Buyer’s Guide to Vintages April 12th Release

John Szabo’s Vintages Review April 12th: From the Heart
By John Szabo MS and David Lawrason, with notes from Sara d’Amato, Megha Jandhyala, and Michael Godel.

We’d like to draw your attention to an online charity auction that runs until April 22, called Grapes for Humanity, founded by philanthropist Arlene Willis and by prolific Canadian wine author Tony Aspler. Proceeds this year go to Tree Canada and Nature Conservancy of Canada. Waddington’s auction house has waived its buyer’s premium and there is no HST on charity wine auctions, so the hammer price is what you pay (whereas, typically, 30%-35% gets tacked on). There are more than 600 lots, including prized wines, travel, dinners with celebrities and also, most heart-warmingly, 12 unique collaborative wines made with fruit and expertise supplied by 29 Ontario winemakers. David Lawrason provides all the details of these “From the Heart” cuvées herein, filed from the wilds of Oregon where he’s travelling this week, while the WineAlign Crü weighs in with favourites from the Ontario dozen.

The theme of the Vintages April 12 release is Food and Wine in anticipation of this weekend’s Easter and Passover celebrations. We suggest the best to pair with food or occasions. There are plenty of versatile wines in the release, including a triple alignment dolcetto, and multiple doubles. Lastly, Michael and I continue our reports from the Tuscany previews. He covers Chianti Classico while I look at the best of the newish, top designation of Chianti Rùfina called Terraelectae.

Cuvée From the Heart – David Lawrason
Twenty-nine Ontario winemakers come together to create 12 unique wines for the Grapes for Humanity Fine Wine Auction. It runs until April 22.

There are so many worthy layers to this annual undertaking. I am most interested in the wines themselves and how they express Ontario’s capabilities. The pooling of the vision and ability of Ontario’s best winemakers — each fitted to a signature grape or style at which they excel in commercial practice — has produced a great snapshot of Ontario’s state of being.

Overall, I found all the wines quite delicate — certainly ripe enough and most very well balanced, which is actually what I expect and admire about Ontario wine. Most are not wines of great power or volume, which I sense is a reflection of the 2023 vintage, with its cool, humid summer saved by a long dry autumn harvest that ripened the grapes on their lighter frame.

Grapes for Humanity is an Ontario-born charity celebrating its 25^th anniversary this spring. It was founded by philanthropist Arlene Willis and by my friend, mentor and prolific wine author Tony Aspler, with whom I have tasted Ontario wines for at least 40 years. Our finest dozen years or so were when we tasted every month together for Doug Tower’s Winery to Home, the province’s first curated direct delivery service.

I will forever see Grapes for Humanity for as a reflection of Tony’s big heart. The organization began as a foundation in 2000 to raise money for landmine removal. It went on to provide essential funds for 17 beneficiaries in Ontario and around the world. Several have helped with children’s health and education in Guatemala, Nepal, Cambodia, Tanzania and Rwanda.

The Fine Wine Auction, however, is supporting two environmental organizations. Tree Canada is a national non-profit that is focused this year on replanting lands in the Northwest Territories razed by recent forest fires. Nature Conservancy Canada is protecting over 150,000 hectares of boreal forests, wetlands and shorelines in the face of climate change and biodiversity loss.

There are over 600 lots in the auction, including some of the world’s most sought-after labels. There are special lots that honour Canadian music legend Gord Downie and winemaker Paul Pender (60 magnums of Tawse Sparkling 2016 Cuvee Paul Pender, made by Paul). There are celebrity wine dinner packages with Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson of Rush, Jim Cuddy and Colin Cripps of Blue Rodeo, and Jays slugger Jose Bautista, plus dream-lot vacation packages to visit Torres in Spain, Catena in Argentina and Taylor Fladgate in Portugal. Waddington’s has waived its buyer’s premium and there is no HST on charity wine auctions, meaning a saving of more than 35% over traditional auctions.

Cuvée From the Heart lineup

The Cuvée for the Heart offerings make up about 20% of the lots. They include 60 mixed cases of one bottle each of the 12 wines and six cases of each individual wine sold as single lots. I would highly recommend the mixed cases for those “studying” Ontario wine, as well as drinking it. Full reviews by WineAlign critics are available to WineAlign subscribers only. Click here to see our recommendations.

Tuscan Previews: Latest Releases from Chianti Classico and Chianti Rùfina

The Castello di Trebbio in Chianti Rùfina

Michael reports from the 2025 Chianti Classico Collection in Florence, Italy: “The reputation of Chianti Classico wines is at an all-time high and the peak is far from reached. Should you either be blind to the obvious or just beginning to realize the importance of the Gallo Nero, fear not because the best is yet to come.” Read here.

John reports from Chianti Rùfina: “In case you missed it, Terraelectae is the relatively recent, top-quality designation of the Chianti Rùffina DOCG, whereby each producer identifies their ‘iconic’ vineyard. This past February, I tasted 13 of them and present my selection of the best, along with some background on the Chianti sub-zone and what exactly is behind the Terraelectae category. Read here.

Buyer’s Guide April 12th: White, Rosé & Fortified

Garciarévalo Finca Tres Olmos Lias Verdejo 2023, Rueda, Spain
$14.95, VinoLuna
Sara d’Amato – From a forest-fringed, high-elevation single vineyard nestled between the Adaja and Eresma rivers, a thriving destination for old-vine verdejo, a grape rarely planted outside of Rueda. Here, the grapes get a reprieve from the arid heat of the lower lying areas. –. A remarkable find for less than $15, crafted from 130-year-old organically farmed bush vines. The result is a fleshy, sapid white, pulsating with inner life, that offers salty tension, layered with ginger, lemon curd, white peach and starfruit.
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