Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Vintages July 6th Release - The dog days of summer come early?

July 6th Vintages Release provides 4 features – the first is California, the second Pure Pleasure – a white wine compendium of fresh and fruity flavours (Take that you LCBO alliterationists), a Niagara on the Lake tourist feature and last but not least  a page containing 12 limited production/ release Ontario wines. Funny thing about this last one though. These wines ‘won’t be on your Vintages shelves’.  You have to go to the LCBO link in the Vintages catalogue  (well actually you have to go four clicks from the link) to find the stores that might be carrying each of these wines. Really? Whose brain child was this? As of this writing on June 25th, the wines are already in store and available so you can be sure the demand for most of them can be best described as tepid. I think Gord Stimmel wrote about them in last weekend’s Star too.
Back to the wines in the release.  It would appear that this one is a return to the mediocrity to which we have become accustomed.  The release works very hard to score only 64 points in the VRSS.  Those of you pressed for time can turn to page 42 for the best (or is that the only good?) single page in the release.  If they are to your tastes, the five wines on the page should provide good QPR value. In a bizarre Big M tribute (or maybe it was to Darryl Sittler?) two of them were #27 on the Wine Enthusiast’s Top 100 wines of the year for ’11 and ’12.
Whites
Kung Fu Girl Evergreen Reisling 2011 – $18.95 – 279 cases - Sweet on the fore palate but with sufficient acidity to balance the sweetness, I quite like this wine. So does my 20 year old daughter.  My wife? Not so much. Buy accordingly.
REDS
Chateau Ste. Michelle Indian Wells Cabernet Sauvignon - $25.85 – 167 cases. This one is a favourite of mine in spite of the fact that the LCBO has the Indian Wells Cab overpriced by between eight and ten dollars. Spice, black fruit- currants especially, hints of cedar.
Dandelion Vineyards Lionheart of the Barossa – $20.95- 767 cases- A big Barossa Shiraz that has become quite popular here in Ontario. Peppery, black fruit, nice hints of licorice, and for you visual marketing types, a very classy label.
Mazzei Ser Lapo Chianti Classico 2008 $24.95 – 599 cases of 6 – Well scored, 93 points from James Suckling but remember this is James Suckling, Web Wine Guy, not the JS of the Wine Spectator. The ’06 and ’07 of this wine were very good. You can do far worse in this release.
Pinyolet Garnacha 2011- $17.95 – 499 cases - Grenache, so expect big raspberry aromas and flavours. Mr. Parker’s review reads like one for a big southern Rhone bargain!
Vina Olabarri Gran Reserva 2004 $24.95 – 279 cases - A Rioja for you fans of the genre.
Cameron Hughes Lot 285 Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 - $29.95 – 299 cases – I had to work very hard to find something worthwhile in the Cali feature of the release. This wine could be very good or less than average. At this price it had better be very good.  
Rosés
There are eight rosés in this release. My picks are two west coast options and an Ontarian. Try  the See Ya Later Ranch Nelly 2011 or the Charles and Charles  2012 rosé or the Featherstone 2012 at $16.95, $15.95  and $14.95 respectively.
BIG Bucks
Spend ‘em if you’ve got ‘em –
Mastrojanni Brunello di Montalcino 2007 – $49.95 - Very well scored and age worthy! Galloni and Suckling liked it a lot!
Xavier Cuvee Anonyme Chateauneuf du Pape 2009 - $59.95 – Parker says 96 points. Give it a few years in a quiet dark place before you try to find out!


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