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Let's
hear it for Pink & Yellow
But buy carefully in today's Vintages release
Now I know what they mean
when they refer to the dog days of summer!
©
Michael Vaughan 2006
National Post
Weekly Wine & Spirits Columnist
Saturday,
August 19, 2006
LIVE
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This Vintages release features wines from the west, in particular, British Colombia and Washington. With all the terrific well-priced wines coming out of Okanagan today, it would appear that the pricier Washington state wines seem a bit redundant.
Having
just returned from a quick three-day tour of Okanagan wineries, I can say
that there are many, and I mean many, genuinely terrific BC wines out
there. Take the award-winning Jackson-Triggs
Okanagan Estate Proprietors' Grand Reserve Shiraz 2004,
which is tastier than all the BC and Washington reds rolled together.
There are only four new BC wines on Vintages shelves. Sadly, the sheer
mediocrity of both BC Pinot Noir releases, as well as the accompanying
thin Gewurztraminer, is rather shocking. According wine agents, Vintages
will not even bother tasting some of their best wines for potential
listing. What are the buyers thinking? It's time for the LCBO to wake up
and start focusing on quality.
Whites
Let
me kick off today's release with a pleasant, crowd-pleasing white Bollini
2005 Pinot Grigio (951319) at $15.95 that comes
from the Trentino region of northern Italy. When you smell and taste this
wine, the words honeyed melon immediately come to mind. Unoaked, fresh,
dry and medium-light bodied, this is the kind of ready-to-enjoy white you
can serve without fear with almost anything.
From
the Loire region of France comes a very fine Sauvignon Blanc - Joseph
Mellot 2004 Sancerre La Chatellenie (525154) at
$22.95. Despite its disarmingly deep yellow colour, it is very flavourful
and quite well structured with slightly spicy, grassy, ripe
lemon-melon-lime flavours with a lingering finish.
For
New Zealand wine fans Goldridge
Estate 2005 Premium Reserve Sauvignon Blanc
(912329) at $18.95 has loads of flavour. Look for very zesty, dry, ripe
lemon, melon and ruby grapefruit followed up by a lingering, refreshingly
crisp finish. It comes with a convenient screwcap closure.
Another
fine New Zealand refresher, also from the South Island's Marlborough
region is Matua
Valley 2005 Shingle Peak Riesling (685776) at
$18.95. It has a modest 12% alcohol but lots of fresh acidity. On the
palate it is very dry and medium-light bodied with intense, ripe
apple-melon flavours with a racy, tangy finish. The perfect match with
seafood.
From
Australia's McLaren Vale there is d'Arenberg
2005 The Stump Jump (922203) at $13.95, which is
an interesting blend of 63% Riesling, 20% Sauvignon Blanc, 10% Marsanne
and 7% Roussanne. It is very dry and fairly well structured with slightly
spicy, ripe lemon-melon flavours. It comes in a screwcap closure and is
capable of aging for another year or so.
Finally, for Chardonnay, the spicy, clove-tinged Mission Hill 2003
Chardonnay Reserve (545004) at $18.95 is a good bet. It has intense,
fairly dry, honeyed, ripe pear purée flavours with a lingering, zesty,
ripe lemon tinged, toasty finish. Try it with poultry.
Reds
With all the kudos currently being aimed at Prince Edward County wines, I wish I could say that today's release of Grange of Prince Edward Estate 2004 Trumpour's Mill Cabernet/Merlot at $17.95 was worth exploring. After all, this Vintages "discovery" gets a full-page in the release catalogue. It is called "superb", "terrific" and "very impressive." I visited the LCBO tasting room three times to make sure that I didn't miss a thing. Unfortunately, the only words that came to my mind were: reedy, tart, sour and thin. Oh yes, add the most important word of all: avoid. There are some good wines in Prince Edward County, but this isn't one of them.
Not quite as awful were two of the three Bulgarian reds, which are line-priced at $12.95. Also thumbs down on the greenish, rather bitter tasting Georges Duboeuf 2004 Domaine des Sablons Saint-Amour at $18.95, which according to Vintages tastes like a "well-made Bourgogne Pinot Noir". I don't think so. Ditto for a peppery, unappealing Signature' Rouge 2003 Château Valcombe from Rhone's Côtes du Ventoux at $15.95. Now I know what they mean when they refer to the dog days of summer!
In fact, there are simply too many so-so wines in this release. Some things seem overpriced, including a reasonably tasty, albeit rather light, Drouhin 2003 Volnay (979153) at $49.95, as well as, slightly cooked, prunish, half-bottles of 2004 Capitel San Rocco Ripasso at $11.95.
Thankfully,
there are some bright spots. Of three decent New Zealand Pinot Noir, the
least expensive pleases. It isn't very big or extracty, but Cottesbrook
2004 Pinot Noir Hawk Hill (586040) at $17.95 is
tangy, light and charming. It has lively ripe red cherry flavours with a
fresh tangy finish. Versatile and ready to drink.
Continuing
in this vein is The
Stump Jump 2005 Grenache/Shiraz/Mourvèdre
(606236) at $13.95. It has a fragrant nose and juicy, ripe plum and cherry
flavours with a very tangy finish. This ready-to-drink crowd pleaser comes
with a screwcap closure.
From
Sonoma's Dry Creek Valley, there is a well-structured Pedroncelli
2002 Petite Sirah (686691) at only $16.95. It is
solid, dry and well-structured with gently cedary, spicy, ripe plum and
chocolate flavours with some raspberry-cassis notes on the finish.
Summer Sparklers
While
some inexpensive, Australian sparklers fail to impress, I had to smile
while tasting this new duo of bubblies, which are simply called Yellow and
Pink. Yellowglen
Yellow (592980) at $12.95 has light, attractive
ripe pear aromas, fairly good mousse and just slightly off-dry, honeyed,
ripe melon-pear fruit flavours with a crisp finish.
I was even more impressed with Pink (683813) at $12.95, which is an effervescence, quite delicious blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. It has a lovely, sweetish, honeyed, fruity, rose-tinged nose. Slightly sweet but balanced, the spicy, plummy, ripe pear purée flavours show good length.
Pick of the Week
The
West Coast wine to achieve best buy status is Mission
Hill 2005 Pinot Gris Reserve (537076) at $19.95.
Miracle of miracles, it is actually four cents cheaper here in Ontario
than at the winery! Here is a nose that says "hello" with its
intense, fresh ripe peach aromas. It's also great on the palate with
gently spicy, grass-tinged, pear and ripe lemon flavours. This consistent
winner from the Okanagan has 13.5% alcohol and was partly fermented in oak
(17%) of which just over 10% was new. All four previous Mission Hill Pinot
Gris Reserve releases have been best buys!
LCBO Delisting Sale
Last Monday, August 14th was the start of the latest LCBO General List Delisting Sale. This time prices on 29 products will be reduced, with discounts varying from 11% to 34%. National Post readers click here to see the list of products on sale.
2001-2002-2003-2004-2005-2006
Tasting Note Database
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tasting note database from December 31, 2000 to August 2006, covers every
Vintages release product for the past 68 months. There are more than 13,000 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
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