Michael Vaughan's Weekly National Post Feature

The Best of Today's Vintages Release
South Africa's Answer to Tequila
© Michael Vaughan 2006
National Post Weekly Wine & Spirits Columnist
Saturday, March 4, 2006

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(CLICK ON THE NAME - All listings are automatically linked to the LCBO database)
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Today's Vintages release features 106 items along with 19 In Store Discoveries. There are a number of fine new items being featured along with some old favourites. Starting with Australia, all three whites are under $20, come with a screwcap closure and are definitely worth drinking. They include a creamy, juicy, ripe, pear-driven Goundrey 2003 Reserve Selection Chardonnay (606889) at $19.95, which has a delightful vanilla custard finish.

Another winner is the extremely attractive Mitchelton 2005 Preece Sauvignon Blanc (661850) at $17.95 from the region of Victoria. Unlike its New Zealand brethren, this one shows gobs of fresh ripe pear fruit as opposed to tart, herbal, grassiness. It is well balanced, crisp and absolutely charming, the kind of white that goes down so easily that it virtually disappears before your eyes.

An Aussi sleeper is Peter Lehmann 2004 Semillon (662635) at $14.95. This august Bordeaux white grape does exceedingly well down under, but sadly, it is all to often ignored by consumers. With a modest 11.5% alcohol, it has the surprising ability to age gracefully. Look for dry, bright, slightly spicy, fresh, tangerine flavours.

Talking about classic French whites doing well south of the equator, one might check out a South African In Store Discover being released today. Ken Forrester 2004 Chenin Blanc (945139) at $15.95 does wonders with this Loire classic. It is made from 30-year old low-yielding Stellenbosch bush vines. It may have 14.5% alcohol but it is wonderfully balanced and harmonious with dry, slightly honeyed, floral, ripe lemon-melon-apricot flavours followed up a refreshing finish. I discovered it at Ken Forrester's excellent, casually elegant, rural 96 Winery Road restaurant.

A new, oak-free, South African white worth buying is the Veritas Silver Medal winner Danie de Wet 2005 Chardonnay Sur Lie (663328) at $13.95, which hails from the Robertson wine region. Look for dry, very slightly spicy, harmonious, ripe lemon-melon flavours with a lingering, crisp finish. The nice texture is the result of aging the wine on its own lees (dead yeast cells) in temperature controlled stainless steel, as opposed to barrels, which would increase vanilla flavours and tend to suppress freshness.

If freshness is on your agenda, another well-priced choice would be the straw-coloured Le Bonheur 2005 Sauvignon Blanc (906495) at $12.95. Crisp, dry and somewhat light in body, it shows fine ripe lemon-melon flavours with only wisp crisp grassiness on the clean finish.

Moving north of the equator, another versatile, unoaked white, this time from Austria, makes its debut. Zimmermann 2004 Sandgrube Grüner Veltliner (672584) at $15.95 is a perfect match for fresh seafood. It comes from the Kremstal region, which produces some of Austria's best examples using this food-friendly "native" grape. Zimmermann has come up with a very enjoyable, straightforward, refresher focused on crisp lemon and ripe grapefruit flavours with lively, schisty notes on the finish.

Of all the French wines presented, my best buy laurel goes to a frequent visitor at Vintages, 2004 Château de La Jaubertie (737957) at $14.95, which comes from a high plateau overlooking the Dordogne Valley in the Bergerac region of southwest France. This blend of 60% Sauvignon Blanc, 35% Semillon and 5% Muscadelle that is absolutely ready to drink. A charming destination sipper with alluring, slightly honeyed, juicy, ripe pear flavours, it comes with only the slightest hint of grassiness.

Moving on to reds, I was most impressed by a very well-made red coming from California's Monterey region. Morgan 2002 Syrah (673764) at $29.95 is quite delicious. Deep purple colour, the complex bouquet is loaded with is spicy vanilla and baked cherries. This rather well-structured effort shows lovely, plumy, ripe cherry flavours and a lingering, refreshing, very slightly smoky finish.

In a similar vein from today's In Store Discovery list is an exciting new South African Rhone styled blend Newton Johnson 2004 Syrah Mourvedre (675439) at $24.95. This solid Walker Bay-Durbanville blend of 92% Syrah and 8% Mourvedre has an extremely deep intense purple colour and is loaded with slightly smoky, cedar tinged, cassis- black cherry fruit.

From Portugal, we have a refined, well structured, blend from the Duoro. Niepoort 2001 Vertente Tinto (695023) at $28.95 shows lots of elegance and yet is well structured with slightly spicy ripe plum and sandalwood flavours.

Today's number one highlight has nothing to do with grapes, but is one of the best spirits I have tasted in quite some time. Move over Tequila; a stunning, new, triple-distilled, 100% blue agave spirit has hit the Vintages shelves. It is grown in South Africa's Desolation Valley in the heart of Karoo dessert about 600 km east of Cape Town on the way to Johannesburg.

In the early 1900's, blue agave Americana plants were distributed throughout South Africa for erosion control and as a fodder crop in droughts. Thousands of plants were planted in this region, but it wasn't until the 1990s when severe shortages in Tequila were occurring, that the idea of producing a Tequila-like spirit here was born.

While initial attempts ended in failure, the new owners have solved the mysteries in making a great Tequila-like spirit. Agava Sunrise Silver Blue (663393) is an incredible bargain at $30.95. Clear and colourless, the nose is pleasantly pungent and very slightly smoky with spicy, herbal, blue agave notes. It is wonderfully smooth on the palate with gently spicy, slightly grassy, smoky, dried pear flavours. In blind tastings, it outperformed Patron Silver Tequila, which costs $99.95 at the LCBO! Sadly, with only 56 cases in Vintages, this will evaporate instantaneously

Upcoming this week: Fans are invited to discover the wines of South Africa at an upcoming Hidden Gems of the Cape tasting at Hart House on Tuesday, March 7th from 7-10 pm (cost $40). For tickets click here. Some 180+ wines from 48 wineries will be available for tasting.

National Post readers wishing to receive the current March 2006 Vintage Assessments newsletter (covering the Vintages releases for today & for the March 18th release - including exclusive current ISD reviews) can have it e-mailed today and receive a $20 discount - click here.

2001-2002-2003-2004-2005 Tasting Note Database
Our tasting note database from December 31, 2000 to January 2006, covers every Vintages release product for the past 61 months. There are more than 12,000 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 Notes Database: click here

** For All Visitors **
Vintages Releases
To see the complete list of upcoming products from the
March 4 release, including In-Store Discovery items,
click here (sorted by date of release).
You can also see it sorted by agent click here
To see the complete list of upcoming products from the
March 18 release, including In-Store Discovery items,
click here (sorted by date of release).
You can also see it sorted by agent click here

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
mbv@total.net