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Get
all the evaluations for
the April
Release © Michael Vaughan 2003 National Post Weekly Wine & Spirits Columnist Saturday, February 8, 2003
It is bright, spacious
and loaded with products for sale – about 4,792 to be exact. This
transformation effectively cost the taxpayer some $6.8 million and the
new edifice now covers some 31,000 square feet in total with 21,000 for
shopping as compared to 3,875 in the past. Certainly my stream of
complaints about the lack of choice would seem to have been answered in
spades. The LCBO has been stockpiling Vintages products for many months
for the originally hoped-for pre-Christmas shopping spree opening.
My search for Vintage
Port, for instance, produced a meager six selections. Fortunately, seven
excellent 2000 selections are scheduled for release next month. Keep in
mind that the SAQ website there are 342 Port entries, 85 being Vintage
Port. Given these serious
limitations (Vintages currently has 41% less inventory than just a year
ago), I would have been much happier if the LCBO had decided to go
public with its entire Classics portfolio, which is still locked up far
away from public view. Contrast this, for
instance, with the SAQ’s glamorous Montreal Signature store complete
with an extended tasting bar dedicated to their ever-evolving portfolio
of Classics-styled products. Unlike British Columbia or Quebec, the LCBO
still refuses to give its customers a list of what is for sale. To find
out what they have, you have to ask for it by name. Surely this LCBO
game of charades should be a thing of the past. If $6.8 million can be
spent on a store for lucky Torontonians, why can’t they bother telling
everyone what they have for sale? I am impressed that
Summerhill has eight experienced product consultants are on call.
However unlike great wine shops elsewhere, there isn’t a scrap of non-LCBO
reference material in sight, unless one suffers from the illusion that
the LCBO Food & Drink Magazine qualifies. All outstanding wine
stores will have a reference library – but not at the LCBO. In fact,
no non-LCBO commentary is now permitted to grace LCBO shelves. I was thrilled to
discover that the new clock tower tasting bar (one of five on premises)
offers 119 items for sampling “at cost” (based on a one-ounce pour
for wines and one-quarter-ounce for spirits). A maximum of only two
samples can be tasted (from 25 cents to $4.00). The current selection
(as determined by head office) remains on tap for two months and is at
least a step in the right direction. Serious kinks have to be worked out
- the serving space is overly small and refrigeration space inadequate.
It is extremely unfortunate that there is no list of products being
tasted, nor their respective cost, especially as all other LCBO
samplings are now free of charge.
Originating in the
Neusiedlersee region just southeast of Vienna and with only 7.5%
alcohol, you will hard pressed to find any Canadian icewine that can
compare either in terms of value and/or uniqueness of taste. Be prepared
to rush to snap up last few remaining cases of this wine for your
sweetie. Wine agent Bogdan
Cojocaru (905-825-2079) is responsible for bringing this beauty to
Canada. Thanks to importer Tony
Hirons of the Merchant Vintner (416-463-9496) I was able to taste
two Vignoble Guillaume Vin de Pays de Franche-Comté Chardonnays which
are currently available at the LCBO. The 2000 edition of their regular
Chardonnay (CSPC 993709 $12.95) didn’t quite live up to the delicious
1999 (December 2001 - $11.95). Nevertheless, its slightly strident,
crisp, ripe lemon-Anjou pear flavours would be perfect with seafood.
Better yet, it is in today’s Vintages release. My best buy white,
however, is a sleeper because of its invisibility. Guillaume
2000 Chardonnay Vieilles Vignes is
definitely worthy of a detour at $19.75 (CSPC
722157). The nose is splendid with toasty, ripe, Anjou pear fruit, which
continues on the harmonious, well-structured palate. There are some
gently toasty, lime notes on the lingering finish reflecting the
presence of some premium Burgundian oak. This excellent wine won a
Silver Medal in the Chardonnay-du-Monde competition last year and would
be terrific with white meats and poultry, or perhaps some regional Jura
cheeses such as Vacherin or Mont-d'Or. Some
50 cases were released last December as an LCBO in-store discovery. They
have hardly moved because, as a first shipment, nobody knew anything
about it. Indeed, the only place where you can find the monthly in-store
discoveries is on my website. As of last Wednesday there were 60 bottles
at the Summerhill store.
To
see the list of 119 products being featured Summerhill
Tasting Tower Mark-Up
System Under
$10 wine -- 50 cents
Check out the
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Copyright Food & Beverage Testing Institute of Canada
2004 |
There
is no doubt about it; the LCBO’s new midtown Toronto Summerhill store
is a genuine knock out. I was at the crowded opening last Tuesday
morning where Henry of Pelham’s fine bubbly 
While
I was genuinely delighted to see so many old vinous friends, along with
all of today’s releases, the onslaught of Vintage items (1,850 in
total) is, unfortunately, only wafer thin. Due to last year’s
draconian purchase reductions, warehouse inventories are only skin deep
with, in many instances, little or no back up.
For
Valentines Day shoppers here is a gem. At Summerhill (and a few other
Toronto stores), make sure you check out the remarkably delicious 
Last
but not least is a very tasty, dry, refresher from northwest Spain. 
Finally,
one of the top whites of the release was unfortunately corked when
initially tasted in the lab. I was able to check a second bottle last
Thursday. Burgundy lovers shouldn’t miss