I have been at a few Vancouver International Wine Festival functions, including the first of three big evening tasting room events on Thursday night at the Festival and can highly recommend tasting these fine wines, among far too many others to taste!
First off, wines I was able to try, then some others I really hope to taste tonight.
Be sure to try the fabulous Joseph Phelps Insignia, their flagship red blend and one of most expensive wines at at $255 a bottle! But so,so good!
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| Joseph Phelps Insignia 2009 |
Don't miss fabulous but small production Blackbird Vineyards Illustration - a Merlot-based [81%] killer California wine that sadly is in extremely short supply and retails - not here - at $150 a bottle! But also great are their Paramour 2009 - Cabernet Franc-based [61%] blend at $140 and Arise 2010 at $70. Want to go back for their Arise 2012 rose at $36.
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| Blackbird Vineyards Illustration 2009 |
One of my favourite wineries in the world is Concha y Toro - always good value and award winning wines. Their wonderful flagship wine - Don Melchor - is a Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon [sometimes with a touch of Cabernet Franc] available in BC at $86. They also have excellent Terrunyo Carmenere 2009 at $37, and the best-priced cab and chardonnay in BC - Casa Concha at $20 each - the chardonnay is on the Wine Spectator Top 100 rated at 90 points and the cabernet consistently scores 90 year after year.
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| Don Melchor 2009 |
Lange Twins - A pleasure to meet Randy Lange, who is producting a really great chardonnay out of Lodi, California at the reasonable price [for BC, don't ask what it costs in the US!] of $24; try also their lovely Cabernet Sauvignon, plus Zinfandel.
Les Halos de Jupiter - from Cotes du Rhone to Rasteau to Gigindas to Chateauneuf du Pape, a collection of beautiful southern French classics! The Cotes du Rhone at $24 is just an awesome wine but all are excellent values.
Paul Hobbs - great wines from a fabulous California producer - Chardonnay, Cabernet and blends. Don't miss the Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 at $110 - fabulous, as is their 92 point Wine Spectator rated Russian River Chardonnay 2010.
O. Fournier - Another favourite - producing head-turning Malbecs from Argentina especially Alpha Crux 2008 at $50! The B Crux bled is also great.
Silver Oak Cellars - their Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 is very big and very smooth too - retails at $135 unfortunately but oh so good! Try their Alexander Valley cabernet and Napa merlot too.
Fontodi - another great winery I've had the pleasure of visiting in Panzano, Tuscany, this is one of the consistently highly-scored producers. Their 2008 Chianti Classico is a real value at $34 for this quality - scoring 90 points at the Wine Spectator for the second year in a row. Their bigger Vigna del Sorbo Chianti Classico 2009 at $70 is a collector's wine and their $60 Pinot Nero [Pinot Noir] is the best of that varietal I've ever had from Italy!
There are only about 700 more wines to taste - I'll try to add a few more if I can later today but regardless, follow me on Twitter @BillTieleman and watch tonight for some more top picks there!
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