Monthly Picks: November'15 - BC Cabernet Franc

Cabernet Franc is a red grape that, along with Syrah, may prove to be known as BC's signature grapes in the near future. Producers are discovering that when properly ripened, the Cabernet Franc grape can produce charming and unique wines on its own without the need of blending (or much blending).Here are a few of our favourites from the past two vintages.

Tinhorn Creek Vineyards 2013 Cabernet Franc - $22
Opens with a meaty, dusty, nose of boysenberry, anise, wild sagebrush, dried bay leaf, pipe tobacco and pine sap aromas. The palate is dry and rather intense with similar flavours and a mouth-watering blend of bright, blue fruit and savoury, earthy notes.
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Fort Berens Estate Winery 2013 Cabernet Franc - $25
A consistent flavour and aroma profile, year-to-year, yields a masculine Cabernet Franc with a nice blend of blue fruit purée and savoury herbs characters on the expressive nose and the uber-dry and mineral'n'oak-infused palate.Wild berry acidity and firm tannins frame the long finish where tongue-tingling bitter-spice and toasted oak notes linger.
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River Stone Estate Winery 2013 Cabernet Franc -$26
Shows depth on the nose with blackberry, wild flower'n'herbs, plum, soft spices, boysenberry and light cedar aromas. The dry, well-structured palate expresses similar flavours with added coffee grind and earthy notes and fine, ripe tannins. The finish is long and balanced with lingering wild berry notes.
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Fairview Cellars 2013 Premier Series Cabernet Franc - $30
A stunning Cabernet Franc from an excellent vintage offering a memorable, feminine nose of ripe, wild berry, vanilla, mint, pot-pourri, dry herb and wild flower aromas. The dry, full-bodied palate that follows is youthful with burgeoning complexity from mixed berry, toasted oak, licorice, dark chocolate, vanilla, mint, spice and light forest flavours that are lovingly supported by mouth-watering acidity and fine, medium tannins through to a long finish with lingering cassis and herb notes.
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Tinhorn Creek Vineyards 2012 Oldfield Series Cabernet Franc - $30.50
Happily offers the same wild berry, sagebrush and pipe tobacco medley of aromas and flavours of the uber-popular 'regular' label (2012) just with a more polished structure of ripe, smoky tannins and a richer, fuller palate with fleshy plum and smooth cocoa notes thanks to additional ageing on lees in oak barrels (18 months) and a full year in the bottle prior to release.
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Burrowing Owl Estate Winery 2012 Cabernet Franc - $33
Sourced from the estate vineyard along the Black Sage Bench, on offer are classic notes of wild berries, dried herbs, licorice, vanilla-spice, toasted oak, pipe tobacco, menthol and the ethereal 'Franc funk' on both the intense, dense nose and the bright, lightly tannic palate. Length is good, not great, but you will love the unique combination of the fruit and savoury characters that only good Cabernet Franc can deliver.
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Cassini Cellars 2012 Cabernet Franc - $TBA
Sourced from a single vineyard and treated to 24 months in French oak prior to bottling, this is a full-bodied, expressive wine from the warm 2012 Southern Okanagan vintage which produced ripe tannins and intense plum and blackberry fruit aromas and flavours supported by layers of complementary sweet pipe smoke, spicy oak, crushed violet and subtle spearmint notes.
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 - Liam Carrier ©copyright 2015 IconWines.ca

Featured Wines: Bordeaux and the Value of Perspective

Welcome to the first edition of our new "Featured Wines" series produced in partnership with Everything Wine's Vintage Room Buyer Jordan Carrier (aka, my brother). We're starting big with collector-friendly Bordeaux as the featured region this week. If any of the wines tickle your fancy, you can order them directly from Jordan:
JCarrier@everythingwine.ca

Bordeaux and the Value of Perspective
by Jordan Carrier

The past little while saw the release of 2012 Bordeaux in BC. For the first time that I can remember, private stores like Everything Wine were completely excluded from obtaining any of the wines, at least the ones that the BCLDB was carrying. To be honest, I’d be more upset if we were talking about 2009 or 2010 or even upcoming 2014, but I wasn’t planning on grabbing much 2012 anyway so I largely carried on eating my donut. Many of you had asked for my thoughts on the vintage, however, so I offer this analogy based on tasting the barrel samples a couple of years ago:

The 2012 vintage is a Steven Seagal movie. Your expectations going into the experience will be met but not exceeded. You will anticipate fist fights, one liners and bad guys shooting rounds of machine gun fire without hitting anything, and all of those boxes will be checked, but as soon as the movie is finished you will forget about it. There will be no profound silence on the drive home as you contemplate life from a new perspective. At least 2012 delivers, if the joyless 2013 vintage were a Seagal movie it would consist solely of Steven reading from a textbook on how to wipe counters.

Inexpensive to medium-priced 2012s deliver Bordeaux structure and higher than normal fruit, and they are very pleasing to drink. Medium-priced to high-end 2012s deliver Bordeaux structure and higher than normal fruit, and they are very pleasing to drink. My advice to collectors is to buy cheap and drink soon for 2012, by all means continue your verticals if you are building them, but don’t go nuts on the classified growths or high-end bottles. Favour Right Bank over Left. This is a fun, place-holder vintage.

Our Bordeaux strategy here in the Vintage Room is one of clearer, if forced, perspective: we populate our shelves with classic, proven vintages that you can drink sooner or cellar more confidently because there aren’t any surprises. If I could use another analogy: we are Elton John’s Greatest Hits, as opposed to whatever that new thing he just put out is. All of our “new” Bordeaux is already classic, its awesomeness having already been determined by consensus. Here are some wines (with somewhat briefer descriptions) that recently arrived into our Morgan Crossing location (my home base):

LEFT BANK

2003 Chateau Latour, Pauillac
What Cabernet Sauvignon would become if it were bit by a radioactive spider. Called “the sexiest Latour ever made”, ripe but not over-ripe, from a generally low-acid vintage. No, I haven’t tried it but if you buy one, I’m coming over. One of the 5 First Growths. 100 points Robert Parker, $2.024.99 +tax

2011 Pauillac de Latour, Pauillac
The 3^rd wine of Chateau Latour, a tad less Cab and more Merlot, comprises about a quarter of the Chateau’s entire production. As though a young attractive blackberry met a nice pencil and went dancing in a field. Medium bodied, very well put together. $153.99 +tax

2009 Pauillac de Latour, Pauilla
Everything I just said about the 2011 except a bit riper and a little better because 2009. $162.99 +tax

2000 Chateau d’Armailhac, Pauillac
A 5^th Growth owned by the Mouton Rothschild family. Pretty much smack dab in the middle of its window, showing currant and mocha and tasting like the best idea you’ve had in a long time. $209.99 +tax

2013 Y d’Yquem, Bordeaux SuperieurA dry white Bordeaux from the makers of Chateau d’Yquem, the most famous Sauternes in the world. Predominantly Semillon with Sauvignon Blanc in a supporting role. Rich and creamy with fun tropical fruits bursting out, all kept in place by the paternal impatience of acidity. 96 points Wine Spectator, $264.99 +tax

2005 Chateau Lafon-Rochet, Saint-Estephe
Just starting to enter its window, this still probably needs to nap for a couple more years, but it is starting to make friends. A 4^th Growth owned by the Pontet-Canet family, known for producing backwards steely time capsules that need at least a decade before they can even speak English. A big boy with currant and incense notes and lots of attitude. $143.99 +tax

2010 Chateau Beaumont Cru Bourgeois, Haut-Medoc
Only available in Magnums. Stemmy blackberry, tobacco and chestnut towards a medium body and smooth tannins that won’t put up a fight. Interesting to see how this will cellar, because it’s ready to drink but the larger format would carry it forward a lot further. $85.99 +tax

Next Page: Right Bank and Value Wines

Monthly Picks: October'15 - Argentina

This month we celebrate the well-priced, varied wines of Argentina by showcasing some of our recent favourites. From classic French varieties to home-grown grapes, Argentina can produce over-achieving wines at any price-point, though, our selections are all $16 or less (plus taxes) in BC.

Bodegas Catena 2013 Alamos Chardonnay - $13
Sourced from the high altitude vineyards of Mendoza, the wine does spend 6 months in a combination of American and French oak, imparting a myriad of spices on the finish and texture on the palate, balancing the bright, apple and peach flavours.
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Pascual Toso 2013 Malbec - $13
A fruit-forward Malbec with ripe'n'tangy blackberry and chocolate-cherry liqueur aromas followed by a bright, yet, approachable palate of similar flavours and added earth, spice, vanilla and light oak notes. 
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Michel Torino 2013 Cuma Torrontés - $14
A straight-forward, yet, impressively balanced Torrontés, sourced from organically farmed vineyards, offering an unctuous entry of plump, peaches and cream flavours leading to a citrus-y, refreshing finish where stonefruit, lemon zest and spice notes linger.
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Michel Torino 2013 Don David Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon - $14
Opens with a dense nose of cassis, blackberry, anise, pepper, toasted oak and Brazil nut aromas. Followed by a palate with similar flavours and a full-ish body from residual sugar that just stops short of being too sweet thanks to well-proportioned, fresh berry acidity and impressive, dusty tannins - especially for the price-point.
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Viña Chela 2013 Reserve Malbec - $15
A supremely smooth and balanced wine for the price point with an unapologetic, easy-going demeanour that focuses on pleasant, juicy and savoury aromas of sweet plums, spiced mocha and fig on the nose and delivers a food-friendly blend of blue fruits, toasted oak and savoury spices on the medium-bodied palate.
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Bodegas Escorihuela Gascón 2013 '1884' Reservado Cabernet Sauvignon - $16
A dark ruby-purple, fruit-forward Cabernet Sauvignon from Mendoza that delivers a Malbec-y nose of mixed berry fruit and spicy plum aromas followed by a more typically Cabernet palate of cassis and oak supported by savoury flavours and firm tannins.
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 - Liam Carrier ©copyright 2015 IconWines.ca