Vintages Moves in Mysterious Ways

One of My Picks from the January 21 release was LIA'S VINEYARD LONGPLAY PINOT NOIR 2008 from Oregon (#267344).  It was a no show on the release date but I checked Vintages' online inventory again today and there it is.


Well, kind of.  It arrived in small quantities (just 12 cases...how gross).  I hope there's more to come or why bother?  And those 12 cases are spread across 17 different stores.  And which stores?  Well, a store in Mississauga gets 2 cases.  A store in Bala gets a case.  Bala?  It's in Muskoka cottage country with a population of "several hundred" according to Wikipedia.  Oregon Pinot Noir must be popular in the Muskokas because a store in Dorset (population 400) gets a case.  2 stores in Oshawa each get a case.  Plus some to Cobourg and Peterborough.  Must have been only one truck available.


Nothing allocated to the GTA.  And the closest store to my home base in Ottawa is 90 minutes away in Cornwall.


Now I'm all for equity in allocating wine across Ontario's vast geography but this smacks of reverse discrimination.  It smacks of something else too but it's Sunday, so I'll keep that unkind thought to myself.


[UPDATE, February 4:  More of LIA'S VINEYARD LONGPLAY PINOT NOIR 2008 has arrived across Ontario, including 2 stores in Ottawa.  I'm off to get mine.]


Subscribing to this blog through RSS or email is easy! Just click on the subscribe link to the left ←

Recommended Reading: To Cork or Not to Cork

Bringing wine to the consumer is a long, risky road.  From the vineyard, where weather can make or break a vintage, through harvest and fermentation, where a wine producer can meddle too much (and occasionally too little), to aging (how long and in what), and finally to bottling and transport, there are hundreds of risky choices to be made.

Bottling?  What’s the risk there?  It turns out that bottling, or rather how the bottle is sealed, can be the biggest risk of all.

That’s the story of To Cork or Not to Cork:  Tradition, Romance, Science, and the Battle for the Wine Bottle.  (Don’t worry…the editor did a better job on the rest of book than with the title.)  George Taber, who previously brought us Judgment of Paris, takes us through the history of the cork as a wine bottle closure and the why and how of alternative closures, such as the screwcap.

Ever had a bad bottle of wine?  Chances are that the wine itself was not inherently bad.  Odds are the wine was “corked”.  “Corked” refers to that unpleasant, musty, wet cardboard smell that can obliterate any other aroma that a wine should have.  Smell it once and you’ll never forget it.  (Read my own sad story about a corked wine here.)

Most often, cork taint happens when a chloroanisole (there are different ones, the most common is trichloroanisole – TCA) is present in the cork or, less commonly, in the cellar.  In the former case, Taber says that tainted corks affect from 3-5% of all wines that have a cork stopper.  In the latter case, the effect on a winery can be devastating, with entire vintages poured down the drain or, in the case of Chateau Latour, rebuilding the entire winery.

Back in 1970s, a corked wine was a comparatively rare occurrence.  Then, starting with the 1986 vintage, a minor problem became a major one as the incidence of corked wines shot up.  Why?  Worldwide demand for wine was increasing, many new producers entered the market, and the need for the traditional bottle closure – cork – went way up.  To meet that demand, cork producers threw quality control, which had never been their strong point, out the window.  Even more infuriating for the wine consumer, many wine producers – even the top ones in Bordeaux  – engaged in a shameful industry-wide hush campaign, refusing to admit that any problem existed, often ascribing the “problem” to uneducated wine-drinkers.  Taber quotes Hugh Johnson,

If all wine-drinkers recognized it, and rejected every tainted bottle, the wine-trade would go bust.  It is worrying to think that its profits depend on its customers’ ignorance.

By the time I finished reading these chapters on the complacency within the cork industry and the cover-up by wine producers, I was ready to swear that I would never again buy a wine with a cork stopper.

This conspiracy of silence existed for 20 years, consumers be damned!  Some producers, especially in Australia and New Zealand, rebelled and began to search for alternatives:  agglomerated corks (still risky for taint), synthetic and plastic corks (poor seals, not suitable for wines meant for aging), crown caps (cheap image), glass stoppers (elegant…my favourite), and cork’s main competitor, the screwcap.  Taber takes us through each one of these closures, with their advantages and disadvantages.

In the case of screwcaps, the biggest disadvantage is reduction:  the airtight seal traps ongoing chemical reactions in the bottle that can result in various unpleasant sulphur compounds.  (Cork allows these odours to escape over time through the gradual exchange of oxygen.)  But these aromas of rubber and rotten eggs tend to be less recognizable than cork taint.

Which is better, cork or screwcap?  Which evil is lesser?

That’s where Taber leaves us.  Cork producers have improved quality control, but cork taint continues to exist because hundreds of slipshod cork producers are still in business.  Each type of closure has its rabid supporters.  But none of the closures is foolproof, and research continues.

It’s a great read and very well-researched, although you may have to be a wine fanatic to get through every page.  But if you are a fanatic, you’ll love it.

Subscribing to this blog through RSS or email is easy! Just click on the subscribe link to the left ←

My Picks: Vintages Release ─ January 21 2012

This week's major theme is "Australia's got style".  Yes, it does.  The good news is that Vintages goes beyond the obvious (Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon for the reds, Chardonnay for the whites) and features some interesting choices.

Vintages also has a minor theme:  6 lesser-known varietals that deserve your consideration.

I found my own themes in making My Picks this week.  You'll find them below.

Nothing organic this week.

     

Off the Beaten Track

Whites

Theme #1:  All of the white wines are good little wines that are a perfect match with light fish or seafood (oysters!) with a wedge of lemon.  

LA CHABLISIENNE SAUVIGNON BLANC 2010, AC Saint-Bris (Burgundy, France); #641753; Price: $13.95; 12.5% ABV

100% Sauvignon Blanc.  It’s the black sheep of Chablis:  even the winemaker’s website is silent about this wine.  Why?  Well, white Burgundy is Chardonnay, except for this very small area just southwest of Chablis, where they grow Sauvignon (Blanc and Gris).

SANTA MAGDALENA PINOT GRIGIO 2010; DOC Alto Adige (Italy); #249466; Price: $15.95; 13.5% ABV

100% Pinot Grigio.  Up in Alto Adige, near the Austrian border, they make a crisp, citrus, minerally Pinot Grigio.  None of that insipid stuff.  No oak, of course.

I CAMPI CAMPO VULCANO 2009; DOC Soave Classico (Veneto, Italy); #269969; Price: $19.95; 12.5% ABV

A blend of Garganega (85%) and Trebbiano (15%), grown in volcanic soil, which they say gives the wine its minerality and flintiness.  No maceration.  Fermentation for 15 days, followed by partial Malolactic fermentation to take the edge off.  Aged on its lees for 6 months in stainless steel.

Reds

Theme #2:  I’m a big fan of the Languedoc/Southern Rhone SGM recipe:  blends of Syrah, Grenache, and Mourvèdre…not necessarily in that order and sometimes with a few other varieties thrown in.  This week has quite a few examples.  Here are 5, all of which are ideal for winter comfort dishes such as braised meats and stews.

HEWITSON MISS HARRY 2009, Barossa Valley (Australia); #107870; Price: $23.95; 14.0% ABV

A Languedocian blend of Grenache (50%), Shiraz (40%), Mourvèdre (5%), Cinsault (2.5%), and Carignan (2.5%) from old, old vines (>100 years).   Dry grown (no irrigation).  Each variety fermented separately on their skins.  Malolactic fermentation in old French barrels, then aged in these same barrels for 12 months.  Grill up some lamb chops.  Miss Harry is Harriet Hewitson (Daddy’s girl?).  Check out the video. 

TORBRECK CUVÉE JUVENILES 2009, Barossa Valley (Australia); #723940; Price: $29.95; 14.5% ABV

A blend of Grenache (60%), Shiraz (20%), and Mourvèdre (20%) from vines that are 40 to 150 years old.  Fermented separately, then blended for the Malolactic fermentation.  No oak aging.  No filtration or fining.  This wine is made for a wine bar in Paris, which (as coincidence would have it) I was reading about just last night.

HECHT & BANNIER 2009, AC St-Chinian (Languedoc, France); #184184; Price: $23.95; 13.5% ABV

A blend of Syrah, Grenache, and Mourvèdre.  Aged in a combination of concrete tanks (35%); 600-litre oak demi-muids, 1 and 2 years old (20%); and both 225-litre and 500-litres oak barrels, new and 1 year old (45%).  From the winery website:  “2009 showed a contrasted pluviometry.”  Put down that thesaurus!

DOMAINE DE CABASSE GIGONDAS 2007; AC Gigondas (Southern Rhone, France); #142075; Price: $29.95; 14.5% ABV

A blend of Grenache (80%), Mourvèdre (10%), and Syrah (10%).  Maceration and fermentation for 15 days, followed by 6 months in large, neutral oak barrels.  Great with a Provençal lamb stew.  The name “Gigondas” is believed to come from Jucunditas, Latin for “joie de vivre”.  Taste the joy.

DOMAINE BEAU MISTRAL SAINT MARTIN RASTEAU 2009, AC Côtes du Rhône-Villages (Southern Rhone, France); #251629; Price: $22.95; 14.5% ABV

A blend of Grenache (45%), Syrah (45%), and Mourvèdre (10%) from old vines.  Handpicked.  Fermentation over several weeks.  Partly aged in tanks and partly in oak barrels for 15 months before blending.

VIÑA HERMINIA RESERVA TINTO 2004, DOCa Rioja (Spain); #236927; Price: $24.95; 14.0% ABV

A blend of Tempranillo (85%), Garnacha (10%), and Graciano (5%).  24 days maceration and fermentation.  Aged 18 months in 80% American and 20% French oak barrels, then another 18 months in bottle before release.  Traditional Rioja style, which I love.  I'm thinking hanger steak.

LIA'S VINEYARD LONGPLAY PINOT NOIR 2008, (Chehalem Mountains, Oregon); #267344; Price: $23.95; 13.5% ABV

100% Pinot Noir.  7 days cold maceration.  Spontaneous fermentation in stainless steel tank for 9 days.  Aged in small French oak barrels (20% new) for 10 months.  Lia’s Vineyard is a relatively small producer (even by Oregon standards) that sells most of its crop to other wineries, keeping a bit aside for its own wine.  They claim that “we aren’t big fans of interventionist wine making techniques” and that they make “analog wine for a digital world”.  I get it.  Great label, too.  Lia is the owner’s daughter.

ALAMOS MALBEC 2010, Uco Valley (Mendoza, Argentina); #467951, Price: $13.95; 13.5% ABV

100% Malbec from the high-altitude Uco Valley.  2 days of cold maceration, fermented for 9 days, followed by 2 more days of maceration to pull those tannins out of the skins.  Aged for 6 months in French and American oak. Good entry-level Malbec.  Ideal with any stew.

LUCA LABORDE DOUBLE SELECT SYRAH 2009, Uco Valley (Mendoza, Argentina); #167346; Price: $22.95; 14.5% ABV

100% Syrah from old vines.  Hand harvested.  Aged 15 months in new (50%) and second-use (50%) French oak barrels.  Neither filtered nor fined, so decant.

Subscribing to this blog through RSS or email is easy! Just click on the subscribe link to the left ←

50 Days to Love Your Liver

I’ve never gone in for New Year’s resolutions.  Why wait for New Year’s Day to start something new?  Carpe Diem!

But the media are often flooded with ideas for self-improvement this time of the year.  And just because I don’t make resolutions at New Years doesn’t mean that I should ignore a good idea.

This brings me to one of the great occupational hazards of being a sommelier.  Oh, yes, there are occupational hazards.  Some are transitory, like headaches from bad wines.  (I never get a headache from good wine, no matter how much I drink.  Quality doesn’t hurt.)  We battle stained teeth or, even worse, acid eating away at our teeth.  And many of us know some unfortunate soul for whom becoming a sommelier was the gateway to alcoholism.

But the most serious occupational hazard is liver damage.  What to do about that?  A year ago, I wrote about MilkThistle and it does seem to work based on my own extensive (but unscientific) personal research. 

But since liver damage is often a slow, long-term process, who really knows whether Milk Thistle really works?  What does?

Enter the British Liver Trust.  They’ve started a campaign, “Love Your Liver”.  Aside from offering free mobile clinics up and down the UK to get your liver tested, they’re also advocating

TAKE 2-3 DAYS IN A ROW OFF ALCOHOL – This will keep your total intake down and gives your liver time to recover. Providing your liver has no lasting damage, it can repair itself very quickly [and] can take as little as 24 hrs to go back to normal. Why not try the Love Your Liver Challenge?

Why not, indeed?  Yes, it's abstinence but it's not total abstinence.  So take a day off.   Sommelier or not, a little moderation and TLC for your liver is a good idea, any day of the year.

Subscribing to this blog through RSS or email is easy! Just click on the subscribe link to the left ←

My Picks: Vintages Release ─ January 7 2012

Happy New Year!

This weekend, Vintages brings out its annual “cheap wines” release.  And after 3 successive pre-Christmas releases featuring expensive wines, it’s a welcomed change. 

Because not only are the wines are less expensive, but that usually means that they’ll feature wines from lesser-known varieties and obscure regions.  All in all, some good choices for My Picks, all but two under $20.

Even better, we have 4 organic wines!

Organic

RUNNING DUCK FAIRTRADE ORGANIC CHARDONNAY 2010, WO Western Cape (South Africa); #149856; Price: $12.95; 14.0% ABV

100% Chardonnay.  Cold-fermented with cultivated yeast.  Aged on its lees in American oak.  Filtered with bentonite.  Certified organic by the Control Union Certifications in The Netherlands:  no chemical pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, or fertilizers; only compost and organic materials are used, with indigenous vegetation for mulching.  Fair-trade-certified by Fair for Life.

Here are 2 wines from the very good 2009 vintage in Languedoc-Roussillon.  Both are ideal with braised meats.

HECHT & BANNIER SYRAH/GRENACHE/CARIGNAN 2009, AC Languedoc (France); #251587; Price: $15.95; 13.5% ABV

A blend of Syrah, Grenache, and Carignan.  Fermented and aged in concrete tanks.  No oak. Made with organic grapes, certified by Ecocert.

MAS DES HUPPES 2009, AC St-Chinian (Languedoc, France); #267930; Price: $16.95; 14.3% ABV

A blend of Grenache, Syrah, Carignan, and Mourvèdre.  Fermented and then aged for two years in stainless steel tanks.  No oak.  Certified organic by Ecocert.  Fresh and ready to drink. 

FATTORIA LA RIPA RISERVA 2007, DOCG Chianti Classico (Tuscany, Italy); #984401; Price: $24.95; 13.5% ABV

A “classico” blend of Sangiovese (90%) and Canaiolo (10%), fermented with the out-of-fashion Tuscan governo technique:  Once fermented, they add additional juice from dried grapes to induce a secondary fermentation and Malolactic fermentation, which should give the wine a softer, smoother mouthfeel.  Aged in oak.  Certified organic by Bioagricert.  Trivia:  Antonio Maria di Noldo Gherardini, the father of Mona Lisa, owned this estate.  Bistecca alla fiorentina!

     

Off the Beaten Track

Whites

DOMAINE DU CHARDONNAY 2009, AC Chablis (Burgundy, France); #183574; Price: $19.95; 12.5% ABV

100% Chardonnay.  Fermentation with cultured yeasts, followed by Malolactic fermentation.  Aged in stainless steel.  That’s how to produce “simple” Chablis:  no oak aging.  Crisp, fresh minerality, get some oysters! 

CHATEAU KSARA BLANC DE L'OBSERVATOIRE 2010, Bekaa Valley (Lebanon); #641704; Price: $15.95; 12.5% ABV

An interesting blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Muscat, and Clairette…the latter 2 varieties found in Languedoc.  No Malolactic fermentation, so look for a crisp mouthfeel.  Aged for 3 months in French oak casks, then blended and fined.  Chicken shawarma, anyone?

Reds

VIÑA ROBLES HUERHUERO RED 4 2008, Paso Robles (California); #261628; Price: $17.95; 14.8% ABV

A blend of Syrah (62%), Petite Sirah (34%), Grenache (2%), and Mourvèdre (2%).   Aged 16 months in French oak barrels, once or twice used.  The winemaker recommends pairing it with “from meatloaf to grilled ribeye”.  Think meat.

MONTES LIMITED SELECTION PINOT NOIR 2009, DO Casablanca Valley (Chile); #37937; Price: $14.95; 14.0% ABV

100% Pinot Noir from the Casablanca Valley near the Pinot-friendly Pacific coast due west of Santiago.  Cold maceration.  Aged 5 months in new and used French oak. Minimal filtration.   

CHAPEL HILL BUSH VINE GRENACHE 2008; McLaren Vale (Australia); #262105; Price: $24.95; 15.0% ABV

100% Grenache from vines planted in 1926.  Old vines = low yields = concentrated flavours.  Hand harvested.  Fermented in open tanks for 10 days.  Aged in 2- to 5-year-old French oak barrels.  No fining or filtering, so decant just to be sure.  15%!  It’s a meditation wine:  I’d drink this one by the fire on its own.     

PERRIN & FILS PEYRE BLANCHE 2009, AC Cairanne Côtes du Rhône-Villages (France); #650960; Price: $17.95; 14.0% ABV

A blend of Grenache (70-80%) and Syrah (20-30%)...the percentages depend on which Perrin webpage you go to!  Fermented in concrete (for the Grenache) and oak vats (Syrah).  A new property for one of the big names in the Southern Rhone Valley.  Organic farming but not yet certified.  Great value.  Cairanne should be on its way to AC status.  A lamb stew would be a good match. 

DOMAINE DE MIGNABERRY 2008, AC Irouléguy (Southwest France); #251611; Price: $18.95; 13.0% ABV

A blend of Tannat (60%), Cabernet Franc (30%), and Cabernet Sauvignon (10%).  Macerated for 3 weeks.  Aged in oak barrels (20% new) for 12 months.  Irouléguy is in Basque country, close to the Spanish border. It’s a wine region brought back from the dead.

Honourable Mentions:

A secondary theme of this release is unusual wines from obscure European regions.  They’re worth a try if you’re in the mood for something different and affordable (all are less than $20).  And 2 of these wines made My Picks, above. 

But I couldn’t find out much about others.  Either the winery doesn’t have a website (or Mr. Google couldn’t find it) or they just don’t have much to say about what goes on in the cellar.  But these 3 white wines are worth a quick look if you’re trying to fill your basket:

DOMAINE NIGRI RÉSERVE DE DOMAINE SEC 2008, AC Jurançon (Southwest, France); #255026; Price: $19.95; 13.9% ABV 

Some time ago, I wrote about some of the interesting traditional wines coming out of Southwest France.  We don’t see them often at Vintages, so here’s a chance to try a white wine with (mainly) the Gros Manseng variety.

These next 2 wines are both ideal regional matches with those winter classics of melted cheese, fondue and raclette.  These wines you should consume when they're young, so if you want to choose between the 2, go with the younger Swiss:

JEAN PERRIER & FILS CUVÉE RÉSERVÉE 2009, AC Roussette de Savoie (France); #254375; Price: $14.95; 11.8% ABV

100% Altesse, aka Roussette, the perfect match with cheese fondue.

CAVE CIDIS MORGES 2010, AOC La Cote (Switzerland); #123414; Price: $18.95; 13.1% ABV

100% Fendant, aka Chasselas (in France) aka Gutedel (in Germany).  The perfect match with raclette.

Subscribing to this blog through RSS or email is easy! Just click on the subscribe link to the left ←