Osoyoos Larose releases its third vintage of Le Grand Vin
By
John Schreiner
November 13, 2005
The anticipated 2003 Le Grand Vin from Osoyoos Larose, just released in wine and liquor stores at $40 a bottle, builds on the rising reputation of this joint venture winery that is a slice of Bordeaux in the Okanagan.
No doubt, the elegantly long corks will soon be pulled from bottles of the newest release in fine restaurants. In a way, that will be a pity. Osoyoos Larose winemaker Pascal Madevon has crafted a bold red that will age superbly, and get even better, over the next decade. This represents classic Bordeaux winemaking.
The winery is a joint venture between Vincor International Inc. and Bordeaux’s Groupe Taillan, the owner of a number of top wineries including Château Gruaud-Larose. The Okanagan winery gets its name partly from that French producer and partly from the location of the vineyard, just outside Osoyoos.
While the ownership is split equally, the French have been the technical driving force behind this venture since it was launched in 1998. French viticulturists selected the vineyard site and recommended the vines (all Bordeaux varieties) that have been planted. And they sent Madevon, who has a Bordeaux winemaking degree and experience there, to manage the vineyard and make the wine.
Vincor is comfortable with this deal because of the knowledge and technology transfer it benefits from. Madevon makes his wines in a separate area in the Jackson-Triggs winery at Oliver, has his own barrel cellar and dedicated equipment. However, there is open communication between him and the excellent Jackson-Triggs winemaking team, to their mutual benefit.
The Osoyoos Larose style, however, is unmistakeably its own. The Jackson-Triggs reds tend to show an early-drinking juiciness – a yummyness that seduces wine judges and consumers alike. Judging from the first three vintages, Le Grand Vin – while certainly approachable when released – is a wine being built in the French style, showing best with a few years of cellar aging.
Le Grand Vin 2003 is a blend of 75% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Malbec, 5% Petit Verdot and 3% Cabernet Franc. The wine was aged 16 months on oak, with 60% of the barrels being new and the rest one year old. It was bottled six months before its release this month.
Dark on colour, the wine has notes of blueberry and vanilla on the aroma. On the palate, it is a densely textured wine, with flavours of currants, plums, blueberries and spice. The tannins are ripe and chewy but still quite firm, the clue that this wine is built to age well. It should be decanted for early drinking. I scored it 88 but I believe it will grow into the 90s with a few years in the cellar. The core sweet fruit is only just beginning to show.
From a French viewpoint, it is remarkable that Osoyoos Larose has released its premier wine, and only its premier wine, from its very first vintage when the vines were about three years old. In Bordeaux, fruit from young vines is directed to a winery’s second label until the vines are about 10 years old.
In British Columbia, Madevon was so pleasantly surprised with the quality of the wine in the first harvest that Osoyoos Larose dropped plans for a second label. However, he still believes that the vines will deliver even better quality as they mature and as his understanding of the Canadian terroir grows. “It all comes together to express itself in the bottle,” he says.
goodgrog@shaw.ca
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