Last week I mentioned one of the best wines coming out of British Columbia, the 2005 “Le Grand Vin” from the Osoyoos Larose in the Okanagan Valley ($44.95 [Ed. note: 2005 no longer available], Vintages #626325). What intrigues me about Osoyoos Larose is that they are the west coast doppleganger of one of my favourite Ontario wineries, Le Clos Jordanne.
Both Osoyoos Larose and Le Clos Jordanne are owned by the large wine conglomerate Vincor. Both estates have been groomed by Vincor as standard-bearers for their respective regions so they can raise the international profile of Canadian wines. In order to accomplish this, Vincor has partnered with French winemakers; the Boissert family in the case of Le Clos, and the Groupe Taillan for Osoyoos Larose. The Groupe Taillan owns the established Bordeaux estate Chateau Gruaud-Larose (whose wines Oz Clarke memorably described as “powerful” but having “an unnerving animal quality”). This brings traditional French winemaking techniques to Canadian soil. In essence, Vincor is reinventing Canada’s new world wine in an old world mould.
Although France influences Canada, the Canadian palate also shines through. Classic French Bordeaux is heavily tannic, requiring years in order to mellow. Canadians don’t have a taste for tannic wines, nor do they (generally) have the patience to cellar their wine for 10 years. As a result, Osoyoos Larose has more pliant structure with easy going tannins. The winemaker, Pascal Madevon told me this was a “compromise of Bordeaux vision with Okanagan vision.” I think I detected just a hint of sadness when he said this. Perhaps like me, he likes his wine powerful and animalistic, not domesticated in the best tradition of Canadian politeness.
Because Vincor has anointed Le Clos and Osoyoos Larose as the jewels in the crown, they pull out all the stops: the best equipment, the most talented staff and painstaking agriculture. Normally, this makes a wine astronomically expensive, but Vincor seems determined to keep these wines reasonably priced. I know this means that Le Clos is actually sold under its real cost, and I suspect this is also true with Osoyoos Larose, because frankly, $44.95 seems a little low for this quality of wine.
But if $45 bucks is just too much to swallow, there is always Osoyoos Larose’s “second wine”, the Pétales D’Osoyoos ($25.00) which can be obtained in Ontario only by special order from Vincor (Nancy Medeiros at nancy.medeiros@vincor.ca or 1-800-265-9463). It is a delicacy: a lovely, feminine wine with a scent of fresh flowers, a plush texture and a soft embrace. It’s much more approachable than Le Grand Vin, and can be drunk now without aging. That is to say, it is a fully Canadianized wine… but it’s no less delicious because of it.
Matthew Sullivan is a civil litigator 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