deVine Thoughts

November 19, 2018

Wine Spectator Top 100 Wines of 2018

Filed under: deVine's Daily Blog Article — Dirk @ 5:59 pm

ws_top_100_smallAuthor: Dirk Chan

The popular American wine publication Wine Spectator reviews over 15,000 wines every year, and in mid November, they issue their Top 100 Wines of the Year amids much fanfare and hoopla. This has been an ongoing tradition since 1988.

The retailers follow closely and will bring in as many of the Top 100 as available. This year’s list is less American centric than other years, and we are fortunate to get the right wines with the right vintage for your consideration. Note many of these are limited so get yours early to avoid disappointment.

Also, remember to register for our Top Wines of the Year tasting that will feature four wines from this Wine Spectator list as well as four of deVine’s staff favourites for 2018.

Check out the available Wine Spectator Top 100 Wines..

Register for the Top Wines of the Year Tasting.

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November 14, 2018

The Great 2016 Vintage Ports

Filed under: deVine's Daily Blog Article — Dirk @ 5:20 pm

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Author: Dirk Chan

The 2016 Port Vintage is the first general declaration since the 2011. With the 2016s, they are definitely going to make a splash – the growing season got off to a late start, following a very rainy spring that would make the different later during harvest time. As is typical of the Douro Valley, they entered into its typically hot and dry period in June and July, the vines had enough water reserves to help them along, with only a few areas suffering from hydric stress. A light rain came in a timely fashion on Sept. 13, to give the vineyards a freshening, and with the vintage running a week behind, growers could take advantage of ideal weather conditions into October, picking the later-ripening varieties such as Touriga Franca at optimum quality.

We were thrilled with the stupendous quality of the 2016 Vintage Ports at our recent tasting -they really are exceptional, with some of the most refined tannins ever, so much fruit as to hide the immense structure underneath. The gorgeous black and red fruit flavours while being extraordinarily intense with a glass staining purple colour. These ports will be impressive down the road, and offer great, exuberant drinking now as well. There is great balance, with Baumés, acidity and tannins in that rare and perfect alignment. This is certainly a vintage to include in your cellar to enjoy in your later years or to celebrate a significant year.

Production of each of the 2016 Vintage Ports is approximately 1/5 below the previously declared 2011’s with a very rigorous selection by most houses. For the first time in awhile, we are offering 375mL half bottle formats. Don’t miss this special vintage as quantities are limited!

Pictured left to right:

taylor_2016
2016 Porto Quevedo Vintage Port (Douro, Portugal) – $99.99

2016 Warre’s Vintage Port (Douro, Portugal) – $129.99

2016 Croft Vintage Port (Douro, Portugal) – $149.99

2016 Dow’s Vintage Port (Douro, Portugal) – $149.99

2016 Fonseca Vintage Port (Douro, Portugal) – $169.99

2016 Fonseca Vintage Port (Douro, Portugal) – 375mL – $86.99

2016 Taylor Fladgate Vintage Port (Douro, Portugal) – $169.99

2016 Taylor Fladgate Vintage Port (Douro, Portugal) – 375mL – $86.99

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November 12, 2018

Le Beaujolais Nouveau 2018 est arrivé!

Filed under: deVine's Daily Blog Article — Dirk @ 5:25 pm

beaujolais_nouveau_small
Author: Dirk Chan

Every year on the third Thursday of November- on the 15th this year, the famous Beaujolais Nouveau is released with great fanfare to the world. Freshly made, the tradition and hype lead to much merry-making with fireworks and numerous parties where the wine is the star.

As usual, we are offering the Georges DuBeouf Beaujolais Villages in the painted bottle – $25.99, a wine we feel offers the best quality with the requisite beautiful bottle packaging. This will be available for sale Thursday, November 16 after 3pm.

What is Beaujolais Nouveau? It’s a light, fruity red made from the Gamay grape. Strawberry, raspberry, cotton candy and banana on the nose with a light fruity palate and literally no tannins. Serve this slightly chilled. How is Beaujolais Nouveau made – well the grapes are harvested by hand but do not go thru the typical fermentation process. Rather, they go through a carbonic maceration – instead of crushing the grapes and allowing the juice to ferment, carbonic maceration allows the whole grapes to ferment. The grapes are put into a vessel and the weight of the grapes will crush some of the bottom grapes which begin to ferment. The remainder of the juice still inside the uncrushed grapes will also ferment. The wine is pasteurized to prevent secondary malolactic fermentation. The whole process can be accomplished in about six weeks. This type of fermentation can produce a drinkable wine more quickly.

Beaujolais Nouveau is meant for current drinking, capturing its freshness and fruitiness, it is not meant for aging at all. Quite limited in quantity so come in early or book online early to avoid disappointment. Have a lovely Beaujolais Nouveau party!

2018 Georges DuBoeuf Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau (Beaujolais, France) – $25.99

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November 5, 2018

Charity Auction Ends Midnight on Saturday, Nov 10

Filed under: deVine's Daily Blog Article — Dirk @ 3:19 pm

final_auction_small
Author: Dirk Chan

The auction in support of the Edmonton Food Bank and Edmonton Neon Museum winds up at midnight Saturday, November 10th.

With almost 50 items up for grabs, there are some choice items that we know people are keenly interested in.

We advise you to submit a reserve bid to us if there is something you really want – we will bid on your behalf in increments of $10 up to but not exceeding your maximum reserve bid. Submit your reserve bid now

As the auction will end when the store is closed, your online bids will determine final outcome where we will use the timestamp at 12:00am as the final bid for all the items.

We will inform the winners asap and ask that you pick up the winning items by Wednesday, November 21st so as to give the Food Bank time to use the funds for the Christmas season. Payment will be accepted in cash or by cheque (made out to the Edmonton Food Bank) only.

Here is the link to the auction page: https://www.devinewines.ca/eventAuctions/auction.html

Thank you all of you for the great support you’ve shown us for the fundraisers for the Food Bank this year – it makes the city a better place.

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November 1, 2018

2016 Ports with Roy Hersh

Filed under: deVine's Daily Blog Article — Dirk @ 4:57 pm

hersh_2016_small
Author: Dirk Chan

The 2016 Port Vintage is the first general declaration since the 2011. With the 2016s, they are definitely going to make a splash – the growing season got off to a late start, following a very rainy spring that would make the different later during harvest time. As is typical of the Douro Valley, they entered into its typically hot and dry period in June and July, the vines had enough water reserves to help them along, with only a few areas suffering from hydric stress. A light rain came in a timely fashion on Sept. 13, to give the vineyards a freshening, and with the vintage running a week behind, growers could take advantage of ideal weather conditions into October, picking the later-ripening varieties such as Touriga Franca at optimum quality.

The 2016 Vintage Ports really are exceptional, with some of the most refined tannins ever, supporting gorgeous red fruit flavours while being extraordinarily intense, purple colour. The wines have impressive structure and balance, with Baumés, acidity, tannins and colour in rare and perfect alignment. This is certainly a vintage to include in your cellar to enjoy in your later years or to celebrate a significant year.

Production of each of the 2016 Vintage Ports is approximately 1/5 below the previously declared 2011’s with a very rigorous selection by most houses.

As is customary, deVine welcomes world renown Port expert Roy Hersh from Seattle here for a sit-down tasting of seven 2016 Vintage Ports on the Remembrance Day Friday, November 9 at 7:30 – $105/person.

We special order small amounts of half bottles (splits) of both the Taylor and Fonseca 2016, and those who attend the tasting will have first dibs at the smaller format, which wil drink at peak sooner, and better suited for smaller size gatherings.

Rumours are circulating quietly about a general declaration for 2017 – if so, it would be a first to have back to back vintages declared – you can ask Roy about this.

Book your seat here..

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Riedel – New Arrivals

Filed under: deVine's Daily Blog Article — Dirk @ 4:51 pm

riedel_blog_small
Author: Dirk Chan

Some new items for Christmas from the most famous wine glass company Riedel. Based in Austria, and with an illustrious history going back to the time of Mozart’s birthyear, 1756 – they produce varietally specific stemware that enhance the specific grapes you’re tasting. For the oenophile, proper stemware and decanters are a must for full enjoyment of fine wine. With each passing year, their portfolio gets bigger and bigger.

New to deVines are (pictured left to right):

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1) Riedel Louis Whisky Glass – $14.99

2) Riedel Performance Magnum Decanter – $99.99

3) Riedel Big O Stemless Pinot Noir – $14.99

We have a large collection of Riedel products, so do drop by to peruse our options.

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