Lawrason’s Take on Vintages May 25 Release

Pinot Globalization, Mighty Fine Mosel, Wines of Interest, a Private Loire Tour

David Lawrason

The two features of VINTAGES May 25 release provide a demonstration how commerciality affects wine quality, price and value. Pinot Noir has become globalized and commercialized and I was generally disappointed by the price-sensitive selection assembled. German riesling is not commercial at all these days and every single wine in the line-up is huge value. Elsewhere in the release I have scoured for surprising Wines of Interest; and I also veer off into the hidden world of Private Orders to present a slate of excellent Loire Valley whites to grace your summer table.

Pinot Noir Globalization

The heartbreak grape is now a global commodity, and along with that comes the demand to produce it in larger volumes at lower prices. It also means that it is being produced in places where the grape doesn’t work as well; that it’s being made in a wider variety of styles, and being made by people who are less experienced with it and sensitive to it. The result on the shelf, and on this release, is disappointing quality and value. VINTAGES mini global tour includes pinots from Ontario, Oregon, California, New Zealand, Chile and Burgundy, and the only wines I highly recommend are actually from Burgundy.

Some might say that makes me a pinot noir snob; that I am intolerant of and biased against New World style pinots. This is not true at all. I do like pinot noirs with nerve and elegance, which do tend to come from cooler climates, but I also like softer, riper styles from California (which I have followed since 1984), Oregon and Australia – and when they are well made, like Merry Edwards 2010 Pinot Noir from Sonoma, I have no problem scoring them well into the 90s. What I don’t like is excessive sweetness and alcohol in wines like Belle Glos Meiomi Pinot Noir that is commercially driven to appeal to a wider audience, and in the process disrespects pinot’s delicate fruit (the thing that makes it special in the first). And then there are high volume pinots like A To Z Wineworks 2011 Pinot Noir from Oregon that are just made with less care.

As to the Burgundies on the release, I am recommending two out of three, and they are of different styles. Domaine Chofflet-Valdenaire 2009 Givry 1er Cru ($26.95) is very much a traditional, edgy and meaty style that is packed with flavour. This is from an eleven hectare property in the hands of the Chofflet family for over 100 years – hardly a commercially-driven pinot.

And I very highly recommend Michel Picard 2010 Volnay ($41.95), especially as a pinot noir for the cellar. 2010 is a terrific, sturdy and tight vintage and this wine packs all kinds of fruit that will one day explode across the palate. With over 130 hectares spread across five appellations, this third generation family company is obviously of a more commercially viable size. This has helped keep the price relatively low (Volnay is among the prized Burgundy appellations).

Might Fine Mosel Riesling

Germany’s rieslings are of course not very commercial. The style is particular, the audience narrow. Germany has long lamented and analysed why its rieslings do not command a wider berth in the market, and converts keep forecasting a renaissance, that is not happening. And I have come to the conclusion that is just fine. Riesling is not a mass market grape anywhere it is grown (Niagara comes closest), and German riesling is even more idiosyncratic. But it is made by people who generally care a lot about their favourite grape, and that translates into high quality.

There are six new German rieslings on the May 25 release (including one In Store Discovery or ISD). They provide a golden opportunity for riesling fans to indulge, and for newcomers to explore at a very high level. Five of them are mighty fine Mosels that provide a clinic on wine purity and balance. All but two score 90 points or better, (the others score 89) so take your pick. How about a mixed six-pack, that will only set you back $116.75. You can spend the next six sultry evenings in June exploring hamlets like Urzig, Wolf, Krov and Wehlen.

You could experience the brilliant, clarion freshness of Vollenweider 2011 Wolfer Riesling ($19.95), or – by the same rising star producer – the richer, more mature but still pristine Vollenweider 2007 Kröver Steffensberg Riesling Spätlese ($24.95). You could lose yourself in the silken, almost creamy texture and honeyed nuances of the maturing Dr. Hermann 2005 Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Auslese ($21.95). And you could take a wild ride with Markus Molitor 2011 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett ($29.95 ISD), a wine that is both shrill, gutsy and profound.

And if you somehow miss trying these fine Mosels, make time to attend the German Wine Fair May 28 in Toronto for dozens if not hundreds of examples. Read our recent posting for a promo code that gives WineAlign subscribers receive $10.00 off the regular ticket price.

Other Wines of Interest

As always, in the thick of “The Main Release” there were several wines that caught my eye as Wines of Interest – wines that surprise, wines that instruct and wines that offer value. The selection is not just about the highest scores.

Vineland Estates 2011 Pinot Grigio from the Niagara Escarpment ($16.95) gets a tip of the hat for offering classic Niagara white wine freshness. The racy higher-acid 2011 whites from Ontario are just settling in to prime, and Vineland’s clean winemaking provides a fine showcase for the style and for the quite generous peachy pinot gris fruit.

Saint Clair 2010 Pioneer Block 10 Chardonnay from Marlborough, New Zealand is modern, cool climate beauty and well worth $25.95. On recent travels to NZ the quality of Marlborough chardonnay was one of my pleasant surprises, but producers are generally too busy with sauvignon blanc or tinkering with pinot gris. Still others think that chardonnay is passé (which it is not). But this single block offering from the Omaka Valley sub-region amply demonstrates that Marlborough has the wherewithal to be a great chardonnay region (too).

Miopasso 2011 Fiano from Sicily, is the oddball white of the release – with a totally unexpected richness and sense of exotica. The low yielding fiano grape is more well-known over on the mainland in southern Italy – especially in Campania. I have always expected a certain honeyed ripeness and sometimes nuttiness from fiano, but this goes well beyond into a state akin to lightly fortified aperitif wine (without excess alcohol). At $14.95 you can’t afford not to explore. And by the way, Fiano fans should also note the Australian version being released as an ISD. Saltram 2011 Winemaker’s Selection Fiano is rather pricey at $32.95 for what’s delivered.

Quinta De Cabriz 2012 Rosé from Dão, Portugal is the most interesting of the pink wines on this release and a snap up at $12.95. Regular readers will know that the reds of this higher altitude, granite soiled and forested region in the centre of Portugal have been catching my eye for their complexity, tension and value.  This rosé from a prominent producer has exactly the same attributes, minus the colour and weight. I really like the subtle evergreen nuance herein.

Lornano 2009 Chianti Classico offers fine Tuscan authenticity and a certain rugged appeal and depth that is remarkable for $16.95.   It is an estate-grown wine from the 180 hectare Lornano estate of Castellina in Chianti near Siena. Fermentation takes place in stainless steel but all the ageing is underground in older wood, which I think is providing the slightly rustic but very complex flavours.

After generally ragging on the appassimento process in a report last month, wouldn’t you know that one comes along to make me eat my words. Tedeschi 2011 Capitel San Rocco Valpolicella Ripasso ($18.95) has impressive power and tension as well, and excellent length – a marked improvement for this label after disappointments in the 2008 and 2009 vintages. Anyway, this embraces an authentic, richly textured, leathery style of Italian red that I really enjoy.

Château Lyonnat 2006 from the right bank, merlot dominated Bordeaux appellation of Lussac Saint-Émilion offers surprising depth and complexity for $19.95.  And it is now entering prime time, offering a dandy mature claret experience. I was able to taste several wines from this producer during the Hobbs & Co portfolio tasting in April in Toronto, and I was impressed by the winemaking throughout.

John’s Blend No. 14 2008 Margarete’s Shiraz is from the Langhorne Creek region of South Australia. The area is very maritime and salty, on the shores of Lake Alexandrina formed at the mouth of the Murray River and only separated from the ocean by a sand spit.  I swear I can taste some saltiness in this wine, but it actually works well within the larger, much larger framework of complex flavours. It’s a big, rollicking and rich cabernet from John Glaetzer, the former winemaker at Wolf Blass. And at $39.95 if offers good value in the big cab universe.

Loire Private Order Finds

As Ontarians faced what was made to sound like a certain LCBO strike, I also doubted I would get to taste much of the May 25 release due to the cancellation of a VINTAGES Product Consultants tasting just before the strike deadline. So I went off to seek alternate sources of writing material at a small, very civilized showcase of Loire Valley whites available on private order through Nuray Ali of Ex-Cellars Wine Services.

I entered a condo function room at a swish address in North York and met with Christophe Garnier,  himself a wine producer, but also the head of a small export group of organic  minded Loire estates. The eight wines shown were almost all of excellent quality, with great Loire energy and depth – muscadets, sauvignon blancs and chenin blancs that would make for very stylish summer drinking.

The hitch with Private Order wines however is that you must order by the case (six bottle cases in this instance) and you might have to wait weeks for their arrival. There is still time for their arrival this season, and the quality is such that the wines will drink well next summer as well. Only one is currently in stock through the Consignment Warehouse – Pierre-Luc Bouchaud Pont Caffino 2011 Muscadet de Sevre & Main Sur Lie. As it was among my favourites, and very well priced at $17, I purchased a case.

To view other offerings from this agent, visit their profile page on WineAlign: Ex-Cellars Wine Services. You can narrow your search by choosing “Loire”, but remember to check “All Sources” and “zero inventory” as these wine are not in the retail stores.  Or use these links to go directly to my reviews: Domaine Valery Renaudat (Reuilly), Domaine de la Rossignole (Sancerre), Yvon & Pascal Tabordet (Pouilly Fume); Domaine du Viking (Vouvray) and Pascal Pibaleau (Vouvray).

International Chardonnay Day May 23

If you open this newsletter in time on May 23 you could take part in the Global Virtual Chardonnay tastings being held in Ontario and around the world in advance of the International Cool Climate Chardonnay Celebration coming up July 19-21. All the participating I4C wineries – 62 in all from eleven countries and sixteen regions are being encouraged to join in by posting tasting notes, photos and chardonnay recipes to social media sites.  The Twitter account is @coolchardonnay; with hashtags #chardday and #i4c2013 for International Chardonnay Day. The Facebook site is https://www.facebook.com/#!/CoolChardonnayCelebration. The Pininterest site is http://pinterest.com/i4c/cool-chardonnay/. So pour yourself a glass of Chardonnay and get Social!

Macleans “Wine in Canada” Special Issue

The country’s most outspoken news magazine has launched a special 147 page perspective on Canadian wine. Its top news writers and editors have brought Maclean’s professional, pot-stirring perspective to the subject, aided by a troupe of younger wine writers/sommelier insiders – three of whom are aligned with WineAlign: John Szabo of Toronto, Rhys Pender of the Similkameen and Treve Ring of Victoria.

I like the way Macleans has parsed the Canadian wine story, ferreting out key topics and bringing their outsiders journalistic sensibility to bear. Thank goodness it is not another gushing, bland wine country travel guide. The Canadian Wine Annual, which I co-founded, and which died last year with Wine Access magazine, was a far deeper tome of useful information than Maclean’s offering, but it did not tell the story as well.

What I don’t like is a tone that suggests Macleans is the first publication to think about and report the Canadian wine story. It may be shiny and new to them, but it is not news to an entire previous generation of Canadian wine journalists and publishers who have slogged deeper, tasted more and toiled through the much harder, formative years. And I am sure there will be a whole battery of rightfully disgruntled B.C. winemakers and readers incensed at the editing muddle that buries Vancouver Island in the Similkameen Valley.

Omissions and small gaffes aside, the publication feels right – tempered to the times. It takes on the loony, legalistic morass of inter-provincial wine shipping. It hits all the buttons regarding the future, what we should be doing and where we go from here. The piece on Quebec exquisitely lays out the tensions brought on by its razor thin wine making climate. And the photography is superb. I am assuming from the masthead that photographer John Cullen is the man; and if so congratulations John for transcribing the character and inspiration that is required to make wine in this country.

And thanks to Macleans in general for turning the Canadian wine story up a notch. Canada’s winemakers should be very pleased indeed. When mainstream publishing thinks it can profit from a subject, you know you have arrived.

And that’s it for this edition. I’ll be back for the June 8 release. Meanwhile don’t miss the latest Episode 3-6 of “So, You Think You Know Wine?”, wherein Jennifer, Zoltan and I tangle with a Napa Cabernet that doesn’t really behave like a Napa cabernet.

Cheers,

David Lawrason
VP of Wine

We invite our Premium Subscription members to use these links to find all of David Lawrason’s reviews. Paid membership to WineAlign has its privileges – this is one of them. Enjoy!

From the May 25, 2013 Vintages release:

David’s Featured Wines
All Reviews

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Filed under: News, Wine, David Lawrason, LCBO, pinot noir, Riesling, Vintages Preview, Wine in Canada

John Szabo’s Vintages Preview for May 25, 2013

Germany; Consignment Corner: Italy; Top Ten Smart Buys

John Szabo, MS

This week’s preview features the top VINTAGES releases for May 25, 2013 with a focus on Germany, as well as a few highlights available through the consignment program. These latter wines are available for purchase directly from the importing agent by case lot (6 or 12, depending on how the wine was shipped), and can be delivered straight to your home or office. It remains little known in Ontario that there are hundreds of wines available at any time outside the LCBO through this fashion. This is where smart sommeliers do their shopping to add unique, often limited production wines to their wine programs, and you can do the same for your cellar or cupboard. This week I revisited the latest releases from a couple of top Italian estates that I think are worth sharing with you.

Pinot noir from around the world is the other VINTAGES theme, but the selection is disappointing and expensive, the antithesis to the German releases, so I’ve nothing to report on. And finally, of course, there are the usual top smart buys.

Top Smart Buys

This week’s tour of smart bottles takes you to the southern Rhône, Alsace and the Loire Valley in France, and from there southeast to Austria and northern Italy and then west to Rioja. You’ll traverse the equator to reach the Yarra Valley in Victoria, Australia, and then cross the Pacific to the shores of Chile and head up the Aconcagua Valley to vineyards sitting under the southern hemisphere’s highest peak. Start your journey here.

Smart Germany

Looking for smart buys to sip this summer? Deutschland calls. Four of the six rieslings proposed by VINTAGES come highly recommended. Indeed, had I not chosen to list the German wines separately, these recommendations would have all made the top smart buys list. It’s hard to imagine a better summertime wine than the crisp, light, low alcohol and fragrant rieslings of Germany, and of the impossibly steep slate-covered slopes of the Mosel in particular. And while popularity and price lag behind quality, these are still some of the smartest buys in the world of wine. You need only reflect back to the late 19th century when the top rieslings of Germany fetched higher prices at auction and on restaurant wine lists than cru classé Bordeaux and vintage Port to get a sense of the changing whims of consumer preference. Smart drinkers, like smart investors, stay away from the over-fashionable.

In the off-dry category, the 2005 Dr. Hermann Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Auslese ($21.95) is a well-balanced Auslese from the magnificent Würzgarten vineyard. It’s just starting to show some mature, smoky, caramelized fruit character and is drinking beautifully now.

A pair of slightly drier, kabinett-level rieslings from two of the most reliable producers in the Mosel are worthy of attention: 2011 Markus Molitor Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett ($29.95) and 2011 Studert-Prüm Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett ($19.95). Markus Molitor is well known for his maniacal devotion to his vineyards and minimalist philosophy in the winery, with the sole aim of expressing the uniqueness of each site. It’s a refrain you’ll hear time and time again in the wine world, but not all walk the walk. Molitor does. His ’11 from the Sonnenuhr vineyard has more like spätlese level ripeness than kabinett, and the palate is a little softer than what I’ve come to expect from this estate, but the site expression and the length/complexity are compelling. Were there a Burgundian style classification of Mosel vineyards, the Sonnenuhr would be grand cru, and this is unquestionably top stuff, it’s a wine to enjoy relatively young, that is to say, now or over the next eight-ten years.

Stüdert-Prüm, not to be confused with the (excellent) estates of J.J. Prüm and S.A. Prüm, has a prized parcel of vines in the nearby Himmelreich vineyard (loosely translated as paradise, from himmel meaning heaven, and reich, meaning empire), which officially belongs to the town of Graach next to Wehlen. This ’11 is an absolutely textbook Mosel riesling, with lovely, fragrant perfume, and off-dry palate balanced by tight acids. Infinitely drinkable, nicely priced.

And the driest of the quartet is the 2011 Vollenweider Wolfer Riesling ($19.95) from the village of Wolf in the Mosel. Wines are made by the Swiss Daniel Vollenweider, who blames Egon Müller for his move to the Mosel. It was specifically a 1990 Müller Scharzhofberg Riesling Auslese that compelled Vollenweider to drop everything and move to the Mosel to purchase several sites classified as “steep” or “extremely steep”, planted to an unusually high percentage of ancient, ungrafted vines. Having tasted the Scharzhofberg, I can’t say I blame Vollenweider. But his wines are making their own waves amongst German riesling cognoscenti, and this village blend is a clean, intense, smoky and minerally example with what I’d describe as an authentic, natural, pure profile – there’s nothing contrived about this. The palate is lean and tight, essentially dry, and rivetingly acidic in the best sense, with excellent complexity. This is fine stuff.

Consignment Corner: Wine Beyond the LCBO

Read David Lawrason’s latest report laying out the ever-more compelling reasons for private wine shops in Ontario. Maybe in our lifetime we’ll be able to find wines like the ones I’ve highlighted below, and thousands more, in a privately run shop near you. Wouldn’t that be nice. Until then, get to know some of the best agents in the province.

Valdicava Brunellos

Last week Vincenzo Abbruzzese, proprietor of Valdicava in Montalcino, Tuscany, was in town to show off current releases and provide a retrospective on some old vintages of the estate’s top single vineyard Brunello, Madonna del Piano Riserva. Abbruzzese’s grandfather purchased Valdicava in 1953, and was instrumental, along with Franco Biondi-Santi, in establishing the appellation regulations for Brunello di Montalcino. At the time there were perhaps a dozen wine-producing estates in the zone; today there are over two hundred. Fortune has smiled on the once impoverished town of Montalcino. Yet Abbruzzese recalls the days when pici al ragù meant pasta with a sauce of moistened stale bread to the citizens of the town. Today, the ragù is rich and meaty, much like the wines of the DOCG.

The Valdicava property lies on a 300m high plateau north of the town Montalcino in the valley of the same name. It’s curious to call a plateau at 300m a “valley” (“val”), that is, until you look down on it from the town of Montalcino at over 400m. Perspective is everything. It’s a notably cooler zone of the Brunello DOCG, much more prone to fog and mist than the southern portion, and largely sheltered from the warming influence of the Mediterranean. The temperature on the north side of Montalcino is often several degrees lower than the south. Valdicava has twenty-seven hectares planted exclusively to sangiovese grosso (aka brunello), all farmed organically, on some of the most prized land in the valley, surrounded by several other top Brunello names like Caparzo and Romitorio.

These are certainly not inexpensive wines, but they’re among the top stuff in an appellation where the mean quality is extremely high. As Abbruzzese points out, the stakes are simply too rich today, and only those with sufficient ante to get into the game can even contemplate making wine in Montalcino. The net result is a large collection of small, extremely well funded estates aiming for the top end of the market. Consumers likewise have to ante-up if they wish to drink Brunello, but if you are inexorably attracted to the deepest and most powerful expression of sangiovese, there is nowhere quite like Montalcino to get your fix.

When Abbruzzese asked whether I would categorize his Brunellos as “traditional” or “modern”, a common distinction in the region, I sat back and thought for a moment. I couldn’t rightly place them in either category, absent the obvious toasty wood and sumptuous black fruit of the modern camp, yet neither the pale garnet colour, pot-pourri and dried cherry scented expression of the best traditional styles. Valdicava hits a nice balance between the two, with plenty of rich, ripe fruit and supple tannins, without sacrificing the savory, dried porcini-like character and firm structure that made Brunello famous in the first place.  A good entry point to experience the quality level of Valdicava is the 2010 Rosso di Montalcino ($36.99). This is no easy drinking Rosso as most are, but rather one with substance, richness and considerable depth. It’s ripe yet rustic and earthy, with a real meaty-savoury note and complexity well above the average for the designation.

2005 was a cooler, generally lighter vintage in Montalcino, but in the case of the 2005 Valdicava Brunello di Montalcino ($99), that simply means more finesse and earlier enjoyment, and indeed this is a really fine and fragrant bottle of Brunello. It’s sultry, with wet clay and ripe, savoury black cherry flavours, and a whiff of wild herbs and dried roses. And while not the most powerful of vintages, it delivers immense pleasure with its authentically dry and dusty texture, suitable for mid-term ageing.

2006, on the other hand, is the vintage for those seeking more muscle. The 2006 Valdicava Brunello di Montalcino ($125) is a powerful and concentrated wine, full of savoury fruit notes, and loads of umami flavour like pure dried porcini mushrooms. The palate is still firm and compact, packed with ripe and solid tannins and supporting acid structure, making this a highly age worthy bottle. This should be best after 2016, and drink nicely for another decade after that if not longer. (This wine is currently available in the LCBO Classics Catalogue).

Azienda Agricola Accadia

Considering the amazing diversity and complexity of the top red wines of Italy, Italian whites are usually relegated to the second division. I attribute this view largely to the overwhelming acreage devoted to neutral grapes like trebbiano Toscano and catarratto. But a handful of native grapes stand above the sea of mediocrity: fiano, greco and falanghina from Campania, garganega from Soave, arneis from Piedmont, vermentino from Sardegna and the Tuscan-Ligurian coast come to mind. Then there’s Verdicchio, Le Marche’s contribution to the characterful white wines of Italy. It’s ironically related to trebbiano (of Lugana), but with far more character and class, excelling in styles ranging from bone dry to sweet, late harvest, even some sparkling versions. It has a wonderfully subtle floral side, often with a whiff of honey and almond, bright acids and the capacity to age.

Angelo Accadia manages a small, high quality operation in the Castelli di Jesi appellation that sits in an east-west valley that gives onto the Adriatic Sea. I recall visiting Accadia in 2006, and was impressed by the quality and the range of expressions of verdicchio on offer. Accadia is first an artist, a painter and sculpture to be precise, who happens to make wine. His works of art are on display throughout the estate, and he holds regular artistic symposia, inviting artists from across Italy to participate and further the culture of art in an open forum of exchange and sharing. His sense of artistry, balance, proportion, and authenticity seep into his winemaking philosophy.

Years later after my visit and the positive impression remains intact: the wines are still well priced and deliver great pleasure. For me they caused an almost instant retrieval of sunny Adriatic afternoons, vivid paintings and sensual sculptures from the recesses of my mind. The 2011 Azienda Agricola Accadia Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico “Consono” ($15.95) is Accadia’s very good entry level verdicchio cropped at higher levels and harvested slightly earlier than his two other cuvées, and I find it the most authentic and food-friendly of the range. It’s bright, lively, crisp and bone dry, yet with a certain weight and palate richness that gives this better depth than the average. Aromas and flavours mix in the citrus, blanched almond and sweet green herbal spectrum, with a fine dose of wet stones.

2011 Azienda Agricola Accadia Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico Superiore “Cantorí” ($22.95), on the other hand, is Accadia’s top end of the verdicchio range, from the highest elevation and lowest yielding vines (2.5 tons/hectare). There’s a distinctive late harvest-like richness here; the nose is powerful and ripe, full of custard pear, vanilla-poached pear, succulent ripe white peach and plenty of honeyed nuances, while the palate is viscous and dense, with a vague impression of sweetness firmed up by a streak of acids and a certain stony-mineral note. This is a verdicchio of real stature and class; try with luxury shellfish.

Valdicava is represented in Ontario by the Stem Wine Group and Accadia by Le Sommilier Inc. You can contact the agents directly regarding availability. For your convenience, wines on our site are linked to the agent’s profile page where you can find their contact info as well as Critic reviews of the wines they represent. Select  ‘All Sources’ and ‘Zero Inventory’ as some of these wines are not in retail stores.

That’s all for this week. See you over the next bottle.

John Szabo, Master Sommelier

We invite our Premium Subscription members to use these links to find all of John Szabo’s reviews. Paid membership to WineAlign has its privileges – this is one of them. Enjoy!

From the May 25, 2013 Vintages release:

Top Ten Smart Buys
Smart Germany
All Reviews

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Filed under: News, Wine, Germany, John Szabo, Vintages Preview, Wine Agents

Lawrason’s Take on Vintages May 11 Release

Lake Erie’s Dilemma, 90Pt $25 Syrahs, Pretty Pinks & Six Other Wines of Interest.

David Lawrason

The Australian feature in VINTAGES May 11 release is not all that thematically strong yet there are a couple of 90 point shiraz based reds. Likewise, the quirky selection of rosés delivers a fine pair of $13 pinkies. And I have dug deeper into the release to find several other Wines of Interest. But first a comment on the mini-feature on Ontario’s Lake Erie North Shore, a region that some marketing whiz has re-branded as Essex Pelee Island Coast, or EPIC for short. EPIC is not a new appellation (yet), nor are the wines epic yet – despite the breathless prose in VINTAGES catalogue.

Lake Erie’s Forgotten Wineries

Calling the wines of LENS (Lake Erie North Shore) forgotten is bound to raise the hackles of the folks from Harrow, Kingsville, Pelee and other points in southwest Ontario. They will suggest it reflects a GTA-Niagara indifference to the wines down Windsor way. And they are right.  But there are two sides to every story. For one thing the wines are too seldom put on the radar in the huge market around Lake Ontario, which is why Vintages is pushing hard in this week’s catalogue. The real reason however is that they are not competing well enough in the bottle. Too few of the wines are driven by terroir/quality aspirations. There are few premium priced wines, or single vineyard wines – in other words too few buzz-worthy wines. The two economic drivers of the region – Colio and Pelee Island – rank among the top five volume-wise wineries in Ontario. They have attempted premium wines, and their prices do not over-reach. But neither does their quality.

I am particularly disappointed of late by Pelee Island, a winery possessing the largest and perhaps most unique estate vineyard in the province. In recent times they ceased using their Pelee Island VQA designation on their labels. And so the Pelee Island designation was quietly dropped altogether by VQA Ontario and folded into Lake Erie North Shore. This is the only instance I can recall of an appellation disappearing from the books – surely a backward step (and a good reason never to allow one producer to own an entire appellation). It has undoubtedly led to the creation of the new EPIC branding that some will be angling to officially replace Lake Erie North Shore (which admittedly is not a great name either).

I visited LENS in 2010 and I am due to return. I can see the potential for the reds due to the moderate climate that favours later ripening “Bordeaux” red varieties like cabernet franc and merlot. The whites I find a bit flabby and hot, with some exceptions. The soils are weighted to sand and clay, but as with all areas in the Great Lakes basin there is limestone subsoil from an era when the Great Lakes comprised one great inland sea. In some places the limestone is not far from the surface.

And there are signs of winemaking progress. The Muscedere family (pronounced Moo-shed-ray) is producing some fine reds from their small plot – including syrah and pinot. Muscedere 2011 Cabernet Franc ($18.20) is a bit lighter than some of their other offerings but pleasantly vibrant, energetic and almost racy.  Viewpointe and Sprucewood Shores have produced some good individual efforts, and I tasted some potentially good wines from Smith and Wilson farther east toward Port Stanley.  Newer Cooper’s Hawk and Colchester Ridge CREW are promising too, but the 2008 reds in this release are maturing and a bit awkward.

90 Point $25 Syrahs

The $25 price point is important for fans of syrah and shiraz. For some reason this grape – with rare exceptions in the Rhône and Australia – has always been held to a lower pricing standard than cabernet sauvignon and pinot noir. I think it is a lingering historical prejudice, whereby the commercial and auction house establishment of Paris and London once considered the syrah and grenache based wines of the south of France inferior by nature. And perhaps they were. But that no longer holds up in today’s global wine universe. The winemaking quality standard has risen dramatically, which means that the value quotient has risen too – a notion that struck me as I tasted through this release and found at least three solid 90 pointers at $25.

Domaine Terlato & Chapoutier Shiraz/Viognier 2011 is a great buy at $24.95. It is an organically grown wine that bridges the Old and New Worlds, the result of a project by Michel Chapoutier of the Rhône and American Anthony Terlato who runs a large, international fine wine distribution company as well as Terlato Family Vineyards in California. It has classic Rhône syrah character with some Aussie heft. As Vintages Wine of the Month it should be around in sufficient quantities to be easily available. Grab a handful for the cellar.

Château Puech-Haut 2010 Prestige Saint-Drézéry from the Languedoc region in the south of France is another excellent buy at $26.95. This is actually weighted to grenache in the blend but it is a modern classic of the genre, with poise and power. It’s from a large 100 ha property not far from Montpelier that has gone to expense of hiring top consultant Michel Rolland; who if nothing else does tend to fashion wines with some elegance.

Spice Route 2009 Shiraz from the Swartland region of South Africa is another bomb at $24.95. It’s not just big; it’s complex, layered, profound and packed with personality. The Swartland region toward the western Atlantic coast has emerged as a new star for shiraz and Rhône-styled reds grown on dry farmed, red granitic soils. This is an In Store Discovery, so only available in larger Vintages store.

Pretty $13 Pinks

Rosé season is now fully upon us, and each release Vintages puts out another dozen or so. They have become quite international in their reach, which is interesting in one sense but it nets some odd ducks too. Not every region or producer really cares about rosé, nor is it a style that expresses regionality all that easily, especially at $15 price point Vintages seems to demand. I would rather see Vintages focused on great quality examples in the $20 range.

Still, there are some finds. Mulderbosch 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Rosé ($12.95) is unusual for its piquant aromas of red currant and green herbs, directly attributable to the cabernet. It is brisk and almost zesty – not the soft and cuddly type – and for that reason I suspect it will perform very well with cold al fresco meals on the deck or dock.

Zenato 2012 Bardolino Chiaretto Rosé ($12.95) is the meek, mild and very pure sunset sipper.  It is so gentle in fact, and pale, that you might find yourself feeling a bit let down at first. After a couple of glasses you will have a new friend.

Other Wines of Interest

Blue Mountain 2011 Chardonnay ($23.95) from British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley is a terrific buy in serious, cool climate chardonnay. When Ian and Jane Mavety first planted their stunning, much photographed vineyard overlooking Vaseux Lake in 1971, they were years ahead of the curve. They didn’t open a winery until 1991, and when they did the restaurant-focused wines remained largely inaccessible to the general public. With Matt and Christie Mavety of the next generation now taking a more active role, the wines are finding a broader audience, and recent quality and value quotients are very high – a result of sustainable, careful grape growing that began over 40 years ago.

Balbas 2001 Reserva from Spain’s Ribera del Duero is amazingly silky and refined, but it raises a questioning eyebrow. How is it that the colour is still so youthful and the fruit so fresh when this wine is 12 years old? There is some mature leathery character amid all the fruit, and it sure is texturally smooth, so there is some age here. But it still shows youthful aplomb and it will drink well for at least another five years – all rather remarkable for a wine costing $20.95.

Still in Spain, Vinos Sin Ley 2009 Puerta Bonita Garnacha is from a region northwest of Madrid. It purports to come from 120 year old vines, which is really quite remarkable. The resulting low yields have imparted excellent flavour focus and concentration, and there is a sense of refinement and poise that had me mentally comparing this to top Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Vinos Sin Ley (Wines without Law) is a collective of young winemakers who work through Spain, assembling twice a year to take on adventurous, value focused projects, often outside the realm of established DOs.  They succeed admirably here, at $18.95.

Guenoc 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon ($19.95) is at first glance nothing remarkable, the kind of wine easily overlooked on the tasting bench or the crowded wine aisle. Another California cabernet, and because it’s not from Napa it’s not an attention grabber. I think I was drawn to it precisely because it is not refined and sculpted; because it’s loaded with fruit and energy, and doesn’t rely on the confection of so many California cabs at this modest price. The Guenoc Valley is a massive spread of vineyards tucked in the hills of Lake County north of Napa.

Manzone 2007 Le Gramolere Barolo ($51.95) is a splendidly refined and modern example of carefully and naturally rendered, almost tender nebbiolo from a steep, low-yielding single vineyard in Monforte d’Alba. Manzone, founded in 1925, is now a father and son enterprise focused only on premium quality. With only 4000 cases per year spread across a range of four Barolos plus barbera and dolcetto, individual bottlings are rather scarce. I consider this a very fair price for the impeccable quality it displays.

Badia A Coltibuono 2009 Chianti Classico ($23.95) has very much the same tender yet energetic and natural feel, perhaps because this too is organically grown. This is a very old but very modern property owned and managed by the Stucchi Prinetti family. It makes a range of wines and olive oils and runs a restaurant, small inn and cooking classes. What I admire is the honest Chianti-ness of the wines – it’s exactly what I hope for from Chianti, and I would be willing to pay even more to get it.

That’s it for this edition. Don’t forget to check out our latest episode of “So, You Think You Know Wine?” and watch next week for an article by Anthony Gismondi, as well as Steve Thurlow’s monthly report on the LCBO Top 50 Values.

But before signing off, I want to welcome Sarah Goddard who joins Bryan and Carol Ann as our third full time staff member at WineAlign. With a deep resume as a sommelier (and a former star student at CAPS) she will be managing our new office in Etobicoke that will become tasting central for the WineAlign’s professional critics and the WineAlign Cru of bloggers. The address is at 4195 Dundas Street West, Suite 222, Toronto, Ontario. M8X 1Y4.

Cheers,

David Lawrason
VP of Wine

We invite our Premium Subscription members to use these links to find all of David Lawrason’s reviews. Paid membership to WineAlign has its privileges – this is one of them. Enjoy!

From the May 11, 2013 Vintages release:

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John Szabo’s Vintages Preview for May 11, 2013

Rosé; The Doctor Recommends; Highlights From Top Ten Smart Buys

John Szabo, MS

This week’s report features a handful of rosés that shine above the rest for their quality/value/pleasure. Few producers take rosé production seriously, and finding the good stuff is like panning for gold. My selection includes a shiny range from $13 to $27; all are dry. I’ve nothing against sweet pinks – they’re great for spritzers. I also highlight a naturally low alcohol white made by a medical doctor in New Zealand who believes he’s hit on an innovative method (patent pending) to achieve full flavor at under 10% ABV, saving countless calories, livers and maybe even marriages. And the Top Ten Smart Buys this week include two astonishingly good $50 wines, which, if they hailed from Burgundy, Bordeaux or Napa, would easily cost in the $100s, plus a whole lot more. Read on.

Perilous Rosé

I know that rosé is a perilous category for wine consumers, fraught with the frustrations of trying to find what you’re looking for out of a jumble of radically different styles all lopped under the same loose heading. It’s kind of like tossing all fruits into one bin at the grocery store and letting shoppers muddle through, only they’re blindfolded and each fruit is wrapped in newspaper. Grab and hope. You’re as likely to find a green apple when looking for a juicy peach, or an avocado instead of a mango. So what can you do to navigate these murky waters? Not much I’m afraid, except find somebody you can trust who’s already tasted the wine, or stick to the regions and producers for whom rosé is not an afterthought or by-product of red wine, or worse yet, the dreaded “brand extension”. If you enjoy dry rosé with some authentic regional character, these are for you:

2012 Muga Rosé ($12.95). Garnacha, tempranillo and viura are blended in this well-priced, dry and lively rosé. 2012 was a warm and dry year in Rioja, conditions under which garnacha thrive. Muga’s vineyards in the cooler, higher elevations of the Rioja Alta also contributed to maintaining the impeccable balance here, and while this may be slightly riper than previous vintages, it’s still lean and crisp with low alcohol. Perfect for patios and paellas.

No other region in the world is more closely associated with quality rosé than Provence in the south of France, and it’s still the source of the world’s best in my view. Château La Tour De l’Évêque makes regular appearances in Canadian stores and the 2012 Rosé ($18.95) is an arch-classic, dry, savoury, solidly built and concentrated example without sacrificing refreshment.

Taking it up a notch into a rarefied quality level for rosé is the 2011 Château Léoube “Rosé de Léoube” ($26.95); available through the agent The Case For Wine. Léoube is a 550 hectare property of dramatic beauty, nestled within sight of the Mediterranean with 62 hectares of organically farmed vineyards surrounded by forests and wild scrub. The English owners of Léoube launched Daylesford Organic foods in the UK over 25 years ago, so respect for the land runs deep in the house philosophy. Château Léoube’s winemaker is Romain Ott, originally of the highly respected Domaine Ott in Provence, who came to the property after the family estate was purchased by Champagne Roederer. He brings considerable experience to the Léoube project, with the know how to make rosé of the highest order. This classic blend of 40% Grenache, 40% cinsault and 10% each of syrah and mourvèdre is a rosé of considerable depth and class. Pale in colour but deep in flavour, it delivers a marvelous fragrance of white flowers, sweet herbs and fresh strawberry, while the palate offers a harmonious balance of acids and alcohol (13%), just hitting perfect drinking stride now. It’s a compelling example of how some time in bottle can do wonders for classically structured rosé, especially when built on genuine concentration rather than merely clever winemaking. Bottom line: it’s well worth the asking price.

Next door to Provence on the other side of the Rhône delta is the AOC of Costières de Nîmes, where the Marès family has been making wine for six generations. Mas Des Bressades 2012 Cuvée Tradition Rosé ($14.95) is a reliable blend of Grenache, syrah and cinsault made in a dry style, reminiscent of Tavel with its generous 13.5% alcohol and powerful fruit.

And rounding out these five picks is the Domaine Allimant-Laugner Rosé Crémant d’Alsace ($19.95), from a region admittedly not known for rosé, but very much worth a look nevertheless because the adjectives good, bubbly, pink and under $20 are rarely found in the same sentence. Hubert Laugner is the 10th generation in a succession of winemakers in the Allimant-Laugner family farming twelve hectares spread over three villages. The Crémant rosé is a traditional method bubbly made from pinot noir, designed to be enjoyed young and fruity. It’s bright and fragrant, with red berry, raspberry, cherry and green apple aromatics, balanced palate and very good length, offering lots of pleasure.

The Doctor Recommends

Drs. John and Brigid Forrest operate Forrest winery in Marlborough, New Zealand, and also own prime parcels in the Gimblett Gravels in Hawke’s Bay, Bannockburn in Central Otago and the Waitaki Valley. Considering the Forrests’ medical training – John spent eight years at the Salk Institute studying neurology – there’s an extra measure of scientific rigor applied to the wines, along with a great deal of empiricism: learning through experimentation and observation, which has lead to many innovative techniques and new wines. The range is indeed huge and would seem impossible to stay on top of, that is, until you meet this energetic and indefatigable couple, the kind of people that make you feel as though you should’ve accomplished more today.

Dr John Forrest, Forrest winery

John and Brigid launched the Doctors’ range to represent their growing roster of alternative grapes like arneis, gruner veltliner and St. Laurent, and to label the results of innovative winemaking techniques that have led to wines like the 2011 Forrest Estate The Doctors’ Sauvignon Blanc ($19.95). This dry wine clocks in at a featherweight 9.5% alcohol, naturally achieved, without chemical or mechanical de-alcoholization.

My conversation with Dr. Forrest on his methods quickly surpassed my knowledge of plant biology/physiology, touching on concepts such as the splitting and deviations of carbon rings as the plant grows grows – this is clearly a process that Forrest has studied deeply. He has drawn upon work done at the Geisenheim Research in Germany, where Professor Hans Schultz has been investigating methods to maintain the traditionally low alcohol style of German riesling in the face of global warming. According to Dr. Forrest, the initial step is to carefully select sauvignon blanc clones from specific vineyards and microclimates. Then, methods of vine de-vigoration are applied, such as the targeted removal of young basal leaves from vines at critical times, which are far more efficient at photosynthesis, leaving the less efficient older leaves to do all of the ripening work. The result is lower sugar accumulation but longer hang time, allowing full flavour development with less potential alcohol. This, and other “top secret” viticultural techniques, as well as less secretive winemaking techniques such as using low-efficiency yeast strains that pump out less alcohol per gram of sugar, have enabled Forrest to create this dry 9.5% alcohol sauvignon naturally, a first of its kind to my knowledge.

Forrest first applied his techniques to riesling with tremendous commercial success before turning his sights on Marlborough’s calling card variety. The 2012 is the third and most successful attempt to date, a wine in which he finally achieved the balance he was looking for.  Forrest needed one last little tweak: the addition of a small portion of slightly overripe/late harvested sauvignon to add a tropical fruit nuance that was missing from the previous trials.

While the Doctors’ sauvignon blanc may not make the angels sigh, I find it remarkably flavourful nonetheless, not to mention regionally and varietally accurate, for such a low alcohol wine – I have to marvel at the ingenuity of its production and the commercial potential. For anyone who enjoys Marlborough sauvignon blanc, or any other zesty-herbal white, and wants a low alcohol alternative with fewer calories and lower alcohol-related health (and moving violation) risks, this is worth trying. Forrest plans to share his research with others later this year.

Highlights From Top Ten Smart Buys

In this week’s top ten I’ve included two wines that are well above the price range normally recommended: 2010 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Grand Cru Schlossberg ($50.00) and 2007 Manzone Gramolere Barolo ($51.95). The reason is simple: these are great value wines, period.

The Schlossberg riesling is made by one of the most respected domaines in Alsace, from the world’s most noble white grape, grown in one of the top vineyard sites for the variety in all of northern Europe, in a classic vintage. $50 is actually a bargain. The 2010 is a pure marvel of the grape with a palpably gritty texture, riveting acids and striking salty minerality – this is all about vineyard expression with a minimum of winemaking interference. Be forewarned that this is not an immediately accessible wine, but rather one for both long ageing in the cellar and for terroir fanatics – a real intellectual challenge in the best sense. But those are precisely the qualities one looks for in premium wines – the fruity fluffy stuff can be made just about anywhere by anyone. (This wine is available in VINTAGES Classics Catalogue from February, so supply may be limited.)

I have a similar pitch for the Barolo: an historic estate making limited quantities of wine from Italy’s most aristocratic red grape grown in the legendary hilltop vineyard Gramolere in Monforte d’Alba, in a top, age-worthy vintage. ‘Nuff said. It’s just starting to open nicely now on the nose, showing its evident class and quality right off the top and textbook floral, red fruit, licorice, tar and violet aromatics. The palate is firm and very well structured, with wave after wave of palate-coating flavour and pleasantly grippy texture. It’s an expansive wine of genuine concentration and authentic complexity that can only derive from a unique combination of suitable conditions, i.e., a terroir wine.

Although $50 is a lofty price to pay for any bottle, I have to say that relative to the equivalent top wines of Bordeaux, Burgundy or the Napa Valley for example, you could argue that these are outright giveaways. I’d say it’s where the smart money goes if you’re into the premium category.

See below for the link to the rest of the top ten. You’ll find more smart white wine values from the Loire and the Mosel, one of my favorites whites from Campania, sturdy reds from Calabria, Spain and the Languedoc, and one of the best values from California I’ve encountered in some time.

That’s all for this week. See you over the next bottle.

John Szabo MS

We invite our Premium Subscription members to use these links to find all of John Szabo’s reviews. Paid membership to WineAlign has its privileges – this is one of them. Enjoy!

From the May 11, 2013 Vintages release:

Top Ten Smart Buys
Rosé Selection
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Lawrason’s Take on Vintages April 27 Release

Passing on Appassimento, France’s 2010s and Ten WOIs (Wines of Interest)

David Lawrason

This is a large, rambling release with only one stylistic/regional theme – Italy’s appassimento wines. I will explain why I am lukewarm on appassimento wines, wherever they are made, then move on to more compelling topics. There are a handful of excellent 2010s from France, a vintage very much deserving to be on your radar. Then from there it’s a potpourri of ten WOIs – or Wines of Interest. They may be new, or rare, or surprising for any number of reasons, but all have made the list because their quality is high.

Why I Pass on Appassimento

Last week John Szabo penned a superb WineAlign essay on wines made by the appassimento technique of drying grapes toward raisin-hood in order to concentrate sugars and flavours. It leaves me nothing to do except explain, on a fairly subjective level, why I am not all that interested in the genre.

Appassimento particularly benefits reds made in cooler climates, so if all the world’s reds were made in Veneto or Ontario, I might be tempted to buy more appassimento. And when the world of Italian wine was much more narrow than it is today, amarone was indeed greeted as something magically rich and wonderful. But there are now simply far more choices in rich, buxom reds made elsewhere, particularly rich syrah/shiraz from Australia, South Africa, California, even B.C. And there are also many fully ripened reds from southern Italy and Spain that actually have similar flavour profiles to amarone. So, pass – especially when considering the next points.

The number two reason is price. By drying the grapes the yield per berry is lower and the price is justifiably higher. But increased weight and concentration does not always equate to higher quality to justify the price. I have had some great Italian amarones – and there are a couple of excellent ones on this release – but I have had far more not great Italian amarones that cost $30 to $60. Likewise, many of Ontario’s new appassimentos are quite expensive as well. Pass.

The third reason is inconsistent quality. As John Szabo explains, the finished appassimento wine is only as good as the quality of the grapes going in. The process doesn’t manufacture quality; only weight and flavour concentration. And if the drying is not done carefully the grapes can develop volatile/acetic character which I find frequently in appassimento wines. So one has to be careful to choose the best producers, and nowadays in Veneto there are hundreds of producers of amarone and ripasso wines. And in Ontario the technique is sufficiently new and varied that a strong quality track record is not yet established.

Having said all that, here two recommended wines on this release. Le Ragose 2005 Amarone Della Valpolicella Classico is certainly not cheap at $62.95 but it is classic, mature, complex and compelling amarone that gets to the heart of the reason that the genre endures. And for those unwilling or unable to consider that price I also recommend Le Arche Atesio 2010 Appassimento Rosso at only $16.95. This is a wine that doesn’t try too hard to be an amarone; it is simply charming, youthful and well made.

France’s 2010 Vintage

In recent weeks and months we have begun to see the whites and reds of France’s excellent 2010 vintage arrive in some volume. No matter the region or grape variety any well-made 2010s have a certain energy, structure, purity and depth. I first noticed it a year ago when I spent a week in Alsace and tasted the new releases. There were dozens of scintillating whites. I moved on to Burgundy and the south of France directly after Alsace and found the same kind of tension and focus in the early releases there as well. Since then we have begun to see the first “minor” Bordeaux, the first premier cru Burgundy, and the bigger Chateauneuf-du-Papes. The winemakers of the Rhone are particularly excited.

The weather was not uniform throughout all the French regions but there are some commonalities that begin to account for the quality. One is the lower than normal yield across the country thanks to a cold winter; with commensurate increase in flavour concentration (length of finish). The spring tended to be cool with a later start to the growing season, which was warm and balanced, with good warmth if not as sensationally hot and news-grabbing as 2009. With the later start, good fall weather was essential and Mother Nature delivered. So overall the grapes enjoyed a long, even ripening with natural acidity maintained, and tannin levels being in balance as well. And that’s what I really like about 2010 – the sense of balance and tension and evenness – not overripe, not underripe, not flabby, nor shrill. Here are some examples on this release.

Clos Du Roy 2010 Fronsac ($22.95) is a thoroughly impressive, solid yet forgiving and quite elegant young merlot-based red from the right bank of Bordeaux. Domaine De Saint Siffrein 2010 Châteauneuf-Du-Pape ($41.95) is another in a string of solid 2010 southern Rhones that are reserved now, but will bloom in the cellar over the next five years, and could last for over a decade. Delas Domaine Des Grands Chemins 2010 Crozes-Hermitage ($31.95) is a 100% syrah from the northern Rhone that is also showing classic, age-worthy structure. (This is an In-Store Discovery found only in the largest Vintages stores).

Five White Wines of Interest

Loan Wines 2004 Unwooded Special Reserve Semillon from the Barossa Valley of South Australia is jaw-droppingly stunning. And amazing value at $15.95. For years I have extolled the virtues and value of Australian semillon, but this organically grown, fully mature example is the exclamation point. If you are at all a wine explorer you cannot afford to not buy a bottle.

La Cappuccina 2012 Soave ($14.95) is an organically grown garganega that points to a real renaissance in quality within this once boring, industrialized category. The Tessari family has been making wine in the region since 1890, but in 1985 they began the conversion to “slow wine” and organic grape growing. The resulting energy, balance and refinement is palpable, and remarkable for $15.

Mount Riley 2011 Chardonnay ($17.95) from New Zealand is of interest not just due its price, but due to its tight, Chablis-like cool climate structure. New Zealand in general and Marlborough in particular tends to be over-looked as a chardonnay producer – largely due to the omni-presence of its sauvignons. But this is a very good buy, partially fermented in new oak, but not the least oaky.

Lammershoek 2010 Roulette Blanc from the Swartland region of South Africa ($21.95) is one of the most intriguing and best white blends of the Cape – from naturally farmed bush vines growing chenin blanc, chardonnay, viognier and clairette. It is barrel fermented but the oaking is very well handled. It’s complex, age-worthy and performs well above its price.

Lunae 2011 Colli Di Luni Vermentino ($20.95) is one of the best examples of vermentino that I have ever encountered. Colli di Luni is an appellation in eastern Liguria on Italy’s north Mediterranean coast. Cantina Lunae is a widely heralded producer with 65 ha planted on sand and gravel slopes overlooking the Mediterranean. Great vitality, finesse and exotic flavours here.

Five Red Wines of Interest

Hidden Bench 2009 Terroir Caché Meritage ($32.95) from the Beamsville Bench of Niagara Peninsula is a dramatic statement for pressing on with Bordeaux varieties in Niagara, if winemakers are prepared to commit to quality and consumers are willing to pay for it. This is a surprisingly fine and ripe example from “a lighter, cooler vintage”, and from a sub-region of Niagara that is much better known for riesling, chardonnay and pinot. And I would put it up against any $35 Bordeaux you could name.

Maycas Del Limarí 2009 Reserva Especial Syrah ($19.95) is very good value, and a peek at the evolving quality and styling of Chilean syrah. The grape is relatively new in the long thin land, so still in the process of finding itself. Many still smell and taste more like cabernet or carmenere than syrah, but the northern, Pacific-cooled regions of Limari (with some limestone) and Elqui are showing more typical syrah character.

Quartz Reef 2010 Pinot Noir ($44.95) is from the Bendigo sub-region of Central Otago, New Zealand. It is of interest to me on many levels, including the fact it represents a specific sub-appellation of Central Otago. After spending five days there I came to appreciate that Otago is indeed more than one region. It is also of interest because it is biodynamically produced and because it is a very refined pinot noir.

Morgenster 2005 Lourens River Valley ($25.95) is a mature example of a very serious, cabernet focused, Bordeaux-inspired house with vineyards in the slightly cooler Helderberg sub district of Stellenbosch near Somerset West. Pierre Lurton of Bordeaux is the winemaking consultant. You may not be a fan of Stellenbosch reds with their distinctive rubber band/tarry character – and you will find it here – but there are so many other attributes on display, for a shockingly low price.

Torrevento 2008 Vigna Pedale Riserva ($20.95) is from the Castel del Monte appellation of Puglia on the heel of Italy – an appellation that has been on my value radar for years. This red is from a low-yielding local grape called uva di troia, but it becomes a Wine of Interest largely due to its unique, exotic spiciness. And by the way, I would easily buy three bottles of this over one bottle of fine amarone.

That’s it for this edition. See you back here before the May 11 release. May warm weather wine drinking be with us all soon.

David Lawrason
VP of Wine

From the April 27, 2013 Vintages release:

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John Szabo’s Vintages Preview for April 27, 2013

The Dangers of Appassimento; a look at Organic/Biodynamic Wines and Top Ten Smart Buys

John Szabo, MS

Appassimento: Smart technique or lazy cure-all? My report for April 27 takes a look at the ancient technique of drying grapes, called appassimento in Italian, and how it’s taking hold in Ontario, for better or for worse. Appassimento wines are the main feature for the VINTAGES release, and I select my top ones below. Organic-biodynamic wine is the other theme, and there are some terrific bottles hitting the shelves on the 27th, highlighted herein. By now I’ve gathered so much personal anecdotal evidence that farming organically/biodynamically is not only better for the planet, but also results more often than not in better wine, that it seems a matter of course to find the logo of one of the organic/BD certification bodies on the back label of a bottle that’s just excited me. The Top Ten Smart Buys this week is likewise full of 90+ quality at the $20 mark and under. Welcome to Spring.

The Best of the Organic-Biodynamic Line Up

Speaking of electrifying excitement, the 2011 Wittmann Riesling Trocken Rheinhessen ($20.95) is very fine and pure example of dry riesling from this top producer in the Rheinhessen who has farmed biodynamically since 2004. This has outstanding depth and flavour intensity for the price category, with tight acids and plenty of liquid rock flavour next to just-ripe orchard fruit, nectarine, apple and yellow plum. Terrific length, too.

The 2004 Loan Wines Unwooded Special Reserve Semillon, Barossa Valley, South Australia ($15.95) caused a minor sensation in the LCBO tasting room, with most of us left wondering how you can offer a nine year-old wine with so much complexity and depth for under $16. Ahh, the magic of Aussie Semillon. It was also suggested that this is very much a “wine writers’/sommeliers’ wine”, meaning that it’s too far out of the mainstream to appeal to General Q. Public. Bollocks I say to that. Pick up a bottle and see if you aren’t just as riveted and fascinated as all of the experts.

Also smart value is the 2012 La Cappuccina Soave, Veneto, Italy ($14.95). It’s far less quirky than the semillon to be sure, with its pleasant fresh pear and cherry blossom flavours, and will appeal to both demanding winos and casual imbibers – a safer party wine. La Cappuccina has been farming organically since 1985, long before it became fashionable, so you know their motivations are pure.

And rounding out the recommended bio wines are two perennial favorites from the Napa Valley: 2011 Frog’s Leap Chardonnay ($36.95) and 2009 Grgich Hills Estate Cabernet Sauvignon ($74.95). Each time I taste wines from either of these estates I’m struck by just how original the wines are, how timeless. It’s as though neither winery has a radio, Internet connection, nor subscribes to any form of wine news, and they just go about their business doing what feels right rather than what someone has told them is right.

Highlights From Top Ten Smart Buys

Pretty much all ten wines are worth highlighting this week, but considering the organic theme, I’ll point out the unique and authentic 2010 Lammershoek Roulette Blanc, Swartland, South Africa ($21.95). Lammershoek can by all rights be considered in the organic category – official conversion started in 2010 – but they go even beyond organic, into the realm of natural wine, which could be described as a recent winemaking trend developed some 8,000 years ago. Roulette Blanc is a blend of old, un-irrigated, bush vine chenin blanc, chardonnay, viognier and clairette to which winegrower Craig Hawkins does as a little as possible. The only thing added to wine is S02 at bottling for stabilization; everything else – alcoholic and malolactic fermentation, clarification – etc – happens naturally, the only necessary agent is time. The result is a compelling wine that generates the desire to return for another sip, immediately. Besides, any winery that has hárslevelu planted has to be at least worth a look.

Winemaker Frédéric Picard at Huff Estates seems to have nailed down a tidy style for pinot gris with the 2011 Huff Estates Pinot Gris, Ontario ($19.95). It’s a blend of 60% County and 40% Niagara fruit, though it’s the chalky County portion that leads the flavour profile. Picard tells me that the 2013 will be 100% County, something I’m looking forward to.

Long-time readers won’t be surprised to find the 2011 Gaia Thalassitis Assyrtiko, Greece ($21.95) in my smart buys list, my disproportionate love for the volcanic wines of Santorini being by now well documented. If you’re yet to experience the taste of liquid rocks, try this.

Also in the Smart buys this week you’ll find champagne quality at crémant prices, another majestic 2010 Châteauneuf-du-Pape, a marvelously savoury and ultra-premium Tuscan red that will set you back less than a parking ticket (and provide infinitely more pleasure), a zesty Ligurian vermentino hand made in Italy for grilled fish, a bold, spicy, floral Apulian red for times when Amarone is not in the budget, and a pair of memorable, fine value Bordeaux reds from the highly touted 2010 vintage that will remind you what made the region worth knowing in the first place. Check them all out here.

The Main Feature: Appassimento. Smart Business or Lazy Cure-All?

This VINTAGES release features wines made using partially dried grapes. Appassimento is the Italian term for the technique, the purpose of which is to concentrate sugars, and thus increase the alcohol and/or residual sugar, and body, in the finished wine, as well as to develop more complex aromas and flavours. The technique has been practiced for probably as long as grapes have been turned into wine.

The Veneto in Italy’s northeast corner is the region most closely associated with appassimento-style wines, and more specifically, the bold red Amarone della Valpolicella. But the practice is done all over the world: various muscats and mavrodaphnes, and Vin Santo from Greece; vin de paille from the Jura and the Rhône Valley and Jurançon in France; the strohwein (Schilfwein) of Austria and Germany; the PX sherries and moscatels of Spain, among others, not to mention the many other dried grape wines from Italy itself such as vinsanto from Tuscany and other regions, the Sforzato della Valtellina, the picolit of Friuli, Recioto di Soave, and the various aleaticos of Lazio and Puglia, to name but a very few. The drying techniques vary, but the majority of these wines are destined to be sweet. A few, however, like Amarone and Sforzato, are fermented into full-bodied dry wines.

Ontario, too, has recently invested significant resources into researching different grape drying techniques. As in northern Italy, the goal in Ontario has chiefly been to find a way to make the production of dry red wines more consistent and of better quality, in the style of Amarone. It’s thought that “Technologies that mitigate red wine production risks and improve red wine quality present enormous sustainability and growth opportunities for Ontario wine production”, according to a Brock U. CCOVI research brief.

“The goal of appassimento winemaking”, continues the paper, “is to further ripen the fruit off-vine to concentrate sugars and flavours without increasing acidity to develop a full-bodied high quality wine.” And ultimately, it’s hoped that “Investment in appassimento-style wine production capacity will allow our vintners to produce high quality wines even in growing seasons that do not allow the complete maturation of grapes.”

Ontario wineries that have already released commercial wines made using one form or another of partial drying, or are involved in the research, include Cave Spring, Foreign Affair, Reif Estates, Colaneri, Pillitteri, Organized Crime, Burning Kiln, Angels Gate and Rennie Estate. Considering the growing interest, the appassimento technique is obviously gaining local momentum and it appears to be here to stay.

There’s More Than One Way to Dry A grape

There are several ways to turn grapes into raisins. Bunches can be left on the vine late into the season until they become naturally desiccated, or they can be harvested and set out to dry in the sun or in a sheltered environment, or rapidly dehydrated using a source of heat and a dehumidifier. In Valpolicella, grape drying is still largely done in the traditional method, that is, a slow dehydration process done at ambient temperatures, historically in drafty barns controlled by opening and closing windows, but more often today in modern, regulated drying facilities.

The permitted technique for drying grapes for Amarone is indeed tightly controlled by appellation regulation. By law, “The drying process of grapes should be conducted in appropriate environment and can be helped by the use of air conditioning systems as long as they operate with temperatures similar to those that can be found during the natural drying process. Any dehumidifying or heating system is not allowed.”

Modern drying room at Alberto Longo’s winery in Puglia

Such a process results in a slow dehydration of grapes over a period of approximately three months, during which bunches lose about one-third of their original weight to water evaporation. The slow process also results in a significant modification of aromas and flavours.  It’s essential that the varieties submitted to this treatment be perfectly healthy and ripe at harvest, since appassimento concentrates everything in the grape, good or bad. Thick-skinned varieties, like corvina and rondinella used for Amarone, are preferable, as thin-skinned grapes tend to break down and allow molds to infiltrate.

In Ontario, four techniques are being investigated by COVVI, drawing from other agricultural sectors: “kiln-drying making use of technology from the tobacco industry (fast drying at Reif Estates Winery); greenhouse drying using technology from the floriculture industry (medium length drying at European Planters); barn-drying with circulating airflow as a traditional appassimento technique (slow drying at Cave Spring Cellars); and prolonged hang-time on the vine to desiccate the fruit naturally, drawing from Icewine production.”

The results of the studies, which will include analysis of biochemical changes as well as sensory characteristics of the wines, have not yet been released. But it has already emerged that the different techniques result in significant differences in the wines: “Wine from the various drying treatments differed in their chemical profile and had distinctive sensory profiles.”

While we can all look forward to more and better Ontario appassimento style wines in the future as the techniques become better understood and are fine-tuned, there is also cause for concern in the enthusiastic embrace of this ancient technique. The results of appassimento are anything but universally successful. The danger in Ontario, as in any other cool climate grape-growing region, including the Veneto, is that vintners will turn to appassimento as a cure for poor quality grapes. Dilute, under ripe grapes from over-cropped, poorly farmed vineyards cannot be magically ripened by artificial concentration. On the contrary, the drying process only exacerbates green, under ripe flavours.

And genuine complexity can only derive from naturally concentrated grapes, which is to say that grapes with simple flavours (low concentration of flavor precursors in tech talk) will not develop miraculous complexity by force-drying them. Appassimento, in short, is not a panacea, and some of the results are downright unhappy, like bitter ratatouille in a glass. Elevated volatile acidity (vinegar or nail polish aromas) is also a constant danger with dried grape wines of any kind, as are bitter, astringent tannins in red and occasionally white wines, to name but a few of the potential sideways deviations.

As such, it’s alarming to hear wineries speak of the blanket ‘premiumization’ of production, as though appassimento is the solution to viable business. Jamie Slingerland, director of viniculture at Pillitteri Estates Winery, is quoted in the December 2012 issue of The Grower as saying: “The method allows us to take a reserve wine to grand reserve status, and in some instances, to triple the price point from $20 to $60”. While appassimento can and does produce top-notch wines, most of what I’ve tasted from Ontario has not been successful and is not worth a premium.

To be fair, much of what comes out of Veneto is likewise poor quality, with notable exceptions, for the same reasons. The point is, that the technique does not result in consistent quality, or rather, that the resulting quality is only as consistent as the quality of the base grapes in the first place. So we’re back to square one. The quality must be there before the concentration process begins. The kilning technique gaining popularity in Ontario, which is the fastest and least risky, also seems to be the worst suited for quality, not allowing time for the interesting biochemical changes to take place, just straight up withering. But I eagerly await the results of the COVVI study.

Resorting to drying grapes also presupposes that bigger, more concentrated wines are inherently better than lighter and leaner wines. That’s a complex presupposition that goes well beyond winemaking techniques and into the realm of consumer tastes, trends, marketing, and beyond, but worth pondering in any case. Is bigger always better? Considering the growing consumer backlash against higher alcohol wines, such wisdom is questionable.

And leaning on grape drying to produce consistent quality also begs the question of whether you’ve got the right grapes planted in the first place. If it’s a struggle to ripen cabernet or merlot consistently, artificial ripening/drying isn’t the answer. Planting a shorter cycle, earlier ripening, more reliable variety is far more logical, at least in my view (see my recent interview with Ann Thrupp Ph.D. sustainability director of Fetzer Vineyards in California for more on the subject). There are no short cuts to quality. I sincerely hope that the Ontario market doesn’t get flooded with a rash of unbalanced, green, raisin-flavoured wines.

But since appassimento seems to be here to stay, let’s hope the technique gets put to good use on quality grapes in order to create a new category of worthy, complex wines that are worth a premium, like top Amarone. There are many models to follow, and others to avoid. Of the wines being released on April 27th, none were truly mind-blowing, but here are the ones I’d look to as the most successful examples:

2007 Monte Del Frá Lena Di Mezzo Amarone Della Valpolicella Classico ($48.95)

2010 Remo Farina Montecorna Ripasso Valpolicella ($19.95)

2009 Masi Grandarella Igt Rosso Delle Venezie, ($25.95)

That’s all for this week. See you over the next bottle.

John Szabo, Master Sommelier

From the April 27, 2013 Vintages release:

Top Ten Smart Buys
Best of the Organic
All Reviews

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Filed under: News, Wine, Appassimento, John Szabo, Organic Wine, Vintages Preview

Lawrason’s Take on Vintages April 13 Release

The County is Back, Bargain Burgundy, California’s L’Aventure & Cade and Lifford’s New Zealand Offerings

David Lawrason

Popular brands from New Zealand and a handful of decent value Portuguese reds get the limelight on this release but as colleague John Szabo amply covered them last week, I veer off in other directions. Due to a whopping head cold on one of my tasting days I was not able to cover the entire release, but I did catch the Prince Edward County wines, some terrific In Store Discoveries and other sundry delights. I also had a chance to taste the growing portfolio of New Zealand pinots being offered for direct purchase by Lifford Wine & Spirits, so I offer links to some favourites reviewed here on WineAlign.

But first I want to dedicate this edition to two friends in wine who passed away last week. Barbara Ritchie was a colleague on the tasting/writing circuit for many years, a gentle, intelligent and diligent taster and writer who beyond all expectation long survived the death of her twin sister Ann in 1996. They were founding members of the Wine Writers Circle of Canada, and both will be remembered in a service at The Toronto Hunt on Sunday, April 21.

I also sadly salute the passing of David Churchill, a film critic and novelist who indulged his passion for wine by researching and writing for the LCBO’s VINTAGES magazines that we have all relied on for years. He was a creative, quick-witted, generous and gregarious lad who lived life with gusto, and he was an immeasurable help to me in accommodating my deadlines and writings about VINTAGES offerings. He is missed.

County Wines Re-Visited

Since moving back to Toronto from the Prince Edward County region in 2010, I have done my best to keep on top of new wines and wineries. This spring sees the opening of Hubbs Creek Vineyard on Danforth Road in Hillier where John Battista Calivieri and partners have been growing pinot noir and white grapes since 2001. The 2010 pinot is a very fine, very Burgundian addition to the County lexicon. And ThreeDog Vineyards has its official opening in June, as yet an “un-tasted” property growing pinot noir, chardonnay, pinot gris and hybrids in the north end of the County off Highway 49.

You can personally check out all the latest offerings at “County in the City” on Thursday, April 25 at the Berkeley Church in Toronto. The evolving line-up includes newer wineries like Lighthall, Exultet, Stanners and Devil’s Wishbone. Meanwhile, County standards like Norman Hardie, Rosehall Run and Huff Estate are also featured on this month’s release.

Rosehall Run 2010 Cuvée County Chardonnay ($21.95) is a benchmark County chardonnay from a winery that has focused on the County’s best grape from Day One. This is sourced from the winery’s own site on Greer Road as well as nearby Hillier region vineyards. It’s typically light and lively with nicely ripe fruit flavours thanks to the warmer 2010 vintage – if not quite as deep as its JCR Rosehall Vineyard portfolio mate.

Huff Estates 2009 South Bay Vineyards Chardonnay ($29.95) shows some real class and depth at the hands of winemaker Frederic Picard. It’s a maturing, quite buttery style from a lighter vintage. The South Bay Vineyard lies very near a bay of the same name near the County’s south shore – not at the winery itself which last year added a restaurant to its excellent inn, and the terrific Oeno Gallery.

Norman Hardie 2011 County Pinot Noir ($35.00) follows evenly in the footsteps of previous vintages even though 2011 was a “lighter” vintage. The only place this evident is in the very pale ruby colour. This will cause some to pause, but the aromatics are convincingly ripe, clean and complex. Pinot fans will be pleased, right through to the typical County minerality on the finish.

Fine, Affordable Burgundy & Beaujolais

If Prince Edward County pinot noir deserves comparison to any place in the world it is Burgundy. The County has not yet developed the vine age, nor perhaps does it have the sites, to be compared to top 1er Cru and Grand Cru Burgundy, but I have tasted some basic Bourgogne that are akin to County pinots.

Domaine Parent 2011 Pinot Noir Bourgogne ($21.95) is a case in point, with a juicy tartness and cranberry scented fruit that is very reminiscent of some County pinots. And this wine rises well above its station at the bottom of the Burgundy pecking order. Anne and Catherine Parent hand harvest and sort the best fruit from flatter sites near their home base in Pommard and Volnay to create this wine. The 2011 vintage in Burgundy is being called very good, with a somewhat larger crop and lighter structure than the age-worthy 2010s or the very ripe 2009s.

Domaine Des Marrans 2011 Fleurie ($19.95) continues the string of delicious “Cru” Beaujolais from the south of Burgundy. They are based on gamay, not pinot noir. When I was in Burgundy last spring one sommelier sniffed that Beaujolais was a great “luncheon wine”. Indeed it is. But regular readers will know I have taken a shine to the “crus” ever since a new generation of elegant, floral and ripe wines began to appear with the 2009 vintage. I have been drinking them for dinner quite regularly, indeed just last week I BYO’d a bottle of 2010 Cote de Brouilly to an excellent French dinner at Celestin on Mt Pleasant (free corkage on Tuesday nights).

Huge Mosel Value

I continue to be amazed by the nose-diving prices of fine German wines. It’s almost inconceivable that a maturing beauty like Dr. Hermann Ürziger Würzgarten 2007 Riesling Spätlese could be offered here for a mere $16.95. Everything about this wine is classic. The family has been in the Mosel wine business for centuries, although the current generations only created this winery in 1967. This riesling is harvested from impossibly steep vineyards on the home property above the village of Urzig, one of a handful of vineyards the family owns, totalling no more than 7.5 ha in the middle of Mosel. What a great opportunity to explore Mosel riesling’s charm and ageworthiness. Try it to celebrate the first truly lovely evening of spring – whenever that arrives.

California’s L’Aventure & Cade

About two years ago I was on a crash, seven-day group tour of several California wine regions. On day one in Paso Robles, admittedly bleary-eyed after the travel and a late first night, we visited L’Aventure, one of the most memorable tastings of any that would follow. But first we had to make it through a very long introduction by winemaker Stephen Asseo. Thank goodness his tale was interesting – a French winemaker bored by the strictures of AOC regulation at home and setting off in 1996 to find great terroir elsewhere in the world. He arrived in the Pacific cooled western hills of Paso Robles with their calcareous-based soils and shouted Eureka! He densely planted over 100 acres of syrah, cabernet sauvignon, petit verdot and mourvedre, and undertook a laborious, organic growing regimen that yields a paltry two tons per acre. He kept repeating that above all he wanted balanced wines, and when we crowded into his tasting room and he began to pour his inky reds I was still a doubter. By the end of the tasting I was hooked, and I am delighted to report that I remain a convert after a more leisurely and studied tasting of the pair being released now as In Store Discoveries.

L’Aventure 2010 Estate Cuvée is a profound, complex, structured and nuanced blend of almost equal parts cabernet and syrah with some petit verdot. L’Aventure 2010 Côte-À-Côte is an equally massive if softer blend of grenache, syrah and mourvedre. Both hit well over 15% alcohol, with barely a warm buzz. Both are $95.  Both are worth a look by collectors of California wine. Both are better than Opus One, also being released April 13, at just over twice the price.

But if it must be Napa cabernet and Opus is too rich for your blood, do try Cade Napa Cuvée 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon, which is equally as good but much less than half the price at $78.95. This is a new, organically farmed Howell Mountain winery complete with LEED certified environics (the walls are insulated with blue jean rags). It is owned by the Plumpjack group – most well-known to wine collectors for cultish Plumpjack Cabernet. But the partners, including Gavin Newson, a former mayor of San Francisco, and Gordon Getty, an L.A composer and Shakespearean, also own three wine shops and now have interest in three hotel properties. In any event, this a classic, sculpted Napa cabernet with some mountain minerality on the finish.

More Great White Bordeaux

I jumped the gun on the last newsletter extolling the virtues of white Bordeaux. Three more have turned up as In Store Discoveries this time. All are over $50, but fans of the genre won’t complain. I especially draw your attention to the magnificent Château Haut-Bergey 2009 Blanc from Pessac-Léognan at $57.85. This is one of the great whites of the year to date, with wonderful vitality and richness. The small, ancient property was purchased by Sylvaine Garcin-Cathiard, wife of a Bordeaux wine merchant, in 1991. The white wine vineyard is a paltry 2ha of gravelly soil planted to 82% sauvignon blanc and 12% semillon. The wine was barrel fermented and aged 12 months in new French oak but you barely recognize the oak effect amid the exotic fruit and richness.

Lifford’s New Zealand Offerings

As mentioned, four important New Zealand wineries are featured with multiple listings on this release – Oyster Bay, Coopers Creek, Cloudy Bay and Dog Point (don’t miss Dog Point). Multiple listings seems to be a new strategy by VINTAGES, and the fact that three of the four are top-selling brands, suggests some deal-making at play. Which is all fine until you consider the hundreds of other worthy NZ wineries that would have loved to have been a part of this feature.

While VINTAGES does its thing, wine importers are busy doing theirs, and Lifford Wine & Spirits in particular has taken a shine to NZ wine and is busy building a market. Owner Steven Campbell recently took some of his staff, plus key sommeliers from across Canada, to the Pinot Noir NZ 2013 conference in Wellington. “I have been to every conference from day one” he says, “always looking for great new producers”. He was not alone this year as representatives from Ontario’s B & W Wines and Connexion Oenophelia were also on scouting missions.

Lifford’s New Zealand Portfolio Tasting

Lifford presented its beefed up NZ portfolio to buyers in Toronto earlier this month – with a fine range of wines by Ata Rangi of Martinborugh, Carrick and Felton Road of Central Otago, Craggy Range of Hawkes Bay, Staete Landt of Marlborough, and two new houses: Mountford of Waipara Valley and Neudorf of Nelson. Over 30 wines were poured. I focused on the many pinot noirs in the line-up, partially in preparation of a planned article on NZ pinot noir that will pinpoint over 20 sub-regions where this grape is showing its diversity.

Meantime, here are links to some of my favorites. Some of the wines are currently on consignment, others available by private order through Lifford until April 19.

Ata Rangi 2011 Pinot Noir, Martinborough $79.95
Ata Rangi 2011 Crimson Pinot Noir, Martinborough $36.95
Carrick 2010 Bannockburn Pinot Noir, Central Otago $44.95
Craggy Range 2011 Pinot Noir Te Muna Road, Martinborough $49.95
Craggy Range 2010 Calvert  Pinot Noir Calvert, Central Otago, $67.95
Felton Road 2011 Bannockburn Pinot Noir, Central Otago $71.50
Felton Road 2011 Calvert Pinot Noir, Central Otago $84.95
Mountford 2009 Village Pinot Noir,  Waipara Valley $46.95
Mountford 2009 Pinot Noir Estate, Waipara Valley $89.95
Neudorf 2011 Moutere Pinot Noir, Nelson $69.95
Staete Landt 2009 Paladin Pinot Noir, Marlborough $39.95

And that’s a wrap for this edition. In the days ahead I hope to see you at Malbec World Day on April 16 (which includes many other Argentina varieties) and at County in the City on April 25 (where the winemakers bring Prince Edward County to you).

Cheers.

David Lawrason
VP of Wine

From the April 13, 2013 Vintages release:

David’s Featured Wines
All Reviews

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Filed under: News, Wine, David Lawrason, New Zealand, prince edward county, Vintages Preview, Wine

John Szabo’s Vintages Preview for April 13, 2013

Iconic New Zealand; Bargain Portugal; Smart Buys from the Jura and for the Cellar, and more.

John Szabo, MS

New Zealand is the main feature of the April 13 VINTAGES release, but of eleven wines offered, only four producers are represented, and ten of the wines are from Marlborough. A fair representation it is not, and it comes across as a very corporate assortment. Nevertheless, Cloudy Bay and Dog Point are the clear quality leaders, and I highlight their best releases in this report.

And where the LCBO falls short, private consignment agents have stepped in to fill the gaps. For those interested in the true inside scoop on what to buy, stay tuned for a comprehensive report on New Zealand’s top producers by region, all represented in Ontario, to be released prior to the upcoming New Zealand Wine Fair. For more background, re-visit my piece on what it’s like to travel in New Zealand, and for the really keen, my piece with thoughts on the New Zealand wine industry.

This report also highlights five fine values from Portugal, the other theme of the release, as well as the Top Ten Smart Buys, including a pair for the cellar and a fantastic ‘terroir’ wine from the little-known Jura. Pour yourself a glass and check out my video interview on “Pro and Kon” with writer and CBC radio host Konrad Ejbich about Pairing Food and Wine [for Dummies].

Highlights From Top Ten Smart Buys

Sommelier’s Choice: The Jura

The Jura is a small, 80-kilometer long sliver of eastern France opposite Burgundy’s Côte d’Or on the other side of the Bresse plain, framed to the east by the foothills of the Alps and the nearby Swiss border. It belongs to the greater region known as Franche Comté, once part of the Duchy of Burgundy, but later under Spanish rule thanks to the expansion of Carlos V’s empire. The Spanish influence of this period is still felt strongly in the peculiar wine style for which the Jura is known, Vin Jaune, a savagnin-based wine aged under a veil of yeast, just like Fino Sherry.

Vin Jaune Ageing in Barrel

But chardonnay, planted in the Jura since the 15^thC, can also be extraordinary, not surprisingly, since the Jura is, after all within sight of Burgundy with similar limestone-based soils. Yet wine style and labeling confusion has held exports in check. Chardonnay from the Jura comes in either the sherry-like oxidative style called locally “typé or traditionelle“, while others are more modern and reductive, called “fruité” or “floral” in local parlance. Both can be excellent, but often there’s no way to know what to expect from the label alone. So Jura wines remain largely insiders’ picks for those in the know, at least for now. They’re what sommeliers love to drink on their days off, given the remarkable terroir expression at non-Burgundian prices.

Château-Châlon Vineyards

Henry Le Roy is the Paris-born owner of Domaine de l’Aigle à Deux Têtes in Vincelles, in the southern part of the region. I had lunch with him in Château Châlon last fall – he’s a quietly confident man who competed in two world kayaking championships. He’s still fit.

Le Roy fell in love with the Jura, as many who come here to holiday do. But it wasn’t easy to make the move from Paris and establish his domaine. “An outsider is someone who comes from more than 10kms away” he remarks somewhat sardonically. “To be considered a local you must have at least five generations in the cemetery.” Being from Paris makes him the ultimate outsider, but he has managed to acquire some top terroirs and is crafting excellent wines.

Le Roy’s 2009 ‘En Griffez’ Chardonnay Côtes Du Jura ($23.95) is made from 50+ year old vines planted on a ludicrously steep, 40% south facing grade with fully calcareous stony soils and fermented with wild yeast (bien sûre). It’s a lovely, earthy-mineral wine, with slightly soft texture thanks to the warm 2009 vintage, and beautifully integrated old wood spice flavours. 12.6% alcohol is deceptive – this is powerful and stony wine for fans of top notch Burgundian style chardonnay and shouldn’t be missed.

Comparative Tasting

And speaking of Burgundian chardonnay, for a truly decadent and educational soirée, compare the En Griffez above with the 2010 Bachelder Bourgogne Chardonnay ($29.95) from Canadian Thomas Bachelder. He’s another outsider who has found a home, at least part of the time, in Burgundy, that is when he isn’t making chardonnay in Niagara or in Oregon. This is a very fine Bourgogne Blanc to be sure, from a vintage I like very much, well above the average quality for the generic appellation. It offers intriguing green peach and nectarine, green walnuts and lime-lemon citrus flavours alongside old wood spices like cinnamon and cassia bark, with really well-balanced, mid-weight palate, crisp but also creamy, and exceptional length for the category.

A Pair For the Cellar

Collectors seeking age worthy wines should consider this pair that will make for brilliant drinking in a decade. The 2009 Château Latour Martillac, Pessac-Léognan, Cru Classé ($53.85) is a refined and aristocratic Bordeaux, in which the ripeness and concentration of the 2009 vintage is evident. It has perfectly ripe but fresh red and black fruit tied to the warm earth/terra cotta notes typical of Péssac, classically styled, yet still supple and balanced. It’s temptingly delicious now, though will really be in full swing by the end of the decade.

The 2010 Domaine Durieu Châteauneuf-Du-Pape ($35.95) is likewise an intense, dense and terrifically complex southern Rhône, traditionally styled, aged entirely in large concrete vats. It offers rich, succulent black cherry and baked strawberry fruit allied to black olive tapenade, dried resinous herbs and orange peel spice, while tannins are firm but fully coated in fruit extract, acids balanced and alcohol generous but also in check (14.5% declared). This should be best after 2018.

Also featured in the top ten you’ll find an excellent Rioja, a well-priced, classically styled Bourgogne Rouge, solid and satisfying reds from Mendoza and Sicily, and a pair of wonderfully fragrant whites from cool climate Europe. See them all here.

Marlborough, New Zealand: The Connection between Cloudy Bay and Dog Point Vineyards

Cloudy Bay, and especially Dog Point, are the wines from New Zealand to look for on April 13^th, and there’s an interesting connection between them. Cloudy Bay Vineyards, established in 1985 by David Hohnen, co-founder of Cape Mentelle in Western Australia, is the winery that put Marlborough on the world map back in the late 1980s. The style of sauvignon blanc for which the region would become famous was developed by winemaking team of Ivan Sutherland, James Healy, and Kevin Judd. Much of the fruit for Cloudy Bay’s celebrated sauvignon came from Sutherland’s personal property at the convergence of the Brancott and Omaka Valleys in the southern part of the region, which he and his wife Margaret purchased and planted in 1979.

Sutherland and Healy stayed at Cloudy Bay until 2003, when the pair left to launch Dog Point Vineyard. Today, their 100 hectares, including some of the original plantings, are farmed organically and hand picked (a rarity in Marlborough). Some of the fruit still goes to Cloudy Bay, but according to Sutherland and Healy, they (sensibly enough) keep the top, hillside vineyard fruit for Dog Point. The style is intense and edgy, with lots of lees contact and wild yeast complexity, some of the finest wines in the region in my view.

Kevin Judd, incidentally, also left Cloudy Bay in 2009 to start his own, very good label called Greywacke, and he gets 95% of his fruit from the Sutherland vineyard, and makes his wine at the Dog Point winery.

Cloudy Bay remains a top player in the region, however. The iconic winery was bought by luxury goods firm LVMH in 2003, the same year Healy and Sutherland moved on. And after a dip in quality when production of the sauvignon blanc was ramped up to over 100,000 cases by the end of the decade, Cloudy Bay appears to be back on form with a strong set of recent releases. The 2012 sauvignon is the classic one to watch for, while the Te Koko Sauvignon, wild fermented in barrel with full malolactic, is a relatively new expression of Marlborough sauvignon, one that is gaining in popularity as producers look to distinguish their offerings and move away from the ubiquitous (and rather homogenous) pungently grassy style.

Wines to try:

2009 Cloudy Bay Te Koko Sauvignon Blanc ($47.95)

2012 Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc ($29.95)

2011 Dog Point Chardonnay ($39.95)

2010 Dog Point Vineyard Section 94 ($39.95)

2012 Dog Point Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc ($23.95)

Five Best Buys From Portugal

Portugal is the other theme of the April 13 release and there are some excellent bargains on offer. Topping the list for value is the 2010 Ramos Pinto Duas Quintas ($16.95). It’s a typical Douro blend of tinta roriz, touriga franca and touriga nacional from two (duas) farms (quintas): the Quinta de Ervamoira in the heart of the Douro with its warm micro climate and schist soils, and the Quinta dos Bons Ares at cooler elevation and on granite soils. The result is a wine with terrific complexity and structure for the money.

2009 Quinta De Ventozelo Reserva Douro Tinto ($21.95) is a more bold and ripe, intensely fruity and expressive blend of mainly touriga nacional with 20% each of touriga franca and tinta roriz (tempranillo) that drinks nicely now. The palate is suave and polished, yet with sufficient grip and structure to ensure development over at least the short to mid term.

Also worth a look from the Douro is the 2009 Delaforce Touriga Nacional ($18.95), while the 2011 Monte Vilar Reserva Vinho, Regional Alentejano ($14.95) from further south delivers plenty of character and satisfaction for under $15. Fans of bright, fragrant-floral whites will enjoy the 2011 Deu La Deu Alvarinho, Vinho Verde ($19.95).

That’s all for this week. See you over the next bottle.

From the April 13, 2013 Vintages release:

Top Ten Smart Buys
Best Buys from Portugal
All Reviews

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Filed under: News, Wine, John Szabo, New Zealand, Portugal, Vintages Preview

Lawrason’s Take on Vintages March 30 Release

Sérieux Sauvignons, Promising Malbecs, Niagara Rieslings, Euro Values & Sublime Closers

David Lawrason

France’s beguiling Languedoc-Roussillon region headlines this release – and I have flagged three terrific 90-point red bargains below. But I will skip the backgrounder because colleague John Szabo has already done a fine job in last week’s exhaustive report. So we leap to another theme that caught my eye – especially as we desperately seek spring. I pry open the other world of sauvignon blancs that exists beyond New Zealand (its turn is coming with the April 13 release).

Très Sérieux Sauvignons Not from NZ

Sauvignon Blanc – lead by New Zealand’s brilliant savvies – has become our most prized warm weather white. Its natural acidity is the key to its refreshment, along with flavour elements like green apple, fresh herbs and limes that evoke summer. And it is not a wine that makes you work too hard to appreciate it. Even lesser quality examples offer their character with ease; and you don’t need to swirl, ponder and discuss in order to enjoy it. Great happy hour fare!

But that is just one side of the coin – the shiny side. Back in its French homeland sauvignon blanc is often more complex and nuanced – and some might argue, perhaps on the dull side. It still has acid-driven refreshment at its core, but in the cool, continental, central Loire Valley appellations of Sancerre, Pouilly-Fume, Menetou-Salon and Quincy it absorbs more minerality from the limestone base of the soils. It is often less fruity and less stridently green as well, conforming to the French penchant for restraint and nuance. The idea here is to match it with food – shellfish, other seafood, anything with chèvre (goat cheese).

Domaine Fouassier 2010 Les Grands Groux Sancerre ($24.95) is fine example of this style, boosted by the 2010 vintage which has brought excellent firmness and depth to most of France’s white wines.  It hails from older vines in a biodynamically farmed 5.5 hectare limestone vineyard centred on the hill of Sancerre.

Over in Bordeaux sauvignon blanc undergoes even more dramatic transformation. The climate is a bit warmer which means the acidity is less evident.  So sauvignon is more suitably bolstered and fleshed out by blending semillon, and by subjecting the wine to barrel treatment. This creates a whole new sauvignon flavour landscape that is even more complex. The wines have added weight and gravitas, and are much better able to age.  They are among my favourite whites on the planet.

Château Olivier 2009 Blanc from the Pessac-Léognan region of Bordeaux ($48.85) is a magnificent example. This old estate belongs to the club of  ’Grand Cru Classe’ of Pessac-Leognan, south of the city of Bordeaux. It makes more red wine than white, but I have always much preferred its whites, from 12 hectares containing 55% semillon, 40% sauvignon blanc and 5% muscadelle. The average vine age is 40 years, with the vines planted at high density to promote greater flavour concentration. The wine is fermented in stainless steel then aged one year in one-third new French oak barrels. By the way, this is classed by VINTAGES as an In-Store Discovery only available in some of the largest/busiest flagship stores.

Far across the pond in Napa Valley, sauvignon blanc faces warm conditions more similar to Bordeaux than the Loire Valley, so the Bordeaux approach of blending semillon and oak ageing is used by most producers. The style was created by Robert Mondavi long ago when he created a barrel aged wine called Fume Blanc that is still among the best whites in California.

Spottswoode 2011 Sauvignon Blanc ($37.95) is one of the most successful and sought after Napa sauvignons. Actually this bottling uses some Sonoma fruit, and a healthy portion of a clone called sauvignon musque that adds aromatic lift. Oak is nicely in the background adding just a touch of spice complexity. This is very classy indeed, although again in limited availability as in In-Store Discovery.

Frog’s Leap 2012 Sauvignon Blanc ($26.95) is an organically produced example from Napa that tilts back more toward a fresher, fruitier style that fits somewhere between the Loire and Bordeaux and New Zealand. They dabbled with the addition of semillon at one point but went back to 100% sauvignon grown on their Rutherford property, fermented straight up in stainless steel without oak aging. With a whopping production of over 20,000 cases they have obviously struck a chord.

Promising Argentine Malbecs

Now that we are in the midst of a full-fledged Argentine malbec invasion – and perhaps even in the early stages of a popularity decline – it probably seems odd that I would apply the adjective “promising” to malbec. Here’s why. To me the problem with malbec is its homogeny, especially within the hordes of under $20 examples clogging the shelves at VINTAGES. What’s more, many of these big, fruit-driven, high alcohol wines are simply too young and coarse. I am not sure who’s more to blame here – Argentina for making such wines and shipping them prematurely, or VINTAGES (and other markets too) for demanding a certain price point for malbec which forces producers to go this route. Another problem is that the more expensive malbecs don’t really seem to be worth double the price in terms of showing appreciably more complexity and elegance than their under $20 peers.

So it was refreshing to note three wines in this release offering the promise that change is possible, and even more pleasing that two of them are made by Canadian Ann Sperling, who knows all about finesse and elegance.

Versado 2010 Malbec ($24.95) and Versado 2009 Reserva Malbec ($59.95) are the debut of Argentine wines by Niagara-based partners Peter Gamble and Ann Sperling. Peter has been a key figure in the development of important Niagara properties like Hillebrand (way back when), Stratus and Ravine. Ann who grew up in Kelowna, B.C. and still makes wine there at her family’s Sperling Vineyards, has worked most of her career in Niagara at Malivoire and now Southbrook. Together they purchased a small vineyard in the higher reaches of Lujan de Coyo, the heartland of Argentine malbec. And it is very apparent that they have brought a new sensibility, finesse and complexity to the genre. The Reserva in particular is a revelation.

Angulo Innocenti 2010 Malbec ($18.95) from the higher altitude La Consulta sub-region of the Uco Valley is another malbec style that I really like, and actually not dissimilar to the Versado wines in terms of textural delicacy, even if in a sweeter, more floral vein. The winery is new – founded in 2004 with a 100 hectare property called Finca Piedras Blancas between 3000 and 3500 metres altitude. And it seems that everything is done with greatest care, from hand harvesting to double sorting to gentle cooler fermentation and a shorter than usual stay in barrels. The secret weapon here, however, may be the 15% cabernet sauvignon in the blend, providing extra aromatic lift and some finesse.

A Fine Pair of Niagara Rieslings

Four Niagara rieslings are featured on this release, and all are very good. But I have selected, and given higher ratings to a pair that really sing, and should really please, perhaps over an Easter ham.

Rosewood 2010 Natalie’s Süssreserve Riesling is great value at $14.95. It is an off-dry version in an easy going style that will work as a sipper, or well chilled with simple Asian cuisine. It has been judiciously sweetened by the addition of unfermented riesling juice before bottling, a process the German’s employ freely and call “sussreserve”. This brand will likely disappear as winemaker Natalie Spytkowski moved on from Rosewood last year, but we hope the style remains under a new name.

Château Des Charmes 2010 Old Vines Riesling is also a great buy at $16.95. Because Château des Charmes riesling vines are not “on the Bench”  like so many good rieslings (Cave Spring, Vineland, Tawse, Thirty Bench, Hidden Bench, Charles Baker, 2027 Cellars etc) – this wine tends to get overlooked, and dare I say, it is even undervalued by the winery itself. I am all for great value, and I appreciate the Bosc family’s generosity, but the almost 40 year old vines from their Four Mile Creek property, are churning out some mighty impressive quality. This wine is richer but no less structured than those from the Bench Bunch.

Bargain Euro Reds

In the past couple of years the tasting of low to mid-priced Euro reds has become one of my favourite exercises at VINTAGES lab. Viticulture and winemaking has improved so much within Spain, Portugal, southern France, southern Italy and Greece – although it’s not evident in all the wines and sorting is required. Likewise, most are also sticking to indigenous grape varieties and authenticity, again with the exception of those seeking to capture “international/New World” favour by adding to much cocoa flavouring. Here are three fine examples, all under $20, that flirt with excellence.

Luigi Righetti 2010 Campolieti Ripasso Valpolicella Classico Superiore ($16.95) presents stunning value. It is not a powerful wine, indeed it seems to be shyly avoiding being cast as an amarone-chasing ripasso extrovert. There is a fine sense of elegance and maturity here, perhaps through the two years of barrel ageing required of a “superiore”. This small family company founded in 1909 has always provided supple finesse at remarkably fair prices. Campolieti means ‘happy fields”.  Indeed!

Quinta Do Penedo 2009 is yet another demonstration that Portugal’s Dao region is on the move. And at 18.95 it’s a steal. The large, hilly, pine forested region in the centre of the country feels both maritime and continental climate effects, and is home to a wide range of soil types and grape varieties. It is said that touriga nacional – Portugal’s most well-known grape (that also makes up 70% of this wine) originated in Dao near the village of Touriga. The region has hundreds of growers but most change is being wrought by the larger companies that are working to upgrade single estates like Quinta do Penedo. The 20 ha property dates back to the 30s, but was purchased in 1998 by Cave Messias, which began re-structuring the vineyards in 2000.

Château Lajarre 2010 Cuvée Eléonore from the Bordeaux Superieur appellation is a classy intro to basic Bordeaux. It is a blend of 80% merlot with 20% cabernet franc from a 33 hectare property southeast of St. Emilion. There is a bit of mocha-fication but it’s in the background and essentially this delivers a finely balanced, drinkable Bordeaux to enjoy over the next three to five years. Thanks to the 2010 vintage perhaps. All for $15.95!

My Languedoc Picks

Still with Euro values, here are three wines from the Languedoc-Roussillon feature that most impressed me with their quality and value. And I will only add to John Szabo’s comments that I also find this area intriguing. I love the amazing variability in the red wines, and am fascinated by the seemingly infinite permutations wrought by the stable of five grapes – grenache, syrah, mourvedre, cinsault and carignane – planted across several appellations and hundreds of micro-climates.

Château Pech Redon 2010 L’épervier from Côteaux du Languedoc’s sub-region of La Clape ($19.95) is dark, wild and moody. Château De Treviac 2010 Corbières ($15.95) is swarthy, suave and ripe. While Cave De Roquebrun La Grange Des Combes 2010 Saint-Chinian-Roquebrun ($17.95) is both refined and well structured, mindful of a fine Gigondas.

Sweet Closers: From the Sublime to the Sublime

Long time readers will know that I often give my highest ratings to sweet and fortified wines. It’s not because they are sweet, or fortified. I don’t have a sweet tooth necessarily and I don’t drink these wines often. No, this is about quality – as measured by complexity, balance and depth – and the world’s best dessert and fortified wines knock most table wines out of the park in this regard. They are often made from high quality, later picked, concentrated fruit and/or aged a long time in barrel and bottle. There are two on this release that rate well over 90; indeed the Chateau Giraud towers at 97 points.

Château Guiraud 2009 Sauternes 1er Cru is staggeringly good, and a superb buy at $44.85 per half bottle. No wonder it polled position #5 in the Wine Spectators Top 100 of 2012. It is a blend of botrytis-affected Semillon (65%) and sauvignon blanc (35%) harvested at less than one ton per acre, in one of the best Sauternes vintages of the past decade.  It is wonderfully opulent yet ethereal.

Massandra 2009 White Muscat from the South Coast (Crimea) region of the Ukraine is a huge value and wide open window to one the great sweet wine styles of antiquity. At $15.95 you can’t afford to miss it. Chill it well and consider opening it some sultry spring summer evening with a selection of creamy, soft ripened, runny cheeses.

So that’s a wrap for this edition. Tune in again for my report on VINTAGES April 13 release, and watch your inbox for a new wave of WineAlign articles, many of which will now include Anthony Gismondi’s pithy prose.

Cheers, David Lawrason
VP of Wine

From the March 30, 2013 Vintages release:

David’s Featured Wines
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Filed under: News, Wine, David Lawrason, LCBO, Sauvignon Blanc, Vintages Preview

John Szabo’s Vintages Preview for March 30, 2013: Southern France and Top Ten Smart Buys

This week’s report takes a look at the south of France and some of its key appellations, linked to recommended releases hitting the shelves of the LCBO on March 30th. If you’re planning to have lamb for Easter, the best of these savoury, sturdy French reds are a perfect fit. In fact, from bubbly to crisp whites and full-bodied reds, you could spend your entire Easter dinner in the south of France. The Top Ten Smart Buys this week include the release of Versado, Ann Sperling and Peter Gamble’s elegant interpretation of Argentine malbec, as well as a pair of volcanic and a pair of limestone-derived wines to taste and compare, among others. See them all below.

John Szabo, MS

Touring in the Languedoc Roussillon

The focus of the LCBO’s March 30th release is southern France, and more specifically, the Languedoc-Roussillon. I’ve written much in the past on this swath of the Mediterranean that runs from the western side of the Rhône Valley all the way to the Pyrenees and the Spanish border, south of the Massif Central. It’s an area I know pretty well, having stayed for a summer just outside of Béziers while working in the kitchen of a Michelin-starred restaurant called Chez Léonce in the tiny village of Florensac. It was the year France won the World Cup – 1998 – and I remember watching Zidane’s Cup winning goals against Brazil in the final on a tiny television we had installed in the kitchen. The restaurant, of course, was empty, save for a German couple on holiday who obviously had no reason to watch the game. The rest of France was glued to the TV – even the French took the night off from fine dining.

Throughout the summer, during the staff meals after lunch service, Laurent, the sommelier at Chez Léonce, would bring out a handful of local wines for me to taste, tell me the stories behind the labels, and explain the differences between the various appellations. That’s how I was first introduced to AOCs like Corbières, Saint-Chinian and Picpoul de Pinet, which were little known even in France at the time, let alone in Canada. I thought then that the wines of the region were extraordinary values. Fifteen years later, picpoul has yet to become a household name, and the wines are still great values.

It’s curious that the wines of the neighboring Rhône Valley, which are very similar in style and use largely the same grapes as the Languedoc for whites, reds and rosés, have achieved so much more international recognition. It obviously helps to have a high-profile appellation like Châteauneuf-du-Pape drive the fortunes of an entire region. And Rhône wines also benefit no doubt from the legions of holidaymakers that pass through the region on their way down to the pastel shaded light and lavender perfume of Provence.

The wines of the Languedoc and Roussillon can be every bit as compelling as anything from the Rhône, but without an immediately recognizable appellation, and being generally off the beaten path of tourists, they’ve languished in the shadow of their neighbor in the south. Maybe there’s even some lingering suspicion that the Languedoc is still overrun with heretic Cathares, a Christian sect that was eradicated from Occitania in the Crusades of the 12th century. The name of the region, the Languedoc, after all, is derived from lingua d’Oc, “the country of the Occitan language”.

Heretic or crusader, if you’re seeking good value wines with distinct regional character and strong personality, the Languedoc is a smart place to be. Here are a few appellations to look for on shelves, along with recommended examples from the March 30th LCBO-Vintages release.

AOC/AOP Limoux

The Limoux appellation lies about 25 km south of the walled medieval city of Carcassonne, nestled in the upper valley of the Aude department. The region is sheltered by the Pyrenees from the extremes of maritime influence, and enjoys a benevolent Mediterranean climate. Yet since vineyards sit at higher elevations than most of the rest of the Languedoc, cooler climate varieties thrive here. Chardonnay, pinot noir, riesling and chenin blanc, for example, do better here on the clay-limestone plateaus than virtually anywhere else in the hot south of France.

Limoux’s most famous wine is sparkling, both in the ancestral and traditional methods. Blanquette de Limoux is reputed to be France’s first intentionally effervescent wine, produced a couple hundred years before Dom Pérignon did his pioneering work on how to stop the bubbles from forming in his wine. Sparkling from Limoux comes in three types: Crémant, a traditional method wine from chardonnay and chenin blanc, Blanquette, also a traditional method from at least 90% mauzac, and Blanquette Methode Ancestrale, a 100% mauzac bottled before the primary fermentation has finished, thus the wine retains some bubbles, though it’s less effervescent than the traditional method. It’s also often a little cloudy, slightly sweet and low in alcohol.

One to try: Domaine J. Laurens Le Moulin Brut Blanquette De Limoux ($16.95). An enjoyable bubbly with the typically appley flavours of the mauzac grape used and pleasant toasty-yeasty notes. Good length; nice value.

AOC/AOP Languedoc Picpoul de Pinet

Picpoul de Pinet refers to the picpoul grape, an ancient Mediterranean variety whose name means literally “tongue stinger” thanks to its high natural acid, which grows around the town of Pinet and surrounding communes, a stone’s throw from the sea. It’s considered a cru of the greater AOP Languedoc. Picpoul is the wine we served at Chez Léonce with the raw seafood and shellfish platter, harvested from the nearby Thau basin. It’s a lemony, zesty, crisp and fresh white that many consider the Muscadet of the south.

One to try: 2011 Ormarine Picpoul De Pinet ($12.95)

AOC/AOP Corbières

Corbières is the Languedoc’s largest appellation, with 13,500ha under vine. It stretches from the gates of Carcassonne to the sea, and from the foothills of the Pyrenees to the base of the Montagne Noire. It’s not surprising that no fewer than eleven distinct terroirs have been identified. The area is wild and sparsely populated, and most of the land is covered either by vines or the highly perfumed Mediterranean scrub brush known as garrigue. Often dominated by carignan, the best of the Corbières reds have an attractively savage and savoury profile, full of garrigue aromas and spicy black fruit. Grenache, syrah, mourvèdre and cinsault make of the rest of the blend.

One to try: 2010 Château De Treviac Ap Corbières ($15.95)

This is smoky and savoury with lots of fresh-turned earth and garrigue spice, dense and full on the palate, reminiscent of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, and as such, a nice little value. Drink lightly chilled to tone down the alcohol.

AOC/AOP Minervois

The Minervois is another large region that forms an amphitheatre bordered by the Canal du Midi to the south, the Montagne Noire to the north, and bounded to the east and west by the cities of Narbonne Carcassonne. Four rivers, the Clamoux, Argent Double, Ognon and the Cesse all tumble down from the Montagne Noire to join the Aude and, over time, have carved out a series of terraces. Terroirs vary between stones, clays, schist, limestone and clay marls. One ‘cru’ has been officially identified: Minervois La Livinière, but more could soon follow.

I find the wines of the Minervois to be among the more polished of the Languedoc – there’s a critical mass of modern-leaning producers, relying heavily of the ‘cépages améliorateurs’ the grapes such as syrah and mourvèdre, introduced into the Languedoc in order to improve the quality of local wine relative to the product of some of the lesser varieties left over from the days of mass bulk wine production. Rosé, white and sweet wines are produced, but the highlights are most often red.

One to try: 2009 Château Agnel Cuvée Philippe Minervois ($15.95)

This is a delicious, spiced cherry-flavoured, zesty, firm red, reminiscent of Italian/Piedmontese dolcetto with its chunky tannins and saliva-inducing acidity. Try with rustic grilled merguez sausages.

AOC/AOP Saint Chinian

Saint Chinian is northwest of Béziers in the Hérault department, at the foot of the Massif du Caroux. It is in reality at least two separate terroirs divided by the Rivers Orb and the Varnazobres. Limestone is the story in the south, producing, fine, perfumed reds from Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre, Carignan and Cinsault. In the north, it’s practically all schist and sandstone with little water retention, stressing the vines and yielding much firmer, more structured and minerally reds. For my money, Saint Chinian from the northern zone, along with neighboring AOP Faugères, are among the south of France’s most terroir-driven and identifiable reds.

One to try: 2010 Cave De Roquebrun La Grange Des Combes ($17.95)

The village of Roquebrun, perched on a small plateau in the foothills of the Massif du Caroux, gives its name to an official sub-appellation in the northern zone of St. Chinian. High elevation vineyards with a big diurnal temperature shift yield balanced, finely etched wines with abundant minerality. This example is a syrah-led blend with mourvèdre and Grenache. It’s highly perfumed and smoky-savoury, with marked floral components, zinc oxide, black pepper and other intriguing mineral notes, while the palate is fullish, balanced, with fresh acidity, integrated (14%) alcohol, and firm, fine, sandy tannins. This has style, class and regional character in spades – a terrific value.

For more information on wines from Southern France, visit http://www.sud-de-france.com. If you’re still up for more exploring see my full list of recommended southern French reds from the March 30th release.

Top Ten Smart Buys

Versado Arrives!

Well worth pointing out is the long-awaited release of Versado, the Argentine project of Canadians Ann Sperling (Southbrook, Sperling Family Vineyards), her highly respected consulting husband Peter Gamble, and local guru Roberto de la Mota. Their 2010 Versado Malbec ($24.95) delivers on the promise of refinement and class from high elevation vineyards in the Luján de Cuyo sub-region of Mendoza. This is finely structured, with light wood spice, fine-grained but grippy tannins, lively acids and moderate alcohol (13.8%) and very good length. But more importantly, infinitely drinkable.

A definite step up in both price and quality is their 2009 Versado Reserva Malbec ($59.95). It’s a rare Argentine ‘reserve’ malbec that doesn’t sacrifice drinkability for raw power and excessive ripeness/wood flavour. This is certainly dense, rich and compact, and still some ways from prime drinking, yet it retains a sense of proportion and balance, with sufficient fruit intensity to match the tannic structure, and fresh, natural and integrated acids. It’ll be best after 2015 I’d suspect.

Volcanic Wines

Elsewhere, there’s a fine range of values arriving on March 30th. In the spirit of terroir, here are two smart buys from volcanic soils:

2008 Donato D’angelo Aglianico Del Vulture ($20.95) and 2010 I Campi Campo Vulcano Soave Classico ($18.95).

Limestone Wines

Compare the volcanic wines with this pair of sauvignons from limestone soils: 2010 Domaine Fouassier Les Grands Groux Sancerre ($24.95) and 2011 Chavet & Fils La Dame De Jacques Coeur Menetou-Salon Blanc ($19.95). What speaks louder: soil, grape, or winemaker?

Also in the top ten smart buys you’ll find an excellent 2009 Bordeaux for the cellar, a pair of Spanish reds that neatly define the old and new schools, a superb value chardonnay from New Zealand, perhaps that country’s most underrated variety, and an old vines local Riesling that consistently over-delivers vintage after vintage. See them all with the links below.

John Szabo, Master Sommelier

From the March 30, 2013 Vintages release:

Top Ten Smart Buys
Southern France Selections
All Reviews

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Filed under: News, Wine, John Szabo, Southern France, Top Ten Smart Buys, Vintages Preview