Steve Elder

Luis Felipe Edwards L F E 900 Single Vineyard Blend 2012

Deep garnet colour. Quite full and expressive, with ripe fruit and the tannins well integrated. Good complexity and length and carries the 14.5% alcohol well. Unusual and engaging.

Socré Barbaresco 2011, Docg

This is fine nebbiolo for the price, with lots of depth and great earthy complexity while staying well clear of da funk. Fruit is in the dried, pruney end of the specturm as expected, with really lovely tannins on the finish. Drinking nicely now and fairly evovled. Will likely hold a few years but not a cellar-dweller. Going back for more!

Marziano Abbona Terlo Ravera Barolo 2005, Docg

Starting to amber, but still quite deep and bright. First impression is of fruit, with dried flowers, followed by spice and cedar notes. Med bodied, with refined tannins and moderate complexity. A modern style of nebbiolo; more depth would have been nice.

Vincent Girardin Vieilles Vignes Santenay 2013, Ac

Pale ruby at this stage, quite attractive. Full nose of ripe berry fruit, which carries on to palette. Nice mineral notes beneath. Medium bodied, taught and linear. This is quite fine for Santenay, although perhaps lacking the layers of complexity of great PN. Holding well, but at its peak.

Frescobaldi Tenuta Di Castiglioni 2016, Igt Toscana

Good deep colour just starting to fade at the rim. Spicy, minerally nose with the fruit quite ripe but starting to shift into the dried spectrum. Med-full bodied, round, spicy, juicy with the tannins still quite firm. Just starting to enter it’s drinking window I’d say and will clearly hold for several more years.

Closson Chase Closson Chase Vineyard Pinot Noir 2017, VQA Prince Edward County

Nice medium ruby colour. Spicy, full nose of fresh berries. Med bodied with quite bold flavours of strawberries followed by minerality and a light earthiness. Nicely balanced with fine tannins and good acidity in the County way. Maybe a touch short on the finish, but I suspect this will show more in a year or two.

Trius Red (The Icon) 2016, VQA Niagara Peninsula

Tenuta Sette Ponti Crognolo 2016, Igt Toscana

$30 at SAQ if you’re close to the borderlands!

Louis Jadot Chorey Les Beaune 2013, Ac

Pale ruby colour, turning orange at the edges; showing its age a bit. Light but classic nose of fresh berries with hints of forest floor. Light to med bodied with good flavour persistence. Nice ripe tannins and lip smacking acidity. An enjoyable village Burgundy not straining to be anything more.

Wynns Coonawarra Estate Shiraz 2015, Coonawarra

I am a fan of Sue Hodder. This is my first time with the Shiraz, but it seems to me to reflect her style: pitch-perfect fruit married to bright acidity, approachable but with plenty of depth. Meant to keep this in the cellar for a few years, but it didn't last that long!