Buyers Guide to Vintages November 7th Release

John Szabo’s Vintages Buyers Guide November 7

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

November 7 Vintages Release Highlights

The WineAlign Crü picked an eclectic bunch of wines out of the November 7 release, with no discernible theme emerging save perhaps for the growing reputation of the Twenty Mile Bench sub-appellation of the Niagara Peninsula. New and solid evidence is provided by a pair of single-vineyard bottlings from Cloudsley Cellars, the project of Adam Lowy, who spent some 17 years selling wines for Toronto-based importer Lifford before leaving in 2014 to make Burgundy-inspired pinot noir and chardonnay. He launched Cloudsley in 2015 and built his Vineland winery in 2017, where, with winemaker Matt Smith, he bottles single-vineyard wines from limestone-rich sites on the Twenty Mile Bench.

In this release there was triple alignment on Cloudsley’s Wingfield Vineyard Chardonnay 2023 ($59.95). I note below that Wingfield is “arguably one of the top vineyards in Ontario for the variety, with magnificent depth and density, and complexity.” The vineyard, planted in 1993 and farmed by the Wismer family, counts as old vine by Niagara standards, and shows Ontario drinkers what the province does best. David Lawrason finds “real class and depth here,” and Michael Godel calls it “exquisite and in the pantheon of top-echelon Ontario chardonnay.”

The other Twenty Mile release worth your attention is Cloudsley’s Hanck Vineyard Pinot Noir 2019 ($59.95); “a serious pinot of genuine depth, substance and structure, with a real savoury quality that draws you back in again and again,” I say. Planted to pinot noir in 2007 just northeast of the winery, Hanck has become one of the Bench’s most sought-after sites. Both wines are reference points for the sub-appellation, and Niagara.

Triple Alignments

Other triple-aligned wines hail from further flung regions. Drama, in northern Greece, is one of the country’s higher-elevation, cooler wine areas, and its fresh, saline whites give you the zip you love in at an easy price. The Oenops Apla White Blend 2025 ($19.95) won over three critics: Godel calls it “the epitome of a Greek white, saline and airy”; Sara d’Amato warns “don’t trust your nose” because it “drinks bone dry”; and I found it “a sheer delight at the price, a perfect sort of cooking wine, that is, to sip while cooking or when guests arrive thirsty.”

Portugal’s Douro Valley, with its steep terraced slopes above the river, delivers the dense, savoury reds that suit Canadian winters. The Manuel Carvalho Martins Golpe Red 2023 ($20.95) is a crowd-pleaser: Lawrason praises its “nicely open, succulent yet dense” style; Megha Jandhyala finds it “approachable and cheerful”; and d’Amato says it is “lush without ever feeling garish.”

Apalta, a sun-drenched amphitheatre of hillside vineyards in Chile’s Colchagua Valley, is the heartland of carmenère, the grape Chile has made its own. A good deal of the credit for this is owed to Aurelio Montes, Sr. and Jr., as the Montes Family has long championed the variety starting with their iconic Purple Angel. In this release, the Montes Wings Carmenère 2021 ($67.95) from a more recent project, drew a trio of endorsements. Lawrason calls it “a delicious, sumptuous carmenère” and Godel says it’s “a flagship carmenère for Montes.” Jandhyala admires “an appealing balance between opulence and elegance.”

See the full Buyer’s Guide below for all of the bottles to put at the top of your Vintages list this weekend.

Sicily, Vittoria to Etna with John Szabo MS

Join Me from May 24 to 30, 2027, in Beautiful Sicily

Sicily has been coveted, conquered and fought over for nearly 3,000 years: the Greeks and Carthaginians, Romans and Arabs, Normans and Bourbons all left their marks on the island. Each of them understood something we would do well to remember —that this is one of the great larders and cellars of the Mediterranean; a wealthy, prized jewel.

From May 24 to 30, 2027, I invite you to join me on a seven-day journey from the island’s southeastern corner to the slopes of Europe’s most restless volcano, in a group of no more than twelve.

We begin in Ragusa, one of the honey-stoned Baroque towns rebuilt after the catastrophic earthquake of 1693. From there we go to Modica, where chocolate is still made by a method the Spanish brought from the Aztecs, and then to Noto for an audience with the pastry genius of Corrado Assenza at Caffè Sicilia. In the red sands of Vittoria we sit down privately with COS co-founder Giusto Occhipinti and his niece Arianna Occhipinti, two of the vignerons who restored the honour of Frappato and Cerasuolo di Vittoria.

Then we cross the island, by way of the din and theatre of Catania’s fish market, to the realm of Etna. There we share lunch with Salvo Foti of I Vigneri, the keeper of the mountain’s ancient bush-vine tradition. We walk old vines and contrade divided by the lava flows of different centuries and dine among the black terraces of Etna Nord with the winemakers from Planeta and Girolamo Russo. Our base for this stretch is spectacular Taormina, perched on its cliff above the Ionian, where the Greeks built a theatre with arguably the most majestic backdrop in the ancient world. All this, and more.

History is best understood through the senses, and Sicily has rarely tasted so eloquent. I hope you’ll join me!

Places are strictly limited; reserve yours now at thegenuineexperience.travel.

Buyer’s Guide Vintages November 7th: White & Sparkling

Oenops Apla White Malagousia Vidiano Assyrtiko 2025, Greece
$19.95, Nicholas Pearce Wines Inc.
Michael Godel – Once again the epitome of a Greek white, saline and airy, vaguely phenolic and not needing to attack in such a grippy regard. Also an elevated acidity for freshness and vitality.
Sara d’Amato – Don’t trust your nose: it smells sweet, but this Greek trio of malagousia, vidiano and assyrtiko drinks bone dry. Floral and fleshy up front, then chalky, mineral and salty fresh on the finish. A weeknight upgrade that pairs well with mildly spiced, aromatic dishes.
John Szabo – A delicious white value from Greece, a blend of natives malagousia, vidiano and assyrtiko; it’s unoaked, vibrant and fresh. A sheer delight at the price, a perfect sort of cooking wine; that is, to sip while cooking or when guests arrive thirsty.
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