This is a follow up amendment to my initial post about the value wines. I am including some other wines I felt were very worthy of buying, including some more expensive ones, plus some comment on the show.
The following are the wines I tasted that I thought bring excellent quality and price ratio. These are some I liked that won't break the bank, but bring some "real wine" to your table.
HENRY LAGARDE CAB SAUVIGNON*
Article Number:1013433
$18.80
ARGENTINA (real wine, Cab S with tannins, acidity to age for <$20)
FOURNIER URBAN UCO TEMPRANILLO
1010838
ARGENTINA
$14.49 (great fruit nose, rewarding smooth drinking red)
DISTANT LAND MERLOT MALBEC
1013587
Price:$23.79
NEW ZEALAND (balanced tannins, solid red)
CATALAN EAGLE ORGANIC GARNACHE VIOGNIER*
1013639
SPAIN
$16.99 (crazy good nose, nice clean white wine)
FAMILIA ZUCCARDI Q MALBEC, 2009 and CATENA MALBEC 2009
1006724 and 1004863
$24.99
ARGENTINA A great take on the Malbec made for steak wine. Perhaps a bit more edge than the Catena Malbec 2009 (also recommended, at $24.79) Buy them both, choose the one you prefer.
VEGA MORAGONA VINAS VIEJAS, 2008
1013621
$17.80
SPAIN Hard to beat on price, this wine, from just outside the Ribera del Duero region brings a lot of complexity, class, and value. It's little brother, the basic Tempranillo, at $13.99 is a great every day quaffer bistro wine (1013620).
Here are some remaining wines I tried and liked and thought were decent value, for those who spend more on wine.
PALACIO VILLACHICA 5T, 2008*
DOC: Toro
Article Number:1013623
Price:$29.99 Varietal:TEMPRANILLO
Country:SPAIN Classy use of oak, easy drinking red, will age but drinking OK now.
BLACK HILLS CHARDONNAY, 2009*
1012548
$33.99
BRITISH COLUMBIA Just enough oak, I thought. Warm climate Chardonnay but retaining acidity. Jason Priestly apparently owns part of this, and because of him, I had to put up with a TV light in my eyes on Saturday while pouring next door. He did show up to pour a few glasses for an NSLC staffer who was suitably tall and gorgeous (way taller than him, BTW) but I saw him coming and left.
BODEGAS CATENA ZAPATA, ALTA CHARDONNAY, 2008*
1009626
$41.29
ARGENTINA One of the wines that won an award (for what those are worth at this show) and this was totally deserving. New World does Burgundy, and does it well. A total value for those who are buying wine over $30 a bottle. Delicious.
PETALUMA COONAWARRA, 2008
1013603
$54.99
AUSTRALIA After wading though I don't know how many Shiraz wines that all tasted the same, with only minor variations of tannin, and sugar, I hit a real wine. Yes, it's $55, but at least it shows that when they try, they can make a wine that actually has some acidity and might pair with protein. It was tasty, layered and complex. I am betting it will age very well.
A note on Australia -> I am not in love with the bulk of the wines coming out of here, still. Some movement to cooler climate regions is encouraging, and I've recently had totally delicious, amazing things. The show, however, was more focussed on selling the popular goop that, well, sells. That is why the NSLC do the show, to sell wine. Not to educate us, and rarely to let us near something new and cutting edge.
This year, the show was focussed on Australia. Every year since they were forced to move to an earlier time slot, the NSLC have lost the interest of the northern hemisphere wine regions because their winemakers and managers are all in the middle of harvest, and our own are getting ready for it. Wine is, after all, supposed to be an agricultural product, not an industrial one.
At the show there was a huge Australian section, and it was packed with people acquiring heat stroke. It was a sauna. My ventures into the sweat zone were limited. I did try, but only found two I'd own, and I bought one of them.
It would be nice to get this show back in line with the right time of year for the wineries, and the other three big shows in Atlantic Canada, especially the New Brunswick show. Then we might see our French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Austrian winemaker friends again.
The reality is that the best wines in the world are still being made in France. There, I said it.
Here are the French wines that were really good, and I thought provided good value.
BOUCHARD PERE ET FILS, BEAUNE MARCONNETS, 2008
1013829
$48.49
FRANCE, BURGUNDY, RED So you say you like Pinot Noir. Well, try this. This is Pinot Noir.
CLOS DE LA BARONNE, MEURSAULT, 2008*
1013780
$47.29
FRANCE, BURGUNDY, WHITE So you say you like Chardonnay. Well, try this. This is Chardonnay. A monopole, from an producer whose reputation, and wines, are on the start of an upswing. I predict in 5 years, this same label will be $75
CAMILLE CAYRAN ANTIQUE CAIRANNE*
1013809
FRANCE
$26.79 (I think you have to pay at least this much to get good red Rhone, and here you do.)
Two California wines that showed the Americans are responding to the anti-goop movement in the wine world.
SONOMA-CUTRER SONOMA COAST CHARDONNAY, 2009
1009253
CALIFORNIA
$31.99 Not all California Chardonnay tastes like fake vanilla and a carpentry shop.
GREG NORMAN SANTA BARBARA PINOT NOIR, 2008
1013542
CALIFORNIA - YES, CALIFORNIA
$30.79 Not for everyone, but it's Santa Barbara Pinot, and not a bad version. I wanted to not like it, but just like the Chardonnay that the great white shark's company had out in our market the past two years, it rang true to me.
And now for Italy. What can I say? Probably the best wines at the show, and the most great to very good wine as well. But I was struck with the similarity of so many of the plus $20 wines I tasted. Super Tuscans, Super Venetians, Modern Barolos and Barbarescos, New World Style Sicilians and Southern Italians....
What do you do when your climate allows you to make almost anything, and your competitor is getting 50 Euros for his Sangiovese if he piles some Merlot in it? Or when your most expensive wine is made from Merlot? Or when your newly hired Australian winemaker takes your new stainless steel winery and uses your Nerello Mascarese or Aglianico and turns it into a Shee-raz lookalike that wine writers of dubious foreign origin melt over?
Italy is the new Australia. And it's out of synch with the style and direction modern wine is moving in. I tasted about 20 Italian wines. I bought three. The rest? I have pretty good taste memory. They were all very good (except the corked one - ever notice how European visitors to these shows can't detect corked wine? haha) but they run into one another - a pool of common style and, dare I say it - taste. When your Barolo starts to taste like a Californian Pinot Noir, I say you have problems, and that you should not be allowed to call it Barolo any more.
It was so busy, I could not really get into the wines I wanted to, though. There were some Friulian wines, a bunch of southern stuff, and some interesting Ripasso things.
I bought three wines, all oddities of a sort. Two reds, of which one was wonderful. The other I bought to show to people that I am right with my theory. Guess which is which.
But first, a white.
KELLEREIKALTERN GEWURZTRAMINER*
Article Number:1013867
$32.99
ITALY Italian Gewurtraminer. Hell yeah. Northern Italy does not have the climate to do whatever the heck it wants. So they make what grows in their climate and has for a while. Traminer and its variants in white.
OTTOVENTI NERELLO MASCALESE*
Article Number:1013872
$43.79
ITALY Not 100% sure this is wine or a port style. I do love that the NSLC site says the grape is traditionally grown on the slopes of Mount Edna. Very "Far Side".
NINO NEGRI SFURSAT VALTELLINA DOCG*
Article Number:1013866
$45.29
ITALY My favourite wine at the medal winner pre-tasting for licensees. Barolo but not. Gattinara but not. Nebbiolo it is. But from a relatively obscure DOCG. Has all the smoke, tar and floral notes that some other Barolos at the show have forgotten how to display, or have hidden in the scent of new oak barriques.
DISCLAIMER WINES
I poured for Chateau des Charmes all four shows, on and off. They brought two of their most interesting wines to the market, and they are now available in many stores (Joe Howe, Portland Street etc.). The Chardonnay Musque (1013144) is a fun wine, from a single clone of Chardonnay that is highly aromatic, almost muscat-like. It makes you think you're going to get a sweet wine, but then it tastes clean and crisp. A lot like our best NY Muscat wines here in NS, and some Alsace wines. At $19.99 it's a treat, and a fun thing to share with friends.
Their Gamay Noir Droit (1013145) is the same price, but I think of it as a more serious wine. As a lover of Cru Beaujolais, I know that Gamay can make great wine. Niagara Gamay has always impressed me, from just about any producer, but CdC do it as well as, and often better than anyone. That may be due to this mutation of Gamay that appeared in their vineyards, and that they now "own" the clone of. The Droit, or upright clone. The wine is deeper, and darker than many other Gamays, and reminds one of Crus known for ageing, like Morgon, Cotes de Brouilly and Chenas. I have successfully aged this wine almost 10 years, but you can drink it now. I think Chateau des Charmes may have been the only winery at the show that "owned their own grape".
GEEK WINE ALERT!!!
My geek wine, the one you want to spring on people when they come visit, not a "value wine" at all, but this is the first Australian Zinfandel I've seen. Tastes about like what you'd expect. Big stewy fruit but with spicy character and alcohol. States only 14% but I think higher.
GROOM BUSH BLOCK ZINFANDEL*
1013615
AUSTRALIA
$39.79
Finally, remember, these are just what I liked. I can guarantee you that we do not share the same palate, nor will we like or dislike the same wines. I know at least one person who will agree with me on most of the wines above, but violently disagree with me on a few of them. But it's not about what I think, or like, it's about your preferences. I think you will enjoy these wines, and perhaps they might lead you into new places to explore in the wine world. But really, all I'd really like you to do is never stop trying new things. Just keep having fun with it.
* I bought this wine.
