April Wine Club - Cabernet Sauvignon + Wine Auction

This past Thursday, Wine Club got together to look at three different Cabernet Sauvignon.

Here is the LCBO information on the wines -

MOUNTADAM THE RED CABERNET SAUVIGNON/MERLOT/CABERNET FRANC 2007

VINTAGES 931105
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 30.95
Wine, Red Wine
13.5% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : XD
Made in: South Australia, Australia
By: Mountadam Vineyard
Release Date: Feb 18, 2012

Tasting Note - Healthy colour leads into a very elegant and fine wine, with vibrant blackcurrant, cassis and cherry fruit running through the long finish; it is amazing how easily the wine has absorbed two years in new French oak barriques, and how polished the tannins are. Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot/Cabernet Franc. Score - 96. (James Halliday, winecompanion.com.au, Aug. 3, 2010)

CHATEAU CHEVALIER CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2006

VINTAGES 256776
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 34.95
Wine, Red Wine
14.5% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : XD
Made in: California, USA
By: Spring Mountain Vineyard
Release Date: Feb 18, 2012

Tasting Note -  The Spring Mountain District is quite remote and relatively small, and the unique microclimate it enjoys has earned the region a global reputation for the flavour intensity and balance of its wines. This example delivers complex aromas of black plum, cedar, leather, cassis and blackberries. The palate it dry and full bodied with impressive flavour replays, round and soft tannins, fantastic structure and balance and a full-flavoured finish. Enjoy with grilled lamb in a warm blackberry sauce. (VINTAGES panel, May 2011)

VILAFONTÉ SERIES M (Bonus Bottle)

VINTAGES 7757
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 34.55
Wine, Red Wine
14.5% Alcohol/Vol.
Made in: Region Not Specified, South Africa
By: Vilafonte
Release Date: N/A

The Mountadam was recommended by my local LCBO Vintages consultant as it was Australian and had a high Cabernet Franc percentage which is something you don’t see that often.  It has been awhile since I had done a wine from “down under” so I figured we’d give it a try.  I picked up the Chateau Chevalier from California as a comparison bottle as it was around the same price point.  As a bonus I also decided to add the Vilafonté Series M as it too was in the same price range and I really enjoyed it ( http://zippysauce.blogspot.ca/2012/03/saturday-night-two-cases-later-part-2.html ) and wanted Wine Club to try it.

I will just be reviewing the Mountadam and the Chateau Chevalier as I have reviewed the Vilafonté Series M in the link above.  I will add that the Vilafonté Series M was my favourite out of the three wines but the Mountadam wasn’t that far behind.

The nose on the Mountadam was very French, with strong aromas of lead pencil shavings, green pepper and Blackberry.  The nose on the Chateau Chevalier was milder with cedar, cranberry and raspberry notes.  Tasting the Mountadam it was a nice mix of raspberry and herbs with a nice balance of acidity and tannin; though it was more acidic than tannic but not by much.  The Chateau Chevalier had cherry as the dominate flavour but it had a bit of ‘green’ taste to it as if the grapes were under ripe.  The Chateau Chevalier’s structure wasn’t bad but the acidity and tannin were much less than the other two giving this wine a small mouth-feel.  Chateau Chevalier with its greenness and small mouth-feel could best be described as Cab-lite like a light beer is to regular beer; the flavours are all there but it just seems watered down.

Monica, a Wine Club member, brought in a selection of cheese and crackers to pair with the wines.  The cheeses were very good especially the Brie, which I normally not a huge fan of, but this one was lovely.

The Chateau Chevalier is a “won’t buy again”, the Mountadam is a bottle that I would recommend grabbing a bottle of as it is a very solid wine for its $31 price point.  

The other thing that we did after Wine Club on Thursday was have a Wine Auction.  One of the managers I worked with came to me on Wednesday and said his son won 80 bottles of wine at a charity event.  He said his son doesn’t drink wine and he doesn’t either for medical reasons and had no idea what to do with 80 bottles.  The manager mentioned that the raffle ticket said the 80 bottles were worth $2000 and asked me if this sounded right.  I told him not knowing what the wine were I couldn’t say if they were worth $2000 or not and then said you can bet that they would be worth $800 as it is fairly hard to find wines at less than $10 per bottle  He then asked if I wanted all 80 bottles for $800. 

I at first said no as I wasn’t sure what the wines were or how old they were and I have more than enough wine at home to get through but a few hours later changed my mind.  I hit up Wine Club members and asked if they would be interested in 8 bottles of wine for $80 and in less than 20 minutes had 9 people interested.  I told the manager I’d take it and he checked with his son and his son was more than happy to turn the wine into $800 cash.  The manager brought all the wine in the next day which happed to be the same day as our Wine Club meeting.

I looked through the cases and the second bottle I pulled out was an Italian 2008 Tignanello which is $100 at the LCBO.  I started to doubt my wisdom about split these wines ten ways!  There were lots of French, Italian and Spanish wines in the first couple of cases but after that I would say at least half the wines were domestics and I didn’t find anything else on the same level as the Tignanello.  I put all the wines out on the counter so they were displayed.

We drew cards during Wine Club to determine who picked in what order and I got 4th pick.  The Tignanello went first, there were two Amarone that went 2nd and 3rd.  I grab a Brunello di  Montalcino as my choice.  After the first ten picks we reversed the order so the person who picked 10th, got the 11th pick as well and the person who picked 1st got the 20th pick.  This meant I had the 16th pick and grabbed a Chianti Classico as my pick. 

In the later rounds I got a bottle of ice wine from a winery I’d never heard of, a Speck family reserve Chardonnay from Henry of Pelham, a French red that was a GSM blend, and two VQA wines that I gave to two girls in the office.  When I did some quick LCBO searches I total up the six bottles I kept to $143… not bad for $80.  The rest of wine club members were between $140 and $240 and were happy with what they got as well. 

The auction itself was a hoot as when you were on the clock people were pushing you to make a quick pick so it got your blood pumping and we were laughing and having a good time with it.  I would do this again in a heartbeat but I don’t expect to come across this type of opportunity again anytime soon.

Cheers!

Mark