By Gaby Israel
The December releases are known to be the most expensive releases at the LCBO.
Out of the very many great wines that are offered in the Dec 8 release, I have chosen the following top 3 wines for the cellar:
Australia – MITOLO SERPICO CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2009 (659599) – $57.95
I remember seeing a TV show in the late 70s called Serpico. Serpico was a famous New York police officer who wasn’t afraid to ‘work against the grain’ and in doing so exposed immense depth of police corruption in the era. With Mitolo Serpico the winemaker aimed to redefine the accepted style of Australian wine. Although $58 is not a negligible amount of money for a bottle of wine, the Mitolo wines age gracefully for 10-15 years and they will comfortably compete with the same level of Cab Sauv from California that will cost at least twice as much if not more. RP rewarded this wine with 93+ and IWC gave it 94. If you want an amazing Cab Sauv for the holidays you won’t be disappointed with this choice.
France – DOMAINE DURIEU LUCILE AVRIL CHÂTEAUNEUF-DU-PAPE 2009 (295147) – $42.95
With such a compelling review by RP (93) and with the fact is can be cellared for many years to come, this is yet another great supplement for the cellar. Their CdP Lucile Avril is usually a blend of 85% Grenache (90-years-old), 10% Mourvedre (60-years-old) and 5% Syrah. Grenache aged in cement tanks for 14 months, Syrah in new barriques. Named from the mother of Paul Durieu.
Italy – PIETRANERA BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO 2006 (189761) – $35.95
2006 is a consistently praised vintage in Tuscany. A fairly priced excellent Brunello that got 92 by RP and can be cellared for 12-15 years. I’d buy 3-6 bottles and recommend a 1-2 hours decanting in case you cannot wait, and want to try one tonight.
Gaby Israel has been providing wine tasting notes and buying recommendations for several years now.
The name WineGPCi (pronounced Wine Gypsy) was given by his friends. GPCi stands for Gaby’s Potential Cellaring Index. While searching for “treasures for the cellar” without going to the bank, the GPCi was initially used to calculate the ratio between the price of the wine and the number of years it can potentially be cellared for; trying to find the wines that had the smallest index/ratio possible.
Any good wine that had a GPCi of 3.5 and under, was worth buying (mainly if you were planning to develop a cellar). Many years and “750 bottles in the cellar” after, his knowledge, experience and passion continued to grow. He continues to focus on helping the consumer finding “logical” ways of buying wines and planning the budget for it.
His great passion for wine revolves around old-world wines such as Spain, France and Italy while experimenting the new world exciting regions of Chile, Argentina, Australia, Canada, the United States and others.
