10 Bottles to Make a Beeline For at This Weekends Winefest

Oh wait, is that me in the picture giving a seminar? Well, Andy Williams is blasting from my speakers right now because if you’re in to wine this week is “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” That’s right, it’s the 47th annual Vancouver International Wine Festival and this year, the feature nation is France (and while we love every year’s feature nation, we love France en particulier).

But enough with the Gallic jocularity: while Winefest is a blast, it’s a blast that is sooo much better with a bit of advance preparation, and that’s where I come in. Normally the wines being poured are not available to peruse beforehand, but I bother the good people at the VIWF incessantly until they cough up an Excel spreadsheet with the goods. And then I pour over it with a mix of thrift, envy, exaltation and nerdiness that no AI bot will ever replicate. (Well, not until this is published, it get fed into the matrix and then does it almost instantaneously better.). But until then, here are the bottles I think you should make a beeline for right off the bat (and then you can relax and bop around the tasting room like a normal person). In no particular order (but grouped by country to minimize the running back and forth)…

M. Chapoutier Chante-Alloutte

White Rhone wine is on a tear right now. It;s all almonds and quince and honeycomb and wax and… sorry, where was I? I love the whites coming out of here, but because reds dominate Rhone production and because the whites still seem a bit insider-y, my guess is you won’t have to elbow some know-it-all out of the way to get a pour of this wonderful wine from the great Chapoutier. And to be crass, this is a $100 wine that will be flying under most peeps’ radar.

Brumont/Chateau Montus

I’d like to introduce you to France’s Madiran region, easily one of the most wonderfully traditional wine growing regions in the world. Here the Tannat grape is roi and unlike seemingly every well else, where people ooh and aah over soft tannins, these wines have rock-hard tannins. Old School, baby. So why are we here again? Because with age, the tannins soften in a way that is so much more rewarding than when it’s done with a winemaker throwing technology to do the job of mellowing. So start with a young Montus—the 2019 is the current vintage!—and then go back with some of the older ones being poured and DM if I’m not spot on about the beauty of this wine as it ages.

Chartron and Trebuchet Saint Veran

Saying “I’ll meet you at the Chartron and Trebuchet booth” like Alain Delon is reason enough to choose this, but in fact we’re here because for 99 percent of us, the future of our Burgundian drinking will be in the Macon region. And that’s because prices for wine from the Cote d’Or to the North have gotten so out of hand as to be only available to the very few. But the silver lining is Chardonnay from the Macon is so good right now that it’s become, of all things, a value wine. Try this Saint Veran, a $40 passport into the glory of Burgundian Chardonnay—and then hop up the scale with their Pouilly Fuisse. Great stuff here.

Gerard Bertrand Chateau L’Hospitalet Gran Vin

We’re stopping here because while most of the wine world wrings its hands over decreasing sales and shrinking revenues, the Languedoc-based former rugby pro Gerard Bertrand has been on an expansive tear for the past 10-plus years. You’ll likely recognize him from his ubiquitous Cote des Rosés, but it’s his muscular reds that use Rhone grapes made in the Bordeaux style that have those who looking for value in the big red category all excited. This $90 wine is a sledgehammer of berries, dried herbs, olives—the whole welcoming Mediterranean package.

Quails’ Gate Stewart Family Reserve Pinot Noir

I’m sorta loathe to choose one B.C. winery, because they still in a precarious spot and are in need of support. I’m interested in trying the new Azhadi wines, catching up with Pemberton’s Fort Berens and scores of others. But I suggesting you start with an absolute icon of Pinot to serve as a palate calibrater. The trajectory of this wine from a more full-bodied Pinot to one that now skews more light a savoury parallels the evolution of what most drinkers are looking for in high-end Pinot. Exceptionally well made.

Hester Creek Undici

Well I can’t do just one B.C. winery, especially when a big player like Hester Creek has just come out with a brand new ultra-premium wine. It’s called Undici and it’s so secret, it’s not even on their website yet. But I’ve tried and here’s the skinny. For starters, it’s not skinny: it’s a muscular Super Tuscan-inspired blend that’s Sangiovese-dominant, a serious rarity in these parts. It’s a 2022 but still seems like a baby—the juicy Sangiovese is quite tight and dry, but there’s a fantastic, serious structure that makes me think this will age wonderfully. This one is for your pal who can’t get enough Tignanello. A really cool wine.

Laberinto Pais

This is in the running for the coolest wine in the tasting hall. The last few years have seen a small, select group of Chilean dreamers try to rehabilitate the reputation of Pais, a place that once upon time was the heart and soul of the Chilean wine industry, but now is mostly relegated to cheap jug wines. But this bottle shows what can happen if you treat the grape with respect: hand-harvest it, ferment with indigenous yeasts, age in clay amphora. The only downside is elbowing out all the somms who will be crowded around this bottle.

Massican—everything

Speaking of the cool kids, you’ll find them pausing their USA boycott for as long as it takes to taste these wines. Massican is the lovechild of Dan Petroski, one of the Napa Valley visionaries who sought to shake off the old Cabernet, is king of the ethos of the valley and plants and searches out the esoteric grapes that serve as a counterpoint to $500 bottles of hulking red wines. In Massican’s case, it’s a love letter to Mediterranean white grapes, like Greco and Fruilano. The operation was recently purchased by Gallo and for those who want to hand-wring about such things, it’s the only reason they’re here and hopefully it signifies that the stewardship will leave well enough alone while expanding their audience.

Torre Zambra Madia Montepulciano

Abruzzo wines are criminally underrepresented in our market and so is the rustic but classy Montepulciano grape. So you’ll taste this amazing winery’s full slate, but you’ll start with their entry level Montepulciano, which is not only available in this maket but is a freakin’ steal at $22. Long live Abruzzo!

Villa Sandi Prosecco

The age of Prosecco is here to stay and with any phenomena that’s so huge there’s dreck and there’s gems. Of the big guns, I’ve found that Villa Sandi is by far the most reliable and committed to expressing the terroir throughout stunning region So if you’re a Prosecco drinker, please stop by here and set yourself on the right path. And if you need further proof of their bona fides, they’re also pouring a Fruilano, just like the cool kids at Massican are.