4th Anniversary Edition!

New Audio Feature - Listen to the Review

New Year, New Ideas

Click to Listen

Hello. This is Brent Gushowaty, the author of Wine Bargains B.C. here. Welcome Back.

This is the fourth anniversary of Wine Bargains so thanks to all subscribers for staying with the newsletter. It also being a new year, I felt it was time to try some new things.

I am experimenting with audio features beginning with this issue, to give subscribers a different option for finding the monthly wine values. The debut audio option features me reading selected reviews or articles in the newsletter, some of which will be more elaborated versions than the text. You can listen to a particular segment by clicking on the play button.

This is a learning process for me so please bear with me as I explore it and I welcome your feedback. There is a poll at the end of the newsletter where you can say yay or nay to the new feature.

A Chardonnay Blind Tasting/Chardonnay Prism Article

This issue, free to all subscribers, debuts this new audio feature that includes a blind tasting I undertook on a range of newly listed chardonnays as well as some other chardonnays I had been wanting to taste.

With United States wines currently off the shelves of B.C. government liquor stores, I noticed that a number of new chardonnay listings had appeared lately. I’m guessing these new chardonnay listings are aimed at filling the gap left by U.S. chardonnays. It’s taken a while but they are starting to drift through onto BCL shelves.

So, this month I have included reviews from a recent blind tasting of chardonnays. There are reviews of five new ones for you to have a look at. You will find those reviews after the monthly wine bargain listings.

Related to that, you will also find an article below called The Chardonnay Prism that details three forks in the road for chardonnay winemakers that largely determine what kind of chardonnay will result. So please have a look, or a listen to those as well as the monthly bargains.

ALL JANUARY MONTHLY BARGAINS

There are far fewer wine bargains in January (31) than in previous months with prices ranging from $8.99 to $26.99. Discounts range from $2.00 to $6.00, all but five are under $20.00 and half of them are under $15.00.

The six new wines this month include wines from Chile, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina.

Just a reminder that the wines are organized alphabetically by country now instead of by wine style, with new wine picks placed first in each country category. All the other information is still present - wine style, score, review, price change if any and a clickable link to see which BCL stores carry the wine.

The wine bargain reviews are independently and originally written by me (no AI ever) and the wines are widely available from B.C. government liquor stores.

Argentina

MALBADO MALBEC 2022 - LUJÁN DE CUYO, MENDOZA, ARGENTINA

$22.99 reduced to 17.99 until Jan 24 - 750 ml.

The 2022 Malbado malbec is the best vintage for this wine yet though they have all been very good. It shows dark, floral, blackberry, raspberry, plum fruit, and a touch of minerality with some contributing tannins on the nose. The floral note of lilac here is so prominent that it almost upstages the fruit. It’s gorgeous in the glass, has an intense silky ribbon of lush plum and very ripe blackberry, good complexity, and a long long finish. This wine really dances on the palate. Tasted ✓ 91 Points Ripe Fruit Forward Style Red

Wines from Luján du Cuyo are a little different than the majority of Argentinian malbecs and this wine demonstrates that difference. Luján de Cuyo is a sub-region of Mendoza in Argentina. In 1993 it became Argentina’s first official wine appellation and it’s wines were largely responsible for originally putting Argentinian malbecs on the world wine map. The vineyards are at especially high altitudes ranging from 700m – 1100m producing large day and night-time temperature variations similar to the Okanagan Valley. As is typical for malbec from this area this wine leans much more towards black fruits like blueberry, blackberry and dark plums, where as most malbecs are more a mixture of red and black fruit.

Find Store Nearest You SKU 495601

Australia

PETER LEHMANN PORTRAIT SHIRAZ 2021 - BAROSSA, AUSTRALIA

$22.99 reduced to 19.99 until January 24 - 750 ml

Very much in the Lehmann style with very big intense syrah fruit, softer acidity and smoothed tannins. Tasted ✓ 88 Points Ripe Fruit Forward Red

Find Store Nearest You SKU: 144937

British Columbia

BLACK SAGE VINEYARD SHIRAZ 2022 - OKANAGAN VALLEY B.C.

$32.99 reduced to 26.99 until January 24 - 750 ml.

Call it shiraz or call it syrah, this is a an excellent example of this grape variety. The nose here displays, classic, intense grape expression. It’s plummy, peppery, deep and lovely with some charcoal tannins in the mix too. The flavours follow through beautifully. There’s some really dense fruit intensity but it’s not in the large and jammy Australian style. It’s also not particularly French in style - it’s a genuine product of the Okanagan Valley and the unique big but balanced wines that B.C. winemakers can create.

There’s wonderful fruit concentration containing a mixture of pepper, garrigue, Mediterranean herbs and black prune, but beautifully upheld by a balancing acidity. The finish shows two strong, long and lingering lines of flavours - fruit and fine grained tannins.

It’s very enjoyable now but will be even better in three to five years when the tannins have subsided a little more. Great discount price here for this very accomplished wine. Tasted ✓ 91 Points Ripe Fruit Forward Red

Find Store Nearest You SKU: 596841

Chile

OLD MERELO MERLOT - COLCHAGUA VALLEY, CHILE 2020

$21.99 reduced to $17.99 until January 24 - 750 ml.

This pale ruby/garnet coloured wine offers ample, rounded aromas of baked cherries and black plum compote. On the taste, baked plum, silky dark cherry, black plum fruit and a touch of cherry pit and vanilla on the rounded finish. Very well balanced with good fruit intensity and length. A real winner at this price point. Tasted ✓ 88 Points Ripe Fruit Forward Red

Find Store Nearest You SKU: 495609

(NEW) EMILIANA O ORGANIC VIOGNIER 2024 - CENTRAL VALLEY, CHILE

$18.99 - 750 ml.

Classic viognier flavours and aromas of pear, honey, apricot and Golden Delicious apple here. The intensity and body are just this side of medium. The finish is extended and includes apple and pear skin a touch of ginger and lingering honey. Well balanced with a refreshing crisp acidity. A lovely bargain. Tasted ✓ 90+ Points Medium Bodied, Smooth White

Find Store Nearest You SKU: 298483

Buy Me a Glass of Wine?

It takes two to three days each month to research the new sale wines in BCL liquor stores, pick best value wines, purchase & taste new wines, provide an original review, label photo, score and link showing you the stores that stock it.

For the price of a glass of wine, just $8.99/month ($7.49/month. with annual subscription) you can help keep the wine values coming. It’s easy, pretty cheap and I would really appreciate it!

Wine Bargains B.C. lets you quickly find that Really Good Bottle for yourself or to impress friends. With monthly per bottle discounts of $2.00 to $10.00, finding just one great sale wine can pay for your subscription. It beats searching the “wine label wall”, choosing “old reliables” or bringing a wine that no one really enjoyed, to your event.

It’s like having a wine steward in your pocket.

France

COTE MAS AURORE ROSÉ 2022 - PAYS D’OC, FRANCE

$16.99 reduced to 14.99 until January 24 - 1 L

A pale salmon colour in the glass with aromas of pink candy floss, bubblegum, watermelon, pink grapefruit and citrus peel. The flavours are quite similar, led by watermelon and watermelon seed with good acidity and restrained alcohol. Dry, smooth and on the light side as you would expect for a decent rosé. Tasted ✓ 87 Points Rosé (dry/off dry)
Find Store Nearest You SKU: 401711

TERRES FIDÈLES FELICETTE CATS IN SPACE GRENACHE ROUGE 2019 - PAYS D’OC, FRANCE

$19.99 reduced to 17.99 until January 24 - 750 ml.

There’s lots of fresh, young exuberant red strawberry and raspberry fruit here with good balance and a lively acidity. As it opened up, more savory, tannic notes appeared and merged with the fruit. Overall a lovely, lively, balanced wine. The length of the finish increased and notes of tar, tobacco, prunes, pepper, medicinal herbs (in a good way) as well as horehound. sarsaparilla licorice and thyme appeared. It’s an honest, great combination of fresh lively fruit and balancing tannins, riding on a thriving acidity. The restrained alcohol contributes to the balance and interest. Would match with a wide range of dishes from lamb to pizza. Suitable for vegetarians and vegans. Great price, highly recommended. Tasted ✓ 89 Points Savoury Fruit Red Find Store Nearest You SKU 780593

The grape here is grenache and as with many other varieties, it can reflect a range of flavours and quality levels, depending on where it is grown and how it is treated, ranging from simple daily wine to something more grand. It is one of the main component grapes in Chateauneuf du Pape and is one of the trio in what are called GSM wines. It is light to medium bodied and often spicy and red berry-flavored - usually raspberry and strawberry with a subtle note of white pepper.

One of the most enjoyable and interesting wines to come along in many a month. The fanciful “catstronauts” label actually has a relevant historical origin because in fact, the first cat in space was French. It was on October 24th 1963 when Félicette the cosmic cat, jetted 130 miles above Earth on a French Véronique AG1 rocket, soaring high above the Sahara Desert. The connecting thread for Terres Fidèles, the French virtual winery that produces this wine, is to go far and accept no boundaries.

HALOS DE JUPITER COTES DU RHONE, FRANCE

$25.49 reduced to 22.49 until January 24 - 750 ml.

Big flavour for a Cotes Du Rhone and straddles the line between ripe and savoury with cherries, touch of pepper, dried herbs, soft tannins. Much wine for the money and very difficult to dislike. Blend of 80% grenache and 20% syrah. Tasted ✓ 90 Points Savoury Fruit Red Find Store Nearest You SKU: 254995

HERESIE GERARD BERTRAND - CORBIERES, FRANCE

$26.99 reduced to 23.99 until January 24 - 750 ml.

Corbières is a wine region in Languedoc in Southern France near the Medterranean and a few kilometers from the border with Spain. The climate is Mediterranean, but the nights are cooler because many vineyards are located at higher altitudes in the hills of the region.

Though fairly pale in colour the aromas are rich and rise up out of the glass, showing deep black fruit, black plum, blackberry, dry savoury herbs, very ripe cherries and some some charcoal/mineral touches as well. The flavours too are on the dark fruit side with a seam of charcoal textured tannins that runs alongside the fruit adding interest and variety. Matching acidity and restrained alcohol (13.5%) keeps this from being a soft ended fruit bomb. After this display of flavours, it shifts smoothly into a long, linear ending with blackberry, dark chocolate and that charcoal tannin element. Not overly complex but rich, balanced and appealing. Tasted ✓ 90 Points Ripe Fruit Forward Style Red
Find Store Nearest You SKU: 257686

Hungary

IS THIS IT? DANUBIANA GRUNER VELTLINER 2024- PANNON, HUNGARY

$16.99 reduced to 12.99 until January 24 - 750 ml.

The nose begins with slightly waxy notes of pear skin, poached pear and quince. The flavours are similar, lightly poached pear, applepear, pear skin, quince. It’s little bit off dry and the texture has some richness. The flavours are clean and well balanced and the finish lingers for a while. There is a kind of tart, pear skin thread of flavour running through it that helps preserve balance with the sweeter elements. The flavours are very clean. Try it with a pear or apple tart. Phenomenal value. Tasted ✓ 88 Points Medium Bodied, Smooth White

Find Store Nearest You SKU: 443047

Italy

TERRE DI MARIO 2022 - MONTEPULCIANO D’ABRUZZO, ITALY

$14.99 reduced to $11.99 until January 24 - 750 ml.

Classic, simple but honest, food friendly Italian red with flavours of pomegranate, savoury cherry, olives, dried roses and berry notes. On the lighter side, well balanced with a bright acidity and moderate tannins. Straight forward, authentic Italian red at an unbeatable price. If you like this style, get a bunch, you won’t be sorry. Tasted ✓ 88 Points Savoury Fruit Red

Find Store Nearest You SKU:459342

UMANI RONCHI MEDORO SANGIOVESE 2021 - MARCHE, ITALY

$14.99 reduced to 12.99 until September 24 - 750 ml.

Pale in colour, this is simple, honest sangiovese, the grape best known as the main component in Chianti. Easy and delightful, with aromas of light plum and cherry, leather, hard red candy, vanilla and sarsaparilla. In its flavours, cherry, cherry pit, tobacco, softer tannins, good acidity and savoury herbs. It’s small scale but flavourful, balanced and organically grown. Not overly complex or lengthy or elaborate but earthy and honest with a clean crisp finish. This is an authentic wine that would match with pizza, red sauce pasta and grilled meats. A great introduction to sangiovese and an amazing deal this month. Drinks like it should cost $20.00. Highly recommended. Tasted ✓ 88 Points Savoury Fruit Red

Find Store Nearest You SKU: 113592

ORSO BRUNO OLD VINE ZINFANDEL 2022 - PUGLIA, ITALY

$18.99 reduced to $14.99 until January 24 - 750 ml. AND DOWN TO 11.99 ON FLASH SALE FRIDAY JANUARY 16 AND SATURDAY JANUARY 17!

In Italy, the grape variety known in the New World as zinfandel is called primitivo and is usually labeled as such. The wine is aimed then at the North American market and with U.S. products still off the shelf is worth trying for fans of zinfandel.

This wine starts with a melange of red and a little black fruit including raspberries, strawberries, prune and a touch of floral with fairly good intensity. On the taste, shows fruit similar to it’s aromas, a bit jammy and soft in acidity in the middle, which makes it easy drinking but not so complex or long flavoured. The finish does lingers nicely. Nothing really to complain about, and it delivers reasonable flavour intensity at this month’s nicely discounted price. Tasted ✓ 87 Points Ripe Fruit Forward Red

Find Store Nearest You SKU: 192813

COLLE CORVIANO MAGNOLIA - CERASUOLO D’ABRUZZO, ITALY

$19.99 reduced to $14.99 until January 24 - 750 ml.

Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo is an Italian DOC classification of a rosé style wine made from the Montepulciano grape in the Abruzzo wine region. The name cerasuolo, meaning “cherry” relates to the colour the wine obtains from its brief skin contact with the highly pigmented skins of the Montepulciano grape.

Cerasuolo originally existed as an official style within Montepulciano d’Abruzzo and was given its own DOC in 2010 – the first pink DOC in Italy.

A delightfully different rosé showing a delicate but giving nose of rose petal, light, expressive strawberry and cherry notes along with rose hip tea. The flavours provide a nice contrast with the Provence Rosé style and the colour tends more to strawberry flesh than salmon. It shows very fresh fruit flavours of strawberry and watermelon but a balancing acidity and a light but precise thread of skin tannins keep it from being cloying. Fruity yet lean with touches of cranberry, the finish is long and placid. Pair with garlic prawns, scallops or saffron pistachios. Outstanding value at this sale price Tasted ✓ 89 Points Rosé (dry/off dry)

Find Store Nearest You SKU: 365095

MONTE DEL FRA BARDOLINO 2021 - ITALY

$19.99 reduced to 17.99 until January 24 - 750 ml.

This Bardolino is a blend of three Italian grapes you likely have never heard of, corvina, rondinella, and molinara. Bardolino is always on the lighter and easier side but this one also has some real balance and interest. It is very pinot noir-like in body and intensity, but with fruit that has a touch of pomegranate in it and is a little more herbal. It’s fuller flavoured than many Bardolinos. With a beautiful balance and a longish finish, this would be a great introduction to Italian wine. Tasted ✓ 88 Points Lighter Fruit Red

Find Store Nearest You SKU: 283648

Portugal

GRAO VASCO - DAO, PORTUGAL

$11.99 reduced to 8.99 until January 24 - 750 ml.

The wine is very simple with cherry, wood and a touch of tar as well as tobacco on the nose. Likewise on the flavour, dry and savoury with some plum as well. Here you have an enjoyable, cheap and cheerful, complementary accompaniment for pizza or lasagna. Save money and enjoy. Tasted ✓ 86 Points Savoury Fruit Red Find Store Nearest You SKU: 14977

With wines under $12.00 or so, wine drinkers have to be realistic. You are very unlikely to find something grand, complex or fascinating under the cork at that price level. So, when tasting very economically priced wines, I find it more practical to look for what’s NOT there. I am hoping for no factory wine taste, no medicinal tang, no candied fruit flavours, no watered down taste, no mouth puckering tannins or grimace producing acidity. Each to their own but any smug satisfaction I may enjoy drinking a wine costing very little, the party is definitely spoiled if the wine has something negative that I have to put up with. Good value yes, buyer’s remorse, no.

Viewed through that lens, here is a great value wine. Grao Vasco has the advantage of being based mainly on a couple of indigenous grapes to Portugal - touriga nacional and tinto roriz that are inherently flavourful and rich. The wine also seems to be non-vintage so they are able to blend multiple vintages to create a consistent wine.

CAPOTE VELHO - VINHO DE MESA TINTO, PORTUGAL

$15.99 reduced to $11.99 until January 24 - 1 L

BC liquor store shelves could use more wines like this one. This is a non-vintage wine and that can sometimes be a warning note in the case of made-by-committee industrial wines that are more of a concoction than a wine. Those wines are made non-vintage so that they can impart a consistent brand flavour regardless of vintage. But a well blended non-vintage wine can be very good if done properly as with this one. It’s not grand, just light, plain and straight forward. It’s a savoury red with touches of cherry and raspberry fruit that can accompany tomato based dishes, burgers or grilled sausage. It’s soft and easy, a little elegant even, with no grippy tannins, medicinal tangs or other negative flavours. An unbeatable price. Works out to $8.99/bottle. Buy one to try, come back for half a dozen. Tasted ✓ 87 Points Savoury Fruit Red

Find Store Nearest You SKU: 260755

QUID PRO QUO - CASA SANTOS LIMA 2019 - ALENTEJANO - PORTUGAL

$15.99 reduced to $12.99 until January 24 - 750 ml.

If you like bigger but soft edged fruit forward reds with some complexity, this blend or Portuguese red grapes has the whole package including dried plums and fruit leather. The wine has good deep, red fruit intensity, rounded tannins, excellent balance and some real interest. The value for money and value for pleasure here is amazing. Tasted ✓ 88 Points Ripe Fruit Forward Red

Find Store Nearest You SKU: 62235

South Africa

SECRET CELLAR SHIRAZ GRENACHE - SOUTH AFRICA 2022

$13.99 reduced to $9.99 until January 24 - 750 ml.

Dark cherry notes on the aroma and flavours with a touch of pepper. It’s soft, smooth and a little bit off-dry-jammy on the ending. No negative flavours to spoil the party. Consistently solid value. Tasted ✓ 87 Points Ripe Fruit Forward Red

Find Store Nearest You SKU: 161629

SECRET CELLAR PINOT GRIGIO 2022 - SOUTH AFRICA

$13.99 reduced to $9.99 until January 24 - 750 ml.

Crisp green pinot grigio flavours, a little grassy with a touch of melon. A good patio wine and at this price, more than fair. Tasted ✓ 87 Points Medium Bodied, Smooth Whites (Little/No Oak)

Find Store Nearest You SKU: 161632

Spain

ANCIANO NO.3 VENDIMIA SELECCIONADA - RIOJA, SPAIN Non-vintage

$13.99 reduced to $11.99 until January 24 - 750 ml.

The wine smells immediately good and somehow honest with savoury cherry, some gaminess and tobacco. There’s smoothness in the texture and a light touch of oak in the background. The flavours linger and are well balanced with no contrary flavours to produce buyer’s remorse. Excellent value here. Tasted ✓ 88 Points Savoury Fruit Red

Find Store Nearest You SKU:415623

There’s no finish line with wine. I had had Anciano wines in the distant past and remembered thinking of them as being a little below average in value. But wines and wineries never stand still. You have to keep an open mind and continue trying new things. I’m very glad I did.

This was a very pleasant surprise. The wine tastes the way Spanish wine tastes in Spain by which I mean there is an immediacy and fresher details in the flavours that are often dampened by the time it arrives on a North American shelf. If you’ve had the very good fortune to taste wine in Europe, you will know what I mean.

This reminds me of a wine you would get from a local wine co-op that though simple and straight forward, is a wine with “somewhereness”, a sense of place. It also has an authentic set of flavours true to the grape it’s made from Tempranillo. It is one of the main constituent grapes of Rioja wines.

Note that this is a non-vintage wine and that can sometimes be a warning note in the case of made-by-committee industrial wines that are more of a concoction than a wine. Those wines are non-vintage so that they can impart a consistent brand flavour regardless of vintage.

But the opposite, as in this case can also be true. A well blended non-vintage wine can be very good if done properly. It depends on the juice you start with and how well you blend it. This version of things can also make for a consistent wine and one that can be very well priced.

MANTRA LOKAH ORGANIC GARNACHA MONASTREL ROSÉ 2023 - SPAIN

$17.99 reduced to $13.99 until January 24 - 750 ml.

This is a great find in the rosé category. The grapes here are grenache and mourvedre which are called garnacha and monastell in Spain. Their grape characters are well utilized here to craft a rosé with some medium flavour intensity and real interest. First out of the glass are aromas of strawberry stone fruit, yellow plum and apple skin. the taste confirms with plum and apple skin. It’s well balanced with a fresh acidity. Great value. Rosé any time! Tasted ✓ 89 Points Rosé (dry/off dry)

Find Store Nearest You SKU: 267266

SANGRE DE TORO TORRES 2021 - CATALUNYA, SPAIN

$17.99 reduced to $13.99 until Jan 24 - 750 ml.

Quite savoury, dry herbs, touch of smoke, simple, clean balanced flavours Tasted ✓ 87 Points Savoury Fruit Red

Find Store Nearest You SKU: 6585

CASTILLO DE ENERIZ GARNACHA NON-VINTAGE - NAVARRA, SPAIN

$18.99 reduced to $13.99 until January 24 - 750 ml.

Pale with a ruby rim, at first it shows Mediterranean garrigue type savoury herbs, cement basement, and darker red fruits. Light bodied with transparent savoury cherry and mulberry flavours. It has soft, silky, textured tannins. Quite pleasant and easy drinking with simple, good grape expression, the taste of a hot, dry landscape and no detracting flavours. Another great value wine from Spain. Tasted ✓ 87 Points Savoury Fruit Red

Find Store Nearest You SKU: 270358

REINO DE ALTUZARRA CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2021 - NAVARRA, SPAIN

$19.99 reduced to $14.99 until January 24 - 750 ml.

Light, slightly confected raspberry fruit, plum and cherry pit on the nose. Well balanced and structured with light, rounded plum and cherry fruit. Tidy and easy drinking, nothing in excess but nothing too remarkable but still, very good value here at this month’s sale price. Give it some time to open up a little.
The Navarra area is in Northern Spain at the Western end of the Pyrenees where it meets the South West tip of France. Though not a well known Spanish wine region , it has traditionally been a source of rosés and tempranillo based red wines. Recently it has been getting a growing reputation for reasonably priced cabernet sauvignon, merlot and pinot noir. Tasted ✓ 88 Points Savoury Fruit Red

Find Store Nearest You SKU: 326692

ANTANO RIOJA RESERVA 2017 - RIOJA, SPAIN

$19.99 reduced to $17.99 until January 24 - 750 ml.

Lots of good things going on here. The vintage here is 2017 and though extra aging doesn’t guarantee anything, it’s clear that the seven years in bottle for this wine has given it some extra mature complexity. Begins with light red raspberry and black fruit furthered as it opened to include interesting earthy touches of savoury spice, charcuterie meats and mushroom notes similar nebbiolo grape q1based Italian wines.

Flavours are lighter side, interesting with savoury and fresh fruit as on nose. There’s a lovely subtle balance and a long lingering finish that involves fruit, smooth integrate tannins and a balancing acidity. This Rioja wine spent 24 months in barrel. Decant or give it half an hour in the glass for it to fully open up. It has come up a few dollars in price recently but still one of the best red wine deals available. Tasted ✓ 89 Points Savoury Fruit Red

Find Store Nearest You SKU: 414292

THE CHARDONNAY PRISM

The chardonnay grape is extremely versatile and its wines range widely in flavour from the lean, unoaked, flinty, steely high notes of Northern French Chablis to the broad, buttery and heavily oaked versions from Southern California.

Like a prism, one element (wine/light) goes in to the prism/winery and a great range of flavours can come out the other side. This is why ABC wine drinkers (Anything But Chardonnay), traumatized many years ago now by a kind of zombie march in the North American market of mediocre, creamy, oak bomb chardonnays would do well to look at how wide chardonnay’s wingspan actually is.

Three Forks in the Chardonnay Road

The final taste of every wine regardless of the grape variety, can be influenced by scores of decisions made in the vineyard during the growing season or nudged in a particular direction by a winemaker’s choices at numerous inflection points in its fermentation and ageing. But, perhaps no varietal shows the intentions of the winemaker as clearly as chardonnay, especially in regard to three important sets of winemaking options that can bend the trajectory of the final wine: fermentation or ageing vessel material, malolactic fermentation and the winemaker’s lees program.

Chardonnay’s forte is it’s ability to ally with a range of influences that can take it to great heights of complexity and finesse. Let’s have a deeper look at these three.

Fermentation/Ageing Vessel The vessel in which chardonnay is fermented and aged in, be it wooden barrel, stainless steel, concrete, amphora or any combination tends to set the frame for a chardonnay’s style.

Aging in wooden barrels gives the winemaker a piano keyboard of choices. They can use French, American or Slovenian oak and specify barrel size, how much the barrel is toasted, whether to use new or used barrels, time in barrel and can even choose a particular French forest from which the oak is sourced.

Stainless steel preserves freshness, fruit character, adds no flavours and limits oxygen exposure. Concrete ageing can add mid-palate texture and the porous clay of amphora can oxygenate the wine slowly and add earthy notes as well as its own textures.

How much of a particular chardonnay lot goes into which type of container is an important decision as is how much time the wine spends in whatever vessel or vessels are being used.

Malolactic Fermentation Is a second fermentation whereby the wine’s initial malic acid, like that of a tart apple, is changed by bacteria into lactic acid as in milk. For chardonnay, the result is a creamier, buttery mouthfeel and can add richness and complexity. The winemaker can induce or prevent malolactic fermentation in their chardonnay or again apply it to some or all of the wine lot involved.

Lees Program Lees are the solid elements and sediments from the pulp and skins that settle at the bottom of a fermentation vessel after wine has been fermented and aged. They can heighten the texture, and mouthfeel of white and sparkling wines. Lees can be partially or entirely filtered out before ageing depending on the winemaker’s intention. Their effect can also be modified by the frequency of lees stirring before the wine is finally filtered and bottled.

Single Blind Chardonnay Tasting

Normally when tasting wines for the newsletter, I know which wine I am tasting, but for this one since they were all based on the same grape, I thought it would be fun to do what is called a single blind tasting, meaning that although I knew which wines had been included, I placed them all in bags and shuffled them until I lost track of which was which. The point of the tasting was not to try to guess which wine was which, it’s that blind tasting has the very positive effect of focusing you intently on what’s in the glass versus possibly just confirming your preconceptions about a particular wine.

There were nine chardonnays in all and the more modestly priced ones showed pretty well. Only two did not make the cut. Most were not particularly influenced by wood and many actually landing in the medium smooth whites category and not all were on sale. They ranged in price from $9.99 to $30.00.

I tasted nine chardonnays in all including two B.C. chardonnays provided by producers. The overall results were pretty good, a number of new great and good value wines were found. I made one other change in the reporting though, for the first time I have mentioned wines that for one reason or another didn’t make the cut, i.e. could not be recommended. I hadn’t done this before because I didn’t think there was any point in being negative about a wine. My feeling has been that it’s just much more productive to focus on the better ones and that the lesser ones simply don’t need to be mentioned. But I’ve also thought that since the point of this newsletter is to help subscribers find the best wine values, perhaps they would also appreciate ones they might want to take a pass on. So at the end I have mentioned the ones that didn’t make the cut without going into detail.

KIM CRAWFORD CHARDONNAY 2023 - NEW ZEALAND

(NEW) $21.99 reduced to $17.99 until Jan 24 - 750 ml.

On the aromas and flavours you will find unoaked, vinous versions of apple, stone fruit and citrus. It’s rounded and easy with a soft acidity and gets the chardonnay job done but there’s not much interest beyond that. The flavours seems to be more an assembly of expected chardonnay components. It’s easy to like yes, but I think there are more pleasing, better value chardonnays available in the same price range. Tasted ✓ 87 Points Medium Bodied, Smooth White

Find Store Nearest You SKU: 195172

ANGOVE FAMILY CHD 1886 CHARDONNAY 2024 - AUSTRALIA

(NEW) $19.99 reduced to 15.99 until Jan 24 - 750 ml.

A light bodied chardonnay having aromas mostly of lees with a touch of apple and melon rind. The texture is soft, clean and mouth filling. The flavours are light but include pear, peach and quince. It finishes with pear or pear skin. It’s refreshing and the elements, are balanced with clean, tight acidity. Tasted ✓ 88 Points Medium Bodied, Smooth White

Find Store Nearest You SKU: 700623

(NEW) DE MARTINO ESTATE CHARDONNAY 2024 - CASABLANCA VALLEY, CHILE

$21.99 - 750 ml.

Comes across as crisp, balanced, cool climate chardonnay. Lighter bodied, this wine shows rounded notes of melon as well as elegant, vinous ginger flavours and a touch of lees texture. The finish stays around for a while showing that ginger note. Definitely on the lighter and airy end of the chardonnay scale. Tasted ✓ 87+ Points Medium Bodied, Smooth White
Find Store Nearest You SKU: 700623

(NEW) OXFORD LANDING REGENERATE CHARDONNAY 2024 - RIVERLAND, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

$16.99 reduced to 12.99 until Jan 24 - 750 ml.

Uncomplicated but pleasing, this chard has a rounded texture with slightly soft acidity that shows notes of Red Delicious apple and some stone fruit with simple, balanced flavours. It’s a clean flavoured, affable, easy sipping chardonnay and excellent value at this month’s sale price. Tasted ✓ 87+ Points Medium Bodied, Smooth White

Find Store Nearest You SKU: 324462

(NEW) ZUCCARDI SERIE A CHARDONNAY 2024 - VALLE DE UCO, ARGENTINA

$24.99 - 750 ml.

This is not your big, bold, oaky chardonnay. This one comes from one of chardonnay’s other realms. It speaks quietly and elegantly, showing well integrated aromas and wide ranging flavour elements of pear, apple, peach, melon rind, brioche with a touch of nuttiness in the mix. It was aged in 30% neutral oak and stainless steel. It’s understated but classy with a lingering and graceful finish. Lovely stuff. Tasted ✓ 88+ Points Richer, Oak Influenced Whites

Find Store Nearest You SKU: 342400

CODE WINES CHARDONNAY GROWER SERIES 2024 - OKANAGAN FALLS, BRITISH COLUMBIA

$24.99 - 750 ml.

Lots going on here beginning with aromas of preserved lemon, caramel, golden apple and toasted almond. This follows through and elaborates on the flavours showing a touch of wood, subtle lemon, brioche, stone fruit and more as it unfurled with great balance and length.

Because of the devastating frosts in the Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys in 2023 and 2024 that seriously impacted the vineyards, this 2024 wine was crafted at the winery in Okanagan Falls, from grapes grown in the Rattlesnake Hills AVA in Washington State. 50% of the wine went into stainless steel without malolactic fermentation. The rest was aged in a combination of new and neutral French oak, that did undergo malolactic. Tasted ✓ 90 Points Richer, Oak Influenced Whites

Unfortunately this wine is not available in BCL stores and is now sold out at the winery.

Code Wines is a relative newcomer to the Okanagan Falls Sub-GI. Shay and Harlee Code founded their dream in 2016 on a 5-acre parcel on the East side of Peach Cliff, the 600m - high wall of granite rock that dominates Okanagan Falls. The planting of chardonnay and pinot noir vines started in 2017. Code Wines

SOLVERO ESTATE CHARDONNAY 2022 - GARNET VALLEY, BRITISH COLUMBIA

$30.00 - 750 ml.

The nose is shy but reveals clean, bright lemon, with a touch of oak and lees. The flavours are similar showing caramel, pear, golden apple and apricot with a distinct touch of wood, well married to the fruit, that added interest. The finish is long, slightly lush, touched with hazelnut and elaborated with pinpoint balance. This wine won double gold and white wine of the year at the All Canadian Wine Championships Tasted ✓ 91 Points Richer, Oak Influenced Whites

Unfortunately this wine is not available in BCL stores and is now sold out at the winery.

It was in the Garnet Valley that the Sartor family, Andrea and Bob Sartor and their son Matt, dreamed that vineyards could flourish. In 2014, they acquired thirty acres of land 20 minutes North of Summerland that was a steep, forested mountainside. It took two years to clear the land and prepare it for planting. Their experienced and talented winemaker, Alison Moyes has over a decade of Okanagan Valley winemaking experience that includes five vintages at Stoneboat Vineyards and six vintages at Liquidity Wines. Solvero Wines

Didn’t Make the Cut The Applicant Chardonnay 2024 Argentina Mount Boucherie Reserve Chardonnay 2023 B.C.

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