Question for Canadian Forumites (& others) re Heat Damag

[Martin Phillipson]

Hi All

My local liquor board (Saskatchewan) obviously just got a big shipment from Rosecorp :

St Henri 2001
Wynns BL 2001
2002 Penfolds Bin Range (128, 389 & 407)
Rosemount Trad, GSM, Show Reserves 2001
Lindemans Coonawarra Trio current releases
2002 RWT, 707, Magill Estate
Current release of Grange

Now the question. The arrival of all this wine just happens to coincide with the end of the Vancouver dock strike, and there was lots of talk of huge amounts of wine sitting in containers in the August sun getting cooked!

Has anyone in BC/Alberta in particular tasted any of these wines recently? Have you noticed any heat damage? Have they just arrived in your locale?

I am going to buy one bottle of the ones I am interested in and will taste them and offer my thoughts. Just wondering if anyone has tasted these recently.

For the forumites generally..what should I be looking for visually in terms of heat damage? Leakages? Low Ullage? Wet corks? Also of the above I'm looking at the RWT & Magill Estate 2002, the Bin389 2002 and the Black Label 2001. Any of the others worth a look? What about the St Hank 2001?

Any inforomation on any of the above greatly received!

Thanks


Martin

[Red Bigot]

Martin,

We need a new name for Rosecorp/Southmount now they are part of Fosters...

re heat damage, there are few tell-tale signs, but often any slight leakage is hidden under the capsule and may not be visible.

If you can. look in the original box, sometimes there is a stain on the cardboard where the wine has leaked a little through the holes in the top of the capsule (if there are any) or onto the cardboard dividers if it escaped the bottom edge of the capsule. Otherwise inspect a few bottles on the rack, looking for signs of seepage and gently try rotating the capsule to see if there is any fluid undeneath.

Only in the very worst cases will you notice a low level in the neck.

There are mixed reviews on the St henri 2001, the 2002 Pennies are the best for a few years, but I only bought a 6-pack of 389, the RWT, 707, Magill are all good but pricey, I bought some Magill. Grange 2000 is one to avoid IMO. Black label 2001 is OK, but not great, it's been down to about $16.99 here, currently around $18-$19.

What vintage of the Lindemans is offered? Here the 01 St George is out, but still 99 Pyrus and LR.

[markg]

Martin,

I was under the impression that Southmont shipped in temp controlled containers, although I could be wrong though.

[Martin Phillipson]

Brian & mark

Thanks for the response. The Lindemans trio is the 1999 vintage, how are the Pyrus & LR from that year? I always buy some At Geoerge

Interesting about shipping in temp-controlled containers..but if they just sat on the docks for several weeks would such a container help..or would it have to be connected to a power source?

As for the BL..when will we see the fruit (pardon the pun) of the Vineyard improvements at Wynns?

Thanks again

martin

PS Frosecorp? Rosecorpsters? Corpsters? (The corpse word appeals!)

[Red Bigot]

Brian & mark

Thanks for the response. The Lindemans trio is the 1999 vintage, how are the Pyrus & LR from that year? I always buy some At Geoerge

As for the BL..when will we see the fruit (pardon the pun) of the Vineyard improvements at Wynns?

The Lindemans 99's are OK wines (I didn't buy any though), they languish on the shelf here for a variety of reasons, including perceived value for the money ($35-$40+, down to $31-$33 on special) after they devalued the brand by cutting the price from $40 to under $30 a few years back. Also they are a slightly old-fashioned styles (not necessarily a criticism) and have old-fashioned (or is that Classic) labelling. The St George 01 has been out a little while here and prices are holding at $40pb case price so far, I'm waiting for it to be specialled at around $35 and may buy some then.

Re Wynns BL, who knows where it's going, the style for the John Riddoch and Michaels are being "adjusted" to be more approachable on release, 2002 was a pretty tough Coonawarra vintage, maybe 2003 or 2004 will show the results of the new regime for BL.

[JDSJDS]

There was a truckers' strike in Vancouver, which left hundreds of containers stranded during a fairly hot 3 weeks (for Vancouver) this summer.

The problem is, no one knows - or if they do know, they're not telling - which containers were most affected. Supposedly, I heard that if the containers were packed on the inside of the huge pile, and near the bottom, then they didn't warm up too much. If they were on or near the outside or top of the pile, then temperatures in the containers could reach into the 40s over the three week period. Of course, there was no way to ensure that those containers filled with perishable products got protected.

So the answer to your question is: it's a complete and utter crapshoot. Me personally, I'm not buying any wine that I know or think is new stock for the next couple of months; at least, not wines am looking to store for more than a few months.

The worst cases (literally and figuratively) will hopefully be easily spotted from telltale leakage, protruding corks, etc. But who knows how many or which wines were cooked enough NOT to push the corks up or explode bottles, but enought to strip the wine of its freshness and flavours?

I don't know if the Saskatchewan wines were shipped through Vancouver, though. I guess that's an important question to ask!

Certainly the Wynns BL 2001 and many of the 2002 Penfolds Bin series were here before the strike, although it sounds like SK is a bit behind BC in this regard. It waqs probably a separate shipment.

They say that some importers are really worried. They don't have (can't get) insurance to cover their losses, so they have to sell off the wines. The BCLBD (the monolpoly in BC) doesn't have to accept the shipments, but it appears that they have accepted them all. Perhaps if the wines REALLY look shot, they might refuse them. But then the importers have to sell them off to someone else...

It's definitely a case of, "you pay your money and you take your chance" in BC and perhaps Western Canada right now.