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Spring Sippers from Spicy to Sweet
Buying the best of today’s Vintages release

When it comes to whites, the pickings are a bit slim in today’s Vintages release. Nevertheless, I have some solid recommendations. The first is a very spicy, rather delicious effort from Alsace – Bléger 2002 Gewurztraminer Vieille Vigne (972570) at $19.95. I know that Gewurztraminer isn’t everyone’s cup of tea with its intense, honeyed, spicy, sweet lychee nose. While some gentle sweetness persists on the palate, it still has a refreshing air to it. Look for honeyed, lychee, rose petal flavours with a lingering finish. It’s the kind of white that I could sip all afternoon – a dangerous thing indeed.

Chardonnay fans have two choices. The first is a decent, well priced effort from South Africa - Delheim 2002 Chardonnay ‘Sur Lie’ (956219) at $15.95. It is dry and very crisp with bright, ripe, Anjou pear flavours along with a touch of vanilla on the lingering finish. While spending some 9 months in oak (40% new), there is good integration of flavours.

The best Chard of the release, however, is an InStore Discovery (ISD) - Domaine Drouhin Oregon 2002 Chardonnay “Arthur” (959619) at $35.95. This excellent effort - aka “DDO” - is made from 100% Dijon clones and named after winemaker Véronique Drouhin’s son Arthur, who was born in France in 1994 some four years after the vines were planted. This winner is loaded with gently toasty, spicy, lively, ripe Anjou pear flavours with a lingering lime-tinged finish. It will not disappoint fans of good Burgundy.

Originally ISDs were released on the Friday prior to the month’s first release and are only available at a few stores. It now appears, as some readers have discovered, there is actually no LCBO policy regarding release timing. Many stores planned to put out their ISDs on Saturday, the same day as the first release. This only works if the stores receive stock in a timely fashion, something that did not happen in this case. So, “DDO” finally turned up this week - some 23 cases of six were still available as of midweek. Use the winefind.ca search engine to get store inventory as of last night.

Another special ISD is Sergio Zenato 2001 Lugana Riserva (928218) $26.95. This outstanding Italian white isn’t to be mistaken with cheap plonk made from high yielding Trebbiano grapes grown around Lake Garda. In this case, the 15+ year-old vines have a low yield (2.5 kg per vine). The wine is fermented in barriques for 3 weeks, and then matured in small new oak for 4 months, followed by 6 months in steel. It has a disarmingly deep yellow colour with an alluring, spicy, peachy-nectarine nose. On the palate it is dry and fairly rich with creamy, honeyed, ripe melon flavours plus a hint of caramel on the lingering finish.

Finally, when it comes to sweet whites, we are all well trained - meaning that icewine is usually the first thing to come to our lips. Well there are other sweeties out there, and one would be well advised to pick up a couple of bottles of the delicious Sauternes 2001 Château Roumieu (926444) at $21.95 for a half 375 ml bottle. Here you have sweet but balanced, fairly viscous, dried ripe apricot, marmalade and crème brûlée flavours, which are capable of aging well for up to a decade.

This Bordeaux estate is on the rive gauche (or left bank) lying in Haut Barsac region and adjoins the well respected, first growth Château Climens and second growth Doisy-Védrines. It is an excellent blend of botrytized Sémillon (89%) with some Sauvignon (10%) and Muscadelle (1%), which has been aged for 24 months in oak. It has appeared in Vintages before. The 1997 had a different cspc number (933283) and higher price -  $24.60 on the September 8, 2001 release and then $28.95 on July 12, 2003. Unfortunately, this wine is still on the shelves and should not be confused with the superior 2001, which has better structure with a touch more alcohol (12.7%) and slightly more residual sugar – 115 grams/l.

Moving on to reds, there was a bit a kafuffle over my recently recommended Domaine Jacques Prieur 2001 Beaune 1er Cru Champs Pimont (712224) at $59.95 from the April 3^rd release. Apparently the LCBO still had some of the 1999 left over from last November’s Holiday release, which originally was priced at $57.95. Stick with the 2001.

If you can’t find it, then Domaine Vincent Girardin 1999 Pommard Les Vignots (978270) may even be a bit better of a buy at $49.95. Even though this wasn’t a big year for reds, there is a lot to recommend this effort. The nose is complex with slightly spicy, ripe black cherries fruit along with savoury, cedar-tinged, raspberry notes. It is dry and balanced with spicy, ripe, black cherry flavours poking through. It shows well today and should evolve nicely over the next two years.

Finally, it would be interesting to compare these Burgundies to a very decent effort from California. From the Santa Barbara County comes the luscious, ripe black cherry driven Belle Glos 2001 Pinot Noir (925727) at $37.50. This is the first release by Chuck Wagner, owner of the Napa-based Caymus Vineyards, who recently leased this 75-acre Santa Maria Valley vineyard. Yields are fairly low (about 4 tons per ha) and the wine was aged for 8 months in French oak. A pleasing Pinot is best drunk while it is fresh and vibrant.

2001-2002-2003-2004 Tasting Note Database

Our tasting note database from December 31, 2000 to March 2004, covers every Vintages release product for the past 39 months. There are more than 6,000 notes in the database data. Just enter the name of the product, supplier name or CSPC number. Or you can search by type of wine, country of origin, even wine agent! Nothing could be easier. Also you can get information on the agent by clicking on the agent’s name, as well as current LCBO store inventory by clicking on "Check LCBO Availability", which will automatically tell you the number of bottles at LCBO as of last night.

To use our winefind.ca Tasting Notes Database: click here

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