Category Archives: White Wine

Picpoul Alert

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Pinet is a small coastal municipality in southwest France situated nearby to the
edge of the saltwater Thau Lagoon. Though only having a modest population of
around 1300, this is nonetheless the heart of the Picpoul de Pinet AOC. As
one of the proud members of this vibrant, historically rich, wine-producing region,
the Ormarine winery is a co-operative dating to the early 1920’s. This era also
saw the rebirth of other local vineyards that had to painstakingly recover from
the widespread decimation of their plantings by the Phylloxera pest earlier on.

Ormarine’s wine-growing area, within sight of the lapping shores and cooling sea
breezes of the Mediterranean, is a unique chalky-clay plateau rich in limestone,
quartz gravel and otherwise covered with Garrigue. This coastal vegetation is
made up of an assortment of small aromatic bushes, which like the local grapes,
have gradually adapted to thrive in the near-drought climate of summertime.
These growing conditions are fortuitously punctuated by late season humidity,
thereby encouraging the fruit to plump up, reaching full maturity before harvest.

A favourite style of the Emperor Napoleon III, these premium wines result from
the somewhat obscure, golden skinned grape originally called Piquant-Paul, later
as Picapulla and finally as Piquepoul. Translating as ‘stings the lip’, the moniker
references naturally high levels of acidity and mineral accents that distinctively
characterize this ancient variety. Used to create a dry and citrus-scented style
of varietal white wines, they are a perfect complement to shellfish as the fruit’s
acidity balances-off the saltiness. Generally food-friendly, Picpoul is also very
satisfying alone as a well-chilled apéritif offering with chocolates!

Ormarine

ORMARINE PICPOUL DE PINET 2013
VINTAGES – LCBO Product #525287 | 750 mL bottle
Price $ 12.95
12.5% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content Descriptor: XD

Made in: Midi, France
By: La Cave de l’Ormarine
Release Date: Jan. 24, 2015

Tasting Note
A very lively wine style with lemony overtones and pleasant, refreshing grapefruit
flavor notes. Hints of minerality and the tangy finish make for an ideal partner to
oysters, crab, mussels, grilled fish or rich cheeses and charcuterie.

Mantinia Alert

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Pastoral life still characterizes the mountainous region of Arcadia, in central
Peloponnesus. Its bucolic isolation have long been reflected on as a paradise in
both Greek and Roman poetry, as well as, in the literature of the Renaissance.
Formerly a peninsula, it technically become an island with the building of the
Corinth Canal at the end of the 19th century. Creating a maritime shortcut
across this ancient land, it connects the Gulf of Corinth, mouth of the Ionian
Sea and the Saronic Gulf, which is the gateway to the Aegean. Here, you’ll also
find so many of the sites that are quintessentially Greek: famed palaces include
King Agamemnon’s bronze-age construction at Mycenae and King Nestor’s at
Pýlos. You’ll also find one of the best preserved Greek theatres at Epidaurus
and Olympia: original host venue of the Olympic Games for over a millennium.
They also make a great deal of wine and have done so for a very long time.

In one of the 13 principal regions of modern-day Greece, Peleponnesus covers
approximately 12% of the landmass. The historian-poet Homer referred to it as:
Ampeloessa, meaning ‘full of vines’. So it is to this day, outstripping production
of all other Greek wine-producing areas. This week’s DéClassé recommended,
varietal bottling: Mantinia, takes its name from the larger region. In the Rizes,
Lithovounia, and Agiorgitika sub-communes of Mantinia, they primarily grow the
white grape variety: Moschofilero, which so-uniquely defines this refreshing wine.

In the parlance of international wine styles, Moschofilero is otherwise known as
‘blanc de gris’ due to the pale-grey caste of the grape’s skin colour. Though
much more subtle than the distantly related Gewurztraminer and Muscat, this
wine shares some of distinct flavor and aroma characteristics such as flower
and spice. These current 40 hectares of the Tselepos winery estate are in a
direct lineage to the very oldest vineyards found on the peninsula, many of which
were founded over 3,000 years ago. As is so often the case, poor soil makes for
counter-intuitive yet ideal conditions, yielding vigorous vines and characterful
fruit. This clay-based, rocky terrain is no exception to the rule, adding a touch of minerality to the resulting wine, providing a firm structure.

Once again white wine lovers, I’ll challenge you to try something different in the
still-limited pantheon of white wines available in the North American market. On
the LCBO Vintage’s shelves for a short while only, just buy 2 right away. Then go
back and pick up some more for Christmas and New Years.

Mantineia

TSELEPOS CLASSIC MOSCHFILERO 2013
VINTAGES – LCBO Product #724583 | 750 mL bottle
Price $ 17.95
13% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content Descriptor: XD

Made in: Peloponnese, Greece
By: Domaine Tselepos
Release Date: Dec. 6, 2014

Tasting Note
This wine has an abundance of citrus fruit flavours and lemon flower aroma. Try
serving ahead of a meal with Phylo pastry appetizers, prosciutto, fresh fish dishes,
scallops or a cucumber and melon salad.

Viognier Alert

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With a 160-plus-year history, this is Australia’s oldest family owned winery being
founded in 1849 by English brewer Samuel Smith in Barossa Valley. Located in
South Australia’s most famous wine-making region, the winery’s name Yalumba
roughly translates to meaning “all the land around” – in one of the local aboriginal
dialects. Originally, a mere 30 acres of vineyard has grown in diversification and
scale, drawing on the output from choice parcels around the town of Angaston,
also known as’ German Pass’: pioneered largely by German immigrants in the
mid-nineteenth century. 50yrs. onward, the Smiths began development of the
flourishing viniculture that now marks the South Australian region as a whole.

The Viognier grape and its resulting varietal wine, is one of the great stories of
recovery and reemergence from near-extinction. In the early 1960’s, only about
80 acres of vine plantings were still active world-wide, all in a cluster in France’s
Northern Rhône Valley. This week’s DéClassé featured vintner was one of a small handful to re-establish the variety in the Eden Valley in the late 1970’s. Arguably,
in spite of a new-found popularity on its own along with its use as a very common blending component with other varieties such as Marsanne and Grenache Blanc, bolstering texture and deepening colour – it remains a niche variety. 

It’s a very difficult grape to grow with consistency, offering highly variable yields
from season to season. Since it’s thick-skinned, it also requires a lot of sunshine
exposure to bring it through to maturity, though not too much, as this results in
an overly ‘hot’ alcohol content. This week’s recommendation strikes the balance
just right: some steelyness, refreshing, while also fuller-bodied and fulfilling.

Get off the bandwagon of the current stars of often less-characterful, white wine
such as the inexpensive versions of Chardonnay and the like. Get a bottle and try
this fairly well-chilled and while it’s young, before heading back for another.

Yalumba Viognier

YALUMBA THE Y SERIES VIOGNEIR 2013
VINTAGES – LCBO Product #624502 | 750 mL bottle
Price $ 16.95
14.5% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content Descriptor: XD

Made in: South Australia, Australia
By: Negociants International
Release Date: Oct. 25, 2014

Tasting Note
This bottling is classically typical of the variety. Light, floral aroma and flavour
with notes of stone fruit such as apricot and hints of peach, pineapple and spice
blended into a supple, textured body. Enjoy this somewhat bigger white as apéritif
or with seafood, salads and white-sauced pasta.

Vinho Verde Alert

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Bordering the Cávado River, near Braga in the north-western sub-region of the
larger Vinho Verde DOC, with a damp, near-Atlantic coastal climate, grapes are
grown among forested hillsides that line the misty valleys. Of necessity these are
very fast maturing, fairly fragrant white wine varieties, more-typically cultivated
in an overhead canopy style of trellis, lessening the chance of fungal disease, due
to elevated moisture levels. This vintner employs a lower-level, so-called Unilateral Cordon (or Cordon de Royat in French – who pioneered this method) since these
issues are less-prevalent in the Minho zone.

Winemaker Alavaro van Zeller, has his experienced hands and stamp on this
week’s DéClassé recommended varietal creation using 100% Loureiro grape
content. It’s purported namesake comes from an association to laurel flowers,
acacia, lime and orange blossoms – in the prolific form of green-yellow bunches.
On the heels of a September harvest, the resulting must ferments and is stored
for a time in stainless steel vats to yield up a fresh and crisp wine style unique to
its source vineyards. In turn, these surround the central manor house ‘Solar’ set
in among the woods ‘Bouças’, inspiring this bottle’s catchy title.

Vinho Verde still too often, literally, construed as a ‘green’ wine; it’s more-likely
intending to reference that it is ‘young’ wine – decidedly a key facet of its charm.
Though well-known in Europe, North American consumers have been slow in
coming to appreciate its placement in the pantheon of white wine styles. Low
alcohol content means that it can be experienced and enjoyed in more-liberal
quantity but of course, not without a reasonable restraint!

For added emphasis, this bottling was selected as #1 of 50 great Portuguese
Wines in 2014 by lead editor Joshua Greene in Wine and Spirits magazine. A
significant endorsement for such an affordably priced offering.

Solar Das Boucas

SOLAR DAS BOUÇAS LOUREIRO 2013
VINTAGES – LCBO Product #221036 | 750 mL bottle
Price $ 13.95
10.7% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content Descriptor: XD

Made in: Vinho Verde, Portugal
By: Baroa De Vilar
Release Date: Oct. 11, 2014

Tasting Note
Light, low alcohol, fruity and ever-so sparkling (‘petillant’), this wine has a pleasing
acidity akin to pears with a hint of citrus. Certainly this is appropriate to serve
as apéritif or with all manner of white meats, pasta and fresh fish dishes.

Pinot Gris Alert

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Pinot Gris is a white wine grape that originated in the neighbouring vineyards of
France’s Burgundy, then was proliferated around Europe – notably popularized
in Italy in the latter part of the 20th century where it’s known as Pinot Grigio.
Derived from the larger Pinot family of grapes, this pink-skinned version with low
acidity and relatively high sugar levels does very well in cooler growing conditions
such as Alsace and across the border around Baden, Germany.

Dating to the early 1700’s, the family winemaking estate of Joseph Cattin has
been based in the heart of the Alsatian vineyards south of Colmar, between the
villages of Voegtlinshoffen and Hattstatt. This storied region on the west bank
of the Upper Rhine near the German border has excelled at cool-weather grape
styles since the Middle Ages. The namesake of the current estate, Joseph, was
an early 20th century pioneer in combating the Phylloxera pest which did so much
damage throughout Europe and beyond. Apart from continuing the development
and expansion of what was then a modest 7 hectare property, he also studied
and subsequently developed vine grafting techniques which ultimately became
the viticultural model for many Alsatian growers to overcome the blight.

Later generations expanded the estate to over 50 hectares, as well as, engaged
numerous local growers to cultivate according to the family’s exacting standard.
With most of the combined vineyards sheltered in among the south-east facing
foothills of the Vosges mountains, these terroirs of the Pinot Gris AOC d’Alsace
with their highly variable soils and moderate climate help the vines yield a broad
range of early ripening fruit with well-rounded character.

This 2012 offering won Gold at the 2013 Concours Général Agricole de Paris
– this win being a follow-on to numerous medal accolades for previous vintages.

Pinot Gris

JOSEPH CATTIN PINOT GRIS 2012
VINTAGES – LCBO Product #196956 | 750 mL bottle
Price $ 16.95
13% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content Descriptor: D

Made in: Alsace, France
By: Cattin Freres
Release Date: August 30, 2014

Tasting Note
As is more typical with this wine style in an Alsatian version, it’s richer than its
Italian cousins with aroma and flavour notes of stone fruit, accented by hints of
almond and honey. Try serving this with a broad range of vegetable-based dishes,
pasta and cream sauces, or as an apéritif with foie-gras.

Grüner Veltliner Alert

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At home in the main estate in Rohrendorf, the Klosterkeller (cloistral cellar) in
Siegendorf and Schlossweingut (castle winery) of the Sovereign Order of the
Knights of Malta in Mailberg, Austria’s Lenz Moser vintners are building on a
legacy that dates to early in the 11th century! More recently, they’ve been hard
at work since the mid 20th century – progressively establishing high production
standards for a broad range of white and red wines. Among many innovations is
the required commitment by the contract growers to the practices of organic
fertilizing and the natural bio-control of pests and weeds – all aided by the use of
an innovative vine training method called high-trellising.

One of the most important grape varieties grown in Austria, making up approx.
30% of all planted vineyard areas, Grüner Veltliner is gradually regaining a profile
internationally due to a marked increase in popularity and availability on the export
market. It’s an extremely fertile variety that’s a hybrid offspring of parent Traminer
and St. Georgen grapes and requires rigorous pruning and yield regulation so as to maintain its distinct character. It thrives in the deep ‘loess’ (loose, wind-deposited sediment) soils found here in Niederösterreich (lower Austria).

Amply demonstrated in this offering is the fact that Austrian vintners deserve
more international appreciation, particularly for their indigenous, varietal wines
such as Blauer Zweigelt and this week’s DéClassé recommended, textured and
well structured Veltliner. If you like somewhat bigger whites such as barrel-aged
Chardonnay or Gewürztraminer, then you’re in for a treat. Go on, at this modest
price-point – dare to give it a well-chilled whirl and be pleasantly surprised!

Lenz Moser

LENZ MOSER PRESTIGE GRUNER VELTLINER 2012
VINTAGES – LCBO Product # 71233 | 750 mL bottle
Price $ 13.95
12.5% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content Descriptor: XD

Made in: Niederösterreich, Austria
By: Lenz Moser Gesselschaft M.B.H.
Release Date: August 30, 2014

Tasting Note
This is a subtly spicy white wine with some pepper and stone fruit notes. Try with
Asian fare such as Thai Kaffir lime-wrapped chicken skewers, spicy Chinese and
Vietnamese dishes. Also pairs well with fish such as snapper and salads or with a
variety of saltier charcuterie and cheese.

Pecorino Alert

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Native to the Abruzzo and Marche regions that are framed between the sandy
Adriatic coastline, Sibylline Massif and the inland Apennine Mountains of central
Italy – Pecorino is known for creating exceptionally flavourful wines. This variety
that’s associated with the cheese of the same name (and translating roughly as
“grape of the sheeps” – who apparently also liked it), has concentrated aromas,
good alcohol content and a lively, bright acidity. While popular, it was primarily
used as a blending component to improve the quality of other regional white
wines. Then, in part due to naturally low yields of fruit, Pecorino cultivation all but
disappeared, having given way to arguably less-remarkable grape varieties such
as Trebbiano and Passerina, both of which offer much higher productivity. Now,
largely due to visionary vintners in this region, it thankfully is again resurgent and
in spite of the vine stock being young, is producing aromatic and flavourful wine.

Here, nearby to the village of Loreto Aprutino, the Talamonti winery with its 32
hectares of vineyard in the unspoiled Tevo Valley, benefits from soil that’s infused
with wind-blown volcanic ash, as well as, mineral deposits left behind by Europe’s
southern-most glacier: the Ghiacciaio del Calderone. This historically rich region
has wine-making traditions dating to at least the age of the Etruscans early in
the 6th century BC. Somewhat later it developed its agricultural diversity adding
bay leaf trees, olive groves and surprisingly, highly prized potatoes!

If you need an additional nudge to help move you slightly out of your white wine predisposition(s), then also know that this varietal bottling was a Gold Medal
winner at the 2013 International Wine Challenge.

Trabocchetto

TALAMONTI TRABOCCHETTO PECORINO 2012
VINTAGES – LCBO Product #372474 | 750 mL bottle
Price $15.95
Alcohol/Vol. 13.0%
Sugar Content Descriptor: XD

Made in: Abruzzo, Italy
By: Cantine Talamonti
Release Date: July 5, 2014

Tasting Note
Straw-hued with vibrant fruit-forward flavours of pear and apple, this dry and
aromatic wine is wrapped in a crisp, fresh acidity. Ideal with grilled fish and
calamari or lobster, fresh cheeses, pasta, and legume soups.

Pinot Blanc Alert

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Founded in 1958, La Cave du Vieil Armand is a co-op of 100 growers that tend
to vineyard plots distributed throughout the southern regions of Alsace. By local
standards, this is a small group, though one which favours delivery of premium
offerings over production volume. One demonstrative indicator is the willingness
to cellar their wines indefinitely – until they’re deemed to be fully mature. This is
certainly the case here, with a Pinot Blanc release that’s from a 2009 vintage!

With a history traceable to 1230, one of their sub-brands: Chateau Ollwiller is
considered to be one of only 2 properties to have birthed Alsacian wine-making
traditions in the Middle Ages. Originally overseen by the wine fief: the Count of
Ferrette, the Château’s vineyards cover 25 hectares on the elevated slopes of
the Le Vieil Armand (‘Old Armand’), a rocky spur in the Vosges mountains. Soil
composition is largely made up of marl and sandstone on a limestone base that
lends an aromatic complexity and minerality to the vine stock grown here.

Within this intriguing property is the so-called ‘Clos de la Tourelle’, a dedicated
sub-plot planted with only Pinot Blanc grapes. Punctuated by an ancient stone
watch tower, the single-vineyard nature of this bottling is iconoclastic both in its
geographical setting, vinicultural character, as well as, its classic, ‘flûte’ shaped
bottle. The variety is often referred to as the workhorse grape of Alsace and has
an undeserved reputation as being sometimes wanting in terms of a distinctive
flavor profile. This is perhaps missing the point as far as appreciating the subtler
charms that this very well-made varietal bottling has to offer. Produced with cold
and slow fermentation in stainless steel tanks with no oak in the aging, this very
typical Alsatian style yields a natural spiciness to compliment the bright, natural
blonde and crisp acidity – making them perfect wines to pair with lighter foods.

Grand Gold winner at 2013 Concours International de Lyon – buy at least 2!

Clos de la Tourelle

CHATEAU OLLWILLER CLOS DE LA TOURELLE PINOT BLANC 2009
VINTAGES – LCBO Product #377788 | 750 mL bottle
Price $ 16.95
12.5% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content Descriptor: D

Made in: Alsace, France
By: Cave du Vieil Armand
Release Date: Jun 21, 2014

Tasting Note
This wine has an intriguing tartness and a firm acidity with apple, pineapple and
sweet lemon flavours in the foreground. Try serving as a well chilled apéritif with
soft cheeses, summer salads, poultry and fish dishes.

Picpoul Alert

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Pinet is situated inland some six miles from the coast, bordering on the edge of
Etang de Thau (a salt water lagoon) in southwest France. In spite of a modest
population of 1300, this nonetheless is the heart of the Picpoul de Pinet AOC.
A favourite style of the Emperor Napoleon III, these premium, regionally distinct
wines are made with a lesser-known, golden skin-coloured grape originally called
Piquant-Paul, later as Picapulla and finally now known as Piquepoul. Referencing
the grape’s naturally high levels of acidity with mineral accents, its name literally
translates as ‘stings the lip’ – though it doesn’t really, of course!

Moreover, this lively fruit was traditionally blended with another obscure variety
known as Clairette, creating a tangy wine style called white Picardin – millions of
liters of which were once shipped northwards along networks of canals to Paris
each year. Susceptible to various pests, the vines fell out of vinicultural favour in
the late 19th century. Able to thrive in sandy soils (unlike it’s associated pests),
Picpoul is again resurgent in Mediterranean coastal vineyards that surround Pinet.

Home to the cooperative Cave de Pomerols founded in 1932, this group boasts
320 members and growing, tending to over 800 hectares of highly productive
vineyards in a landscape that is basically a chalky-clay plateau, rich in limestone,
quartz gravel and otherwise covered with Garrigue. This indigenous vegetation
lining the coast, is made up of an assortment of small aromatic bushes, which
like the local grapes have gradually adapted to thrive in the near-drought climate
of summertime. Though challenging, these growing conditions are fortuitously
punctuated by late season humidity, thereby encouraging the fruit to plump up,
reaching full maturity before harvest.

For this week’s DéClassé recommended bottling, this ancient varietal white is a
very dry, citrus-scented wine with a long-standing reputation for being the perfect
complement to shellfish – the wine’s acidity balancing off the saltiness. However,
Picpoul is food-friendly in general and fulfilling when served alone as an apéritif.

Beauvignac

BEAUVIGNAC PICPOUL DE PINET 2013
VINTAGES –LCBO Product #350124 | 750 mL bottle
Price $ 13.95
12.5% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content Descriptor: XD

Made in: Midi, France
By: Les Costières de Pomérols
Release Date: May 24, 2014

Tasting Note
A very lively wine style with lemony overtones of citrus fruit, pleasantly refreshing
grapefruit flavours and a hint of minerality on the tangy finish. It’s an ideal partner
with seafood, grilled fish, seafood, rich cheese and charcuterie.

Pinot Gris Alert

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Here in Baden, in the south-western region of Germany across the border from
Alsace, both Pinot Blanc and Noir grapes are grown on the verdant slopes of an
ancient Vulkanfelsen (volcano) that was bestowed in the early 13th century with
the auspicious moniker: Kaiserstuhl (the Kaiser’s throne). Among many other
surprising attributes of soil and climate, this remarkable region also plays host
to Europe’s largest variety of Orchids, wild Grape Hyacinths and Iris’s!

As for the current range of German wine exports, the industry is still working to
overcome associations by north American consumers – that they only produce
various types of Riesling, particularly, sweeter versions. Gradually, with the help
of Pinot Gris (here also locally known as Rulander or Grauburgunder), the broad
diversification of wine styles being released from the cool cellars of this week’s
DéClassé recommended vintner Königschaffhausen, as well as, from nearby
vineyards of Baden – is tempering and expanding this outdated impression.

Dry, silky, elegant and loads of depth – by comparison, this week’s bottling shows
a level of quality and character that puts most star whites such as Soave, Grigio
or Sauvignon to shame for their lack of distinction. Just released to Vintages,
this week’s recommendation is on many ‘best of the month’ lists, so will require
some Olympian sprinting to get to the shelves before it’s gone until next year. If
you are a white wine lover, don’t hesitate to buy half a case. If you’re among the
pack of intransigent red wine lovers – then only buy 3 so you have something
truly interesting to offer your white wine-loving friends!

Konigschaffhausener Vulkanfelsen

KÖNIGSCHAFFHAUSEN VULKANFELSEN TROCKEN PINOT GRIS 2012
VINTAGES – LCBO Product #597500 | 750 mL bottle
Price $ 15.95
13.0% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content Descriptor: D

Made in: Baden, Germany
By: W.G. Koenigschaffhausen Eg
Release Date: May 10, 2014

Tasting Note
Delicate floral aromas as well as pear and stone fruits. This dry, mid-weight white
is a fabulous value to serve with cheeses, roast chicken or smoked fish.