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From Fall Fairs
It's been another one of those 300+ tasting weeks. On Tuesday I retasted the entire September 27th release with the LCBO wine consultants and then attended two additional tasting events later in the day. On Wednesday night I went to Globe Bistro for an excellent Stratus winemaker's dinner. On Thursday, it was a busy afternoon trade tasting of some 70 Sonoma wines. And then today, Friday, September 19, I have just returned from LCBO lab after a five hour non-stop pretasting of the 100 items scheduled for the October 25 Vintages release. I know it sounds like fun, but believe me, doing this every day adds up to a lot of work – especially if you have to publish your comments on what you have tasted. Please accept my apologies for not being able to attend or taste everything – it just isn't physically possible. The first edition of
On the way the Stratford we stopped at Oak Grove Cheese Factory, which is just to the right of the Highway 7 West in New Hamburg at the Peel Street exit. It's only open 9-5 on weekdays and 9-1 on Saturday. The cheddar was particularly good and very well priced – the medium is $7.35 lb, while extra old is a bargain at $9.95 lb. The cheese factory has been operating here since 1879. It is currently owned by the Langenedder family, who bought it1927. It's about as casual and countrified as you can get. Here is the map – to check directions call 519-662-1212. Bring a cooler - don't miss it!
Biodynamic Finds
From Italy, I was impressed with the fine plummy fruit and fine accessibility of the Erbaluna 2004 Barolo, which sells for $54.95. At this point in time, it is more attractive that the firmer, more expensive ($67.95) Vigna Rocche. For information on the Living Vine click here. Lots of Laughs Coming up: Vintages September 28th release recommendations and recent highlights from the Feast of Fields and the Picnic at Brick Works. Also, our September 28 edition of Vintage Assessments is now available and is posted on the FBTI Supporter section of the website. To see click here.
September 13th Vintages Release
It's Friday, September 12th and some 131 new listings are being placed on Vintages shelves. This includes 16 In-Store Discoveries, which, unfortunately, do not appear in the Vintages Catalogue. These are arbitrarily allocated by Vintages head office to up to 30 stores who are authorized to carry ISDs. Store managers and consultants have no input in determining what they might get. In Toronto, they are usually found in Queens Quay, Summerhill and Bayview Village. Here is the list where they might appear. At one time wine writers were permitted to taste and report on these wines, but no longer. We have been forbidden to assess these items. They are still put out for LCBO consultants, but writers must stay away. The unfinished bottles are poured down the sink. According to Vintages management, the reason that writers must not taste ISDs relate to LCBO inconvenience resulting customer orders. The Vintages claim that "they sell too quickly" just doesn't reflect reality. Quantities are often small but many of my readers will not buy without having me pretaste and assess the wine. Here is the list: Spirits: Dessert Wine: White Table Wine: ALEGORIA TARDIO 2005 (Navarro Correas) SAUVIGNON BLANC 2007 (Schubert Wines) GRUNER VELTLINER HEFEABZUG TROCKEN 2006 (Nikolaihof Wachau) POUILLY FUME 2005 (Chateau De Tracy) CHÂTEAUNEUF-DU-PAPE BLANC 2006 (Chateau la Nerthe) Red Table Wine: RESERVE PINOT NOIR 2005 (Rodney Strong) ZINFANDEL 2002 (Saviez Vineyards) GE ORGANIC WINE 2003 (Vinedos Emiliana) GERHARD GRENACHE 2005 (Glaymond Wines) POMMARD CLOS DES URSULINES 2005 (Domaine du Pavillon) BEAUNE SAVIGNY-LAVIERES 2005 (Domaine Tollot-Beaut) BODEGAS FONTANA QUERCUS 2004 I wish I could say that the importers really cared about the sale of these wines, but most do not. From the few I have tasted, I can highly recommend the gently toasty Lailey 2006 Old Vines Chardonnay at $30.15, which is the best Chard I have tasted from this relatively new (it opened in 2000) Niagara on the Lake winery. Winemaker Derek Barnett produced less than 300 cases and the 178 bottles at Vintages are the last that remain. Another outstanding selection is the pricier, albeit refined, ripe pear-driven Chateau la Nerthe 2006 Chateauneuf-du-Pape at $62.95. If I have a chance to taste any of these ISDs I will give you an update.
On the second floor of Reds Bistro on Tuesday, September 9th at 11:30 am we did a comparative tasting of six pairs of wines. Starting with the white Yattarna Chardonnay (2002 vs. 2005), Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz (1990 vs. 2005), St. Henri Shiraz (1991 vs. 2004), RWT Shiraz (1998 vs. 2005), Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon (1990 vs. 2005) and Grange (1990 vs. 2003). We also had the Penfolds Eden Valley 2007 Riesling, three vintages of Magill Estate Shiraz (2005, 2002 and 2001) and finished up with a glorious taste of 1967 Bin 7 Cabernet Shiraz . The latter was remarkably delicious and was still very lively with medium bodied, smooth albeit complex, very gently spicy, faintly sweaty, ripe plum and black cherry puree flavours with a lingering, subtle, sandalwood-cedar finish. Sadly my scribblings cannot really convey how the flavours, blessed with their blush of maturity, were intermingled so as to produce even more than the named parts.
The 2005 Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz was just terrific with 94-96 points. Seductive, fairly rich and harmonious with very faintly earthy, complex, ripe plum, dark chocolate and faintly spicy, dried red cherry nuances. There was just a wisp of smoke and mocha-chocolate on the finish. Moving on to the St. Henri Shiraz, again I preferred the 1991 (93/94 points) to the 2004 (89/90 points). The 2004 St. Henri Shiraz was a bit peppery at first, but well structured with good extract and plummy, ripe red and black cherry flavours. It will be appearing in the November Classics Catalogue (510875) at $64. The 1991 St. Henri Shiraz was very classy with mineral-tinged, fairly harmonious, plummy, mocha-tinged flavours along with hints of dried strawberry and herbs de Provence. It finished very bright with pleasantly acidic, crancherry notes. The 2005 RTW Shiraz is 100% Barossa and only uses French oak (70% new). I scored it 94/95 with its surprisingly juicy and accessible with plummy, ripe black cherry flavours. I preferred it to the 1998 RTW Shiraz, which I scored 90 points. It seemed to have some slightly bitter, herbal notes and dusty plum and dried cherry flavours. Peter Gago emphasized that it was the last time 100% new oak was used.
As for the 1990 Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon, I rated it 95 with its complex, sandalwood-driven, dried plummy-red cherry flavours with herbs de Provence and faintly bitter mocha-chocolate notes on the lingering finish.
By contrast, the 1990 Grange was still extraordinarily youthful with its much deeper, more intense purple colour. The latter did not waiver an inch after 30 hours – narry a hint of aging! The nose was initially a bit more compressed with plumy, dried ripe cherry fruit. It opened up nicely with some ripe, Bordeaux-like, cassis-plum-cherry fruit. It had a lovely veneer of age - solid, intense and yet harmonious on the palate with ripe plums and red and black cherry flavours with a long, lingering, fairly rich, mocha-based, sandalwood-elderberry finish. A truly great wine.  The purpose of this tasting also demonstrated how well these wines, certainly those made in great years, can stand up. It supports the great value of the free Penfolds recorking clinic, which applies to all wines over 15 years of age. A great asset for all collectors is the new sixth edition of The Rewards of Patience, which will be hitting the stores in the near future. This 358-page book chronicles the vast array and depth of the Penfolds portfolio with revised tasting notes on each and every vintage. It is invaluable for collectors and, despite my cynicism for such self-aggrandizing efforts, is a great service to wine lovers everywhere. To see how some of these great wines have evolved over the decades is very valuable. Whether I agree with the evaluations or not, the credibility of the tasters who have tried to do their best is really all that matters.
The only shortcoming is the absence of a user-friendly listing on which pages each of the different wines can be found.
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Charles Baker
It was a real treat to taste the flavourful, organic vegetables grown by 
Before I forget, I want to mention this weekend's events in Stratford. After an all too long absence, I finally went down to catch Cabaret (rated 
When I visited earlier this summer, I dined at Pazzo Ristorante and was impressed with the quality of cuisine and wine list. We ordered a bottle of 
Last Tuesday at a tasting organized by 
My personal highlight was 
The most fun I had all week was seeing Spamalot 
Today's Vintages best buy red is actually a repeat that appeared earlier this year. Those who missed (including myself) the sold out $225 Torbreck wine dinner at Barberians on Thursday night, can still buy the delicious, ready-to-drink, 
Earlier today, I had a chance to meet Torbreck winemaker 
Earlier in the week I tasted with another Australian icon, 
Starting with the 
By the way, for those who missed it, I have to mention my Recommended/Best Buy from the Adelaide Hills. 
Here are some additional notes on the other reds presented. I now know why Bin 389 is Australia's #1 cellared wine - older vintages are drinking beautifully. The 
Both vintages of Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon showed beautifully. The 
Finally, there was the grand icon Grange. Here I did something different and took remnants home with me in my small ISO glasses. I wanted to see how the 1990 and 2003 would stand up after 30 hours. The 
Postscript. At lunch we were served a terrific Yellow Fin Tuna Tartar with pineapple, hearts of palm, chili, sesame and soy. It was called Ahi Poke was truly exceptional, especially with the fresh, dry, crisp, ripe lemon-melon-lime flavours of with the