Category Archives: Newfoundland

September 3rd goes up to eleven

nofilter

There are three times per year when we all disappear into the nether land of family, cottages and getaways, at Christmas, New Years and Labour Day. It’s very easy to miss out on news, world events and VINTAGES releases. The latest VINTAGES release took place over the Labour Day long weekend and I’ve always felt the LCBO should skip this Saturday on the calendar. I’ve been following the release cycle since 2000 and never pay much attention until after the fact. Like now.

While I did taste and review the September 3rd wines in August, I’m only getting around to sharing them with you now because I had better and necessary things to do, like delivering a child to university. This is the one time I don’t consider delivering the VINTAGES news after the fact as being late. Who was paying attention on the weekend anyway? This release goes up to 11 meaning it’s bigger and louder than others. And I’ve made 11 recommendations. Here.

maycas

Maycas Del Limarì Sumaq Chardonnay 2014, Limari Valley, Chile (378471, $14.95, WineAlign)

Cool and crisp chardonnay with a big bite out of a tart, green apple and notes from the barrel that are a good distance away from softening their grip. The fruit is not shy and is coddled so that it will stay strong when its time does come. That should be 12-18 months down the road. The spices will still be hanging around at that time. Drink 2017-2021.  Tasted August 2016  @Maycasdellimari  @DrinkChile

Peter Zemmer Pinot Grigio 2014, Alto Adige, Italy (95802, $16.95, WineAlign)

A classic grigio style on the fresh, tart and juicy spectrum but with a dense side note of mineral almost as fig pierced by a hypodermic tang. Pears are up front, fennel bulb behind and citrus everywhere in between. No questions asked for what’s in store and how it will offer broad yet refined appeal. Drink 2016-2018.  Tasted August 2016    @AltoAdigeWines  @3050imports

westhof

De Wetshof Limestone Hill Unwooded Chardonnay 2015, Wo Robertson, South Africa (419622, $16.95, WineAlign)

No oak but plenty of flavour, vitality, alcohol and spice. Rarely does an unwooded chardonnay achieve such extended parameters but here the breaching is palpable. Sugar has something to do with the achievement, but so does extract, so credit is due. It is the verve of this wine and its utter Robertson-South African character (which is so bloody obvious) that gives it its charm. Drink 2016-2018.  Tasted August 2016  @DeWetshofWines  @WOSACanada  @WOSA_ZA

Montes Alpha Carmenère 2013, Colchagua Valley, Chile (143230, $19.95, WineAlign)

Really smoky, savoury, dense and wildly delicious carménère from Montes in 2013. The fruit is focused and the texture silky with a side of grit. Very persistent in its linger, long after the wine has passed your lips. Drink 2016-2020.  Tasted August 2016  @MontesWines  @WinesofChile  @ProfileWineGrp

Poderi Di Luigi Einaudi Dolcetto Di Dogliani 2013, Doc Piedmont, Italy (232454, $19.95, WineAlign)

If modern and rustic can co-exist they would do so in this dogliani, a wine deeply and religiously traditional but executed with current pressed and exercised values. Black currant, liquorice and Cassis get together in a petite sirah meets cabernet sauvignon thinks 21st century nebbiolo way. Could confuse but instead delights with its bright ability within the darkness of its pitchy fruit. Terrific acidity trumps the microbial volatility. Chocolate fills the finish. Really fun wine for red meats, from the hearth, off the grill and in the pot. Drink 2017-2020.  Tasted August 2016  @quotidianopiem  @WoodmanWS

grace

Il Molino Di Grace Chianti Classico 2012, Docg Tuscany, Italy (85209, $19.95, WineAlign)

Sangiovese running 100 per cent solo, but from a vintage that surrendered 50 per cent of the crop in the spring to frost. The absence of quantity is quality’s coup for a mere 48,000 bottles of Molino di Grace’s normale. Aging happened in Botti (25 hL) for one year. There is a distinct opposition to the other house stylistics, here fresh and fruit massive meets a beautifully dusty, high quality, straight and taut line. Drink 2016-2020.  Tasted May 2016  @Ilmolinodigrace  @chianticlassico

fielding

Fielding Estate Cabernet Franc 2013, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (36194, $21.95, WineAlign)

Fielding’s consistent take on Cabernet Franc might be labeled as boring in proportion to its lack of ego but it is getting better with each passing vintage. Winemaker Richie Roberts is comfortable with the traditional technique that follows the regimen; de-stem, minimal crush, cold soak, rack, return, pumpover, extended maceration, drain, press and 12 months, full malo-achievement in barrel. Dark berries and moments in chocolate are polite and gratifying. The end game is temperance, modesty and goodness. Fielding’s Cabernet Franc is not one of Ontario fiction in requiem of drama, egotism, vanity and venality. The oak is an accent, not a heavy brush stroke. Acidity defines fruit and in turn that fruit bites ripe and ripping. Drink 2016-2019.  Tasted March 2016  @FieldingWinery  @RichieWine

Descendientes De J. Palacios Pétalos 2013, Do Bierzo, Spain (446484, $24.95, WineAlign)

Pétalos del Bierzo is the entry-level Corrullón from Alvaro Palacios and nephew Ricardo Perez and it’s typically Mencía deep and juicy, rich in berries, iron and reeking of fresh sandalwood. The palate is richer still, full of plums and good bitter chocolate. Old vineyards in revival for the purpose of making modern wines is the modus operandi and you would be hard-pressed to find comparable or parallel in Bierzo. The oak here is in full control so let it rest two or three years and allow the seamless structure to submit, abide and oblige. Drink 2018-2022. Pétalos del Bierzo is the entry-level Corrullón from Alvaro Palacios and nephew Ricardo Perez and it’s typically Mencía deep and juicy, rich in berries, iron and reeking of fresh sandalwood. The palate is richer still, full of plums and good bitter chocolate. Old vineyards in revival for the purpose of making modern wines is the modus operandi and you would be hard-pressed to find comparable or parallel in Bierzo. The oak here is in full control so let it rest two or three years and allow the seamless structure to submit, abide and oblige. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted August 2016  @WoodmanWS  

Masi Brolo Campofiorin Oro 2012, Igt Rosso Del Veronese, Italy (976092, $26.95, WineAlign)

Classic appassimento from Masi in this seminal bottling with a great exude of flowers and the most complex, exotically perfumed sugar syrup nose. The texture is silky and elastic, the acidity proper and the finish long and sweet. Though the chocolate is all pervasive (with a shot of espresso brought late, for good measure), this is highly accomplished, value-added Veronese red wine. The Brolo (walled vineyard, or Clos as per the French) has gifted a great appassimento in 2012. Drink 2016-2022.  Tasted August 2016  @MrAmaroneMasi  @AuthenticWineON

rua

Akarua Rua Pinot Noir 2015, Central Otago, South Island, New Zealand (295592, $27.95, WineAlign)

Young, bright, vivacious, gregarious and highly flavourful Central Otago for a the price of a duet. The vineyard is 20 years old, perfect for fresh but experienced Bannockburn (sub-region) pinot noir. Ripe red cherries leaning to the darker side and fresh cut cedar two by fours are forest happy and rustic with finely carved edges. The tannins are indeed gentle, slightly caressing and here is a wine for five years of most excellent drinking. Yum. Drink 2016-2020.  Tasted August 2016  @AkaruaWine  @vonterrabev  @nzwine

Luigi Scavino Azelia Barolo 2011, Docg Piedmont, Italy (291963, $48.95, WineAlign)

Scavino’s Azelia is a proud and confident nebbiolo, blessed by a calm demeanour and dressed in the finest leather. Roses are its most coveted and obvious aroma, joined in part by wild cherry and brushed young fennel frond. The balance and the structure are poised, erect and firm. There are 15 years easily ahead for this Azelia, ready in two but potentially closed in the four to six range. Try one now for size and then put the other five away until the next decade. Drink 2021-2029. Tasted August 2016    @brixandmortar

Good to go!

Twitter: @mgodello

Instagram: mgodello

WineAlign

Would you drink only Canadian wine for a year?

RealPhotoItaly/fotolia.com PHOTO: REALPHOTOITALY/FOTOLIA.COM

as seen on canada.com

The proposition is tougher than you think. “You may only purchase or open Canadian Wine for the duration of the challenge….for 365 days beginning on September 1st, 2013.” Only Canadian wine for a whole year? No Burgundy? No Brunello, Barolo, German Riesling, no Champagne???!!! This challenge might be harder than the Seinfeld contest.

Related – Canadian wine reviews

To be fair, some exceptions and exemptions will be allowed, “like international wine events that may be attended, dinner parties where the host unwittingly opens something non-Canadian, wine-related courses you may be taking where other wines may be opened.” Travel is also exempt. Still, every night at home you choose to open a bottle of wine it has to be something Canadian. That’s a whole year of shunning the rest of the cellar and 90 per cent of local wine store shelves. Tougher than you think.

Photo: Matt and Calvin Hanselmann and Uncork Ontario.

Two Canadian wine lovers are behind The Great Canadian Wine Challenge. Shawn McCormick of Uncork Ontario and Calvin Hanselmann were lamenting the fact that #CanadianWineDay (#CdnWineDay) is only one day. So they decided to challenge each other. Now at least 55 others have said they will do the same. I just spoke to Shawn who took some time away from family vacation time in Haliburton to bring me up to speed. What began as a late night joking around moment following the weekly #ONTWineChat turned into a tête-à-tête challenge between two Twitter buddies. I’m guessing the boys will be best of friends by year’s end.

Wine begins to flow across Canadian provinces

Shawn and Calvin both live in our nation’s capital and have plans this weekend to launch#TGCWC by cracking some, you guessed it, Canadian wine. Registration will be open through the month of September and prizes will be awarded, with special consideration given to the troopers who stick it out from the very beginning until the (not so) bitter end.

To join in the fun, declare your intention in the comments section of this post, or email thegreatcanadianwinechallenge@gmail.com. Commit to a weekly update, via Twitter (#TGCWC hashtag), a blog post, or an email to the organizers (thegreatcanadianwinechallenge@gmail.com) and they will track updates from participants in their weekly update.

Good luck to all who are participating.

Good to go!

Wine dividends, medals and twisted corks

Around this time last year the LCBO boasted about record profits, sales increases and an unprecedented $1.55 billion dividend flipped into the provincial government’s coffers. My May 17, 2012 column noted the 4.7 billion reasons to love the LCBO. The 2012 transfer was up 9.9 per cent over 2011.

Amorim and O-I’s HELIX cork PHOTO: O-I

as seen on canada.com

As of this morning, the new statistics are out and while the spin  plays a familiar proselytizer’s refrain, the numbers might seem to tell a different story. According to the LCBO press release,  ”operational efficiency and growth through store network improvements were key factors in LCBO’s 2012-13 financial results. It was LCBO’s 18th straight year of record sales and 19th consecutive record dividend.”

Here are the numbers, though ”these financials have yet to be audited.”

  • Net sales of $4.892 billion, up $182 million (3.9 per cent) from 2011-12.
  • Transfer of an all-time high $1.7 billion dividend, not including taxes, to the Ontario government. $70 million (4.3 per cent) more than in 2011-12.
  • Net income rose $53 million to $1.711 billion, up 3.2 per cent.

Don’t be misled because the beer, wine and spirits superstore is no shrinking violet. There can be little argument that the numbers remain anything but staggering but it can be suggested that growth may be entering a somewhat stymied period. The Ontario government saw their stipend reduced from just about 10 per cent to slightly more than 4 per cent, according to these latest figures. The total sales percentage increase was also slower than the previous year. Could this be an area of concern when considering the health and viability of the provincial liquor monopoly? An upcoming December 2013 auditor general’s report, if it indeed includes the LCBO, may soon shed new light.

Meanwhile, Wine Align this morning began a search for Canada’s top wines at the inaugural National Wine Awards of Canada being held in Niagara. With the support of host partner Wine Country Ontario, #NWAC13 is hosting a wide selection of the country’s leading wine writers and tasters, gathered together to evaluate well over 1,000 wines grown in Canada and to award Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze medals in some two dozen categories.  Wines from British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia will be assessed using the same 100-point system employed at WineAlign. Full results will be published on Wine Align in September. Here is the official medie release:

http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/-1802537.htm

Anthony Gismondi and David Lawrason, Wine Align National Wine Awards of Canada 2013 Photo: http://www.winealign.com

The winning wines will be showcased in a special feature section of the National Post’s Financial Post Magazine.  A staggering number (1100 wines) are to be poured, swirled, sniffed, tasted and evaluated by 17 wine critics representing six Canadian provinces.

Wine Align has taken the reigns from the competition previously known as the Wine Access Canadian Wine Awards.  Further groundbreaking is taking place across the pond. A New Twist On Cork has been unveiled “with the launch of a twistable and re-sealable version that could do away with the corkscrew.” The Helix cork is being unveiled this week at Vinexpo in Bordeaux. The “new cork and bottle has a thread finish, which allows drinkers to twist the stopper open and closed again, creating on airtight barrier.”

Portuguese cork manufacturer Amorim and US bottle maker O-I have teamed up to create the new technology, aimed at the $10-20 niche in the bargain wine market. The cork is made from agglomerated, or granulated material and is surely meant to take the screw cap industry to task.  The Helix will attempt to gain control of a divided industry. On one side, the wineries and buyers who support cork closures with a die-hard insistence that wine needs to breath and age via a real cork closure. On the other, the proponents of the screw cap, winemakers and consumers who point out that cork taint (TCA) ruins approximately 5% of all wines bottled under cork and also who insist that cork does not actually allow wine to breath.

This according to British wine writer Jamie Goode: “It certainly looks pretty striking. A key issue will be whether or not it is adopted by leading wine brands, which could help launch it in the eyes of consumers (who are traditionally quite cautious about wine packaging), and of course whether it is affordable enough for a tight-margin wine market. Also, will it need a capsule to make it tamper-evident? Without a capsule, it looks really good.” The immediate future certainly looks interesting.

Good to go!