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Sitting
Pretty
Great Wines for the Holidays
©
Michael Vaughan 2006
National Post
Weekly Wine & Spirits Columnist
Saturday,
December 2, 2006
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The number of bottles in each store is updated nightly. Call
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Walk into your LCBO store and you will be swept away by a multitude of alluring packages. As your designated taster, my job to give you the inside scoop on what's really worth buying. Truth is, the glitzier the package, often the worse the wine. After all, that elaborate packaging costs money, while the bottle's contents always looks the same.
Getting down to brass tacks, of the 280+ items hitting Vintages shelves in November, one only really needs to know what's really worth buying. Only 19 whites, 20 reds and 5 fortified dessert wines received the "Recommended" thumbs up designation. Of this group of 45, only 12 (less than 5%) were blessed by being "Best Buys".
Kicking
off with whites where money isn't a key issue, the best November Canadian
buys come from Ontario's Niagara region. Both VQA "reserve"
wines fetch $30 a bottle. The first is the dry, tangy, ripe
melon-grapefruit flavoured Cave
Spring 2004 'CSV' Riesling (566026). It is
versatile and very refreshing and will marry perfectly with a host of
appetizers as well as seafood mains.
The
matching Cave
Spring 2003 'CSV' Chardonnay (529941) at $30 is
also a destination white with 14% alcohol. It has an intense, complex,
very slightly smoky, honeyed, baked lemon nose with some toffee notes. On
the palate it is medium-full bodied and well structured with ripe lemon
and vanilla custard flavours and a lingering, mineral-tinged, lime finish.
One of the CSV Chards sampled had some initial hints of paper mill on the nose. This disappeared with breathing. This isn't the first time I have been confronted with a transformation from ugly ducking to beautiful swan. At last weekend's Montreal Passion Vin, two of the best white Burgundies ($100+) were afflicted with this off-putting smell when freshly opened. After half an hour or so of breathing, there was a magical improvement in both bouquet and taste. The lesson? Pop the cork and check out the wine ahead of time to make sure that it is clean and doesn't need decanting.
Also,
still available in Vintages is the more widely available, ripe melon-pear
flavoured Jackson-Triggs
2004 Delaine Vineyards Chardonnay (623454,) a
definite best buy at $20.95. The attractive, gently toasty, lemon meringue
nose is followed up tasty ripe fruit flavours and a creamy, lingering,
gently toasty finish.
From California my best buy is Château St. Jean 2004 'Sonoma' Chardonnay (421644) at $20.95, which is very bright, perfectly balanced and well structured with ripe melon-lemon meringue flavours and a lingering, gently toasty finish. When it last appeared in Vintages two years ago, the 2000 vintage was fetched $26.95.
Moving
on to what is arguably November's best value white Richard
Hamilton 2004 Almond Grove Chardonnay (741009)
at a mere $16.95. Coming from the McLaren Vale region of South Australia
one is immediately stuck by the wonderfully intense, toasty, lime purée
nose. On the palate, look for ripe lemon meringue flavours and a
lingering, buttery, lime custard finish. This absolutely delicious a-la-screwcap
Chard can be laid away safely for another year or so!
Moving
on to November's reds, Australia continues to excel with its ever-popular
shiraz/syrah. Wolf
Blass 2003 Gold Label Shiraz (590273) at $29.95,
for instance, has an extremely intense deep purple colour and a cedary,
vanilla stick nose with juicy plums and black cherries. These big fruit
flavours carry over on the palate along with the well-integrated 15%
alcohol.
Even
bigger is the robust 48% Shiraz blend of Penfolds
2003 'Bin 389' Cabernet/Shiraz (309625) at
$35.95. It is extremely concentrated and very juicy with almost Bourbon
driven, vanilla stick, plummy, black cherry fruit and a smoky, lingering,
crancherry finish. Capable of evolving for another decade, it would
partner perfectly with a rack of lamb.
A
standout from the various high-priced Bordeaux released last Saturday is
the sensationally delicious St-Émilion
Grand Cru 2003 Château Troplong Mondot (590836)
at $99.95. The intense cherry-berry nose shows great complexity and is
followed up by surprisingly juicy, robust, lingering, cassis-plum-black
cherry flavours. Great today, perhaps even better in 4 or 5 years from
now.
The
November Vintages release features a number of truly outstanding Sherries
all aged for 30 years in cask. My favourite is Gonzalez
Byass 'Apostoles' Palo Cortado (969527) at
$25.95 per half bottle. This seductive 30-year-old sherry has an intense,
complex, sweetish, caramel-driven, ripe plum nose. Complex, sweet and
woodsy on the palate, the slightly smoky, caramel, plummy, crème brulée
flavours go on and on.
If you have a hankering to try something sweeter, don't miss the pungent, rich, plummy, caramel flavoured Gonzalez Byass Matusalem Oloroso Dulce Muy Viejo (694323) at $24.95 per half. For those whose sweet-tooth knows no bounds, next Saturday's Vintages release features the viscous, ultra sweet, butterscotch, raisin pie flavoured Gonzalez Byass Noe Muy Viejo Pedro Ximénez (721159) at $24.95 per half. Just the perfect topping for vanilla ice cream.
National Post readers can see my full list of November Vintages recommendations (click here). You will also find that I have posted the upcoming Vintages Sale (66 items) taking place on Monday, December 4th - to see click here. Some incredible bargains are available with lots of inventory available. We also have a special $25 gift discount for those wishing to give their friends a year's subscription to Vintage Assessments - to see click here.
Pick of the Week
Don't miss this best buy from the McLaren Vale region of South Australia Tyrrell's
2004 Rufus Stone Shiraz (542100) at $21.95. This
Vintages "rapid release" silently appeared without a stitch of
fanfare. It has an alluring plummy, black cherry nose and well-structured,
ripe plum, cassis and cedar-chocolate flavours.
2001-2002-2003-2004-2005-2006
Tasting Note Database
Our
tasting note database from December 31, 2000 to October 2006, covers every
Vintages release product for the past 69 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
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 Tasting
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Copyright Food & Beverage Testing Institute of Canada
2006
Prior written permission is required for any form of reproduction
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Contact Michael Vaughan at
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