| |||||
| |||||
|
Wine Value Awards &
I was cleaning out some old magazines when I came across a pile of pieces I wrote for Toronto Life Magazine. One of the titles was "The day the LCBO found 1200 bottles of superb wine hidden under a pile of straw in Argentina." Ah yes, it was exactly 30 years ago that General George Kitching, the then LCBO equivalent to today's CEO Andy Brandt, personally took his two best tasters to visit more than five dozen European shippers to ultimately select 150 rarities on the spot for Ontario consumers. The ever-proactive Kitching traveled elsewhere, including South America and South Africa, in search of the best. The results were, certainly for the time, quite incredible. They were housed and put on sale in a non-descript second floor "Rare Wines & Spirits Shop" at the LCBO Queen's Quay headquarters on 43 Freeland Street. And so was the birth of today's Vintages.
Unfortunately, also gone are the times when the LCBO's top tasters hit the wine trail in search of obscure rarities, which so obviously excited General Kitching. Instead, agents and producers alike stand in line hoping to receive the blessing of Vintages listings - all too reminiscent of groveling orphans begging for "more gruel please, sir." Those who can afford it are now part of the "Essentials" program (98 items), for which they pay a LCBO fee for their "continuous" listings be they great or just mediocre. Today, most if not all of the current proactive wine discovery work is being done by a handful of agents. They scour the world for those special buys, which are usually destined for their private (i.e. restaurant) clients. This is the consequence of draconian LCBO rules that prevent private agents from selling less than a case to any entity. As any astute buyer knows, one has to act quickly to take advantage of great buys. How many times have I heard complaints that the LCBO has waited six months, a year or even longer before moving on wines being held at their request with no deposit? This combined with the occasional dramatically reduced size of order has made Vintages "the buyer of last choice" among many quality producers. Also, by not being on the spot, Vintages often fails to get the best deals for its customers - meaning us! There is no question that by forcing us to buy a one case minimum from agents (as well as out-of-province Canadian wine producers), the LCBO has stifled choice and reduced their revenues, as non-LCBO store sales are much more cost effective.
Best Buys at Vintages
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 Special AirMiles promotion: 8 items (December 6 - 20) Regular Monthly Vintages Promotion (November 30 - January 3) 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. 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 **+ Release Highlight ***+ Recommended **/**+ Recommended **+/*** Recommended **
|
Of
course, times have changed. 
Also from South Africa’s is 
From Argentina is another great 
Great Champagne is always appreciated and one of my favourites has been moved from Vintages to the General List. 
From the Vintages Holiday Gifts Catalogue the best buy is the ever-reliable sparkling duo from Spain – 
If you are looking for stand-alone, bargain bubbly, try 
Bottled 2001, DO Douro
Napa Valley, California 
Leyda Valley, Chile 
Barossa Valley, South Australia 
DOC Douro