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The
forgotten Classics
National Post wine critic lends Vintages a hand
Michael
Vaughan
Wine & Spirits Columnist
National Post • Saturday, April 21, 2001
It’s sad but
true but the old saying “out of sight, out of mind” certainly applies
to the LCBO’s attempts to put some sizzle into their Classics Catalogue
selections. A basic rule in marketing 101 is that location is everything.
And when Vintages locks its best wines away in a warehouse far from the
buyer’s eyes, they’re forgotten. The time has come to get a Classics
store up and running! And in the meantime, spread the wealth through the
existing Vintages outlets.
While the
glitzy, well-known labels to run off the shelves, it’s the tasty
undiscovered gems that invariably don’t move. While it helps to
highlight these remnants in the monthly Vintages catalogue, but unless
they’re visibly recommended by a wine critic or, better yet,
sampled in the stores, sales remain flat! After all, they’re
expensive and there’s a risk as almost every wine featured is
unabashedly plugged as a “winner” by LCBO writers - who is one to
believe?
Having had the
opportunity to taste a number of the Classics let me throw in my two cents
to help the cause. Please note that my full detailed tasting notes of all
34 Classics presented by the LCBO are posted on my website - many of these
items have not been reviewed elsewhere.
There are
three excellent New World Cabernet Sauvignons worthy of a detour. The
first is a little gem from the Wala Wala region of Washington State, a
tiny sub-appellation that hugs the Columbia River. Seven
Hills 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon Seven Hills Vineyard is deep dark
red in colour with an extremely attractive nose featuring slightly spicy,
bright, dried cherry and roasted plum purée fruit.
It’s dry but rounded with lovely, vibrant, ripe red cherry
flavours.
Seven Hills
was created thirteen years ago, the first crush producing only 250 cases
of Cab and Merlot. Winemaker Casey McClellan made this ‘98 from 10-year
old ungrafted vines. While the vineyard was sold in 1995, the grapes
remain under contract. At $28 US at the winery, the Classics price of $37
is most reasonable.
Perhaps even a
tad more delicious is Clos
LaChance 1997 Santa
Cruz Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon
an excellent buy at $35 ($34 in the upcoming Spring Catalogue). The nose
is very spicy and bright with ripe red cherry and red currant fruit.
It’s medium bodied, dry but rounded with gently cedary, cassis and ripe
plum purée flavours. It has lovely balance, great accessibility and a
delicious lingering finish.
Bill and Brenda Murphy founded Clos LaChance
in 1992 just south of San Francisco. Only 2,000 cases of this Cab (blended
with 5% each of Cabernet Franc and Merlot) was produced. Winemaker Jeff
Ritchey’s secret of the getting the soft tannins and abundance of fruit
is to hand punch down the must in small fermenters which is followed by
aging in French and American oak, one-third new.
My final
selection comes from Chile. Moving up a notch in terms of price and
quality, I would be hard pressed to find any comparably-priced Bordeaux
that offers as much joy as Santa
Rita 1997 Casa Real Cabernet Sauvignon - an immense wine at a
go-n-get’em price of $47. Now that may not seem inexpensive, but let me
assure you that it’s great value. Beneath the deep dark purple colour is
a remarkably fine nose, which exudes cassis and ripe plum purée fruit
along with some hints of cedar. It’s very well structured and rich on
the palate. And yet it’s wonderfully creamy and approachable with
herbaceous, red licorice, ripe cherry and blueberry purée flavours that
show great length.
Grown in the
irrigated Maipo Valley foothills of the Andes, Classics should be
congratulated on snagging 160 cases of this delicious red even if it has
only sold at a snail’s pace. Hopefully, this review will inspire fans to
venture forth and try what is certainly an insider’s best buy!
Another group
of wines that have been moving slowly are the sweet Tokays of Hungary.
Thanks to flying winemaker Thomas Laszlo who lives in the Niagara
Peninsula region and commutes to the wineries I was able to taste one of
the Classics most expensive whites. At $32.60 an ounce ($575 per 500 ml) Château
Pajzos 1993 Esszencia leaves upcoming release of 1991 Château
d’Yquem in the dust ($17.31 an ounce). Keep in mind that the ’93 is
still available at the SAQ signatures at only $495 (the lowest price) or
if your dinning at CharlieTrotters in Chicago $600 US plus taxes on the
winelist!
This elixir
has a deep golden amber colour. The still youthful nose is sweet with
refined fruit focusing on honeyed orange marmalade with hints of biscotti
and summer wildflowers. It’s quite explosive on the palate with
extremely velvety, rich, honeyed, orange citrus flavours that jump about
with just the right level of strarfruit acidity. It finishes with a
flourish of tangy, honeyed-caramel flavours that are totally complete on
their own. Keep in mind that it has almost 50% residual sugar (twice as
much as most icewines) and only 4.7% alcohol which took four agonizingly
slow years of fermentation to achieve.
So what makes
this wine so pricey? Naysayers may point to the Wine Spectator’s score
of 99 out of 100. In fact it’s not only very good but also extremely
rare. In a good year, only 2 to 5% of all the grapes collected will
produce sufficiently botrytized grapes with noble rot to qualify to
produce Esszencia. In ’93 this concentrated nectar achieved an
astounding 62% sweetness and only free run juice could be used meaning
that 1,500 liters constitutes the world’s total supply. When to drink
it? British collectors refuse to touch the stuff unless its pushing100
years which is a tad longer than I can wait.
Of course, you can always go to Charlie Trotters in Chicago where a
bottle 1827 can be had for $3,750 us.
As for the upcoming 2001 Spring/Summer Classics Catalogue, the full list of all 521 wines and spirits is now on my website (click here) and of this group, approximately 320 are new. Keep in mind the upcoming tasting of the Classics 2001 Spring/Summer Collection. The full list of all 60 wines being tasted is on my website (click here). It all takes place at Toronto’s Sheraton Centre Hotel Thursday, May 17th from 6:30 to 9:00 pm! To purchase tickets ($85), call the Vintages Customer service line at (416) 365-5767 or toll free at 1-800-266-4764. The same event will also be held in Ottawa at the Chateau Laurier, Wednesday, May 9, 2001 6:30—9:00 p.m.
Copyright
Food & Beverage Testing Institute of Canada 2004
Prior written permission is required for any form of reproduction
(electronic or other wise) and or quotation.
Contact Michael Vaughan at
mbv@total.net