Vintage Assessments

Now in it's 20th year with detailed tasting notes by Michael Vaughan one of Canada's best tasters.
You will receive Vintage Assessments free as an FBTI Supporter
It provides detailed reviews of all LCBO Vintages Releases & dreports on all In-Store Discoveries (ISDs)
Wine critics & professional buyers all agree that no other report in Canada is as comprehensive, consistent and detailed.

Special Free Edition
August 21st
Discover great values!
click here

August 21 Release Summary
click here

This is the only guide with 100% coverage
(most reviewers cover only a fraction of the release missing up to 30% of the items)

Find out what was tasted!

How many cases?

Who is the agent?

How long will it keep?

What are the best buys?

Only in Vintage Assessments

To see our Ratings click here
To see our Drinkability Codes click here
See LCBO store availability by clicking on the name of the wine.

FINDING THE NUMBER OF BOTTLES AVAILABLE
CLICK ON THE NAME OF THE WINE IN THE NEWSLETTER (OUR LIVE WINE LINK)
All of our listings are automatically linked to the LCBO database.

STEP 1
If a product interests you, just click on the name and you will instantaneously be connected with the LCBO database.

STEP 2
You are now on the LCBO website. All you have to do is click on the name again.

STEP 3
The next screen provides details on the item. Just click on find stores.
The # of bottles in each store is updated nightly.
Call the store first to see if stock still remains - the store phone number is listed

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FBTI Supporters also receive
Insider LCBO Delisting Sale Summaries

Vintages Sales
Attention wine buyers: the hidden sales
with our exclusive product availability links

March 14th Vintages "Delisting"
4 items - click here

March 20th Vintages Release Catalogue "SALE"
10 items - click here

In the example below, t here are 41 items in last summer's July 20th Delisting LCBO sell-off - all originally from the March 14th Vintages release. Each sale item is linked to my original tasting note and score. Then you are just a click away from finding how many bottles are in the system. Be aware that nobody else has this information – it’s a Vintage Assessments exclusive that I am proud to share with readers.

A highlight would be Château de Tracy 2007 Mademoiselle de T Pouilly-Fumé (106773) originally at $25.95 now $21.20. It scored **+ (out of ***+) and was a best buy. My tasting note reads: This 100% Sauvignon blanc has an extremely pale straw colour. Intense, attractive, vibrant, slightly grassy, ripe lemon, yellow grapefruit aromas. Very dry, medium to medium-light bodied, attractive, vibrant, lime-tinged, ripe yellow grapefruit flavours. Quite delicious - drink now.

Only 150 cases were imported and as of Wednesday, some 20 cases were spread across 41 stores. What you don’t see, however, is the stock still remaining in the LCBO warehouse. When I last checked, there were only 85 bottles (about 7 cases) meaning that this wine will likely disappear quickly as savvy licensees decide to snap up some the remaining inventory. It’s perfect for summer drinking and would be lovely with fresh fish.

Here are the steps to check out this recommendation (click on image to enlarge):