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Fall
Wine Fairs
From Sonoma to Spain
©
Michael Vaughan 2004
National Post
Weekly Wine & Spirits Columnist
Saturday,
October 2, 2004
LIVE
WINE LINK
www.winefind.ca
(CLICK ON THE NAME - All
listings are automatically linked to the LCBO database)
If there is a product that interests you,
just click on the name below and you will instantaneously connected with
the LCBO database. The product will appear in blue and all you have to do
is click on the name again
and then the next screen will provide details along with the store search.
Just click on store search.
The number of bottles in each store is updated nightly. You should call
the store first to see if stock still remains (each store phone number is
listed).
Fall
is the most hectic of times for wine lovers. This week sees two major wine
events come to town and neither should be missed. On
Monday, October 4, “A
Sonoma Wine Affair” rolls into the Royal Ontario Museum with
34 wineries pouring 111 wines (to see the detailed list click
here).
With California prices falling and quality on the rise due to a succession
of fine vintages, this is bound to be one of the best Sonoma tastings on
record.
Better
yet, you will be able to assess a number of upcoming untasted Vintages
October releases for yourself, such as Wattle Creek
2003
Viognier (598201 - $36.95) and Murphy
Goode 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon (995142 - $32.95). In addition,
if you are not certain if my recently recommended Arrowood
2002 Chardonnay (Vintages
270694) is really worth $39.95, you can try it here! Vintages still has a
sizable inventory if you decide to buy. Also check out the usually tasty Hartford
2002 Pinot Noir
and Hartford
2002 Chardonnay
(at $37.95 and $31.95 direct from agent). It would also be worth trying all nine
Sonoma Pinot Noir and four Syrah, which are on the hot list.
There
are two components to this event. Part one takes place in the afternoon
and is strictly trade-only. The second in the evening is for the general
public. As there is no
general admission at the door, consider this as my invitation to National
Post readers to join me at the evening event. Tickets are $55 (only $50
for wine club members) can be ordered at www.calwine.ca
- just download the order form, fax it and the tickets will be at the
door. Otherwise, leave a message for Leanne
Feener at 1800-558-2675.
Next
Wednesday, the annual Spanish wine fair entitled “Spain: Old Vines, New Wines” sprouts up at the
University of Toronto’s Hart House from 6:00 to 9:00 pm. This
must-attend event features a huge contingent of wines, many of which will
never see the light of day at the LCBO. There will be more than 80
wineries represented pouring over 220 products (to see the detailed list click
here).
Tickets are $45 for guests or $40 for wine club members. For reservations
contact Sue Curtis (The Arthritis Society) at 416-979-3353 ext. 380 or
email scurtis@on.arthritis.ca.
With
so many wines and wineries, it is impossible to say where one should
begin. The game plan should be to scrutinize the wine list and pick out
those individual wines you want to try. Wineries are presented by agents.
At the Torion agency table, for instance, eight new recent vintage entries
from the esteemed Rioja Bodegas
Muga (priced from $15.95 to $51) will be available for tasting.
Sherry fans will be able to taste seven Gonzalez
Byass sherries, including all four specialty reserve Sherries
being released in Vintages later this month ($24.95 per 375 ml bottle).
If
you need to brush up on your Spanish wines, the recently-released, updated
edition of John Radford’s The
New Spain: A Complete Guide to
Contemporary Spanish Wine (ISBN: 1840009284) can be ordered on
the Chapters-Indigo website at only $32.50 (vs $50 in the Indigo Bay-Bloor
store or $60 at the Cookbook store). It is a useful acquisition and offers
numerous recommendations as to the best bodega wines (although without
being vintage specific or providing any tasting notes guidance).
A
bit less expensive, much more compact and easier to use is another
Mitchell Beazley wine guide by Jan Read entitled Wines
of Spain (ISBN 1840007109) at
$21.95. One shortcoming is that despite being published in Februray 2003,
the detailed vintage notes only go to 2000. It is too bad that my
favourite work on the subject The
Wine Atlas of Spain and Traveller’s Guide to the Vineyards
(ISBN 10987654321) by Hebrecht Duijker has not been updated since 1992. It
is a terrific resevoir of still useful information with a multitude of
great maps, photographs and opinions.
Moving
on to this month’s Vintages best buy wasn’t easy. I struggled through
a record-setting 290 new October releases or at least those that were
presented. After three days of solid tasting, I finally came up with a
winner: an under-$20, big, juicy red from the Midi region of France. Domaine
Magellan 2000 Les Collines (695965) at $19.95 may only have the
Vin de Pays des Côtes de Thongue
designation, but as far as I am concerned you will not find a tastier
value.
Bruno Lafon at Domaine Magellan
Originating
exclusively in Bruno Lafon’s 42
hectares of vineyards, this amazing blend of
low-yielding 25-year-old Merlot (45%) and 15-year-old Syrah (30%) and
Grenache (25%) will please the most discerning palate. If his name seems
familiar, you should know that he is the younger brother of
Dominique of Domaine des Comtes
Lafon fame in Meursault. In 1998 he decided to settle in the south of
France and spent six months searching for a great terroir.
In early
1999, Bruno and his sister-in-law Sylvie Legros finally found the ideal
property. It was originally developed decades earlier by pioneer
vineyardist Paul Granier in the small village of Magalas. His untimely
demise just over 20 years ago meant that the estate languished -
everything except the vineyards. Bruno and Sylvie resurrected the estate
and the results have been hailed by many wine authorities.
The grapes
for Les Collines come from come from a specific 20 hc. vineyard called
“Pech Redon” meaning round hill. The carefully handpicked grapes are
destemmed and then fermented in temperature-controlled concrete tanks. The
must is inoculated with a Champagne yeast because it doesn’t impart
extra flavours and does not stop fermenting at high alcohol levels. The
must is macerated with the skins for 20 days before pressing. After
malolactic fermentation, maturation takes place for 10 months in large
wooden vats with 30% of the Merlot (about 15% of the total blend) aged in
small oak barrels.
How tasty is
it? Well this deep purple red coloured elixir
has an intense, complex, spicy, smoky, sun dried tomato nose with juicy
black cherry notes. It is solid and yet very harmonious on the palate with
tangy, juicy, black cherry flavours and a lingering, slightly smoky
finish. While only 1,500 cases were produced, Vintages managed to snag 52
of them. When I checked earlier this week there were 16 cases of this
“In-Store Discovery” at three Toronto stores. The agent tells me that
the actual release date is today, but with a Vintages ISD who knows? Call
first; it should be great with your Thanksgiving turkey.
2001-2002-2003-2004
Tasting Note Database
Our
tasting note database from December 31, 2000 to August 2004, covers every
Vintages release product for the past 43 months. There are more than 7,000 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 winefind.ca Tasting Notes Database: click here
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Copyright Food & Beverage Testing Institute of Canada
2004
Prior written permission is required for any form of reproduction
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Contact Michael Vaughan at
mbv@total.net