So here we are on the threshold of another Vintage season. Fine wine glasses are being polished for the onslaught of upcoming tastings. Wine club members are revving up their tasting buds in anticipation and practicing their expectorations (the polite term for spitting). Sommeliers are dreaming of getting back their well-heeled regulars who know how to tip.

Meanwhile back on the ranch, most holiday weekend revelers may not be ready to contemplate the niceties of cherry picking the best from the upcoming Vintages release next Saturday. Unfortunately, we are back to the dual release meaning you will have to take two trips to the LCBO to pick up your treasures.

So what is the rush you might ask? Well, next Tuesday is September 3 and a new Vintages deadline looms on the horizon. Customers living outside of the Greater Toronto Area and Ottawa now have until 11 am to get their order into the LCBO for any Vintages products being released this month. Only a select group of elite cottage “estate” dwellers, are able to channel orders to their out-of-town addresses.

The new wrinkle is that in the past, the split release dates meant that you were required to make two customer requests per month. Now it is only one. While this sounds good and is certainly a bonus to my newsletter subscribers, who receive reviews well before this deadline, the rest will suffer. Why? Because casual readers will now have to make do with what can squeezed into this column.

Today I will focus on some white highlights from both upcoming releases along with one “must buy” red from September 21^st. First, let me venture forth into the world of Chardonnays. Don’t miss trying a truly exquisite Chardonnay from the Macon region of France. Domaine La Soufrandise 2000 Clos Marie Pouilly-Fuissé at $25.75 has a very accessible, lush, faintly nutty, lush, ripe pear purée nose. It shows remarkable ripe Anjou pear flavours on the palate with excellent structure, balance and persistence. Try it with poultry and white meats due to structure and subtle oaky notes (one-fifth was barrel fermented). This organically farmed wine is scheduled for September 21^st.

The other outstanding Chard, this time in next Saturday’s release, comes from the Sonoma Coast. La Crema 2000 Chardonnay at $26.95 is as nice as it gets for under $30. The lovely, slightly spicy nose comes with toasty, ripe Anjou pear purée notes. On the palate, it is rich, intense and very well structured with sweet buttered toast and ripe apricot-Anjou pear purée flavours. Some smoky lime notes persist on the long lingering finish. Complete with100% malolactic fermentation, it has been vinified and aged for 8 months in French and American oak (30% new) sur lie.

Moving down a notch in price, there is a very accessible rounded, ready to enjoy Chard from Pays France. Domaine des Aspes 2000 Chardonnay at $14.25 has a mature medium deep yellow colour. The nose shows spicy, ripe, apricot and melon fruit. It is rounded and gently spicy on the palate with faintly smoky, ripe apricot-melon flavours. It has excellent length and is best with white meats and poultry. Made from 22-year-old vines, half of the juice was vinified in oak and aged on its lees.

The nicest Sauvignon Blanc to cross these lips in quite some time (coming put next Saturday) hails from the Marlborough region on New Zealand’s south island. Fairhall Downs 2001 Sauvigon Blanc at $16.70 will be debuting next Saturday. Light straw in colour, the nose is very attractive with rounded, ripe gooseberry aromas. On the palate it is extremely well balanced with honeyed, gently spicy, grassy, surprisingly voluptuous, ripe Kiwi flavours. It weighs in at 14% alcohol and it’s an insult to suggest that there is anything remotely like the ladybug taint here.

A great ABC entry, which is made from an indigenous Portuguese collective of grapes, which few people have ever heard of (perhaps with the exception of Moscatel which is about one-third of the blend). The spicy J.M. da Fonseca 2001 Quinta De Camarate at $14.20 is an excellent, change of pace, versatile white. Its flavours are lively, bright and dry with lots of spicy, ripe pear, red apple and melon fruit. There is no oakiness on the lingering finish meaning that it would be great with seafood and perhaps Thai cuisine.

My best  buy red of the release also comes out on September 21^st. Don’t miss snapping up several bottles of Graham Beck 2000 Coastal Cellar Shiraz at a modest $16.95 a bottle. It has a lovely, sweetish, smoky, black cherry purée nose. It is creamy and well structured on the palate with rounded, smoky, black cherry purée flavours that go one and on. An amazing value, only 300 cases of six were allocated to Ontario. Almost enough to make a duck (as in confit) or a goose (as in roast) get up and dance.  

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