The Bar Towel

Nuiton-Beaunoy Le Prieuré Hautes Côtes de Nuits 2018

A nice Burgundy Pinot Noir, maybe my first Côtes de Nuits. All kinds of tart cherry plus some gently stemmy tannins and some stony mineral and dry herbs.
Acidic!

Villa Antinori Riserva Chianti Classico 2016

Here's a beautiful 'Riserva' Chianti red, made with the famous Tuscan Sangiovese 'and a tiny bit of Merlot to soften out the edges.' This is a beefier and more refined wine than some Chianti. It has inviting warm and lightly peppery-sandalwoody spice and light leafy-minty herbal dryness, and layers of attractive tart cherry.

Some tobacco, leather, mineral... a little sanguine / salty, maybe some tar, liquorice. A more 'serious' wine and very nice. I don't bother much with Chianti but glad I tried this one, it's great!

Rabl Langenlois Grüner Veltliner 2019

From a recent Vintages release. Good Austrian Grüner Veltliner is worth tracking down. This one ($19) isn't particularly interesting to me - it has some pale stone fruit and pineapple and herbs, but the palate, structure and aromas seem pretty basic. Skippable but wanted to try this dry /off-dry white with a light to medium concentration.

The special "Reserve" bottlings of this winemaker Rabl can be extremely good eg. this a killer I found last summer:

Belgian wrote:Rabl 2017 Langenlois Grüner Veltliner (Kamptal)

Edit - wrong wine, I think it was the Rabl Schenkenbichl Alte Reben Grüner Veltliner 2016

Here is an old vines Grüner Veltliner grape wine from Austria which displays richness, offset by nice tartness and tropical pale fruit nuances. Seems to contain a bit of gentle oak, good concentration and length with sweet lemon.

I believe this was originally $49 and I saved 25%. It's been cleared off the LCBO website, but the "DAC Kamptal Reserve" is the good stuff this winery offers. Delicious. Kamptal is a special wine region north of Vienna.

Sometimes you gotta go for the best bottlings from Austrian and German producers just to see what they can really do. These are still relative bargains in the wine world.

Cantina del Nebbiolo Barbaresco 2016

Well isn't this nice, Barbaresco Red from Piedmont, IT. Tightly-wound acid-cherry-berry fruit with good tannic edge and bit of cider-like acidity. Some tar and herbals. licorice, earth but a hit of that acid freshness. It's not a giveaway for $30 but it's a solid buy and fulfils the 'worth trying one and saving a second bottle' category.

Wow this would sleep for 15 more years, easy... impressive. Give it some air to enjoy it now.
There are some other great Nebbiolo at the LC right now - the very dear Renato Ratti Barolo for $72 and the Enrico Serafino Sanavento Barbaresco 2017 for $31.
Renato Ratti also makes an ever-excellent Lange Nebbiolo for $25, about 1/3 of the cost of its Barolo-class big brother.

I might also give the Travaglini Gattinara 2016 ($33)one more try, it's a hit and miss but the 2016 vintage appears to be a hit.

Carmes de Rieussec 2015 Sauternes Bordeaux

This is a Bordeaux Blanc that's famously both sweet and packed with a lot of flavor - delicate floral honey, mango-pineapple jam, dried apricot, honeysuckle, candy citrus and some petrol, maybe coconut. A little countering dryness and acidity. This is a wine with a lot of flavors going on. Lots of legs in the glass and some lychee aroma as well.

Cantina del Nebbiolo Barbaresco 2016

I love Nebbiolo. Lots of berry-cherry and tartness, good tannins... woody herbals and liquorice, eucalyptus, and a suggestion of tar. Lots of character and styl, acidic structure.

* As it opens up I'm getting the olive and cedar. * More lithe than the Cantina del Nebbiolo Barbaresco yet both are so good.

Château d'Anglès Classique La Clape Syrah/Grenache/Mourvèdre blend 2018

This is a juicy and tasty Rhone-blend red with berry acidity, tealike dryness and some nice campfire in the aromas and finish. Nice wild herbals and dark florals. A different style of wine, showing off natural character and complexity for a fair price point. 18.95

Château des Landes Cuvée Prestige 2016

Decent Bordeaux, it's OK. It has some aroma going on with cassis cranberry and cedar. Taste is tart and tannic-dry with red berries, blackberry, black plum and cranberry and cassis and green herbs, some forest floor. Touch of oak vanillin.

Château de Marsan 2016

Another pretty OK Bordeaux red. Typical flavors, medium body. Has some boysenberry and blueberry fruit depth and minerality. Medium acidity, solid tannins.

Your reviews are starting to sound like my tasting notes, Belgian!

"Yup, it's wine. Pretty good."

Beaumirail Vacqueyras 2017 Grenache/Syrah/Mourvèdre

This little beauty from the Southern Rhone shines with character. Besides the dark berries, which lend sweetness there is a solid aroma and taste of a 'savory' element that is leather, herbs and (to me) a bit of saltiness. Good dry tannins but not too tough. Really like this one for $25.

Château Biré 2016 Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc

A nice kind of St-Emillion-style Bordeaux in the super value range ($16.) Has classic style. Red and black fruit and touches of wild herbals and slight wool. The cherry carries long and the tannins are just pleasantly dry in feel.

Maison Chanzy Les Fortunés Bourgogne Pinot Noir 2018

This is a straightforward yet solid Pinot Noir red from Burgundy France that more or less provides what it's expected to - in this case a little earthy forest floor, herby dryness and beetroot to set off the tart cherry-berry and the racy acidity. Opens up a little after a day of being uncorked.

Nice dry and tart feeling with long tannins and cherry-berry, feels a bit mineral and I dig the texture. I like the solidity but would also like more subtle layers and aroma. Moderate value, not a world-beater for the price point but would glug this again. Ricky Gervais reference.

Cuvée R Premium 2018 CSM Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz/Merlot

Unusual blend of Syrah + the two flagship Bordeaux grapes Cabernet Sauv and Merlot - Southwest France wanders over to the Northern Rhone and has a baby somewhere in the Languedoc, Southeast France near Narbonne.

Really good dark fruit with cassis, smooth peppery spice, and a pleasant whiff of sweet tobacco. That chocolate note... finish trails with perfectly ripe wild blackberry and pie-baked blueberry. Has some new-world attitude, it's modern but maintains an old-world reference to grape typicity that doesn't obliterate the character into a rich mush of fruit sugar the way over-ambitious USA winemaking can sometimes do. Tannins exist but are smooth.

What you're getting for $15 is decent value. It's best on the first day because it doesn't need to develop and open up.

With pan-browned duck breast and braised red cabbage, wine was a better match than the very good Pinot Noir.

Selbach-Oster Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spätlese 2016 38-

This was at a discount, a fairly heavyweight German Riesling grape wine with a late harvest selection for added density and ripeness. Pour is nicely heavy, and the aroma has lots going on, honey and apricot. Taste has ripemand tart pale stone fruit and lots of full sweetness balanced by acidity. Very tasty... happy lockdown!