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F YOU didn’t make it

down to the Vancouver

Trade and Convention Centre April 22 to 24 for the Vancouver Playhouse Inter- national Wine Festival, you may still be able to pick up some of the unlisted pro- ducts brought in especially for the event at some LDB outlets.

John Moore NOW REPORT

As usual, the festival also pro- vided a unique opportunity to taste wines listed by the LDB at prices that make you feel like a recent divinity-school grad ina high-stakes crapshoot. —-

Ten steps inside the door, we were sipping Brunello di Mon- talcino, one of Italy’s most

KONOCTI FUME BLANC 1990 “LAKE COUNTY” $11.50 (California)

Rich, slightly off-dry fruit and a herbal hint of smoke on the finish make this Californian a very per- suasive alternative to Pouilly Fume

prestigious reds (1987 courtesy of Villa Banfi), a lean austere monster wine, cruel to amateurs and the impatient.

Villa Banfi’s ‘86 is listed at $35.45, but if the ‘87 is any guide,

‘ou’ ll have to sit on it for three to our years to get your money's worth.

Backing up a couple of paces, Antinori’s luxury-class Tignanello blend of cabernet sauvignon and sangiovese (1988) proved almost as lean, not at all like the rich, luscious early prototype we used to gulp for about $17. Not current- ly listed and at $37 plus change you may not miss it too much.

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For a totally different iake on the notion of chianti, we sampled the Selvapiana Chianti Rufina Reserv 1988 (listed in the spring LDB Guide at $22.95) and were sur- prised by very assertive fruit ir such a structural wine.

Definitely worth hiding under the bed for a few years to see what develops.

Not exactly aperitif wines. Suf- fering from severe palate overload, we headed for the top-end cabernets while our lips were still in working order.

Not listed, the Stag’s Leap 1989 Cabernet was simply a show-stop- per, a benchmark against which all

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others were measured.

The Far Nieate ‘89 was close, but at $45.05 you may give thanks that it’s not listed.

The ‘88 Stag’s Leap is listed at $41.20, which puts it in a league with Leoville-Barton, so you have to ask yourself, ‘Do ! feel lucky today?”

The star of the show when it came to price/quality, however, was unmistakably Concha y Toro’s Don Melchor 1988 premium cabernet, listed at $19.95 in the spring guide and actually upa buck and a half since but still an outrageous bargain.

Spoiled by the low-end bargains

! PRINTS

' Reg, 2.8 ' 096M

from South America, one is temp- ted to whinge about the price of the emergent upscale Chilean cabernets, but honestly, if this wine had a Bordeaux commune appellation you'd cheerfully fork over twice the price.

This is a serious cut above even Errazuriz’s $15 Don Maximiano . Reserve, but Errazuriz didn’t fire its biggest gun, the Don Maxi- miano Estate Reserve 1989 ($23.55) that some critics have likened to Chateau La Tour.

Grab it while you can; heitter yet, split a case of Don Melchor

See White page 48

POLYESTER

9.88m

which, when available, will put your wallet on a crash diet by in- stantly relieving it of twice as much loose cash.

If you’re paying that much fora label, you'd better steam it off, wrap it around an oyster and eat it.

(Tried it; the waiter laughed as he performed the Heimlich manoeuvre and refused to pound the $40 bottle down to powder and sprinkle it on my sorbet.) Cheaper and safer to order another dozen on the half-shell

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VILLA ANTINORI RISERVA 1988 $16.35 (Italy)

Antinori is Italy’s leading con- tender for our Friends of The Wine Goof award, the coveted ‘‘Armici di Imbecile di Vini"’ (silver statuette of a befuddled consurner pondering a zircon-encrusted wine rack), because it’s almost impossi- . ble to go wrong when you see the firm’s name on a label.

Serious upmarket chianti, but the few extra dollars is nore than paid back by a wine from a great year whose purple depths and concentrated symphony of fruit and herb flavors urge you to linger over every sip. heir regular plonk is a talented sidewalk-singer; this is more like grand opera.

Pass on the pasta; bring on the roast. Wonderful now, but will certainly gain interest if tucked away. Think of it as an RRSP for your tastebuds. :

— by John Moore

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