Buyer’s Guide to Vintages March 15th Release

U.S.A. Out, Canada In – Ontario Wineries Need to Be Nimble!
by David Lawrason, with reviews by Sara d’Amato and Megha Jandhyala

The Vintages catalogue for the March 15th release lists 15 American wines that are, of course, not available. The LCBO could not pivot quickly enough on the news March 2nd that U.S. wines were being pulled from the shelves. It is fair to criticize the LCBO for not being a nimble organization overall, but let’s not be mean on this one circumstance. These releases are planned months ahead of time.

What is opportune is the release of one of the largest and most diverse selections of Ontario wines (17) in recent memory. Again, this is not a result of nimble thinking around current politics — yet the timing is really good. And so is the selection.

There are top wines by Bachelder, Le Clos Jordanne and Hidden Bench, plus solid efforts from Peller Estates, Trius and Thirty Bench, plus some less well-known properties like Liebling (new), Organized Crime (under-sung), Featherstone and Fielding (constantly mid-price reliable). We highlight some of our picks in an Ontario section below.

This moment is indeed golden for Ontario wine. With U.S.A. out, there is literally all kinds of shelf space at the LCBO, and individual LCBO stores have the ability to phone up Ontario wineries and order wine directly to fill it. “My” local flagship store at Bloor and Royal York in Etobicoke has independently ordered 40 Ontario wines that are not part of the regular listing process. It has focused on some top-notch Niagara and Prince Edward County chardonnays and pinot noirs (Ontario’s strength) and put them on pour at the tasting bar. That’s nimble! But how many other LCBOs have done this?

Only 2 cases left for March delivery. Exchange cases contain no American wines.

And I am sorry to be a downer, but this is still no guarantee that Ontarians will buy them, despite the current nationalistic fervour. One of the constants of my long career as a wine observer based in Toronto, is the deeply ingrained resistance of Toronto consumers (in particular) to Ontario wine. Ottawa and Kingston are much more supportive. A product consultant at this same store related an incident where a shopper sampled and enjoyed a wine served blind and asked what it was. “Niagara Chardonnay,” the consultant said. “I don’t drink Ontario wine,” came the reply.

I have heard this stupid bias ad nauseum for years. It’s partially generational, where folks of a certain age remember that bad old days. But also, a thing where people are crippled by their insecurity around wine and unable to trust their own preferences. Denigrating Ontario wine is still too socially acceptable!

More basically, it is about not liking acid in wine, an age-old, new wine consumer thing that drives many to riper California. I went through it too decades ago when I started my journey. Ontario wine has acid and that makes it wonderful. But it is definitely not California, and I find recent writings about finding Ontario wines that come close to California to be pandering and a bit dishonest, if well meaning.

Ontario wineries need to ignore the wino-saurs, and go out and find the new open-minded consumers, and explain what they are making and why (stylistically and climatically). They need to nimbly do a full court press on LCBOs flagship stores with larger Vintages sections. More immediately they need to nimbly storm the private bottle shops sprouting across the province that are not tied to the LCBO’s wholesale selections — these businesses can buy direct, are nimble themselves, and reach and educating, inquisitive consumers.

If Ontario wineries are not doing this, at this very juicy moment in time, why aren’t they? Perhaps some are still tragically hipped to century-old LCBO inter-dependency. A model that — like Hudson’s Bay — is on the way out too. Let it go, and let’s go!

Italy and South Africa

Again, because of decisions taken many months ago Italy is the feature of this release, and there are some very good buys (see below), especially from Sicily. And South Africa gets a nod with a mini-three wine focus on its epi-centre wine region, Stellenbosch. The Cape is making so many stunning, underpriced and underappreciated wines. My number one for value at all price points in the world today.

I want to end with a short, uplifting story about South African Tesselaarsdal Chardonnay and Pinot Noir being released in tiny quantities at Flagship stores, that may very well be sold out by now. If you spy them, grab them. They are superb wines, although at over $50, many will pass. It is a virtual label by Bernie Sauls. Years ago she was hired as a nanny for the three daughters of winemakers Anthony and Victoria Hamilton-Russell. She moved into the business and became the office manager, then began to take an interest in winemaking. In 2015 the Hamilton-Russells funded her first solo label, and it has gone to receive critical acclaim. She had been buying fruit from the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge region, but has now also planted the first vineyard, and created jobs, in her home community of Tesselaarsdal. There can be heart in wine.

Here are our picks from the March 15 Release, starting with Ontario wines, then the imports, arranged in ascending price order within each selection. Michael and John were travelling during this cycle.

Buyer’s Guide March 15th: Ontario Wines

Liebling Andrews Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2022, Ontario, Canada
$22.00, Marynissen Estates Limited
David Lawrason – From the Oppenlaender grape growing family, made by daughter Jessie within the Colab project at Marynissen, this is a spry, lifted and very fresh early harvested sauvignon with all kinds of grapefruit, gooseberry, grass and fresh dill. At 12.5% alcohol it weighs in light but delivers immediate flavour intensity and crunchy texture.
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