Top ten imports at VINTAGES from May 30th

Organic Sirloin, parsley, black olive

Should you be counting and despite the number of wines you will read about below, I have to tell you honestly that I was a highly competent mathematics student through high school. Distractions including but not restricted to cooking, music, words, pop culture, sports and ancient works of antiquity paved new roads but I can still count to ten. This list goes up to eleven because I could not in good conscience leave Thomas Bachelder’s pulchritudinous NSG out in the first day of June cold.

So I tasted again and have updated my note on La Petite Charmotte 2011, a beneficient Bourgogne that hit LCBO shelves this past weekend. The Bachelder project turns water into wine in three countries. By now you know all about the trinité-terroir schematic as I’ve written about Thomas and Mary many times. The fact that VINTAGES happens to now be releasing the 2011 LPC, predecessor to the already tasted and reviewed 2012, the “single-vineyard NSG hugged up on a northern slope,” is of consequence because it’s a memorable, cellar-worthy wine from a really stunning vintage.

The other top 10 all happen to be reds, save for one exiguous white Burgundy. France and Italy (a.k.a. Old World) dominate the remainder, except for a lone, paradigmatic Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon and a refreshing McLaren Vale Shiraz. Get out there folks, spoken one more time in guiltless refrain. Here are your tasting notes.

From left to right: La Ferme Du Mont Première Côte Côtes Du Rhône 2012, Altivitis Ventoux 2011, Corino Dolcetto d’Alba 2013, Errazuriz Aconcagua Alto Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 and Maison Roche De Bellene Vieilles Vignes Bourgogne Chardonnay 2012

La Ferme Du Mont Première Côte Côtes Du Rhône 2012, Ac Rhône, France (251645, $14.95, WineAlign)

A different sort of CdR works from this unfiltered red, on the side of winemaking that summons modern Rosso Sangiovese Grosso. That’s caused by the concentration of cherry liqueur, dried roses and a greater aromatic feeling of potpourri. Yet there is also fresh raspberry and at the other end of the spectrum, cured meat. With a touch of Brett it recalls Grosso in deeper, more expensive terms. The middle palate is a touch hollow, but at $15 beggars need not be choosers and so much pepper marks the austere finish. Add it up and the two words that come to mind are simply complexity and value. Drink 2015-2019. Tasted May 2015 @Eurovintage @VINSRHONE

Altivitis Ventoux 2011, Ac Rhône, France (414359, $17.95, WineAlign)

Prodigious Ventoux for a pittance considering the stuffing and the Mencia-esque (think Pittacum) deep, dark, black cherry and purple berry dressing. Rich and actually structured with equal and opposing tannins. That said, it never sheds its high-toned, carbonic youthfulness and the aromas are peppered by five spice, mandarin and hoisin. Something about this also reminds of Cru Beaujolais, but like an immature, yet volatile tank sample of Brouilly. But it’s more new world than that, so I wouldn’t construe all this as complexity, or balance for that matter, but instead, distraction. It’s certainly worth a look, with near, value-driven greatness due to righteous acidity, in a modern, semi-distinct representation of the region. If you like to keep it dark and sorcerer powerful, go gothic with this Ventoux. Drink 2015-2018. Tasted May 2015 @AOCVentoux

Three from the Rhône Valley at VINTAGES May 30, 2015

Corino Dolcetto d’Alba 2013, Doc Piedmont, Italy (412353, $18.95, WineAlign)

Three district aromas emanate; fresh carbon-stoned fruit, cheese and earth. Plums and liquorice on the palate. More cheese. High acidity with gramercy to punctuality, dimension and peak performance prickling. A minutiae of tannin ekes out an ageing component. Could go both ways bitter finish. Better than most Dolcetto. Drink 2015-2017. Tasted May 2015 @danieliwines @vinidelpiemonte

Errazuriz Aconcagua Alto Cabernet Sauvignon 2012, Aconcagua Valley, Chile (203364, $19.95, WineAlign)

Presence and exceptional poise define the role played by this Cabernet Sauvignon. The character portraiture is so very Chilean. Florals oscillate in waves of vanilla, along with currants and tobacco. Dig in some Aconcagua earth and bell pepper, melded into and lost in an ol’ tenebrous, cimmerian buttermilk sky. Lush, rich and piqued by cracked pepper, anise and the dusty redundancy of liquorice root. Legitimately oaky but that is entirely OK. Drink 2015-2020. Tasted May 2015 @errazurizwines @Dandurandwines @DrinkChile

Maison Roche De Bellene Vieilles Vignes Bourgogne Chardonnay 2012, Burgundy, France (299867, $20.95, WineAlign)

So stylish for entry-level Burgundy, ascertained and finessed by a light yet steady approach. Creamy texture stands out, above freshness and the under subtle tone of buttery oak. I don’t find it at all toasty but more of a slow, low temperature, moisture deprivation in the whirl of a dehydrator. Enter the forest through the gates of this Bourgogne on the route to Meursault. Drink 2015-2018. Tasted May 2015 @RochedeBellene @Nicholaspearce_

From left to right: Famille Perrin Les Christins Vacqueyras 2012, Serafino Shiraz 2012, Pierre Amadieu Romane Machotte Gigondas 2012, Badia A Coltibuono Chianti Classico Riserva 2009, Bachelder La Petite Charmotte Nuits Saint Georges 2011 and Monte Faustino Amarone Della Valpolicella Classico 2008

Famille Perrin Les Christins Vacqueyras 2012, Ac Rhône, France (973453, $23.95, WineAlign)

I tasted this Vacqueyras back in the fall of 2014 but did not write a formal tasting note. Six months in bottle has done it some serious, generous justice, in the aromatic simulacrum of balance. Settling has tempered what heat there may have been in extreme youth, humouring and buttressing the lamina of red fruit to stand alone, in avoidance of an impasse in jam. This has class in all months, seasons and at every level of education. It is both student and T.A., dug in to study and to mentor younger Vacqueyras in search of such structure and wisdom. Spice and smoke throw signals of added coil, only to relent to the drupe and resolve for involution. Times also allow for pretty florals beholden to garrigue. Chalk and grain give the tannin elasticity. Exemplary and necessary Vac with an inconsequential asking price. Drink 2016-2022. Tasted May 2015 @Beaucastel @ChartonHobbs @VINSRHONE

Serafino Shiraz 2012, McLaren Vale, South Australia, Australia (407718, $28.95, WineAlign)

A richly textured, solidly structured and surprisingly believable, relatively tame, low alcohol (14 per cent) McLaren Vale Shiraz. The flowers are strewn across the aromatic entry, relenting to cedar and ripe berries. What a sincere inhalation of beautiful. Classic bones to carry a sense of place, constructed with heady serenity and savour faire. Shiraz of a tall order, to please many camps, from finesse to power, for instant pleasure and in attraction of the cellar junky. Drink 2016-2022. Tasted May 2015 @SerafinoVino @mclaren_vale

Pierre Amadieu Romane Machotte Gigondas 2012, Rhône Valley, France (973453, $27.95, WineAlign)

Show me an off vintage of the Romane Machotte Gigondas and I’ll throw in the proverbial tasting towel. This Amadieu can never disappoint. The ’12 offers spicy, smoky, piquant accents over top big red fruit. Much reduced yet non-reductive freshness abounds, set upon a valance of liquorice and dried flowers. The stuffing is packed and brimming, the herbs and verdancy sacrosanct with just the right kind of sting. Has savour but I would stop short of calling it savoury. It’s raspy but not rapacious. The Grenache-Syrah blend bides and lingers, long as the road that links Romane and Machotte. Drink 2016-2022. Tasted May 2015 @Amadieu_G

Badia A Coltibuono Chianti Classico Riserva 2009, Docg Tuscany, Italy (683474, $38.95, WineAlign)

This is a very understated, creeping, impossibly concentrated Chianti Classico Riserva. Positively vital, as classic as classic gets while not once reverting to the kind of rusticity that refuses adaptation, ignores permutation or refutes progress. The cleanest fruit is scented by the dulcet appraisal of truffle and porcini. The pitch is just about perfect, the acidity ideal and the balance struck between fruit, barrel and age. Earth grounds the entire ordeal, rendering it peaceful and pleasurable, the possibilities playing out enjoyable and endless. The organic ’09 can be poured right now and the legs will take this down roads as long as the SP408 to Traversa and Gaiole in Chianti. Drink 2015-2029. Tasted May 2015 @coltibuono @HalpernWine @chianticlassico

Bachelder La Petite Charmotte Nuits Saint Georges 2011, Ac Burgundy, France (357228, $49.95, WineAlign)

The spice notes reign in May, 2015. A smoulder stick of limestone wicks through the red, earthy fruit. Petite only in grace and largesse, in longevity this stretches from Nuits-Saint-Georges to roads leading in all directions. Careful, delicate and yet profoundly, powerfully restrained, not to be ignored Pinot Noir. Drink 2018-2025.

From my earlier note of November 2013:

Is so floral, mineral, intense and hypnotic it might be dubbed the Serpent Charmer. Iron and wine indeed, the iron of Nuits, the perfume of Beaune. This provocative bottling represents the third year of production, is conspicuous in Anis de Flavigny and an underlying gate. If montagnes is the harming one, this is the charming one. These are all from the same barrels, so what really affects the wines the most? Land and hand.

Last tasted May 2015 @Bachelder_wines

Monte Faustino Amarone Della Valpolicella Classico 2008, Doc Veneto, Italy (327122, $56.95, WineAlign)

You know it’s big, hot and full-bodied. But oh if this isn’t the epitome of how Amarone can woo, thrill and hypnotize. The fig-date-palm-dried fruit feeling proliferates within an anise liqueur base. The caked, cracking and arid earth flakes, chips and cuts with a mustard of spices. The smooth and velvety mouthfeel has variegated chalk and grain. Such a promiscuous Valpolicella that fleshes and swells as it swirls. Intense, rich and yet neither overpowers nor climbs over the top. Drink 2018-2028. Tasted May 2015 @RegioneVeneto

Good to go!

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Path straying wines

Apr2

Risotto

The idea that something veers away from or afield of the norm is almost always intriguing. Fascinations with antidisestablishmentarianism, marching to the beats of different drummers and walking lonely roads is as essential as breathing. For the curious, the hungry and the alive.

Though the concept is a sound one, it need not always be about searching for wisdom and enterprise off the beaten path. There are times when the abstruse may be lying directly underfoot. Wine is a commensurate animal, altricial such as it is, acaudal, acersous, agnostic, aculeate and allocryptic such as it is not. Wine that is not so much off the beaten path as actually growing on one.

Two of the six wines recommended here jive with the idea, a Sicilian varietal wine made from the local Nerollo Mascalese and a Venetian dessert beauty crafted from who knows which and exactly how many chthonic varieties. No wine-producing nation knows about the concept of varietal celebration and keeping a historical watch on the relationship between path and vine more than Italy. No other agglomeration crafts from indigenous or endemic varieties with as much diversity.

This summed it up. “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. 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.”

Related – Off the beaten Italian path

You see, winemakers don’t always have to champion the obscure, the endangered and the forgotten. There are times when place and plot are good enough to create an aura of obscurity and adventure. The wines in this column’s conspiracy are in cahoots to drive the point.

Related – Why hate wine?

A white Port; who drinks white Port? Sometimes you just need to walk along roads you never seem to take, take in the backstreets or sip along with something that’s always there but you just never bother. Port can be nondescript and it can also be like the Cálem Lágrima.

How about a Barossan, a Shiraz no less, but here because it is a wine from Neolithic soils, consumed and procreated on and upon itself. Then there is a South African white blend of such natural indeterminate plodding it has caused a break in critical ranks; is it sound or at fault to the point of no return? Last but certainly not musical least, a Napa Valley vintner with an infatuation for pairing wine to song. Sound familiar?

In anticipation of the first April list to hit Ontario shelves, Sara d’Amato and I have compiled what you need to know and why. Click on this link to WineAlign to see the full report.

Off the Beaten Path, from East to West and a Battle of the Corkscrews

Here are my six path straying wines from the VINTAGES April 4th release.

From left to right: Cálem Lágrima White Port, Dandelion Vineyards Lionheart Of The Barossa Shiraz 2012, Lammershoek Roulette Blanc 2011, Calcagno Feudo Di Mezzo Nerello Mascalese 2011, Monte Faustino Recioto Della Valpolicella Classico 2008 and World’s End If Six Was Nine Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2010

Cálem Lágrima White Port, Dop Douro, Portugal (912568, $15.95, WineAlign)

Viscous and semlessly crafted White Port. There is very frank aridity in nuts and peels on the nose, along with tempering agave and citrus. The positable tug between sweet, sour and salty harks to older times and the munificent wafts of the warm nut cart. The agave drips thick on the palate, the spiced nuts are expertly roasted. Cool mint and eucalyptus fill the middle and fine acidity comes ’round the back. Terrific value. Drink 2015-2020. Tasted March 2015 @PortoClem @WoodmanWS

Dandelion Vineyards Lionheart Of The Barossa Shiraz 2012, Barossa Valley, South Australia (167189, $19.95, WineAlign)

Tasted from the 750 mL, this old vine Barossa vineyard bottle is reminiscent of the wise and precocious 2009. Nothing can be taken for granted here, this Shiraz from ancient, gnarled vines, many over a hundred years of age. A wine from neolithic soils, consumed and procreated on and upon itself. This is brash and once opened, the aromas are “orbiting your living room.” Makes me think of fig jam on venison wurst and a sauce made from licorice, clementine and dates as big as sausage flies. Tart, tight, racy and religious. Has a fisting Reggae beat, like The Clash doing Tosh and Dub. It may not transmit the only Barossan pirate radio Shiraz but it may just be one of the better values. Drink 2016-2021. Tasted March 2015 @DandelionWines @Wine_Australia

Lammershoek Roulette Blanc 2011, Wo Swartland, South Africa (225458, $21.95, WineAlign)

Talk about the passion. Fruit and reduction. Fruit and oxidation. Contradictions and oxymorons. This reeks of upside down passion fruit, apricot, honey and almond cake. Dripping syrup, parrafin and citrus. Waxy, like Sémillon and that’s where the advance comes in. The Roulette Blanc is meant to flesh, not wane in texture. The question is “combien, combine, combien de temps” does it take for a wine such as this to travel from wild and fresh to used and confused? The 2011 exhibits all the signs of great, complex fruit and corresponding accents. It has it all going on but a current stale, R.E.M. sleepy state clouds its future. “Not everyone can carry the weight of the world.” A really interesting wine with a long, bitter and tangy finish. How much longer will it age? Long enough. Drink 2015-2020. Tasted March 2015 @Lammershoek @WOSACanada

Calcagno Feudo Di Mezzo Nerello Mascalese 2011, Igt Siciliy, Italy (408187, $34.95, WineAlign)

The Sicilian was treated to extended maceration under strict temperature control and the bleed is evident, modern, pitchy and black as a cloudless night. Then 12 months later “an improvement” is fashioned by the classic French oak “barriques” addition, followed by a minimum further four months in bottle. The result is a warm, alcohol elevated (14.5 per cent) state of the art Nerello Mascalese with a wonderful earthy grounding. Tenderly volcanic, the fruit comes from Passopisciaro between the Etna park and the Alcantara river park. Ancient lava flows leave an indelible mark on a wine without creases. Yet this is a direct, in your face expression that shares thoughts and feelings with deep clay and stray island sand. An extremely well-made wine even if it wanders away from the wonders of time. Drink 2017-2022. Tasted March 2015 @oenophilia1 @VisitSicilyOP

Monte Faustino Recioto Della Valpolicella Classico 2008, Docg, Veneto, Italy (403857, 500ml, $45.95, WineAlign)

Once in a while there comes a Recioto in reserve of its own preciousness. A Recioto comfortable in its own skin, does not have to try too hard, posits only what it is safely made of. This elegant example whiffs dried fruit, strawberry, rhubarb and lovely aromatic, natural fruit tea. Licorice and fresh fennochio. A citrus poke. Good underscored, understated and under the radar personality. Great length. A real success. Drink 2018-2025. Tasted March 2015

World’s End Cabernet Sauvignon If Six Was Nine 2010, Napa Valley, California (396127, $72.95, WineAlign)

What if “six turned out to be nine?” What if 14.9 per cent alcohol was just 14.6 instead of what really must be 15.9? What if the song in your head was sung by the tender emotional voice of Todd Rungren instead of the fuzz in Jimi’s clouded world? This Cabernet Sauvignon is so much more Hendrix, a full-throttle, heavy-layered, all-in barrel and total extract package. The fruit is hulking and the tannin equally so. Look ahead eight to ten years then fire up the black top. Heave on some marbled elephantine chops and all will be fine in the centre of the dizzying universe. “Wave on, wave on. Fall mountains, just don’t fall on me.” Maybe listen to a verse or two of Todd as well. “Hello, it’s me.” Drink 2020-2027. Tasted March 2015 @ProfileWineGrp @NapaVintners

Good to go!

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Tag Archives: Monte Faustino

Top ten imports at VINTAGES from May 30th

Path straying wines