Category Archives: Italy

The final 14 bargains of 2014

Today I tasted through the VINTAGES January 10, 2015 release. Thinking about that for a moment I find it hard to believe that yet another year has passed, with thousands of wines having passed my lips and into many levels of my consciousness. What a year it has been. More on that to come.

Related – Godello’s guide to holiday effervescence

For now the task at hand is to find some wine to get us through the weeks leading to Christmas and into the new year. Bargains and values come in many colours, shapes and sizes. Earlier this week I gave up a dozen Sparkling wines to look for. Today it’s all about the red and white table wines, from cocktail sippers to serious main course friends. Here are the last 14 recommended values coming to VINTAGES December 6th, which happens to be tomorrow.

From left to right: Domaine Les Yeuses Les Épice Syrah 2012, Tselepos Classic Moschofilero 2013, Kew Vineyards Old Vine Riesling 2012, Vineland Estates Elevation St. Urban Vineyard Riesling 2012, Henri Ehrhart Gewürztraminer 2012, Mountadam Estate Chardonnay 2009, Red Hill Estate Pinot Noir 2013

From left to right: Domaine Les Yeuses Les Épice Syrah 2012, Tselepos Classic Moschofilero 2013, Kew Vineyards Old Vine Riesling 2012, Vineland Estates Elevation St. Urban Vineyard Riesling 2012, Henri Ehrhart Gewürztraminer 2012, Mountadam Estate Chardonnay 2009, Red Hill Estate Pinot Noir 2013

Domaine Les Yeuses Les Épices Syrah 2012, Midi, France (177584, $15.95, WineAlign)

That, at $16, a Midi Syrah can throw this much smoked meat, bacon and genuine roasted porcine goodness into a bottle, kudos must be thrown straight back. The braise is accented by allspice, winter savoury, black olives and licorice root. It’s a veritable pot au feu, filled to brimming with meat, mire poix and herbs de provence. Wow. All, in.   Tasted November 2014  @VinsPaysdOcIGP

Tselepos Classic Moschofilero 2013, Peloponnese, Greece (724583, $17.95, WineAlign)

A textured, minutely oxidative and bronzing Moschofilero with a confident sense of itself. The orchard has ripened and spilled into this bottle with peaches, apricots and citrus Portokalia Lakonias. Great metal tang, world turning acidity and length as long as the Nestani’s walk to Demeter’s Temple.  Tasted November 2014  @Tseleposwines

Kew Vineyards Old Vine Riesling 2012, VQA Niaagara Peninsula, Ontario (392126, $18.95, WineAlign)

Classic and I mean classic Bench Riesling entry. The richness of Bench soil, the elevation enriching the texture, the off-dry aromas impossible to avoid. There is a creamy, medicinal, tannic feel, so apropos and a scant, succulent scent of roses. The acidity at present is not quite in the groove and will be needed to travel the long, bright road ahead. If this ’12 is not the one, future vintages will surely one day realize the dream. Nevertheless this Kew is typical to ’12 and to the Bench and has begun a new chapter for the genre.  Tasted November 2014  @kewvineyards

Vineland Estates Elevation St. Urban Vineyard Riesling 2012, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (38117, $19.95, WineAlign)

Who has not waited for Elevation to hit out of the 2012 vintage? Straight up it must be noted that this will rank over and above the best from the St. Urban Vineyard. The ’12 Elevation will not only find long-term success among the great values in Bench Riesling, it will go down as one of the best ever, at any price. The vintage impart is a natural for this wine. At the moment it is the most primary of all because of the layers that texture bring. The Elevation will go thirty years and climb higher and higher into the stratosphere, gaining flesh and personality. The already seamless gathering of fruit and mineral is palpable. And still a reminder, the price is $20. This is a Schmidt gift to Ontario, for anyone and everyone to be one of the lucky ones. To purchase in increments any less than a case may be considered a crime against Riesling.  Tasted November 2014  @VinelandEstates  @benchwineguy

Henri Ehrhart Gewürztraminer 2012, Alsace, France (392118, $19.95, WineAlign)

A step up in the Alsace Gewurz take.  Some reserve in the nose, holding back the far east florals and the sugar. There’s an aerified feel to this, an ethereal complement, a savoury edge. Really interesting and surely more than versatile aromatic white.  Good texture with creamy mangosteen and vanilla pod and then tight, even spicy, bracing acidity. Great deal here. Will live for a decade.  Tasted November 2014  @drinkAlsace

Mountadam Estate Chardonnay 2009, South Australia, Australia (333211, $21.95, WineAlign)

There’s a sugary high to this Chardonnay and some sulphur though it blows away with ease. The texture is brilliant, flavours round and glazing. So much citrus to go around, with so little time to appreciate the varieties, levels and nuances. Oak, while anything but an after thought toasts in nuts and bolts. This will do no harm and ingratiate itself to all sorts of white palates for five years or more.   Tasted November 2014

Red Hill Estate Pinot Noir 2013, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia (58073, $21.95, WineAlign)

The Mornington perfume, distinct, ethereal, lifted, elevated, fresh with a bit sauvage, not of musk, but of a wild road less trodden. A step beyond fresh, into learned territory and also above crisp, into crunchy. Very interesting and complex Pinot Noir, so obvious as anything but, yet unique, tart, striking and long. This should have many consumer fans and expand horizons for broad appeal, but also be a friend to the discerning taster. Most impressive.  Tasted November 2014  @RedHillEstate  @Noble_Estates

From left to right: Clos De Los Siete 2011, Il Molino Di Grace Chianti Classico Riserva 2006, Château Cambon Le Pelouse 2010, 13th Street Sandstone Old Vines Gamay Noir 2011, Paitin Sori' Paitin Barbaresco 2010, Corte Pavone Brunello Di Montalcino 2008, Heitz Cellar Trailside Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

From left to right: Clos De Los Siete 2011, Il Molino Di Grace Chianti Classico Riserva 2006, Château Cambon Le Pelouse 2010, 13th Street Sandstone Old Vines Gamay Noir 2011, Paitin Sori’ Paitin Barbaresco 2010, Corte Pavone Brunello Di Montalcino 2008, Heitz Cellar Trailside Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

Clos De Los Siete 2011, Mendoza, Argentina (622571, $23.95, WineAlign)

If the triumvirate of extraction, Argentine beefiness and intermingled layers of wood and cake are the thing you crave, come to Mendoza for all that and more. If that ternion comes in a package of $22 and is drawn from seven altitudinous agricultural entities, Clos de los Siete the perennial success story is a go to for the genre. From out of the Uco Valley, at the district of Vista Flores, Tunuyán. The ’11 misses no beats, brings chocolate, licorice and macerated plums to the barbecue. This Malbec blend (with Merlot, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon) intimates, attracts and culls a hunk of steak from off the coals and settles in for a long, healthy, belly fulling pairing.  Tasted November 2014  @closdelossiete  @closdelos7  @Dandurandwines

Il Molino Di Grace Chianti Classico Riserva 2006, Docg, Tuscany, Italy (382945, $23.95, WineAlign)

An ’06 Chianti Classico Riserva you say, pre-aged, delivered to the Ontario market and presented here in 2014, all in for $24? You can’t fool us. We’ve been duped too many times before. This must fall into the “too good to be true” category. The answer depends on which style of Chianti you prefer. This walks all the halls, plies the trades and hits the marks of the CCR ancients. Comes from a remarkable vintage, holding on but in true advanced, oxidizing and fruit diminishing character. Mushrooms and truffles abound, as does game in the early roasting stage. A note of Brett is here too, not over the top but its presence can’t be denied. Acidity speaks, as does bitter chocolate. This is not for all but all should have a go.  Tasted November 2014  @Ilmolinodigrace  @chianticlassico

Château Cambon Le Pelouse 2010, Haut-Médoc, Bordeaux, France (256016, $29.95, WineAlign)

Always a solid, full-bodied for little compensation Bordeaux, this time in full cake and grain throttle. Though it lacks the fullness up the middle of more accomplished ’10 houses, the fruit is grounded, the acidity on top and the tannins daring, yet working to towards future gains.  Tasted November 2014  @CambonLaPelouse

13th Street Sandstone Old Vines Gamay Noir 2011, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (130195, $29.95, WineAlign)

A return to the Sandstone 2011 sees the high-toned aromatics and blessedly funky earth coming together, if in ever so timorous tone, to form some kind of Gamay union. There is something lurking now, coming out, intimating roses and tea, eastern spices and potpourri. Something Nebbiolo like, or possibly, more specifically Pelaverga. This is Sandstone. Nothing else in Ontario smells like Gamay from this place. Nothing. The complexity of its aromatic life is now beginning, though due to the burdensome barrel the palate lags behind. Give it two more years to take a turn at expression.  Tasted November 2014  @13thStreetWines  @Noble_Estates

Paitin Sori’ Paitin Barbaresco 2010, Piedmont, Italy (106591, $41.95, WineAlign)

Classic, quintessential, “entry-level” Barbaresco, so much more than utilitarian Nebbiolo from as quality and consistent a producer as can be found. The 2010 has all the right attributes and hits all the correct marks. Regal, matronly, sharp, focused and so attached. Gorgeous perfume, marked by candied flowers, with noble, astringent tannins but there is more than good and plentiful fruit. This will age for 20 years, as long as any Paitin from recent times.  Tasted November 2014  @GroupeSoleilTO

Corte Pavone Brunello Di Montalcino 2008, Tuscany, Italy (237263, $49.95, WineAlign)

Rustic, stark, intense and tense from a vintage that separates the bold from those that can’t handle the climatic truth. Corte Pavone spoons it in stride, chews it up, spits it out. True blue Brunello feel here; bracing, aromatically buffed and bouffant, of sweet plum flavours, tobacco, smoky and make-up smeared all over its face. A wild herb and gritty tannic finish. This is trouble come running, magical, wild, exceptionally out there and with 5-10 years it should reel in the reigns, slow down, relax and smile with “clean, clean thoughts.” Tasted November 2014  @ConsBrunello

Heitz Cellar Trailside Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2006, Napa Valley, California (992438, $119.95, WineAlign)

Showing a smidgen of age at this eight year mark. The warm touch of caramel on plum flavours are wrapped up in an aromatic potpurri in  many flowers, dried and also blooming. Violets for sure, but also a rose and citrus blossom. Trailside is in a relaxed state of wine. Has moments of dark, dusty chocolate and a tonic to tie the flavours together. It’s expensive but it’s a classic Napa drop and worth every dollar.  Tasted November 2014  @liffordretail

Good to go!

Looking red ahead at December 6th in VINTAGES

Álvaro Palacios presents his wines from Priorat, Rioja and Bierzo Photo (c): Eric Vellend

Álvaro Palacios presents his wines from Priorat, Rioja and Bierzo
Photo (c): Eric Vellend

When I walk into the tasting lab at the LCBO this morning to taste the red wines on the December 6th release, there will be more than 100 bottles staring me down. Not just any 100 bottles. The assembled wines will be deep, dark, dense and intense, a December agglomeration meant to drink down with the holidays.

The VINTAGES releases are so protracted at this time of year the media tastings have to be split across two consecutive weeks. Champagnes and whites were put out last Friday so today’s reds will stain teeth, pile on the tannin and cause a general convocation in dehydration. A perfect Friday.

Luma's Bocconcini and Preserved Vegetable Salad

Luma’s Bocconcini and Preserved Vegetable Salad

Over the past few weeks I’ve managed to taste some of the releases at trade events, with my colleagues at WineAlign and yesterday with Álvaro Palacios. At the invite of Woodman Wines and Spirits I had the indubitable pleasure of being heralded through a paramount cross-section of the Spanish wandering winemaker’s portfolio, from Priorat, Rioja and Bierzo. Palacios poured six of his wines at Luma Restaurant in Toronto. Reviews for the Riojan La Vendimia, the Bierzo Corullón and the Priorats Camins and Les Terraces will be found on WineAlign.

Last fall I wrote about Spanish wines, insisting that Spanish winemakers “do not pussyfoot in producing superannuated yet contemporary wine.” I talked up the Iberian wine making superstars. Red and white wine heroes. Álvaro Palacios was at the top of the list. Jason Woodman felt and still feels this way. “If anyone embodies the promise and spirit of “The New Spain”, it is Álvaro Palacios.” I elaborated. “It has not been much more than 20 years since he took control of the esteemed empire built by his father, Jose Palacios Remondo, but Álvaro Palacios has already become one of Spain’s most famous and well-respected winemakers.”

Related – Ancient, state of the art Spanish wine

One Rioja and one Bierzo by the Palacios domain are reviewed here, along with six other new releases coming to stores December 6th. Here’s a sneak peek, looking red ahead.

Palacios Line-Up at Luma Restaurant Photo (c): Eric Vellend

Palacios Line-Up at Luma Restaurant
Photo (c): Eric Vellend

Palacios Remondo La Montesa 2011, Doca Rioja, Spain (674572, $18.95, WineAlign)

La Montesa epitomizes everything about the Álvaro Palacios application; professionalism, breviloquence and balance. It also brings together essentia to one common Riojan crossroads; Atlantic and Mediterranean, Tempranillo and Garnacha, French and American oak. In fact, it does the latter with such seamless ease, as neither barrel disturbs the proportion or the harmony. Fresh, pointed, serious and value-driven with ridiculous compete, the silky smooth Montesa uses calcareous soil as an organza overlay and acidity to keep it real. The alcohol is certainly real but like the wood (and the tannin), is never overdone. From now to 2018 with bells on.  Tasted November 2014  @WoodmanWS  @RiojaWine

Tenuta Rapitala Alto Nero d’Avola 2012, Sicily, Italy (Agent, 392852, $19.95, WineAlign)

The winery known as the “Beautiful Garden of God” has burnished a Nero d’Avola from the northwest corner of Sicily so perfumed you may consider dabbing some on your neck. Like the sweet-smelling roses that endow Nebbiolo with its characteristic charm, this Sicilian sports the same except that it is magnified by sunshine and salinity. A meeting of red fruits macerating in a bath of freshly squeezed plum juice does nothing but make you want to sip and sip. In the end there is tannin, but also prune juice and really daring acidity. This is a big but not over the top southern Italian red to enjoy now and for three more years. Tasted November 2014  @Dandurandwines

Cantina Zaccagnini 2012, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Doc, Abruzzo, Italy (Agent, $19.95, WineAlign)

There is much to admire about this most righteous and humble Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. From a west-facing vineyard with coarsely textured soils in the municipality of Bolognano, province of Pescara, very close to the Adriatic Sea. The maritime influence, while not dramatic, is significant, as nosed in salinity and humidity. The Zaccagnini spent a scant and refreshing four months in Slavonian oak barrels. The impart is gentle and sincere. The freshness and calm here reminds of a certain type of Syrah from St. Joseph, low in alcohol, preserved in acidity and full of savoury flavour. This is really well-judged, honest MdA that will linger in evolution for two to three more years of pure, simple drinking pleasure.  Tasted November 2014  @Zaccagninivini  

Lavau Rasteau 2012, Rhône, France (Agent, $19.95, WineAlign)

Equal parts Syrah and Grenache gather in this very warm Rasteau that spent (15 per cent of the cuvée) 10 months in French oak barrels. Typical of the upward trend in Rhône reds of elevated alcohol and vibrant spirit. There is no shortage of ripe fruit, concentrated flavours and modern attitude here. Beyond the up front aromas of raspberry and baked clay the Lavau continues its hearth oven stay and churns out roasted game, savoury pie and smouldering Rosemary branches. It’s a veritable Lavau luau, with both beef and pork in the pit and in need of a glass of something rich and spicy. This Rasteau will do the trick.  Tasted November 2014  @WinesOfFrance  @oenophilia1

From left to right: Tenuta Rapitala Alto Nero d'Avola 2012, Cantina Zaccagnini 2012, Lavau Rasteau 2012, Wakefield Jaraman Cabernet Sauvignon 2012, Caprili Brunello Di Montalcino 2009, Trinchero Mario's Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

From left to right: Tenuta Rapitala Alto Nero d’Avola 2012, Cantina Zaccagnini 2012, Lavau Rasteau 2012, Wakefield Jaraman Cabernet Sauvignon 2012, Caprili Brunello Di Montalcino 2009, Trinchero Mario’s Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

Wakefield Jaraman Cabernet Sauvignon 2012, Clare Valley/Coonawarra, South Australia (142398, $24.95, WineAlign)

A most blanketed tapestry of aromas come flying like a magic carpet from this Clare Valley and Coonawarra specimen. The best of both worlds collide; blue fruits and cool mint/eucalyptus. Though slightly murky and vanilla distilled simple syrupy, the aromas make the grade and put on the show. The fine grain in tannin and chalky texture are a plus though they do cause separation anxiety for the delicate fruit. Very much like a good blue and red fruit Malbec, from Mendoza or the Clare Valley, this is not overly, varietally Cabernet Sauvignon but it is a very effective and spiced red for near-term drinking.  Tasted November 2014  @Taylors_Wines

Descendientes De J. Palacios Pétalos 2012, Do Bierzo, Spain, (675207, $26.95, WineAlign)

From Ricardo Palacios, nephew to and with Álvaro, this Mencia is so indicative and representative as the “naked grape” of Bierzo. Anointed with a concentrated perfume and panegyrized by a fruit transparency that is just not present in the Palacios wines of Rioja and Priorat. With Mencia, what you see, smell and taste is what you get. It’s varietally obvious and this Palacios plays the part with thespian control. A caramel note lifts, not drags this dense, purposed red, purple in every way, condensing the happy freshness of the vintage. Lactic black fruits are milky, developing to creamy, then on to licorice and candied nasturtium. Has a Bordeaux-like dusty camino real drive to it, in perfect sunshine, the vapors rising off the arid track. The Mencia asks “and would you let me walk down your street, naked if I want to.” Yes is the answer, because it is such an honest, moby grape. In ferment it makes cause for another composed wine by Palacios.  The clarity and ambition will take it safely to the next decade.  Tasted November 2014

Caprili Brunello Di Montalcino 2009, Tuscany, Italy (398073, $44.95, WineAlign)

From estate grapes grown on the hillside which slopes down towards the Orcia and Ombrone rivers. The Bartolommei family needed a summons of their winemaker’s acumen to reign in advanced fruit from a vintage that saw soaring summer temperatures. This ’09 runs on full throttle, high-octane Grosso and yet is a remarkably, obiter dicta fresh flood of sanguine, berry chalky juice. All that and more actually and while it’s flat out fun to taste at such a young age, its ability to go long is not a sure thing. Plan to enjoy now and for three to five big years.  @Caprili  @NaturalVines

Trinchero Mario’s Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2009, Napa Valley, California (399600, $64.95, WineAlign)

There is nothing chary about this single-vineyard Cabernet, named after the winery’s founder, situated in St. Helena. From soils ranging from gravelly to loamy to alluvial, the vines were only 12 years old when this dark beauty was made. Pitchy fruit is roped and tied by a whack of French oak, surrounding it with an aromatic bubble filled with lavender, charcoal, vanilla and licorice. A multi-plex of a red, darker than many, structured yet reliant on that mask of oak. Due to the mass and mess of fruit this will age nicely for 10 years but the wood will never go away. It’s just made that way.  Tasted November 2014  @Dandurandwines

Good to Go!

Recently tasted here, there and everywhere

Wihr au Val, Alsace (c) Cassidy Havens, http://teuwen.com/

Wihr au Val, Alsace
(c) Cassidy Havens, http://teuwen.com/

During my week-long visit to Alsace in June I tasted more than 300 different wines. Over the course of the four months that followed that most amazing journey to the heart of a great wine region, I published more than 50 tasting notes. I also told stories about the winemakers, the Grand Crus and lieu-dits. I will continue to write and publish equal or more amounts about Alsace.

Related – Giving Grand Cru Pinot Noir d’Alsace its due

The British wine writer Jamie Goode recently published two articles on the subject of wine criticism versus wine journalism. His first, Whatever happened to wine journalism, appeared on the website run by Tim Atkin MW. The second, Wine critics and wine writers on his own blog, Wine Anorak. Goode is a man on the pulse of what it real and what needs to be said. He is correct in telling us that the most engaging wine writing comes from scribes who visit vineyards and tell their stories. There can be no disputing this to be true.

Jamie hopes that the future of wine writing is not fraught with short reviews and inflated scores. He sees the Utopian model in experiential travel, in meeting hard-working people, wandering over variegated soils and terroir, tasting at the source. Jamie fears that his wine writer self will go the way of the wine critic, tapping away on a computer while tasting wine in an air-conditioned office. His version of wine hell. Riesling specialist Stuart Martin Piggot agrees.

But Jamie is not entirely right either. At least in the context of the Ontario model (and those of other Canadian provinces), along with I would imagine, many wine markets in other countries. Much of what wine writers taste on globetrotting journeys is not to be found on shelves back home. While that may be pathetic and certainly a pity worthy of some kind of wine crime, it is the brass tacks of the global wine industry. I agree with Goode that we should do everything in our power to change it and we should publish stories, not just tasting notes and scores.

The problem for the reader is that most, if not 95-plus percent of the wines that are reviewed from a region like Alsace are not available for purchase in Ontario. While that is just a crying shame, it is a reality. If you purchase wine in Ontario and look for critical voices to help you separate the wheat from the chaff, you require notes on available wines. That is why writers must spend so much time tasting samples in the sterile LCBO laboratory, at our dining room tables, in restaurants and with the hard-working for not enough reward Ontario wine agents. And we must write-up the tasting notes and publish them on websites like WineAlign. This is the fact of Ontario wine importing, purchasing and consumer life. Would it be any different if there was no provincial monopoly? Yes, but it wouldn’t help in the telling of better vineyard stories.

I taste wines here, there and everywhere. Here are 16 recent samples that gave me cause to raise an eyebrow, pause, ruminate and formulate a response to the spoken sentiments of the ferment. All 16 are available for purchase in Ontario.

From left to right: Domaine Chiroulet Les Terres Blanches 2013, Toro Albalá Fino Del Lagar Electrico, Château des Charmes Sauvignon Blanc 2013, Ogier Héritages Côtes Du Rhône 2012, Bodegas Mengoba Brezo Grégory Pérez 2012

From left to right: Domaine Chiroulet Les Terres Blanches 2013, Toro Albalá Fino Del Lagar Electrico, Château des Charmes Sauvignon Blanc 2013, Ogier Héritages Côtes Du Rhône 2012, Bodegas Mengoba Brezo Grégory Pérez 2012

Domaine Chiroulet Les Terres Blanches 2013, Vins De Pays Côtes De Gascogne, France (Agent 223222, $13.95, WineAlign)

This is a Gros Manseng and Sauvignon Blanc that whistles boldly like a howling wind. While the nose is high-toned and full of herbal complexities, it’s also indiscreetly alarming. The aromas are quite massive; pine needles decomposing on a wet forest floor. Kefir, cloudy and enzymatic, curdling and churning into itself. Petrol spills on asphalt, baking in the midday sun. To taste it is tangy and juicy, but also very mineral, intensified by the outcroppings of retzine in the vineyard’s limestone. The overall composition punches way above its weight but the heightened sense of reality is also a bit hard to take. Terrific effort but comes with a warning sign.  Tasted November 2014  @CotesdeGascogne  @TrialtoON

Toro Albalá Fino Del Lagar Electrico, Do Montilla Moriles, Spain (Agent, $14.95, 500ml, WineAlign)

The winery was founded in 1844 and in 1970 Toro Albalá became the first commercial Montilla producer in the classic Solera method, from (estate-grown) Pedro Ximénez vines. This is unfortified Fino, at a naturally achieved alcohol of 15 per cent, from an average age of 10 years. It’s so dry, like a desert you could walk for astral weeks, as if it should be measured in negative residual sugar. Like pure almond extract paste, bones in the sand and the essence of pulverized, powdered nuts, void of moisture. The chalky-white Albariza soils of the Moriles Alto subzone are hardwired into its Akashic, astral Electrico plane. This Fino ventures in the slipstream, between viaducts of dreams, “where immobile steel rims crack.” Impossibly long finish.  Tasted November 2014  @toroalbala  @MontillaMoriles  @LeSommelierWine

Château des Charmes Sauvignon Blanc 2013, VQA St. David’s Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (391300, $14.95, WineAlign)

Sets a (St. David’s) benchmark for how to reign in and then release the charmes of Sauvignon Blanc from the Niagara Peninsula. Done in a decidedly fresh and lively style, this gathers up a bunches and conservative yield-managed vineyard’s warmest, ripe fruit for the purpose of bonhomie potation. Smells of vitality, of fresh herbs and citrus just cut, of a salt spring, of things zoetic. Cream elevates the texture, albeit pellucid and unobtrusive. The triad coming together of Sauvignon Blanc, St. David’s Bench and 2013 is the new CdC yardstick. The price only cements the offer.  Tasted November 2014  @MBosc

Ogier Héritages Côtes Du Rhône 2012, Rhône, France (535849, $15.95, WineAlign)

The Ogier self-professed traits of patience, savoir-faire, observation and intuition are on tidy display in this piquant, spiced-note, olive branch and indigo traditional Rhône blend. So very Mediterranean, warm and herbal by day, cool and minty by night. One stage short of lush, one notch comfortably above thin, this slots into all right moves; pleasant, value-driven and so effective for so many purposes. Stand alone or with classically prepared fare, this is all you need. Bring on the roast chicken.  Tasted November 2014  @MaisonOgier  @Select_Wines

Bodegas Mengoba Brezo Grégory Pérez 2012, Bierzo, Spain (Agent, $16.95)

Mencia as it once must have demanded of itself, iron clad, funky and gamey. This Bierzo is no antiseptic perfumed bottle of modern, manufactured violet Febreeze, though it’s so very vanilla and rich as a Porchetta sandwich with the porcine cure and fat driven right in to every nook and cranny. Or a taste sensation like bacon wrapped cherries. High toned with formidable tannins. A chew of sinew both in faux-wood and as the conceptual result of a roasted animal’s tension. Value gained vicariously through complexity.  Tasted April 2014  @TheLivingVine

Fita Preta 2013

Fita Preta 2013

Fita Preta White Reserve Alentejano 2013, Alentejo, Portugal (Agent, $16.95)

An endemic blend of Antão Vaz (40 per cent), Roupeiro (40) and Arinto (20) from infertile rocky schist soils in southern Portugal’s Alentejo region. Ostensibly a field blend, like the Alsace cépage a terroir of Marcel Deiss, the Fita Preta or “black tape” comes from an extreme and arid land. Portuguese winemaker António Maçanita and resident English viticulturist consultant David Booth usher out flint and mineral to capture a host of synapses from a wine region that had failed to fire in years. The landscape described  as “Portugal’s Australia” gives a white like a cross between simple, flinty Chablis and aged Hunter Valley Sémillon. The acidity is in abject anti-congruence to the region’s usual heavy-leaded output, mimicking cool-climate Chardonnay in tight and bracing stonker fashion.  Tasted November 2014  @fitapretavinhos    @LeSommelierWine

From left to right: E. Guigal Côtes Du Rhône 2011, Giacomo Mori Chianti 2011, Red Tractor Cabernet Franc 2012, Nigl Gartling Grüner Veltliner 2013, Dog Point Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2014

From left to right: E. Guigal Côtes Du Rhône 2011, Giacomo Mori Chianti 2011, Red Tractor Cabernet Franc 2012, Nigl Gartling Grüner Veltliner 2013, Dog Point Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2014

E. Guigal Côtes Du Rhône 2011, Southern Rhône, France 2011 (259721, $18.95, WineAlign)

In a world where anything is possible, the Guigal Côtes Du Rhône effect is predictable, trenchant and essential. The vintage specific focus in alacrity drives the savoury, rich black fruit to domesticated compliance, easy on the eyes, nose and palate. This just smells like a good meal; as if a game bird were roasting in the oven, surrounded by a rough and large kerf of mirepoix, of caramelizing root vegetables baptized by dried herbs and spices. Do not be fooled. This is a warm CdR with generous alcohol (14 per cent disclosed) and an even warmer, though not uncomfortably tannic or acidity riddled finish. It is a whack of Rhône grapes within grasp of a mere mortal’s budget. Drink now and for two years forward.  Tasted November 2014  @DOMAINEGUIGAL  @VinexxWine

Giacomo Mori Chianti 2011, Docg, Tuscany, Italy (68858, $19.95, WineAlign) From the VINTAGES November 8, 2014 release

A modern take on Sangiovese to be certain with a penchant for the authenticity extracted from the best parts of history. Siena red dirt dredged, cherry macerated, fined, filtered and spiked with a crush of Brandy soaked Amaretti cookies. Clean and with Spring plum blossom in the air. Il Palio dirt for appetizer, Fiore di Zucca pie for dinner and sweet, nutty Panforte for dessert. So modern but so proper. Makes no bones about its made-up face but has plenty of solid ossein in its body. Good piquancy and a rush of verve on the back palate. Oaky but not creamy, bitter yes, but not woody.  Tasted November 2014  @oenophilia1

Red Tractor Cabernet Franc 2012, VQA Creek Shores, Ontario (Winery, $19.99, WineAlign)

The savoury aspect of this Cabernet Franc steals the show out of what is just an ideal vintage. The fruit was sourced from the Dim Vineyard in the Creek Shores appellation, a piece of the Peninsula ideally suited to the sharp and earthy aspects of Cabernet Franc. Despite 20 months of seasoning in barrel, the Tractor has maintained its red fruit character, accented by currants, spice and a deep-rooted sense of licorice. There is enough grain in its texture to carry it for three or four more years but it will never be bigger than it is now, nor will its length grow any longer.  Tasted November 2014  @SideroadTwenty

Nigl Gartling Grüner Veltliner 2013, Kremstal, Austria (453281, $21.95, WineAlign)

The ever-present, front loaded, laser sharp attack may feign spritz amid hushed whispers of CO2, but not from any chemical alteration. It’s actually a post fermentation, double negative breath of residual covalent bonding. The fast action bottling captures pressure to act as catalyst for freshness, especially in such a lean, high acidity vintage. A sway of tall grasses and that gas smothers whatever residual sugar might try to weigh down this low (11.5 per cent) alcohol stunner. Very much alive though the depth is challenged by all that forward thinking expression. Still a very good showing for this classic Grüner.  Tasted November 2014  @AustrianWine  @LeSommelierWine

Dog Point Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2014, Marlborough, South Island, New Zealand (677450, $21.95, WineAlign) From the VINTAGES October 25, 2014 release

The prototypical Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc hitting all the classic numbers is right here in the Dog Point 2014. Low pH, high acidity, minuscule residual sugar and elevated aromatics. It’s ripe but ripped by citrus juice and zest. Like cubes of honeydew, bitter winter melon and dried lemongrass soaking in and flavouring a dish of briny scallop carpaccio with coarse sea salt and capers. The sapidity is palpable, the excesses vivid. I would avoid too much variegated gastronomy when sipping this wine. Opt for simpler fare because its talents would otherwise be mimicked and suppressed.  Tasted November 2014  @DogPointWines  @TrialtoON

From left to right: Rupert & Rothschild Classique 2011, Domaine De Bila Haut Occultum Lapidem 2012, Marcel Deiss Pinot d'Alsace 2012, Westcott Vineyards Pinot Noir Estate 2012, Closson Chase S. Kocsis Vineyard Chardonnay 2011

From left to right: Rupert & Rothschild Classique 2011, Domaine De Bila Haut Occultum Lapidem 2012, Marcel Deiss Pinot d’Alsace 2012, Westcott Vineyards Pinot Noir Estate 2012, Closson Chase S. Kocsis Vineyard Chardonnay 2011

Rupert & Rothschild Classique 2011, Wo Coastal Region, Western Cape, South Africa (Agent, $23.95, WineAlign)

Iconic Bordeaux partners with South Africa for a red that is a surprising saunter into fair Cabernet-Merlot territory. Ripeness, extraction and alcohol are all exercised with restraint. The South African gauze is wound but of a thin wrapping, thanks to the allowance for fruit to shine in bright, red cherry tones. Western Cape is a terrific place to express Bordeaux-styled reds, especially when done with such hands off ability. A bit sapid and even sour edged, this would be a fine example to share when partaking in a little R & R. Wait a year and drink up to 2018.  Tasted November 2014  @Dandurandwines  @WOSACanada

Domaine De Bila Haut Occultum Lapidem 2012, Ac Côtes De Roussillon Villages Latour De France (643239, $24.95, WineAlign)

From vineyards composed of Devonian Period gneiss and schist soils and Kimmeridgian period limestone. A blend of Syrah, Grenache and Carignan. The heft of this craggy, cultured terroir in a Côtes De Roussillon’s bottle is never in question, nor is the puritanical excellence of its harvested fruit. Some years just heat up to a point of no return, like this 2012. Chapoutier is fully cognizant of the warmth and savagery from the soils and the climate. Finding even temperament and balance is the challenge. This vintage comes across as over the scabrous edge, cooked by the sun and dredged in the particulate. Classic Mediterranean notes of brine, brush and lavender keep it grounded, not to mention graphite and grilled meat, but for the sappy and life-sapping heat, this would be a candidate for 10 years in the cellar. As it is, drink this with quality warm-blooded protein over the next year or two.  Tasted November 2014  @M_Chapoutier  @Dandurandwines

Marcel Deiss Pinot d’Alsace 2012, Alsace, France (Agent, $24.95, WineAlign)

This Pinot d’Alsace is what Jean-Michel Deiss refers to as “du cépage a terroir” or “tous les cépages.” Though there can be as many as 13 grape varieties in the field blend, most of the content comes from the Pinot family. Though likely in Blanc, Gris and Auxerrois predominance, this is a co-planted field blend so if Jean-Michel were to change his tune from talking terroir to varietal percentages, even he would not know the true make-up. Regardless, this is a (vintage) rich and balanced white blend, an avatar for the Alsace idiom. A wanderer in angles, an adventurer into corners and a wearer of many aromatic costumes; sweet, sour, citrus, flint and spice. Indicates orange, lemon and grapefruit but it’s never that straightforward. More like Jincheng, Lemongrass and Pomello. An exemplary introduction to Deiss, Alsace and the dry summation of many white parts. Tasted twice, June and November 2014  @marceldeiss  @AlsaceWines

Westcott Vineyards Pinot Noir Estate 2012, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $30.00)

Carries and buffets an unmistakable aromatic conveyance that comes from a grouping to include Le Clos Jordanne, Bachelder, Queylus and The Farm. Where the cherry tree digs its roots into the earth, where the fruit rolls in the clay dust, where the tension in fruit meets tannin, intersecting at acidity. Just a touch of funk in a non-reductive, vineyard sense and the fruit does flirt with right of centre cherry, inching towards the black side. Chalk and tangy dust, and finally, tannin that holds court. This is quite big for Niagara Pinot Noir and it will age righteously for three to five years. Though it is not yet ready to lay claim to greatness, Westcott is a vineyard to keep a wide and watchful eye.  Tasted October 2014  @WestcottWines

Closson Chase S. Kocsis Vineyard Chardonnay 2011, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula (Winery, $34.95, WineAlign)

The real deal in Bench gain from out of the most enigmatic and occult vintage, the primitive vineyard giving life and lesson to Chardonnay. Austerity in second and third fill barrels sends butter in search of toast, imagined through pendular churning. A reckoning follows, connecting round fruit to linear acidity in character, oomph and excellence. Aromas indicate spirited confiture choices at the breakfast table to garnish flaky pastry. Biting and demanding yet sweet as a cool summer’s night.  Tasted October 2014  @ClossonChase

Good to go!

Let the gems begin

Wine review at VINTAGES of Norman Hardie Chardonnay Niagara Unfiltered 2012 by Godello

Wine review at VINTAGES of Norman Hardie Chardonnay County Unfiltered 2012 by Godello

If the premature lashing of cold, snow and ice weren’t enough to get you thinking about holiday shopping, get thee to a Liquor Control Board Ontario store on the weekend. Same time, every year. The LCBO stocks the shelves, isles and pyramid displays with more booze than anyone should ever be faced with in one visitation.

Related – Holiday wine gems hit November shelves

The bi-weekly VINTAGES release calendar whirs, undulates and clutters in rataplan overload at just this very juncture in preparation of the Christmas rush. Shoppers will tear down the walls of wine, beer and spirits, only to hear the burloque fall silent when the clock strikes closing time on the evening of December 24th.

There are exactly 35 days left in 2014 to do the right wine thing for that father, cousin, colleague, mentor or loyal, long-time suffering employee. Please heed the warnings and do not buy crap for the one you love or think you should. No matter who you are picking up a bottle for, treat them well and with fermented grape respect.

There are three category of wines to look for, at least within the context of this buying guide. First there are the values under $20, wines made so properly they should cost double or triple what they do. Second are the expensive but honest wines. These are the true gems that make most $100 bottles look bad. Last are the $100 examples that are truly iconic, despite their cost. Though priced beyond the means of most, they are not a mistake to take a flyer and give as a gift. After the hand off is complete, the all-knowing, unspoken nod will follow.

Here are 22 picks from the VINTAGES November 22, 2014 release, in stores now.

From left to right: Cavino Grande Reserve Nemea 2008, Frescobaldi Castello Di Pomino Pomino Bianco 2013, Moris Morellino Di Scansano 2012, Louis Bouillot Perle D'aurore Brut Rosé Crémant De Bourgogne, McWilliam's Mount Pleasant Elizabeth Sémillon 2007, Josef Chromy Pepik Pinot Noir 2012

From left to right: Cavino Grande Reserve Nemea 2008, Frescobaldi Castello Di Pomino Pomino Bianco 2013, Moris Morellino Di Scansano 2012, Louis Bouillot Perle D’aurore Brut Rosé Crémant De Bourgogne, McWilliam’s Mount Pleasant Elizabeth Sémillon 2007, Josef Chromy Pepik Pinot Noir 2012

Cavino Grande Reserve Nemea 2008, Pdo Nemea, Greece (295618, $17.95, WineAlign)

Nemea strikes again. Dark rust, earth juiced on and of the rocks. Like Sangiovese with attitude, made by Romans, like Syrah the way it was made in mythological times, by Greeks. A classical garden. This is actually quite modern and expressive for Agiorgitiko. Acts as if it were a touch clay (or amphora) baked but it’s really just a Peloponnese take on oak aging (18 months) and further bottle rest (12 months). This is right in its window and will be friendly for three to five years more. What a steal.  Tasted November 2014  @DrinkGreekWine

Frescobaldi Castello Di Pomino Pomino Bianco 2013, Doc Pomino Bianco, Tuscany, Italy (65086, $19.95, WineAlign)

With thanks to Chardonnay, the Castello di Pomino 2013 elevates Pinot Blanc to a level not really found anywhere, save perhaps for one or two examples out of B.C. This one really leaves a tannic impression, not unlike some impossibly off-dry Pinot Gris from Alsace. There is a really sophisticated level of ambiance and a semblance of a distinctly rocky intent. Like high quality Sancerre or Chenin from Silex soils, the grain and veins running through the palate and the texture are coarse and cursive. This one writes a new script for Frescobaldi’s Florentine, Apennine mountain estate. Fresh, ventilated and airy as if breathing from blue skies at high altitudes. I can’t recall tasting this level of excellence before and would look forward to no less than five years of enjoying what it brings to the Tuscan table.  Tasted November 2014  @FrescobaldiVini  @liffordretail

Moris Morellino Di Scansano 2012, Docg, Tuscany, Italy (992560, $19.95, WineAlign)

A primarily (90 per cent) Sangiovese with smatterings, though not inconsequential, of Merlot and Syrah. From (non-estate) vineyards in Poggio La Mozza (Grosseto). Morellino Di Scansano, to a wine and exemplified here, sports a firm jaw and an air of tragic nobility. The question is why should it only find occasional psychic prominence as a Sangiovese go to. Moris Farms makes the lesser-known accessible, with a (sees no oak) modern accent of dark fruit and spice atop simple, pleasurable Sangiovese. Pleasantries exchanged, the 2012 MdS will work dinner, inside a Tuscan vernacular and out.  Tasted October 2014  @Morisfarms  @oenophilia1

Louis Bouillot Perle D’aurore Brut Rosé Crémant De Bourgogne, Ac Burgundy, France (48793, $19.95, WineAlign)

The Bouillot Rosé, for my $20 is the most impressive of their line-up, always tender and ripe as if just picked fruit, namely strawberry and raspberry. The Perle D’aurore is a faintly hued and lighthearted take but not light on effort. Elegance defined in Bourgogne bubbles with a savoury edge to give it strength.  Tasted November 2014  @JCB_Wines  @ChartonHobbs

McWilliam’s Mount Pleasant Elizabeth Sémillon 2007, Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia (724492, $19.95, WineAlign)

The 2007 is another fascinating study in Hunter Valley Sémillon. Like the ’06, egressing secondary notes have emerged, in equatorial garrigue and fruit having already met its aurulent stenosis. A honey note persists though less so in ’07, as does the level of tempering acidity. This vintage brings out the calm and the clam, though the petrol and the mineral are omnipresent, perhaps elevated. Must keep in mind it’s only $20 but it does fall a bit short in texture and acidity. There is lemon drop and the essential atomic Sémillon stoicism from the Hunter Valley, but it’s a bit thin and hollow up the middle. All that acknowledged, not having a look or two would be a shame. Tasted November 2014  @MtPleasantWines  @PRAXISpr

Josef Chromy Pepik Pinot Noir 2012, Tasmania, Australia (162990, $22.95, WineAlign)

Pepik has elevated aromatic tones and though it appears lithe it reads like a weighty tome. Unique and of its Tasmanian self. Plums come to mind, as does red earth. The phenolic ripeness and varietal indications are ushered in with managed exceptions and are simply spot on. This does not strike as a Pinot Noir that will be long-lived because its black cherry and spice are riper than many contemporary editions in a similar price range, but it will offer great pleasure for two to three years.  Tasted November 2014  @JosefChromy  @bwwines

From left to right: Klumpp Pinot Gris 2013, Creekside Estates The Trad Reserve 2011, Meerlust Rubicon 2008, Tenuta Sette Ponti Crognolo 2011, Faustino I Gran Reserva 2001, Cvne Gran Reserva 2008

From left to right: Klumpp Pinot Gris 2013, Creekside Estates The Trad Reserve 2011, Meerlust Rubicon 2008, Tenuta Sette Ponti Crognolo 2011, Faustino I Gran Reserva 2001, Cvne Gran Reserva 2008

Klumpp Pinot Gris 2013, Qualitätswein, Baden, Germany (394155, $23.95, WineAlign)

Thoroughly interesting study in German Pinot Gris despite the timid and reserved tonal nature. Aridity in as much as the variety can muster and in the largest, atmospheric sense. Though the palate has some fine-grained texture and feigned sweetness, it’s as if Baden can only do Pinots this way, in Gris and in Noir. Acidity is tempered and a willing accomplice to the diminished components of sugar and pH. A well designed Pinot Gris.  Tasted November 2014  @TheLivingVine  @WinesofGermany

Creekside Estates The Trad Reserve 2011, VQA St. David’s Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (390336, $28.95, WineAlign)

The Trad ’11 has a classic toast and yeast aromatic waft and so it goes that everything that follows is embraced with curiosity and an open mind. Ginger, citrus, bronze and the sweet scents of the inside of a candy machine, its candy long gone. Creekside’s winemaker Rob Power will never be accused of dialing this sparkler in. Tasting trials help determine the necessary, final blend. The single, Queenston Road Vineyard puts 56 per cent Pinot Noir and (44) Chardonnay, aged 2 years in bottle, together for a highly effective, expansive but not explosive fizz. At 8.7 g/L of residual its dry but not quite falling off the bone. The sweetness is tempered by elevated (9.98 g/L) acidity and tension. Spent 24 months on the lees and was bottled back in February. There is balance and pleasure and a good, stretchy finish. No band-aid. Clean, precise, fizz of the day.  Tasted October 2014  @CreeksideWine

Meerlust Rubicon 2008, Wo Stellenbosch, South Africa (64329, $34.95, WineAlign)

Rubber dust, road macadam and strawberry jam. Fierce Bordeaux Blend home from a hot climate. This has gritty obduracy and doggedness. Like a red blend with a gun, walking the mean streets. Acidity shot through the roof. Bordeaux meets South Africa in every shared, resplendent and promising way. Rasping tannins contain bursting dark fruit, the grain running in multiple directions. Respect. Wait two more years on this and drink comfortably to 2020.  Tasted November 2014  @TrialtoON  @WOSACanada

Tenuta Sette Ponti Crognolo 2011, Igt Toscana, Italy (727636, $34.95, WineAlign)

This is not the modern Crognolo as witnessed in the previous five vintages. In 2011 we have been granted the complex Crognolo. This has must and earth. It has grit and girth. Best Crognolo I have tasted. Tangy Sangiovese, with some chalk in tannin. Will live longer and offer unrequited love seven to 10 years down the road, to the patient and the faithful. Tasted November 2014  @TenSettePonti  @TrialtoON

Faustino I Gran Reserva 2001, Doca Rioja, Spain (976662, $35.95, WineAlign)

It amazes me how kept wines from Rioja keep appearing as if they were just bottled yesterday but not this famous Gran Reserva. Syrupy and caramelized, bright and earthy. Mulled plum and clove with citrus accents. Bretty like a barn’s floor. Cedar and leather, big oak doors. Real mutton Rioja, still tannic, energetic and searing. Kicking it old school but wild and alive. From my earlier, April 2014 note: “Were a full-term lecture taught on the pros and cons of the Brettanomyces brannigan, this Rioja might be exhibit A. Absolutely manifest fruit meets earth, meets game perfume compendium. Call it funky yeast if you must but here is a wine that can be approached by nose only and if the relationship were to end there, novels might be written. Lives on a fermented, catalytic and plucky edge but never submits to the bacterial spindrift. Leaden fruit, red and black, smooth and layered with a tension in tang that is paralyzing to the mouth. Thirteen years old and just hitting a secondary stride, with the oak slowly dissolving and not a hint of coffee or chocolate to be found. Sexy and down to earth at the same time.” Last tasted November 2014  @bodegasfaustino  @Select_Wines

Cune Gran Reserva 2008, Doca Rioja, Spain (393553, $38.95, WineAlign)

Old school. Smells like Rioja. Smells like Spanish spirit and weeds, sinew, gristle and braising pig, all parts in. Smells like cedar, like American oak and a soak in a tub of spa earth and mineral salts. Like “Spanish boots of Spanish leather.” This has already done the evolutionary dance so if you are looking for something to float your natural, honest boat, go here now. In a Rioja world where the times they are a changin‘, it will sail you back in time and away into a Mediterranean sunset.  Tasted November 2014  @Cvne  @vonterrabev

From left to right: Fattoria Dei Barbi Brunello Di Montalcino 2008, Dutton Goldfield Dutton Ranch Chardonnay 2012, Vincent Sauvestre Clos De La Platière Pommard 2012, Versado Malbec Reserva 2010, Laurent Perrier Millésimé Vintage Brut Champagne 2004

From left to right: Fattoria Dei Barbi Brunello Di Montalcino 2008, Dutton Goldfield Dutton Ranch Chardonnay 2012, Vincent Sauvestre Clos De La Platière Pommard 2012, Versado Malbec Reserva 2010, Laurent Perrier Millésimé Vintage Brut Champagne 2004

Fattoria Dei Barbi Brunello Di Montalcino 2008, Tuscany, Italy (928028, $49.95, WineAlign)

Firm and in a rustic vein, as per the Barbi dole, this one a bit funkier at the outset than many. Welcome to the classic firmness of 2008, antithesis of the flamboyant ’07’s but plan for 20 plus years of slow food elegance emission. Classic rose petal, tea leaves, dates and earth caked metal in this guy. From my earlier, March 2014 note: “As expected, this is a gritty effort from Barbi, in part the impart of a testosterone-laden vintage, along with the dryer and cooler climate from Barbi’s southeastern Montalcino vineyards. A low and slow ripening will surely translate to extended longevity, but the rusticity and leather/cherry continuum will never disappear. No doubt a classic example and very well-priced for such authenticity, still it can’t be helped to see Barbi’s ’08 as entrenched in an earlier period of time. The wine will need 10 years to soften its edges and reveal the refinement and elegance of a well-documented Brunello.”  Last tasted November 2014  @FATTORIABARBI  @Noble_Estates

Dutton Goldfield Dutton Ranch Chardonnay 2012, Russian River Valley, Sonoma County, California (287854, $58.95, WineAlign)

A study in precision, exceptional quality and poise. Golden rays mixed with misty wisps, cool nights tempering warm days. Just a touch of wood spice pricks the finish. So much flavour.  Tasted November 2014  @DuttonGoldfield  @TheVine_RobGroh

Vincent Sauvestre Clos De La Platière Pommard 2012, Burgundy, France (390534, $59.95, WineAlign)

This Pinot Noir speaks for the two sides of every Burgundy argument, especially considering it comes from the gritty nook of Pommard. First impressions are floral and pretty, with spice and some sort of tropical flora whispering in cooing scents. The hill offers a buoyancy, a lifted spirit and a view of its own sweet regard. Travels through a mid-village weightless hover, then returns to terroir in prime time acidity and tannin to keep time. There is a sweet tart medicinal aspect ratio on the finish and overall this does things correctly. Does not finish with the same suave seduction that it teased at the start but it does continue to impress.  Tasted November 2014  @Select_Wines  @BourgogneWines

Versado Malbec Reserva 2010, Luján De Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina (316984, $60.95, WineAlign)

Aromatics are racing and rising from the glass. A red rain pouring in and out. Has yet to change course. From my earlier, September 2014 note: “The floral emergence is a lodestar as periscope just now peering up from the seamless cake layering in Versado’s most liberally applied oak-imbued Malbec. The 2010 adheres in sticky savour though it remains two to three years away from finding its true gliding form. From my earlier notes through tastings on Oct. 25 and Nov. 14, 2013. “This ultra-premium Mendozan from the Canadian winemaking team of Peter Gamble and Ann Sperling boasts fruit from “the finest barrels from the finest blocks.” While certainly riding a splintered and jammy horse (what fully extracted Mendozan does not), this reserve Malbec has so much else happening, I owe it my time and focus. Dances to a triple jump height in oozing berry, compacted, brick wall infrastructure and overlapping delineation. Really like the consistency here, with no hollow middle, no umlaut, no pregnant pause. Very well made.” Last tasted November 2014  @VersadoWine

Laurent Perrier Millésimé Vintage Brut Champagne 2004, Champagne, France (983874, $84.95, WineAlign)

The reappraised vintage that was once considered good, now revealing itself as better than good uses examples like the Laurent Perrier Millésimé to drive the point. This is a classically symmetrical blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir possessive of much chaste class, incredible balance and held lotus posture. Through its waves of idiosyncratic brioche and linear citrus lines drawn in tactile angles this Champagne is unbent and unbroken. Its seamless transitions glide from delicate aromas, through a textured palate and groove forward in elastic length. Additionally graceful with an ever so slightly advanced and mature style from a mature world in vintage-dated Champagne.  Tasted November 2014  @ChampagneLPUSA  @Noble_Estates

From left to right: Mollydooker Carnival Of Love Shiraz 2010, Silver Oak Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2009, Château Malescot St. Exupéry 2010, Spottswoode Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2011, Sassicaia 2011

From left to right: Mollydooker Carnival Of Love Shiraz 2010, Silver Oak Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2009, Château Malescot St. Exupéry 2010, Spottswoode Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2011, Sassicaia 2011

Mollydooker Carnival Of Love Shiraz 2010, Mclaren Vale, Australia (242732, $114.95, WineAlign)

While the price is just about as absurd as a “yoga class for cats” or Raine Maida’s voice, it seems logical to wonder aloud how one could question this Carnival as not being one of the biggest and baddest Shiraz you will ever encounter. It’s a veritable run on sentence of Shiraz adjectives, adverbs and hyperbole. If your hankering remains entrenched in elevated alcohol, enormity of fruit, condensed and compressed mineral, lest to be forgetting the viscous ooze of Mclaren Vale syrup, well, then this jester should fill your stocking along with those of the rest of your circle of fortifying friends. From the maw of the beast here – blood gore and fruit guts. Holy crap is this extracted, tannic, mired in impropriety, full conceit and in zero jealousy of other Shiraz. It doth joust. Certainly no lady of peace. Wow.  Tasted November 2014  @MollydookerWine  @bwwines

Silver Oak Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2009, Napa Valley, California (936039, $139.95, WineAlign)

Magnificent and munificent wine. Really special, magnanimous in every way, ultra-luxurious but not over the top. Alcohol, oak and extraction judged and held in check, equity and in balance. The fruit is pure and delicate, marked by plum, blackberry and hovering licorice, anise and spices. Long in chain and really sweet tannins. Like gazing into a pool of real nineties Napa and across the pond to an older school of reasoning. Tasted November 2014  @SilverOak  @HalpernWine

Château Malescot St. Exupéry 2010, Ac Margaux, 3e Cru, Bordeaux, France (261552, $167.95, WineAlign)

A heightened sense of Margaux reality in 2010 comes from the château with the hybrid name; first from Simon Malescot, King’s Counsel to Louis XIV at the Parliament of Bordeaux. Second, from the post French Revolution château purchaser, Count Jean Baptiste St Exupéry, grandfather of the aviator and writer Antoine de St Exupéry. This has to be the most hedonism ever bottled in a Malescot, within reason of course. The house does not know from over the top, save perhaps for the cost of this 2010. Cassis is certainly here, as is a medicinal tension, firm acidity and the most formidable tannins known to Margaux. The grain, chalk and tincture combine for full effect. This will need 10 years to chill, then go 10 plus 10 more to much applause and the request for a final curtain call. Tasted November 2014  @VinsdeBordeaux

Spottswoode Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2011, Napa Valley, California (399592, $167.95, WineAlign)

Wow. Aromatics are off the charts. Pine forest, leather, chestnut and cedar, savoury in every wild and sauvage way, but also pure. Berries, tobacco leaf, classical logic, structures and axioms lead me to imagine mid-nineties Paulliac. Seamless texture, ripe but not overripe, rich but never overly grainy. This is super fine and dialed back (with exotic spices and wood spice filling in the holes) in the cooler 2011 vintage. A Cabernet Sauvignon of the most savour and the most class. A ten to twenty year Spottswoode.  Tasted November 2014   @Spottswoode  @Smallwinemakers

Sassicaia 2011, Doc Bolgheri, Tuscany, Italy (480533, $199.95, WineAlign)

Certainly a Sassicaia borne of the earth and the vintage. Cooler, with increased sapidity and elevated aromatics. While not volatile there is certainly an intimation at acetic behaviour. Though supportive in only 15 per cent of the two Cabs blend, Cabernet Franc stands firm in its concentration of tobacco, peppercorns a-popping in the pan and a smoldering of currants over an open fire. This will age for decades and return to its beautiful natural state with time-weathered, rugged facial lines. A leathery Sassicaia this, with tight, drying tannins and in need of two decades to show off its birthright. The 2011 Sassicaia is a loyal, aristocratic example to the Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta’s dream of creating a ‘thoroughbred’ wine where the ideal was Bordeaux.  Tasted November 2014  @Smarent

Good to go!

Where did all the Nouveau go?

Nouveau 2014

Nouveau 2014

Of which camp are you? Have the Nouveau got the hairs raised on the back of your neck? Do you love it or hate it? Are you giddy with annual excitement? Are you agitated by what you feel is a black eye dis to properly produced Beaujolais Cru? Are bubble gum and fermenting banana your go to sensations? If you were playing the Family Feud and asked this question: “What is you favourite winemaking technique?,” would you answer, “carbonic maceration?”

Tomorrow will mark the third Thursday of November and the annual Beaujolais Nouveau release will hit shelves around the globe, including here in Ontario’s LCBO stores. Beaujolais Nouveau, as in barely fermented, Burgundian nether, or to the curiosity seeker, best friend.

Related – Beaujolais Nouveau: your new BF wines

Last year’s Godello Beaujolais Presser offered up a quick Nouveau 101. A reminder that the wine formerly known as Beaujolais Nouveau is now simply Nouveau because other wine growing nations have joined the party. Italians produce a Novello and in Niagara they have adopted the Nouveau, if only because the English “new wine” is not the most marketable of phrases. Neither is the Franglaise, Newvin, or Nouwine.

Related – Beaujolais Nouveau Presser 2013

Nouveau has reached critical mass and is now stationed at a vinous crossroads. Long-time LCBO Product Consultant Neal Boven offered me fair facetious warning as I sat down to taste the 2014 crop. “Just be careful, those are some really tannic wines.” Not, but what they are, more than ever, are new Gamay (and Syrah, Merlot, etc.) reds soaked and macerated in maximum thrust, skin-contact extrication for full neon hue and blinding fluorescent glow. In many examples they go deeper still so some wanna be fierce tannin is actually getting through. The question begs. Is that what this perversion of Beaujolais was meant to be, or is Nouveau no longer the correct vernacular? Where did all the Nouveau go? Also, what happened to last year’s clear-cut winner, Seven nation Gamay, Generation Seven? Where did you go Château des Charmes?

Cries of “Le Beaujolais nouveau est arrivé!.” can still be heard and so the 2014 Nouveau wines will be arriving in select LCBO stores on Thursday, November 20. Here are notes on the nine presented.

Ontario

Reif Estates The Fool Gamay Nouveau 2014, VQA Niagara River, Ontario (220483, $11.95)

The rich hue is so like a Côtes du Rhône, a young one mind you, a Rhône Nouveau. The aromas conjure up corner stores and a wonderland filled with bubble gum and cotton candy sprinkled with dried lees dust. Sweet and sour, with a spritz of lime and the bitter citrus pith of grapefruit. Also green tobacco leaf and coffee beans. The concentration is admirable and even though the wine is as raw as open sores on feet hiked in new boots, give credit to the complex nature of the festivities.

France

Mommessin Beaujolais Nouveau 2014, Burgundy, France (897934, $13.95)

Quite consistently the most accomplished if unabashedly contrived BN, year in and year out. The hue has deepened, the extract been probed and the senses muted. Acting like the real deal in southern Burgundy, the Mommessin feigns Morgon with simulated scenes of burlesque and method acting. The grit of earth mixed with the brightness of black cherries may give you reason to believe. If not for the banana blow moment, this could have been as much Zappa as Ween. “A little something to help the time go by. Just a little something to help to keep you high.” In the end, Morgon throws out the counterfeit lawsuit and congratulates the Nouveau for acting like itself.

Art’s Beaujolais Primeur Nouveau 2014, Beaujolais, France (366476, $13.95)

In the upper echelon of the BN cost continuum and it shows. The sulphur must be blown off to keep moving in the assessment, but that is does. Does not come across cloyingly candied and breathes dark fruits mixed with some plum instead. A touch dusty and adroitly Gamay so there is patronage in the Arts. The acidity is pleasant and adjunct the ripe but not over extracted fruit. Still the hue goes for expression over the wine’s impression but the restraint and the aromatic profiling fit the old school bill. Dry and possessive of quite decent length.

Catalans Primeur Syrah Merlot 2014, IGP Southwest, France (220533, $9.95)

Everything about this Syrah and Merlot mélange is steroidal and an oxymoron within the contextual happenstance of the thematic. So skintastic in extraction and wildly sauvage in aromatic impropriety. A thick, viscous liqueur of mashed banana and Chapati paste. Sickly sour and Lik-m-Aid sweet. It is dry on the finish, I will give it that. But it’s so over the top, if Syrah-Merlot Nouveau can be.

DuBoeuf Gamay Nouveau 2014, Beaujolais, France (891846, $9.95)

A return to the olfactory confection and the colour of Cru Beaujolais though it is weeks and years away from turning the page and living that dream. The carbonic crafting is in full marauding maceration in this ’14 DuBoeuf. The saving grace is a minor lead funk in the key of autumn plants, trampled underfoot. “Greased and slicked down fine, groovy leather trim.” Quite rustic despite the sugar-coating.

Italy

Negrar Novello Del Veneto 2014, Veneto, Italy  (899955, $9.95)

The aromatic waft of this Venetian (Bardolino-Valpolicella) Novello is like fruit and vegetable road kill beneath a truck. So very composted and steaming, it’s as if this is still fermenting away in bottle. This gives the word carbonic a whole new meaning. The texture and body are quite elegant (used with creative license, not in any disparaging way I promise) and the finish is long and puckering.  It is what it is.

Tollo Novello Rosso Terre di Chieti 2014, Abruzzo, Italy (271759, $9.45)

The Giocale is an interesting specimen from Abruzzo, qualified as a “regional blended red.” Not exactly Nouveau material is it. With what must likely be MdA as its dominant grape variety, strawberries in many incantations are its focus, in leaf, of near-ripe fruit and mixed with avocado for one odd smelling (and tasting) milkshake. This has a young Negroamaro or Nero d’Avola feel, but also a raisined, pruny appassimento appointed sensation. There is forest floor in its nose, vineyard funk in its flavor and tension in its voice. It’s already evolved, slightly oxidized and needs to be consumed with haste. That said it shows some interesting complexity and even a few stanzas of structure so give it points. It’s also correctly priced.

Drouhin Beaujolais-Nouveau 2014

Drouhin Beaujolais-Nouveau 2014

VINTAGES

FRANCE

Joseph Drouhin Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau 2014, Beaujolais, France (113266, $15.95)

The paid piper in the group of nine leads by example. At $16 Drouhin had better fashion an exemplary Beaujolais Nouveau to justify the price. With so many just plain stellar $15-16 wines on the market today, the caché  of just recently pressed Gamay juice spiked by 12 per cent alcohol is not enough of a presser. Does this Drouhin raise the bar? Yes, that it does, but not in the way it should. There is clearly developed acidity, tannin and quality grapes in this pour. What happened to Nouveau? Why so proper in pH, TA and so low in RS? Where did the new juice go? Sorry Mr. Drouhin, if I want Gamay this good I can buy it any other week of the year.

Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau 2014, Beaujolais, France (932780, $14.95)

This Duboeuf more closely resembles what Beaujolais Nouveau should be and has been for a near-half Millennium. Like ripe raspberries and bananas mashed together, shaken and even baked into short pastry for a quick cobbler or clafouti. The most aromatic on the table, this reminds me of years gone Nouveau by, of bygone Beaujolais that has just kissed the tank and been kissed by the yeast meets sugar marriage of a young wine. Hits the mark, finishes dry and leaves you not wanting anything more.

Good to go!

Off the beaten Italian path

Catarratto of Azienda Agricola Gregorio De Gregorio and Frappato of Valle dell'Acate<br /> Photos (c): http://www.valledellacate.com/ and http://www.degregorioagricoltura.com/

Catarratto of Azienda Agricola Gregorio De Gregorio and Frappato of Valle dell’Acate
Photos (c): http://www.degregorioagricoltura.com/ and http://www.valledellacate.com/

Of all the idioms that have proliferated in the English language, “off the beaten path” is one of my all-time ironic favourites. Modern definitions and thesaurus entries make straightforward sense; not well-known or popular with many people, offbeat, novel, out of the ordinary, the secret, special or sacred places, the B-sides, the ones that no one else knows about. The term was not always about travelling or looking for something. There was a time when “off the beaten path” was a dis, when it negatively described a person as heterodoxical; as a heteroclite, a dissident, an iconoclast, a heretic.

The paradox applies to grape varieties with I can see the light clarity. In the late 19th century the Phylloxera pest epidemic nearly wiped out most of the vineyards in Europe and with no cure available, the best recourse was to graft Phylloxera-resistant American rootstock to more susceptible European vinifera vines. As a result, many an indigenous varietal proliferation slowly, over the course of 100 years, dropped off the face of the grape growing map, or if I may, the beaten path.

My WineAlign colleague John Szabo M.S. recently penned a column on Portugal in which he challenged semantic references using the confabulation “indigenous,” claiming that the term is often misused. Szabo contends that “most European grapes are more correctly termed endemic varieties, that is, belonging exclusively to or confined to a certain place, even if they are not originally from there. The true origins of most Vitis vinifera varieties is almost certainly somewhere in the Middle East.” Using scientific data and study to corroborate the theory, Portugal is put forth as the only European country that may comfortably lay claim to housing true indigenous grape varieties.

John admits that “the line is purely arbitrary,” so there certainly is some leeway when it comes to the glossology of ancient grape authenticity. Everyone knows that Cabernet Sauvignon is not indigenous, endemic or even domestic to Italy, or for that matter Canada, but is the more important question not one of how many years must pass before a grape can call itself home? How can we really pinpoint when a grape may have migrated from Mesopotamia to Lazio, to “a secondary domestication centre.” Do we need to be so precise in qualifying roots? How many millennium must pass before Chardonnay can consider itself a citizen and its children should no longer feel like unwanted, second-class adoptive wanderers? The answer is a very long time. Longer for grapes than for humans, that is for certain. In the case of Italy, has enough time passed to consider its native vines as indigenous?

The most famous and successful of domestic Italian grape varieties have trod a well-navigated, kept in the limelight track. The list includes Aglianico, Barbera, Corvino, Garganega, Glera, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Nebbiolo, Negroamaro, Nero d’Avola, Pecorino, Sangiovese, Trebbiano, Verdicchio and Vermentino. Italian acreage swells with their plantings. However, “off the beaten path” could actually be considered a metaphor for “authentic” and this is what winemakers and consumers (even if they need to be enlightened), really want. Perhaps people want experiences with real grapes and away from the “tourists.”

You can’t help but notice that modern winemakers with a wistful eye are casting reflexively into the past with a hunger for vinous resurrection. By grafting their pre-Phylloxera ancient vines onto healthy root stock they have turned the varietal compass on its head. As they have moved through their days with an open-mind to the panoply of grape interactions, they have beget the endemic revival.

Old is new again. Meet the awakening of the Italian grape vernacular: Albana, Albarossa, Bellone, Bombino Bianco, Canaiolo, Casavecchia, Catarratto, Carricante, Catarratto Comune, Cocociolla, Cortese, Grecanico, Groppello Gentile, Frappatto, Grignolino, Nerello Mascalese, Pallagrello, Passerina, Pelaverga and Ribolla Gialla. Every one of these ancient varieties are coming to a restaurant list near you.

Finally, I find the irony in the idea that for a winemaker or vine grower to step off the quotidian they need to plant, cultivate and make wine from grapes once considered the norm and the go to in their region. Today, the production from lesser, even totally unknown grape varieties, despite the zealous search for them by hipsters and geeks, is still considered a marginal pastime and a financial risk. The comeback continues to gain traction and with every passing vintage, the wines made from once Herculean grapes get better and better. Rusticity persists but with ever-increasing modern techniques, so is structure and balance. Endemic is the new vino da tavola and if I were Chianti Classico, Barbera d’Alba or Valpolicella I would be working even harder to keep hold of my market share.

Related – Wine around the boot in 40 days

Linda Siddera of Casale Del Giglio and Francesco Ferreri of Valle Dell'Acate

Linda Siddera of Casale Del Giglio and Francesco Ferreri of Valle Dell’Acate

On November 3, 2014, the Italian Trade Commission rolled out the red carpet at Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall for the 19th annual tasting of Wines from Italy. At least 90 producers from 20 regions poured their wines, including the brightest and biggest stars; Amarone, Barbaresco, Barolo, Brunello, Chianti Classico, Sagrantino, Taurasi and Vino Nobile. The ICE-ITA assembly is the most formidable Italian tasting show in town. The impossibility of sampling everything on hand is more than evident so planning ahead is key. For 2014 I chose the lesser-known, the black sheep, the heretics. When all was said and done I felt like I had done “off the beaten path” some justice. Here are notes on 10 #OBP wines.

Alois

Alois

Alois Terre del Volturino Trebulanum 2011, Terre del Volturno IGT, Campania, Italia (Agent, $42, WineAlign)

From volcanic soils, this 100 per cent Casavecchia, a name which means “old house,” was all but forgotten after the Phylloxera plague. Legend has it that it was rediscovered inside a walled garden, according to farmers, among some ancient ruins in Pontelatone. Trebulanum, considered by Pliny to be one of the best Italian wines, grows 25 miles from Mout Vesuvius. Cassavecchia is a wine that came from vineyards on the hills surrounding the old town of Tremula Balliensis, an area that now incorporates the townships of Pontelatone, Castel di Sasso Liberi and Formicola. Re-planted (the cut and the setting of a small branches and the pro-vine, an ancient method that places the vine branch in the soil until it develops its own root) by Alois in 1992, Casavecchia is a troubled vine because of hermaphroditic pistulates and so it is light producing (less than 600 grams of fruit per plant). Massimo Alois says it took 10 years to get comfortable with the vines, mainly due to its extremely firm structure. The grapes produce loose batches of small berries of big colour (twice as much as Aglianico). Micro-oxygenation helps to release tension, modernize the rusticity and allow the intense acidity to play nice with the fruit. From a cool vintage, this Trebulanum is a phenom of an individual, of great strength and individual character. Ideal introduction to the future of its past.  Tasted November 2014  Vini Alois  @vinialois

Casale Del Giglio Bellone 2013, IGT Lazio, Italia (Agent)

In ancient Rome, it has been reported that Bellone was called “uva fantastica” (“fantastic grape”) by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia. True? Maybe, maybe not. Linda Siddera tells me that Bellone hails out of the Trebbiano famliy tree from coastal vineyards thirty miles south of Rome. A child of sandy soils and sea breezes, the oldest local varietal found new life when planted by Casale Del Giglio 10 years ago. This Bellone exceeds many Trebbiano in body, viscous texture and finishing mineral natation. It may not be the most complex white on the boot but it will work beautifully with seafood and finish with the right kind of bitters.  Tasted November 2014  @CasaleGiglio

Casale Del Giglio Bellone 2013

Casale Del Giglio Bellone 2013

Casale Del Giglio Cesanese 2012, IGT  Lazio, Italia (Agent)

There are two sub-varieties of Cesanese: Comune (common), and d’Affile, from the eponymous village. Two years ago Wine Enthusiast’s Claudi Ricci said that “Cesanese is poised to become one of the hottest rediscovered red grapes in central Italy.” That is yet to happen but Casale Del Giglio’s take should raise an eyebrow or 10. Their vines grow in the Roman hills and although the variety has its own DOCg the territory (d’Afille) here  is wrong so here it must be labeled IGT. The wine spent six months in stainless steel tank and another six in neutral oak. Freshness preserved, freshness is everything. If a comparison could be made it would be to Montepulciano but here the opaque purple Cesanese is tighter and writes its own chalky narrative from limestone maculated, alluvial soils. Red raspberry, spice and exotic perfume give much character, suppress rusticity and make for a really approachable red.  Tasted November 2014  Wine World Importers

Casale Del Giglio Cesanese 2012 and Castello Di Verduno Pelaverga Basadone 2013

Casale Del Giglio Cesanese 2012 and Castello Di Verduno Pelaverga Basadone 2013

Castello Di Verduno Pelaverga Basadone 2013, Piemonte, Italia (Agent, $29.95)

Basadone can mean more than one thing in the local dialect of Verduno. It is a “king of wine’s” naughty little brother, a “wild poppy” and can mean “lady kisser.” The first is in reference to Barolo, Pelaverga and the 19th century vintner Carlo Alberto, king of Savoy. The second for its fruit-forward, low tannin and highly perfumed aromatics.The third because it was once considered an aphrodisiac. Winemaker Mario Andrion says that Pelaverga evolves on its own, that it is a gentle giant requiring no oak. Andrion uses traditional vinification methods, in stainless steel, to maintain purity. Though it dates to the 16th century, the current history of the grape goes back to 1974 when it was replanted using massal selection rootstock and then received its DOC status in 1995. This ’13 is firm, spicy, full of red fruit (notably cherry) with silky yet drying tannins. The wine is in heady balance and finishes with a brood of spice.  Tasted November 2014  Castello di Verduno  @3050imports  @CatlandF

Civielle – Cantine Della Valtènesi E Della Lugana Elianto Groppello Garda Classico 2010, Lombardia, Italia (Agent, $21.50)

Groppello Gentile has been cultivated in Valtènesi since the 14th century. The name comes from “gróp”, meaning “knot” in the local language, because of its tight clusters. Though “upon the beaten path I kept on my blinders,” it is grapes like Groppello that take us out of our comfort zone. Grapes from the good life. This is a most robust and rustic organic take on a very old grape grown on the southwest shores of Lago di Garda at the edge of the Veneto. High-toned spices and floral notes are really unique, drawing no obvious comparisons. Fresh, tart and with great length, this would benefit from some settling time and then work well with selvaggina, notes Export Manager Orlando Bonomo.  Tasted November 2014  Civielle  @VinoAllegroBC

Fantinel Ribolla Gialla Brut NV, Friuli-Venzia Giulia, Italia (Agent)

‎Presented by Export Manager for North America at Gruppo Vinicolo Fantinel Patrick Sacha Cappellini, this Ribolla dates back to the middle ages and when used for Sparkling wine it exhibits a fuller sense of body, one that the everyday Prosecco just can’t seem to match. Made in the same Charmat Method, this is a Brut style though at (6 g/L) residual sugar it pushes the line. Soil, in this case “ponca,” the dark marly limestone of the region is key. This fizz juices rocks, literally (to a point) from friable calcium, resulting in bitters in mind of lemon and lime zest and the pith from which they are scraped. There is a delicate elegance and a creamy texture by way of battonage, with white flowers on that forceful nose, good verve in high acidity and a more than decent, dry finish.  Tasted November 2014  @FantinelWinery  @ProfileWineGrp

Fantinel Ribolla Gialla Brut NV and Planeta Etna 2013

Fantinel Ribolla Gialla Brut NV and Planeta Etna 2013

Azienda Agricola Gregorio de Gregorio Catarratto IGT Terre Siciliane 2013, Sicilia, Italia (Agent, 764837, $17.40)

Not only is Catarratto one of Sicily’s most planted variety (60 per cent), it is also one of Italy’s most employed. Reputation lends to parts of speech such as bulk juice, grape concentrate and blending but when vinified with ancient acumen and love, Cataratto is capable of revivalist contention. Here, from plantings in the late 1990’s, the fruit was extricated off vines 18 years of age. The Mediterranean composition, feel, tone and character of this unique white, while simple, straightforward and utilitarian, gives forth an ooze of balm and brine that Grillo just can’t match. So much sapidity and savour, like olives, capers and wild herbs muddled into one fine tapenade. Bring on the calamari.  Tasted November 2014  Azienda Agricola Gregorio De Gregorio  @ColioWinery

Planeta Etna 2013, DOC Sicilia, Italia (Agent, $27.99)

When a white wine comes across all rocks, citrus and breeze you know that a) you are somewhere in the vicinity of the Tyrrhenian Sea and the western Mediterranean Sea and b) there is something beautiful and endemic going on. The highly aerified, vitreous, bracing, juicy 100 per cent Carricante is Sicilian vine flora at its finest. A stark cement tank ferment and six months in large format Slovenian oak casks has taken rocks, coarse sea salt and viscous atmosphere and just beat it, squeezed it and juiced it to become ground, white sunshine. When it comes to wine from this ancient grape, in the hands of the island’s master prodocer, “the fire’s in their eyes and their words are really clear.” This Planeta is the king of Sicilian Pop.  Tasted November 2014  @PlanetaWinery  @Noble_Estates
Poderi Dal Nespoli Pagadebit 2013, DOC Emilia Romagna, Italia (Agent, $15.95)
Presented by Brand Ambassador Nicole Poggi, who notes this is literally the “pay back” wine. Pagadebit is 90 per cent Bombino Bianco, with help from Sauvignon Blanc. Bombino is a productive, disease-resistant variety, traditionally grown by peasants so thus the moniker. From vines located between the Adriatic and Tuscany, this gains complexity in sandwiched compression of both region’s acidities. At the price, this is more than a no-brainer replacement for dull, insipid and often insulting, mass-produced Pinot Grigio. The corpulence and relish are of a movable feast, a compendium of white wine excitement that leaves PG in the dust of its neutrality and condescending patronage.  Tasted November 2014  Poderi Dal Nespoli   @_hiniky  Select Wines
Valle Dell'Acate

Valle Dell’Acate

Valle Dell’Acate Vittoria Il Frappato 2013, DOC Sicilia, Italia (Agent, $28.99)

Presented by Francesco Ferreri, this unique red from Sicily was the eye-opener to finish in endemic style. The roots from this 100 per cent Frappato go back at least six generations to pre-Phylloxera times. All organic and replanted using massal selection, the Vittoria is one of only five in the region. The textural impression left by its calcaire, sandstone and clay strata soils is significant. Extremely berry-oriented, with strawberry and raspberry leading, along with a sour hint of pomegranate. Like Sicilian Gamay, with great personality, fresh, tight, bracing and very territorial. With more attention paid to the expressive Sicilian the new battle cry could become #FireFrappatoFire. Tasted November 2014  @VdaWinery  @HalpernWine

Good to go!

Big release, bigger wines

Chicken and beef destined for tortillas

Chicken and beef destined for tortillas

As we creep deeper and deeper into late autumn days, with afternoons bereft of light and evenings full of chill, we begin to search for more than a pipkin of warmth. Wine can fill the void and it is no simple folderol that we seek. The bicameral brain on one lobe wants deep, earthy reds, dynamic and changeless, the other asks for bombs with damp fuses.

But enough about that. Tomorrow marks the VINTAGES November 8th release. One short of the big holiday mess but full of big wines nonetheless. Here are nine to pass the time, to tell the cold to buzz off and to share with an unbridled generosity of spirit.

From left to right: Boeckel Brandluft Riesling 2012, Jean Max Roger Cuvée Les Chante Alouettes Pouilly Fumé 201, Michael David 6th Sense Syrah 2012, Tenuta San Guido Le Difese 2012

From left to right: Boeckel Brandluft Riesling 2012, Jean Max Roger Cuvée Les Chante Alouettes Pouilly Fumé 201, Michael David 6th Sense Syrah 2012, Tenuta San Guido Le Difese 2012

Boeckel Brandluft Riesling 2012, Alsace, France (392928, $17.95, WineAlign)

From a northern part of Alsace, southwest of Strasbourg comes this epitome of Dry Alsace Riesling, stone cold stoic and bereft. The impossibility of this style is what Alsace does with impunity and propriety; gaseous and aerified without petrol or vitriol. But it will condense and go there after five years time. The quality is excellent for the price, from a limestone and silica lieu-dit just this side short of Grand Cru. Citrus would be the wrong descriptor but it does act like an exuding of citric acid. So stark and beautiful. Such a mineral expression in every fighting sense of the argument. Like chewing on rock salts and dehydrated limestone, the second tablet then dropped into the glass. A famous wine merchant in London sells this for $25 CAN. In Ontario, this is a must purchase by the case.  Tasted October 2014  @HHDImports_Wine  @drinkAlsace

Michael David 6th Sense Syrah 2012, Lodi, California (394395, $24.95, WineAlign)

Considering it’s only $25, this is a screaming deal. The level of quality and concentration, regardless of the excess, is almost impossible. Not so much smelling like Syrah (it is devoid of any sort of roasting or cured meat) but what it lacks in porcine caramelization it makes up for in candied flowers, dense all-day cake and smoked beef ribs. So much rub (with too much brown sugar) needs slow cooking to assimilate, so wait a few years. This reminds me of good value Napa Petite Sirah (no relation) but for Lodi, at this price, this is the finest Syrah to be found. Great acidity, verve, incredulous modernity, unabashed behaviour and high alcohol – but it handles it well.  Tasted October 2014  @MDWinery  @imbibersreport

Jean Max Roger Cuvée Les Chante Alouettes Pouilly Fumé 2013, Loire, France (391623, $28.95, WineAlign)

Calm, reserved and intelligent. Just a faint hint of smoke, a whiff or a puff, here today, gone tomorrow.  Glade after a misty rain, glacial till, tangy in very good ways, intense but on the right edge of bearishness. Good quality.  Tasted October 2014  @oenophilia1

Tenuta San Guido Le Difese 2012, Igt Toscana, Italy (147876, $31.95, WineAlign)

La Difese, “the defences,” is the third wine of Tenuta San Guido and has been produced since 2003. The blend is Cabernet Sauvignon (70 per cent) and Sangiovese (30). Though the price hike is a slight, if splitting hair concern, in 2012 the IGT continues to, as they say, consegnare la merce. The vintage persists in ripe fruit and firm alcohol (14 per cent) but exhibits just the right sort of modernity. Sugars, oak and acidity follow suit, all in check. Smells like all sorts of licorice, below, above and in the ground. A seamless wine, so perfect for pasta and protein, an expatriate grape influenced baby Brunello, in a way, but clean and never gamy. Polished and with a foot entrenched in tradition. A delicious vintage for the Difese.  Tasted October 2014  @Smarent

From left to right: Ontanon Gran Reserva 2001, Churton Estate Pinot Noir 2010, Aurelio Settimo Rocche Dell'annunziata Barolo 2008, Jonata Todos Red 2010, Bollinger Special Cuvée Brut Champagne

From left to right: Ontanon Gran Reserva 2001, Churton Estate Pinot Noir 2010, Aurelio Settimo Rocche Dell’annunziata Barolo 2008, Jonata Todos Red 2010, Bollinger Special Cuvée Brut Champagne

Ontanon Gran Reserva 2001, Rioja, Spain (939736, $39.95, WineAlign)

A re-taste ups the ante and the score. Here, finally a 2001 Rioja that reeks of the maturity it announces. For a 13 year-old wine it displays all the tertiary components that are in high demand; worn leather, dried fruit, roasted cherries and the demi-glazing bones of a young calf. Imagine this with the finest preparation of ri de veau. Oh baby. Still churning its creamy oak and dried spice accents with some verve and just a wisp of cherry wood smoking in the open air fire pit. Really lovely. From my earlier August 2014 note: “This Tempranillo dominant and Graciano blend is of a funk more sister than brother. Class, breeding and elegance are the call cards, while grace, control and style are her moves. Still, a funk’s a funk, like Thomas East or Gloria Williams. Sister Funk with no words. An all-instrumental Rioja, with old-school rampart fortification, smells of coffee ground through stones and a flowing, dressy, showy and colourful display of fabric and texture. She has a slight temper but so much confidence. A strutting Gran Reserva, in leather boots and tight, curled acidity.  Last tasted November 2014  @OntanonWines  @TandemSelection

Churton Estate Pinot Noir 2010, Marlborough, New Zealand (237164, $39.95, WineAlign)

A whole lot more complexity here for $40 than the bulk of Marlborough Pinot Noir – more earth, mineral and biodynamic love are in this bottle with egos checked at the door. Florality trumps varnish, fruit is occupied but always ready to be bitten, crushed rocks are crumbling and bleeding in the bottle. Finesse, “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité,” regal red fruit and dirt so fine, filtered and sweet. High quality and ageability intuit their philosophy into the practicum because the acidity and tannin are refined, hydrated, yet gritty in their ultra-composed way. Bring on the Petit Manseng.  Tasted October 2014  @LeSommelierWine  @ChurtonWines

Aurelio Settimo Rocche Dell’annunziata Barolo 2008, Docg Piedmont, Italy (293761, $51.95, WineAlign)

A most daunting yet approachable Rocche by Settimo, cinnamon splintered and floral spice in a flat out rocking Nebbiolo. With roses and tisane of orange rind mixed with coriander and pungent earth, this has all the aromatics you could dream on, along with a whack of dry, grainy tannin. A most excellent and righteous, properly made, capable of aging for a minimum two decades Barolo.  Tasted October 2014  @AURELIOSETTIMOV

Jonata Todos Red 2010, Santa Ynez Valley, Santa Barbara County, California  (218941, $67.95, WineAlign)

Lays out a new Santa Ynez Valley Rhône ranging slang. Huge wine but so beautifully Syrah. Literally dripping with memories of rendered, just crisping Pancetta and barque crusted smoked meat. Offers a sensation of Mediterranean brine, the warmth of a sunshine coast and the density of a thousand layers of chocolate covered cracklings. Wow. Huge and intense in every way; fruit, acidity, texture and tannin. Could further dream of consuming in Todos completion with the largest pork rib from the most ancient, prehistoric pig. This is a 30-year wine. Has to be. Best ever Todos made by Jonata.  Tasted October 2014  @WoodmanWS

Bollinger Special Cuvée Brut Champagne, Champagne, France (384529, $75.95, WineAlign)

A wine of social heredity, the Bollinger is tranquilized, entreated and centered by meditation. An arid, atomic and piercing Bollinger. Fine and misty, with ultra-classic subtlety, a living, breathing embodiment of a beloved house style. Exotic to a degree, these are bubbles in colourful pageantry, the Bollywood of Champagne, in grace, of flowing robes, hues in ochre and pastels, flowing like song and dance. There are beautiful bitter tonics on the finish. How can you not admire and be entranced by this style? What’s not to like?  Tasted October 2014  @BollingerFrance  @andrewhanna

Good to go!

 

 

Wine on company time

Algonquin Park, October 2014

Algonquin Park, October 2014

From the Middle English octobre and the Latin October, meaning “eight,” just how the month of October became the Julian and Gregorian 10th is a matter of bad juju. The corporate bumbling by way of the insertion of January and February into the Roman calendar screwed up all available etymological kismet. Perhaps in abbreviation or acronym, October, shortened to OCT, means “On Company Time.” That might explain its delay and parlay to 10th month status.

October has made its sad and beautiful way into song, rarely in joy or rebirth, almost always in tragedy and death. What’s up with that? With leaves turning to every shade of a Tom Thomson watercolour amid Ontario’s landscape that is all pan and even more orama, why the long faces? James Mercer writes, “to hell again and back,” and Amy Winehouse “today my bird flew away.” The lyrics in these songs are anything but uplifting but the tunes themselves are scrappy.

Then there is the October as envisioned by U2, well, there’s an entire album of oppression, repression and depression. “And the trees are stripped bare, of all they wear, What do I care.” 

The good news, through tough times and innocence lost, is the availability of wine. VINTAGES is our facilitator and we are the benefactors, to concentrate on seeking solace in the living, breathing and most complex organism that genies into great bottles of grape ferment. This coming weekend one of my favourite releases on the perennial calender rolls out more value and less plonk than usual. On the heels of anything will sell for Thanksgiving and predating the shelves emptying free for all that is Christmas, October 25th is ideal and satiating. Here are 16 new releases, guaranteed to restore faith in this most troubled month.

From left to right: Andreza Reserva 2011, Flat Rock Unplugged Chardonnay 2013, Morandé Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 2011, Château Rigaud 2012, Loimer Grüner Veltliner 2013

From left to right: Andreza Reserva 2011, Flat Rock Unplugged Chardonnay 2013, Morandé Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 2011, Château Rigaud 2012, Loimer Grüner Veltliner 2013

Andreza Reserva 2011, Do Douro, Portugal (385849, $16.95, WineAlign)

This blend of Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca and Tinta Roriz (Aragonez) from Lua Cheia em Vinhas Velhas is certainly funky and vineyard driven so that’s a bit of all right, isn’t it? Its phrasing is indelicate and slightly hot but its message is quite clear. Former winemaker for Offley Port and Technical Director for all the Sogrape Vineyards in Portugal João Silva e Sousa and consultant winemaker Francisco Baptista bring forth honest Douro red fruit, along with some mineral and righteous wood spice. Dark, deep and with a wonderful level of anxiety and tension. Gives purpose to modernity.  Tasted October 2014  @FreeHouseWine  @wines_portugal

Flat Rock Unplugged Chardonnay 2013, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (68015, $16.95, WineAlign)

A stoic and fruit aplenty Unplugged, less aromatic than some, equally magnanimous as others. Juicy, orchard fruit that is ripe and then elongated, with just enough acidity to keep it honest through the middle acts of savoury balm. Late tonic pungency lines the output. A very good, if not the finest ever unoaked Chardonnay at the hands of Jay Johnston and Ed Madronich. Then again, the ’07 tasted in February 2014 was a revelation. Who knows what the future may hold for this aloof ’13.  Tasted October 2014  @brightlighter1  @Winemakersboots

Morandé Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 2011, Maipo Valley, Chile (389254, $17.00, WineAlign)

Despite the 14.5 per cent alcohol this is beautifully bright, fresh, red cherry fruity and with nary a sign of abstruse chocolate or coffee. The southern hemisphere pulsates in here like a chromosphere of massive, meaty fruit. There is a funk per se but in earth, not wood. Good grain, honest grain, de facto grain. Spice from wood but just as an accent. A romantic one. Admittedly more Maipo than Cabernet but well thought on with the texture of haptic contours. Will satisfy a hunt for October reds to drink right now.  Tasted October 2014  @MajesticWineInc

Château Rigaud 2012, Ap Faugères, Languedoc-Roussillon, France (393561, $17.95, WineAlign)

A bold and beautiful southern French rapport of 55 per cent Syrah, 26 Mourvèdre and 19 Grenache, so very modern and explicitly floral. A veritable Midi garden salad lives in the glass; chicory, acacia, iris, black cherry and lemon. Brassy blend from Languedoc-Roussillon, tangy and of the earth in cohorts for simple, if semi-hedonistic pleasure. Nothing about this screams oak and if the shed was open for a lay down it kept its splintered mits buried within the pockets of its staves. The ’12 Rigaud is meant for near-term luxury, alone or with sundry kinds of protein.  Tasted October 2014  @oenophilia1  @VinsAOPFaugeres

Loimer Grüner Veltliner 2013, Dac Kamptal, Austria (142240, $19.95, WineAlign)

Can any entry level (used with latitude) Grüner speak more clearly of varietal truth than Fred Loimer’s Kamptal? Saline, herbal, juicy and mineral all roll off the golden carpeted tongue. A ripe merging to oxidative line is straddled but acidity keeps reeling in the fruit so no harm, no foul. Flavours of citrus and white peach. Heads medicinally sweet on the finish and lasts longer than could ever be expected. From my earlier April 2014 note: “Increased hang time has put this Kamptal in a deeper state of focus and understanding concerning the intricacies of Langenlois Grüner Veltliner. Continues the pure, clean and crisp axiom of the basic Lois but here the aromatics are spoken in acroamatic terms, obvious to disciples and yet available for all to comprehend. Though five per cent big wood barrel aging does not seem significant, that practice along with four months of aging on the fine lees has had a textural impact. The added weight is a questionable thing, though arguably just splitting hairs. Will help carry this vintage through five to seven years of graceful settling. Last tasted October 2014  @FredLoimer  @LeSommelierWine

From left to right: Bordón Gran Reserva 2005, Dog Point Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2013, Domaine Hamelin Beauroy Chablis 1er Cru 2011, Giacosa Fratelli Bussia Barolo 2009, Giacosa Fratelli Bussia Barolo 2009, Le Clos Jordanne Claystone Terrace Chardonnay 2011, Le Clos Jordanne Claystone Terrace Pinot Noir 2011

From left to right: Bordón Gran Reserva 2005, Dog Point Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2013, Domaine Hamelin Beauroy Chablis 1er Cru 2011, Giacosa Fratelli Bussia Barolo 2009, Giacosa Fratelli Bussia Barolo 2009, Le Clos Jordanne Claystone Terrace Chardonnay 2011, Le Clos Jordanne Claystone Terrace Pinot Noir 2011

Bordón Gran Reserva 2005, Doca Rioja, Spain (114454, $22.95, WineAlign)

If it were so because of cryogenic preserved must or an accidental tipping and topping up into an unused barrel by recent vintage juice I would not be left hanging with mouth fully agape. Considering the amount of time this flat out delicious Gran Reserva saw in barrel, the mystery must somehow be explained, how it came to be so surprisingly modern and bright (for its age), especially at $23. But it has been seen many times before, with no greater example than the Montecillo 1991 GR that drank fortuitously well into the last years of the previous decade. This is the magic of Rioja. That said, there is some sinew and some raw character here as well – that’s the old school treatment and style talking. Red cherry fruit. Ripe fruit roasted, rested and now sliced, showing its perfectly cooked rare cut. Juicy and with sanguine notes still running through its grain. Wonderful old school yet bright Rioja. Riotous red wine with a calming aura of quietude.  Tasted October 2014  @RiojaBordon  @Eurovintage  @RiojaWine

Dog Point Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2013, Marlborough, South Island, New Zealand (677450, $24.95, WineAlign)

Dog Point’s principals Ivan Sutherland and James Healy know the innuendo of that ever present Marlborough SB subtlety by allowing the vineyard to show up in the glass. That sussuration is the hallmark of this most righteous bottle. The VINTAGES October 25th release indicates a 2014 debut when in fact it is the ’13 that was presented for tasting and likely that vintage will show up on shelves. This ’13 bring elegance, less weight and more fruit. Round and rippling, spiced but in spicy check. Not the finest but persistent in class and crowing achievement for the stomping ground.  Tasted October 2014  @DogPointWines  @TrialtoON

Domaine Hamelin Beauroy Chablis 1er Cru 2011, Burgundy, France (391805, $29.95, WineAlign)

Thierry Hamelin and his son Charles (no, not the Olympic Speed Skating gold medalist) are eighth generation family winemakers and their 2011 Beauroy, one of the most underrated vineyards in Chablis, or anywhere Chardonnay is made, is both an ode to tradition and an immaculately clean look at the future. Prototypical steely Chablis in every nook of its lithified being and befitting of a 1er Cru designation. Fruit comes by way of some pretty wizened vines (30-plus years) and steep, south-facing slopes. The exposition is both fresh and flinty, the logic sound and spotless. If a creamy, leesy note is felt it’s just a case of genes. In every other respect this is Chablis as both a child of the present and the future. Quality vineyard, vines and fruit given the gift of no mask. This will drink well for five plus years.  Tasted October 2014  @BIVBChablis

Giacosa Fratelli Bussia Barolo 2009, Piedmont, Italy (344721, $39.95, WineAlign)

From the hills of Monforte d’Alba in Piemonte, Bussia is laid out like an amphitheater, the soil is all clay and the Nebbiolo is rich and often austere. Now, here is what temperance and a reliability in attention to classicism is all about. Cherries and ferric earth. Roses and funky beet beats. Tannins stuck on 10, winding and unwinding, but mostly winding. Wild herbs, sweet candied flowers, tight angles, tough and beautiful. Needs many years to wind down. Exceptional value for the real deal in Nebbiolo.  Tasted October 2014  @stradadelbarolo

Le Clos Jordanne Claystone Terrace Chardonnay 2011, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario (56929, $40.00, WineAlign)

The Claystone 2005 made by Thomas Bachelder was the single-vineyard ringer that shocked the Chardonnay world when it trumped international competitors in a Montreal grand tasting. The 2011 made by Sébastien Jacquey recently won a Silver Medal at the Decanter World Wine Awards. This Jordan, Ontario vineyard is a key clay-limestone foundation for both the Claystone and Village Reserve botttlings. Yet another exemplary ’11 Chardonnay with the omnipresent Jacquey handling for aromatic freshness and layering; candied flower, fresh morning glade and lemon drop, amplified to 11 in ’11. Moreover there is a level of honey not previously witnessed. It smells like natural sugars and like a bloom of sunflower lollipops. Very little (15 per cent new) oak was used so the texture is fluid and palpable, with just a touch of stone/toast/wood spice, but ultimately it’s the top quality fruit allowed to speak its own language.  Tasted October 2014  @LeClosJordanne  @20ValleyWine

Le Clos Jordanne Claystone Terrace Pinot Noir 2011, VQA Niagara Peninsula, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario (33951, $40.00, WineAlign)

Oh so pretty Claystone. Like a butterfly, delicate and gossamer. How can you not mark the change in direction to a most inviting and positive way for the Pinot program with Sébastien at the helm? The paint fumes are dissipating with each passing vintage. These vines belong in Jacquey’s hands – they were made for his touch. He understands them and they are now speaking so clearly, sweetly, with texture that underscores their elegance. When fruit is this subtle, acidity magnified and tannins feigning dry in the early stages of development, a wine can confound and sometimes even seem to be failing. In my view, it is the obtuse that are perhaps guilty of being under appreciative of the Pinot Noir paradox. Like the rest of the ’11’s in the LCJ stable, this is a terrific Claystone with 10 years ahead in sublimity.  Tasted October 2014

From left to right: Ramey Chardonnay Sonoma Coast 2012, Besserat De Bellefon Cuvée Des Moines Brut Champagne, Jean Gagnerot Meursault 2011, Château Cantenac Brown 2010, Ornellaia 2011

From left to right: Ramey Chardonnay Sonoma Coast 2012, Besserat De Bellefon Cuvée Des Moines Brut Champagne, Jean Gagnerot Meursault 2011, Château Cantenac Brown 2010, Ornellaia 2011

Ramey Chardonnay Sonoma Coast 2012, Sonoma County, California (288035, $45.95, WineAlign)

Buttered toast and lemon meringue are clear and concise in this inner-coastal, altitudinous Chardonnay. You just know there is a pent up, wound intensity lurking. Somewhat slow to start, it not being a jump to the front of the pack, first furlong leader. Then it gathers horsepower from texture and power from acidity. While the fruit remains unreleased beneath the moving parts, it’s the spice, lime tang and bitters that propel this Sonoman from sheer wildness in complexity. Impeccable equine balance. Likes the longer track to make the most out of its endurance. Will show its best down the stretch, at the end of the decade.  Tasted twice, October 2014  @RameyWineCellar  @BarrelSelect

Besserat De Bellefon Cuvée Des Moines Brut Champagne, France (724955, $54.95, WineAlign)

This Cuvée Des Moines Brut is fashioned in a decidedly aerified yet grappling crémant style, of firm jaw and air of tragic nobility. Low pressure and dosage in this Chardonnay (35 per cent) , Pinot Noir (20) and Pinot Meunier (45) mix make cause for a new Champagne slang. More than a pinch of ginger burrows into the waft of baking apple scones, marked by sody saleratus and more (two and a half years) leesy tang than you can dip a canoe paddle into. The flavours continue with something akin to pickled apples and sweet pork, if there were such a souse. Really tangy and overtly complex, with a long, long finish, if just a shade on the oxidative side of town.  Tasted October 2014  @BesseratB  @DionysusWines

Jean Gagnerot Meursault 2011, Burgundy, France (390369, $57.95, WineAlign)

Gorgeous and subtle yet clearly spoken aromatics; just a hint of tonic piques some ripe orchard fruit, along with a crisp spike of very little citrus. Round, moving, enveloping and circling, parts unified and oscillating. Great round acidity as a membrane to a full, fleshy Chardonnay that returns again and again, to strength and from strength. The length goes on and snaps back to the beginning. Most excellent Meursault.  Tasted October 2014  @grapewines  @BourgogneWines

Château Cantenac Brown 2010, Ac Margaux, 3e Cru, Bordeaux, France (259424, $89.00, WineAlign)

Whether or not you have left the modern Bordeaux market, attention needs to be paid when an incredible wine at a fair price is made available. Not to be found for any less cash south of the border or across seas, the 2010, 3rd Growth, Margaux Cantenac Brown is the best $50-100 Bordeaux buy of the vintage. Composed of 66 per cent Cabernet Sauvignon and 34 per cent Merlot, the wine saw its fair share soak in 60 percent new oak. This classic beauty is the epitome of lush and welcoming Bordeaux from a vintage with more sun than 2005. It will make you stop to smell the adjectives. Rich red and black fruit, so very floral and void of any harsh moments about it. I don’t imagine this is to be the longest lived because of its inviting immediacy but it is no shrinking violet. The fruit is in charge and will give it five to 10 years of that parsimonious pleasure. Great late spice and line dancing energy.  Tasted October 2014  @Cantenac_Brown

Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Ornellaia 2011, Doc Bolgheri Superiore, Tuscany, Italy (722470, $189.95, WineAlign)

Hasn’t lost a moment of time through six months in bottle. This should give an indication as to its near-unprecedented longevity. Six years will cast a moment’s advancement, sixteen a fortnight. Not saying it can go 60 but half of that is in the realm of the serious and for certain. Candied yet tempered violets, rocks crushed and sprinkled on cryogenic frozen and restored heirloom berries of yesteryear. Huge tannins. From my earlier, June 2014 note: “The blend of the 2011 Rosso Superiore is Cabernet Sauvignon (51 per cent), Merlot (32), Cabernet Franc (11) and Petit Verdot (6). From a near-sweltering vintage, tempered by a cooling spell in June and July. The late August heat spike brought on early ripening which explains the intense aromatic waft that fills the AGO’s tasting room air. Though following the same (post 12-month) assemblage and return to barriques for a further six months, the richesse in fruit quality and 70 per cent new oak envelopes this ’11 with so many structured layers there remains many years to see where it will go. The rose petal meets violet florality can elicit no parochial parallel, the anxiety in hematological ooze neither. A consideration of the phenolic exceptionality follows suit. Chalky tannins follow chains in a world spinning ’round in lush circles. This is the reference point for such assemblage in Bolgheri. The breakdown will not begin for a minimum 10 years and evolution will continue comfortably, gently and effortlessly for 15-30 after that.”  Last tasted October 2014  @Ornellaia  @sherry_naylor

Good to go!

https://twitter.com/mgodello

Fourteen wines that should be on your restaurant list

Fish and Chips at Small Town Food Bar

Fish and Chips at Small Town Food Bar

I taste a lot of wine. Lots of wine. Were I to manage a restaurant list with room for everything that deserves a place to call home, to share with the world the honest and the natural, a long list I would indeed create. The wine list at Barque Smokehouse I build is predicated on that premise but you can count on two hands the number of wines we offer by the glass. Necessity is our master.

Related – A resolution to drink honest wine

At the start of 2014 I penned that column and looking back eight months later, the ideas put out within that post-ice storm, mild January day apply to the concept of formulating a restaurant wine list. For the most part, a wine card should endorse the virtuous and the sincere. “Honest wine is juice that conveys the salient facts of a grape’s life. For a bottle of wine to be on the up and up it must not be disguised by the unnatural ways of artificial intervention nor should it make itself so available as to be obvious. Fruit should reside in the realm of the sequestered and the sacred. I am not alone in hoping for table wines to be stirring, gripping, unsweetened and unencumbered by an excessive coat of oak. My hard-earned dollars should earn the right to be stimulated .”

If your job title includes choosing what wine is poured at your restaurant, you should never dial it in. VINTAGES releases more than 100 new wines every two weeks. If 95 are what you might consider wantonly microdontic or overly tangential in influence, so be it. Five new wines every two weeks is more than enough to keep your list rocking, rolling, current and fresh. In Ontario the choices are many and the options endless. If driving the construction-riddled streets of Toronto is for you the time spent equivalent of root canal surgery in a Chilean coal mine then call an agent, request a tasting and let the cases be shipped to your doorstep.

“Wine only recognizes two temporal states. Fermentation and party time.” Be creative, read Tom Robbins, listen to the Tom Tom Club, mix it up a little, try new wines and add a spark to your wine program. Give it the genius of love. Guests just want to have fun. Here are 14 new releases, from VINTAGES and through some really terrific agents here in Ontario.

From left to right: Tenuta Le Velette Rosso di Spicca 2012, Tawse Gamay Noir 2013, Freiherr Von Göler Pinot Noir 2011, Coyote's Run Pinot Noir 2013, Lealtanza Reserva 2009, Fielding Estate Cabernet Franc 2012 and Borgogno Langhe Freisa 2012

From left to right: Tenuta Le Velette Rosso di Spicca 2012, Tawse Gamay Noir 2013, Freiherr Von Göler Pinot Noir 2011, Coyote’s Run Pinot Noir 2013, Lealtanza Reserva 2009, Fielding Estate Cabernet Franc 2012 and Borgogno Langhe Freisa 2012

Tenuta Le Velette Rosso di Spicca 2012, Umbria, Italy (Agent, $16)

The “Spicca” family owned the farm where the vines now grow. For a Rosso, from Umbria, Toscana or Piemonte for that matter to stand out (spicarre), it must have something unique and noticeable. Le Velette’s understated Umbrian blend of Sangiovese and Canaiolo is all about aromatics. Spicy cherries, leather and cinnamon with an underlying petrichor that seemingly bleeds fresh piquant juice straight from concrete. Like the oil exuding from lavender and rosemary growing out of the fissures of cracked terracotta over clay, after a warm summer rain. The palate gives a wee bit of spirited spritz and pizzazz. All this for $16 and change for a finishing espresso.   Tasted October 2014  @Noteworthywines

Tawse Gamay Noir 2013, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (322545, $18.95, WineAlign)

Darker berries define the Paul Pender take on Gamay for Niagara and in ’13 there is a level of tension and girth not yet approached. This third Tawse Gamay is overt in attitude, connotative of Beaujolais Cru staging, an ovule of rebellion and a disposition just as though in the grips of Asmodeus. The Tawse effect is entrenched in clay and possessive of  knowledge as if derived by an invitation only junket to the Gamay motherland. If the stance seems serious, the fruit is up to the task. A Gamay for now and fully capable of aging five or more years.  Tasted October 2014

Freiherr Von Göler Pinot Noir 2011, Qualitätswein, Baden, Germany (390971, $18.95, WineAlign) From the VINTAGES October 11, 2014 Release

You can take the Spätburgunder out of the nomenclature but you can’t take the nomenclature out of the Spätburgunder. The porcine dry, crunchy bits are front and centre, the pig offal under the crust. This is Baden red wine of a bitter and surprisingly sweet palate nature, a modern take on old male Pinot pattern baldness. So worth trying towards gaining a deeper understanding of varietal diversity.  Tasted October 2014  @HalpernWine

Coyote’s Run Pinot Noir 2013, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (53090, $19.95, WineAlign)

The Estate bottle represents a balanced amalgamation of terroirs with essential Niagara On-The-Lake Pinot Noir aromas, accents and distinction. Highly floral, thanks in kind to the red Trafalgar clay loam of the Red Paw Vineyard, as much as it has and will ever be. Extracted with reserved prejudice, with props to the dark Toledo clay loam of the Black Paw Vineyard, showing as a robust and retentive treacle, rich in tangy licorice and cherry pie. Much flavour is found in this Pinot Noir, so it will be well deserving of accolades and sales. If the sweetness prevails it is only because the fruit is shepherded in clean and Shepparded with blending acumen.  Tasted October 2014  @coyotesrun

Lealtanza Reserva 2009, Doca Rioja, Spain (208223, $20.95, WineAlign) From the VINTAGES October 11, 2014 Release

Old, old school Rioja ramped up, given a natural injection of rock brine and garriga then sent out to play. Rarely does Lealtanza give so much fresh conjecture, so much considered condensation and dense consideration. Soft and muddled palate, mottled rocks seeping berries and an accent of candied tomato leaf. Funky finish keeps it real.  Tasted October 2014  @ProfileWineGrp

Fielding Estate Cabernet Franc 2012, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (36194, $21.95, WineAlign)  NWAC14 Silver Medal Winner

A dusty and gilded Cabernet Franc from one of the warmest Niagara vintages in recent memory. Vivid in Bench specific varietal tendency, as if the berries on the black currant bush were ripening and bursting in the late afternoon sun, right into the glass. A blueberry by you CF, spiced by the faint childhood memory of grandfather’s unlit pipe on the coffee table. There have been more tense and exciting Cab Franc’s by Richie Roberts but none so suave and grown-up as this 2012.  Tasted September 2014  @FieldingWinery  @RichieWine

Borgogno Langhe Freisa 2012, Doc, Piedmont, Italy (388660, $24.95, WineAlign) From the VINTAGES October 11, 2014 Release

Don’t worry Mr. Parker, this rare chance at assessing a Langhe made from the Freisa grape will not join the 100-point club but I can say with certainty that this take is anything but “totally repugnant.” Borgogno’s Freisa is rustic, with dried figments of raisin and fig, though zero notes of reduction. More dried fruit, in carob and licorice with biting, spicy notes and the seeping of black tea leaves. The whole Mediterranean potpourri seethes in altitude and attitude. A dry and sensual red with enveloping chalk and acidity. Perhaps “Bobbo” Butch Cassidy should give this Langhe a whirl.  Tasted August 2014  @TrialtoON

From left to right: Cave Spring Riesling ‘The Adam’s Steps’ 2013, Rustenberg John X Merriman 2011, Pirramimma Shiraz 2011, Flat Rock Gravity Pinot Noir 2012, Huff Estates Cuvée Janine 2012, Millton Opou Vineyard Chardonnay 2009, Ascheri Barolo 2010

From left to right: Cave Spring Riesling ‘The Adam’s Steps’ 2013, Rustenberg John X Merriman 2011, Pirramimma Shiraz 2011, Flat Rock Gravity Pinot Noir 2012, Huff Estates Cuvée Janine 2012, Millton Opou Vineyard Chardonnay 2009, Ascheri Barolo 2010

Cave Spring Riesling ‘The Adam’s Steps’ 2013, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (26372, $24.95, WineAlign)

A classic Adam, amplified in 2013, riper and not as piercing as previously noted vintages. Still the layering is omnipresent but there is more juicy fruit and texture then ever before. This is a consumer friendly Adam, gregarious, outgoing, off-dry as never before. New slang for the bottling.  From my earlier, July 2014 note: “According to Cave Spring’s website this newer Riesling from older (18 to 35 year-old plantings) is from “a single block of vines in the shadows of a limestone outcrop near the crest of the Niagara Escarpment, known as ‘The Adam Steps’. Really apropos, for this Riesling is the cantilever, the one with the outstretched arm. At 10.5 per cent alcohol and with an unmistakably stony, sweet and sour whiff the wine speaks of its off-dryness. The juiciest of all the Cave Spring Rieslings, with rounder acidity and good persistence. This is the all-around good guy, the one with an open invitation, the bridge from Estate to Dolomite to Csv. The well-adjusted one steps up its game to help win one for the team, especially out of the convivial 2013 vintage.”  Last tasted October 2014  @CaveSpring

Rustenberg John X Merriman 2011, Stellenbosch, South Africa (707323, $24.95, WineAlign) From the VINTAGES October 11, 2014 Release

Despite the colour as dark as monster’s gore this is a relaxed X Merriman, not overly painted or rubbed by charcoal and rubber tree plant. The Bordeaux-styled blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (55 per cent), Merlot (37), Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec from South-West slopes of the Simonsberg Mountain, Stellenbosch opens its tight angled gates to reveal a cool centre, with juicy, rich, iced espresso, though in decomposed granite grit it’s tannic as hell. Makes judicious use of its (41 per cent) new and (59 per cent) 2nd and 3rd-fill 225L French oak barrels, along with balance in alcohol (14.3 per cent) integration. Solid South African red with just enough primal activity to pleasantly alter the temperature in the brain, without causing concussion or grey matter to go totally askance. Will drink well into the next decade.  Tasted October 2014  @WoodmanWS

Pirramimma Shiraz 2011, Mclaren Vale, South Australia, Australia (987784, $24.95, WineAlign) From the VINTAGES October 11, 2014 Release

A Pirramimma in the new vein from a warm and rich vintage. So hard to scale back when nature gives you this much fruit. Though 15 per cent is hardly a twinkle in its alcohol eye, there is only so much elegance that can be coaxed from this kind of hedonism. It’s big, juicy and just so alive. As simple as a candle, without magic and void of mystery. It will range hither and thither for 10 years before it makes the long, slow journey back home.  Tasted October 2014  @bwwines

Flat Rock Gravity Pinot Noir 2012, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Peninsula (1560, $29.95, WineAlign)

Seven months have softened and mothered Gravity’s adolescence in ways to now see it as the most feminine, certainly of the last four vintages. Pretty dabs, perfumes of natural conditioning, warm days and warm nights in the bottle. More accessible than previous takes and of a new modernity perceived. Sweet dreams and sweet fragrances, roses and cinnamon, nothing fancy here mind you, with no bite and no gathering moss. Cherries and vanilla, lavender and simple pleasures. Straight up Gravity, no pull down, no drag and no excess weight. From my earlier, March 2014 note: “In a vintage potentially muddled by warmth and a humidor of radio frequency, duplicating berry phenolics, Flat Rock’s Gravity remains a definitive, signature house Pinot Noir. In 2011, the head of the FR class from its most expressive barrels shared the limelight (and top juice) with the Pond, Bruce and Summit one-offs. In ’12, Gravity’s sandbox was its own. The style is surely dark, extracted, black cherry bent, as per the vintage. Yet only the Rock’s soil does earth in this variegate, borne and elevated by the barrel’s grain. There are no fake plastic trees in a Flat Rock Pinot. “Gravity always wins.”  Last tasted October 2014  @Brighlighter1  @Winemakersboots  @UnfilteredEd

Huff Estates Cuvée Janine 2012, Prince Edward County, Ontario (Winery, $29.95, WineAlign)

Looks can be deceiving so much so Janine might look as is she were leading a bubble to red dye number 40. Not the case, rather the expressive hue is winemaker Frédéric Picard’s colourful bleed from 100 per cent Pinot Noir fruit. So, it must be sweet and tasting cloyingly like a bowl of sugared strawberries. Again, not so. Janine’s aromas are very berry and her texture is certainly cheese and crème fraiche-inflected from a 12 month lees mattress, but dry she goes. Much demonstrative behaviour and perspiring humidity comes from vintage warmth and here results in layering. Janine is an earthy, funky squared sparkler, with nothing shy or demurred about her, but all of the outwardly screaming smells and tastes are in check. Strawberry cream and shortcake cease from wrapped tight acidity coming in from the backside. Big bubbles.  Tasted October 2014  @HuffEstatesWine

Millton Opou Vineyard Chardonnay 2009, Gisborne, North Island, New Zealand (92478, $30.00, WineAlign)

From estate fruit on a single vineyard planted in 1969 on the Papatu Road, Manutuke, Gisborne. On Waihirere soils of heavy silt and Kaiti clay loam. A most mineral driven Chardonnay thanks in part to some Riesling in the mix. This varietal symbiosis, along with a co-planted orange grove gives what James Milton calls “the sharing of astrality.” The five year-old biodynamic Opou does whiff orange blossom, along with crisp green apple and the wet rocks of a summer rain. Quite full on the palate with a bite of black pepper and olive oil drizzle over toasted Ciabatta, smeared by churned, salted butter. The length indicates five more relish piqued years and five furthermore in slow decline.  Tasted October 2014  @TheLivingVine

Ascheri Barolo 2010, Piedmont, Italy (341107, was $35.25, now LTO $32.25, WineAlign)

Standard issue Barolo of a canonical character so bankable as Nebbiolo and nothing but. Classic Piemontese funk comes wafting out, along with licorice in as many ways as can be described; anise, Sambuca or fennel. The palate is creamy and slightly sweet, accented with pepper and a dusty, grainy sensation. This is Barolo of old with a cough syrup confection, wild herbs and grit. It could not be mistaken for Malbec though its disjointed ways could use some finesse and polish.  Tasted October 2014  @liffordwine

Good to go!

September 27th at VINTAGES rolls into October 2nd with Taste Ontario

Taste Local, Love Local Photo (www.lcbo.com)

Taste Local, Love Local
Photo (www.lcbo.com)

This coming weekend’s VINTAGES release will parlay values from around the globe into the meeting place of Ontario stores. Many of the bargains tie directly into a PB and J campaign, a parochial bandwagon advertising juggernaut. The LCBO and Wine Country Ontario‘s #Tastelocal, #Lovelocal and #LCBOGolocal slogans are currently omnipresent, fast forwardly gaining both steam and traction with restos, critics and consumers.

The late, great VINTAGES wine facilitator David Churchill once told me that putting together Taste Ontario was one of the LCBO’s great endeavors. David said the work and time that VINTAGES allotted the event was extraordinary and great care was always afforded the exercise. Next week the chance to taste the most current, largest and impressive cross-section of Ontario wines in one setting will happen with the annual Taste Ontario gala event. When Wine Country Ontario comes to town and joins forces with VINTAGES, it is the writers, sommeliers and restaurant wine junkies who collectively jump trains, catch flames and do what they do. This in the name of getting to know Ontario wines.

On September 27th VINTAGES will release the following 17 wines, though most will already be on shelves before you skim through this tasting note report with all the brevity you can afford. This week’s recommendations come by way of one Sparkling, four Chardonnay, two Riesling, three Pinot Noir, a Sangiovese, a Malbec, a Veneto, a Zinfandel, one Rhône and two Bordeaux blends.

From left to right: Delmas Cuvée Tradition Brut Blanquette De Limoux, Château Des Charmes Paul Bosc Estate Chardonnay 2012, Kistler Chardonnay Les Noisetiers 2012, Burrowing Owl Chardonnay 2012, Errázuriz Wild Ferment Chardonnay 2012, Henry Of Pelham Estate Riesling 2012

From left to right: Delmas Cuvée Tradition Brut Blanquette De Limoux, Château Des Charmes Paul Bosc Estate Chardonnay 2012, Kistler Chardonnay Les Noisetiers 2012, Burrowing Owl Chardonnay 2012, Errázuriz Wild Ferment Chardonnay 2012, Henry Of Pelham Estate Riesling 2012

Delmas Cuvée Tradition Brut Blanquette De Limoux, Ac, Languedoc-Roussillon, France (179978, $19.95, WineAlign)

Organic and Biodynamic sparkler with a personality all its own. Made primarily from the local grape variety Mauzac (with some Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc), Blanquette is the dry and sylvan style of Limoux. The “little white one” is a lovely little lemon curd Blanquette pulsating in spatially atomic subtlety. Aerified notes hint at sulfur but the breeze is so minor so as not to obstruct the citrus and crucible of candied ginger.  Green apple flavour delights with really good gin and tonic (juniper), lime bitters and a muddle of basil. Pertinent and invigorating example.  Tasted September 2014  @AOCLIMOUX  @RareEarth_Wines

Château Des Charmes Paul Bosc Estate Chardonnay 2012, VQA Niagara On The Lake, Ontario (179978, $21.95, WineAlign)

Much oak and buttery crustaceans in this need to relax and settle into a self-induced state of Chardonnay. Quite lactic but that’s not a detractor; it’s a textural overlay that with time will turn lacy, organza even. I would imagine the wrong kind of attitude will not see the acidity for the forest and instead feel that malic is short for malicious behaviour. On the contrary. This is a very good vineyard giving fruit of the right St. David’s kind. With five years it will prove its merit and play matronly with that fresh catch on your plate.  Too big and clunky you say? Put it down. Let it breathe. Take a good inhale/exhale yourself. From my earlier, August 2014 note: “It would be a shame to have missed the found ardor in this tractile, careening Chardonnay. Chances have been taken in 2012, from a vineyard near and dear to a proprietor’s heart and perhaps even his soul. Picked bright and early, vinified bone dry and sent to a Burgundian school, the Paul Bosc Vineyard Chardonnay suffers from ESS (early stricture syndrome) because it (and particularly its shaken lees) have yet to settle. The barrel is confusingly, hardly noticeable and so the ’12’s awkwardness must then be attributed to a milky, marmalade and blues-influenced free-form run. It’s as if the crowd is waiting for one (Garcia-Saunders) song to end and another to begin. The new “anyway you do” slang take on an old blues riff may be misconstrued but, when all is said and done, that’s alright mama, there’s jam and space for your kind too.”  Last tasted September 2014  @Mbosc

Kistler Chardonnay Les Noisetiers 2012, Sonoma Coast, California (251223, $75.95, WineAlign)

Expansive, all over the coast display of Kistler ambition and conceit. Fully ripe and not shy to swim with splinters. Lemon meringue pie, baked Alaska and tarte au citron on one gorging dessert plate. Then the flavours kick in. A lemon Negroni (is there such an animal?) and lemon Hollandaise atop white aspagarus. Decadent, even for Kistler, without the poise and subtlety of the single-vineyard bottlings.  A full on glass of California sunshine. From my earlier, (tasted three times), July 2014 note: “Long distance runner built for endurance, a cool customer able to withstand the heat from a season’s relentless, though moderate, gentle sun, from start to finish. No shortage of ripe fruit and certainly not wanting for the micro-oxygenated slow release of a prized barrel. This might be the two-bit Kistler bottling but it offers up exemplary Sonoma fruit with the temperament and conceit of high caste Burgundy. The style is culled from two poles and pulls in two directions.  At once sharp and piquant, then golden and in mirth. All in all it’s exactly what should be wanted for the buyer who wants what it has to give.”  Last tasted September 2014

Burrowing Owl Chardonnay 2012, BC VQA Okanagan Valley (208694, $33.95, WineAlign)

Intimates warm sunshine but can’t hide from its cool nights. An element of periodic surprise wafts straight up and grabs the little nose hairs by the tips, tugs and then let’s go. Hatchoo. Wisps green apple skin, daikon radish and a metal tang. Full on fruit-mineral-earthy expression. Big Chardonnay as ripe as its gets for the Okanagan but carries a hefty (though you might ponder an inordinate exorbitance of 14.5 per cent abv) with relative ease. Goes on at length, about what, I do not yet know, but I’m willing to hang in there for 5-7 years to find out.  Tasted September 2014  @BurrowingOwlBC

Errázuriz Wild Ferment Chardonnay 2012, Casablanca Valley, Chile (738393, $22.95, WineAlign)

The wild ferment Francisco Baettig oeuvre brings into focus a nicely balanced and intimately-integrated-aligned Chardonnay. There is wildness in the form of a toasted bread, rich enzymatic energy and a leather strapping, bullied brawn. The countrified personality is tempered by a roundness, thus limiting its ability to display like an alpha male. Though not delicate or elegant by any stretch, this is Chilean power unleashed and reigned in. It represents really good value.  Tasted September 2014  @errazurizwines  @Dandurandwines

Henry Of Pelham Estate Riesling 2012, VQA Short Hills Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (557165, $17.95, WineAlign)

Classic Short Hills Bench Riesling, magnified by and exemplified in the vintage. Soda enriched fresh juice, bursting berry nose, off-dry palate. Meets all expectations for the realms of juicy and savoury. One of the best yet from H of P at this price. Great value.  Tasted September 2014  @HenryofPelham

From left to right: Wegeler Rüdesheimer Berg Schlossberg Riesling Kabinett 2012, Kim Crawford Small Parcels Rise &amp; Shine Pinot Noir 2012, Hamilton Russell Pinot Noir 2012, omaine Marchand Grillot Morey Saint Denis 2012, Viticcio Chianti Classico 2011

From left to right: Wegeler Rüdesheimer Berg Schlossberg Riesling Kabinett 2012, Kim Crawford Small Parcels Rise & Shine Pinot Noir 2012, Hamilton Russell Pinot Noir 2012, omaine Marchand Grillot Morey Saint Denis 2012, Viticcio Chianti Classico 2011

Wegeler Rüdesheimer Berg Schlossberg Riesling Kabinett 2012, Prädikatswein, Rheingau, Germany (378083, $24.95, WineAlign)

From the steepest Rheingau vineyard named after the nearby castle (Schloss) ruin “Ehrenfels” which was built in 1211. The stony terroir for this definitive Riesling is quarzite from the Taunus region with layers of slate. Oh, this has the sultry charm of most excellent Kabinett. Aerified to the stratosphere, dry, toasty and buoyant. The soda blows away into the sky with just a vigorous swirl and the aromas turn to fruit and to stone. Rocking great intensity of many fruits, of trees and of natural grape sugar (in the 80-90 g/L residual range) that is everywhere and nowhere. Acidity is linear and impossibly round at the same time. Typically low in alcohol (around 8 per cent by volume), this rude boy is a crazy Kabinett. It’s like a Barbadian songstress rated “R.” You may ask it “is you big enough?” It will answer, I’m as good as it gets.  Tasted September 2014

Kim Crawford Small Parcels Rise & Shine Pinot Noir 2012, Central Otago, New Zealand (35337, $29.95, WineAlign)

Rich, ripe black cherry and just a hint of earth. Some cola but of the cherry kind. Tart yet sweet, hot and roomy. Built of a scrupulous structure where tannin and astringency bend in many ways.  Does its yoga poses with reluctance then hits the gym. Confounding for Central Otago with what may perhaps be a great future ahead but for now, really wonky. Where is this going? To the dark side, to return in five years and to offer good value in aged CO Pinot Noir.   Tasted September 2014  @kimcrawfordwine  @CBrandsCareers

Hamilton Russell Pinot Noir 2012, Wo Hemel En Aarde Valley, Walker Bay, South Africa (999516, $44.95, WineAlign)

he right and fantastic Pinot Noir stuff from the winemaker with the King Midas (or in this case the Queen Modjadji) touch. The Walker Bay Burgundian specialist fashions some most elegant Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. It seems that every vintage is turned to gold, or brings rain when there is drought. The 2012 is marked by bright cherries and really pungent, compressed earth. Fantastically ripe but just before the fall. Pleasure of the incarnate kind. The coat of South African red wine arms is animatedly there but it’s contained, restrained, elegant and yet still powerful. Long, fashionable flow with no visible finish line. This will age for a minimum 10 years and get that smoky glaze and glare.  Tasted September 2014  @TrialtoON

Domaine Marchand Grillot Morey Saint Denis 2012, Ac, Burgundy, France (210906, $54.95, WineAlign)

Here the entry is musty, blows off considerably and leaves the leaf and sweet fruit from strawberry and raspberry. For the spell it’s clean, crisp, pure and inviting. Roses and red fruit, violets and violent rocks careening with a rushing spring river. Those musty notes do persist again, blanketing the dolce, disguising that red fruit. Sharpness stings like Kiwi. Packs a punch of tannin, a bitter, mineral rangy streak that elevates the middle hallows and sends this MSD into really lengthy elasticity. Creamy vanilla comes to the palate with herbal undertones, like Lavender ice cream. This is old school with a modern twist. A really fine example. Tasted twice, September 2014, including blind at the WWAC14  @AmethystWineInc

Viticcio Chianti Classico 2011, Docg, Tuscany, Italy (283580, $24.00, WineAlign)

Big, bad and brooding. Black fruits are intense but surprisingly not overbearing or huge in demanded extract. Chalky, tannic, acidic, long. This is neither average nor to be ignored. It’s in the 13.5 per cent proper Chianti wheelhouse and marches in hipster stride without ever acting obnoxious. Some sanguine activity, along with iron and tension. The real deal. Not the brightest Chianti in the hills but one of a raw, unleashed power.  Tasted September 2014  @chianticlassico   @MajesticWineInc

From left to right: Versado Malbec 2013, Luigi Righetti Campolieti Ripasso Valpolicella Classico Superiore 2012, Seghesio Zinfandel 2012, Domaine Brusset Tradition Le Grand Montmirail Gigondas 2012, Creekside Laura’s Red 2011, Château Léoville Las Cases 2006

From left to right: Versado Malbec 2013, Luigi Righetti Campolieti Ripasso Valpolicella Classico Superiore 2012, Seghesio Zinfandel 2012, Domaine Brusset Tradition Le Grand Montmirail Gigondas 2012, Creekside Laura’s Red 2011, Château Léoville Las Cases 2006

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. Tasted September 2014  @VersadoWine

Luigi Righetti Campolieti Ripasso Valpolicella Classico Superiore 2012, Doc, Veneto, Italy (695890, $18.95, WineAlign)

Classic really. Juicy must, musty juiciness. Earth and fruit. Fruity earth. Simple but so effective. Never gets beyond itself or out of its mind. Just the right amount of funk. Maybe the best yet. Great value.  Tasted September 2014  @Smallwinemakers

Seghesio Zinfandel 2012, Sonoma County, California, USA (942151, $29.95, WineAlign)

Rich plum and spicy Zinfandel. Young and tightly wound on a spindle. Needs time to unravel and reveal its charms. In a varietal sense this vintage of the Seghesio has got everything Zin needs and more. More specifically, the definition is out of a cooler vintage, with clear, well-delineated fruit and acidity. Sharp,spicy, focused and full, without ever acting hot, or bothered.  Tasted September 2014  @seghesio

Domaine Brusset Tradition Le Grand Montmirail Gigondas 2012, Ac, Rhône, France (960104, $29.95, WineAlign)

A thick, baking cake of a Gigondas, full of expected dark red Rhône fruitiness, but all in balance. Soapy sandalwood and chalky tannins. Quite grainy. Big, brawny and teeth staining, its “teeth ready, sharpened to bite.” It’s warm but not too hot. Cool centres, some spice and garrigue. Nothing to run away from. Though firm and loyal in the tradition of place, this has rolling stones in its blood so it will age gracefully in a well respected, cool, calm and collected manner. Will grow and grow on you as you work with it. This will age forever as there is just so much fruit. Hedging my bets on 25 years, safe to say.  Tasted September 2014  @rogcowines

Creekside Laura’s Red 2011, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (117960, $19.95, WineAlign)

The most dead red Laura to date, juicy and earthy, like a licorice, plum and pomegranate demi-glace. Really expressive of earth and fruit.  Traditional house blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Malbec and Petit Verdot. A no coat unfastened Niagara, consumer-friendly but also swelling with stuffing. “The light is red. The camera’s on,” the strokes are rich in energy though the tannins dry out a touch. Drink now and for two more years.  Tasted September 2014  @CreeksideWine

Château Léoville Las Cases 2006, Ac St Julien, 2e Cru, Bordeaux, France (566661, $299.00, WineAlign)

The LLC Grand Vin vineyard is very close to the Gironde river, creating a micro-climate that tempers the vines in climate control and matronly comfort. Cabernet Sauvignon and Franc develop here as well as anywhere in the world. Here is an interesting retrospective look at this formidable St. Julien, now having reached the tender and yet developed age of eight. Earthbound distance fruit by way of a chocolate (real dark) truffle and layers of soul stew. Still chalky and tannic, there is enough fruit to keep this going for a decade and a half, or more. Licorice, Cassis and graphite. Wow. Very broad across the late palate, indicating an integration that has begun to realize the potential of this wine. A very good vintage looking back, not one for the ages, but certainly expressive and rich.  Tasted September 2014  @Noble_Estates

Good to go!

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