It won’t be long until an LCBO near you gets a shipment of some very, very good wine. 2005 was perhaps the most exciting year in decades for the Bordeaux region of France. Perfect climactic conditions are colliding with centuries of winemaking expertise. I mentioned in an earlier column that the best way to get a taste of 2005 is to pre-order the wines from the LCBO website (called “Bordeaux futures” even though 2005 is three years in the past).
The deadline for ordering futures is February 8. Pre-ordering Bordeaux has a couple advantages over buying it before it hits the shelves: there’s a decent discount (somewhere between 10 percent to 30 percent) and a much more dependable selection. However, you can only buy the wines in “lots” of three bottles.
Although the most famous (and expensive) wines are long sold out, there are still some remarkable bargains. If you’re looking for a superb bottle to drink with the roast beef you’ll be having in 2012, here are some of the Short Cellar’s top picks:
D’Aiguilhe ($39.70 [Ed. note: No longer available], #501163) is the gem of the tiny sub-region Cotes de Castillon. My strategy is not to buy half-decent wines from prestigious places, but to buy the best wines from up-and-coming regions that are not yet on the map. This winery is owned by a Count of the Holy Roman Empire, Stephan von Neipperg, a wine maverick who has revivified a number of Chateaux, most of them in much more established regions. I’m buying this wine before the rest of the world catches up and I can no longer afford it.
Most wine lovers have heard of the stupendous dessert wines that come from Sauternes. But fewer pay attention to Sauterne’s neighbour, Barsac. Doisy-Védrines ($26.80, #500140), is a syrupy ambrosia that’s one of Barsac’s best. It’s also one of the favourites of Hugh Johnson, the dean of British wine critics.
Another good way to hunt for Bordeaux bargains is to look for “second wines”. Many famous chateaux produced the premium label for which they are famous, but also a secondary wine that benefits from the same wine making techniques and equipment, but is extracted from less perfect grapes. This year, I am trying Lacoste Borie ($31.75, 501874), the second label from Chateau Grand-Puy-Lacoste in the Pauillac subregion. According to the critic Oz Clarke, Grand-Puy-Lacoste produces “one of Pauilliac’s most memorable taste sensations” with its dense and complex flavours.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my favourite, Chateau Puygueraud ($21.85, 500314), the star of the emerging micro-region, Cotes de Francs.
Happy hunting if you plunge into 2005 and go back to the future!
Matthew Sullivan is a lawyer with the Department of Justice in Toronto. He writes a weekly blog entry here on lawandstyle.ca. The Short Cellar column appears in the print edition of Precedent. Matthew can be reached at matthew@lawandstyle.beta-site.ca.