April 16, 2008
LA CHABLISIENNE CHABLIS VIEILLES VIGNES (V) 0
VINTAGES 942243 | 750 mL bottle
Price: $ 21.80
colour: dried straw on a summer day
on the nose: this is a cheeky nose - she saunters up to you all lemon peel, slaps you in the face with grass, smirks and walks away with a fistful of dandelions, walking on snails.
on the palate: This wine has a pleasant weight in the mouth; it feels nice when I take a sip. Very odd, it feels medium bodied, but I really can’t pick out many flavours at first - then the acidity storms in and brings some fruity friends Lemon rind, green apple peel, and a minerality that is hard to define. The finish is long. Really long. Probably the longest finish on a chardonnay I’ve ever had. All lemon peel, lime zest and chewable vitamins to start, then some cool toasted bread crust and a slightly fruity component I can’t quite identify (almost banana peel-ee?!)at the end.
This is not my cup of tea, but I can recognize a that lot of care went into this wine. Very interesting and VERY different from the other Chards I’ve had so far. I am fairly certain I would recognize this blind as a chardonnay from the lemon peel and mineral components, but it is DRASTICALLY different from anything I’ve had. It lacked a certain amount of approachable fruit for me, but I would sit down with some friends that are into wine and ponder over it for awhile. Nice complexity for the price, great experience!
April 15, 2008
Cloudy Bay is a producer well known for its Sauvignon Blanc. Little did I know when I picked up their Chard it would be as well made and tasty!
Cloudy Bay Chardonnay 2005
VINTAGES 359513
Price: 39.65
colour: golden yellow - apple juice kind of colour - watery miniscus
on the nose: sensuous bouquet of lemon rind, apricot, creamed honey and green apple. there is a floral scent I can’t quite get, but this is a really amazing nose, I could smell it all day.
on the palate: a slash of acidity shows up first for me, followed by cacophony of fruit. ripe pears, green apples, lemon rind, dried apricot and banana chips. quickly followed by a light oaky creaminess. there’s a great minerality underpinning a number of the flavours here, adding a really gorgeous complexity to the flavours. The finish is medium in length - the minerality leaps out in front here, then is slowly overtaken by the fruity components. Very nice. Drinking well now, I’m sure this has a few more years left in it! 89 pts
Given the price point, this may not represent awesome QPR (quality to price ratio) but it is a great example of today’s Chardonnay.
April 14, 2008
Chardonnay has gotten a bad rap. It started for us in North America when California started to grow obscene amounts of the stuff. Chard was very popular at the time, and so massive volumes of straw coloured swill flooded the market. There was some good stuff, oh yes, but unfortunately for consumers there was also a good deal of just ok wine. Choosing between these two proved to be very difficult, and so Chardonnay fell out of favour. Fast forward 10-20 years, and this wine is like the neglected friend you haven’t talked to in years. Get back in touch, say hi and remember all the reasons you were friends in the first place. They’re all there, and the friend has grown up a little in the meantime which means there may be qualities you weren’t aware of before!
Ok, so forget the cheesy metaphor - the point is, it’s a great time to be a chardonnay fan. Because it isn’t all the rage right now, there are a number of great QPRs. I see bottles of fine chardonnay from australia, new zealand, california, and yes Ontario sitting on LCBO shelves that continue to drop in price as the dust on the bottle thickens (don’t you normally have to pay a premium for that dust?!?). This week I’m going to present tasting notes from 4 chardonnays available here in Ontario, and hopefully present some value opportunities for folks here to pick up some good juice at good prices.
April 11, 2008
Pinot Noir is definitely one of Niagara’s best offerings. Our summers are hot enough, and our summer nights are cool, helping the grape both ripen and maintain acidity. Malivoire Wine Co. is located on the Beamsville Bench. Their estate bottled Pinot Noir comes from a 9 year old block of clone 115. 2005 vintage in Niagara showed a cold winter/spring that severely reduced yield, and then a pretty hot summer which resulted in vines with extremely small and concentrated clusters of berries. The resulting wine was aged for 12 months in a 60/40 mixture of new/old french oak. Available only at the winery, check out my tasting notes below.
2005 Malivoire Estate Pinot Noir - $32 at the winery
This is a beautiful brilliant brick-red guarnet colour. It’s really striking. On the nose I get strawberries, spicy cinnamon incense, black cherries and bell peppers, and some old vegetable funk. It’s a great nose, and it takes me awhile to actually want to get into drinking the wine. When I finally do I’m treated to a nice silky mouthfeel. Dark cherries, cracked pepper, black licorice (the real stuff!!) prevail on my palate. The finish is medium-long with cherries, clove, cinnamon stick and pepper. I originally thought this wasn’t great value, but after my trip to Oregon, I am reviewing all of my Ontario pinot tasting notes. 32 dollars is a great price for an 89pt PN.
April 8, 2008
Le Clos Jordanne is a partnership between Vincor Canada and Boisset France. It is their first investment in non-Burgundian (from Burgundy, France) property. Their initial releases gained critical acclaim. Here are my tasting notes from their 05 single vineyard Chardonnay. These are currently sold out of LCBO, but is available on the wine lists of many restaurants throughout Ontario, I thought it may be worthwhile to post my tasting notes!
2005 Le Clos Jordanne Chardonnay - Le Clos Jordanne Vineyard
colour: Light golden yellow - think butter bubbling in a saucepan
on the nose: Before I swirl it, I get a snootful of cream. After a swirl, I’m getting soft, round, luxurious ripe fresh apricots and a little banana layered under honey, toasted almonds and cream. There is also a floral note here I can’t quite identify. I’m loving this nose.
on the palate: Luxury is the continuing theme here - this is luscious. It has a heavy, silky mouthfeel. It starts with a hint of lemon peel, then flavours of honeyed apricots in cream. The acidity kicks in, lemon rind and a hint of grapefruit and then I realize there is some interesting minerality. The finish is back into creamy butterscotch flavours; honey, toasted almonds. I’m tasting this for a good 45 seconds after, and I’m left with a really pleasant mineral note, baguette crust and some pleasant fruity notes I can’t quite qualify. 89pts
April 8, 2008
Parducci Coro Mendocino - about 40 bones.
This one started off with the wrong intentions. I was at the inlaws, looking for a wine to impress the family with. I was looking for the perfect blend of interesting fruit and spice for me, and a higher level of elegance and finesse than they are used to. After about 30mins of looking around vintages I fell on an old habit - buy something expensive, it must be good. This juice reinforced for me the idea that more money does not mean more quality. It doesn’t show up on the website, but LCBO does carry this wine, it is available in many Vintages sections.
Dark crimson purple in colour. Nose is aromatically challenged - some graphite, asphalt and sprinkling of spices, clove, nutmeg. There’s a very faint trace of sweet flowers on it - hiding in the background somewhere. Big wine in the mouth, far from elegant. Big baked red fruits, rhubarb, cherry, some cinnamon stick and then some big spiciness comes through together with the heat of alcohol. Midpalate is like chewing a hot spice cake - the finish is long and well integrated continuing on the jammy red fruits. big, ripe and spicy - if this is your thing this wine will work great for you it does it extremely well. For me, not elegant enough. 80pts
April 6, 2008
CONIGLIO ATLAS PEAK CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2003
VINTAGES 38554 | 750 mL bottle
Price: $ 63.45
Over 60 dollars is a lot to pay for a wine. I have to say, this is a lot of wine. If you have the money to spend, or you’re looking for something special, this is a good choice, and available in many LCBOs.
Tasting notes:
bouquet: right out of the bottle a heavy cedar aroma on the nose. a swirl reveals some dark cherry, but mostly cedar and some tobacco. I also get an almost pine sol-ee kind of smell, with raspberry jam underneath it. It’s a cleanup in aisle 3, please - mopping up raspberry jam with pine sol, with a cedar handle mop.
in the mouth: Really nice, polished mouthfeel - just shy of silk, great weight. The flavours are just awesome here. Some great acidity that’s puckering my mouth, and the tannins aren’t overwhelming at all this wine is drinking great right now. Cassis, dark cherry, raspberry jam, some blueberry. Some of the pine sol taste as well, and a nice long integrated finish. finally I get some of that sweet bitter tannin on the very end of the finish. awesome. 92 pts.
April 5, 2008
MOUNT EDEN ESTATE CHARDONNAY 2003
VINTAGES 603829 | 750 mL bottle
Price: $ 44.65
This is Chardonnay has climbed in price since the 01 vintage that was available at the LCBO. It continues to climb in popularity ’cause it’s so darn good! Tasting notes below from the 01.
colour: golden straw yellow.
on the nose: hint of lemon rind, lots of toasted almonds, and some rustic aromas - barnyardy kind of stuff that really has me intrigued. this is a very interesting nose. some honey here if I dig really deep, and some tertiary floral notes.
in the mouth: it starts with a rich creamy texture. heavy velvet that flows across you palate. toasted almonds come first, followed by some baguette crust for a second. then comes an explosion of honey candied lemon rind, dried apricot, some other citrus notes, almost tangerine-like - beautiful, honeyed and great. Definite minerality here - I’m thinking the tail end of water fresh from a creek. There’s a creamy-ness here that is almost over the top, but the acidity cuts this richness just at the right point. The finish is great, I still have lemon rind and lime zest with some honey, tangerines and toast coasting on my palate. Really great. Bottle says under 14% alcohol, there’s just enough heat here to notice. this is a great chardonnay.
April 3, 2008
I’ve recently become infatuated with Nebbiolo grape, and I found this Barolo at the Kitchener LCBO. It was fabulous. I have two in the cellar still, I’m looking forward to checking in on them. I’m still in Oregon, I’ll put up some tasting notes for wines that appear in the LCBO when I find them. 
CIABOT BERTON BAROLO 2001
VINTAGES 23085 | 750 mL bottle
Price: $ 49.50
Tasting notes: beautiful nose, classic tar & roses, plum and some mushroom and dried sage. Very elegant in the mouth, with some grippy tannins. Beatiful integration with cherry, dark fig, dark plum and prunes. Flavours carry through to a nice long finish. Beautiful wine.
April 2, 2008
I’m out in Oregon tasting wines for a week, I will be posting TNs, info about where we’ve eaten and tasted as we go.
