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Weekly Wine & Spirits Columnist - Michael Vaughan

Great Buys on Today's Vintages Release

(Publishing Date: Saturday August 12, 2000  - Toronto Section)

Well here it is again - Vintages release day. So what’s it going to be - cheap and cheerful for everyday drinking, or some greats for that special moment? Let’s deal with the latter first. During four massive tastings sessions, I evaluated two sample bottles of each 138 new wines. That adds up to 552 sips and spits, the latter being extremely important to maintain one’s ability to walk. Not that I needed to taste more, but the LCBO failed to present 22 new products for evaluation. So here are the blockbusters - three big reds and one white that are definitely worth the money.

If I had only one red to recommend, it would be E & J Gallo 1997 Zinfandel Chiotti Vineyard from Sonoma’s Dry Creek Valley - a steal at $ 25.75. This remarkable effort has wonderful, slightly smoky, baked limes and stewed black cherries on the nose.  The taste is bright and creamy with gobs of ripe baked plum and black cherry flavours plus some chocolaty notes on the finish. It’s dry, delicious and ready to drink with very wide appeal. Hard to believe that it has a whopping 14.85% alcohol.

Gallo’s secret? Low yields, cool whole berry fermentation (approximately one-third of the grapes), special yeast, full malolactic fermentation and the absence of any fining or filtering. Congrats to the folks at Vintages who managed to snag 18% (156 cases) of the 850 produced!

On the other hand, if classic Bordeaux, especially the voluptuousness of St-Julien’s Chateaux Gruaud-Larose turns you on, don’t miss this new Portuguese wonder-wine Bright Brothers 1997 Douro ‘TFN’ at only $22.95. The complex nose is gently cedary with earthy, even slightly tarry, baked plum notes.  On the palate, it’s very dry and well structured with intense, ripe plum flavours followed up by a long finish. It is the antithesis of Gallo’s Zinfandel with the best still yet to come.

Peter Bright, the flying Australian winemaker, made this masterful blend from the Douro’s indigenous Touriga Francesca (70%) and (Touriga) Nacional (30%), key Port grapes! The secret here is that the grapes were foot trodden in shallow granite lagares for three days and then run into new French barrels to finish fermentation and aging.  Like Gallo, it was bottled without fining or filtering. A real food wine, only 600 bottles are available so you will have to be swift to snag this one.

A somewhat more idiosyncratic red with lots of character and some smoky flavours (that may not appeal to everyone) is South Africa’s Sylvan Vale 1998 Pinotage $21.80. It’s nicely structured with slightly spicy, smoky, plum purée fruit flavours will be a perfect foil for rare prime rib.

The best white of the release comes from California - the Burgundian-inspired Sainsbury 1998 Unfiltered Carneros Chardonnay at $ 26.90. Deep yellow in colour, this has the kind of nose that separates the boys from the men - very intense, rich, vanilla-driven, baked ripe lemon fruit. On the palate there’s an abundance of bright, creamy, rich baked lemon flavours followed by a lingering, peppery, lemon pie finish. Superb with a rack of lamb.   

Moving on to the best buy whites, let me suggest five crowd pleasers that will not break the bank. I had the pleasure of discovering the first at Vinitaly a few years ago and am ecstatic that it is finally available in Vintages. Don’t miss 1999 Terrale from Sicily at the very reasonable price of $8.85. This indigenous blend of Cataratto (55%) and Trebbiano (45%) has slightly spicy, ripe, melon-apricot fruit flavours with a refreshing touch of bitterness on the finish. Great flavours at a terrific price.

Also from Italy is the slightly higher priced ($11.65), more elegant Tommasi 1999 Soave Classico Superiore with its bright, gently honeyed, fresh winter melon fruit flavours. A versatile, ready to enjoy, summer, thirst quencher.

Two excellent under $10 whites from France will brighten your day. The first is the very dry, light-bodied, grassy flavoured Coop Haut-Poitou 1999 Sauvignon Blanc. At only $8.95, it’s a great stand-in for pricier New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc - a perfect choice for seafood, especially fresh oysters.

There’s nothing cheesy about 1998 Chateau La Brie another excellent, perhaps even better, Sauvignon Blanc from the Bergerac region of southwest France. It’s dry, light-bodied, fairly crisp, slightly herbal, refreshing, white grapefruit flavours make it a perfect summer pick-me-up. Some 400 cases are available at the reasonable $8.85 price. Sauvignon fans may be disappointed with Kim Crawford 1999 Sauvignon Blanc ($16.90) which lacks last years beguiling fruit.

From Ontario, there’s the outstanding Alsace-inspired Château des Charmes 1998 Gewurztraminer St. David’s Bench very well priced at $14.95. It has all the classic spicy hits of lychee and rose petals built on a dry, well-structured platform. The long, well-textured finish will work wonders with a piping hot tarte à l’oignon or plushy cheese omelette.

There are many well-priced, high quality reds in this release and I have a number of best buy choices. The first is Gassier 1998 Domaine de Molines Merlot/Cabernet Réserve, a bargain priced Vin de Pays d’Oc at $11.35. This 70-30 blend is very well structured with spicy, anise, plum purée and smoky blackberry flavours finishing up with a flourish of leathery, ripe, raspberry fruit. Truly excellent value and ready to enjoy.

A tad pricier at $15.95 is the mature Chateau de Gourgazaud 1997 Réserve Minervois La Livinière with its chestnut purée, ripe plum, prune and chocolate flavours. This blend of Syrah and Mourvèdre has great length and is at its peak of drinkability.

Two very good buys from Australia will not disappoint. My first choice would be the Penfolds 1998 Koonunga Hill Shiraz/Cabernet $14.95. This blend of 52% Shiraz and 48% Cabernet Sauvignon is very nicely textured with rich, creamy, vanilla and ripe cherry flavours that show excellent persistence. Fortunately, Vintages loaded up on this one with 1,100 cases being available.

Close behind is the ready-to-enjoy, crowd pleaser Yalumba 1998 Shiraz Oxford Landing at only $14.70. It’s quite delightful with zesty, spicy, creamy, black cherry flavours, medium body and reasonable persistence.

Another fine value is Viña Segu 1997 Doña Consuelo Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile’s Maule Valley at $11.45. The dry, somewhat jammy, spicy, medium-light bodied, dried cherry flavours are most refreshing and might well be served slightly chilled.

Not exactly cheap, but definitely worth exploring are three well-made, albeit divergently styled, Pinot Noirs from California, Oregon and France all in the twenty dollar range. Time for a mini comparative blind tasting. Comprehensive reviews of this entire release are available through my website.