LCBO Destination Wines
New Zealand Wine Fair
A Taste of Austria
& A Gift for Mom

Michael Vaughan
Friday, May 9, 2008

Welcome to Friday First
Tomorrow’s May 10th Vintages release is available today (Friday, May 9th) in most LCBO outlets – I suggest that you call the store first and check out what you want to buy first. Last Saturday I focused on the Ontario highlights of the release and mentioned the May 6th winemaker’s dinner at Globe Bistro.

Great Hidden Bench Winemakers Dinner
If you didn’t attend, you really missed a terrific dinner with splendid wines. It was the best dinner of the year with terrific cuisine. It included a remarkable Yarmouth lobster cuit sous vide with Spring pea risotto, wild leek purée and lobster emulsion paired with their remarkable 2005 Nuit Blanche Rosomel Vineyard. This terrific barrel-aged, toasty, white peach driven, rhubarb-tinged Sauvignon Blanc was simply exquisite. Kudos to chef Ben Heaton and owner/sommelier Ed Ho and whose wine-food pairings worked extremely – about as good as it gets.

Also thanks to Hidden Bench owner Harald Thiel and winemaker Jean-Martin Bouchard for showing some of their best wines. All to often, these events become overly commercial with sales people droning on and an about the virtues of some everyday wine. Not here, they had the courage to feature some of their best, now sold-out library selections.

I am embarrassed to admit that that I have yet to visit the winery, nor have I received wines to sample.  In fact, prior to today’s release, I had not tasted their wines. The Hidden Bench Vintages BEST BUY May 10th releases are posted in last week’s column below. Having tasted their wines for a second time, I stand by my initial recommendations. As an aside, you might be interested that both Harald and I preferred the complex, recommended Hidden Bench 2006 Locust Lane Rosé (68833) at $18.00 with its 15% Syrah vs. the Syrah-free 2007 (only 60 cases produced). The latter reminds me of a fine Tavel and is the stylistic choice of winemaker Jean-Martin.

A Taste of Austria
Note that this month Globe Bistro is focusing on the fine wines of Austria with six Austrian wines being featured by the glass featured in Riedel stemware. On Tuesday, May 13 from 5:30 to 7:30 Globe is hosting the first in a series of Taste and Learn events. In conjunction with their Austrian Wine Month, there will be a tutored tasting of Austrian wines with a selection of canapés featuring local ingredients. Weather permitting, it will be held in the rooftop lounge, Tickets are $20 and include the tasting wines and food – call 416-466-2000.

Looking for Great German Wines?
Get our May 10th issue of Vintage Assessments
Moving on the May 10th release, only FBTI Supporters are able to get my exclusive inside scoop on my four German recommendations (of 9 item being released) – including a Release Highlight. If you are interested in seeing the current May 10th issue of Vintage Assessments along with my detailed wine-buying summary (listing # of cases & agents) click here - we will send you a complimentary copy. Having personally reviewed every wine/spirit for each Vintages release for 18 years, I can assure you that there isn’t anything like it – consistent, reliable reviews of every item, including In Store Discoveries.

The Pleasures of Pinot?
The May 10th Vintages release has a Pinot thematic features 21 Pinot Noir, 5 Pinot Gris, 2 Pinot Blanc and 2 sparklers. I am afraid to say that the 21 Pinot Noir selections are quite lame. The are two recommended exceptions: from New Zealand’s Marlborough region Saint Clair 2006 Tuatara Bay Pinot Noir (57760) at $18.95 and from Spain’s Penedès Miguel Torres 2006 Mas Borràs Pinot Noir (673483) at $25.95. Full details on all these wines, along with aging-profiles, appear in my current issue of Vintage Assessments.

Upcoming New Zealand Wine Fair
Anyone interested in cutting edge wines shouldn’t miss the upcoming annual New Zealand Wine Fair. The Ottawa edition happens on Tuesday, May 13 at the Government Conference Centre, from 7:00 to 9:30 (the trade-only portion is 2:30 to 5:30). Tickets are $50 per person.

The Toronto edition takes place on Thursday, May 15 at the Design Exchange from 7:00 to 9:30 (the trade-only portion is 2:30 to 5:30). To see the tasting booklet of all 177 wines being presented click here. Contact Robert Ketchin at 1-888-993-9927 or email nzwine@ketchin.com or visit www.nzwine-events.ca to order tickets.

The Toronto fair will feature 43 wineries along with a Vintages table. A total of 177 wines will be poured - 49 Sauvignon Blanc from 40 wineries and 43 Pinot Noir from 39 wineries. I have previewed all 21 upcoming NEW ZEALAND releases appearing in the next Vintages release. FBTI Supporters will be receiving my reviews of the entire 124-item May 24th Vintages release by Tuesday, May 13th.  Note that some of my recommended best buys will be appearing at the Vintages booth at the wine fair.

General List Bargain of the Week
OK it’s true - most of the General List stuff I taste weekly – about three-dozen items – are not worthy of a second sip. Many are downright disappointing. Thankfully, there’s something for everyone.

A best buy for anyone on a tight budget is Trapiche 2007 Astica Cuvee Merlot/Malbec (572602) at $15.10 for a 1500 ml magnum – equivalent to $7.55 a bottle. This delicious, dry, medium-bodied, very juicy, plummy, ripe black cherry flavoured red is harmonious, well-structured and ready to drink. Estate-bottled in the Mendoza region of Argentina, the lot number L7323 appears on the back label. 

A sweetie for your Mom

Finally, I don’t know of a single mom who doesn’t love this Italian sweetie – Luxardo Sambuca dei Cesari (40196), which currently has a $1.50 LTO dropping the price to $17.45. This clear coloured elixir is sweet, viscous and loaded with black licorice flavours. It has 38% alcohol so a little goes a long way. This liqueur is guaranteed to make your breath kissing sweet.

Taster’s Diary

Michael Vaughan
Friday, May 2, 2008

Welcome to Friday First
What a week! Having just returned from Rioja with a carryover case of Spanish flu, I was confronted by a series of massive tastings - almost every day this past week. Next week gets worse, what with all the Santé events. Hopefully, I will be feeling up to the challenge.

Upcoming tastings not to be missed include Germany Wines with Jazz, which features over 100 German wines as well as some German food. Held at the Roy Thomson Hall (60 Simcoe Street) on Tuesday, May 6th from 7:00 to 9:00 pm - tickets are $50 per person or $45 for wine club members. For more information contact Ron Fiorelli at 905-815-1581 or email info@GermanWineCanada.org, or visit www.germanwinecanada.org to order tickets. Sommeliers should plan to attend the invitation-only afternoon trade session from 2 to 5:30.

If there is a single winemaker dinner event that excites me, it’s the one taking place on Tuesday, May 6th at Globe Bistro. While not part of Santé, it features one of Canada’s most exciting white wine producers – a tiny new winery called Hidden Bench that has been producing some truly top notch wines since 2005.

Organized by sommelier/co-owner Ed Ho of Globe Bistro (124 Danforth Avenue), it features winemaker Jean-Martin Bouchard and Hidden Bench owner Harald Thiel along with some of their stellar wines. To see the dinner menu click here. It starts at 6:30 pm and a few seats remain at $125 per person. For reservations or more information call 416-466-2000.

In this vein, I should add that three Hidden Bench whites and one rosé are part of the upcoming Discover Ontario Vintages release of May 10th. Three of the four wines being presented are definite destinations. Don’t miss Hidden Bench 2006 Estate Fumé Blanc Rosomel Vineyard (68825) is being released at the winery this weekend (May 3rd). It’s a *** (out of three stars) knockout at $ 28.00. Light yellow colour, it sports a fairly intense, spicy, key lime pie nose with some hints of slightly sweet butter and warmed brioche. On the palate it is intense, very flavourful, well structured and medium-full bodied with bright, key lime pie flavours with an extremely long, lingering, toasty, bright finish.

I also awarded *** to their remarkable Hidden Bench 2005 Estate Bottled Chardonnay (68817). Light yellow colour, it has a very intense, complex, slightly toasty, ripe lemon-key lime pie nose. The palate is rich, medium-full bodied, and very well structured with harmonious, ripe plum and key lime pie flavours and a faintly smoky, vanilla-tinged, lingering, slightly spicy finish. It shows exceptional integration with great acidity, but is too complex for seafood. If you want to wait till next Saturday you will have to pay $35 at Vintages. Let me suggest that you order it today on the Hidden Bench website where it goes for only $30! To check it out click here (a minimum of six bottles are required for any order).

Last but not least is the terrific Hidden Bench 2006 Locust Lane Rosé (68833) at $18.00 (now sold out at the winery), which I awarded the highest rosé score of the year **+/***. This very tasty blend of 70% Pinot Noir, 15% Syrah and 15% Malbec has a medium reddish rosé colour. It has a complex, intense, spicy, slightly smoky, baked ripe plum and dried strawberry nose. On the palate it is dry, harmonious and medium-full bodied with fairly intense, well-structured, plummy and ripe cherry flavours with a long, lingering finish.

Looking back, Monday, April 28th was the Toronto edition of the California Wine Fair. At the enormous 16th annual “Toast to California” Royal York trade luncheon I sat with Zoltan Fekete owner of Kylix Wines. It all seemed like a LCBO-California love-in. God knows how much money California poured into this massive promotion? In a world of me-too-ism, I am happy to report that Zoltan specializes in some of the pricier, more esoteric wines – things that are often found in some of Toronto’s chi-chi restaurants.

I wasn’t disappointed with the first white tasted, Tandem 2004 Porter-Bass Chardonnay which was a *** zinger ($54.95 and coming up in the August 16th Vintages release). It has a very intense, bright, toasty, key lime pie and rhubarb-tinged nose with some hints of pineapple. It is huge on the palate with a whack of lemony, key lime pie flavours that go on and on. It was paired to Brian Fannings delicious smoked salmon and overall the best menu to date – especially for the numbers involved. Call Zoltan at 905-882-1999 for pricing on this awesome Chard.

Porter-Bass Vineyard: Biodynamics has now become quite popular, but in the far west of the Russian River Appellation in the cool, steep hills near Guerneville, one normally sees this applied to easier crops to grow in the cold and damp, such as Redwoods and sheep. Continuing their biodynamic farming, the Porter-Bass family also continues to amaze. The 2003 Chardonnay was almost identical in flavor profile to the 1997 vintage, when Greg La Follette (owner/winemaker of Tandem) made these grapes into the most highly rated Chardonnay of the year from Wine & Spirits (95 rating), a 93 rating from The Wine Spectator and were chosen as “Artisan Winery of the Year”, anchored by Sue and Dirck’s tireless and responsible work with the soil. The Rued (musque) clone, at the top of the vineyard and basket-pressed the old-fashioned way instead of membrane pressed, is always absolutely right-on with its combination of floral notes and feral, attitudinal in-your-face aromas. The Wente clone provides the backbone and structure on the mouth, with deep peach tones to add to the cacophony of aromas. The heat of 2004 tended to not affect this far-flung vineyard, with flavors and timing of picking continuing along in a blessedly orderly manner!  

If you wish to receive the May 10th Edition of Vintage Assessments and get the complete list of exactly what’s worth buying (and avoiding) become an FBTI Supporter today and have our May 10th issue and my personal Shopping List sent to you TODAY click here