Buyer’s Guide to Vintages October 25th Release

Our Picks from the On-Going World Series of Wine

By David Lawrason with notes from Sara d’Amato, Megha Jandhyala, John Szabo and Michael Godel

If this Vintages release was a World Series game, Canadian fans would take comfort that the home team is springing up to the plate, with seven wines on the scorecard among our picks below. But I am not going to try to not go too deep on this theme, to relieve you from all the media World Series “piling on” (oops, wrong sport). I have been a Jays fan since attending their first snowy game at Exhibition Stadium in April 1977. Thanks, Jays, for uncountable hours of joy and anxiety watching at home, and from my occasional affordable seat in the 500s.

This release is themed Fine French Wines but also, in a Vintages tradition, features some high-end Holidays-positioned large-format bottles and Champagnes. Given the cost and low quantities of these wines, WineAlign rarely receives samples for review.

From France, we did glimpse the excellent Château Haut-Simard 2018 St. Émilion that was thumbs-up aligned by all five of us, plus a terrific Chateau La Nerthe 2022 Chateauneuf-du-Pape, which will show up as my Only One pick for the upcoming WineAlign Saturday re-cap. Elsewhere in France, Vintages has framed some fairly ordinary regional French wines as being For all Occasions and Budgets.

What emerges below is our much more critically thought out assessment of wines from around the world. All five of us were at bat for this release, so we have more pick-offs than usual, with double, triple and home-run alignments. They come from Ontario, as already mentioned, as well as New Zealand, Sicily, Australia, Spain and elsewhere. I just love that WineAlign is able to identify quality and value from everywhere in the World, without regional bias.

So here are 19 recommendations, listed in ascending price order within style groupings.

Buyer’s Guide Vintages October 25: White & Sparkling Wines

Reif Reserve Gewürztraminer 2023, Ontario, Canada
$19.95, Reif Estate Winery
David Lawrason – Gewurz has always been a strength at Reif, with old vines astride the Niagara River offering richness, complexity and authenticity. Expect fragrant lychee, lemon-lime, ginger and spice — spot on for this grape. It’s medium-full bodied, fairly thick and just barely off dry. A decent stand-in for Alsatian gewurz that is increasingly rare at Vintages.
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And that is wrap for October 25. John is up next with his take on the November 8 Release with its Burgundy and Holiday Entertaining spotlights.

David

Use these quick links for access to all of our October 25th Top Picks in the New Release. Non-premium members can select from all release dates 60 days prior.

John’s Top Picks – October 25th
Lawrason’s Take – October 25th
Michael’s Mix – October 25th
Megha’s Picks – October 25th
Sara’s Selections – October 25th

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