Canada has some strange laws. Being a witch isn’t illegal, but pretending to be a witch can land you 2 years in jail. Payment in loonie coins is not legal tender if you are purchasing an item that costs more than $25. The Criminal Code outlaws the depiction of crimes in a comic book… even if the crimes are fictitious. Forget the legalization of marijuana; it’s time to decriminalize Spiderman.
Ever since I hung up my broom, there’s been only one law that continually bedevils me: the prohibition on bringing alcohol across provincial boundaries under s. 3 of the Importation of Intoxicating Liquors Act, R.S., 1985. Even if it’s only for personal use, transporting just one bottle of wine from British Columbia to Ontario is outlawed and carries a minimum 6 month jail sentence for your third offence. Ouch. Only the LCBO is authorized to import B.C. wine, but it does so sporadically.
The legalisms are a pity, because the wine of BC’s Okanagan Valley is a nifty counter-point to Ontario. Niagara is a cool climate region that specializes in crisp whites. The Okanagan, on the other hand, can be as hot as California and produces some superb, juicy reds, especially in the southern subregion of Osoyoos. Luckily, every once in a while, a great BC wine sneaks into Vintages and you can taste the true diversity of Canada.
The utterly delicious Osoyoos Larose 2005 “Le Grand Vin” ($44.95, Vintages #626325) is the latest inter-provincial fugitive to surface in Ontario. This is the big fromage, the highest echelon of wine – the sort of top-notch bottle that you can use to cover for a forgotten anniversary or take the sting out of your 40th birthday party. So much the better if you are only 37 now; the Osoyoos Larose has a tremendous capacity to evolve. Judging by the previous vintages I’ve tasted, it will improve dramatically over the next few years.
The Osoyoos Larose estate specializes in Bordeaux style wine: reds which blend a variety of grapes in order to produce a sonorous complexity that is not possible by using just one varietal. Le Grand Vin is primarily Merlot (emphasizing mellow berry flavours) but also has Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Malbec and Cabernet Franc. “A wine for women!” laughs Pascal Medevon, Osoyoos Larose’s winemaker, referring to the fact that the 2005 vintage was especially elegant. Elegant yes, but there’s more: this wine is also muscular, tight, smooth and perfectly proportioned. It reminds me of the buttocks of a male ballet dancer.
B.C. is making fantastic wine – if we could only get more of it. If I weren’t in law, I’d consider work as a smuggler.
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