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All the Best for the Holiday Season ^©
By Michael Vaughan • Weekly Wine & Spirits Columnist
Saturday, December 15^th

First of all, let me wish all my readers and subscribers the very best for holiday season.  It’s been an extremely prolific, albeit challenging year.  On the positive side, I have had the window to visit more wine regions and taste more wines than ever before.  Heart felt thanks to all the individuals and wineries that kindly opened up their doors allowing me to taste their wares.

Of course there were the disappointments.  Less than a week after the World Trade Centre disaster, the new National Post owners decided to make a series of drastic cuts basically abandoning subscribers who had rallied to its support.  The Post policy of less for more simply hasn’t paid off.  What was once the most dynamic newspaper in the country is now but a mere shadow of its former self.  Naturally I was disappointed that my own weekly column couldn’t be continued because of the lack of funds. 

I am always trying to play catch-up on new listings at the LCBO.  Like most writers, I occasionally get sample bottles of new listings.  Unfortunately, many of these wines go unreported because they’re not worth recommending.  I started to rethink this policy when a winery marketing person recently asked when I was going to publish the review of a wine that was recently sent.  Well I spent this Saturday playing catch-up, blind tasting some two dozen samples – split evenly between reds and whites.  The results have been ordered by score:  -- Poor;  - Below Average;  * Average;  *+ Above Average;  ** Very Good;  **+ Excellent;  *** Outstanding.  Only a single bottle of each wine was sampled in a small tulip-shaped, INAO glass (also known as an ISO glass), which is the industry standard.  Of course, different glasses will make the same wine taste different thereby altering the score.  To get the most out of any wine, it’s advisable to try it in a variety of glasses and choose the one in which it tastes best.

Here are the results listed in order of score with the wines in bold colour being recommended: 

With the annual 2002 Pacific Northwest Wine Fair coming up on Tuesday, January 29^th at Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall, I once again urge you to consider acquiring the just-published Wines of the Pacific Northwest: A contemporary guide to the wines, regions and producers by Lisa Sara Hall.  This brand new comprehensive guide is indispensable for anyone wanting to explore the wines of this area.  There are excellent thumbnail sketches of individual Washington and Oregon wineries, region by region along with the telephone number, email and even website address.  Published by Mitchell Beazley in the UK and distributed by McArthur and Company, it sells for $50 at The Cookbook Store.  To get information on the upcoming Fair click here.

Also hot off the press is The New Sotheby’s Wine Encyclopedia: Revised and Updated by Tom Stevenson (DK, 2001 ~ Firefly Books).  The 1997 first edition of this beautifully illustrated, well-documented, 600-page opus has just been updated (although I still haven’t seen it). The original had outstanding maps and was a pleasure to read both for experts and neophytes.  It sells for $75 but, unfortunately, very few stores seem to have it in stock.

Perhaps the most important wine book of the year is the newly revised edition of The World Atlas of Wine, Fifth Edition (Mitchell Beazley, $75).  Hugh Johnson first launched this classic in 1971 and it’s amazing to think that the first four editions have sold more than 3.5 million copies.  He invited fellow Briton Jancis Robinson to “co-author” this opus, which in fact meant, “basically do all the work and fully update the book.”  Johnson did, however, review all updated notes provided by Robinson.  This included a substantial reduction in the copy devoted to Hungarian wines (Johnson happens to hold significant interests in a Tokay producer).   

The update is excellent ~ greatly needed and a continuation of work in progress.  While I might complain that not all the maps and/or copy are as comprehensive and detailed as I might wish, it’s nevertheless an indispensable for any oenophile.  While international winemaking techniques might infringe on the impact of terroir (soil and microclimate), knowing where things come from will always be an important element in understanding the wine.  This 352-page volume is published by Mitchell Beazley in the UK and sells for $75.  My full interview with Jancis Robinson will in the near future. 

The updated The Oxford Companion to Wine revised and edited by Jancis Robinson in 1999 ($89.95) would be the other definitive reference manual for someone who is already immersed or at least is extremely interested in wine. Good eyesight is essential given the small print.   For those wanting something more compact, there’s a new abridged, soft cover edition called the Concise Wine Companion at only $24.95.

Very reasonably priced and perhaps somewhat less comprehensive is a newly released 910-page paperback called The Wine Bible (Workman, $29.95). Written by Karen MacNeil, director of the wine program at Napa Valley’s Culinary Institute of America, she spent 10 years working on this book. It’s a good effort, serving both neophytes and fairly knowledgeable amateurs alike.  

MacNeil gives us the straight goods explaining that its “often people who don't know a lot about wine who pay enormous amounts for it, hoping that price will be some sort of assurance" and warning that you should “take vintage charts with a big grain of salt.” While some sections are somewhat sparse (i.e. there are few maps to North American wine regions) or nonexistent (i.e. Brazil and Uruguay), it’s well worth the price. 

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