Brett happens

Dropped by my neighbourhood SAQ yesterday to pick up wines for next week’s tasting. After saying hello, the senior wine advisor disappeared into the back room and reemerged holding a glass that contained a small pour of a deep maroon-coloured wine. All he said about it was that the bottle had been uncorked more than 12 hours earlier and was only now beginning to open up.

Bordeauxish nose of candied cassis, cedar, tobacco and some graphite. Full-bodied and rich on the palate though not heavy, the texture somehow both silky and velvety. The mouth-filling fruit is too ripe and sweet – not austere enough – for a Bordeaux. The structure is fine-grained, the  tannins tight but not forbidding. Oak, obviously of very high quality, has been lavishly but not overwhelmingly applied. The finish is long. Possessed of a restraint, balance, fluidity, savour that seem more Old Worldish than New. A handsome wine, clearly a thoroughbred, with no flaws other than, perhaps, a lack of soul.

I guessed Italian but it didn’t occur to me that a lowly Classique store would stock, let alone pour the latest vintage of one of Italy’s highest-profile wines, the first super-Tuscan: Sassicaia Bolgheri 2009, Sassicaia, Tenuta San Guido ($169.00, 00743393). A blend of 85% Cabernet  Sauvignon and 15% Cabernet Franc. Macerated on the skins for about two weeks, with regular pump-overs and rack-and-returns. Matured in French oak barrels (one-third new) for 24 months. 13.5% ABV.

If I lived in a parallel universe and actually owned a bottle of this, I wouldn’t touch it for another eight to ten years.