| |||
| Received a very nice cheque at work yesterday. Our union signed a new agreement and we all got a whack of retroactive pay. My wife (bless her) has agreed with my proposal to lop off a portion of the money to be spent on wine. So, I have a little more than $600 (Canadian, I am afraid) to blow (I mean, invest) in wine in the coming days. I live in Ontario and have my eye on several wines from the last few Vintages releases which I was unable to pick up at the time. I am going to attempt to keep my wine buying to the $20 and under range to maximize quantity. Anyone out there willing to direct me to some interesting finds (red, white or sparkling) from the last few Vintages releases? Thanks. | |||
| |||
| Hi Bruce, I bought some Trinchero Pinot Noir from the last release (June) that was quite good. I think it was $19.95 per bottle. If you like Sekt, the Deinhard Lily is good at $15.95 per bottle and our LCBO still has some so it is probably still available. Under Vintages essentials the Gran Coronas Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva 2000 by Miguel Torres is a good QPR ($17.95, I think). I just had a bottle (2000) of this Cab with grilled steak and it was great. Rich cab nose with cassis and leather, nice smooth but well structured tannins to give good mouth feel, and nice finish. For whites the recent Schloss Schonborn estate riesling 2003 Vintages release was a very nice wine at 15.95 a bottle. Tom Noland | |||
| |||
| Don't know what you have access to, but here's what I'm buying in the under $20 category: 2001 or 2002 German Rieslings--you can get terry thiese's catalog off the internet, and I use that as a general guide as to what I'd like to try. 2004 New Zealand sauv blanc. I try to avoid the huge names like Brancott/Montana, but Kim Crawford is an example of a pretty well known name that makes great wine. 1999 Chateauneuf du Pape from a name grower. It's hard to find these under $20, but I sometimes can, and they tend to be pretty good values because of all the hype for 1998, 2000, and 2001. 1999 Bordeaux. Same kind of story as above, but you have to tread carefully becasue not everthing is all that good. Get recommedations from someone you trust who's tried a bottle, or buy one and try it first. 2003 Beaujolais I'm not much of a beaujolais drinker, but that's Ok because the 2003 are different (bigger) than typical beaujolais. 2002 Oregon Pinot. I don't know if can find much of this up there, but if you can find non-mass produced stuff under $20 (Acme wineworks and Witness tree are two examples) they can be pretty good. South African wines seem to be improving dramatically (at least the few I've tried recently.) Had a Pepiere Muscadet last week that was delicious. In US$, the regular cuve is $10, and the presttige cuvee is $13. I'm avoiding anything from SOuthern Rhone from 2002 or 2003. Rains were bad in 2002, and everything I read is that alcohol is very high in 2003, and I'm getting more and more sensitive to to much alcohol. I know I'll be missing some good wines by excluding the whole category, but there's enough other stuff out there to buy (like remianing stocks of 2000 or 2001) | |||
| |||
| I enjoyed the Los Vascos Cabernet Sauv. 2001. The wine is done by Lafite in Chile and is very solid for only about $17 USD. Also, the Argyle Pinot Noir 2001 from Oregon is quite good at about $14 USD. In whites Fess Parker Chard. 2002 and JJ Prum Spatlese Wehlener Sonnerhur 2001 are very good at about $16 and $23 USD respectively, although the Prum is being bought up and hoarded by selfish wine mongers... like me! Sam Platt | |||
| |||
| if you're a fan of rhone wines and if you can get Robert Kacher imports in your area then I'd highly recommend a variety of his wines. Many delicious Kacher wines are priced between $8-15. some great QPR rhone producers: Domaine Santa Duc Domaine des amouriers chateau de campuget Mas de Guiot domaine gramenon andre brunel all of these producers make a variety of wines and my experience has been that all of their product is consistently of very high quality. | |||
| |||
| at the listings of about 200 wines in the LCBO Bruce, and saw little in the price range you suggested. I am amazed at some of these prices. here are a few that I took from the list, although not all are at or below $20. #(99)SANCERRE BLANC LE CHENE LUCIEN CROCHET France | Domaine Lucien Crochet VINTAGES 967182 | 750 mL | $ 24.00 !LA INA FINO SHERRY (DOMECQ INTERNATIONAL) Spain | Pedro Domecq, S.A. VINTAGES 66357 | 750 mL | $ 14.90 #(99) LES GALETS ROUGES CHATEAU MOURGUES France | Chatea Mourgues Du Gres VINTAGES 725606 | 750 mL | $ 12.00 #00 CUVEE PRESTIGE CAHORS (DOMAINE DU THERON) France | Domaine Du Theron VINTAGES 725929 | 750 mL | $ 19.95 Bob H. | |||
| |||
| (e) | |||
| |||
| CHAPOUTIER COTES DU RHONE VILLAGES France | M. CHAPOUTIER S.A. LCBO 321539 | 750 mL | $ 16.65 Actually from the Rasteau appellation. Been through 6 bottles. Last one open since last Friday (6 days now). The wine just seems to gain body over time. Put a case a way for a year and then drink a bottle every few months until it is gone. | |||