Saturday, July 17th: Phil Dowell, winemaker at Angels Gate and Kew Vineyards, invited Deborah and me – along with winemakers Thomas Bachelder, Ron Giesbrecht, Ann Sperling, and Peter Gamble – to an evening of wine focused on the Tour de France leg through Bordeaux’s right bank, from the town of Libourne to Saint-Emilion. (see map)
Each couple had to bring a wine from the St. Émilion region. (I dug deep in my cellar for the Château L’Evangile 1997.) The menu was flatbread pizzas, flank steak, pommes dauphinoise, bean salad, ratatouille (and Deborah’s strawberry shortcake as dessert). Other wines: Château Pipeau 2018, Château Brehat 2018, Château Haut-Segottes 2015, Château de Candale 2010, Château Château Grande Mayne 2012, Château La Croix de Gay 2010, Domaine de Viaude 2015, Domaine Queylus Droite 2018 (blind ringer) and Lakeview Cellars Merlot 1995 (blind ringer). A great evening of wine and cycling (on TV).
Tour de France – yellow jersey wine
Other wines tasted:
Drappier Brut Nature (Champagne, $69.95; Vintages #179275, to be released August 21)
Pale straw in colour; active mousse of tiny bubbles; toasty, apple nose; medium-bodied, dry, apple and lemon flavours; richly extracted but elegant; beautifully balanced and lingering. (91)
Henry of Pelham Pinot Noir 2020 (Short Hills Bench, $17.95, LCBO #13904)
Deep ruby in colour; lightly floral, black raspberry nose with oak spice; medium-bodied, dry, ripe cherry and plum flavours with a lightly peppery, firm tannic finish. (89)
Spirits tasted:
Spirits tasted
Dun Bheagan Islay Single Malt ($54.90, 750 mL, LCBO #576397)
Coppery-bronze in colour; smoky, toasty, iodine nose with a note of salted caramel; rich, mouth-filling, flavours of roasted hazelnut, orange zest, smoke with oak spice; great length. (92)
De Montal Bas-Armagnac XO ($112, 700 mL, fall release, Vintages #21564)
Copper colour with an amber-orange tint; toasty, lavender, butterscotch bouquet; creamy, vanilla and caramel flavour with spicy, nutty, tobacco leaf notes, finishing on a flourish of mocha. (93)
De Montal Bas-Armagnac 2002 ($99.95, 700mL, October release, Vintages #11426)
A shade deeper amber-orange than the XO; elegant, toasted Macadamia nuts, raisins and vanilla oak spice on the nose; velvety mouth-feel, sweet tobacco flavour with a warm alcoholic finish. (92)
Antica Valle Francescana Limoncello ($45, 500 mL, holiday release, Vintages #17161)
Deep lemon colour with a lime tint; intense lemon blossom and lemon zest nose; lemon candy flavour with zesty lemon-y acidity that prolongs the flavour and balances the honeyed sweetness. Great length on the palate. (91)
