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Today's
Vintages Highlight
A Terrific Greek Chardonnay
©
Michael Vaughan 2006
National Post
Weekly Wine & Spirits Columnist
Saturday,
August 5, 2006
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Today's Vintages release features 14 new organic wines. I am pleased to report that LCBO has taken it upon itself to raise standards by lowering the bar on permitted free sulphur levels in organic wines. While the international guideline stands around 30 mg/l, Vintages has now set the maximum at 25 mg/l. That's fine, except that in the midst of the wines being featured, Aurora Boira 2005 Pinot Grigio from Veneto doesn't make the organic cut with its whopping 40 mg/l. Ditto for Martin Schaetzel 2004 Pinot Blanc Cuvée Réserve at $15.95 from Alsace, which has 39 mg/l, which was to appear in the organic section. It has been pulled and is now in the next release sans organic heading.
Whites
Starting
with today's best buy whites, let me kickoff with a delicious, relatively
unknown French grape from sandy shores of the southern Mediterranean
called Picpoul. At one time, this ancient Languedoc variety was known as
"piquepoul" meaning lip-stinger because of its high acidity.
Well there is nothing stinging about Terre
à Verre 2005 Picpoul de Pinet Les Roches
(525444) at $14.95 from the Coteaux du Languedoc.
These Picpoul grapes are grown in designated vineyards surrounding the tiny, delightful, resort town of Pinet, which features terrific seafood restaurants that make this wine sing. Look for a very dry, harmonious, well textured, fresh yellow plum and ripe lemon-melon flavours with a lingering, crisp finish. I think that instead of seafood, this Picpoul would even do better with spicy dishes and poultry.
Closer
to home, this release features four new releases from Château des Charmes.
With all the intense heat and humidity, my choice is the just-bottled Château
des Charmes 2005 Sauvignon Blanc VQA (453423) at
$16.95, which comes with a convenient screwcap closure. Coming from their
own Niagara-on-the-Lake vineyards, this is a perfect summer thirst
quencher. While the nose is initially a bit closed, it develops
attractive, ripe peach aromas after a few minutes of breathing. On the
palate it is very dry with gently spicy, ripe lemon-melon flavours and
lots of white peach on the lively finish.
Other
Sauvignon Blanc destinations include a tasty, albeit more herbaceous
effort from Chile. Coming from the Loma Roja Vineyard in the Casablanca
Valley is Cono
Sur 2005 Sauvignon Blanc Single Vineyard Vision
(684522), which is well priced at $14.95. It is very crisp and dry with
gently grassy, lemony, melon-gooseberry flavours.
Finally,
from the Marlborough region of New Zealand's South Island, Lake
Chalice 2005 Sauvignon Blanc (904110) at $15.95
makes a decent splash. This surprisingly well-structured effort has
intense ripe lemon-melon flavours with lots of gooseberry-grapefruit notes
that linger on the finish. It too comes with a screwcap closure.
From
Alsace, there is an attractive, unoaked, Pinot Gris (aka Tokay) that would
go well with seafood. André
Blanck 2004 Clos Schwendi Tokay Pinot Gris
(686311) at $17.95 has a mineral-tinged, ripe apple nose with solid,
spicy, ripe melon-apple flavours. Becareful, this very easy-to-drink
effort comes with 14% alcohol.
For
Chardonnay fans, here are two releases that will bring joy to your long
weekend. The first at $14.95 is the South African Coastal region screwcap Goats
do Roam 2005 Goat Door Chardonnay (684506). It
eschews the tiring, sweetish, tropical flavours found in so many New World
Chards. Light straw colour, it is very dry and slightly tart with well
structured, gently toasty, lingering, lemony, lime purée flavours.
Finally,
make way for the best white buy of the Vintages release Domaine
Dereskos 2005 Chardonnay (642454) at only
$13.95. It was so good that I went back to the LCBO lab to check out a
second bottle of this lip-smacking white. I upped my score to 90 points.
The nose is as seductive and intense as its taste. Look for lovely,
lemony, ripe melon and Anjou pear flavours with a lingering, lime purée
finish.
What an improvement over last year's disappointing 2004 release. This best buy 2005 hails from vineyards in the Messina subregion of Peloponnese Peninsula, which is the southernmost tip of Greece. Owner/winemaker Theodoros Dereskos, whose Chardonnay plantings date back to 1998, now only uses premium French oak barrels and produces one of the best classically-styled whites in the entire region.
Rosé
The
best value rosé of the release is Jacques
& François Lurton's Hermanos 2005 Lurton Rosado
(684985), which comes from Spain's Vino de la Tierra de Castilla y León.
This refreshing blend of Tempranillo and Garnacha is crisp, dry and
medium-light bodied, spicy, plummy, ripe red apple flavours.
Red
Moving on to reds, from Bordeaux we finally have two juicy 2003s that
are something to squawk about. The first is 2003
Château Saint-Hilaire (2568), which by LCBO
standards is quite reasonably priced at $21.95. It may only be classified
as a Médoc Cru Bourgeios, but this internationally-styled effort is a
blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Merlot and 5% Malbec. Look for lush,
ripe, plummy, cherry-berry flavours with a cedary finish. Great today, it
should last another 2-3 years. If want to try a half bottle (2550), it
will set you back $12.95 - an18% premium over the full bottle price. Gone
are the days when the LCBO promoted sensible consumption through the
purchase of smaller bottles.
Those looking for something special should try 2003 Château Potensac (594747) at $35.95 (only $17.97 US at pjwine.com). This Medoc Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel has appeared often in Vintages under different CSPC numbers. This 2003 is the finest I have tasted and is loaded with rich, ripe, plummy flavours. While it is accessible today, the best is yet to come.
Pick of the Week
It is a sad thing when 400 cases of a really fine red appears in
Vintages and nary a bottle is previewed. This was the case with 2003
Quinta de Ventozelo Tinto (911008) at $14.95, an
estate bottled, Portuguese red from the Douro region. Released on April 1,
2006, I recently tasted it with superb take-out bbq chicken from
Cantanhede "O Bairradino" at 862-A Lansdowne Avenue
(416-531-6912). This blend of Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca and Tinta
Roriz (Tempranillo) has an extremely deep dark intense purple colour and
delicious, ripe plum and dried red cherry flavours with a lingering,
chocolaty, sandalwood finish.
2001-2002-2003-2004-2005-2006
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