Tag Archives: Le Vieux Pin

Oct30

Rhone-style Whites

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Rhone-style Whites

The most recent media tasting at the HQ of Le Vieux Pin and La Stella sister wineries afforded a terrific chance to taste and compare a slew of Rhone-style whites from new world and old. The wines ran the gamut from the unctuous to the withdrawn, audacious to elegant.

White Rhone-style blends consist of two or more white grapes, principally including Viognier, Rousanne, Marsanne and Grenache Blanc, and other white grapes may also be included. In the Rhone, Viognier typically flies solo in the Northern Rhone and absent in the Southern Rhone. Marsanne and Roussanne are usually found together both in and outside of the Rhone region. Outside the Rhone, blends mostly come from California and Australia, but in today’s lineup, there are also several solid versions from Canada.

Alrighty then, let’s put on our Rhone Ranger masks and get on with this showdown:

First up was Moon Curser’s 2010 Afraid of the Dark – Honeysuckle, crisp white nectarine, formidable acidity. We covered this wine more than a year ago, so it’s interesting to come back to the same vintage after such a break. Interesting to note that in the 2011 version of the Afraid of the Dark, Chardonnay takes over for Viognier.

E. Guigal 2009 La Doriane Condrieu (100% Viognier) – Entrancing spice and musk on the nose. Deceptively light mouth feel. On the palate, the musk follows through. Also a hint of peaches and toasty caramel. A complex wine to ponder with time.

Black Hills 2010 Viognier – A waxy, rounded nose… (okay, I know that description got a little too Madame Tussaud’s, but I’ll try to gather myself and bring this one in). Crisp stone fruit from the early summer, a fair bit of the old acidity. A hint of bitter almonds on the finish.

Laughing Stock 2011 Viognier – A discreet nose of apricots and orange peel. Citrus dominates on the palate. Medium acidity, and balance. A long, light and pleasant finish. This is Laughing Stock’s third Viognier vintage and from their Perfect Hedge Vineyard in Osoyoos, in the Okanagan valley.

Treana 2008 Central Coast (55% Marsanne, 45% Viognier) – Sweet, overripe fruit dominated by stewed apricots. oily, unctuous. This is not my style of wine, but I can see some of you out there really enjoying the Treana.

Le Vieux Pin 2010 Ava (Viognier/Roussanne/Marsanne) – Honeysuckle, tropical fruit, a touch of lemongrass. Balanced, the acidity is spot on to balance out the fruit. A more subtle, shier cousin to the ’11 Ava, it’s got the same genes but not as much coaxed out of it than it’s younger cousin. Only 250+ cases were produced and it’s now sold out, so turn to the ’11 to get your fix.

Le Vieux Pin 2011 Ava – A gorgeous nose of sweet honeysuckle. On the palate, there’s honey-dipped stone fruit. Gentle acidity. The finish is long and brings back hints of the sweetness from the nose. The ’11 Ava takes over where the ’10 left off, and raises Ava’s game to a whole new level while maintaining a backbone of continuity of style. There’s an air of classical refinement to the ’11 Ava that conjures up an Marie Antoinette’s fairy tale France unburdened by reality.

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Oct18

Le Vieux Pin & La Stella’s Big Reds

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Le Vieux Pin & La Stella’s Big Reds

Le Vieux Pin and La Stella, sister wineries from the Okanagan valley in British Columbia, Canada are known for capturing an essence of old-world winemaking in the new world. I’ve made an acquaintance with their bounty from time to time, most recently in 2011, when I tasted some Le Vieux Pin’s wines after they had recently uprooted Pinot Noir vines from the vineyard and replaced it with Syrah. I was thoroughly impressed with the Syrah takeover (here are my tasting notes from that time).

So I was delighted and curious when I was invited to sample their two new limited release wines, the Le Vieux Pin Retouche 2009 and La Stella’s Maestoso 2009 as well as La Stella’s La Sophia 2009.

First up was the Le Vieux Pin Retouche 2009, a “hermitaged” Bordeaux. If that term catches you off-guard, here’s the skinny: in the 18th and 19th century, some Bordeaux winemakers added Syrah – at times from the famous vineyards in Hermitage – to their wines to add roundness and comfort.  For example, in 1775 Chateau Lafite‘s Cab was blended with Hermitage and was noted as one of the greatest wines of its day. With Retouche (the name itself is an homage to this practise that was kept quiet back then), Le Vieux Pin have found a suitable balance of just enough Syrah that it brings out the best of the Cabernet but still stays behind the scenes.

My notes on the ’09 Retouche: Velvet smooth with aromas of blackberries and smoke in a subtle old-world manner. Tannins that have sufficient kick without knocking you off your stool. Big, bold finish. The Retouche is definitely still young and best saved for a couple years down the road.

Maestoso 2009 (100% Merlot) is La Stella’s flagship wine, and what an impressive one she is! The 2009 growing-season was especially kind in the south Okanagan and the winemaking team at Le Vieux Pin have done a splendid job bringing it to bottle.

My notes on the ’09 Maestoso: Deep and dark in the glass. Delectably sweet raspberries and blueberries mingling with spice and a hint of rustic, meaty fattiness.  An elegant, pleasant finish. A fine example of Merlot done right in the Okanagan.

The La Stella La Sophia 2009, a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wine, which is a rarity in the Okanagan and a wine which the winery makes in years it makes sense. There were only 48 cases produced from this vintage (that’s 2 barrels for you math geeks) so availability is very limited

My notes on the ’09 La Sophia: Dominated by candied cherry that was truly unique and interesting in a very good way. Hints of liquorice, building up through the finish. Tannins that take no prisoners.

The folks at Le Vieux Pin were also nice enough to set up a horizontal tasting of Viogniers and Rhone-style white blends from across the globe to taste against their “Ava”s but more on that a little later.

Till then, keep on sipping and swirling!

 

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For more on wines from the Okanagan valley, these are the best books I know.

   

Jun9

Le Vieux Pin

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Le Vieux Pin
Le Vieux Pin

Earlier this spring, the Wineshout team was invited to the Le Vieux Pin New Release Tasting in Vancouver, which provided us with the fantastic opportunity to taste Le Vieux Pin’s lineup for the spring release, including the inaugural release of the hotly anticipated 2008 Syrah.

With the spring release still a few weeks away, we wanted to visit the Okanagan winery and vineyard before writing this article. And what a visit it was! The winery is located in a quiet corner of the south Okanagan Valley, on an arid and serene stretch of Black Sage Road that hugs the hills on the east side of the valley that have an air of Cowboy lore movies to them. Though perhaps this bit of Hollywoodesque sentimentality had something to do with that one lonesome tumbleweed that lazily tumbled across the road on the way there, perhaps the rattlesnake warning a bit further south, or maybe even the fact that the undeveloped areas all around look like they’re right out of a Spaghetti western. The winery itself is like a temple to wine, with architecture hinting at Asian influences blending with an old-world sensibility, sitting in front of row upon row of vines. And aside from the odd passing car, it’s so peaceful and quiet, which makes it worth the trip – but it’s the wines inside that keep you coming back.

After a thorough tour of the winery, along with some comparisons of barrel samples of the same wine in barrels from different coopers, and a very intriguing taste of Syrah before barrel aging, we got down to the business of some more tasting. Previously a Pinot Noir and Merlot focused winery, Le Vieux Pin has put on the silver star and gone the way of the Rhone Rangers with its Rhone valley focused selection, with Syrah leading the way. But with summer upon us, let’s turn our heads to the whites, and come back to that bad boy later.

We started with the 2009 Petit Blanc, a blend of Chardonnary, Pinot Blanc, Viognier, Sauvignon Blanc and Roussanne from various vineyards in the Okanagan Valley. Dry and steely, with a soft nose of tropical fruit, it’s an easy-drinking white for occasions when there’s no need to get too serious.

The 2010 Sauvignon Blanc (287 cases), sourced from three vineyards in the south Okanagan, has a highly aromatic gooseberry, passion fruit nose. It’s soft on the palate and yet nicely acidic.

The 2009 Viognier-Roussanne (360 cases), another move towards the Rhone Valley, is an inaugural release and has made great first impressions. It is an amazing wine with waxy tropical complexity. Lemon rind and orange blossom marry beautifully with honeyed undertones. A splendid accompaniment with herb grilled chicken and roasted asparagus. And it appears we’re not the only ones enthralled by this wine as Icon Scores has given it a glowing review.

The 2010 Vaila Rose (340 cases), with its delicate pink hue, is inviting before even the first sniff. Produced from free run Pinot Noir juice and entirely steel tank aged, it has a fruity, strawberry-rhubarb nose. In the mouth it’s crisp with refreshing grapefruit. This wine screams summer in the way a distinguished lady might – with grace and style yet definitely catching your attention. One of the best roses you’ll taste this summer.

It can’t have been an easy decision at Le Vieux Pin to rip up the Pinot Noirs in favor of planting Rhone Valley varietals such as Syrah, which is rather unique in the South Okanagan. But the winery’s dedication to this varietal sure has been worth it. The 2008 Syrah (487 cases) offers up meaty smokiness and tobacco with hints of brown sugar. According to Le Vieux Pin, it is “comprised of four clones fermented with a few percent Viognier was mostly grown on the Black Sage Bench with a little fruit blended from the Golden Mile.” Having attained all this in its inaugural release, and from very young vines, we’re eagerly looking forward to tasting future generations as the vines mature.

Not only does Le Vieux Pin have a solid lineup of wines that will be very hard to find due to their limited availability, the branding is strong with the classic, faux-handwritten labels that provide a wine lover with more information than we usually get. Having the case count, name of the winemaker and other tidbits of information brings us closer to the wine we are enjoying.

It’s been a pleasure tasting the wines of Le Vieux Pin, and it’s easy to say that they are indeed Brandalicious.

We’re not into scorekeeping, so for scores on some of Le Vieux Pin’s wines, check out Icon Scores and John Schreiner’s blog.