Tuesday, April 21, 2015

May 2nd Release - Food and Drink - prices are anything but special.

For Ontario wine buyers, no ‘special’ bargains but some OK options in this release.  
ARGENTINA
NORTON RESERVA MALBEC 2011   3494 cases of 12- $17.00  - An OK buy if you’re a Malbec fan.  Made the WS Top 100 last year so a multi unit purchase might be worthy of consideration, if only because BBQ season is upon us and charred red meats are in our future for some months to come.
TRIVENTO GOLDEN RESERVE MALBEC 2012 384 cases of 12-  $19.95   - Too bad for it that it’s up against Mr. Norton this release.
AUSTRALIA
  CHÂTEAU TANUNDA GRAND BAROSSA CABERNET SAUVIGNON   614 cases of 12-  $23.95  - A relative newcomer to Ontario producing quality juice.
 BRITISH COLUMBIA
JACKSON-TRIGGS SUNROCK RED MERITAGE 2010   111 cases of 6-  $29.95 – Produced using grapes from a wonderful site in the Southern Okanagan, SunRock holds a special place for me. This is a very well made wine.
CHILE
SANTA RITA MEDALLA REAL GRAN RESERVA CABERNET   839 cases of 12-  $17.95  - Always very good and a reflection of Chilean terroir – but definitely more green flavours than the Aussie options in this release.
MIDI
 GÉRARD BERTRAND LANGUEDOC SYRAH/GRENACHE 2011  3198 cases of 12-  $17.00  - 90 points from WS  and trumpeted as another Food and Drink ‘special’ by the LCBO. But don’t read CostcoWineBlog.com because you’ll find it there for $9.99 US. Explain to me again why we have to pay these prices?
 Dourthe Freres CHÂTEAU DE SÉRAME RÉSERVE DU CHÂTEAU  394 cases of 12-  $16.95 – Right there with the Bertrand and 5 cents less.
RHÔNE
BROTTE BOUVENCOURT VACQUEYRAS 2013   449 cases of 12- $23.95  - Love the fruit – and it’ll be fruity! Needs some time to come around. Give it a year or two.
E. GUIGAL CROZES-HERMITAGE 2011  302 cases of 12-  $28.95 – Lamb in your future? Go for this. Want to do an Old World Syrah vs New World Shiraz taste off? Go for this for your old world rep. Give it time and/or air. You’ll smell earth, bacon (well smokey meat fat anyhow) maybe even some barnyard. Relax, it’s part of the charm!
  PIEDMONT
G.D. VAJRA BARBERA D'ALBA 2011  273 cases of 12-  $21.95 – Want to try some Piedmontese examples but think Barolo is too expensive? Try this one.
TUSCANY
IL MOLINO DI GRACE CHIANTI CLASSICO 2011   1297 cases of 12-  $18.95 – Lots of bottles so no rush here.
 SPAIN
CASTAÑO SOLANERA VIÑAS VIEJAS 2012   999 cases of 12- $16.95 – Read carefully – this is not a recommendation but rather a FEW words of warning.   Do you already have some of this in your cellar? It wouldn’t surprise me a bit because in the August 27th release last year it was a ‘Food and Drink Special’ at $17. Now here we are with our wonderful LCBO buying team buying less and somehow managing to sell it for less than that so called ‘Food and Drink special’. Further proof that this arm of the government is not here to serve the populace but to screw it with perhaps not false but somewhat misleading advertising! Even the laws of supply and demand don’t seem to apply to our intrepid bureaucrats.
MARQUÉS DE CÁCERES GRAN RESERVA 2005 - 349 cases of 12-  $29.95
WASHINGTON STATE
COLUMBIA CREST GRAND ESTATES MERLOT 2012   952 cases of 12-  $16.95 – Espresso, mocha, vanilla, black fruits. That about covers it.

BIG BUCKS
LA GERLA BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO 2009  173 cases of 12-  $49.95
BOSQUET DES PAPES CUVÉE TRADITION  Chateauneuf du Pape 2012 149 cases of 12-  $49.95
CHÂTEAU DE VAUDIEU CHÂTEAUNEUF-DU-PAPE   98 cases of 12-  $59.95
BERINGER KNIGHTS VALLEY RESERVE CABERNET SAUVIGNON   223 cases of 6 -  $69.95

BREZZA CANNUBI BAROLO 2010   99 cases of 12- $64.95 

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