in our epicurian lives since moving to Ottawa has been to adapt our wine-buying habits from what they stock at the SAQ to the LCBO. They are both huge global wine buyers, and both feature great choices, but the balance is completely different. The SAQ, in Quebec, is still completely dominated by French and Italian wine, and even at small Express locations you can find a few excellent bottles and many good budget choices. The LCBO, on the other hand, is much stronger in “New World” wines – bottles from California, elsewhere in the US, South Africa, Canada, and particularly Australia are stocked in huge quantities, while the French shelves are limited and feature pretty boring staples.
That’s not to say the LCBO is bad; not in the least. Pick up any wine magazine in the past 5 years and you’ll come across articles decrying the fact that the stodgy French industry often doesn’t seem to be keeping up with the advances in quality control and consistency that are found elsewhere in the world. The problem isn’t the wine – it’s more subtle than that.
“New World” wineries are much more heavily invested in consumer marketing than the French industry (though don’t be fooled, France’s grip on tradition is it’s own kind of marketing). In a spectrum, then, consisting of Little Penguins and Yellow Tails and a dozen varieties of Wolf Blass wines, it can be tough to sort out the wines worth drinking from the rest.
One of the more pleasant surprises in this context have been the wines from South Africa’s Fairview winery, in particular their Goat Roti but also the more basic Goats do Roam. If you can get past the cheeky names, inside you’ll find very nice wines. Proof positive that some of the “marketed” wines are just as good, dollar-for-dollar, as anything you’d get from Italy or France.
M-J Milloy says
I am shocked and appalled that you didn’t at least devote one line to the obvious difference in booze buying ‘tween Upper and Lower Canadia.
aj says
And that once again is different to buying wine in the States, which seems totally deregulated and also way cheaper. The Little Penguin wines which cost $13.95 and are only available at the SAQ are found in literally any supermarket in Madison, WI for the princely sum of — wait for it — $5.
My recent Good Find: Penfolds Koonunga Hill. smooooth.
I lament the fact that the SAQ seem totally out of the ’98 Riojas. :( sniff.
Quev says
I’ve sampled the Goats Do Roam and quite enjoyed it. I was really disappointed by the Yellow Tail I’ve tried, though. Same goes for just about every Aussie twist-off. One inexpensive “New World” label I’ve become fond of is Sonoma County’s Ravenswood Zinfandel.
Michael Boyle says
Mmmm – I love the Ravenswood Zin, Quev. The wine I miss the most at the moment is a primitivo from Italy called LaPaccio, which is a great everyday wine. For years everyone assumed that primitivo was sort of a proto-zinfandel, or even that it was the same thing, but I read recently that in fact it’s a Croatian grape not related at all to zinfandel.
M-J, my complaint about Ontario vs QC doesn’t really apply much to wine, because the wine in supermarkets in Quebec is so crappy (though there are one or two OK choices). But in terms of beer – the situation is DIRE in Ontario. Beer Stores are few and far between, and, well, it cost me $22 (and half an hour of my life just getting to the store) for 12 Griffon Blondes.
AJ I actually don’t mind the Penfolds you mentioned. I have trouble with Austalian wine though in that I just don’t know what’s what. Much of what I have had I have found really sweet and jammy though. On its own it’s tasty, but when you move from many Oz wines to something more subtle, the difference hits you like a big cinderblock. The Penfolds isn’t one of the ones I would put in that category though – and I’m sure it’s more a matter of my own ignorance than anything else. As you know, the Australian shelf at most SAQs is painfully small.
M-J Milloy says
You’re right — I’m just beyond annoyed that I cannot buy a refreshing, cold malt beverage during this insane heat wave. Jack could really do with a cold one right now.
Boris Anthony says
All I can think of saying is this:
http://www.phespirit.info/montypython/australian_table_wines.htm
A lot of people in this country pooh-pooh Australian table wines. This is a pity as many fine Australian wines appeal not only to the Australian palate but also to the cognoscenti of Great Britain.
Black Stump Bordeaux is rightly praised as a peppermint flavoured Burgundy, whilst a good Sydney Syrup can rank with any of the world’s best sugary wines.
Château Blue, too, has won many prizes; not least for its taste, and its lingering afterburn.
Old Smokey 1968 has been compared favourably to a Welsh claret, whilst the Australian Wino Society thoroughly recommends a 1970 Coq du Rod Laver, which, believe me, has a kick on it like a mule: 8 bottles of this and you’re really finished. At the opening of the Sydney Bridge Club, they were fishing them out of the main sewers every half an hour.
Of the sparkling wines, the most famous is Perth Pink. This is a bottle with a message in, and the message is ‘beware’. This is not a wine for drinking, this is a wine for laying down and avoiding.
Another good fighting wine is Melbourne Old-and-Yellow, which is particularly heavy and should be used only for hand-to-hand combat.
Quite the reverse is true of Château Chunder, which is an appellation contrôlée, specially grown for those keen on regurgitation; a fine wine which really opens up the sluices at both ends.
Real emetic fans will also go for a Hobart Muddy, and a prize winning Cuivre Reserve Château Bottled Nuit San Wogga Wogga, which has a bouquet like an aborigine’s armpit.
Betty says
Penguin – barf
Yellow tail – barf
These are embarassments