BCLDB Wine Finds

[James Kendal]

I know that this should be in the wine thread but I want to give everyone the heads up on a great wine that can be found in the BC liquor stores for $19.95

I bought a selection of 2003 Spanish reds and tasted through most of them this week at home. With such a hot vintage I assumed that there is great value to be found with super ripe grapes.

Look for the following product at specialty stores:

Ribera Del Duero - Corona de Castilla Estilo 03

SKU #329284 / UPC #812205002365

Corona de Castilla Estilo 2003 (D.O. Ribera de Duero)

Technical Data courtesy of the wine link

Appellation: Ribera del Duero

Wine growing area: Castilla y León – Spain

Grape variety: 100% Tempranillo

Characteristics of vineyard: Vines of over 50 years. Low bush vines.

Harvest method: By hand.

Climate and Orography : Extremely Continental. Temperature range : -12ºC to 40ºC. Stony and very dry soil.

Elaboration: A cold film maceration. Fermentation at 25º C

Aged in cask: 6 months in American and French oak.

Aged in bottle: 2 months.

Tasting notes: Intense cherry red color. Red berry fruits, vanilla and liquorices aromas. On the palate is pleasant, fresh and very fruity. Long finish.

[Foodie in Vancouver]

I can second the recommendation - I am sure this is the wine I had at Tapastree and was totally blown away by the complexity and depth of flavour at the price point. I had written the name down but promptly misplaced it. The lost is now found. I am off to buy more wine!

[shelora]

Glad to hear you are getting into the Spanish reds, James. Tempranillo is one of our household's favourite grapes.

These wines are for the Aerie cellar right?

s

[James Kendal]

In this case they are for my own cellar. November does not find much budget for hotel purchases.

[canucklehead]

Looks like these are selling fast - I bought the last three bottles that they had out on display and the Park Royal Gov't Liqour store. Do you think that they will restock or - is it once it is gone - they are done?

BTW - though my wine knowledge is not great - I thought it was delicous. Good flavours, went down very easily - a great value. I may search out some more and have it as a standby.

[BCinBC]

Damn, Lee, I was going to wait until after I scouted out the Cambie & 40th store to post.

[quattroporte]

Damn, Lee, I was going to wait until after I scouted out the Cambie & 40th store to post.

←

Don't bother - I went last Friday and they don't have any

[BCinBC]

Thanks for the tip Quattro. Anyone with a line on another source, feel free to PM me!

[fud]

I know that this should be in the wine thread but I want to give everyone the heads up on a great wine that can be found in the BC liquor stores for $19.95

Well....there's 81 bottles listed on vancouver island

So I guess Aerie should have no supply issues hehe.

Shelora is also a lucky one!

[jamiemaw]

Manny has a broad selection of the '03 Spaniards at Senova.

[James Kendal]

If you can't find any more try these two selections:

Jumilla - Panorroz 2003

SKU #198879 / UPC #97871006101

Price: $15.90

Alcohol %: 14 %

Sweetness: 00

Volume: 750 mL

Country: Spain

Jumilla - Casa de la Ermita Purple Capsule 2003

SKU #147785 / UPC #831906004386

Price: $19.90

Alcohol %: 13 %

Sweetness: 00

Volume: 750 mL

Country: Spain

(I am quite fond of the Ermita)

[canucklehead]

I know that this should be in the wine thread but I want to give everyone the heads up on a great wine that can be found in the BC liquor stores for $19.95

Well....there's 81 bottles listed on vancouver island

So I guess Aerie should have no supply issues hehe.

←

I think the Vancouver stores are out. When I checked at the Alberni street outlet at lunch today, there were 35 bottles left at the Alma street branch - but mysteriously - by about 1:30, they were all spoken for!

An Egullet Swarm is a thing of terrible beauty.

[BCinBC]

I was going to say that the power of the Gullet is getting to be a little much, at least in this corner of the world. I stopped by 4th & Alma last night, and the guy said that he had 15 phone calls all around lunch time and all his remaining stock was snapped up. He had no idea what happened.

Does anyone else remember the stock watching / day trading phenomenon of the late 90s?

Anyway, I was fortunate to get a few for myself, and now that Vancouver's out, if anyone wants a bottle of Corona de Castilla, I'm willing to listen to any reasonable offer. Don't tell anyone, but I will be using the proceeds on the next two Kendal-recommended "buys".

[fud]

There's a lovely bubbly on sale at BCL which everyone simply MUST get...it's called Baby Duck

Boy...eGullet is a force to be reckoned with...

[appreciator]

I like the idea of this as a thread and hope that we can all share BCLDB finds on occasion.

I am a little curious though as to the following comments:

From Lee (Canucklehead):

An Egullet Swarm is a thing of terrible beauty.

And from Brian (BCinBC):

I was going to say that the power of the Gullet is getting to be a little much, at least in this corner of the world. I stopped by 4th & Alma last night, and the guy said that he had 15 phone calls all around lunch time and all his remaining stock was snapped up. He had no idea what happened

Guys... what's up?

Are you suggesting that any hot tips should be exclusive until certain people get their hands on said product? I'm sure that's not it but those comments did have me wondering.....

I'll throw out a hot tip of my own to those who like beer:

Innes & Gunn Oak Aged Beer

From Scotland

SKU #122986 / UPC #5010327658544

Price: $3.25

Alcohol %: 6.6 %

Sweetness: 00

Volume: 330 mL

This beer has a great flavour, especially seeing as it was aged in old Whiskey barrels.

Cheers!

P.S. I'd hazard a guess that the wine rep for JK's original suggestion is working pretty darn hard to secure more of this product in entering the BC market. I'm sure we can all rest assured that more of this delightful vino will be available to us at some point in the not too distant future.

P.P.S. I'm no JK but I do have a few wine recs myself, though perhaps I'll hold off on those till I see how this thread plays out. They are widely available so it shouldn't be an issue..........

Edited November 9, 2005 by appreciator (log)

[canucklehead]

I like the idea of this as a thread and hope that we can all share BCLDB finds on occasion...

Guys... what's up?

Are you suggesting that any hot tips should be exclusive until certain people get their hands on said product?  I'm sure that's not it but those comments did have me wondering.....   

←

Can't speak for Brian - but all I meant to say was that it is pretty amazing how quickly words spreads and people act based upon this forum. The wine clerks at the Alma branch said that the wine had been sitting there for a while - with no interest - and then in one afternoon - their entire stock gets sold out.

So - I hope that people will continue to use this thread to speak up when they find something particularly good tasting and good value for wine neophytes like myself.

The recommendation that James made was particularly good for me - the wine was easy to drink and had nice forward fruit - things that a wine beginner is able to readily appreciate.

[fud]

Hey Appreciator,

I dont think that was the spirit of the posts. I'm betting the comments were in reference to how powerful this forum can be and how a good wine suggestion backed up by some other anectotal evidence can completely empty BCL store shelves in literally less than one day!

Actually what really helped were the posts that said "don't bother with <this> store" saved me a few trips

And I totally agree that it's nice to try some of these suggested wines! I'm pretty new to the scene so its good to feel like I've gotten a good value for my money because there's concensus on the quality of some wines (assuming my tastes agree with you guys)

That beer sounds wonderful! I might have to find me a couple to try!

P.S. Someone told me they sell StrongBow at BCL but only in cases so if anyone is interested in splitting a case PM me!

[*Deborah*]

Wes, the Strongbow is sold in 4-packs (4 10-oz? bottles), for I think it's $6.95 plus deposit? something like that.

I reckon you can probably manage that on your own!

[Daddy-A]

[host]

I like the idea of this as a thread and hope that we can all share BCLDB finds on occasion.

Quite right Sarah ... and as long as that's what happens here we'll all get along just fine.

Let's keep the discussion focussed on special finds at the local liquor stores.

Thanks

Your tired, cranky host ...

A.

[/host]

[James Kendal]

The past few post are funny

The Fort & Foul Bay store in Victoria tends to be very good for product and the store does not sell out as fast as the Vancouver stores.

What was interesting about the wines that I mentioned is that they are all under $20 which is rather rare in the BCLDB. You can have the store rep track down the wine and place a store to store transfer. Another wine that I did not mention is the 2003 Artazuri (Grenache) from Spain which is only $16.95. CSPC#122606

Robert Parkers Notes: Parker writes..."There are 8,000 cases of the 2003 Tinto, a 100% tank-fermented old vine Grenache made by Artadi’s brilliant winemaker, Juan Carlos Lopez de la Calle. An elegant, deep ruby/purple-tinged Tinto, it boasts sweet, crunchy raspberry and cherry fruit, medium body, a luscious texture, and a heady finish. This is knock-out stuff to drink over the next 1-2 years

Edited November 9, 2005 by James Kendal (log)

[BCinBC]

Edited down for OT'ness and rant removal...

James: Thanks for starting this thread. Any recent Argentinian or Chilean finds?

Sarah: You are right, the spirit of my post was not to promote "exclusivity". Perhaps this post will state my position unequivocally. (Caution - contains more ranting.)

Your reco of the Scottish oak-aged beer is very intriguing (6.6%!! Yikes!), I will most definitely pick some up as a winter warm-up beer. Unless the shelves are empty by the time I get to the liquor store.

So spill it on the wines already...

Cheers,

Brian

Edited November 10, 2005 by BCinBC (log)

[appreciator]

^ Lee and Brian… thanks for your comments. I did figure that was what you meant but it did get me thinking about the whole sharing nature of this medium.

And with that in mind, I give you two more wine recs. I’ve tried a lot of wine in the past couple of years and have been trying to be more diligent about keeping track of the ones I like. Both are available in regular BCLDB stores, at least they were last time I bought them at the 4th and Alma location.

Passo Doble 2003(4) - Masi

SKU #225813 / UPC #8002062001607

Price: $17.99

Alcohol %: 13 %

Sweetness: 01

Volume: 750 mL

Country: Argentina

A review by Alan Kerr can be found here though you will need to scroll down a bit. ((Oops... I've just re-read this review and note that he tasted the 2000 vintage and not the 2004.))

AND:

Rioja - Telmo Rodriquez LZ 2003

SKU #86314 / UPC #8420759900086

Price: $18.99

Alcohol %: 13 %

Sweetness: 00

Volume: 750 mL

Country: Spain

Review from Anthony Gismondi:

89/100 LZ Rioja 2003 - Black cherry jam, wet tobacco leaf, barnyard, smoky aromas waft from the glass. Rich and smooth LZ comes with light tannins, fine intensity of flavour with big black plum, black cherry, licorice, spicy, tobacco and a touch of chocolate. A bit dry but could use a year or two aging or try with grilled lamb or goat. Good value, fine fruit, well done. Last Tasted: 2005-03-29 by AG

Edited November 10, 2005 by appreciator (log)

[fud]

Passo Doble 2003(4) - Masi

SKU #225813 / UPC #8002062001607

Price:  $17.99

Alcohol %:  13 %

Sweetness:  01

Volume:  750 mL

Country:  Argentina

I second this recommendation. I had Passo Doble last year and it was very very good value!

[treve]

i think this is amazing value - and my newly found favourite riesling - -

Riesling Kabinett Badstube - Dr. Pauly Bergweiler 2003

SKU #219956 / UPC #831906005215

Price: $29.95

Alcohol %: 10 %

Sweetness: 00

Volume: 750 mL

Country: Germany

[appreciator]

In case anyone is still looking for the wine that JK recommended at the beginning of this thread:

Corona de Castilla Estilo 2003 (D.O. Ribera de Duero) SKU #329284 / UPC #812205002365

there is more to be had at the Jericho Village Liquor store.

Interesting though... the Innes & Gunn oak aged beer was all gone. Guess one does need to stock up before making recommendations