A Trip to the Summerhill LCBO

After a long week of work, I decided to treat myself and go to the Summerhill LCBO and pick up a couple of bottles, namely Montes Limited Selection Cabernet Sauvignon Carmenere 2010 and BV Coastal Estates Cabernet Sauvignon 2009. While there, I got a couple of free samples as well as a couple of paid samples at the tasting bar. The first free sample was Crown Royal Black (CRB).

I’ve never done a liquor review on this blog before, and I don’t think I’ll make a habit of it, but I wanted to comment on CRB. Both it and regular Crown are currently $2 off the normal price. What surprised me was that CBB is regularly $34.45 vs $28.45 for Crown, a $6 difference! There’s only $3 between Jim Beam white and black. I found CRB to be smoother and a little sweeter than Crown and taste more like bourbon. CRB is matured in charred oak barrels instead of white oak for Crown.

My second free sample was from South Africa: Oatley Tic Tok Cabernet Sauvignon $15.95 (on sale for $13.95). It was a nice wine, but didn’t wow me. Tastes of red cherry. JC85

 

The Tasting Bar

The nice thing about the tasting bars at certain LCBO locations is that I can try out wines (limit of 2) that may be priced well above what my budget would allow for.

Domaine Du Vieux Telegraphe La Crau Chateauneuf-Du-Pape 2008 $72.95. This wine, besides the long name, was a release from the Oct. 15 LCBO vintages. This is the first C-D-P that I have tried, as bottles are priced at $30 and up.  This wine had very nice fruit scents and favours. It was smooth, slightly sweet, light and delicious. An excellent wine that left me wanting more. JC92

Taylor Fladgate 20 Year old Tawny Port $67.95. Taylor Fladgate knows how to make good port. I have had the 20 year once before, but before I started writing about what I drink. This port is superb, with a golden-red hue and caramel scent. The taste is caramel and sweet. Unlike younger ports I have had, it goes down well. Truly enjoyable. JC95

Dan Aykroyd Sauvignon Blanc

Dan Aykroyd Sauvignon Blanc 2010 $12.95. I had bought this wine a few months ago and hadn’t gotten around to drinking it. I had it with shrimp and fettuccini alfredo, and really enjoyed this wine. There was a nice balance of being not too sweet, but also not bitter. It was a light wine that went well with my food and also on its own afterward. JC89

Sampling Two Reds

I was back at my second favourite LCBO this afternoon (Avenue and Lawrence). There is a tasting bar that offers some of the new vintage releases, however unlike the Summerhill LCBO, the bar is not constantly staffed and you have to flag down an employee to pour your samples. After debating (not seriously) whether to try a sample of the famous Opus One (selling for $340/bottle), I decided that $15 for a small sample was not in the budget for today. Instead I tried a couple of samples for $0.75 each.

Apothic Red 2009 $15.95. This California red is a blend of zinfandel, merlot and syrah. It has a somewhat sweet taste to it. Hints of red cherry. It would be a nice wine with an appetiser. JC84

Koyle Royale Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 $19.95. To me this tasted more like a Cab Sauv from California than from Chile, where it is actually from. This wine has a lot of nice fruit flavours with a hint of vanilla and oak. My favourite Chilean Cab Sauv to date. JC87

Mouton Cadet

Mouton Cadet 2009 $14.45. This is a wine made by the famous Chateau Mouton Rothschild, most known for their signature wine, Mouton Rothschild which is selling for $585/bottle and up (depending on the vintage) at the LCBO. This wine tasted strong, although at 13.5%, it’s within the normal range for red wine. It wasn’t bad, there was no noticeable odour. I recommend this with a hardy red meat meal. JC84

P.S. It's been awhile since I last posted. This is mainly due to unfortunately not drinking much wine and also the wine I have been drinking is wine I've reviewed on this site in the past. I love trying new wines, but it's also nice having those wines again that really made a good impression before.

An Ontario Baco Noir and a Merlot

Pelee Island Baco Noir 2010 $10.95. I saw some positive reviews of this wine and decided to give it a try. I was intrigued because I had never had wine made from the baco noir grape before. This is a dark coloured full body wine. I suggest decanting for 30-60 minutes before serving. I had this wine with steak, which it went well with. Notes of blackcurrant. JC86

Konzelmann Merlot 2009 $11.95 – This was the red wine offered at the wedding I was at yesterday. It’s from the Niagara region from a winery I had not heard of before even though it has been around since 1984. Usually at weddings you see wines from Italy because these tend to be around $7/bottle. This was a nice change. I enjoyed this wine, it was easy drinking. JC87

Two Santa Wines in Montreal

Tasted September 2011: Santa Cristina Sangiovese 2009 – I had a bottle of this wine in Montreal. It is not sold in Ontario but I did find it on saq.com (Quebec liquor store) for $14.95. There were notes of black pepper, oak and red cherry. The wine had strong tannins and probably could easily spend another few years in the cellar. JC84

Tasted September 2011: Santa Teresa Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 – This is another bottle I had while in Montreal. Again, not a wine that is available in Ontario. I didn’t find it on the saq.com either. It took a while to open up. It was a nice accompaniment to our dinner at Le Grain De Sel. JC85

Two Niagara Wines

Tasted August 2011: Coyote’s Run Cab Merlot 2008 $16.95 – I had this wine tonight at my parent’s house. There were notes of oak and black cherry. It was a pleasant wine, but I didn’t fall in love with it. JC85

Tasted August 2011: Straight Up White 2010 $12.95 – This wine originally caught my attention at the Summerhill LCBO due to its label. There is a bunch of writing on the bottle basically saying how it’s not trying to be something fancy or confusing, but essentially something “straight up” that can be drunk whenever you feel like drinking white wine. I bought it a short while later and hope to try the Straight Up Red in the not too distant future. This is a new release and I still don’t think it has been distributed to that many locations yet. I enjoyed this wine. It tasted fresh and didn’t have any distinguishing odours or tastes that my novice palate could detect. It doesn’t say what grapes are in it. It’s not too sweet and goes down nicely. JC88



3 Wines on the Weekend

Over the weekend I was in Ottawa visiting family. I was able to taste a few new wines that my relatives had purchased.

Equifera Pinot Noir $14.95 – I’m not too familiar with Pinot’s, it seems like people either love them or can’t stand them. I tend to be in the latter category. It tasted a little better after the first few sips, but still not a nice full-bodied red wine that I tend to enjoy. Hints of red cherry and plum. JC84

Whitecliff Sauvignon Blanc $14.95 – This New Zealand wine had a black pepper scent and finish to it. It was a nice smooth sipping wine that wasn’t too sweet. It had a nice long crisp finish. JC87

Henry of Pelham Cab Merlot $14.95 – This wine had a strong oaky taste to it. I had it with chicken and then cookies for desert. I think it would have been better with red meat. JC85

Carmenere – Chile’s Grape

Carmenere is to Chile what Malbec is to Argentina. It was originally brought over from France and is often mistaken for Merlot due to the similarities of the grapes. In fact, according to the Wine Bible, sometimes a wine from Chile labelled as Merlot is in fact carmenere.

Santa Rita Reserva Carmenere $13.95 – I had never tried wine made from the carmenere grape before. I had heard that often carmenere can taste too “green” as in green peppers. This wine from Santa Rita was one of the top rated value wines on winealign.com. I was eager to try and decided to enjoy it with a nice steak and baked potato. It went well with the meal. It reminded me somewhat of a Cab Sauv, however with less scent. In fact I couldn’t distinguish any scent from this wine. However, I thoroughly enjoyed this wine. It had fresh vegetable and black pepper tastes and a nice smooth finish. JC 90

Loving Port

I recently (this year) started getting into port. It is often drunk after dinner, with desert or with some cheese or nuts. I like it in the evening. I’ve tried a few different ports so far, including Taylor Fladgate 10 year and 20 year tawny, which are both excellent.

Tasted August 2011: Graham’s Late Bottled Vintage 2005 $16.95 – This is a very nice tasting port. I saw the good score on Wine Align, and thought the price was right. Wine Align gives this port a 90, I would have to agree. The nice thing with this style of port is that you can enjoy it over a number of weeks after opening and it will still taste good. JC90

Montalto Nero D’avola Cabernet Sauvignon

Montalto Nero D’avola Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 $8.95 – I was excited to try this wine because it’s the only wine at the LCBO, to my knowledge, that has a combination of nero d’avola and cabernet sauvignon grapes. I found this wine to be very rough when I first tried it right from the bottle. I decanted it for about 30 minutes and it opened up somewhat, however it still finished rough. There were notes of black cherry and raspberry. I was hoping for better things from this wine because I like both grapes in it. JC82

2 More Italian House Wines and the 2nd Best LCBO

So after Summerhill, the next best liquor store in Ontario is the one on Avenue north of Lawrence. There is a tasting bar, however not as extensive as Summerhill. It’s also the first LCBO I’ve seen that is on two floors.

Beringer Alluvium 2007 $39.95 – I sampled this wine at the LCBO on Sunday. It had a smooth oaky taste with a hint of vanilla. It reminded me somewhat of Trius Grand Red. I thought Alluvium was a type of grape at first, but this wine is actually made up of 5 different grapes. Then I thought that the name was a take on “all of them”, but it turns out it is a Latin word meaning sand by a river or something along those line. Whatever it means, I enjoyed it. JC87

Sterling Vintners Chardonnay 2010 $14.95 – A free sample at the LCBO. There were notes of apple and pear. I liked this wine and could see it going well with a light fish or chicken dish, or perhaps appetisers. JC86

I “sampled” two wines at a wedding on Saturday:

Cavallina Pinot Grigio 2010 $7.35 – I thought this wine was nice, but a little too sweet. JC85

Cavallina Nero D’avola Syrah 2009 $7.45 – This wine took a while to open up. At first I didn’t like it too much, but as the night rolled on it went down easier. JC84