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Get
all the evaluations for
the January
Release Déja Vu at Vintages National Post Weekly Wine & Spirits Columnist Saturday, January 11, 2003 I am working my way
through the 73 items in today’s January 2003 Vintages release when I
get this déja vu feeling. A
little voice inside me says “hey, haven’t I seen you before?”
Well, by George I have, although I can’t remember where or when.
Unlike some experts who can purportedly remember the details of every
wine they taste; I often just get a fuzzy feeling. In order to help those
with the same affliction of forgetfulness, I have come up with the “Hey,
remember me” list, which will
hopefully help you recall how much this previous release was liked or
disliked. One of the questions in
developing such a list was: how far back in time to go? I decided that
anything prior to January 2001 would be excluded, because the tasting
note and scores referred to become less relevant. It is useful, however,
to see how the last wine rated as it is often indicative how the current
shipment will perform. Out
of today’s 73 items, for instance, 42 or 58% have appeared in Vintages
over the past two years. The next question
is: how many are actually identical (i.e. come from the same vintage)?
In this release there are only 16 identical products. Six have the
little LCBO triangles meaning that they are refeatured “previously
listed” Vintages items (not new purchases). National Post readers will
be able to access this exclusive information by visiting my website and
typing npreader in username
and password fields.
Perhaps the white
generating the most interest in this release is California’s highly
esteemed Caymus 2001 Conundrum
with its rich, honeyed, canned pear and tropical fruit cocktail flavours.
It is quite delicious stuff but at $43.85 it just doesn’t hit my
“must try” mark. Obviously lots of people like it, Vintages bought
2,114 cases of six bottles.
Moving on to reds, one
of the best buys is a repeat shipment from last September, the
bargain-basement priced Cave Spring 1999 Merlot
at $15.95. The sweet ripe plum nose is followed up by sandalwood,
chocolate and baked cherry flavours. This ripe crowd pleaser is now at
its peak.
If you like chocolate
and cassis all wrapped up with some cedar, you should love Katnook
Estate 2000 Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon
at $29.00. This medium-full bodied, tasty effort is certainly well
structured with a long lingering finish. Still a tad youthful, it could
benefit from 2-3 years of additional aging. Only 75 cases are available. My Bordeaux highlight at
$31.45 is the Lalande de Pomerol Château
La Fleur Chaigneau Vieilles Vignes 2000,
which has
intense, spicy, cedary, lead pencil, ripe
plum tomato purée flavours along with hints of lime essence. For those in the economy
mode, two Argentine reds are definitely worth a taste. From Mendoza we
have the rounded, ripe strawberry, plum-rhubarb, mocha inspired Bodega
Catena Zapata 2000 ‘Alamos’ Cabernet Sauvignon
at $13.95 (cspc 467944). Slightly lighter in structure is the
surprisingly accessible Finca
Flichman 2000 Malbec Reserva at $14.90,
which is a versatile crowd pleaser. Both are perfect restaurant
by-the-glass reds.
Check out the
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Copyright Food & Beverage Testing Institute of Canada
2004 |
Three of my favourite
whites are unoaked with various degrees of spiciness. From Germany’s
Rheingau, we have the faintly off-dry, bright, ripe apple,
tangerine-tinged 
From Ontario 
There is even a fairly
good example of Austria’s most popular wine. 
My own personal white
highlight comes from New Zealand’s South Island. The Marlborough 
Those planning ahead for
Valentines Day will thank me once they have tasted the delicious,
fruity, also ready to drink 
A number of very decent
reasonably priced Syrah/Shiraz pepper the release. In order of
preference they are: two from Australia -