News: January 2010
Upcoming
to Vintages (LCBO):We're pleased to announce that two of our excellent Loire wines are schduled for release at Vintages in March 2010.
Domaine A. Cailbourdin 2008 Cuvée de Boisfleury - Pouilly Fumé
LCBO# 165327
The first release of one of Alain Cailbourin's famous Fumés through Vintages will be on March 6/2010
Grand Fief de la Cormeraie -- Muscadet Sèvre et Maine sur lie 2008
LCBO# 81745
From Véronique Günther Chéreau of Château du Coing, this excellent shellfish & aperitif wine is scheduled for release March 20/2010
Rolly Gassmann wines noted by Hugh Johnson
Hugh Johnson's Yearly Pocket Wine Book has contained an entry for the Gassmans for many years. Here's the 2010 'update':
"Rolly Gassmann ** Distinguished Alsace grower at Rorschwihr, esp for Auxerrois and Muscat from Moenchereben v'yds. Off-dry house style culminates in great rich Gewurz Cuvée Yves (00 02').
Now Biodynamic."
Rolly Gassmann Sylvaner Weingarten de Rorschwihr 2005 — Glorious vintage that opens with a lovely nose of floral and fruit aromas that follow onto the palate with excellent complexity and balance, slight sweetness, and very good to excellent length. (JPO, May 2007).
Rolly Gassmann Gewürztraminer 2004 — Wonderful clean and spicy nose leads to very good concentration on the palate with a slight sweetness that immediately resolves into spice and very good length. Dominique’s favorite! (JPO, December 2005, Rorschwihr).
Rolly Gassmann Pinot Gris 2004 - big hit at our recent tasting! - toast and mineral nose, lovely full mouth, excellent wet finish, very good length.
Gewürztraminer Oberer Wiengarten 2004 — A classic Gassmann Gewürtz that opens with a good deal of mineral on the nose, generous and filling in the mouth with lots of spice and ripe yellow fruits, typical RG structure that shapes and holds the complex flavours and leads to excellent length. (JPO, December 2006).
Riesling Rorschwihr ‘Cuvée Yves’ 2002 — Bright start with striking minerality combined with highly floral scents, lean in the mouth and very complex and interesting flavours, excellent finish. (JPO/DMO, July 07).
Riesling Rorschwihr ‘Cuvée Yves’ Vendages Tardives 2000 — big nose of spicy fruits and petrol, waxy spice and fruits on the palate, spice and acid frame, very, very, very long. (JPO/DMO, July 07).
Pinot Noir de Rodern 2002 — The Gassmanns own extensive plantings of Pinot Noir in their neighbouring village of Rodern, which many consider the finest terroir for Pinot in Alsace. We've imported several vintages of this cuvée and it is consistently complex and delicious. When they showed us the 2002 last summer in Rorschwihr we were delighted to find such an excellent successor to the 2000.
Refined blend of classic Pinot Noir aromas with a touch of Alsace smoke, very good balance of fruit and terroir in medium weight body – shows a delicate acidic structure and some light tannins, very good length. (JPO/DMO June 2008/March 2009)
Robert Parker reviews Bressy-Masson
"One of the up and coming stars
of the Southern Rhone" (For full text please see Bressy-Masson link)
Rasteau "A la Gloire de Mon Père" 2007 -- 90-94
(2003 available -- 90-92 RP)
Rasteau "Cuvée Paul Emile" 2007 -- 90-93 NOW IN STOCK
Rasteau "Cuvée La Souco d'Or" 2007 -- 89-91 NOW IN STOCK
Recent arrivals:
2008 Cuvée Boisée Macon-Solutré from Vins Auvigue
Rosé Crémant from Vitteaut-Alberti;
2005 Gigondas & 2006 Cotes du Rhone from Domaine du Terme;
2007 Cuvée la Souco d'Or & Cuvée Paul Emile Rasteaus from Bressy-Masson
2007 Chateau du Coing and Coing de Sevre Muscadets from VGC.
2007 Pinot Noir Chanceroy from Mallard-Gaulin;
2007 Chateau du Coing and Coing de Sevre Muscadets from VGC;
Compostelle 2005 from Chateau Mas Neuf;
Blanc des Blancs & Rosé Crémants from Vitteaut-Alberti.
Mas Neuf Armonió 2005
This Vin de Pays d'Oc combines 40% Grenach Noir with 30% each of the classic Bordelais grapes: Merlot &
Cabernet Sauvignon. Rigorous selection of fully mature grapes in the vineyard is followed by a careful vinification supervised by Louis Mitjavile (of Terte Roteboeuf in St Emilion) with the juice run off into barrrels from Château d'Yquem where fermentation occurs at 18º C. After 6 months the wine is matured for a further 18 month in new barriques. This young wine is already remarkably mature and powerful — and drop dead delicious — decant 1 hour.
Luc Baudet's tasting note 11/08: "Very dark garnet, buquet of Burlat cherry, mentholated notes, black fruits, tobacco and coffee bean, powerful & spicy in the mouth, then moka, with a muscular and well-defined texture."
The 'new' Aurore Chardonnay is here!
The re-designation
of the Vin de Pays du Val de Loire
appellation has provided an
opportunity for Véronique Günther-Chereau to dress one of
our most
popular white wines in a new presentation for the 2007 vintage.
Introducing Domaine du Coing de St. Fiacre Cuvée D'Aurore Chardonnay
Introducing Domaine du Coing de St. Fiacre Cuvée D'Aurore Chardonnay
From vines planted in a section of
the Muscadet vineyard at Château
du Coing, this un-oaked, cool climate Chardonnay is always clean
and delicious.
"Pretty fruity nose, warm on the palate with candied fruit, pinapple, exotics, white flowers, quite lifted and complex, bright structure, excellent balance, very good length." (JPO/DMO July, 'Le Coing' 2008).
From Pascal Granger
Chénas 2007 - lovely red fruits on nose, well extracted and rich on palate, excellent structure, very good length. An assemblage of 10 cuvées, selected by Beaujolais Ajourd'hui.
Moulin-à-Vent 2007 - excellent nose of fruit and typical terroir minerality, very good concentration and extraction, very good length.
(Gold Medal - Concours des Grands Vins de France, Maçon)
Juliénas Cuvée Spéciale 2007 - beautiful fruits (cherries in eau-de-vie) on the nose, big sweet rich fruits on palate, very good length.
"Pretty fruity nose, warm on the palate with candied fruit, pinapple, exotics, white flowers, quite lifted and complex, bright structure, excellent balance, very good length." (JPO/DMO July, 'Le Coing' 2008).
From Pascal Granger
Chénas 2007 - lovely red fruits on nose, well extracted and rich on palate, excellent structure, very good length. An assemblage of 10 cuvées, selected by Beaujolais Ajourd'hui.
Moulin-à-Vent 2007 - excellent nose of fruit and typical terroir minerality, very good concentration and extraction, very good length.
(Gold Medal - Concours des Grands Vins de France, Maçon)
Juliénas Cuvée Spéciale 2007 - beautiful fruits (cherries in eau-de-vie) on the nose, big sweet rich fruits on palate, very good length.
Tales from the Wine Trail
We visited most of our winemakers in France this summer and we're posting tasting notes and other news from the vineyards and elsewhere including some of the challenging issues that the rapidly changing and consolidating world of wine is creating -- particularly for small producers and their representatives. Nowhere are these challenges more pertinent than the recently imposed changes made by the LCBO to the Consignment Program through which our wines are made available here in Ontario.
Special to Lexcellent Wines -- the latest in wine delivery technology!
Très direct! -- "USB Wines" -- see for yourself!
We attempt to maintain (near) continuous supplies of our
best
selling wines
incuding:
Crémant Rosé Brut, Château du Coing
Classique & Coing de Sèvre Muscadets,
Aurore Chardonnay, Rasteau Cuvée Souco d'Or,
Pouilly Fumé
Boisfleury, Terme's Côtes du Rhône &
Gigondas.
(DISPLAY PROBLEMS: We've discovered that our new website doesn't display as intended in Internet Explorer on Windows PCs. To wit: the menu of 'Winemakers' that should appear as a column on the right-hand side of your browser appears below the main text. This doesn't occur in Netscape on PCs (or at all on Macs). I'm trying to figure out how to fix things but meantime do explore our winemaker pages by scrolling down until you see the menu!!