Cheap Eats Toronto restaurant guide blog

VV List Release Sat. Jan 23, 2010

Greetings Fellow Tipplers!

Mmmmm Malbec! That is the main varietal coming your way from Vintages this weekend. Malbec was born in Argentina – the destination of great winemakers whose migration from their traditional winemaking regions – France, Italy, California brought them to this part of the world because of the great opportunities presented there. These winemakers know a good thing when they see it – the high elevations of the Andes provide the perfect temperature, aspect, soil and drainage to produce high quality vines.

There are plenty of other great wines (the list is quite long) from other regions on our list this week and the prices are just right.

WHITE WINE

932368 Santa Julia Reserva Chardonnay 2008 (Mendoza) $13.95

A fabulous chard – lush, rich body featuring buttered toast, apple, pear and tropical fruit notes on the palate. A good balance of acidity and oak – a great value.

V V List Release Saturday Dec. 5, 2009

Greetings Fellow Tipplers!

It’s hard to believe – this is our last list for 2009.

We’ve had a lot of fun tasting the Vintages releases this year – a lot of sniffing, sipping, spitting and discussion have occurred on this list’s behalf. This year, more than ever, we needed to find good value for our dollar spent given the deteriorating economic situation. The value wine discoveries were lovely affordable splurges for us; and we trust for you as well. It is our sincere wish that you have a safe and savoury holiday season. Imbibe responsibly and enjoy the discovery that different wines offer us.

WHITE WINE

141788 Helfrich Pinot Gris 2008 (Alsace) $13.95

Sweet floral and mineral aromas, medium sweet palate and some orange rind bitterness and refreshing acidity.

135426 Errazuriz Aconcagua Costa Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2008 (Chile) $15.95

Yum, big on gooseberry, lemon lime citrus, and herbal palate. This is a very well made Sauv. Blanc and big on flavour. Jay Miller of erobertparker.com scored it a 90.

RED WINE

82586 Canepa Reserva Privada Carmenère (Chile) $14.95

This number is true to its varietal character featuring aromas of cassis, tar, cocoa and cedar. It is a very smooth wine and will pair well with sausages.

V V List Release Saturday Nov. 21, 2009

Greetings Fellow Tipplers!

This week the big shots hit the shelves of Vintages. Name-dropping worthy selections like Dom, Cristal, Ch. Montelena, Caymus, Opus, Ch. Beaucastel, Solaia, to name a few. If you are in the vicinity of insufferable snobs, these names will roll off their tongues when they speak of the dinner they went to the previous evening OR what they will be serving to their guests at their holiday table. Are we jealous? Not at all! In fact, we don’t even taste them when we have the opportunity – where is the joy in a fleeting sip (& spit) knowing that there is no chance of affording any of these iconic labels? The joy comes in the discovery of great-tasting values – pearls amongst diamonds so to speak. We went to the tasting room this week thinking we will be hard pressed to find anything in our price range. We were pleasantly surprised and we hope you are too!

WHITE WINE

82305 Domaine Bellevue Sauvignon Touraine 2008 (Loire) $13.95

Excellent value priced Sauvignon Blanc exuding a nose of fresh mown grass and pea notes with flavours of lime zest, very fresh and crisp. For all you die hard “bling” slaves, this won a gold medal at the Concours Général Agricole 2009 in Paris.

2774 Salterio Albariño 2008 (Rias Baixas, Spain) $16.95

The little star from Rias Baixas pretty notes of white peaches and a tad vegetal, some mineral, citrus and fresh acidity on the palate.

RED WINE

3509 Chakana Yaguareté Collection Malbec 2009 ($12.95)

Can’t get better than this for the price. This little number is packed with tons of dark fruits, blackberry, raspberry and plum, packing a punch of flavour and extremely well balanced. Load up on this one!

Vintages Value List Release Sat. August 1, 2009

Greetings fellow tipplers,

We trust you are celebrating the end of the garbage strike (those of you who are Torontonians at least) and felt good about drinking during said strike because your empty wine bottles could go back for a refund rather than accumulate with the general detritus laying about the city. For those of you outside of the (416), you remained smug in your clean environs – immune from the apoplectic stink that occasionally wafted past on the streets of TO. Fortunately for Torontonians the weather has been cool and often wet – hampering summer activities but helping the garbage strike stink. The “weather-tellers” predict a relatively dry and warm August – thank goodness – and once again Vintages rises to the occasion with great grilling wines to enhance your BBQ fare and general Epicurean enjoyment.

Here are our picks:

WHITE WINE

113696 Miguel Torres Vina Esmeralda 2008 (Spain) $12.95

A blend of Moscatel & Gewurtztraminer from an unlikely place made us have our doubts on this one. It is off-dry with strong peach & floral notes. 11.5% alcohol makes it a fine aperitif or evening starter.

Vintages Value List - Saturday July 4, 2009 Release

Greetings!

This time round it is all about summer – BBQs, vacation and a wonderful opportunity to taste the world on your stay-cation. Hope you are enjoying the season …

White Wine

683847 Ravenswood Vintners Blend Chardonnay 2007 (California) $16.95

Well rounded Cali Chard big on mango, peach some citrus and toasty oak flavours.

991950 Kim Crawford Unoaked Chardonnay 2007 (New Zealand) $19.95

Here is a pure and clean fruit driven Chardonnay with pretty floral and tropical fruit nose and flavours following through on the finish.

727255 Villa Maria Private Bin Pinot Gris 2007 (New Zealand) $18.95

A Pinot Gris with some hue and flavour! Layers of pear and apple flavours abound, peach pit bitterness, and some mineral envelopes the palate with a slightly oily mouth feel and a lengthy finish.

662882 Sileni Cellar Selection Sauvignon Blanc 2008 (New Zealand) $16.95

Bouncing with all the aromas and flavours that is signature to N. Z. Sauvignon Blancs - gooseberry, herb, grass, citrus, clean and crisp acidity and a long finish.

V V List Release Saturday May 2, 2009

Hello There!
We’re back after an extended hiatus. The tasting room was under renovation. That, coupled with demanding work schedules prevented our attendance at release tastings.

We tasted in the new, state-of-the-art tasting room and lucky for us – the focus was Tuscany and California. Most Tuscans (Chianti & Brunello) and iconic Californian wines (Caymus, Duckhorn, Dominus) are not in the Vintages Value budget this time round.  There are a few Chianti(s) priced under $25, but not very palatable relative to other offerings in this price range – there are two exceptions.

For those of you who don’t know, Italy has very strict regulations for their winemakers. There are four different classifications. We will provide these classifications in the tasting notes. DOCG stands for Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita and it is the highest classification of four Italian wine classifications. DOC is the second highest and stands for Denominazione di Origine Controllata. IGT stands for Indicazione di Geografica Tipica and represent ubiquitous wines that are grown in specific geographical growing regions. However, there are exceptions - some of Italy's best wines do fall under this category just to avoid more stringent regulations associated with DOC or DOCG – these are often referred as “Super Tuscans”. The last classification is Vino di Tavola = table wine.

There are some fabulous wines in this Saturday’s release at great prices. Here
they are:

V V List Release January 17, 2009

Hello Everyone!

Wine from a very popular region is the feature this weekend – we're going to Argentina – a formidable wine producer on the global stage. Wines from Argentina tend to be big and bold – to be drunk with beef – cattle ranching being another predominate industry of the region. Argentina produces Malbec – a wine that has gained a huge following over the past several years. Vintages is bringing us more than the ubiquitous Malbec this time – check out our picks below:

WHITE WINES

591743 Bodega Lurton Reserva Chardonnay 2008 (Argentina - $14.95)

From the Lurton brothers this Chard packs a punch of mouth filling peach and tropical fruit and smoky oak flavours. Pair with chicken dishes.

55475 J & F Lurton Flor De Torrontés 2007 (Argentina - $13.95)

Hail the brothers Lurton, yet another beauty – Torrontés the little white hero of Argentina offering up floral aromas, refreshing acidity and peach pit flavours. Serve as an aperitif, or just sip!

Hello and welcome to the Vintages Value List in 2009!

We hope you were all able to decant and drink some decent quaffers with family and friends over the holidays. The new year has arrived and some of you may now be on a "cleansing" program to give your liver a break and perhaps shed a few of the shortbread-induced extra pounds. While some of you are "cleansing", we are willing to bet that most of you are paring down your expenditures in the wake of the economic doom & gloom that we face daily in the media and the recent memory of the Boxing Day shopping trip charged to your credit card. Well, Vintages is in tune with your current state and has put together a release for January 10^th with the title: SMART BUYS. The upcoming release brings us a plethora of well-priced wine gems from around the world. Here are our picks:

White

801571 Alamos Chardonnay 2007 (Argentina - $13.95)

Apple and pear aromas/flavours and smoky, toasty notes. Good value in this number!

922203 D'Arenberg The Stump Jump White 2007 (South Australia - $14.95)

Fresh and fruity with floral aromas, following through on the palate with lively citrus, gooseberry and mineral notes. Makes for an awesome sipper.

V V List release Saturday Nov. 22/2008

Well you may or may not have noticed that there was an absent Vintages Value List coming at you two weeks ago. Rose & I started out with the best of intentions. But when we started walking over to the tasting room and the weather was so sunny and warm, we pulled a 180 and went down to the lake and gazed into the sunshine marvelling at the mild clime in NOVEMBER!!! That seems like ancient history because we shovelled our way out to get to work this morning …

Unfortunately we missed out on the Bordeaux release and we just tasted the final release for 2008 – the one before Christmas – where values are sparse as Vintages pulls out the big, pricey guns to fire off the holiday season. Don't despair – there is still plenty of great wine to be had!

We also recommend that you ask the Product Consultants in the Vintages section for recommendations in your price range, varietal or occasion. They are always happy to offer up assistance and are often aware of special releases (Rapid Releases) that come into Vintages outside of the traditional release catalogue.

This week's value picks are:

WHITE WINES

77693 Amayna Sauvignon Blanc 2006 (Chile) $20.95

Here is a big-ass Sauvignon Blanc featuring aromas of citrus, nectarine and herbal notes with a smoky grapefruit citrusy palate rounding off with lime zest on the finish. Quite fresh and crisp.

390203 Montes Alpha Chardonnay 2006 (Casablanca Valley, Chile) $21.95

Peach, pear, citrus and toasty oak in harmony on the palate with good acidity to carry it through, making it a well rounded Chard.

SPARKLING WINES

558825 Segura Viudas Brut Reserva Heredad (Spain) $37.95

Big on aromatics of toasty nuts, peach and mineral, replaying on the palate with a nice creamy mouth feel. Excellent priced sparkler for the holiday season!

V V List release Saturday Oct. 25, 2008

Hello Everyone!

Winter's coming and the cooler weather is directing our palates toward red wines and social gatherings to ward off the chill in the air. I know we just got through Thanksgiving and all the excess of food, wine and family dysfunction that comes with that holiday; but the cooler weather calls for even more togetherness. Social gatherings with friends and family warm the spirits – a much needed cure for the shorter, colder, darker days that come with the onset of winter. We don't mean to sound so depressive – but a good bottle of wine at a good price shared with chums is bound to buoy you!

This week's value picks are:

WHITE WINES

681247 Flat Rock Cellars Chardonnay 2006 (Ontario) $16.95

Big on tropical fruit, ripe peach and fresh green apple with a subtle hint of oak.

677450 Dog Point Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2007 (New Zealand) $21.95

This is a classic New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. For those of you that adore that varietal from this fine wine producer, pick this up – you will not be disappointed. Lots of guava, fresh cut grass and citrus notes.

SPARKLING WINES

907568 Graham Beck Blanc De Blancs Premier Cuvée Brut 2005 (South Africa) $21.95

Alas South Africa made it on our list! This sparkler is a sure pleaser featuring crusty baked bread, citrus and candied apple on the finish.