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Que Syrah Shiraz!
Naturally, it is frustrating to discover that all too often the thirsty hordes have swooped into the LCBO outlets and cleared the shelves of the wines that even I wanted to buy! Take my recommended Pommery NV Brut Royal Champagne at only $29.95 - there isn’t a bottle left in the LCBO warehouse. Using the infoline, however, I was able to discover that some 300 bottles were still available at Queens Quay (as of last Wednesday).
The Best Wine in Today’s Vintages Release
Getting back to today’s Vintages release of 82 items, there are a number of sensational wines based on the hot-hot Syrah grape, which is the king of the Northern Rhône region of France. Of course, Syrah is also known as Shiraz in Australia. While there are many clones of this grape, the nomenclature usually reflects two very divergent styles of what is essentially the same grape.
It is amazing to think that the Rhone’s best sites (Côte Rotie and Hermitage) have been producing Syrah since 71 AD. Today these wines have smoky, rich, robust, sometimes gamey/meaty flavours. Shiraz, which is arguably Australia’s most successful red grape variety, has a totally different taste – intense, usually highly alcoholic, extremely fruity, often jammy and heavily oaked (new American oak) with lots of black cherry flavours.
Errazuriz, the first to plant Shiraz in Chile, chose the slightly cooler Aconcagua Valley site. The style leans in the Aussi direction with a tip of the hat to the classy, smoky notes found in the best of the Rhone. Some one-quarter of the wine went into French oak, the balance into American of which 40% was new. It remained there for only eight months meaning that it does not have an excessive oaky taste.
Ironically, the riper Errazuriz 1999 Reserve Shiraz with 14.8% alcohol was awarded a Gold Medal at last year’s Challenge International du Vin. Despite the challenging weather conditions associated with the 2000 vintage, I think this is even better with slightly lower alcohol (14%), higher total acidity (up from 4.4 to 5.3 g/l) and virtually no residual sugar. It is the must buy of the entire June release.
A Classic Rhone at a Great Price
For Syrah fans, Domaine de Mourchon 1999 Séguret Grande Réserve is another outstanding buy for just a few pennies more at $16.95. Located in the southern Rhone near Gigondas and Rasteau, this supple Côtes-du-Rhône-Village is a blend 75% Syrah and 25% Grenache. It has a deep, intense, purple colour. The nose is quite complex with earthy, sweet prune, cassis and chocolate notes. On the palate, it is fairly intense with rounded, spicy, chocolaty, plum-prune-black cherry flavours that show excellent length. While it is ready to enjoy, it is still capable of evolving nicely for a year or two.
Credit
for this wine goes to Walter McKinley,
a recently-transplanted Scotsman who purchased the existing vineyards and built
a new winery in 1998 after selling
his IT company. Previously all the grapes from the 17 ha vineyard were sold for
blending. It is now one of only
eleven estates in the Séguret appellation. Unlike the Chilean Shiraz, only 10%
of this blend has been aged in small French cooperage. The wine’s excellent
structure is attributable to relying exclusively on the property’s low
yielding 55-year-old vineyard. Of the 13,000 bottles produced, 4,800 bottles
(37%) went to Vintages! An Amazing Rosé
The back label informs that this wine wwqs made using the saignée (a French term meaning “bled”) technique. Keep in mind that these grapes have dark red skins and white juice. The colour and flavours from the skins is released through the process of maceration where the crushed grapes (light coloured juice and dark grape skins) are kept together usually during the fermentation process. Basically what happens is that some of this coloured juice is added to the white juice from the freshly pressed grapes giving the assemblage just the right touch of pink.
To get Canada’s most comprehensive monthly Buying Guide to every LCBO product coming out in Vintages every month prior to the release CLICK HERE Coming Up
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Copyright Food & Beverage Testing Institute of Canada
2004 |
Every
so often a wine appears in a Vintages release that simply sweeps you off your
feet. It is the kind that tempts one to keep under cover, at least until one’s
own personal supply is assured. As your wine scribe, I leave no bottle unturned
in my quest to track down the best for National Post readers.
Given
the immense growing popularity of this grape, there are plenty of new
Syrah/Shiraz vineyards popping up all over the world. The style depends upon the
winemaker’s approach, vineyard site and yield. In today’s Vintages release, 
Last
but not least, we have a terrific little rosé also from the Rhône in which
Syrah plays a subdued but nevertheless important role with Cinsault and Grenache
(the latter being the major component). Today’s release of