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Exclusively for FBTI Supporters

Michael Vaughan
Thursday, July 31, 2008

August 2nd Release - Great Pinotage Buys
There is no such thing as a perfect palate. The best I can do is give you my personal opinion as to how I perceive something based on previous experience, knowledge and personal preference. As far as the first two criteria, being an old guy, I am not ashamed to say that I probably rank first in Canada. As for the last – personal preference – well it’s up the reader to see if my tastes match yours. Given the extraordinarily high level of FBTI renewals (over 95%), I am happy to say that almost all readers seem to love my recommendations.

Having said that, there’s lots of controversy surrounding South African Pinotage. With three selections hitting Vintages shelves tomorrow (Friday, August 1st) for Saturday’s August 2nd Vintages release, I thought that I should give FBTI Supporters some exclusive advance insights into my recommendations.

My first choice and release best buy KWV 2007 Café Culture (CSPC 72710 at $13.95) with a rating **+/*** out of three stars. I had originally given this extremely expressive wonder *** when I tasted this wine with winemaker Bertus Fourie during my short visit to South Africa last September. I was so excited that I gave him a big hug immediately after tasting it. It was initially refused by the Vintages tasting panel, but finally got in when the agent appealed the initial rejection.

Note that KWV 2007 Café Culture won the Gold Medal at South Africa’s prestigious Michelangelo International Wine Awards 2007. Apparently organizers were so concerned about this segment of the judging that they refused to let the non-South African judges participate in the tasting of the Pinotage class.

When I judged the ABSA Top 10 Pinotage event in South Africa a few years ago, I was able to correctly identify Bertus Fourie’s distinctive style in the blind tasting (he was producing Diemersfontein at the time) and awarded both his 2003 and 2005 gold medals. Some South African judges didn’t like this juicy style of his 2005, which ended up with no award. His 2003 Carpe Diem, however, did make the top 10.

Naturally, I loved it. Keep in mind that it is probably at its peak of drinkability. It might best be served with BBQ ribs and, believe it or not, spaghetti and meatballs. It should also work well with roast pork. Note that

You might want to compare the latter to another great Pinotage buy: Long Mountain  2007 Reserve Pinotage (68742) at  $13.95. This ** Western Cape effort has a rather refined, slightly spicy, plummy, crancherry nose with subtle hints of smoke and cedar. It’s dry, medium bodied and very tangy with plummy-crancherry flavours and a lingering finish. It too, is ready to enjoy.

Finally, don’t forget about the previously released (March 29, 2008) but still available Lammershoek 2006 Pinotage Barrique (954594) at $18.95. It comes from Swartland, rates highly **/**+ and has an extremely deep intense purple colour with a very fine, cedary, complex, spicy, plummy, ripe black cherry, vanilla stick nose. On the palate, it has gently spicy, medium to medium-full bodied, plummy, dried cherry flavours with a lingering, smoky, black cherry driven, spice box finish.

Over the past decade I have written dozens of features on Pinotage. Here are three key articles: Pinotage Perfection (see: http://www.vintageassessments.com/np-jan15-2005.html); a profile of South Africa’s talented young winemaker Bertus Fourie (then at Diemersfontein) see: http://www.vintageassessments.com/np-jan31-2004.html); and Judging of the ABSA Top Ten Pinotage (see: http://www.vintageassessments.com/np-feb25-2006.html). You can see the detailed list of all 68 Pinotage wines released in Vintages since 2000 in our Vintages Database click here.

As an aside, I was recently asked by some agents why I have not posted my 2007 South African Sauvignon Blanc tasting notes (over 100 wines) from last September’s annual Veritas competition. I had hoped to share my detailed tasting notes/recommendations with readers, but competition organizers refused to provide me with a list of wines I tasted – this despite advance assurances that I would be given this critical information. I was extremely disappointed. Neither readers nor producers were able to access this valuable information and well-deserved coverage press they so well deserved. You can see my comments which are posted on the current South African Veritas website.

Beppi on "Win Cons"
Are wine connoisseurs actually wine "cons"? Beppi Crosariol seems to think so according to his Globe & Mail column on Wednesday, July 23th (to see click here). It focuses on an upcoming film called Bottle Shock, which I previewed last night and might more appropriately be called Bottle Schlock. Be forewarned, this isn’t Sideways. Hopefully the upcoming second film, Judgment of Paris, based on the official story by journalist George Taber of Time Magazine, which is being released later this year, will be more palatable.

In his column, Beppi takes aim at so-called wine experts. The film surrounds Steven Spurrier, a wine-loving Brit who owned the Academy de Vin, a small boutique in Paris. The shop was floundering until he organized an attention grabbing comparative blind tasting of Top French and California Napa Valley wines by a panel of well-known French wine & food authorities. It turns out that the judges were unable to tell the difference between top French Burgundy vs. California Chardonnay, as well as, top Bordeaux vs. Napa Cabs. Worse yet, the highest scoring wines turn out to be from California. This May 24, 1976 tasting was of monumental importance in terms of putting California wines into the spotlight. For details check out wikipedia.org.  (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judgment_of_Paris_%28wine%29)

Beppi goes on to say: I've always advocated calling connoisseurs "cons" for short. I've attended far too many professional blind tastings to have much respect for people who boast about their tasting abilities… In a fair tasting with no implicit clues, most experts will embarrass themselves most of the time. At a recent trade dinner in Toronto, one of Canada's best-known wine critics guessed a 1971 Chateau Latour, a famous cabernet sauvignon from Bordeaux, was a pinot noir, a variety so distinct from cabernet as to almost be another fruit.

All of a sudden my phone was ringing – was that "best-known wine critic" me?  While I was at the April 1st event in question, I couldn’t recall who had made the incorrect Burgundy guess mentioned in Beppi’s column. All I know is that when I was asked for an opinion, I suggested a well-aged (20-30 year old) first growth Bordeaux. Keep in mind that the 1971 Chateau Latour was presented after a long Tawse wine tasting dinner at Cru Restaurant. Moreover, earlier that day I was in the LCBO lab tasting over 100 wines for upcoming Vintages releases. While I happened to get it right, or at least petty close, who cares if had gotten it wrong. Would making an error mean that I too was a wine con?

It turns out that Tony Aspler was the culprit. Tony emailed me the following explanation: Guilty! It was I who mistook a 1971 Latour for a Burgundy after a lengthy tasting of Tawse wines. Moray Tawse, a great Burgundy lover who has an amazing cellar, had brought two bottles to serve blind at the end of the dinner tasting. I had to leave early so I tasted the two wines on the fly. I made the mistake of introducing psychology into the equation – what would Moray bring to the table? – instead of analyzing each wine and relying on my palate? I plead the Harry Waugh Syndrome (asked when was the last time he mistook a claret for a Burgundy, he replied, ‘Not since lunch.’) Old wines, as you know, lose colour and their varietal character begins to blur. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell a really old Cabernet blend from an old Pinot Noir. Cheers, Tony

As Tony points out, anyone can make an error. However, to my mind, that hardly means that wine connoisseurs are wine cons. Intensive knowledge and experience, along with a great palate, is the foundation of becoming wine expert.

In the March 16, 2006 issue of the National Post I wrote an article "In Homage to Cabernet Sauvignon - Great Cabernet Sauvignon can last for decades - 1970 Beaulieu Vineyard Private Reserve still a "King" of a Cab". In this feature, I talked about my atempt to replicate, actually improve, the original tasting organized by Steven Spurrier. The more comprehensive comparative blind tasting I organized in Toronto appears in my December 19, 2007 Personal Memo column for the Financial Times of Canada.  It was also covered by the American response by San Francisco Chronicle winewriter Hank Rubin.

It seems that the simple averaging of scores out of 20 was flawed. Here is the detailed statistical analysis of Spurrier's results by Orley Ashenfelter and Richard E. Quand. There was no statistical difference between the two top wines: Stag's Leap 1973 and the real second place wine, which should have been 1970 Chateau Montrose. It seems that 1970 Chateau Mouton Rothschild, under more appropriate statistical scoring procedures, would have ranked third putting it into not far behind in the group of secondary choices. How many readers knew that Spurrier, who had prior knowledge of the wines being tasted (although not the order), tied his top four wines with 14 out of 20 points? Or that his lowest score of 8 points went to the fourth place wine 1970 Chateau Haut Brion.

Best Bites – Toronto
After Bottle Shock, Rose and I stopped at the recently-opened hot spot Grace Restaurant named after owner Leslie Gibson's grandmother who graduated from U of T in 1926. It’s located at 503 College Street West and features the cuisine of Chef Dustin Gallagher who worked as a sous-chef under Chef Susur Lee.

His haute "Modern Farmhouse" cuisine is a mix of modern and traditional flavours apparently inspired by family gatherings and Sunday dinners. The bbq short ribs with coleslaw and roast sweet potato ($24) was flavourful and tender, while my spring stuffed quail with sweet pea puree and baby carrots ($21) was extremely tasty with a gently savoury, very moist, quite delicious bread stuffing. The bright green pea purée, which was integrated with crunchy peas, was a winning combo, while the gently sweet baby carrots seemed to be on steroids. The warn bread was great!