Brett happens

Morgon 2012, Cuvée Corcelette, Jean Foillard ($35.75, 12201643)
100% Gamay from organically farmed 80-year-old vines growing in the sandstone soil of the Corcelette vineyard. Manually harvested. Whole cluster fermentation with indigenous yeasts lasts three to four weeks. Matured six to nine months in 30-hectolitre oak foudres. Unfiltered. Sulphur dioxide is added minimally and only at bottling. 13.5% ABV according to SAQ.com (the percentage alcohol has been blacked out on the bottle’s front label; on the back label, a sticker reads 12% but if you peel it off, the label reads 13.5%).
Medium blood red and quite hazy. Fragrant, fresh nose: strawberry, dried cranberry, vine sap, rain drops hitting hot slate, faint sweet spice, distant barnyard. Light- to medium-bodied but intense and present. The sweet fruit is grounded by a deep and very dry substrate of minerals, old wood, tangy acid and fine tannins. Texture? Satin at the start, a velvet astringency at the end. An earthy floral aftertaste aftersmell lingers beyond the long finish. Pure and beautiful but also, at this point, primary and elemental. Will benefit from two to four years in the cellar. If drinking now, carafe an hour or two. (Buy again? A bottle or two to lay down. But hurry, there’s not much left.)

Think the price is high? The wine is retailing for US$39.95, not including sales tax, at Crush Wine & Spirits in New York City and north of US$40 at several other stores in the States. If purchased at the SAQ during today’s 15% off sale, the pre-sales tax price drops to well under C$30.