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(POSTED: December 4, 2006)
Bishop’s Cellar - The Holiday Season
In the world of white I have four wines that will make a lot of new friends in my home over the holidays. Lontue Valley, Chile is one of the earliest wine regions in this center of wine excellence in South America. Over the past three years we sold 100’s of cases of the Santa Rita 120 Sauvignon Blanc, fortunately for us Tim Dauphinee, of Churchill Dauphinee Cellars came to us with a deal we could not refuse; namely discontinue the 120 range and go up one grade and we will give you price protection for 2 years. What a deal--better quality wine for the same price as the #2 wine. Didn’t take long to change our minds and for you the customer a better deal! Gran Hacienda 2006 Sauvignon Blanc ($15.00) is crisp and refreshing. Its fruity aroma of citrus blossoms and peaches is well balanced by delicate herbaceous undertones. Lobster with butter, seafood casserole, or simple sipping all go well with this wine.
New Zealand just keeps on producing bountiful wines with almost more fruit than you can squeeze into a bottle. Two examples are the Shingle Peak 2005 Chardonnay ($19) and Shingle Peak 2005 Riesling ($19) The Chardonnay is light yellow straw in colour with green hues, the nose shows hints of oak along with sweet stone fruits. On the palate ripe fruit flavours of melon and peach with well structured body and balance showing hints of creamy French oak and butter. Chilled smoked salmon, day after Christmas hot turkey sandwiches and rich white cream cheese all serve well with this wine.
Vibrant bright straw and green hues sparkle from the Shingle Peak Riesling, a pungent lemon sherbet aroma with underlying mineral characteristics radiates from the glass. On the palate a generous intensity of fruit flavour, with lemon, limes, and natural Marlborough acidity, the culmination a dry Riesling with an intense crisp clean finish. Grilled salmon, cured ham, or white breast meat from the Christmas turkey deserves this wine. If you have never tried Riesling this is a wonderful place to start.
My mate (his term) Hugh Hamilton is known as ‘The Black Sheep’ of Australia, but I think he should be seen as the ‘Angel from Grape Heaven’-- Hugh grows and makes wines that are almost too good for this earth. Hugh’s ‘The Loose Cannon 2004 Viognier ($32) (pronounced vee-own-yea ) has ripe pear and apricot on the palate with a fresh lime palate. Hugh is famous in MacLaren Vale for his Oyster Festivals, on these days over 300 people show up at the winery to drink wine and eat fresh Tasmanian oysters. The match is a match made in heaven, now substitute the Tasmania Oysters with P.E.I. Malpeque Oysters and you are right over the top.
Red wines have a role with Christmas dinner and definitely are at the center of the Holiday party scene. Charles Back, the Goats do Roam Guy is a serious grape grower and one of the best wine making personalities in the world. Last year 13 of his wines were ranked in the TOP 170 BEST BUYS in the World by Wine Spectator. Charles recently sold us his entire Fairview Cabernet Franc 2002 ($17) inventory which retails for $28 per bottle at a price where we can sell it much below market price. Sean Wood reviewed this wine last week in his column Wood On Wine and described the wine as a ‘refined wine displaying developed dark fruit with subtle notes of cinnamon, a whiff of gloves’; to me it is the black cherries I like. This is the wine we are using in the FEED NOVA SCOTIA, ‘Case of Compassion’ fundraiser; to my way of thinking this is the best red wine buy in the store.
Tasmania is where my pick for turkey wine comes from in the form of Cockfighter’s Ghost 2004 Pinot Noir, a first crop from this vineyard located in Tamar Valley of this new Pinot Noir production. The cool Antarctic winds make this a true cold climate vineyard area much like Nova Scotia. The palate is long and concentrated with subtle spice and cloves characteristics not to mention a velvety finish. Knowing that the Pinot Noir comes out of the Burgundy region of France I realize this wine comes from a heritage of fat fowl and delicate white fish, thus if you are serving range feed turkey or capons, or if you have thick piece of halibut this is your wine.
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