Some seriously smoking South African stuff: Boschendal "The Pavillion" Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

This is for Alex, whom I am a fan of. Alex works at ArtJava downtown, my regular coffee stop.

Alex, last name St-Laurent, was trained by Anthony Benda, who is currently the third-ranked barista in the country (he placed as a runner-up in a strong debut performance at the Canadian Barista Championships last fall).

These are big shoes for Alex to fill no doubt, but with his keen aptitude no one doubts he could do it. One day at ArtJava, Alex surprised me with his interest in wine. He approached me for advice on how he could find and drink more of the red wines that he most enjoys. He already knew most of what he needed to know -- that he likes a style of red wine with a smoky flavour profile -- and he even knew that Syrah would be the varietal that would most likely offer him this.

All that was left for me to do was consult my back pages to see what's a good deal on wines like these and not be too far from a roughly $20 to $30 price range he set for himself.

It's practically do-it-yourself blogging. But Alex is a smart guy, so what do you expect?

Links to original reviews feature clickable images that navigate directly to the SAQ online catalog, where you can check the supply of the wine and which stores near you stock it.

• Smoke-filled blueberry goodness ... actually greatness! (but run to get remaining bottles): Château Cabrières Coteaux du Languedoc (rouge) 2001 $21 (including all taxes)


• A "Pastiche" of red fruit, but notable smokiness: Joseph Phelps Vin du Mistral Red Pastiche 2005 $18


• A non-Syrah-based taste of smoke with a Pinot Noir varietal supplying greater acidity (LCBO only): Francis Coppola Diamond Collection Silver Label Pinot Noir 2005 $28


• Smoky bargain of the 2004 vintage, and of recent releases too probably: Château Mire L'Étang Cuvée des Ducs de Fleury Coteaux du Languedoc La Clape 2004 $17

And last but definitely not least, Boschendal "The Pavillion" Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon Coastal Region 2005:

• The paradigm of Syrah smoke from South Africa, done up with notes of petrol and wood that give it a blue cheese tone typical of many New World wines; but here it is exceptional for its smart balance, extraction of fruit and stunning texture: Boschendal "The Pavillion" Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon Coastal Region 2005 (The bargain of the bunch at $16 -- but I have not yet tasted the 2006 vintage that is rapidly replacing the 2005s.)

Pniel Road, Groot Drakenstein, South Africa. 14%.

Update: I pointed to a picture of the Pavillion bottle (at top) which I found on the web after SAQ.com, who stocks it within the province, ran no image of it in their catalog. It's laziness of me for not taking a photo of the bottle myself. But it's sheer stupidity I didn't better explore the site that the picture came from.

That site is EWine.co.za -- not to be confused with EWineCentral.com -- and it is apparently more than a your typical online wine vendor. They house a lot of good content on the South African wineries and winemakers, including audio media, like the sound file of an interview with Boschendal vintner JC Bekker, all placed nicely on a a profile page devoted to Boschendal. Louis Ferreira, who runs the Ewine.co.za site, provides important insight and authority -- especially for anyone like me who really has little exposure to the breadth of today South African wines.

When good advice goes bad

Or, why do some recommendations make a great wine go sour? Plus other wine criticism that leaves a bad taste in your mouth . . .

In January, a lean month with only three posts and no tasting notes at all, I received one piece of fanmail. With fanmail like this you don't need hatemail.

"After trying the two Cahors that you recommended on your blog, I thought that perhaps my enjoyment of wine had left me."

Cahors, which I wrote about last December, is sometimes known as the black wine. I didn't mention that at the time. Black mark!

Futhermore, when I had correspondence with the writer above, I realized that he happens to be really fond of Beaujolais and Canadian Gamays, but is adventurous enough to try out new wine regions. Again here I should have better prepared him for the dramatic change my advice carried. My bad.

Could I have really turned someone off wine entirely by making the suggestion I did? Could I actually be encouraging the disenjoyment of wine?

I guess I should've known not to go recommending Cahors to just anyone, though I think a lot of these South American bargain wine aficionados could make the switch easily if they adhere to a simple commitment to drink less vanilla-ed oak. But still I have learned an important lesson about foisting new wines on people.

I haven't given up on wine myself -- far from it. Of course, I'm still into exploring it, noting it and sharing great bottles with like-minded friends. But I think I might take step back from making recommendations on it. At least for a while. I have a bunch of notes from the last couple of months; I expect I'll eventually get to them sometime. But I might be putting them out differently or on a different schedule.

In the meantime, everything about this blog is soaking up most of my time.

Hot-flavoured icewine

I took a week off work, but now it is over.

My vacation was one big week-long wintry cloud and I'm more than eager that things get cleared up.

Blog absence and travel have created a messy backlog. Here's one outstanding piece of correspondence I failed to respond to last week. I hope an answer to this reader's query is not too late.

An emailer writes:

I was wondering if you could help me. I have a friend who is planning on visiting Niagara with a view towards picking a few bottles of icewine.

Can you recommend some labels? Nothing too expensive but maybe in something in the $25 to $50 range.

Also, my friend is curious about those flavoured icewines (hot peppers, berries etc.) What are your thoughts?

Any advice would be appreciated.

My response:

I was actually in Niagara for Good Friday so it seems appropriate that your "friend" poses this question now.

First of all, you can tell your friend not to worry. We all know that icewine is expensive. None of us can afford to live off this kind of wine. It's what I would classify as a true luxury item.

Icewine costs a lot because its production is a tall order that involves arduous work, nighttime cultivation, and tiny yields of heavily concentrated juice. Poor conditions can play havoc with the harvest and global warming is frequently mentioned as a major threat. Since we find ourselves in April and under a thin blanket of snow, this can be hard to believe. But in some years there is no icewine vintage. In fact it was only last year the harvest came perilously close to not even happening in Niagara. All of this goes to show you how rare and sought-after this stuff can be.

With that in mind, I can absolutely respect your friend's budget. Although it is a delicacy, there's no reason why icewine should be prohibitive. Knowing all that, do you still really want to meddle with hot peppers? In my mind, even so much as a single blueberry denigrates the final product, like smacking the end of a big glass bottle of Heinz while it is pointed at your filet mignon.

But that's just my impression of these products which -- if Google supplies any accurate indication -- are finding a bit of a niche in Niagara. I admit to never having tried flavoured icewines. I'm willing to be honest. But after sampling beer flavoured with grenadine last week I don't think I would want to. Little good that does to help you though.

LCBO INVESTIGATION ON ONTARIO'S FLAVOURED ICEWINES

So on my way out of the region, I stopped at the LCBO's large warehouse outlet at Yonge and Queen's Quay in Toronto. I enquired about flavoured icewines with one of the employees stocking shelves. She, like myself, had never heard of it. She directed me to LCBO VQA Expert Steve MacDougall (Vintners Quality Alliance is an Ontario regulatory designation for wine). If anyone at the Ontario liquor monopoly knew about flavoured icewines, it would be Steve.

Steve also had never heard of flavoured icewines, and asked me whether the blueberry version, for instance, was blueberry wine and not real icewine with blueberries added to it. I told him that was apparently not the case, or least it wasn't what was presented by the web sites of a few little-known wineries.

For example, Crown Beach Estates (clickable image above) explains how their flavoured icewines are made from real wine grapes and then flavoured. Steve recalled carrying Crown Bench icewines in the past though they were definitely not with added flavour. (At $90 a bottle, they were also definitely not cheap.)

Seeing that the Crown Bench flavoured icewines were not listed as VQA, I asked Steve whether VQA limitations could be part of the reason why they were not "mainstream" and not appearing on LCBO shelves. He wagered that if they used Ontario grapes there shouldn't be any reason why a VQA seal would be denied. He suggested that these flavoured icewines might be just the thing that is bubbling under the surface and that the right regional sales rep for the LCBO could know more. They could be coming in and be big at Christmas, he said.

HAS ANYBODY TRIED THESE WINES?

Once again, little good that does to help you. Since no one seems to have tried the stuff I'm going to stick my neck out and give you my own personal recommendation. [Ed. note: Someone very knowledgeable in this department has just left a comprehensive comment at the link below.]

Riesling-flavoured icewine is where my money's at. Icewine made from Riesling grapes typically is pricier than the more commonly found Vidal icewine, but you can find some that fits your price range to be sure.

Reif Estate Winery in particular makes one I'd recommend. Unfortunately for you, I'm not the only one singing its praises. This award-winning icewine is currently sold out.

Well I can't say that I haven't tried. Perhaps consulting this flight of Vineland Estates icewines could help inform your purchasing decisions in the meantime?

SAQ's 35% discount: Not a sale but a race

And I lost in a sprint to the finish line. But it was a distinguished loss. May you too hang on to your dignity.

The wine shoppers who won know who they are. Their credit card companies know who they are too. Those who don't know the full scoop about the SAQ's "wines of prestige" sale that started today -- people like my co-worker Susan, who emailed me at 2:28 pm...

Marcus,

Have you seen anything about this sale? Got any recommendations?

Susan

...for those people, this news may seem a little late: It's over. You missed it.

I exaggerate. I missed Château Fonplégade Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Classé 2001 after spending practically half the night up, planning my attack on the province's chain of wine stores based on the official SAQ roster of discounted products, which was released on their web site this morning at 12:01 am. Fool am I. I should've been sleeping, knowing that it is the early bird that gets the worm. Especially in sales such as these.

But no, instead I toiled away until the wee hours making a pile of wine crib notes. I came up with a list of the more-budget-minded items (mostly priced around $20 to $30) that intrigued me -- wine bargains all, wine values maybe -- and already I foresaw myself slipping late into work and leaving a trail of ransacked discount shelves in my wake. In the end, I bought nothing. The two main-attraction wines, the Fonplégade Grand Cru Classé as well as a 1er cru Chablis from Domaine Bernard Defaix, were at stores situated at the end of my path into work. Doh! Don't ever save the best for last when dealing with the SAQ!

If you must know the gory details, I phoned one of the two stores with the Grand Cru Classé stock ten minutes after it opened, knowing that getting there in person would just slow me down. They told me their 27 bottles had been sold in minutes.

Then I called the other store carrying the product in much larger quantities. No answer on how many bottles remained on its shelves. I asked if one bottle could be put aside for me until I finished work. They said no, it was their policy not to. That's a unique and trailblazing policy amid a state-run liquor monopoly, I thought. I would know. There's not one store in the greater Montreal area that hasn't assisted me in securing me a bottle or two. All it takes is friendly phonecall. Adding insult to injury this morning, I was especially friendly... for nothing. And this particular SAQ outlet is in the middle of a vast industrial-commercial wasteland that requires a car and an hour and a half of your free time. They expect shoppers to flock all the way there in disappointment. About 30 minutes after they opened for business, moments after I had called, I got confirmation that the store sold out of cases and cases of the stuff -- that's less than the average time it takes to park your car at the Marché Central on a Saleday. Yes, I'm talking about the SAQ Dépôt store. Avoid it!

I wasted about 35% of pillow time cross-referencing reviews on sale items and was about to waste 35% of my evening going cross-town for a Chablis from a winemaker and vintage I've never tasted. Susan, what I have seen about this sale will keep you up at night for weeks.

But not everyone is a crazy doktor. So with sane folks like Susan and her husband Frank in mind I pass along my cheat-sheet to the sale -- a list of the most promising wines, many of which still are available, itemized with Michel Phaneuf's wine guide notation. As I said, I have not drunk many of these wines (actually, none at all from my list). So they're not really my recommendations per se. Cheat-sheet is just the right term.

MY 35% CHEAT-SHEET

There is one bottle on sale that I have tasted and liked, but strangely I didn't put it on the list. It is the Australian dessert wine De Bortoli Black Noble. Heavy, wooded and pungent, this is an after-dinner treat that is not for the faint of heart. A half bottle is down to $28.10 from $37.50.

Here is that listing (click the image at top to search the SAQ and verify availability):

New reduced prices appended to end of each item line
(star ratings and numbered wine evolution scale from Michel Phaneuf's guide)

SYMBOLS
@ = travel to the ends of the earth to find / sold out
Gd'O = Phaneuf's special Grappe d'Or designation
1 = drink now / yesterday
2 = drink soon
3 = drink or keep
4 = keep

DESSERT
Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey sauternes grand cru classé 1996 ***** 2 - 37.00

WHITE
DiVino Spadafora sicilia i.g.t. 2003 **** 1 - 14.15

Château Le Sartre pessac-léognan 2002 *** 2 - 19.45

Chablis Pascal Bouchard 2003 *** - 18.95

Chablis premier cru Beauroy Pascal Bouchard 2001 (7/10, Keep) - 26.25

@ Chablis premier cru Côte de Léchet Domaine Bernard Defaix 2001 **** 2 - 21.70

Chablis premier cru Fourchaume vieilles vignes P. Bouchard 1999 (7/10, Keep/Drink) - 28.85

Chardonnay Vineland Niagara Ontario 2002 *** 1 - 13.40

Chablis grand cru Bougros William Fèvre 2001 **** 3 - 36.25

RED
Tannat Premium Casa Filgueira canelones 2002 ***+ 3 - 20.70

Château Prieuré Malesan premières-côtes-de-blaye 2000 *** - 21.05

Château Plince pomerol 2002 *** 2 - 31.00

Château Lanessan haut-médoc cru bourgeois 2000 *** 2 - 36.00

Duca Enrico Duca di Salaparuta sicilia i.g.t. 1999 **** 2 - 36.75

Domaine de la Solitude châteauneuf-du-pape 2003 ** - 31.25

Fixin premier cru Clos Napoléon Pierre Gelin 2001 *** - 31.50

Pinot noir Tarrawarra Yarra Valley 2000 ***+ 3 - 36.75

Riserva di Fizzano chianti-classico 2001 **** 2 - 27.75

@ Château Fonplégade st-émilion grand cru classé 2001 **** Gd'O 2 - 34.25

Gevrey-chambertin premier cru Les Champeaux Pierre Bourée 2001 ***+ 3 - 42.75

______________________________________________________________

Addendum:

There are mistakes in the list above that I myself have discovered since sending it out (another reason not to let wine sales keep you up all night). It's a small mercy that my unsuccessful bid for Fonplégade Grand Cru Classé turned out after all to not be a missed opportunity for a bargain-priced Grappe d'Or. I slipped up and confused the $53-a-bottle Ch. Fonplégade with the $52-a-bottle Ch. Fonroque. You would too at 2.30 in the morning -- they are both Saint-Émilion, both Classé, and both are far from the reach of my corkscrew in 2007 -- but only Fonroque is a Phaneuf Grappe d'Or.

Secondly, there's a mistake that I transcribed based on a Phaneuf guide error: The Guide du Vin 2007 includes an entry that reads "Chablis Premier Cru Côte de Léchet Domaine Bernard Defaix 2001". Upon closer inspection, in the tasting notes it becomes clear that Phaneuf is writing about a different vintage, declaring "this excellent 2003". The 2003 is the current vintage already on sale in Europe but yet to arrive at the SAQ. Don't let Phaneuf's seemingly favourable review help the SAQ sweep out the old while they usher in the new -- 2001 is a somewhat shabby year for Chablis, and with 35% off or not, Chablis shabbiness is never smart shopping.

Most common holiday accidents

Yesterday, I received the following message in my email inbox and this was one of the images attached to it. Please don't let this happen to you this holiday season.

From: "Win"
Subject: X'mas feast 2006
To:"Anna Xu", "AM Ferrara", "Vera", "Huy Duong", "David Chang", "Jason Ang", "Elsa", "Saif Husain", "Zeina", "Marcus Gilliam"

Here are some pics from yesterday evening!

Hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season...

Notice how the word safe seems to be emphasized in the context of this particular photo. Don't let yourself be a victim. This image could've been prevented. Avoid posing for photos behind foreshortened bottles of wine. It's Christmas folks, but that Château Grand Launay Côtes-de-Bourg 2001 is no toy. Please pose with it carefully!

That forshortened bottle of wine, by the way, was a standard 750-millilitre bottle, not the Methuselah that it looks like from the viewers' perspective. Orient yourself with the wine bottle size scale here.


Our Grand Launay must've seemed bigger than it was. Nearing dinner's end we were daunted by the prospects of opening it and didn't end up tasting it. Hopefully next year we will get a second chance at it. Maybe when no one mindlessly lets it wander between a photo-op and the camera lens.

THE SPECIAL "DISCOVERY" WINES WE DRANK

But this dinner was not all tales of disaster and regret. The theme was our favourite wine discoveries of the year. We tasted wines (in standard-sized bottles) from Rodney Strong, Château Cabrières and Taltarni Vineyards, and I thought that they are were really good, near-perfect selections for the occasion.

• Rodney Strong Chalk Hill Chardonnay Sonoma County 2004


• Chateau Cabrières Coteaux-du-Languedoc 2001


• Taltarni Vineyards Three Monks Cabernet Merlot Victoria 2003

The Chardonnay had palpable wood, and though my fellow diner thought it was slightly tainted by the cork, I quite enjoyed it.

The Cabrières and Taltarni wines created an amazing transition that I wouldn't have expected. They have similar depth, richness and are made in the same international style with fine tannins and well-integrated oak. You can tell the Cabernet and Merlot grapes were from a cool-climate region though, and next time I would reverse the order and serve the Cabrières second. It's a smoky, savoury Syrah with less perky acid and fruit and it eases you nicely into dessert.

But most importantly, the man pictured above has recovered and will attend holiday to come dinners featuring many more discovery wines.

What wine do I give as a thank-you gift?

Sometimes I get fanmail. This one, containing a reader's query about giving wine as a gift, came in at 12:59 am this morning marked urgent...

A question for you, and I may as well ask now, so as to give you plenty of time to ruminate. Well, actually you have until Thursday afternoon. I'm staying with my cousins in Long Island, and it'll be like two weeks I've been here before I finally move out on Friday (Hurrah! I found an apartment in Soho!) so I was thinking I need a really nice bottle of wine or something. I was even thinking Champagne, but maybe that would seem cheesy... no? Thoughts? All in all, they're not picky, really... something nice enough to say "Sorry that turned into two weeks, but thanks." Suggestions?

Not Itinerant Anymore along the Long-Island Line

Dear NIALL,

Thanks for writing. I hope you don't mind me reproducing the question you pose in a forum like this. What do I give? It's an often anxiety-inducing question that we all ask ourselves at one point in time. So thanks for letting me put it out there.

Of course, choosing the wine you give as a gift depends on the recipient. Sure the thought counts, but it doesn't count for much if you haven't thought about the person's preferences. Red or white, light or heavily extracted expressions, drinking with meals or as escape? These are all questions to try an answer before you buy.

NIALL, you are lucky that some of these key questions have already been answered for you. You've been an observant houseguest and noting your cousins' preferences should not be undervalued. On top of that, it always helps to take a bit of the pressure off when your wine is a gift for a couple or a group of people. This means you are aiming to please a collective palate, and in so doing, your wine can act more as a fun suggestion that a hard-and-fast prescription. I'd say you've got lots of leeway here and you should not be daunted by the task at hand.

Since your first thought was Champagne, let's not ignore that and take a look. Hmmm... I've had but one or two bottles of real Champagne in my entire life. Lanson's Black Label stood out in my mind last Eastertime -- that's especially because I bought the bloody thing, hoping to settle my uneasiness with the high cost of Champagne when other sparklings seem just as good. Yup, Champagne is expensive stuff, but it does come complete with a grand sense of ceremony and this Lanson was indeed elegant.

But you could buy a dozen boxes of wine and for the same price get only a fraction of that volume in actual bubbly. Also, I might ask, are you really anticipating that much of a celebration once they see you walk out the front door with your bags in tow? Other than that, Champagne is worth looking into, and I would direct you to Becks & Posh, the site hosting today's Wine Blogging Wednesday which just happens to be on the topic of Champagne. They'll have an informative roundup posted, hopefully before tomorrow afternoon.

Their site is great and, my, Champagne is a worthy topic isn't it? But let's face facts. You wrote to me. So enough beating around this bush, I'm going to give you an answer. You suspected Champagne might be a cheesy gift but I'm going to suggest to you something even cheesier: A three-pack of wine wrapped up in a bow. Yes, I know, one white bottle, one red bottle and one rosé bottle screams cliché (and total lack of discernment). But like I said before you are offering something to please the entire family. Why not pick three $15 wines. They don't have to be red, white and pink (in fact, with fall around the corner you might want to rule out the rosé entirely).

Here are two reds and a white I advise you give to your generous and kind cousins:

• PWG Vintners USA imports Wynn's Coonawarra Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. Pick up the 2001 vintage of this full-bodied Australian Cabernet. It shouldn't be at all hard to find in Soho, but maybe check with the importer if you get stuck. Guaranteed enjoyment for your host family's barbecues or tv time either this year or for the years to come. Approachable, impossible to be perceived as haughty or snobbish, and a very pretty label too, which really cannot be undervalued when selecting a gift bottle.


• Frederick Wildman and Sons Ltd of New York City carries a fun twist on Cabernet Sauvignon. It's the Tenuta Rapitalà "Nuhar" Nero d'Avola & Cabernet Sauvignon. Nero d'Avola is a Sicilian grape, and blended here with Cabernet, it might convince your cousins to start thinking outside of "the box" which is always a good thing. You're not being pushy, just offering a friendly alternative to the straight-ahead Aussie bottle mentioned above. Great with anything from Italian cuisine to steaks. I had the 2003 (and will be uploading my review of it soon) but if that year is hard to locate, go for the 2004 or check the importer web site for help.


• For a white, I'm not going to suggest anything in particular accept to say that Manhattan wine shops typically have an outstanding selection of Italian whites. That to me would be impressive. Perhaps ask your wine seller for an outstanding Falanghina or well-made Tocai. Those are two types of varietals that I enjoy drinking when in the big city. Or why not write down the grape written on the side of the cellar cask they've got parked in the fridge and seek out a special bottle of that?

NIALL, I wish you good luck with your search and hope you'll let me know how it went.

Cheers!

Who knows the way?

Sometimes I receive fan mail. So far it's all been Kylie Minogue's...








Dear Matteo,

It's great to get messages like yours that come to Doktor Weingolb all the way from France. France makes me think of so many wonderful things -- wine and food of course making it immediately to the top of my mental list.

But you say you are from Italy originally. I wonder how you find Paris compared to where you grew up. I've never visited your homeland but I can imagine it being a fantastic place, especially if you are into wine and food, like I am.

It was food and wine that prompted me to describe how I tracked down the real-life Michel Gondry/Kylie Minogue set in Point du Jour. (Well, perhaps it was mostly the wine that did it.) Either way it was an adventure that occupied an afternoon in a way no form of orienteering could. I used landmarks from video stills and analyzed the angles of 3-way street intersections shown on maps. Needless to say, it would be just as much of an adventure trying to repeat the feat two years later. Which is basically the reason you wrote me. So here goes...

I have a old map of Boulogne-Billancourt. If you click on it, I have marked it up to the best of my memory. (If the circle I've drawn is wrong, then move southwest along Rue du Point du Jour two blocks towards Place Jules Guesde -- I have a feeling that this is the real site and it's tricking me since that corner is not officially in the Point du Jour division of the neighbourhood though it is on the Rue du Point du Jour.)

It goes without saying that you should avoid taking my route, which as I remember it today, was entirely Kylie-less and meandering until the last moment. In fact, even when I found the intersection it was so unlike the "World" created in the video that it was hard imagining the footsteps Kylie took there. But with any luck you will find it. Perhaps the boulangerie (pictured, right) will still be there -- one of the few buildings that appeared as it was for the video shoot -- and you can confirm to yourself that you've got the right location.

Next time I cross the ocean I will have to ask you to tell me where to find authentic Italian cooking in Paris. I hope you will have simple directions.

Yours truly,
Marcus