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Is your Valentine Saint Amour a sheep  in wolf's clothing? - Feb. 10

Dessert wines to blow your mind at today's Vintages Release - Feb. 3

Raising the coldest of spirits - Jan. 27

Upcoming January winetastings! - Jan. 20

Que Syrah! Best Vintages Reds - Jan. 13

The Whites of Winter
Jan. 6

Games you can play at the LCBO - Dec. 30

Sommeliers taste the best in Champagne - Dec. 23

A Survivor's Guide for Vinous Gifting - Dec. 16

Getting Chablis Back on Track - Dec. 9

Happy hunting ~ Trying to bag Vintages best - Dec. 2

Get out your crash helmets ~ Gallo does it again - Nov. 25

Winning election spirits
Nov. 18

Classics Thrills & Chills ~ getting the wines out of the warehouse and into the stores - Nov. 11

A Beaune for all seasons - Nov. 4

Discoveries From the Pacific Northwest - Oct. 21

Much Ado About Something - Oct. 21

Gallo releases a titan - Oct. 14

The Great After-Dinner Gem - Oct. 7

A Marriage made in Poultry Heaven - Sept. 30

'Winemaker of the year' shows off his wares - Sept. 23

Potential Oscar-Winning Reds - Sept. 9

Vintages Bin-End - Aug. 26

Great Buys on Today's Vintages Release - Aug. 12

Summer potpourri
July 29

A neat rum drink form Ray's nephew - July 22

A case of the disappearing reds - July 15

An Excellent Vintages' Bounty of Fine Summery Whites - July 8

Canada Day - Ontario Wine in the Pink - July 1

Midi - France's Last Wine Frontier - June 24

"Father's Day gifts for brows of all heights"
June 17

A red so amazingly good, he's recommending it twice
June 10

A Knockout cider, and some summery whites
June 3

SAQ Signature Tackles the LCBO Classics - May 27

The whites of New Zealand
May 20

South Africa takes a stand ~ gaining confidence
May 13

Reds top latest Vintages release - May 6

Water of life, and other necessities - April 29

Liquidity, Sweet Liquidity
April 22

When Riesling Ruled the World
April 15

Selective Buying is Order of the Day in Today's Vintages Release - April 8

Beating the High Price of California Chardonnay
April 3

Getting the best out of Ontario fruit wines 
March 25

Coming Toronto Wine Competition Reveals Some Best Buys - March 18

Don't Let Paltry 'Speculator' Points Fool You - Some 1997 - March 11

Move fast if you want to try this zippy Zinny - March 4

No need to beware the whites of March or the reds
Feb. 26

A gem hidden amid LCBO chaos
Feb. 19

Getting Inside The Classics
Feb. 12

Today at Vintages: Pricey & Uneven Barolo - Feb. 5

Clones, smuggling and pinot envy - Jan. 29

The Joys of Scotch
Jan. 22

Red, right and true
Jan. 15

When the 'Experts' are Wrong - Jan. 8

Party's Over Time for Some Bargains - Jan. 1

Champagne Bondage
Dec. 24

Great Hits from the Bookshop to the Library Shelf - Dec. 18

Reflections on Last Minute Christmas Gifts - Dec. 11

Great Wine Buys in Vintages Dec. 1999 Release - Dec. 4

The Low Down on Spirits
Nov 27

The Scoop on Icewine
Nov. 20

Spirits and Nouveau
Nov. 13

Vintages Nov. Release
Nov. 6th

wine, spirits & brews – November 13, 1999

In the Spirits & Nouveau

By Michael Vaughan

Last week I revealed my best-bet wines for November's Vintages release. To find the store closest to you that carries them call the LCBO Infoline a (416) 365-5900 or 1-800-668-5226.

Here are some newly released best-bet Vintages spirits. The first is Bowmore 17 Year Old Islay Single Malt which has a gently peaty, rounded, baked plum taste with a lingering finish. While Islay is famous for it's strong, smoky, medicinal, flavours, this Bowmore is refined and user friendly. It's the oldest distillery on the island (1779), malts its own barley and uses Sherry barrels in the aging process. The 600 gift packs at $89.95 (with glasses and CD) will fly off the shelves.

If you want something rounded with a sweet butterscotch character, try the charming Glenfarclas 15 Year Old at $87.95. This Speyside Single malt is surprisingly smooth and mellow.

A truly unique rare French liqueur is the wonderfully intense, herbal, sweet Green Chartreuse V.E.P.. The whopping 54% alcohol will take your breath away, but what a superb after dinner pick-me-up.  Aged in barrels for 12+ years, a little goes a long way. Only 80 bottles still remain ($44.90 per 500 ml).

For Cognac fans, don't miss Chateau de Beaulon Single Estate VSOP at $69.95 with its vanilla-scented, stewed prune flavours that took 12 years of barrel aging to develop.

For dessert, try my thumbs up release favourite is the reasonably priced ($21.95) Quinta de la Rosa 1994 Traditional Late Bottled Vintage. The sweet, baked raspberry-plum flavours make it a perfect after-dinner sipper. Stilton anyone?

Hot this week: the '99 Nouveau-Novello craze on Thursday November 18th. The Queens Quay store event has been canceled. My insider's tip for a great buy from the south of France - Jeanjean's 1999 Syrah Primeur just $8.65 on the General List. It is has easy to quaff, crisp, bright, cherry-plum flavours.

To celebrate, check out the Courthouse Chamber Lounge (only $20) where you can quaff all seven. Call (416) 934-8027. There's also the French Chamber of Commerce shindig with a spécialités Lyonnaises dinner. Tickets are $75, call (416) 777-9658.

Next Saturday: the lowdown on 28 new 1998 icewines that hit Vintages.