChile_CA

Olivier & Lafont Gigondas 2013, Ac Rhône, France (452300, $29.95, Wine Align)

Beautifully accomplished and confident Giogondas from messieurs Olivier et Lafont, ripe but restrained, balanced and carefully, contractually structured. Purity and silky albeit spicy textures wrap themselves up in flavour. No spikes, rips or fissures are to be found. Exemplary Gigondas. Drink 2018-2028. Tasted May 2016 @vonterrabev @VINSRHONE @RhoneWine

Jean Dauvissat Vaillons Vieilles Vignes Chablis 1er Cru 2009, Ac Burgundy, France (457002, $49.95, Wine Align)

Any signs that put this old vines Dauvissat into a time machine dating back to 2009 are less than obvious. Its freshness and composure are astounding. Chablis of structure as laid out in this Vaillons walks a particularly direct line and steadies effortlessly in one spot. The flint, toast and struck rock are subtle, atomically spicy, fine and unseen. The direct connectivity between vineyard and chardonnay is near perfect. Premier Cru would be hard pressed to exceed the limits of this Vaillons’ ability. Drink 2016-2024. Tasted May 2016 @BIVBChablis @BourgogneWines

Ridge Lytton Springs 2013, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County, California, USA (982413, $57.95, Wine Align)

From the vineyard planted in 1902, with petite sirah as the number two support to Zinfandel (as opposed to Geyserville), the Lytton Springs is not as mineral but it has a deeper intent. Perfume repeats as it should and has to. Only Lytton Springs smells like this, more floral of fruit and its blossoms in opposition, interchangeable and in support of one another, out of a pretty aromatic vintage, It is the palate that digs into baked earth, so very masculine and tougher by tannin. Density is but ethereal, acidity so similar but this is certainly richer and retreats back to that feel of natural fermentation. A tremendous Lytton Springs, born this way, with wisdom and structure and will remain for 10 plus years before really beginning to change. Tremendous balance in a characterful field blend red. Drink 2018-2024. Tasted twice, May 2016 @RidgeVineyards @VinoTorino @rogcowines @sonomavintners @CalifWines_CA

Good to go!

Twitter: @mgodello

Instagram: mgodello

WineAlign

On tasting blind and VINTAGES April 30th

Apr28

“Every time I look at you I go blind.” #timetotaste @WineAlign

Saturday will bring forth yet another LCBO Ontario VINTAGES release. Every other Friday (and most Tuesdays) I taste through them, along with my colleagues at WineAlign (David Lawrason, John Szabo M.S. and Sara d’Amato), as well as a dozen or more multifarious and multi-motley wine writers. The wines and spirits are laid out with Warsaw Pact jibing intendment and we plod through, free as birds, privy with full disclosure for what we are assembled to inspect.

Related – Heading out for the west coast

At WineAlign David, John, Sara, Steve Thurlow and I spend quality time with LCBO and/or VINTAGES destined products but we do so with wine-apprisement obliquity. When we arrive at the office and sit down to taste we are met with bottles covered with aluminum foil. We taste blind. Not completely mind you. A spreadsheet tells us the varietal(s) and region/country of origin. I too wonder if this can be truly be considered tasting blind.

The debate chases down critics and systems of evaluation with dogged persistence. Should wine be judged without any prior knowledge or preconceived notion about what’s in the glass? Must a tasting be conducted blind for a critic to objectively dispense an unbiased, unswayed and uninfluenced assessment of a wine?

The short answer is yes. Wine competitions are conducted blind, with only the varietal and perhaps place of origin as the sole bits of information with which to go on. The understanding is that if there are medals to be doled out, picking winners must be done with prejudice and favouritism set deliberately aside. But the wringer runs deeper. By definition, should any information be available at all?

To blind or not to blind, that is the question

As for grapes, a Gamay should be judged against other Gamays and so a critic may as well know that the flight is filled with nothing but Gamay. Mixing varietals within a flight distorts the playing field and skews the results. Place of origin is more complicated. While it is helpful to know where a wine hails from so that it may get a fair shake against competitors or peers composed of the same grape, that seemingly insignificant bit of information adds bias to the process. At the WineAlign Wine Awards of Canada the region is not pre-disclosed, except that the judges know that all the wines come from Canada. In competitions involving wines from around the world the regions are also excluded. Only the grape and price range is mentioned. Shouldn’t we do the same for all blind tastings? In fact, the bias of price might also be avoided.

I don’t know what it is

Something in me just won’t give it a chance

I think it’s just that I feel more confused by the deal

The tougher question is whether we as critics should be tasting all wines blind, all the time, or at least whenever possible. That is to say, whenever investigations are being processed for the purpose of publishing tasting notes and perhaps more importantly, assigning scores or ratings. Who does not believe that wine must be tasted without any assistance from marketing, pedigree and prior experience? The devil’s advocate approach would declare it unfair to so many honest wines to not be given credit for many years of hard work and success. Why should a wine with a longstanding reputation for excellence have to begin again in every vintage just to prove itself? The rub I feel, is there.

I think it’s that because I have seen all the fuss

And it’s no big deal

The following 11 recommendations from the VINTAGES April 30th release were not tasted blind. They succeed because they are honest, well-made and accurate representations of varietal and place. I am confident they would all fare just as well had they been assessed without knowing what they were. Good wine has a habit of finding its way into a taster’s heart, blind, or not.

Mcguigan Bin 9000 Semillon 2015, Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia (444554, $14.95, WineAlign)

Distinguishes itself for the Hunter Valley oeuvre with impossibly pale yet rich and stark-dressed fruit. More fruity than most and so nearly, just on the cusp of getable at such a young age. A terrific example to gain entry into the valley’s great white varietal hope while waiting for the serious crew to open the doors to their longevity-accrued perceptions. Takes one for the team with bells ringing and whistles blowing. It will drink well for five years and just develop a bit of that aged Semillon character near the end of the fruit line. Drink 2016-2020. Tasted April 2016 @mcguiganwines @Wine_Australia @ChartonHobbs

Featherstone Black Sheep Riesling 2015, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (80234, $16.95, WineAlign)

Impressively expressive early to market 2015 Riesling, off-dry, partially pungent and markedly concentrated. The Black Sheep always smells and tastes like this; fifty-fifty fruit to mineral, concentrated and sweet from ripe extract and tannin. Whether you are an expert or a newbie to Niagara Peninsula Riesling, the Black Sheep is guaranteed. Drink 2016-2020. Tasted April 2016 @featherstonewne

El Maestro Sierra Pedro Ximénez Sherry, Do Jerez, Spain (451468, $17.95, WineAlign)

Now. We. Are. Talking. Vino dulce natural of quite reasonably low alcohol and extreme elevated unction. Nutty and full of dried apricots, sweeter than some but really well balanced. Dessert all by itself with just enough acidity. Tart and tight, nuts again, spice and marzipan. Really tricks the tongue and pricks the senses. Sweet. Drink 2016-2018. Tasted April 2016 @MaestroSierra @TFBrands

Montes Outer Limits Sauvignon Blanc Zapallar Vineyard 2015, Aconcagua Valley, Chile (389643, $19.95, WineAlign)

This is an exciting hyperbole of Chile, a Sauvignon Blanc from the coast with wild flavours and singing aromatics. An inwardly deliciousness SB filled from within by a lactic streak and an exceptionally reserved tartness. Great length. So different, so new, so exciting. If it’s a bit warm and perhaps higher than alcohol than it notes, so be it. It has real vitality. Job well done with this newly directed Montes. Drink 2016-2020. Tasted April 2016 @MontesWines @WinesofChile @DrinkChile @ProfileWineGrp

Stratus Vineyards Wildass Red 2012, VQA Niagara On The Lake, Ontario (86363, $19.95, WineAlign)

It would be hard to figure any sub-$20 red Ontario blend showing a deeper sense of ripeness, wood intent, sinew, cure, triturate resin and dry barbecue rub – than this Stratus ’12. It’s a bit of a head scratching, game-changing meritage, altering the course for $20 red blends forever. At the risk of forming comparisons, it puts me in mind of other places, like Roussillon, Campania and Navarra. It has coal running through its arteries and tonic spewing out of its fountains. Wild my ass? Yes. Drink 2015-2019. Tasted September 2015 @StratusWines

13th Street Gamay Noir 2013, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (177824, $19.95, WineAlign)

Four months has upped the funk for ’13, with tar and bitters still and thick as summer air. Rich and ripe, notable for its black cherry aroma and that J.P. Colas natural truncation. Unique, as always and very Gamay. Drink 2015-2019.

From my earlier note of December 2014:

Fruit was sourced from both the Sandstone and Whitty Vineyards for 13th Street’s Gamay Noir, a focused and gritty adjunct in ode to the Cru Beaujolais approach. This ’13 raises the aromatic and texture bar and just may be the most striking from a 13th Street estate mix. All the important berries are there, as are the mineral quandaries. In a Gamay moment this will lead you to gulp and giggle with #GoGamayGo delight.

Last tasted April and Sepetember 2015, April 2016 @13thStreetWines @Noble_Estates

Tenuta Di Capraia Chianti Classico 2013, Docg Tuscany, Italy (135277, $21.95, WineAlign)

Extreme freshness, ripe red fruit and ripping acidity in such a young Chianti Classico. Possessive of an underlying mineral and dry tannic structure with such correct use of older oak and kept clean under the threshold of over-modernising alcohol. This reeks of some whole cluster work and tastes of the soil though never in any funky way. It’s extreme purity and cleanliness is second to none. This will last for longer than imagined. Drink 2016-2023. Tasted April 2016 #TenutaDiCapraia @chianticlassico @ProfileWineGrp

Jeremy Dineen of Josef Chromy Wines, Tasmania

Josef Chromy Chardonnay ‘Pepik’ 2014, Tasmania, Australia (378240, $22.95, WineAlign)

Combines beauty and bitters for a streak of natural selection through a field of texture. Heads for the cream risen to the top of rich, pulls over and steps aside to allow for a crunch of green apple. The bite is real, lit by match and cut with spice. Great length. Drink 2015-2020. Tasted July 2015 @JosefChromy @bwwines

De Grendel Shiraz 2013, Wo Coastal Region, Durbanville, Coastal Region, South Africa (174557, $24.95, WineAlign)

Strapping, youthful, dark as night Cape of Good Hope Shiraz, full of rich beginnings, soil reduction and barrel imaging. Vivid off the charts, rich red fruit, mineral undercurrent, wreaths of floral tethering and a rip tide riding rolling waves of cape intensity. Quite wow. Crazy good value. Drink 2018-2025. Tasted April 2016 @degrendelwines @WOSA_ZA @WOSACanada @imbibersreport

Vincent Mothe Chablis 2014, Ac Burgundy, France (390468, $26.95, WineAlign)

Perfectly pretty little village Chablis, flinty, lemon piercing and pouring like crystal clear, tiny drops of rain. Chardonnay on needles and pins, a white scintillant with tart berries, tannin and extra layers of dry extract. Terrific for so many reasons and with every reason to pair and to believe. While others moan “I been meek and hard like an oak,” with a glass of the Mothe I am blessed with “buckets of moonbeams in my hand.” If this were $20 it would be right up there with best ever. Close enough. This is a perfect example of why everyone should drink Chablis. Drink 2016-2019. Tasted April 2016 #VincentMothe @BIVBChablis @bourgognespress @BourgogneWines

Kim Crawford Small Parcels Corner 50 Vineyard Merlot/Cabernet 2013, Hawkes Bay, North Island, Marlborough, New Zealand (447433, $29.95, WineAlign)

Made from fruit grown in the Corner 50 vineyard located in the Bridge Pa Triangle wine district on the western side of the Heretaunga Plains of Hawke’s Bay. Diverse soils of Ngatarawa Gravels, Takapau Silty-loam (free draining red metal of mixed alluvial and volcanic origin) work towards a Bordeaux kind of varietal character and charm. Red recreational fruit and ripe, ropey acidity interact together in this very spirited North Island red. A Hawke’s Bay beauty with vivid and spirited energy. The oak is still very much in play but in no way on top. The cake factor is very low, the lushness happening in texture though not on the level of plush. Really good effort. Drink 2016-2018. Tasted April 2016 @kimcrawfordwine @CBrandsCareers @nzwine @NZwineCanada

Norman Hardie Niagara Unfiltered Chardonnay 2014, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (184432, $39.00, WineAlign)

It’s hard not to compare Norman Hardie’s Niagara Chardonnay side by side with his County-grown and produced estate counterpart but also with other top end Niagara bottles. The fruit he sources from Duarte Oliveira’s Beamsville Bench farm offers the first leg up. The reductive and minimalist handling style is the second piece of the impossibility puzzle. Though not as closed as some in the past, freshness has never been so bright. The slow Hardie Chard evolution and painstaking road to malolactic could result in perdition but miraculously never does. The cumulative culled from out of patience leads to a reward in near perfect textural deference and defiance. The 12.2 per cent declaration of alcohol is exemplary though it could hardly cross the 11.5 threshold if it wanted to or tried. Chardonnay left alone, to find its way, fend for itself, unstirred, unassailed and deft above or beyond reproach. Enjoy a Hardie Niagara Chardonnay in its early youth. They are not meant to be stashed away forever. Drink 2017-2021. Tasted April 2016 @normhardie

Trapiche Terroir Series Malbec Finca Ambrosia 2010, Single Vineyard, Mendoza, Argentina (402941, $39.95, WineAlign)

The pitchiest Malbec of dark black fruit, weight and substance. Really ambrosial, a thick swath of berry, wood and tannin. This Malbec can run with the players any day of the week. Structurally sound and massive, fully, completely accomplished and offering much reward. There is a resinous, cedar and briar note of amalgamation and complexity. It will take three or more years to bring all the exceptional components together. Drink 2019-2024. Tasted April 2016 @TrapicheWines @winesofarg @ArgentinaWineCA

Good to go!

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All in the Primum Familiae Vini

Apr12

Primum Familiae Vini tasting at Toronto’s Four Seasons Hotel, April 23rd, 2015

Can there be a more visceral wine experience than tasting some of the world’s greatest wine estates and all the while their principals just seem to only talk about history and family? Makes me think about parents, grandparents and children. About accomplishments, passing torches and smelling roses. Or something like that.

Perhaps it was the news of Etienne Hugel’s passing that was the impetus for me to relive this day, where giants gathered and mere mortals did their best to take in the magnitude of such a coterie of distinction. That afternoon gifted me and others their five minutes with Mr. Hugel, the epitome of Alsatian, a tireless ambassador for the Hugel brand, Alsace wines and the Primum Familiae Vini congregation of producers. Or maybe it was just the right time, a crossroads one year later where the confluence of circumstance and thought conjoined to let the notes come out.

Tastes of PFV

As a stark contrast to the increasingly agitating globalization of wine, the Primum Familiae Vini members stand out as leading wine families whose aim it is “to defend and promote the traditions and values of family owned wine companies, and ensure that such ideals survive and prosper for future generations.” The PFV is an international association of some of the world’s finest wine producing families from France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain. Created in 1992, membership into the organization is by invitation only, with a maximum of 12 highly respected families contributing generations of expertise.

PFV

The PFV estate principals arrived in Toronto for an April 23rd, 2015 Press Lunch at the Four Seasons Hotel organized by wine ambassador Christophe Brunet. On hand were Hubert De Billy, Etienne Hugel, Laurent Drouhin, Egon Müller, Miguel Torres, Priscilla Incise della Rocchetta, Thomas Perrin, Allegra Antinori, Julien Beaumarchais de Rothschild, Pablo Alvarez and Rupert Symington. Each arrived to represent eleven of the world’s leading families that at the time of the tasting, made up the association: Marchesi Antinori, Château Mouton Rothschild, Joseph Drouhin, Egon Müller Scharzhof, Hugel & Fils, Champagne Pol Roger, Famille Perrin, Symington Family Estates, Tenuta San Guido, Miguel Torres and Vega Sicilia. Each family owns vineyard estates, is one of its country’s most prestigious producers, and enjoys an international reputation for its wines. Each year in turn, a member of the association is elected President. The 2014/2015 President was Alessia Antinori, while in 2015/2016 she was succeeded by Miguel Torres.

PFV wines

Primum Familiae Vini supports charitable causes, hosting gala dinners to raise funds for a local charity by auctioning a PFV Collection Case. The beneficiaries have primarily been focused on helping disadvantaged children, the handicapped and specialist hospitals including. Some of these beneficiaries have been Childhood Brazil, Brasil, San Patrignano Charity, Italy, Grapes for Humanity, USA, Somdetya Charity Fund, Thailand, Kidney Dialysis Foundation (KDF), Singapore, The Public Welfare of Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo and the The Toronto Foundation for Student Success. In total, over $325K has been raised.

Pablo Alvarez, Vega Sicilia with Godello and Larent Drouhin, Maison Joseph Drouhin

Pablo Alvarez, Vega-Sicilia with Godello and Larent Drouhin, Maison Joseph Drouin

As you well know it’s all about the wine and the tasting note for Godello. The art of composing snapshots of wines tasted is a cathartic experience and the only way to bring about closure. It is a necessary process, cannot and will not be abandoned. The scores attached can stay put or go away. Neither relevant nor essential, scores are merely road signs on the exegetical path through wine. Once you pass them by their use is no longer needed.

My notes for the wines tasted are long and prosaic, even longer than most that I write, which says something about the profundity of such a tasting. That it took me the better part of a year to finalize my thoughts is not surprising. Until now I found no way to serve proper justice to these wines.

Primum Familiae Vini

Famille Hugel Riesling Jubilee 2010, Aoc Alsace, France (731448, $55.00, WineAlign)

The Jubilee’s style mirrors a reflection, of name, its maker and in the ripples it will gently spread as it progresses through time. Riesling that will eventuate to luxe, calme et volupté, like coming home after 50 years, resolved of sin, “in this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his property.” Hugel’s Jubilee is sourced from family-owned vines on the steep slopes of the Grand Cru Schoenenbourg above the village of Riquewihr. Terroir of great variegation; Keuper, marl, dolomite and gypsum, quaternary siliceous gravel, Vosges sandstone, Muschelkalk and periphery Lias marl limestones. The vintage is special, with no allowance for yields to climb and rife with sought after Riesling attributes. That of tannic intent, coursing coarseness of mineral condensation and repossessing acidity wrapped up in an enigma. Going forward it will gently give back but also remain rigid, slightly hidden, at times dormant, until such time when paraffin and honey take over. One of the finer Riesling cuvées of Alsace. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted April 2015 @FamilleHugel @HalpernWine @AlsaceWines @VinsAlsace @drinkAlsace

Super #champagne overture. I will always surrender. @Pol_Roger #sirwinstonchurchill 2002 #primumfamiliaevini

Pol Roger Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill Vintage Brut Champagne 2002, Champagne, France (SAQ, 12027016, $247.25, WineAlign)

From one of the great Champagne vintages of the last 20 years, the 2002 ode to the British Bulldog is full of French vigor and supernatant rationalism. In 2015 its hue is golden gingered and the fine mousse causes sensory skips in the heart’s beats. These bubbles pay attention and tease the most sensitive olfactory nerve endings. The brioche baking and crumbs toasting are still just mere twinkles in the aromatic eye. The year 1996 is on many tasters’ minds and this wine has no qualms telling a direct lineage tale. Can there be more proof than what is spoken in the structure of this young wine? The bitters are forged from compression, without weight and void of oppression. A pleasure to taste, this Champagne is a deactivated refugee from an ancient European dominion. It’s hard to imagine it ever being anything but elegant and cool. Drink 2016-2027. Tasted April 2015 @Pol_Roger @Champagne @HalpernWine

Scallop, kumquat, baby leek, caviar #fourseasonstoronto #julienlaffargue #primumfamiliaevini with #drouhin #chablis grand cru les clos 2012 and #egonmuller #riesling #scharzhofberger kabinett 1994

Joseph Drouhin Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 2012

Joseph Drouhin Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 2012, Burgundy, France (SAQ, 10998708, $88.00, WineAlign)

Drouhin’s Les Clos is Chablis incarnate. It delivers the importance of form and structure, with the incantatory power of storytelling to foresee the eventuality of its Moirai. It possesses the staying power to reveal the truth and reward with the fullness of gratification. Imagine pears, some dried and some fresh, pulverized and turned into gold stone. That is Les Clos. Barrels used are one to four years old and since 2004 there is no stirring of the lees. This determination arranges to opt for longevity of structure over immediacy in elegance. The enclosure is lacy organza, the interior filled with ripe fruit. Time (60 minutes) induces a mine of mineral wealth emergence, of shifting plates and rising outcrops from the quarry underfoot. Patience is required to bring all the moving parts in line. Drink 2017-2027. Tasted April 2015 @JDrouhin @BIVBChablis @BourgogneWines @FWMCan @Dandurandwines

Keep the car running. Magic 1994 #riesling from #egonmuller #primumfamiliaevini #scharzhofberger #rieslingkabinett

Egon Müller Scharzhofberger Kabinett Riesling 1994, Mosel, Germany (SAQ, 12587945, $79.75, WineAlign)

It must first be said that after 90 minutes in the glass the orange blossoms open in the early morning to release their spring fragrance into the room. In a conference room at Toronto’s Four Seasons Hotel. Now I don’t really know if the Scharzhofberg vineyard was actually planted by the Romans or if it was occupied by eighth century Trier St Marien ad Martyres monks. If following the French Revolution it was in the possession of the Duchy of Luxembourg I couldn’t say. I can equivocate, with irrefutable conviction that tasting Egon Müller’s 1994 twenty one years after its release confirms the vineyard’s reputation for housing irreverent Riesling. The arcade fire of remarkable hue, life-affirming aromatic energy and sky-lift brilliance is palpable. At 20 plus years the ideology, eventuality and passionate progression of purely distilled Mosel fruit is realized. Currently suspended in jet-trail animation, the sugars over gas of this Kabinett are quantitatively resilient. The relationship has seen a symbiotic feeding for longevity. Riesling of stoicism, classic prevalence and perfect balance. The specific Scharzhofberg tang has been revised to elevate a new order derivative recorded in every pure note. “There’s a weight that’s pressing down, late at night you can hear the sound.” Time held will move forward ever so slowly. Keep the car running. Drink 2015-2034. Tasted April 2015 #EgonMuller @germanwineca

Miguel Torres Mas La Plana 2010

Miguel Torres Mas La Plana Cabernet Sauvignon 2010, Penedès, Spain (129676, $59.00, WineAlign)

The Torres Mas La Plana explains to the world why Penedès is one of the most important Cabernet Sauvignon outposts on the planet. In deference to its moniker, flat is not the operative word. With such lifted exuberance, richness and depth of fruit, it must be dared said that Bordeaux wisdom speaks from its Spanish roots. If Mas La Plana can always be good, this vintage is great. The layering of wood over Penedès soil gives it spice and subterranean pungency; cinnamon, clove, truffle and morel. This wine is now an internationally-styled giant, an expatriate made French wine with Spanish flair. Layered, structured and so much special fruit. All about the fruit. Drink 2016-2023. Tasted April 2015 @TorresWines @dopenedes

The reds of lunch. #vegasicilia #moutonrothschild #sassicaia #solaia #chateaudebeaucastel #maslaplana #primumfamiliaevini

Château De Beaucastel Châteauneuf Du Pape 2005

Château De Beaucastel Châteauneuf Du Pape 2005, Rhône, France (711317, $89.95, WineAlign)

Expectations are high for 2005 and the opening notes of warmth, amenity and avail confirm the dream. Soon thereafter the Beaucastel plays hard to get, walks away and closes down. At this 10 year juncture its evolution is only matched by its elegance, especially considering the initial arterial ardor in mimic of the vintage. Resurfacing to conjure up character in aromatics, mint, eucalyptus, garrigue, coal and tar evince this pure Châteauneuf Du Pape. A wine of global receptiveness, the 2005 rendition tames the conception. There is very little about its personality that is parochial but rather it represents what it means to be a star, everywhere, omnipresent, for everyone. After 60 minutes it actually closes down again. This will be one of the longest lived Beaucastels. Drink 2017-2045. Tasted April 2015 @Beaucastel @RhoneWine @VINSRHONE @ChartonHobbs

Antinori Solaia 2007

Antinori Solaia 2007, Igt Toscana, Italy (987586, $249.95, WineAlign)

Tasting the 2007 Solaia feels like looking directly skyward into the high noon sun with a semi-peeled orange in one hand, juices dripping, zest split and fragrant. Flowers bloom all around, cypress trees stand as sentries, sentient and giving off a savoury musk. The rosemary joins in, as do the lavender and the fennochio, because there is a breeze. Then there is only the pitchy darkness, the iron and the animale. This Solaia exudes sunshine, creme caramel and maturity. As per the style, especially in warmer vintages, Solaia always speaks of early evolved character though you know it will last for a very long time. This I have come to know, expect and believe. Drink 2015-2022. Tasted April 2015 @AntinoriFamily @HalpernWine

Braised Bison Shortrib, spring carrot, pommes dauphines @FSToronto #solaia 2007 #moutonrothschild 2005 #vegasiciliaunico 2004 #primumfamiliaevini #julienlaffargue #fourseasonstoronto

Sassicaia 2009, Doc Bolgheri Sassicaia, Tuscany, Italy (480533, $199.95, WineAlign)

Now increasingly accessible, the ripe and ferric Sassicaia ’09 continues to roar but the gamy musk of the wild beast is on the subside. The tannins have begun to relent and yet no holes, empty spaces or time-outs are to be found. With 60 minutes of air time the fruit speaks of plum hyperbole and dried flowers fill the air. Ten more years lay comfortably ahead. Drink 2015-2025. Last tasted April 2015 #TenutaSanGuido @Smarent

Sassicaia 2009

From my earlier note of November 2012:
The raven brunette is anything but sappy or syrupy yet is impossibly viscous. Hints at ripe berries growing in the crags of maritime gravel and the most expected hits of sanguine, animal musk. A huge wine in the making, the adolescent hunter Sassicaia off-roads up a steep incline to go tell it on the mountain of tannin. Disappears into parts unknown and will only reappear as a mature adult. Look to 2025 and it may say “the perspective to say the very least, changes only with the journey.”

No cartoon. The real deal. Gehry lines. #chateaumoutonrothschild 2005 @PFvini #firstgrowth #paulliac #bordeaux #onceinalifetime #primumfamiliaevini

Château Mouton Rothschild 2005, Ac Pauillac, Bordeaux, France (SAQ 10654286, $965.00, BCLBDB, 649582, $1895.00, WineAlign)

Where to begin? That Cabernet Sauvignon can so facilely lay down the law, with deputy Merlot and deputized Cabernet Franc in support, that it can syncopate and elucidate the infinite, of soil information into warmth and depth, that is does so in such a wondrous way, well, that is the crux. Mouton of incredulous form, of a liqueur that is wholly unique, even to Bordeaux. An intoxicant and yes, funky, a distilled terroir, compressed, eschewing the fractional and essaying to integration. Reduced, layered and yet bereft of cheese, cloy or cake. Healthy as a community of organisms can be, wealthy in its archetypal discretion and drawn of an architectural line to ritualize structure. Precise, innate, insistent and balanced. The cleanest, purest and ripest fruit from 10 years ago had always and continues to cut an exegetical rug on one of the greatest dance floors of wine. An age exemplary Mouton in requiem of Italian sculptor Giuseppe Penone’s label design. After 60 minutes it neither closes nor shrinks away. Open for business. Drink 2015-2045. Tasted April 2015 #moutonrothschild

Vega-Sicilia Único 2004

Vega-Sicilia Único 2004, Ribera Del Duero, Spain (702852, $475.00, WineAlign)

In a room full of Primum Familiae Vini no iconic red stands out with more singular parlous deference than the 2004 Unico. Sitting next to Pablo Alvarez and seeing his immediate reaction speaks volumes about its place in time and how it is showing. Alvarez does not smile so much as he simply acknowledges the work put in. Unico is correct and it is priceless. Is Alvarez making a comparison in his mind? Is he thinking 1970 or perhaps 1994? It does not matter because this blend of Tempranillo (87 per cent) and Cabernet Sauvignon (13) obviates derivative characteristics and so exhibits a kind of synoptic insatiability. Its persona is simply me, myself and I. The liqueur is not Bordeaux or IGT. The aromatics are exotic to the nth degree. The succulence and sucking inward grape tension is old and wise but the wine has 30-40 years of undetected evolution ahead. There is no need for a longevity prayer, just let it be. My ears hear “mais qu’est-ce que c’est bon!” perhaps from Alvarez, or maybe it came from Laurent Drouin to my left. The youthful Unico is like Les Enfantastiques, it has the “no se que” and we can call it terroir, from place, soil, climat and culture. Something that advances this early and yet has gone nowhere should be impossible. The precocious wisdom is beyond years, has reached a point at 10 that is palpable and yet so far from what it may become. It should be left alone for five more to find out. Drink 2020-2055. Tasted April 2015 @Tvegasicilia @DORibera

1977 @grahams_port…Oh to live to 111 and re-taste in 2077. @PFvini #symington #symingtonfamilyestates #rupertsymington #port #vintageport #primumfamiliaevini

Graham’s Vintage Port 1977, Douro, Portugal (706663, $109.00, WineAlign)

The year 1977 was a huge one for the Douro and this Peter Symington vintage interpretation echoes the overemotionalism. The pitchy rim seems to be writhing, the aromatics roiling and my first thought is one of a houseguest that wishes he could escape an over vivid host. Vegetative freshness calms the savage beast; bouquet garni, garrigue and savoury herbiage from high yielding fruit. If cherries were roses and vice versa, they too would deter and distract. This VP has presence and distinction. It changes tempo, wades in the waters of age and treads with minimum effort. The toasted nut component is subtle, more than many and certainly in comparison to the modern era of Graham’s and others. The dry florals whiff as if the petals never dropped or ever will. The perfume drives upwards, to the ethereal. Nice little piece of Vintage Port history. Drink 2015-2022. Tasted April 2015 @grahams_port @winesportugalCA

Good to go!

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Eight is enough

Mar25

Asparagus, chard, lemon and nutty cheese #chablis

I spent more than 20 years cooking. It was hard work and it was fulfilling work. When I was 19 a fellow McGill student asked my why I cooked so much. I said that when I was cooking I never thought I should be doing something else. I never felt guilty that I wasn’t studying or considered that I might be wasting time. I started writing about wine in 2005 and really had no plans to make a career out of it. I would have been content occupying my time working as hard as any wine professional, writing tasting notes and developing prose for eight or nine hours a day. I began the wine writing partly to avoid working on harder things but also for the pleasure of it.

Here I am 11 years later, working as a professional in wine. I feel like Dick van Patten, sitting at my desk in a house where kids come and go, typing away, solving life’s problems one wine at a time. Tom Bradford did not have VINTAGES bi-weekly releases to keep him busy but lucky me, I get to review 150-plus wines every month from the endless cycle of offerings.

For April 2nd and in the category of “expensive but affordable because they’re good” I think that eight is enough. Here are my notes.

Alois Cunto Pallagrello Nero 2011, Igp Terre Del Volturno, Campania, Italy (440743, $24.95, WineAlign)

Possibly an ode to the 17th century fairytale “Lo cunto de li cunti,” the tale of tales, or story of stories, now called Pentamerone by seventeenth-century Italian poet and courtier Giambattista Basile. Maximum ripeness, almost into dried fruit but on the naturally cured and curated edge. Pallagrello Nero finds its way into ethereal while living dangerously close to that razor’s edge. Dry tannic finish, firm and ragged. If that collection of tales could influence the form of fairytales in Europe, perhaps the Alois Palagrello Nero can do the same for natural wine. Drink 2016-2021. Tasted March 2016 @vinialois @Reg_Campania

Maison Chanzy En Rosey Rully 2013, Ac Burgundy, France (446153, $26.95, WineAlign)

Rusty and firm Pinot Noir from Rully with enough bright fruit and acidity to keep it from hiding in caves and stepping into shadows. Even brighter on the palate with Côte Chalonnaise’s own specific tangy red fruit flavour and really ripe tannins. Terrific Rully, better known for its Chardonnay but this is a stellar example of its Pinot Noir. A poor person’s Burgundy bargoon. Drink 2017-2022. Tasted March 2016 @le_tastevin @maisonchanzy @BourgogneWines

Ruffino Modus 2012, Igt Toscana, Italy (912956, $29.95, WineAlign)

A VINTAGES re-release for the ostensible Tuscan, a perennially accessible Super food with as much mineral feel and ferric substance as it has ever shown. Not so much a showy vintage as it is a production made for best in show. Red stone fruit bounds fleshy and just a touch of properly bitter accents are provided by wood, much appreciated by the weight and pitch. A tight but lyrically measured Modus of restraint and moderation that would do well with a major decant and some char on an aged hunk of flesh on the bone. Walk before you run to find this ode. Drink 2017-2021. Tasted March 2016 @RuffinoWines @CBrandsCareers

Rocca Di Castagnoli Poggio A’frati Chianti Classico Riserva 2011, Docg Tuscany, Italy (23358, $29.95, WineAlign)

Chianti Classico Riserva rarely smells like this these days. It’s not as though this harkens back twenty years but it certainly recalls a time from the turn of the century when Sangiovese was Sangiovese and Tuscans were Tuscans. The musk, sour cherry, leather, pannetone, meat and gladiator brawn from honest fruit sent to spend time in big casks sitting like giant buddhas underground. Here CCR does what it once did best, preserving and freezing time, only to emerge unscathed, healed and ready to tell a life-time of stories. Drink 2016-2023. Tasted March 2016 @ProfileWineGrp @chianticlassico

Sylvain Mosnier Côte De Lechet Chablis 1er Cru 2013, Ac Burgundy, France (318139, $35.95, WineAlign)

Classic Chablis from a very old vineyard (belonged to the Pontigny’s monk) with southeast exposure west of the town of Chablis and just above the small village of Milly. Mosnier’s parcel gifts delicate fruit, just so fortuitous in quantity and quality of lees overtures on stony lime-driven texture. Chardonnay in hands of terroir so flinty, lacy, organza fine. What more could be asked of for this next to nothing 1er Cru Chablis price? Drink 2017-2024. Tasted March 2016 @BIVBChablis

Burrowing Owl Syrah 2013, BC VQA Okanagan Valley, British Columbia (73072, $40.95, WineAlign)

More Northern Rhone depth drives a beefy steak through the desert heart of Burrowing Owl’s 2013 Syrah, a wine of smelting liqueur and fierce ooze. The layers are so compressed, like tumbled earth and rock at the bottom of a steep slope. The flavours are covered in a rich ganache for the time being but a gravelly unearthing is already starting to begin excavations. This is a big Syrah with plenty of time on its side. “Let it ride. Let it ride easy down the road. Let it take away all of the darkness.” Drink 2018-2024. Tasted March 2016 @BurrowingOwlBC @LeSommelierWine @winebcdotcom

Jean Luc Colombo Terres Brûlées Cornas Syrah 2012, Ac Rhone, France (448837, $72.95, WineAlign)

The darkest knight for Colombo full of every crush imaginable. Hematic and welling up with tension. Rich behind the pale and with acidity that scales it back, not elevates it out of reach. Wild berries and some vineyard funk. Quite the mouthful and spicy kick on the back. Wow Cornas, sumptuous Syrah. Drink 2018-2025. Tasted March 2016 @vinscolombo @bwwines @RhoneWine @VINSRHONE

Groth Cabernet Sauvignon 2012, Oakville, Napa Valley, California (606517, $112.95, WineAlign)

Exactement. Exacting 2012 to explain the weather in Napa Valley from a vintage all were thankful for. High brix. Optimum ripeness. Rich and spicy. How does this Groth fall in line with the question to age? Ten years for sure. What about 25? Though it remains to be seen, today’s ripeness quotient in cool, dry, elongated years is not consistent with 1982, 1992 or 2002. This Groth ’12 finds itself poised in balance and answers no skewed questions of structure. It is more accessible than many peers and also as compared to itself, right now, or with the equivalent of a one year decant. Drink 2017-2024. Tasted March 2016 @GrothWines @TheVine_RobGroh @NapaVintners

Good to go!

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‘Twas the week before Valentine’s

Feb4

First I thatched the nest and then I fed the birds

Why did I choose this image to introduce a Valentine’s Day post on wine? What pairs perfectly with Christmas, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, long weekends and Valentine’s day? When restaurants are either swelling with humanity or closed on major holidays and I want to eat out, where do I turn? Chinese. Happy Chinese New Year this coming Monday, February 8th. Welcome to the Year of the Monkey.

This coming Saturday the VINTAGES February 6th release does not coincide with the pink as floyd February 14th holiday so while you wait for next Sunday to arrive, enjoy a mild bite of Chile Peppers. “See what’s in store. Stay all day.” This song merges beautifully into the Love of Your Life. How does YouTube know?

Quite a mixed bag defines the February grouping. The south of France makes hay but I’ve also got Greece, Spain, Barossa, Piedmont and Burgundy in the regional to country mix. Enjoy.

First the pink stuff.

The Rosés of February

Gérard Bertrand Côte Des Roses Rosé 2014, Ap Languedoc, France (373985, $16.95, WineAlign)

The occasions may be rare, but sometimes Rosé needs a half a year to simmer and to show its true colour. What once seemed to be red meets Rosé is now classic, typical, essential blush from Provence. Terrific amalgamation of the holy varietal trinity, with Cinsault the anchor, rock and catalyst to prop up Grenache and Syrah just as they need to be. From soft fruit to a grind of pepper, with aridity and salinity always on stage. Drink 2016-2018. Tasted January 2016 @GBvins @FwmWine @AOCLanguedoc @LanguedocWines

From my earlier note:

Dry, floral, medicinal, quite tight and angled, not angular Rosé. The sea salinity and briny strawberry confluence is quite striking. Doesn’t really linger so in the end it’s a bit of a simple quaffing Rosé but what of it? That’s right. Drink 2015-2016. Tasted August 2015

Pierre Sparr Brut Rosé Crémant D’alsace, Méthode Traditionnelle, Ac Alsace, France (39016, $18.95, WineAlign)

Graceful and pink lithe, like cold smoked salmon, delightful Pinot Noir Rosé fizz. Nothing earth shattering, breath taking or barrier breaking, just well made blush bubbles. The structure and balance are really spot on. Finishes strong and with confidence. Helps to define this genre of Crémant’s creamy texture, matched in contrast by its stony, flinty and mineral style. Drink 2016-2018. Tasted November 2014 and January 2016 @AlsaceWines @VinsAlsace @drinkAlsace @ProfileWineGrp

Lallier Grand Cru Rosé Champagne, Ac Champagne, France (385179, $56.95, WineAlign)

Stoic, startling and nearly, dare I say, revelatory Rosé. Righteously rustic and demandingly devilish. A craftily concocted cool-custard cupid. The talc and the drift are exceptional, wafting aromatics and waving me in, to curl up and be embraced by its charms. This has Valentine’s Champagne scripted with pitch perfect elegance. A Grand Cru effort to be sure. Drink 2016-2019. Tasted January 2016 @LallierAy @azureau

Boutari Naoussa Xinomavro 2013, Naoussa, Greece (23218, $13.95, WineAlign)

A most consistent Xinomavro untouchable at the price, with the hallmark Syrah-like pepper notes pricking and popping from base and necessary red fruit. This sample is a bit muted aromatically but the palate is alive, kicking and very sound. Think of pomegranates, fresh figs and kalamata olives, a mountain view and the warming afternoon sun. All for $14. Though many Xinos can age for seven to 10 years, this Naoussa is meant for the here, now and tomorrow afternoon. Drink 2016-2019. Tasted January 2016 @boutari @KolonakiGroup @DrinkGreekWine

Pasión De Bobal 2012, Dop Utiel Requena, Spain (439679, $16.95, WineAlign)

Clean, direct, massaging Spanish expression of the here and now. A winemaker’s message from an outpost with an endemic grape variety known as Bobal, 100 per cent employed to speak of that place. It does so ripely with cagey dramatics and an acidity seemingly so specific to varietal. This will pave roads for a geek’s obsession and should lay tracks for a consumer’s diversion. It’s worth the detour. Like Aragonese or Catalan Garnacha. Drink 2017-2019. Tasted January 2016 @BSierraNorte @DOUtielRequena @ProfileWineGrp

Sister’s Run Calvary Hill Shiraz 2013, Barossa Valley, South Australia, Australia (222018, $16.95, WineAlign)

On this hill ripe, pure, Barossa fruit fills the glass, “handing out bread and jam just like any picnic.” Don’t be looking for a battle of acidity and tannin on the edge of a savoury, mythical Epping forest. Seek fruit, find fruit. A genesis of material for straightforward Shiraz. If you’ve $16 in your pocket and a deep, rich, red fruit Shiraz is what you’re looking to find, this is the place to stop. “Here come the Cavalry.” Drink 2016-2020. Tasted January 2016 @Gr8TanninWines

Cave De Roquebrun La Grange Des Combes Saint Chinian Roquebrun 2013, Ac Languedoc-Roussillon, France (155804, $18.95, WineAlign)

From Schistous hillsides of Roquebrun, this firm and friendly SGM is the bomb of Beziers. Meaty and wise, its heart beats out of sheer size and from beauty. The opposite of a ferric beast, the valley of the barns wields a weapon but one of glistening, polished stone. The accomplished battle ready fruit knows no limits. Tannins though fierce do nothing to hurt the cause. Syrah (50 per cent), Grenache (30) and Mourvedre (20) adds up to really good Schist. Do you trust a gorgeous wine? Drink 2016-2022. Tasted January 2016 @AOCLanguedoc @LanguedocWines @Eurovintage

Finca Del Marquesado Gran Reserva 2008, Doca Rioja, Spain (384248, $21.95, WineAlign)

A 2008 Rioja that looks, smells and acts like 2008, a plus and a positive rolled into one determinate, fruit roll-up, old-school package. Dried red berries once fervently ripe, now concentrated and dehydrated performing as classic regional flavours would. The acidity persists and the tannins have a leg or two to stand on. This will not improve or go any long distance but for now and two or three years more it’s about as delicious a Rioja red as you are want to taste. Drink 2016-2018. Tasted January 2016 @RiojaWine_ES

Pierre Sparr Schoenenbourg Riesling 2011, Ac Alsace Grand Cru, France (664995, $22.95, WineAlign)

Sparr’s little piece of the Schoenenbourg is a fine one, exemplified in this tidy, gritty and shiny happy Riesling. The tones are not tiny, perhaps tinny and certainly tropical. Mango and pineapple make heady way but the acidity and the tannin are up to the task. This is quite Germanic in my opinion, not new world Alsace. And it’s tasty as need be, with longevity on its side. Drink 2016-2022. Tasted January 2016 @AlsaceWines @VinsAlsace @drinkAlsace @ProfileWineGrp

Joel Gott 815 Cabernet Sauvignon 2013, California (444059, $35.95, WineAlign)

Molten comes to mind from this California Cabernet, as in lava and chocolate. A load of pepper marks its territory and fruit wades through the spicy mocha. Under the sheath there can be no mistaking the grape (with help from Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot) or the place and yet something ionic speaks, leaving me to wonder where this will go. The chemistry is procured by a hint of carbonic, whole bunch pressing and lees stirring for texture. At present they are not in synchronized rhythm. I would say that instant gratification and crowd pleasing was the intent but the opposite happened and that may turn out to be a blessing in disguise. A year from now this could be a true pleasure in value to drink. I think I wanted to hate it but I can’t. It is possessive of terrific, classic character. I will love it instead. Drink 2017-2020. Tasted January 2016

Domaine De Bellene Les Charmes Dessus Santenay 2013, Ac Burgundy, France (435032, $35.95, WineAlign)

From the flats between hills of the lieu-dit Charmes Dessus, a calcaire pebble’s throw away from the 1er Cru Clos Rousseaux. Adolescent acting fruit comes off of young, 10 year-old vines in Santenay, the most southerly wine-producing commune of the Cote de Beaune. Tight, flinty, developing beneficial bitters of a Burgundy that needs a bit of time to accrue a touch of honey to help the medicine go down. Quite rich and reductive. Very good value. Really good value. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted January 2016 @RochedeBellene @Nicholaspearce_

Domaine Laroche Vieilles Vignes Les Vaillons Chablis 1er Cru 2012, Ac Burgundy, France (991893, $36.95, WineAlign)

Gorgeous and wealthy Chablis of all that makes this unparalleled style of Chardonnay tick. Flinty, struck stone entry, vineyard hyperbole of mineral and the geology of ancients. Lithe, lifted, lightness of being but always brought back down by the minerality. Some flavour density by way of old vines wisdom and persistence that just won’t stop going. Superb quality. Drink 2017-2022. Tasted January 2016 @DomaineLaroche @Select_Wines @BIVBChablis

Secret De Schistes 2011, Igp Côtes Catalanes, Languedoc-Roussillon, France (440669, $41.95, WineAlign)

IGP in which schist happens. Such a bruiser this Château de l’Ou Côtes Catalans, an example the likes this market rarely sees. These Schistes bleed hematic into fruit warmed excessively by the sun. Languedoc-Roussillon that runs with the Rhône terribilta to purpose largesse and rocking good times. This is a very demanding wine, loaded with peppery spice and rabid energy. It needs years to settle. Hopefully its secrets will then be revealed. Drink 2019-2024. Tasted January 2016 @ChateaudeLou @AOCLanguedoc @LanguedocWines

Poderi Colla Dardi Le Rose Bussia Barolo 2010, Docg Piedmont, Italy (596890, $51.95, WineAlign)

The Dardi Le Rose ranks as one of the most consistent performers, mired in tradition and crafted without compromise. The 2010 is a spot on example of balance in Nebbiolo, gritty, floral, tannic and ethereal. The weight is an ambient one, the aromatics resourceful and respectful to varietal and to nature. Dried roses and fresh tar, drier cherries and strolls through verdant gardens. Not the beast of Bussia but certainly bussing its weight in age. This will go quite long. Drink 2018-2025. Tasted January 2016 @glencairnwines @regionepiemonte

Plus one, just because it’s Valentine’s Day.

Domaine Bouchard Père & Fils Meursault Les Clous 2013, Burgundy, France (Agent, $64.00, WineAlign)

Essentially 1er Cru pearl of a vineyard in origin, on marly ground, “walking tightrope high over moral ground.” Such a pretty Chardonnay of faith and of love, subtle, slightly smoky, linear and purposed towards the divine. A lemon drop jam without sweetness and a tart edge that is miles from sour. There are no holes, stops or delays, with acidity that drives forward and length stretching to further length. Grace in gossamer layers. A marker in the Meursault sand. Drink 2017-2024. Tasted January 2016 @WoodmanWS @BourgogneWines @bourgognespress

Good to go!

Twitter: @mgodello

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WineAlign: Michael Godel

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In a gadda da vino baby

Dec11

Charcuterie and Appetizers @barquebutchers by the @greek_silver_fox, Chef Jo Castrinos

It’s December, baby. In Ontario that means one thing. Cash money for the LCBO. Lineups longer than a 1988 Moscow bread line. If you’re from somewhere other than this magical, monopolized place we call wine central you just wouldn’t understand. You would not be privy to and giddy with isles stacked in pyramids of critter red and whites, Bailey’s Irish Cream and Absolut Durian. Wait, that would be cool.

No, not la vida loca. We are not talking about living the crazy life to make you cool. No party trick, no Spanglish, no politically incorrect, Urban Dictionary Ricky Martin slur. Not this either. “The awkward silence and/or major anticlimax that follows the confession of a big secret that everybody else already knew.”

You want it all in December, the most wine for the money, for gifts, to bring to the holiday party, to stack some away in the cellar. You want the Garden of Eden in a bottle.

In a gadda da vida, honey.

Let me tell ya.

With the ghosts of Christmas gem releases now just a strange, uncomfortable and debilitating nightmare trailing away in the rear-view mirror of Visa cards maxed out past, now is the time to focus on what’s real. To concentrate on purchasing wines in your price bracket, wines that speak of people, places and who will be drinking them.

I have combed, tasted and considered the releases now on shelves for this weekend’s December 12th offering. The parameters are $15 to $35, something for everyone, to purchase with confidence and to equip you with a most necessary advantage, to present them with pride no matter the circumstance. Ten wines to work the holiday room.

Cabriz Reserva 2012, Doc Dão, Portugal (21410, $17.95, WineAlign)

Such a juicy red, of honest imporosity and primed with acidity to prop and speculate. Bang on for the price, in its weight class and with the charm of sweet adolescence. Solid Dao with a whole lot of propensity to mix and match with the multitude of foods at your table. Drink 2015-2019. Tasted November 2015 @wines_portugal @winesportugalCA @Noble_Estates

Gérard Bertrand Grand Terroir Pic Saint Loup 2011, Ap Coteaux Du Languedoc, France (376491, $18.95, WineAlign)

Syrah, Mourvedre and Grenache blend from the Pic Saint-Loup mountain peak and limestone cliff flanks of the the Coteaux du Languedoc. Sharp with concentrated red fruit, tight acidity and just enough tannin to render this marketable to a five-year plan of evolution. Real and as naturally forged as they come from Gérard Bertrand’s Cross Series reds of southern France. Prime example from and one to celebrate a terroir like Pic St Loup which continues to play the unheralded outlier. Really fine and just the right and correct amount of attitude. Drink 2015-2020. Tasted November 2015 @GBvins @FwmWine @LanguedocWines

Tawse Spark Limestone Ridge Riesling Sparkling 2013, Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario (370361, $19.95, WineAlign)

Only a year and in conjunction with an improved Sparkling wine vintage for Riesling, short work has elevated the young Spark’s game. A repeat lees performance initiates the conversation, of cheese melted overtop composite laminate, with yeast burgeoning about. In 2013 the concrete crispness is cemented deeper, etched into stone and thus completing the sub-$20 legacy. That winemaker Paul Pender can coax Riesling character, striking Sparkling wine resolve and yet hover in the air of litheness, well, this is the kneading. Silty, salty earth and soft transitions to citrus acidity are a requiem for success as per the Twenty Mile Bench/Limestone ridges vouchsafe common. Can even imagine a bit of time turning this into sparks and honey. Drink 2015-2019. Last tasted November 2015 @Tawse_Winery @Paul_Pender

Ernie Els Big Easy 2013, Wo Western Cape, South Africa (220038, $19.95, WineAlign)

Big Easy, Stellenbosch

A massive amount of fruit, caked earth and big, bouncy reduction is packed into this free swinging Western Cape red blend. The reduction mixes with Rhone bacon and its own regional gamey notes. This is both typical and radical. It is made in a style that many love and will continue to love and yet others will balk at its generational specificity. The clean, pure focus in Rhone varietal terminology teams up to subdue the Cabernet though that variety does add lushness to smooth out some of the hard edges. Tons of flavour. Drink 2015-2020. Tasted November 2015 @ErnieElsWinery @WOSACanada @WOSA_ZA

Baron De Ley Varietales Graciano 2011, Doca Rioja, Spain (397166, $21.95, WineAlign)

Another terrific vintage for the varietal Ley, wrapping a wreath of pure Graciano fruit around your neck and letting you lay back with a sip of something beautiful. Pure floral liqueur, the violets and the sweat, the sweet fruit and the citrus accent. Soft lactic acid and chewy with an accent of dark chocolate and spice. A bit more burly than the ’09 and certainly increasingly oak apparent but a good mouthful nevertheless. Let it rest for two years to let the wood sink in. Drink 2017-2022. Tasted November 2015 @BaronDeLeyRioja @RiojaWine @AMH_hobbsandco

Stratus Evergreen Red 2008, VQA Niagara On The Lake, Ontario (437434, $24.95, WineAlign)

Where has this been? This harmonious composition, like a Starland Vocal Band, Cabernet Sauvignon (30 per cent) plus Cabernet Franc (30) friendship with a healthy dose of Merlot (27) and a bit of Petit Verdot (4) in minor support. The acidity and the tannin have nearly fully waned but it’s a real pleasure to drink at this seven-year mark. Pretty fruit, creamy texture, just enough energy left to keep the party grooving, weightless and soaring in the air. Some chocolate and dessert like tendency but with the right kind of salty main course or just a few sips leading to that point, this will be an afternoon delight. “My motto’s always been ‘when it’s right, it’s right.’ Why wait until the middle of a cold dark night?” Herbal finish is cool and Northern Ontario like in its slow, easy exhalation. Extra points for the foresight, the opportunistic release point and the effort in a hit or miss vintage. The Evergreen Brickworks market’s loss is the LCBO’s gain. Drink 2015-2018. Tasted November 2015 @StratusWines

Versado Malbec 2013, Luján De Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina (317008, $25.95, WineAlign)

The rocks beneath the earth precede the rich, dark fruit. After the berries and the candy beets and the spices subside the flowers grow and take over the room. The vintage brings more layers than before. Malbec of character and belief, even a touch of good VA, a coat that only the Southern Hemisphere can provide. It is not usually present in Mendozan Malbec so it’s really a breath of fresh paint here in the Versado. Great purity. Protracted length. Most expansive and intriguing vintage to date. The Reserva will be killer. Last tasted November 2015

Domaine Karydas Naoussa 2010, Dop Naoussa, Greece (272013, $26.95, WineAlign)

A rich, nearly creamy mouthful of Xinomavro, full on red fruit and as much scorched earth as prescribed to be necessary. There is plenty of front end acidity and back-end tannin though the pathway between is rocky, jagged and bumpy. I’d like to see this again in two or three years to see if it has smoothed out. For now it’s certainly edgy and divided though I will admit it has gained my full, undivided attention. Time will tell. Drink 2017-2022. Tasted November 2015 @KolonakiGroup @winesofnaoussa @DrinkGreekWine

Domaine Hamelin Chablis Beauroy Premier Cru 2012, Burgundy, France (391805, $33.95, WineAlign)

May just be the most well-rounded Premier Cru Chablis in the Ontario market today and orbits would not be its prescribed or described path. Linear more like it, star-shooting with trailing sparks from its steely beginnings out of stainless silo. Well-rounded because it draws fruit from every level of Kimmeridgien subsoil up and down the hills, from the bottom of the valley to the top of the slopes. Also because of its pinpoint unoaked Chablis accuracy, from mineral on the tongue to citrus receding and recoiling. So very clean old bones fruit (up to 35 years old) and direct at a price point most Premier Cru fail to touch. Drink 2015-2021. Tasted December 2015 @BIVBChablis @oenophilia1

Fontodi Chianti Classico 2012, Tuscany, Italy (933317, $36.95, WineAlign)

Classic and I mean classic Chianti Classico, cured, ancient, fruit forward. Modern, gritty, tannic, spicy, desperately in love and bound by leather. Tea and liqueur, all in Chianti Classico. Some iron and animale, bitters, tonics, cherries, medicines, all of the above. Acidity raging, thunder clapping, lightning striking. Needs seven years to shed emotional tears, fully settle and be a memory of its intense self. A wine that will remember. Drink 2018-2026. Tasted November 2015 @chianticlassico @rogcowines

Good to go!

Twitter: @mgodello

Instagram: mgodello

WineAlign: Michael Godel

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Category Archives: Chablis

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