I was curious about this as well…simply reading through the magazine and giving a list of wines that rated well and are under $20 does not constitute a recommendation. One needs to have tried the actual bottle or a number of prior vintages in order to have an educated opinion. Can you please clarify what you recs are based on.
First criteria is that it must be under $20 (there are some exceptions, like Icewine, or something spectacular that is a couple of dollars over $20). The rest is based on my experience with the actual bottle, including previous vintages and the wine producer, varietal, and how well it was received by others in the wine industry. The tasting note in the magazine also plays a factor.
My goal is to help people discover new and interesting wines that won’t break the bank. Hope this helps clarify things!
My picks would be completely different from yours but I guess that is what makes wine interesting. For example, Australian Shiraz-Cab blends don’t don’t do much for me at any price point that I’ve tasted so far.
I didn’t find anything that compelling in the latest release. There were some solid champagne and riesling offerings in the latest classics release though.
Maybe your picks would actually be worth considering. Any monkey can go through a magazine and pick cheap wines with high critic scores. That is of absolutely no value to me.
J. LASSALLE SPECIAL CLUB BRUT CHAMPAGNE 2002. I’m a big fan of grower bubbles and I’ve read about Lassalle a number of times but haven’t had the chance to buy any previously. At $84 CDN its not out of whack with the ~$75 price in the US.
FLEURY PÈRE ET FILS BRUT CHAMPAGNE 1996. Love champers with some age on it. Have read good things about Fleury here from Berserkers and the CT reviews describe something in my wheelhouse. At $95 CDN its actually cheaper than what I can find on Wine-Searcher in the US.
I ordered all 4 of the rieslings on offer because the LCBO does one thing really well, and that is the return policy. I haven’t tried any of the rieslings on offer before. The one that interests me most is the DR. BÜRKLIN-WOLF PECHSTEIN RESERVE RIESLING AUSLESE 1998. Once again cheaper than I could find on Wine-Searcher in the US, has some age on it which makes it interesting. From what I’ve read, 1998 was a good vintage in Germany, especially for Auslese. At $45 seems worthwhile even if it is the most expensive riesling in the offer by far.
How was the Chapoutier Crozes-Hermitage? Based on the tasting note (and price), I would not even considering purchasing. How did you decide to buy this wine?
Exactly! This is so true - because wine is SO subjective, it makes it very interesting. It’s best to keep an open about mind about it. Personally, I have a budget that I like to adhere to (many others I know are also like this), otherwise I know things can get crazy with wine.
What would you have picked from the latest release, Paul? I’m always curious to see what others choose.
I typically skim through the Classics release, because most of the wines are out of my price range.
I like Chapoutier as a producer, and enjoy the odd Crozes-Hermitage. I’ve had a few from the 2009 vintage that were quite nice.
That being said, I don’t need to justify my purchase to you. You asked in the OP what people bought. I don’t have a blog recommending crap to people that I’ve never personally tried.
Full disclosure, Jason is a co-worker of mine whom I previously introduced to this board.
In fairness to him, Jason does mention above that he does recommend based on his experiences with the bottle and I know that he actually does from conversations and experiences I have had with him. Also, I didn’t read his question as Paul as asking him or anyone to justify their purchases, but rather a polite attempt at discussion to me.
This said, I have to point out that despite your good intentions, there is a reason people are taking exception to your post: you did not make it clear initially that you were recommending based on actual bottle experience and what your own personal criteria were in selecting. You just linked to your blog, but that also happens not to have any tasting notes. Sorry to pile on, but without those, the board has absolutely no idea of why you’re recommending these wines and therefore it is really hard to generate and have meaningful discussion.
Also keep in mind, this is generally a very focused high-end group. Even the most casual browsing of the forums and reading up on the tasting notes and purchasing and life experiences of other posters will make very clear that Berserkers are not looking for budget priced wines as the norm and they consider many if not all of them to be sub-par (putting it very mildly, to say the least) compared to what they usually get with only a precious few exceptions.
Such exceptions when encountered are often pointed out by posters as specifically having a very high QPR (Quality Price Ratio) and posters should look out for them as EXCEPTIONS and not the norm to their usual fine wine buying habits. If sub $20 is your STANDARD buying habit, I think you’ll find very limited discussion on this board on your thoughts unless you venture out a bit of your own comfort zone once in a while.
Discussing LCBO releases could actually become a very worthwhile topic because we Toronto based Berserkers could chime in and those from other regions could get a feel of what it’s like for us here in Ontario being stuck with the LCBO. But not in this current format. Jason, if I could make a couple of polite suggestions for the future:
Please post your own personal tasting notes in your post. Even if it’s on past experience with a bottle, at least give us some idea of what YOU think about the wine itself and why you would personally ecommend it.
If you’re going to stick to the sub-$20 budget, make clear why you think the wine is a good QPR Berserkers should look into compared to their usual habits.
The catch is, you won’t be able to do that unless you leave your comfort zone and hit THEIR high standards once in a while. It’s a reciprocal (some would say dysfunctional interdependent ) relationship. If you want them to try going the sub-$20 route, then you’re going to have to go high-end every once in a while so that you have more validity than just “This wine costs less than $20.” My own personal budget is sub $40 but every once in a while a higher end Vinsanto or Port sneaks in…
If the thought of number two above seems daunting, remember that my own personal budget is somewhat close to yours yet I still manage to taste high end wines and post about them. I do this by going to events like the Port and Douro Wine event last year (You remember who brought me to that, right? ), tasting them at tasting bars, partaking of them with others (like the informal wine get-together we did last November), and even buying one occasionally.
Talk about your experiences with the wines in general. That’s the whole point of the board. Personal anecdotes would be nice.
Hope this helps. I would love for this to be a regular discussion but the key word here is DISCUSSION. So I’ll happily add to it right after this with another post. We now return you to your regular thread.
OK, so back to the initial point of the thread. Out of all of the wines available from this latest release, I bought exactly two: The budget-busting Warre’s 1983 Vintage Port and the far more reasonable Domdechant Werner 2003 Hocheimer Kirkchenstueck Riesling Auslese.
The first I checked out based upon the recommendation of the LCBO Product Consultant at 1st Canadian and happened to taste at the LCBO’s tasting bar at the Summerhill flagship store. After that it was an immediate purchase. I actually traded in a lesser bottle in order to be able to afford this one so I essentially got it for half-price (Though when you think about it I really spent the same amount of money, I just spent half of it earlier).
The second I purchased due to my tasting of their 2008 Riesling Spatlese which was a very good extremely high QPR value. While partially a faith based purchase, the ever handy CellarTracker scores for this wine make me feel 100% that I have purchased another high QPR bottle of wine and will happily post notes on it once I crack it open.
Yes, despite their crappy buying habits which I have complained about many times before on the board, the LCBO does find both high and low-end gems every once in a while and these two were perfect examples.
In stark contrast, the next release looks awful to me.