In tomorrow’s May CLASSICS release, there are three great wines you do NOT want to miss! The one white wine is from Alsace’s biodynamic guru 2011 Marcel Deiss Burg, a field blend of all of the varietals allowed in France’s Alsace! This is a wine of substance, usually off dry, rich, powerful, fruity and mineral rich. It has a complex nose of stone fruit and wet earth. It is full bodied with mouthwatering acidity and a long finish. This wine will age for 10-15 years. The winery suggests decanting the wine for two hours before serving in a large wine glass.
Calling all Pinot lovers – enjoy a fabulous Pinot Noir from Oregon! The 2012 Alexana Revana vineyard comes from the Dundee Hills, a sub-appellation Oregon’s Willamette Valley. The 2012 growing season was widely recognized as one of the best in recent history, and warmly welcomed especially after the rainy and cool 2011 vintage. Alexana is one of the top estates in Oregon, with a focus on creating world class wines. The Revana Vineyard Estate Pinot Noir is Alexana’s flagship wine, and receives first priority on all Pinot Noir fruit.
Stonyridge Vineyard was conceived and operated with the sole intention of making world-class Bordeaux-style red wine. Their flagship wine, Larose is a is a classic Bordeaux blend led by Cabernet Sauvignon, which has been named “One of the Top 100 Wines in the World” It is among New Zealand’s most iconic wines, and is an immensely complex wine of great ripeness. Typical yields at Stonyridge are as low as 20 hL/ha (2 tonnes/acre)!! The organically farmed grapes are hand-picked and immediately taken to the winery, where they are crushed, de-stemmed, and pumped into stainless-steel fermentation tanks. A warm fermentation is followed by a two-week maceration before being basket-pressed. Malolactic fermentation is completed in barrel in the warmed chai (barrel cellar). The wine is 100% oak-aged in French and American barriques for over a year, racked regularly, rarely fined, and never filtered.
Please see below for more on these three wines.
Purchasing wines through Classics has changed from what used to be a lottery system to a first-come, first-served ordering process, either by phone or online. Ordering began today at 8am. Click HERE for details.
Maison Leroy (Burgundy)
“This is the greatest estate in Burgundy.” – Clive Coates, MW
“I have said it so many times that it may seem redundant… Lalou Bize-Leroy stands virtually alone at the top of Burgundy’s quality hierarchy… she is a perfectionist, and has had the courage to produce wines from low yields and bottle them naturally, without fining or filtration… The controversial Lalou must drive many Burgundians crazy given the extraordinary quality of her wines, and the high prices they fetch. She is an uncompromising winemaker, with a portfolio of red and white Burgundies that qualitatively have no peers.” – Robert Parker, Jr.
For the first time in over a decade, LCBO Vintages is offering nine wines from Burgundy legend, Madame Lalou Bize-Leroy’s Maison Leroy. Lalou co-managed Domaine de la Romanée-Conti from 1974 to 1992, and is actually still the majority shareholder. Lalou Bize-Leroy is a strong believer in biodynamic wine production, and practices it in her domaines.
Please click HERE to see the nine wines that are currently on offer, all by the bottle.
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Notes and Reviews…
Marcel Deiss Burg 2011
Review: “Notes of quinine, alkali, as well as iris and rowan in the nose of Deiss’s maximally multi-cepage 2011 Burg, and their subtly bitter and intriguing counterparts emerge on a polished, silken palate. A shimmering sense of vibrant mineral interaction with pear, apple and peach and an ethereal impression of liquid floral perfume lead to a captivatingly complex and interactively undulating finish that at once soothes and stimulates. There is an almost tar-like cantus firmus rooting and extending the whole performance. Deiss credits the sense of energy conveyed along with such polish to the vines’ deep- rooting in clay-rich soil. Sweetness here, incidentally, is adeptly integrated and supportive, albeit quite noticeable as such. I suspect this will prove rewarding through at least 2028.” Score: 94 – (David Schildknecht, erobertparker.com, Aug. 2014)
Varietals: Coplantation of all Alsatian varietals
Region: Alsace, France
Price: $69 (per bottle)
LCBO#: 122754
Click here to buy this wine at Vintages Classics.
Alexana Pinot Noir Revana Vineyard Dundee Hills Willamette Valley 2012
Review: “Seductively aromatic, with firm tannins around a lithe core of black cherry, smoke and a touch of mint, finishing with harmony, elegance and a steely mineral character. Approachable, but may develop more with cellaring. Best from 2016 through 2022.” Score: 92 – (Harvey Steiman, winespectator.com, Feb. 28, 2015)
Varietal: 100% Pinot Noir
Region: Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA
Price: $85.00 (per bottle)
LCBO#: 269241
Click here to buy this wine at Vintages Classics.
Stonyridge Larose Waiheke Island 2014
The Larose is the Stonyridge Vineyard’s flagship wine. Though most people associate New Zealand with Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc, Bordeaux blends such as this have been a part of New Zealand winemaking since the 1880s. The Larose is considered one of the leading Bordeaux-style red wines in the world and is crafted primarily from Cabernet Sauvignon. Waiheke experiences a longer, warmer growing season than the rest of New Zealand, a prime factor in the success of the Cabernet here. Since 2007, every vintage of this elegant yet powerful wine has received a rating of between 90 and 94 from erobertparker.com.
Varietals: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Petit Verdot
Region: Waiheke Island, New Zealand
Price: $277.00 (per bottle)
LCBO#: 942201
Click here to buy this wine at Vintages Classics.
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