Quick Picks: Vintages Release ─ July 21 2012

More quick picks for the summer, when the livin’ is easy.  And I (try to) keep time at the computer to a minimum.

Great main theme for this release:  the wines of Victoria, the Australian state that radiates out from the coolest city in Oz (Melbourne).  Love the wines of the Yarra Valley and Mornington Peninsula.  I’ve picked a Pinot Noir – it’s what Victoria does best – and a Tempranillo, one of my favourite grape varieties.  Can’t wait to see how it does in Victoria.

The other theme of this week’s release made me laugh:  Why We Love the Loire.  If neglect is love, then OK.  I can’t think of a major wine region that more under-represented at Vintages than is the Loire, although Beaujolais comes a close second.  Oh well, maybe the tide is turning.

  

Organic

BONTERRA VIOGNIER 2010, Mendocino County (California); #128900; Price: $19.95; 13.9% ABV

One of my favourite warm climate grape varieties – Viognier – that thrives in California.  And it’s from one of the oldest certified organic wineries.

SOUTHBROOK TRIOMPHE ORGANIC CABERNET FRANC ROSÉ 2011, VQA Niagara Peninsula; #279117; Price: $19.95; 11.0% ABV

Southbrook is rapidly becoming one of my favourite producers…consistently good!

Off the Beaten Track

Whites

FIELDING VIOGNIER 2010, VQA Niagara Peninsula; #142323; Price: $25.95; 13.5% ABV

Yup, more Viognier. Try it, you’ll like it!

KEN FORRESTER RESERVE CHENIN BLANC 2010, WO Stellenbosch (South Africa); #231282; Price: $17.95; 14.5% ABV

For many years, Chenin Blanc was the workhorse wine of South Africa with little of quality to show for it.  But the last decade has seen great improvements.  If you know Chenin Blanc from the Loire (one of my favs), see what a different terroir can do.

HIEDLER GRÜNER VELTLINER TROCKEN LANGENLOIS THAL 1ER CRU 2010, Kamptal (Austria); #285056; Price: $23.95; 12.0% ABV

100% Grüner Veltliner.  Known for its citrus, herbal, and white pepper aromas and flavours, with great minerality.  A great summer wine, perfect with grilled whitefish.

DOMAINE SIGALAS ASSYRTIKO/ATHIRI 2010, PDO Santorini (Greece); #276535; $16.95; 13.5% ABV

A blend of 2 indigenous grape varieties:  Assyrtiko (75%) and Athiri (25%).  Fermented and aged in stainless steel tanks.  I tasted this wine at the Santorini winery in September 2011.  Pale yellow with a delicate citrus and floral nose.  Lemon-lime with a hint of white peach on the palate.  The minerality comes through on the back palate.  Fresh acidity; it makes a great match for grilled seafood or chicken.  Drinkable now but capable of aging.

MARTÍN CÓDAX ALBARIÑO 2010, DO Rias Baixas (Spain); #984906; Price: $16.95; 13.0% ABV

Albarino, the white grape from that piece of northwest Spain that sits on top of Portugal.  Another crisp citrus-y wine that’s ideal for this summer's drinking.

Reds

MICHAEL DAVID PETITE PETIT 2009, Lodi (California); #213017; Price: $24.95; 14.5% ABV

A blend of Petite Sirah and Petit Verdot.  Unusual!  Great with grilled meat.

DE BORTOLI WINDY PEAK PINOT NOIR 2010, Yarra Valley (Australia); #48587; Price: $17.95; 13.0% ABV

Pinot Noir from the ideal cool climate around Melbourne.  Meant for early drinking.

TAR & ROSES TEMPRANILLO 2011, Heathcote and Alpine Valley; #280198; Price: $24.95; 13.0% ABV

Tempranillo, the signature Riojan grape variety – and personal favourite – finds another new home down under.  Must try it.

LAURENT GAUTHIER GRAND CRAS VIEILLES VIGNES 2010; AC Morgon (Beaujolais); #279059; Price: $15.95; 12.5% ABV

100% Gamay.  If there’s another red wine that’s perfect for summer, I haven’t found it.  Perfect when chilled.

Rosé

DOMAINE MABY LA FORCADIÈRE TAVEL ROSÉ 2011, AC Tavel (Southern Rhone); #701318; Price: $15.95; 13.5% ABV

Crisp and extra dry; mostly Grenache.

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Fault!

These days, it’s hard to buy a bad bottle of wine.  Bad, as in something seriously wrong.  It’s so rare that, when we learned about wine faults in the Sommelier Program at Algonquin, they only taught them by description, not by direct tasting experience.

But it happens.  And here’s one:

Craneford Cabernet Sauvignon John Zilm 2004; Barossa Valley (Australia)

I can’t remember when I bought this wine but I’m guessing it was in 2007, back in the day when I paid attention to the reviews of The Wine Advocate (Robert Parker).  Here’s the Parker review that I found online:

The 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon (93% Cabernet Sauvignon and 7% Merlot, aged primarily in small new French oak) offers superb flavor purity as well as delineation. Its dense purple color is followed by sweet scents of creme de cassis and licorice. A big, rich Cabernet with no hard edges, it should age for a decade, but is probably best consumed during its first 5-7 years of life.

I’m also guessing that I paid about $30.

We opened the bottle to have with grilled steaks and here’s what we found:  Colour of medium purple but with considerable brick colour, indicating a wine that’s significantly aged before it’s time.  Somewhat cloudy.  Muted cooked aromas of black cassis and red cherry.  Very tart acidity…tasted like a mouthful of under-ripe cranberries and rhubarb.  On its way to vinegar?  Atypical for Cabernet Sauvignon.  Short finish.  This bottle had about 2 centimetres of deposit in the bottom!

Was it just one bad bottle?  Did something happen during transportation to Ontario?  Or did something go seriously wrong in the winemaker’s cellar?  Here are comments from other folks who bought this bottle, courtesy of CellarTracker:

• one of the worst cabs I've had for awhile
• Flawed bottle: Cloudy wine, sharp mouth - cranberries are a possibility. One taste then down the drain.
• Did I get a bad bottle? I don't think so. I prescribe this for a yeast infection, as it's indistinguishable from pure cranberry juice save for the minty alcoholic finish. The nose could pass for hair spray and the dry cranberry palate sucked my cheeks down my esophagus. I'm thinking that they just boffed this one badly.

OK, so it’s not just one bad bottle.  Something went seriously wrong and it’s not only that I held onto the bottle for too long, although that probably didn’t help.

What happened?  One guess is that the wine was exposed to too much oxygen at one or more points during vinification.  If crushed grapes are exposed too long to oxygen, the juice can begin to turn brown.  Later on, acetic acid bacteria, which need oxygen to grow, can convert the alcohol to acetaldehyde and then to acetic acid (the acid in vinegar).  Winemakers combat these threats by using sulphur dioxide and keeping tanks and barrels full.

I contacted Craneford wines and, to their credit, they replied.  Good on them!  (Winemakers, like most of us, don’t like to dwell on their mistakes.)  Here’s what their winemaker had to say:

I am so sorry to hear you have had a wine of ours that has been undrinkable and in this condition. Since this wine was produced we have changed our winemaking and production team and therefore it is very hard to indicate the exact problem with the wine and if it was an issue with transport or something else. Please review our current team online at www.cranefordwines.com

Please accept our sincere apology, but please do not give up on Craneford Wines!

If you would like please send me your address details and I will forward to you 1 bottle of our current vintage Craneford Cabernet Sauvignon.    

On that basis alone, I certainly won’t give up on Craneford wines.

As I’ve said before, sometimes it’s only by experiencing the bad that we appreciate the good.

For a bonus, here’s a photo of the back label.  See if you can spot the spelling error in the last line.     

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Quick Picks: Vintages Release ─ July 7 2012

This week it's Quick Picks.  It's been a busy week here:  Canada Day, wedding anniversary (dinner at Beckta), and the weather has been fabulous.  Who wants to be sitting at a computer when you can be on a golf course?


Just bare bone recommendations, without the reasons why I picked them.  So here we go...

Organic

BÙCARO 2010, DOC MONTEPULCIANO D'ABRUZZO (Italy); #277491; Price: $14.95; 14.0% ABV

Excellent with pizza on the grill.

Off the Beaten Track

Whites

CATHEDRAL CELLAR CHENIN BLANC 2011, WO Western Cape (South Africa); #278325; Price: $14.95; 14.0% ABV

Chenin Blanc is the comeback white grape variety of South Africa. Unoaked.

WATERKLOOF CIRCLE OF LIFE WHITE 2010, WO Stellenbosch (South Africa); #284588; Price: $26.95; 14.0% ABV

A blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, and Semillon.  Hakuna Matata.

ROYAL TOKAJI FURMINT 2009, Tokaji (Hungary); #653220; Price: $13.95; 14.0% ABV

They usually use Furmint to make the famous sweet wine of Hungary.  But this one is bone dry! Best value in this release.

BASTIANICH ADRIACTICO FRIULANO 2010, DOC Colli Orientali del Friuli (Italy); #277467; Price: $18.95; 13.0% ABV

Friulano!  Check out this rarity.

Reds

P. FERRAUD & FILS DOMAINE FERRAUD LES CHARMES 2009, AC Morgon (Beaujolais); #268052; Price: $17.95; 13.0% ABV

I go on and on about how good the Cru Beaujolais are…nuff said.

DOMAINE DURAND LES COTEAUX 2009, AC St Joseph (Northern Rhone); #272492; Price: $28.95; 13.5% ABV

St Joseph…the best value in the Northern Rhone.

CHÂTEAU OLLIEUX ROMANIS CUVÉE CLASSIQUE 2009, AC Corbières (Languedoc); #281162; Price: $15.95; 13.5% ABV

A blend of Carignan, Grenache, and Syrah.

ALVARO CASTRO RED 2008, DOC Dao (Portugal); #285288; Price: $16.95; 13.0% ABV

Good value from Iberia!

Rosés

Young and extra dry, as rosé should be.

FLAT ROCK CELLARS PINOT NOIR ROSÉ 2011, VQA Niagara Peninsula; #39974; Price: $16.95; 13.0% ABV

CHÂTEAU DE BERNE TERRES DE BERNE ROSÉ 2011, AC Côtes de Provence (France); #278861; Price: $16.95; 13.0% ABV

Grenache and Cinsault.

LE MAS DUCLAUX ROSÉ 2011, AC Tavel (France); #276337; Price: $17.95; 13.5% ABV

Grenache, Cinsault, and Carignan.

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