|
Recent Articles |
|
|
|
Get
all the evaluations for
the April
Release Robust reds for hearty winter fare National Post Weekly Wine & Spirits Columnist Saturday, February 1, 2003 When it rains it pours.
And so occasionally it is with Vintages releases. Come next Saturday,
for instance, all 144 items hit the shelves at once. Hopefully today’s
article will help you plan your purchases ahead of time, especially for
those who live out-of-town and are able to place their Vintages orders
in advance by 11 a.m. Tuesday, February 4th. With all this ice cold
whether, I usually retreat to the warmth of the kitchen to prepare
robust comfort foods to fend away the winter blues. Remnants of confit
of duck, cassoulet, lamb shanks and stews litter our fridge and freezer. For me, rich hearty reds
are the perfect match. Fortunately, today’s Vintages release has a
bevy of excellent well-priced Syrah-Shiraz to take the bluster out of
winter. First of all we have
three choice reds from down-under, which are all too often reserved for
the summer barbie. Kick off with Sandalford
1999 Western Australia Shiraz ($20.80) we
have fairly alcoholic (14.5%) rich, toasty, plumy, sandalwood flavours
with some chocolaty notes on the lingering finish.
Those willing to invest
$29.95, however, will be rewarded with one of the best reds of the
release - Rosemount Estate 1999 Shiraz
from their Orange Vineyard in New South Wales. It is much more forward
tasting than the latter with wonderfully accessible, harmonious, bright,
dried black cherry fruit on the palate delicious blueberry-rhubarb
vanilla crumble flavours on the finish. Be forewarned if you are
tempted to try the most expensive entry of the release - Yering
Station 1998 Shiraz Reserve at $37.60. The
bottle tasted (13.1%) was swamped with idiosyncratic, very earthy,
barnyard-driven, sun dried tomato flavours. It comes from the vineyards
where Victoria’s first vineyards were established way back in 1838. It
is unfiltered and made from grapes yielding less than one ton per acre.
As for the high-flying
reds of Italy, you need not rush out to buy Frescobaldi/Mondavi
1998 Luce Della Vite at
$99.00, nor Antinori 1999 Tignanello
at $89.70. It’s not that they are bad; they are good but unfortunately
for my palate just not worth the money. Much less expensive is
the silky, ready to drink Le
Corti 2000 Principe Corsini Chianti Classico at
$22.70. A portion of the blend has been aged in high quality French oak
giving the wine faintly smoky, lime purée notes. It is showing very
nicely now with rich, mouthfilling, baked ripe plum and sun dried tomato
flavours.
As a devout fan of Pinot
Noir, I have saved my two recommendations for last. The first is a
surprisingly tasty effort from California - the cedary, baked black
cherry flavoured Santa Barbara Winery 2000 Pinot Noir
from the Santa Ynez Valley. It represents excellent value at $22.60.
Check out the
| ||
|
Copyright Food & Beverage Testing Institute of Canada
2004 |
Even
better is South Australia’s 
For
my palate and pocketbook, some of the best buys are blends from France.
One wonderful buy from the Midi is 
Of
course the northern French Rhone is the home of great Syrah.
Unfortunately, we can’t all afford Hermitage classics and so I am glad
to report that there are some excellent values in this release. 
My
number one choice, however, would have to be 
Rioja
fans should enjoy 
Last
but not least is the finest Burgundy to hit these lips in quite some
time. You will simply not find better value than