My Picks: Vintages On-Line Exclusives -- January 16 2011

23 new wines stealthily popped up on Vintages Online Exclusives last week. I say “stealthily” because there was no email announcement about the new release (Or, at least, I didn’t get an email about it, and I subscribe to everything that Vintages sends out. I stumbled across the new release by chance. My winey-sense must have been tingling.) No publicity...an interesting approach to product promotion. 

[Update Jan 17:  Oops...the on-line release was the third item listed in an email promotion sent out by Vintages on the 13th.  My apologies!]   

So what’s there that meets my criteria? With prices ranging from $30 to $99, with the average at $70, they’re not exactly “value” wines. Looks like another set of wines that didn’t make the cut for an upcoming Classics offer, perhaps because the available quantities are relatively small. Just guessing on my part.

But there are two "Off the Beaten Track" wines from Inniskillin worth checking out:

INNISKILLIN LEGACY RIESLING 2008, VQA Niagara Peninsula; #0189621; 12% ABV; $30
From the Twenty Mile Bench sub-appellation. Cool fermentation in stainless steel for 13 days, then aging on its lees for 6 months.

INNISKILLIN LEGACY CABERNET FRANC 2007, VQA Niagara Peninsula; #0189639; 14% ABV; $40
Franc...the other (food-friendly) Cabernet.  From the Four Mile Creek sub-appellation. Warm fermentation in one tonne bins with daily punched down for 16 days, followed by Malolactic fermentation in new and used French and American oak barrels. Aged in the barrels for 16 months. From the excellent 2007 vintage.

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