Buyer’s Guide to Vintages January 4th Release

John Szabo’s Vintages Preview January 4: Smart Values even Smarter while HST on Holiday (If Smart at All)

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

How Smart are the Smart Buys?

I have no doubt that sales statistics gathered by the LCBO over past decades indicate that shoppers gravitate to lower-priced products in the post-holiday spending hangover. Hence the annual January release of inexpensive wines. Yet I can’t help but wonder about the current and future sagacity of this sales strategy. For many, Dry January has become a tradition. Others, with a less extreme disposition, shift to a sensible “drink less, drink better” approach. In either case, cheap wines no longer fit the zeitgeist.

There are other reasons to abstain from cheap wines. For one, it’s very challenging to produce wine in an environmentally responsible manner that will land on LCBO shelves at $15. Consider the rough calculation that the Ontario retail price equals the ex-cellar cost of a wine (the price at which a producer sells the wine to an importer directly from the cellar) multiplied by about 4 and converted to Canadian dollars.

Château L'Hospitalet Grand Vin La Clape Rouge 2021

This means, for example, that a $15 CAD wine earns a producer in Europe less than 2.5 euros per bottle. Packaging (bottles, corks, capsules, labels, shipping cartons, etc.) can be close to half of that. This leaves 1.25 euros/bottle to cover a full year’s cost of farming and making the wine. The generally lower yields and higher manual labour costs of farming sustainably/organically make such a low ex-cellar price unprofitable. Destructive, high-input, mechanized farming with inflated yields is the only way to maintain some form of profitability, and even then, it’s pennies on the bottle at that price.

There’s also the questionable judiciousness, in our age of hyper-awareness of carbon emissions and climate change, of shipping basic, non-descript tables wines halfway around the world. The carbon cost of a $100 dollar bottle of wine is identical to a $10 bottle (assuming no stupidly heavy glass bottles — that’s another issue). Do we really need these wines on our shores? Wouldn’t they be better served in their region of origin, out of a carafe? I champion distinctiveness and originality, and irreproducible flavours, but these traits are hardly found in wines that cost three euros. Making wines of original character is unavoidably cost intensive. The rest is just fermented grape juice — and Ontario has its own table-wine equivalents.

We tasted more than 50 of the releases at WineAlign HQ, a good number of which were uninspiring, deflating, dull, or downright boring. Nevertheless, the Crü was able to muster some excitement for a handful, which, I suppose, makes the wines that did make it into this week’s buyer’s guide all the more remarkable, even if not necessarily smart. If you’re looking to drink better but still pay less, see your best options below.

Buyer’s Guide January 4: White Wines

Six Hats Chenin Blanc 2024, Western Cape, South Africa
$13.00, VinoLuna
Sara d’Amato – A delightfully easy-drinking chenin blanc: succulent, characterful and a standout among the many value-priced whites of this Vintages release. Youthful, lively and exotic with generous flavours of lime, kiwi and starfruit.
John Szabo – A simple, bright and fruity, dry and crisp, and immediately engaging chenin from South Africa. It would make for a fine sort of house wine.
Megha Jandhyala – This lively, refreshing, and cheerful chenin blanc can serve as a versatile addition to meals, pairing well with seafood, spicy cuisine, and fried appetisers. I especially like its citrusy, faintly salty palate and brisk acidity. To top it all, it costs less than $15!

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