Chile: 2009 Montes Carmenère Alpha, Colchagua Valley – $19.95
Love this Carmenere from Montes and buy it at every opportunity. From the Casa Lapostolle entry level, it’s a ‘high-end’ Carmenere for a fair price. Expect medium-full wine with beautiful mixed berries flavors. Drink it in the next 2-5 years.
Chile: 2010 Casa Lapostolle Cabernet Sauvignon Cuvée Alexandre, Colchagua Valley – $24.95
Always consistently good. Never had less than very good wines from this winery. This is Casa Lapostolle mid level. Their Cab Sauv is a new world style wine with lots of fruit and ‘in-your-face’ flavors. Still very well balanced.
France ; 2008 Château La Dauphine -$29.00
I had this wine from it’s 1995 vintage. Again, very consistent. Very right-bank Bordeaux. These wines age gracefully for 8-12 years, therefore, the GPCi is favorable. Usually Merlot with other Bordeaux varietal. Don’t expect power. I’d wait 2-3 years before approaching it and then decant it for an hour+ before drinking it.
France: 2009 Les Hauts De Castellas Vacqueyras Vignerons De Caractere – $19.95
2009 wasn’t as good as 2007, still an outstanding vintage. Good reviews. Vacqueras are usually sold for $26+, so this one seems like a ‘must try’. I’d buy one bottle, have it with a meaty dish and then decide whether a case is in order.
France: 2009 Clos Du Calvaire Vignobles Mayard, A.C., Châteauneuf-Du-Pape – $34.95
Another one for the seller. supportive reviews from Natalie, IWC and Winespectator. I’m assuming that most 2009 good CdP can be cellared for 10-15 years which make them very GPCi worthy and therefore not as expensive. If you decide to drink it in the short term, I suggest you decant it for 2+ hours. A great option for a cold winter dinner.
Gaby 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 US and others.
Posted with permission of the LCBO.
