Acquired Tastes

Our 101 Favourite Wines of 2009

73)	91 Lungarotti 2003 San Giorgio Red Blend Umbria, Italy $55-$75
	Peppery, floral, meaty, cassis jam, black cherry, smoky, resin, barnyard, tobacco, spicy, clove, vanilla and cedar aromas. Round, rich, elegant, dry palate with smooth grained tannins and good acidity. Cassis, black cherry, peppery, smoky, gamey, resin, vanilla, cedar, tobacco, meaty, floral, minty, clove flavours with some coffee and herbs on the finish. Good balance and intensity, will improve over the next 2 to 5 years but ripe enough to drink now with rare beef or veal. (AG)
74)	91 Lisini 2003 Brunello di Montalcino Montalcino, Siena, Tuscany, Italy $70-$90
	Smoky, tar, coffee, vanilla, peppery, tobacco, meaty, black cherry jam, black berry and ash aromas. Rich, round, dry palate with smooth grained tannins. Good smoky, dried herb, tobacco, liquorice, black cherry jam, meaty, peppery, vanilla, rooty flavours. Good concentration and balance if a bit tart and warm on the finish. Will improve over the next 2 to 5 years. (ST)
75)	91 Jules Taylor 2008 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough, South Island, New Zealand $20-$30
	Classic Marlborough with its canned jalapeño, and lemongrass notes mixed with smoky, mineral passion fruit undercurrents. Lovely fresh lemon flavours with fine balance and length, all without overpowering your palate. Ripe and round I could see this washing down a plate of steamed mussels done Italian style with a little tomato, onion and garlic. Love the honey melon finish. (AG)
76)	91 Highland Estates 2006 Taylor Peak Merlot Bennett Valley, Sonoma Valley, California, United States $40-$70
	Taylor Peak is 100 percent Bennett Valley grown fruit that spends 17 months in French oak of which 37 percent is new. Look for cool blueberry and black fruit with bits of tobacco, spice, compost chocolate and liquorice. Impressive styling that focuses on mountain fruit giving it power but with Bordeaux Right Bank-like finesse. You can easily drink or hold this merlot for a decade. Well done and fine value. (AG)
77)	91 Hidden Bench 2007 Rosomel Vineyard Roman's Block Riesling Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario, Canada $25-$45
	Lifted petrol aromas seem to be the order of the day with grapefruit, spice, slate and apple peel aromas moving into a slightly austere but elegant dry palate of peaches, lemon, more slate/mineral flavours. Should age very well over the next decade. (TF)
78)	91 Guigal 2005 Côte Rôtie Brune et Blonde de Guigal Rhone Valley, France $70-$90
	Love the rich peppery intellectual nose of bright red fruits and spice. The entry is dense yet silky with incredible fruit power mixed with liquorice, pepper, black cherries mineral notes with bits of mocha and blueberries. Complex, long, sexy finish. Plenty of life to live here. Cellar 7 to 10 years. (AG)
79)	91 Gehringer Brothers 2008 Minus 9 Ehrenfelser Ice Wine Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada $40-$60
	Icewine made from ehrenfelser is slightly unusual in the Canadian marketplace but Gehringer Brothers do it very well. Showing flavours and a nose true to ehrenfelser, wildflower honey and fresh hay, with sweet pineapple flavours, slightly spicy, with just enough acid to provide some balance to the sweetness. (TF)
80)	91 Etude 2006 Heirloom Pinot Noir Carneros, Napa Valley, California, United States $85-$105
	Barnyard, tobacco leaf, soy, pruney, cherry jam, cooked carrot, vanilla aromas. Dry, round, full, warm, supple palate with cedar, tobacco leaf, peppery, resin, barnyard, soy, cherry, rooty, Oxo, carrot top flavours with a touch of orange peel on the finish with some light stewed green tea tannins. Solid California pinot in a somewhat older style. Needs 2 to 3 years to peak. (AG)
81)	91 Coyote's Run 2007 Riesling Icewine Niagara Peninsula, Ontario, Canada $35-$45
	It's no mean feat to emerge as the top sweet wine in a category for which Canada is world-renowned. But winemaker David Sheppard has more than 25 years experience in Niagara learning icewine with Karl Kaiser at Inniskillin. This is gorgeous, very sweet, silky and elegant riesling icewine with classic peach-apricot-mango fruit and exotic ginger and spice note. The lenght is terrific. (DL)
82)	91 Church & State2007 Hollenbach Family Vineyard Pinot Noir Penticton Bench, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada $20-$30
	A real crowd pleaser, the 2007 is packed with cherry and plum fruits along with clean vanilla notes. Pleasantly offset by vegetable rhubarb and earthy flavours, this exceptionally well-made pinot is showing well and is ready to drink. (TF)
83)	91 Bodega 2005 Monteviejo Vista Flores, Valle de Uco, Tunuyán, Mendoza, Argentina $40-$60
	A blend of malbec, merlot, syrah and cabernet sauvignon with spicy, blackberry, ash, black cherry, mint, allspice, coffee, cedar, mocha, aromas. Rich, hot, tannic and concentrated but good finesse and suppleness. Big blackberry, coffee, tobacco, chocolate, vanilla, cherry, resin, peppery, meaty flavours. Big monster, somewhat tannic but good fruit. Needs time. (ST)
84)	91 Batasiolo 2004 Barolo Piedmont, Italy $25-$45
	Tar, earthy, coffee, tobacco, strawberry jam, cherry, cedar, meaty, saddle leather aromas. Ripe, round, dry, supple but grainy tannins. Still tight with good acidity. Cherry jam, liquorice root, peppery, vanilla, coffee, tobacco, leather, dried herb, smoky tar and cedar flavours. Good concentration, very spicy tar finish. Needs 3 to 5 years. More feminine style but balanced. Solid value here. (AG)
85)	90 Tommasi 2005 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Veneto, Italy $40-$70
	The latest Tommasi Amarone is made with corvina, corvinone, rondinella and molinara all grown on hillside terraces. At picking, the grapes are placed directly onto small open racks and air-dried until mid to late January typically losing 40 to 50 percent of their weight. The '05 has fresh character on the nose with hints of black cherries and spice. The textures are rich and smooth with youthful black plummy fruit, tobacco, pepper, and pruney chocolate flavours and rich but soft tannins. You could serve it now with roasted meats, game dishes or ripe cheeses or cellar for a decade. (AG)
86)	90 Stag's Hollow 2008 Sauvignon Blanc/Sémillon Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada $15-$30
	Wonderfully fresh with abundant lemon citrus with melon, fresh cut grass, and spicy oak. The flavours remain true to the nose, with slightly hot alcohol notes, and a touch of lemongrass. Still elegant, with a crisp, clean finish that delivers. (TF)
87)	90 Staete Landt 2006 Estate Grown Marlborough Pinot Noir Marlborough, South Island, New Zealand $30-$50
	Spicy, rooty, black raspberry, rhubarb, tobacco leaf, cherry, floral and resin aromas with a touch of caraway and dried herbs. Round, dry, supple but slightly tight palate with fresh acidity. Smoky, herbal, rhubarb, cherry, orange compote, vanilla, tobacco leaf and caraway flavours with a hint of dill. Good finesse if a bit tart on the finish. Will improve over the next 2 to 4 years. (ST)