WineAlign

David Lawrason

On Feb 6 Vintages asks us to buy into two marketing themes – Valentine wines, and wines that have scored 90 points or better by international critics. The Valentine selection is predictably and sappily presented with wines like St. Amour, pinks and fizzes, and/or wines with vaguely romantic inferences on the labels.  (I thought government had no business in the bedrooms of the nation). Anyway, it is an uninspired lot quality-wise except for a lovely little Bardolino Chiaretto mentioned in Dave’s Faves.

The “North of 90” (points) selection is much more worthy of our consideration when we focus on that age-old  anchor  -  good value.  For the third year in a row Vintages has plucked high scoring 90+, lowish priced wines from the websites and blogs of international critics. How convenient and safe, rather than have their own very experienced buyers make the call.  Well, actually, Vintages buyers do screen the selections too, just to make sure that Robert Parker and Wine Spectator don’t blow their calls. But Vintages uniformed legions never get any respect, other than a note in the catalogue that reads “Vintages Panel”.

Seriously, with everything else in the world of wine going local I think it’s high time that Vintages went local too. There are some very talented, knowledgeable tasters on their staff. The LCBO has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money on employee education programs.  I also happen to think Vintages buyers have been performing very well of late.  How must they feel to continually have their expertise usurped in favour of  Robert Parker?  There are also some very talented local wine critics who are much more tuned into Canadian taste than Robert Parker.  We have many of them reviewing right here at WineAlign. We would also love to have the opinions of Vintages best palates on WineAlign too.  Wouldn’t it be great to get to know the palate of your local store consultant by reading his or her reviews here.

Ah well, let’s just get on with it. It was very hard to isolate Dave’s Faves this time – so many good wines!  But as usual I have tried to focus first on great value, really interesting stuff, and then point you into some interesting corners of the world.  Cheers.

-  David Lawrason, VP of Wine at WineAlign

Click here to see ranked lists and reviews of over 100 wines in this release.