Blauburgunder from Burgenland
This was supposed to be part of the MWG’s June tasting (in lieu of the Fleurie) but it wasn’t freed from the SAQ warehouse in time.
Burgenland 2010, Blauburgunder, Meinklang ($24.50, La QV)
100% biodynamically farmed Pinot Noir. 13% ABV.
A little reductive at first (I should have carafed it), then a fragrant mix of red and black berries, crushed leaves, cola and light spice with an earthy note. On the lighter side of medium-bodied but gaining weight as it breathes. Dry. Smooth as a river stone. The ripe fruit has a tart edge and the oak is very subdued. Lightly structured, with the tannins becoming more apparent on the finish. Not remarkably long but leaving an impression of purity. A bit less rich and sweet than the 2009 but, if anything, even easier to drink.
Tocai, er, not Tocai
Collio 2009, Friulano, Mario Schiopetto ($25.90, 11450066)
100% Tocai Friulano. Fermented with indigenous yeasts in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. Aged on the lees for eight months. 13% ABV.
Sour straw, orange blossom, honey, chalk and quartz. The unctuous texture has you thinking the wine will be sweet but, no, it’s actually quite dry. There’s plenty of acidity too, though the extract makes it easy to miss. The fruit is understated, the minerals aren’t. Both are subsumed in a final swell of bitterness and a faint alcoholic burn that fade into blanched almonds and pear. (Buy again? Yes, unless I can score some of Borgo San Daniele‘s peerless bottling. Yo, oenopole!)
Better at table than as an aperitif, it proved a passable match for a herb-scented stew of mussels, cranberry beans and tomatoes. A better pairing for the stew would have been a less dense, bone-dry white (a Pecorino, maybe, or an Assyrtiko). A better pairing for the wine would have been something like tagliolini tossed with prosciutto, cream, Parmesan and poppy seeds.
MWG August 16th tasting: report (5/5)
Vintage Port 1985, Graham’s ($46.38 in 1990 or thereabouts)
Surprisingly young and vibrant to the eye: some lightening at the rim but hardly any bricking. Outgoing deep and layered nose with notes of sweet black fruit, spice (licorice?) and dark chocolate. Opulent yet lithe, the texture poised between silk and velvet. More off-dry than sweet. Quite structured though the tannins are fruit-clad and beginning to soften. The depth is only hinted at until you chew the wine. The alcohol (20% ABV) adds warmth, not heat, especially to the long finish. Always harmonious and becoming more so with age, the wine is close to peaking. Should continue showing beautifully for another decade or two.
Tasted on its own and then with a beautiful old Stilton, an astounding English farmhouse cheddar and a youngish Reblochon de Savoie, all carefully selected by Yannick to go with the wine. While the group failed to reach a consensus as to the best match, the cheddar probably got the most votes.
MWG August 16th tasting: report (4/5)
It’s funny how wines you enjoy can drop off your radar for several years. That was the case for me and Fontodi, whose wines I’d always admired but hadn’t tasted for a decade. In planning this flight, I wondered whether in the intervening years the wines, especially the Flacianello, might have gone over to the Parkerized dark side like certain other Supertuscans. I needn’t have worried.
Chianti Classico 2008, Fontodi ($27.00, 00879841)
100% organically farmed Sangiovese from various Fontodi vineyards. Fermented with native yeasts in temperature-controlled tanks, then aged in French oak barrels (not many new, I’d guess) for 12 months. Average annual production: 170,000 bottles. 13.5% ABV.
The bottle at the tasting was corked. A replacement bottle wasn’t.
Heady nose of black cherry, turned earth, old wood and kirschy alcohol. Medium-bodied, smooth and velvety. The ripe fruit gives an initial impression of sweetness, yet the wine is very dry, a sensation only enhanced by the light, prevailing astringency. Structure is provided by acidity as much as tannins. Long finish: earth, tobacco and that lingering core of sweet fruit. Not a deep wine but elegant and satisfying all the same. (Buy again? Definitely.)
Chianti Classico Riserva 2008, Vigna del Sorbo, Fontodi ($52.75, 00742072)
Organically farmed Sangiovese (90%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (10%) from 30-year-old vines in the Vinga del Sorbo vineyard. Fermented with native yeasts in temperature-controlled tanks, then aged in French oak barrels (half new) for 24 months. Average annual production: 30,000 bottles. 14% ABV.
Textbook Sangiovese nose of great depth: tobacco, black cherry, terra cotta and only a hint of oak. Medium- to full-bodied. Astoundingly pure fruit. Finely structured: the balance between ripe tannins and lightening acidity is well nigh perfect. Deep, long and possessed of the estimable quality that Paul de Cassagnac described as “fluid savour.” Impeccable. (Buy again? My Labour Day weekend 10%-off-sale purchase.)
IGT Colli Toscana Centrale 2008, Flaccianello della Pieve, Fontodi ($82.00, 11364571)
Selected lots of organically farmed Sangiovese from the estate’s top vineyards. Fermented with native yeasts in temperature-controlled tanks, then transferred to barrels for malolactic fermentation. Aged in new French oak barrels for a minimum of 18 months. Average annual production: 60,000 bottles. 14.5% ABV.
Complex albeit closed nose of leather, mint, red fruit, black pepper and precision-dosed oak with tar and herb notes. Medium- to full-bodied. Primary but approachable. The sweet fruit is tethered by a mineral astringency. The texture is fluid despite the taut tannins and deep-running acidity. Beautiful structure and layers of flavour that reveal themselves as the wine breathes. A whiff of ash on the long, long finish. The tension – between power and restraint, between superficial allure and hinted-at depth – is something to behold. (Buy again? If I had the budget, yes.)
MWG August 16th tasting: report (3/5)
A flight of three Morgons from leading “natural” producers. In all cases, the grapes are organically or biodynamically farmed, the wine-making is non-interventionist, only indigenous yeasts are used and the wines are bottled without filtering or fining and with no or minimal sulphur dioxide.
Morgon 2010, Nature, M. Lapierre ($29.30, Rézin, NLA)
Wet stones, berries, sap and eventually leaf mould. Bright acid; light but intense fruit; fine, silky tannins. Supple and pure, the wine slips through the mouth, leaving a scent of minerals, raspberries and flowers. (Buy again? Sure.)
Morgon 2010, Côte du Py, Jean Foillard ($33.75, Rézin, NLA)
Beautiful, fresh nose of red berries with hints of spice and forest floor. Slightly weightier and more richly textured than the Lapierre. The tannins seem light until the minerally finish; in fact, however delicately, this is a structured and layered wine. Morgon at its purest and most seductive. (Buy again? Absolutely.)
Morgon 2009, Vieilles Vignes, Georges Descombes ($30.25, Rézin)
Deeper, darker nose: black cherry, dried wood, slate, faint pepper. Smooth and suave with rich fruit, a fine-grained texture and underlying tannins that turn assertive on the kirschy finish. True to the vintage, a substantial wine light on nothing except, perhaps, charm, though that may come with time. A good candidate for cellaring. (Buy again? A couple of bottles to lay down and forget about for a decade.)
MWG August 16th tasting: report (2/5)
Next up, a flight of characterful organic/biodynamic Loire whites.
Fiefs Vendéens 2010, Les Clous, Domaine Saint-Nicolas ($19.50, 11688787)
Biodynamically farmed Chardonnay (45%), Chenin Blanc (45%) and Grolleau Gris (10%). Aged eight months, 80% in tank and 20% in oak barrels. 12.5% ABV.
Honey, apricot, pear, cardamom and a faint oxidative note. Fairly light-bodied despite the dense texture. More minerally than fruity on the attack. Turns lemony about halfway through, when the acidity also kicks in. Dry, quartzy finish. The bottle at the tasting seemed simpler – but no less likeable – than other bottles I’ve had of this. (Buy again? Yes.)
Touraine 2010, Cendrillon, Domaine de la Garrelière ($21.30, 10211397)
The estate’s website provides no information other than a picture of the label. A blend of biodynamically farmed Sauvignon Blanc (80%) and Chenin Blanc (20%); some retailers claim the junior partner isn’t Chenin Blanc but Chardonnay. A small fraction of the wine is reportedly barrel-aged; again, it’s not clear what percentage or which grape variety (my guess is the Chenin). The cuvée’s name, French for Cinderella, refers to the winegrower’s practice of spraying the vines with a preparation of crystallized ashes made from burned vine clippings. 14% ABV.
Strong ash (!), faint lemon, pine needles. Dry and pure. The density of fruit is cut by firm acidity. Flavours tend to minerals and herbs, which turn bitter on the long finish. Leaves an overriding impression of austerity, which has its own appeal. (Buy again? Yes.)
Saumur 2010, Clos de Guichaux, Domaine Guiberteau ($24.25, 11461099)
100% Chenin Blanc from vines planted in 2003. Only sulphur, copper and plant-based decoctions are used in the vineyard; no sugar, commercial yeasts, enzymes or stabilizers are used in the winery. Lightly filtered after fermentation, then transferred to second, third and fourth vintage barrels for ten months’ aging on lees. Bottled with a minimum of sulphur dioxide. 13.5% ABV.
Spice, pear, quartz. Substantial and mouth-filling. Honeyed yellow stone fruit with an oxidative note and an acidic undertow. Long. Burnished and beautiful, the least eccentric wine of the flight. (Buy again? Yes.)
Savennières 2009, Les Vieux Clos, Nicolas Joly ($39.25, 10985878)
100% biodynamically farmed Chenin Blanc from 20-year-old vines in four parcels. Non-interventionist approach in the cellar involving long fermentation with native yeasts and aging in old oak barrels. 15% ABV.
Complex, faintly oxidized nose of silage, dried peach, dried herbs and alcohol (which isn’t to say it smelled hot). Structured, massive and somewhat monolithic but balanced in its big-boned way. Not fruity though there’s tons of extract, acidity and minerals. Long, saline, licorice-tinged finish. A wine to contend with. Revisit in five, ten, maybe 15 years (if drinking now, carafe up to 24 hours in advance). (Buy again? If in the mood for a powerhouse, yes.)
MWG August 16th tasting: report (1/5)
If the MWG’s August tasting had a theme, it was, in three of the flights, wines whose full appeal might not be immediately obvious and, within each flight, bottles at a range of price points. Also, many of the the bottles were from highly regarded producers. And since the people who’d signed up for the event weren’t allergic to whites, half of the wines were that colour. To go by the post-tasting comments, it was one of the most satisfying and enjoyable lineups in the group’s history.
First up, a flight of MSR Kabinetts. The wines, like all the others served, were double-decanted shortly before the tasting began.
Riesling Kabinett 2010, Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Ürzig Würzgarten, Mönchhof ($24.80, 11034804)
8.5% ABV. White flowers, minerals, chalk, green apple. Somewhat sweet on the attack; dries out a bit as it goes along. Lemon-lime, pear, white grapefruit and clover intertwine with slatey minerals. Tingly acid and a faint carbon dioxide spritz provide lift. Good balance and length. Clean as a whistle and enjoyable as all get-out if a little simple-seeming next to the Prüm and Müller. (Buy again? Sure.)
Riesling Kabinett 2008, Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Wehlener Sonnenuhr, Joh. Jos. Prüm ($35.75, 11182284)
8% ABV. Strong sulphur slowly dissipates, leaving a soft bouquet of lemon and quartz that somehow smells dry. More serious and drier tasting than the Mönchhof: light but deeper and more layered, with lime, apple, rainwater and a kaleidoscopic array of minerals that lasts through the long finish. Ends on a briny note that one taster dubbed “sea mist.” Tightly wound and barely loosening in the hour or so it was open, but the potential is tangible. (Buy again? Yes, to lay down for at least five years.)
Riesling Kabinett 2010, Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Scharzhofberger, Egon Müller ($52.00, 11170435)
10% ABV. Complex and surprisingly open nose of lime blossom and minerals with hints of jalapeño and camomile. Beautifully balanced and integrated, intense yet ethereally light. The fruit is delicate, less citrusy and more white peachy than the others, the minerality crystalline. The sweetness seems natural, organic. Remarkably pure and precise – nothing superfluous. While it’s easy to be beguiled by the surface, there’s also an underlying tension that augurs well for the future. An exquisite wine on a plane so rarefied you’re almost forced to use abstract descriptors. (Buy again? Price is the only possible barrier.)
Backroom Burgundies
Quick tastes of two recent arrivals, both available at the SAQ.
The Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes-de Nuits 2009, Domaine Henri Naudin-Ferrand ($24.55, 11668698) is the bottle I’d buy, at least for opening now. Lovely “pinoting” nose of red berries, beet, forest floor and, oddly for a 12.5% wine, alcohol (the bottle my glass was poured from was too warm). In the mouth, it’s a medium-weight easy drinker, with supple tannins, ripe fruit, dark minerals and a clean finish. Acid freaks might dock it a point for relatively low acidity, but that’s the vintage speaking and it in no way affects the wine’s pleasure quotient.
The Chorey-les-Beaune 2010, Tollot-Beaut & fils ($34.25, 11473209) is more earthbound and primary, less nuanced. All the components – ripe fruit, acidity, tannins, oak – are in place and in balance but need more time to knit together. Breadth and length the wine also has; depth I’m less sure of, though that could come with aging. 13% ABV.
Wednesday evening apéro at La QV
For the last couple of summers, La QV’s Wednesday evening apéros have made midweeks something to look forward to. The most recent iteration – the last until mid-September – featured smoked Sockeye salmon and a vibrant Vouvray sec.
Vouvray 2010, Sec, Domaine François Pinon ($25.00, La QV)
100% Chenin Blanc (the estate has been converting to organic agriculture since 2003 and expected to certified organic in 2011). Fermented with native yeasts and minimal intervention. Filtered before bottling in order to minimize the use of sulphur. 13% ABV.
Pale gold with a green cast. Complex nose of grass, honey, spice, wax and a whack of minerals. Medium-bodied and totally dry, with a slightly waxy texture. A mouthful of pure, clean fruit and quartzy chalk charged by citrusy acidity (not surprising to read that Riesling is Pinon’s favourite non-Loire grape). Admirably broad and long. Made a fine pairing for salad of diced smoked salmon, watercress and sliced new potatoes garnished with lemony crème fraîche. Unfortunately, La QV appears to be sold out though bottles are sure to be found on the wine lists of the many local restaurants that snapped up cases. The 2010 “Silex Noir” Vouvray, a demi-sec and reportedly the cuvée that Pinon most enjoys drinking, is still available on a private import basis ($25.50, 6 bottles/case).
Brett happens 
MWG July 13th tasting: final thoughts
with 3 comments
Our snapshot of wines made from Prince Edward County’s leading grape varieties leaves me with several thoughts.
Although our sample size was small, it’s apparent that, compared with the wines in the MWG’s last PEC survey (about four years ago) and the occasional bottles tasted since, the overall quality is improving and some world-class wines are now being made in PEC.
That said, the wines’ quality/price ratio is out of whack. For every wine we tasted, you can find more interesting non-PEC wines in the same style for the same price and often for less. While the wineries’ small scale, start-up costs and higher operating expenses (for example, PEC vinifera vines have to be buried to survive the winter, an expense Niagara winegrowers don’t bear) are partly to blame, it’s also clear a premium is being charged, in all likelihood due to the product’s rarity (small production) and the high demand (fueled by Ontario media and local pride). The bottom line: if you want to experience what Prince Edward County has to offer, you’ll pay for the privilege.
Prince Edward County is the nearest fine wine region to Montreal and Quebec. In terms of dry table wines, only one or two Quebec wineries even begin to approach the overall level. Odd then that it’s off the radar of so many Montreal wine geeks, wine bars, restaurants, agents and the SAQ. Of course, Canada’s antiquated liquor distribution laws have something to do with this.
I can’t shake the impression that the area is still feeling its way toward a style. What’s interesting, distinctive, about the region is that it appears to be one of the few in North America with the potential to make the lighter, brighter, mineral-driven wines that wine lovers allergic to the fruit-driven New World style crave. The most successful wines in our tasting fit that mould; the least successful, the tropical fruit Chards, didn’t. My advice: Look to Chablis, not Carneros. Think Loire, not Lodi. Forget the Merlot and consider planting grape varieties from cool-climate regions like the Jura, Savoie, Austria, Hungary and Alto Adige. It’s a niche that needs filling in North America and you guys are uniquely positioned to fill it.
Trying to find technical information on PEC wines is an exercise in frustration. Want to know if a wine was aged in barrels, what the barrels were made from, who they were made by, what percentage was new? Curious about what grapes in what proportion went into the wine? Wondering what kind of agricultural practices are used? Whether a wine is filtered, fined or sulphured? You probably won’t find many if any answers to those and other technical questions on the winery’s website. Yes, some of these are tiny operations. But others aren’t (looking at you, Norman Hardie). And anyway, winemakers, you have this information. It can be typed up in five minutes. It doesn’t have to be nicely presented; the people interested in it don’t give a damn about formatting. What’s important is that it be available. As things stand now, we’re forced to scour the Web for reviews and reports on winery visits, and even when we find information on blogs or in articles, it’s incomplete and often contradictory.
And while we’re in lecture mode, winemakers, how about getting your French act together? “Method Traditional” doesn’t cut it. Neither does calling a Chardonnay-dominated blend a “blanc de noir.” Claiming your wine is inspired by those of “Bougey-Cerdon” doesn’t inspire confidence. And those are only three of several glaring examples of fractured French. You’re located a few hours from the second largest French-speaking city in the world, from the heartland of franco-North American culture, from a hotbed of European and natural wine appreciation and from a potentially big market for PEC wine sales and tourism. You really don’t want to come across looking like des amateurs.
Written by carswell
August 28, 2012 at 10:36
Posted in Commentary
Tagged with Mo' Wine Group, Ontario