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As you know, the supply of our 2004 VQA Pinot Noir is dwindling fast. The good news is that its 2005 successor has been bottled.
Everything you've heard about this vintage is true. Even at this early stage, impressive weight, balance and flavour intensity are evident. We find suggestions of strawberry, cinnamon stick, clove and almond on the nose. Dark cherry, black licorice and vanilla greet the palate. The texture is creamy, the finish long.
Unfortunately, this impressive wine is also in limited supply. Because of Niagara's reduced 2005 yields, fewer than 700 cases could be made.
As an advantage to you as a Malivoire enthusiast, we are offering a rare pre-release opportunity to purchase this wine. Our 2005 VQA Pinot Noir can be purchased at the 2004 price, which is $336* per case. This offer will be available if you order through our website until Friday August 31st. Upon release in October the retail price of this wine will become $381.60* per case.
* All prices exclude bottle deposit.
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To place your order, use our online order form or call us Monday to Friday at 1-866-644-2244.
We're delighted to welcome Mark Booth, a life-long wine enthusiast and hobby wine writer, who joins the Malivoire staff after a distinguished career as a secondary school Principal. As his primary focus Mark will work closely with LCBO Vintages to ensure that whenever possible, our wines are visibly displayed close to where you live.
Malivoire's next Vintages release, on September 15th, will be our popular new 2005 VQA Gamay, which was introduced to you in last month's newsletter. If you'd like to review the detailed description of this wine, please look here.
The 2005 VQA Gamay joins our 2006 VQA Ladybug Rose, which appeared in July, and VQA Chardonnay, which is carried year-round as a Vintages Essential.
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Those small, pea-sized grapes on the vine tell the story. This year's summer drought in Niagara is definitely having an impact. This has been the Peninsula's driest summer in half a century. As a result, vines are sporting smaller leaf canopies and growing significantly smaller grapes.
Most of our vines have reached sufficient age that their roots can find water deep in the ground. However, we've given our younger vines a drink where necessary. The dryness has also helped us keep vineyard weeds and mildew in check with minimal intervention.
While it's too soon to pinpoint specific effects on flavour (those characteristics are just starting to develop in the ripening grapes), we can predict that our 2007 harvest will give us magnificently ripe fruit with concentrated flavours.
The small berries will again mean a lower yield. We anticipate this year's harvest will total 110 tonnes or less, which would translate into roughly 7,300 cases of wine. Last year's 170 tonnes provided sufficient fruit for 11,500 cases.
We expect the 2007 harvest to be underway by mid-September.
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