Best Buys at Vintages
Upcoming December 6th Release
& Special Vintages Sales

Michael Vaughan
Thursday, December 4, 2008

It isn’t easy to track all the offerings at Vintages, which reasons beyond my comprehension seem to be kept secret.  First of all we have the regular December 6th release, which actually hits the shelves tomorrow Friday, December 5th. It has a So Fine thematic featuring 56 selections (7 spirits, 1 port, 7 whites, 27 reds, 1 rosé, 8 champagne and 5 sparkling). There are a total of 180 items including 29 Vintages Essentials (coded as VEC) and 43 In-Store Discoveries (coded as ISD). While none of te latter have been tasted, most of the regular releases have been tasted twice.

At the same time, Vintages has developed several special December sales that are designed to move product. As no list have been yet made available for Vintages customers full details are posted below

Vintages Holiday Sale: 71 items (December 8 - January 3)
Vintages Holiday Fizz Sale: 18 items (December 15 - January 3)
Vintages Insiders Direct Sale: 160 items
(December 8 - through V-Mail only)

Vintages Special AirMiles promotion: 8 items (December 6 - 20)

Regular Monthly Vintages Promotion (November 30 - January 3)
Vintages AirMiles promotion: 6 items
Vintages LTO promotion: 5 items

There are lots of great deals. Of the 14 Champagnes on sale from December 15 to January 3, discounts will vary from $7 to $28.

Beginning Monday, December 8th the 160-item Vintages Insiders Direct Sale (none rated) includes white Burgundies like Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet Clavoillon (737700), which will be reduced from $125 to $69. Don’t get your expectations up – there are only 11 bottles available in 4 stores - the 2 in Toronto have 5 bottles. In the other 159 sales items, however, there are some very decent buys with reasonable quantities available.  If you want to get access to the list immediately, I suggest you become an FBTI Supporter. Sign up until 6 pm on Friday, December 5th and we will email you the Vintages sale lists along with my December 6th issue of Vintage Assessments. CLICK HERE to sign up.

The same thing applies to the 71 items on the Vintages Holiday Sale (70 rated), which also begins on December 8th. It included some of my best buys and discounts run about 20%. An example is Bouchard Pere et Fils 2005 Beaune Teurons (653675) reduced from $52.95 to $42.95 released in Vintages on October 11, 2008. It rated **+/*** and as of today December 8th, there is plenty on hand. Here is my note: Deep purple red colour. The nose is fairly intense with slightly spicy, faintly dusty, plummy, ripe red apples and dried red cherry notes. On the palate it is dry, medium bodied, fairly harmonious, plummy, ripe red cherry-apple flavours with a lingering finish. It would work well with turkey – even salmon.

As for the December 6th release, here are five of my best buy selections:

Recommended **+
726828 Graham's Crusted Port $32.95
Bottled 2001, DO Douro
(150 Cases) (20%) [Mar Ant]
Very deep intense purple colour. Spicy, plummy, crancherry nose. Sweet, rich, spicy, baked plum and black cherry flavours with a lingering finish.
Drinkability: { N S SM M ML l } -- Lot: L082720

Release Highlight ***+
26682 Beringer 2006 Private Reserve Chardonnay $49.95
Napa Valley, California
(500 Cases) (14.8%)  [Fos Win]
Bright light yellow colour. Quite lovely, complex, intense, slightly smoky, key lime pie nose. Very intense and yet harmonious with dry, medium-full bodied, extracty, ripe lemon, Anjou pear and key lime pie flavours. Refreshing, attractive, lingering, high acid finish. Even better than the Recommended 2005 (***) released on June 7, 2008 at $44.95.
Drinkability: { N S SM M ml } -- Lot: L0829071352

Recommended **/**+
680959 Santa Rita 2007 Floresta Sauvignon Blanc $19.95
Leyda Valley, Chile
(200 Cases of 6) (13.5%)  [Mar Ant]
Bright light straw colour. Attractive, grassy, ripe green peach and Anjou pear nose. Very crisp, dry, well structured, medium bodied, bright, grassy, ripe Anjou pear flavours with a fine grassy finish.
Drinkability: { N S SM } -- Lot: L8218A

Recommended **+/***
47605 Glaetzer 2006 Wallace Shiraz/Grenache $26.95
Barossa Valley, South Australia
(2560 Cases of 6) (15.8%)  [Fre Hou]
This blend of 70% Shiraz and 30% Grenache has a very deep intense purple red colour. Intense, spicy, fairly cedary, very juicy, black cherry nose. Dry, medium-full bodied, extracty, plummy, black cherry purée flavours with a long, lingering, cedary finish. Screwcap closure.
Drinkability: { n S SM M ML L xl }

Recommended **
684753 Porca De Murça 2004 Reserva Tinto $19.95
DOC Douro
(800 Cases of 6)  [HHD Imp]
This blend of Tinta Roriz (aka Tempranillo), Touriga Nacional and Francesa has an extremely intense purple colour. Slightly cedary, spicy, plummy, blueberry nose with some mocha-chocolate notes. Solid, dry, well structured, medium to medium-full bodied, ripe, plummy, dark chocolate-cherry flavours with a harmonious, lingering finish. Better than the recommended 2003 (*+/**) released on November 10, 2007 at $17.95.
Drinkability: { N S SM M ml } -- Lot: L-8200

Discovering Tawse ISD Releases

Michael Vaughan
Saturday, November 28, 2008

On Tuesday I received a nice surprise. Daniel Lafleur sent me an email wondering if I had a chance to try the Tawse wines being released as Flagship in-store discoveries. Of course, the answer was no - Vintages refuses to let winewriters taste the open ISD bottles in the lab.

A former LCBO employee, Daniel is now the national sales manager of Tawse winery. The very next day, Daniel was at my door and we sat down to work our way through the four Tawse ISDs. It was great to taste these wines chez moi and, even better, Daniel was able to zoom off with the freshly-opened bottles to taste them with various clients.

What a breath of fresh air. On the fingers of one hand, I can count the times that individual Ontario wineries have taken the initiative to call and see if I was able to taste. Sadly, my inhumane crowded tasting schedule doesn’t provide me with sufficient time to cruise around the wineries. In any case, I find that I tend to mark the wines too high under the scrutiny of the winemaker, meaning it’s better to do it peacefully at my home office.

Here is the Tawse ISD scoop:

*** Recommended – Vintages ISD release December 6th
ISD 111989 QUARRY ROAD CHARDONNAY 2006 $35.20
VQA Vine Mount Ridge
(Tawse) (56 Cases) (13.5%)
2400 bottles produced – no half bottles

From 2006, the winemaker is Paul Pender. Light straw colour. Fairly intense, lively, expressive, slightly spicy, vanilla tinged, ripe pear purée with slight hints of tropical fruit cocktail with slightly mineral tinged. Dry, well structured, medium to medium-full bodied, melo and ripe lemon meringue flavours with a hint of dried Anjou pear and some buttery-toasty notes on the finish.

**+/*** - Vintages ISD release December 6th
ISD 662841 ROBYN'S BLOCK CHARDONNAY 2005 $48.60
VQA Niagara Peninsula – Twenty Mile Bench
(Tawse) (56 Cases) (13.9%)
2500 bottles produced – no half bottles

This wine was started by former winemaker Debra Paskus (now at Closson Chase winery in PEC) and was finished by Paul Pender. Light yellow colour. Fairly intense, somewhat toasty, vanilla-tinged, ripe lemon-melon fruit with some tropical fruit cocktail notes. Hint of white pepper, it gets better with breathing. Very spicy, dry with some slightly sweetish notes. Fairly intense, very toasty, ripe lemon-melon flavours with a lingering, slightly tropical, pinapple-tinged finish. A bit over the top for my taste.

Recommended *** - Vintages ISD release November 22nd
ISD 55079 Cabernet Franc 2006 $38.20
VQA Niagara Peninsula
(Tawse) (56 Cases) (12.5%)
2400 bottles produced

Consistently one of the best Cab Francs in Ontario, even though this vintage wasn’t the greatest. Deep intense purple colour. The nose is gently complex, intense and slightly spicy with red peppercorn-tinged, plummy, dried red and black cherry fruit along with some fine vanilla notes. Intense, nicely structured, medium bodied, plummy, dried ripe red cherry flavours with hints of vanilla on the lingering, harmonious finish. A very well made Cabernet Franc with lots of total acidity (6.97 g/l).

Recommended ***/***+ - Vintages ISD release Dec. 6th
ISD 111971 DAVID'S BLOCK MERLOT 2006 $45.20
VQA Twenty Mile Bench
(Tawse) (20 Cases) (13%)
2300 bottles produced
Note: tasted from a half bottle ($25.10) about 100 units left at winery

Very deep intense purple colour. Ripe plum with very slightly dusty ripe red and black cherry nose with hints of cassis-blueberry with just a touch of oak. Very nice, well structured, medium to medium-full bodied, fairly extracty, plummy, ripe cranberry-tinged, red and black cherry purée flavours with a lingering, slightly cedary, vanilla stick finish along with excellent acidity.

Recommended ***+ - Vintages ISD release December 6th
ISD 111963 MERITAGE 2006 $48.20
VQA Twenty Mile Bench
(Tawse) (56 Cases) (13%)
5022 bottles produced
Note: tasted from a half bottle ($26.10) about 100 units left at winery

This blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc has a deep intense purple colour. Slightly spicy, fairly complex, baked ripe plum with mocha-coffee nose and gently cedary, vanilla notes. Fine, classy, elegant, well structured, medium to medium-full bodied,  fairly extracty, plummy, dried ripe red and black cherry flavours with a harmonious, well integrated, lingering, gentle garrigue-tinged finish.

To hear winemaker Paul Pender explain how the Tawse winery works click here

The Flagship stores are:

#38 • Ottawa-Central
275 Rideau Street
Telephone (613) 789-5226

#217 • Toronto-Central
2 Cooper Street
Telephone (416) 864-6777

#355 • Toronto-North York
2901 Bayview Avenue
Telephone (416) 222-7658

#10 • Toronto-Central
10 Scrivener Square
Telephone (416) 922-0403

#467 • St. Catharines
115 Lakeshore Road
Telephone (905) 934-4822