Enjoy the finer things in life
Fine wine, like fine art, can transport you.
A glass of white Burgundy or Beamsville Bench Chardonnay might call to mind a perfect spoonful of crème brûlée that you once tasted at a country inn somewhere. It might draw to mind the fragrance of collecting seashells by the ocean, a moistness of air, the scent of slicing a grapefruit.
Fine wine makes allusions of lived experience flutter at the edge of your mind, strung together, barely formed, but flickering with feeling. It quietly pulls you into the deep dimensions of memory. This is the essence of fine wine’s intrigue. If you choose to engage with it, it will take you in, hold you fully but fleetingly, then cast you elsewhere again and again — focusing in and zooming out.
The more complex the wine, the more you can get lost in it.
This depth is exciting. Deeply personal. And yet, when experienced with another, it can create a real moment — felt but difficult to express with language.
Some argue against trying to describe fine wine with tasting notes because descriptors can fall short of something so dynamic and ethereal. But what else have we got?
I recall the first time I had the pleasure and privilege of tasting a bottle of Domaine de la RomanéeConti from Burgundy, France, broadly considered the best Pinot
Noir in the world. It was the 2002 La Tâche Grand Cru from that legendary estate — a bottle that would have cost more than $7,000 at that time. That was several years ago.
I fell speechless. When my friend looked at me for an opinion, I resorted to hand movements, drawing expressions through the space between us. It was meagre. But words would have been worse. The liquid was art. And true art is much more than brush strokes on canvas, dance steps on a stage, contours in clay.
A sip of 1970 Louis Roederer Cristal Brut Champagne, tasted in 2003, also left me speechless. To this day, I recall the moments like they were yesterday.
Fine wine can gain complexity with time spent in bottle, properly cellared — which is to say laid down in a dark, cool, stable place for years. So some people choose to collect it and cellar it, to create a stash of beautiful experiences.
But even youthful fine wines can provide powerful, moving moments.
Here is a list of bottles available now that I’ve tasted recently, loved and would encourage you to try. This time, they’re recommended with minimal notes so you can experience them in your own way. They aren’t inexpensive. But they’re less than a night out on the town. Worth the splurge? You decide:
2015 Louis Roederer Brut Rosé, Champagne, France (Vintages $119.95)
This wine from the top Champagne house of Louis Roederer hails from an excellent year. The 2015 vintage produced ripe, clean, concentrated fruit. The result is a gleaming example of its style. Pure, elegant, complex, ageworthy. Score: 93 2019 Hidden Bench Tête de Cuvée Chardonnay Terroir Series, VQA Beamsville Bench ($52 Winery Only) A un-fined, unfiltered and certified organic expression of Beamsville Bench terroir from one of the most respected wineries in the region. Rich, complex and outstanding value for money from our own backyard. Score: 94 2018 Grgich Hills Estate Grown Chardonnay, Napa Valley, California (Vintages $69.95) Sunlit, full-bodied and beautifully balanced wooded Chardonnay from one of Napa’s most respected estates. The 2018 vintage was an extremely good year for California — and it shows in this wine. Score:
93 2019 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Rhône, France (Vintages Essential $95.95)
The LCBO just made this wine a Vintages Essential. So this wine by this iconic Southern Rhône producer is now always available here in Ontario. Opulent, layered and long. Punches above its price point. Score: 94 2018 Delas Haute Pierre Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Rhône, France (Vintages $59.95) Riveting wine at a reasonable price. Juicy, rich, textured and seductive. Snap it up. Score:
92 2018 Klein Constantia Vin de Constance Natural Sweet Wine, South Africa (Available online only at Vintagesshoponline.com, $120)
This wine is considered one of South Africa’s top dessert wines. For this column, I tasted a back vintage — the 2014 — and was blown away, as were my four dining companions. I scored that wine 96. I was unable to taste the 2018 vintage of this wine, but it earned high accolades from some of the most respected wine critics on the planet including Tim Atkin MW who awarded that vintage 97 points. Well worth your attention.