Wednesday, April 20, 2016

April 30th Vintages - Lots of options, I suppose.


This final release of April means 4 months have gone in another year. Holy smokes, time flies when you’re drinking wine. This week’s Vintages release is a cornucopia of diverse wines and styles. Three different options this week - The Pacific Northwest, Australian Whites, and lastly Roses from around the world. It’s a release that has a lot of promise. Most of it unfulfilled. Ah well.
WHITE TABLE WINE
LOIRE -   CHÂTEAU DE LA BRETESCHE MUSCADET SÈVRE ET MAINE SUR Lie  799 cases of 12  $13.95 – Melon de Burgogne grape  doing a great impression of an unoaked, full fruit, bargain priced chard.
BURGUNDY - VIGNERONS DE BUXY LES CHANIOTS MONTAGNY 1ER CRU 2013   219 cases of 12 $24.95  
BURGUNDY -   VINCENT MOTHE CHABLIS 2014    249 cases of 12 $26.95  
RED TABLE WINE
WASHINGTON St - HOGUE Genesis Meritage – Good, solid wine for the upcoming BBQ season. Black fruits with oak in support. If you like the CC H3 red blend, this’ll be right for you too.
ARGENTINA - LAMADRID SINGLE VINEYARD RESERVA MALBEC 2012   2998 cases of 12  $17.00  A good wine, not up to Suckling’s score but probably 90. Great for the BBQ with marinated steak, burgers or rare lamb chops.
AUSTRALIA -   WAKEFIELD JARAMAN CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2013   380 cases of 12 $24.95 – Wakefield is renowned for the QPR of their wines. This one goes a little upscale but should be very nice.
Australia – SIDEWOOD SHIRAZ 2013 -$19.95 – Festooned with plenty of gold and scored like crazy by Halliday, this is a new Shiraz for me but I’ll be trying it. The ‘drink by 2043’ is pretty difficult to believe. I expect to be long gone by then but so will Halliday, so how is anyone going to call him on it?
AUSTRALIA -   MITOLO JESTER CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2013   493 cases of 12 $22.95 – Good stuff this.  
RHÔNE -LE GRAVILLAS PLAN DE DIEU CÔTES DU RHÔNE-VILLAGES 2014   598 cases of 12 $17.95 – As good as the Domaine le Grand Retour from recent releases? This one is a year younger and 3 bucks more. I’d buy the latter if it’s still available.
TUSCANY - TENUTA DI CAPRAIA CHIANTI CLASSICO 2013   649 cases of 12 $21.95 – Nice, fruit driven Chianti Classico – not a great year though. Did I say it was cold and wet that May?
SPAIN - DOMINIO DEL VIENTO CRIANZA 2011   712 cases of 12  $16.95  - Might be the better of the two Spanish selections this week.
SPAIN -  MARQUÉS DE CARRION PATA NEGRA RESERVA 2010   2991 cases of 12 $17.00 – Price is right but only if this comes in like the Muriel 2008 Reserva of last year. If so, it might be a box worthy purchase. However, two bottles of this were thin, insipid, uninspired, oaky messes when bought and tried at two different times by my brother and sister in law in B.C. The wine was released there recently (for substantially more $, I might add) so I was looking forward to their opinions. Their palates are finely tuned to the old world so for them to be so unimpressed, it had to be less than mediocre. Here’s the lot number from their second bottle – my public service announcement now comes to a close with two words – buyer beware.

ROSE TABLE WINE – Sitting on the deck

ARGENTINA - BODEGA SANTA JULIA VIDA ORGÁNICA MALBEC ROSÉ 2015   523 cases of 12$13.95  
 MIDI - L'OSTAL CAZES ROSÉ 2015   447 cases of 12 $14.95  
PROVENCE - GASSIER SABLES D'AZUR ROSÉ 2015   1199 cases of 12$15.95  

ITALY- FRIULI- DUCA CATEMARIO DI QUADRI COLLEZIONE PRIVATA PINOT   396 cases of 12 $14.95  
SPAIN - VIÑA REAL ROSADO 2015   794 cases of  6 $15.95; MUGA from the previous Catalogue -$13.95
BIG BUCKS and ISDs
ARGENTINA -TRAPICHE TERROIR SERIES FINCA AMBROSIA SINGLE VINEYARD – An ISD so 49 cases of 6 at $39.95 – I love these single vineyard productions from Trapiche. Impenetrably dark, unctuous fruit and a bottle made for wrist curls or for bar fights.
NORMAN HARDIE UNFILTERED CHARDONNAY 2014   131 cases of 12 $39.00 – Perhaps not quite so puckering as his PEC Chard, but very good nonetheless.  

Tuscany-RENDOLA BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO 2004   300 cases of 12  $39.95 – Want to know what your 2010’s will be like in 12 years? Try one of these. 2004 was almost as good a vintage as 2010 so fear not. 

No comments: