Buyers Guide to Vintages March 21st Release

Wine Planning Your Easter Feast

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

In case you have been distracted by events of the world, Easter runs from Friday April 3 to Monday April 6 this year.

For this release, the Vintages catalogue has paired wines to eight different culinary probabilities for Easter feasting: starters, lighter fare, vegetarian, seafood, poultry, lamb, pork, beef and dessert. This is a very wide safety net, but still a useful exercise for meal planners. They provide thumbnail sketches of the styles of wine to pair, refer to exact recipes in Food & Drink magazine, then pick two or three wines from this release.

Advertising

Advertising

I am not going to weigh in further with specific food-and-wine pairing recommendations, except to say that wine pairing should be a joyful exercise, full of anticipation and discovery, not a fearful one of picking the wrong wine. There is something to be learned from every pairing, and no two pairings are ever the same. If you are, say, in the 45-years-of-age range — and have wine with dinner three times per week — you will have 6,240 opportunities to pair food and wine by the time you are 85. (You can personalize with your own math.) So, you have a lot of time to experiment, and god forbid you have the same pairing over 6,000 times just because someone said it was right.

As always, we are here to help ensure you pick a very good quality wine in whatever style you choose. Our reviews always provide some idea of style, which a point score alone does not do! We are also always looking for value, which becomes even more important for larger gatherings. As Vintages points out, Easter is often the first “big” family-and-friends event of the season.

Larger numbers change your wine planning and logistics. If you have eight or more people you should buy two bottles of each wine, to ensure everyone is tasting the same wine at the same time (thus able to comment, if desired). Even for six people you should have two bottles of the “arrival” wine, a wine that will transition into any passed “starters.” By the way, if guests show up with house gift wines, you are not obligated to open them, especially among larger groups where one bottle is not enough to go around.

If you are planning three or more different courses you should have a different wine for each course, again perhaps two bottles of each. Monitor the pouring (by not overpouring) so that guests are finishing about the same time and are then ready to move on to the next wine and course.

But if everything is landing on the table all at once, family style — have two different wines on offer, a white and red — so that guests can drink what they prefer or even start with one then try the other during the same course. Again, this allows for experimentation. And have them open side by side at each end of the table for self-pouring. This is a not a formal, restaurant situation.

Here are our recommendations from this release, arranged in ascending price order within basic style groups — sparkling, white, red and vermouth (which is becoming more and more popular its exotic range of botanical herbs and spices). Vermouth is essential for martinis and can be delicious on its own, with its lower alcohol level. Store it in the fridge and consider offering it chilled as an aperitif.

Buyer’s Guide Vintages March 21: Sparkling Wine

Blomidon Cuvée L’acadie Brut, Nova Scotia, Canada
$43.95, Le Sommelier Inc.
David Lawrason – Toast the recent agreement between Ontario and Nova Scotia to allow direct-to-consumer shipping of wine. There’s great tension and poise here! No wonder this wine earned a gold at the National Wine Awards of Canada last year. Very lifted, slightly baked apple fruit is joined by fine shortbread lees and dried flowers. It is light bodied, very crisp and firm but not hard. Very complete and easy to like.
Michael Godel – Tasting the Cuvée L’Acadie today makes one wonder if this stunner of a Nova Scotia sparkler could last 10 to 15 years. There should and must be more sparkling wines made with this variety. The salt and brine, the unbridled and uninterrupted energy, the focus and the fun.
Sara d’Amato – A flagship, traditional-method sparkler from Blomidon, this old-vine L’Acadie Blanc strikes an appealing balance between 16 months of toasty lees aging and racy citrus fruit. Dry and finely tuned, it offers expressive aromatics of wildflower and ginger spice and a gentle, persistent mousse. Serious yet inviting, an excellent starter for a festive gathering.
…

There are 18 other Vintages recommendations this week that are currently only available to our premium members. This complete article will be free and visible to all members 60 days after publication. We invite you to subscribe today to unlock our top picks and other Premium benefits

Please take a moment to understand why we charge for this service.

“For the cost of a good bottle of wine we’ll help you discover hundreds of great ones.”

And that’s a wrap for this edition! Happy Easter. See you back here for the April 7 Vintages release featuring New Zealand and Hidden Bench of Niagara. – David

Use these quick links for access to all of our March 21st Top Picks in the New Release. Non-premium members can select from all release dates 60 days prior.

Lawrason’s Take – March 21st
Sara’s Selections – March 21st
Megha’s Picks – March 21st
Michael’s Mix – March 21st

Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram for the latest WineAlign recommendations, tips and other interesting wine information.