Harry's Blog

Central Otago, located on New Zealand’s South Island, is the southernmost grape growing region in the world. Before grape growing started in earnest in the 1970’s, there has been a history of extensive fruit growing in river valley orchards and on elevated plateaus, especially along the Kawarau and Clutha rivers. But 150 years ago, the area was abuzz with a gold rush. Having taken a boat tour along the Clutha River myself, one can still see the remains of stone huts that provided primitive lodgings for the miners, commonly referred to as “diggers.” They came from around the world to seek their fortune to stake and work their claims. But with the lawlessness associated with a major gold rush boom at the end of the world, it resulted in the Otago goldfields being regulated by a system of laws overseen by appointed officials such as goldfield commissioners and police.

It made sense for the Bannock Brae Winery to choose Digger’s Law as a brand name for this premium Central Otago Pinot Noir. Pinot Noir accounts for seventy percent of wine production in this region. The grapes for Digger’s Law are sourced from three distinct vineyard sites located in the sub regions of Gibbston Valley, Bendigo and Bannockburn. Burgundian in style, a savoury earthiness combines with berry fruits to dominate the bouquet. On the palate, the balanced tannins are underpinned with a subtle refreshing acidity and core of red berry fruits. No problems with laying down a few bottles to see how this wine develops further. Cameron Douglas, New Zealand’s first Master Sommelier, gave it 93 points. Barbequed lamb tacos would be a tasty, uncomplicated pairing.  

2019 Digger’s Law Pinot Noir LCBO #32405, $24.95

In 2001, UNESCO classified Portugal’s Douro River Valley as a World Heritage Site for the beauty of its landscape and natural state. Known as the oldest demarcated wine region in the world, the Douro offers a true landscape masterpiece created by the many generations that have lived on this land and perfected and preserved its culture and traditions. Over the centuries, people have developed a process of adapting the knowledge and techniques of viticulture in the Douro River valley which is now considered to be one of the most beautiful wine regions in the world. Its unique and imposing beauty with vineyards planted on traditional terraces, supported by centuries old stone retaining walls called socalcos, have become the keepers of its history, architecture and landscape.

As the production of fortified Port wines has slowed down somewhat, Douro producers are in the fortunate position that the red grape varieties used for Port production are excellent for making full bodied dry red wines. The low yielding varietals of Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca and Tinta Cao give us wines that exhibit intense colour and flavours with good levels of tannin.  

Real Companhia Velha was founded on Sept. 10, 1756, by Royal decree and is Portugal’s oldest wine company. Its Evel Douro Red comes primarily from three of their best Quintas (vineyards) located around the town of Pinhao, considered to be the premium center of grape growing in the upper Douro region. Starting with a pronounced ruby red colour with violet tints, aromas of red berries, green tobacco, and vanilla from oak aging, lead to a medium body with soft tannins and a long finish. Pairing it with Churrasco, the Portugese term for grilled beef, would round out the total taste experience.

2018 Evel Douro Red LCBO #190694, $15.95

Garnacha is of course the Spanish name for Grenache, the noble red work horse grape of southern France. However, its origins are in Spain, specifically the Aragon district of Zaragoza, south-east of Rioja. The appellation of this Grenache is Calatayud, created in 1989, and is the place where the oldest Garnacha vines are grown. The OGV brand is produced from 100% old bush wines, some over 50 years old, growing at a cool elevation of 800-1000 meters above sea level. The significant diurnal day-to-nighttime temperature fluctuation promotes excellent flavor development in the grapes, while consistent gentle winds help temper the extreme summer heat. Fermentation takes place in cement tanks followed by 6 months in oak barrels. We encounter a sexy wine with silky palate. The aroma is a perfect intermingling of blackberries and cherries. It has an excellent length accented by warm tannins. While sipping nicely on its own, it will bring out the best characteristics of a tomato and bell pepper gazpacho, grilled octopus or roast chicken with a chorizo sausage and paprika stuffing. It was rated 90 points by Luis Gutierrez of robertparker.com. At a very affordable retail price of $16.95, you can afford to grab a case from LCBO Vintages to enjoy now or lay down for a few years to develop further complexity.

2019 OGV Old Garnacha Vines LCBO # 13633, $16.95.

Everyone likes savings especially in dollar increments. Forget the looney, let’s go for a tooney instead. Canadians have never had an aversion to two dollar currency units, whether in paper or coin form. All attempts in the USA, for example, to introduce two dollar bills were met with resistance. Even dollar coins failed to take flight not unlike a bald eagle with an injured wing. Canadians travelling to the USA are always frustrated with bills of only one colour - green. But then, Americans can’t understand our love affair either with multi-coloured bills sporting holograms. And all those US dollar bills don’t go far anymore. Quite the task, having to straighten out crumpled dollar bills and coaxing a finicky vending machine to accept less than pristine pieces of paper whose portraits of George Washington end up not looking very presidential. Not the case in Canada with its metal dollar denomination coins! Hey, what’s a teeny scratch on that polar bear standing on an ice flow with Queen Elizabeth’s profile on the flip side? With the death of our longest reigning monarch, we have been informed by the Royal Canadian Mint that toonies with the image of the deceased Queen will continue to be minted and circulated until the official portrait of King Charles II has been approved by Buckingham Palace. This may take quite some time yet. However, with the meteoric increase in the use of bank, debit and credit cards for purchases, savings can be had regardless whether using plastic or metal.

So when can we start saving $2.00 on our next purchase of bottles of wine at the LCBO? Gérard Betrand is the undisputed master wine producer from France’s Languedoc region on the Mediterranean coast. This 2018 vintage Syrah-Grenache blend is a reflection of wines from regional terroirs assembled to demonstrate the Languedoc’s quality, character, and value. Hues of deep purple invite us to savour the aromas of ripe plums, berries, cherries and spice. The finish is full-bodied with notes of dark cocoa and smoke.

It’s an LCBO Vintages Essentials listing, always available. Enjoy with your favourite meat dishes or hard cheeses.    

2018 Gérard Bertrand Languedoc Syrah-Grenache LCBO # 413237, was $18.95, now $16.95 till November 5.

While Gewürztraminer may be one of the more difficult grape varieties to pronounce, don’t let that stop you from enjoying this classic white wine. Gewürz is the German word for spice and Tramin, a town in the German speaking South Tyrol (Alto Adige) region of Northern Italy, is its ancestral home. A pink skinned grape, the bouquet is unmistakable with typical spicy, aromatic notes of ginger followed by lychees, rose petals, grapefruit and orange marmalade that jump out of the glass. It’s found predominantly planted in southern Germany, France’s Alsace, Eastern Europe plus certain outposts in the New World.

It has always been a key planting in the Nonnengarten vineyard site of the Darting Estate located in the Pfalz village of Dürkheim. For over 20 years, it has shown up at regular intervals on the shelves of LCBO Vintages.The Kabinett designation means it’s a Reserve bottling that is harvested a little later than normal and gives the wine a little more intensity in the bouquet, richness in flavour plus a pleasant tad of sweetness.

For this Thanksgiving Day’s weekend family get-togethers, we would not hesitate to pair this Gewürztraminer with both light and dark turkey meat plus bright cranberry sauce and creamy mashed potatoes. It will also go well with sweet potatoes, brown sugar and fall-themed desserts such as pumpkin pie. 

2022 Darting Dürkheimer Nonnengarten Gewürztraminer Kabinett LCBO # 944181, $24.95

The Spanish word for the widely grown and popular Mediterranean Grenache grape is Garnacha. And mother is Madre. Garnacha de la Madre is the name of a single vineyard located in a cool valley on the Más Que Vinos property in the Tierra Castilla region of central Spain. The small creek that runs through the valley and the vineyard itself is called Madre - almost everything related to water in Spain ties into to the word mother; seeing it is the element that is essential for any living being.

Más Que Vinos was founded in 1998 when three friends - Margarita Madrigal, Alexandra Schmedes and Gonzalo Rodriguez met. Each was a winemaker with extensive experience. Seeing the great potential of the vineyards in Gonzalo’s hometown of Dosbarrios (outside Toledo), they launched their personal winery project rescuing old plots of indigenous grape varieties and moving to all organic viticulture. They renovated the old family winery (from 1851) and in 2007 constructed a new modern winery in nearby Cabañas de Yepes. After fermentation, this wine spent one year maturing in amphorae, concrete, egg-shaped tanks. The result is a wine with an elegant nose with floral notes while the taste and lingering finish are very complex. It’s certified organic too. The Robert Parker tasters rated it with 93+ points. We recommend pairing it with barbequed lamb skewers and then, as an obligatory end to the meal, Spain’s famous Manchego cheese. After all, it hails from the milk of Manchega sheep that graze in the neighboring wild grasslands of La Mancha. A semi-hard cheese, it is identified by its distinctive herringbone rind and sweet flavour. 

2018 Garnacha de la Madre LCBO # 18927, $19.95

September 16 to October 3 are the dates of this year’s Munich Oktoberfest, the world’s most famous beer festival, held annually in Germany’s state of Bavaria.

The opening ceremonies include the tradition of having the current serving Lord Mayor tap the first keg. Sounds rather simple. Spank the spigot, wear a large leather apron to protect oneself and those in close proximity from suds that may randomly wish to fly about, and fill the first stein. Not always! The record for the least number of whacks required to get the tap into the keg is held by Lord Mayor Christian Ude. In 2005 he did it with two whacks. At the end of the accuracy scale, Lord Mayor Thomas Wimmer, in 1950, required nineteen attempts.

While it’s the bucket list destination of many a beer lover to visit the Hofbräu tent in Munich, holding 10,000 revellers, we are fortunate to have the same Hofbräu Oktoberfest beer that is served in Germany available for a limited time at your local LCBO outlet. Did you know that in Munich, only breweries located within the city limits are allowed to sell their seasonal brews for Oktoberfest. Not like breweries around the world that have hijacked the term Oktoberfest for whatever style of beer they wish to produce and market.

Hofbräu’s classic Märzen style brew is bright gold in colour with rich aromas of bread, medium-to-full bodied with a long citrus and dried hay finish. The independent Beverage Testing Institute gave it 93 points with an “Exceptional” rating. And don’t forget to pick up some sausages, buns and sauerkraut from your local grocery retailer to help create your own DYI Oktoberfest.

Bring out the lederhosen, rinse out your stein, and get in line for a good time.

Hofbräu Oktoberfestbier 500 mL, LCBO #84889, $4.15

As the grapes hang on the vine into late summer and fall, the natural sugars continue to build up. The sugar can be fermented into alcohol or, in the case of dessert wines, provide the wine lover with a rich, sweet nectar to be savored on its own or with rich desserts. These “stickies” are also the perfect foil for very rich foods other than desserts such as fois gras.

The measure of sugar in the unfermented grapes is called “must weight” by winemakers. You’ve probably seen pictures of a winemaker squeezing the juice of a grape into what looks like a small telescope and then looking into it with one eye closed. This instrument is called a refractometer. Light passing through a drop of juice held between two prisms bends the light at a different angle according to its sugar content. A scale, seen through the eyepiece, gives a reading of the percentage of sugar. Every country has its own system for measuring must weight. Three scales are primarily used: Brix (New World), Oechsle (Germany), Beaumé (France). Richness and flavour are the winemaker’s reward. Of course, as the quantity of juice decreases on the vine as the grapes ripen, the richness and final retail price increase directly in proportion.

This Special Select Late Harvest is produced from the Vidal grape, a favourite for producing dessert wines in the Niagara Peninsula. Despite the concentration of taste, it remains vibrant with a counter-balancing, refreshing, acidity. Savour on its own as a liquid dessert. Or pair with Dutch apple pie, crème brulée, butter tarts, or fois gras.

2019 Henry of Pelham Special Select Late Harvest Vidal 375 ml LCBO #395228, $19.95.

Let’s get right to it. Although the Grenache grape has its origins in Spain, it’s the second most planted grape variety in France with over 80,000 hectares and no region has more than the southern Rhône. Typically, it is planted as bush vines. The vines are trained on a short trunk, free standing and pruned to a few spurs where the grapes grow. But let’s hop over to Down Under where Grenache has also made its mark, primarily in Australia’s Barossa Valley.

The family-owned Yalumba winery is an Aussie benchmark for this variety. Named in honour of founder Samuel Smith, this old vines Grenache comes from their home block vineyards with some plantings going as far back as the 1920’s. Aged up to 10 months in previously filled oak barrels, it’s garnet in colour with purple and red hues with dark fruit and floral aromas. Medium bodied and demonstrating a nice balance between fruit, spice and tannins, it’s underpinned by a pleasant crispness.

Respected New Zealand journalist Sam Kim rated it 93 points. And how about matching this exciting Grenache with shaved ham topped with stone ground Dijon mustard and served on Kaiser bun.

2021 Yalumba Samuel’s Collection Bush Vine Grenache LCBO Vintages #531228, $26.95.

The first hints of the impending arrival of fall are starting to show up. A few leaves are turning colour. Morning dew is leaving our lawns wet and covering the windshields of vehicles left outside overnight. And it’s back to school for the kids once the Labour Day weekend is over.

Parents have been busy organizing the transition from summer holidays to the structured classroom environment. And then there is a plethora of classroom materials needed such as pens, pencils, markers, binders, paper, glue sticks, post-it notes, calculators and more. Just look at the retail store offerings in those clear plastic bags bursting with flyers deposited at the end of your driveway. We won’t delve into the area of laptops, notebooks, printers, etc. for the more senior students. Or the bittersweet feelings of becoming empty nesters or leaving home as universities and colleges welcome first year post secondary students especially. All are anxious, but it’s a right of passage that befalls us all. After all is said and done, mom and dad deserve a bit of a break, put up their feet and enjoy a glass of wine.

Luigi Bosca is one of Argentina’s oldest and respected wineries located in the premium, high altitude region of Mendoza. And Malbec is the affordable signature red varietal that has captured the attention and pocket books of the wine consumers around the world. With Luigi Bosca’s price-friendly La Linda line, we encounter typical aromas of smoke, dark fruits, and dark chocolate, with a long smooth finish on the palate. Enjoy on its own or pair with medium rare flank steak tacos. They are perfect for those nights when you want to enjoy a flavourful, protein-packed meal without a lot of fuss.

Until Sept.10, you will save $2 per bottle on your purchase of this continuously listed LCBO item, down from the regular retail price of $14.00. 

2022 Luigi Bosca La Linda Malbec #11927, $12.00

Jack London was the famous 19^th century novelist, journalist and international celebrity. Best known for his adventure novels, especially

The Call of the Wild, he also penned a novel called Valley of the Moon.  He took the title from the translation of the local Native American Miwok word, Sonoma.  Local legend had it that from certain sacred places, the moon appeared to rise and set seven times behind the peaks of

Mayacamas Range. Of course, Sonoma Valley, known by wine lovers everywhere, is steeped in history and is the birthplace of Californian viticulture. Originally founded in1863 and re-opened again in 1941, the winery that bears the same name, Valley of The Moon, carries on viticultural traditions as rich and as deep as the soils where their grapes are grown. Reflecting the local terroir in the rolling hills of Sonoma County, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon is pure California! Since you probably won’t be able to visit the historic Valley of the Moon tasting room at 134 Church Street in beautiful downtown Sonoma, with its Spanish charm, LCBO retail stores with Vintages sections are waiting for you to pick up a bottle or two. The bouquet reveals a palette of black fruits with pleasant hints of vanilla. Full bodied with a smooth texture, it’s great for a wide range of meat dishes. If vacationing this summer at your favourite campground, why not read some excerpts from one of Jack London’s adventure novels around the camp fire. Sip away as you listen to the fire’s crackling sounds and watch the night shadows of the flames dance about.

2019 Valley of the Moon Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon #10042, $29.95

Grüner Veltliner, pronounced Grooner Velt-Leaner, is Austria’s signature white grape variety. In fact, it accounts for one-third of  Austria’s vineyards and is hardly planted elsewhere. Always dry, with a bright acidity and medium body, the bouquet gives us subtle notes of grapefruit and signature white pepper when swirled. It’s a great summer sipper that is drunk in copious quantities in restaurants, café’s and Weinstuben (wine bars) all over Austria. Drink on its own, pair with lighter dishes including seafoods. But the real match made im Himmel (heaven) is Wiener Schnitzel. We are not talking about the standard schnitzels available everywhere. No more than a pounded non-descript breaded cutlet made of pork and pan fried – ho-hum! Real Wiener (Viennese) Schnitzel is only allowed to be made with veal. Ever so thinly pounded and dredged in egg and bread crumbs, it is deep fried and will be light, tender and delicate. And then to pair with Grüner Veltliner!!! Lenz Moser is truly an ambassador of  Austria’s wine culture, established in 1905. Their premium, limited production Prestige line of wines is meant for upscale retailers, such as LCBO Vintages and restaurants. Also, Prestige Grüner garnered a Gold Medal at the Mundus Vini European Wine Competition.

2022 Lenz Moser Prestige Grüner Veltliner #71233, $19.95