April 20/12: Monthly APVSA tasting, report

 

The Date and Time: Friday, April 20, 2012 11AM to 5 PM
The Event: the monthly APVSA tasting (Association pour la promotion des
vins et spiritueux en Amerique du Nord).
The Venue: Delta Chelsea Inn
The Target Audience: wine agents.
The Availability/Catalogue: no wines are currently available in
Ontario. The group is here to get some agents to agree to rep the
principal. Some of the wines are available in Quebec and Alberta.
Most of the wines were French, and there is sales staff available to
comment on the prices and production. This road show also visits such
places as New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Las Vegas, Calgary,
Vancouver, Miami, Washington DC, and Montreal. Occasionally, the show
will have wines from Italy, Uruguay, Spain and Australia. Sometimes
spirits and VDN are also available.
The Wines: The problem I had with the wines, and one that must be
acknowledged, is that (by and large) they were about the same as wines
that we already have here in Ontario. There really did not seem to be
any price advantages, either. But these 40 or so wines could be made
available through Vintages or Consignment. In the past, quite a few
have been picked up for sale in Ontario; these were mostly the good
value or unique wines. Here were my faves from today, regardless of FOB
cost which must be requested due to competitive pricing. I did not try
every wine.

**** BEST -- Four Stars (91+ in Quality/Price Rating terms):
-Champagne Demilly de Baere Cuvée carte d'or Brut
-Château Viranel -Saint-Chinian 2011 Tradition rosé 3.70 E
-Château l'Espigne AOP Muscat de Rivesalles 2011
-La Maurine Rouge Saint-Chinian Secrets de Paul 2009 5 E

***1/2 BETTER -- Three and a Half Stars (88 – 90 in Quality/Price
Rating terms):
-Château Viranel Saint-Chinian 2009 Tradition rouge 4 E
-Château l'Espigne AOP Fitou Pla de Rouffia 2009
-Château Barrail des Graves Saint Emilion 2004 Cuvée Georges & Gilles
-Château Barrail des Graves Saint-Emilion 2005 Cuvée Charlie
-Chateau Fontbaude Castillon Cotes de Bordeaux 2009 Vieilles Vignes
-La Maurine Rouge Saint-Chinian Galopins 2009 3.4 E

*** GOOD -- Three Stars (85 – 87 in Quality/Price Rating terms):
-La Maurine Rouge Saint-Chinian Rouge 2010 2.80 E
-La Maurine Rouge Saint-Chinian Rosé 2011 3 E
-Château Viranel Coteaux du Languedoc 2011 Tradition blanc 3.70 E
-Château l'Espigne AOP Fitou Demoiselle Gaubert 2010
-Château Barrail des Graves Saint-Emilion 2006
-Chateau Fontbaude Castillon Cotes de Bordeaux 2009

The Food: Some really great, piping hot pizza.
The Contact Person: Pascal p.fernand@apvsa.ca
The Marketing Effectiveness/Execution of the Event (numerical grade):
84.

Chimo!  www.deantudor.com AND http://gothicepicures.blogspot.com