If you plan to buy Bordeaux wine this Saturday, better get there early.
The 2009 releases available for sale at the B.C. Liquor Store at Pine Centre Mall this weekend could be some of the best wine the region of southwestern France has ever produced, based on exceptional growing conditions for the grapes that year.
B.C. Liquor Stores across the province will be receiving 5,000 cases of wine from 150 wineries and all are expected to sell quickly on Saturday. About 300 bottles will be available in Prince George and they won't last long. Each customer will be limited to no more than two and sometimes only one bottle for purchase.
"Prince George is getting a little bit of everything, from the very top expensive wines that are $100 each and up, and there are very little of those coming," said Barbara Phillip, master of wine for the B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch. "Everything the store up there will receive ranges from the high $20s to several hundred dollars.
"Believe it or not, we will have people who will arguing over who gets to spend $2,000 for one bottle of wine. The [worldwide] demand was so high, B.C. Liquor Stores had a fairly small allocation that came out of Bordeaux and that of course has to be spread across the province."
Phillip said the summer of 2009 was nearly perfect in the Bordeaux region, with warm dry weather that produced grapes with dark fruit aromas and sweet chewy tannins ideal for making red wine.
B.C. was able to secure a few cases of the more expensive and rare Merlot-based wines, including Ptrus, Lafite Rothschild, Latour and Haut Brion. The white grapes in 2009 were considered richer and plumper than previous years and B.C. stores will have a select offering of Sauternes, including Chateau Rieussec.
"Consumers shouldn't feel pressured to spend a lot of money, they should feel comfortable in their price range and take a chance on a Bordeaux '09," said Phillip, from her home in Vancouver. "We're seeing the classic wines of the world, Bordeaux, Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Burgundy and the great wines of Italy are the wines showing the most growth [in B.C. sales]. Traditionally these are the wines that have to be cellared. There's a chance they might increase in value if you get them from a good vintage."
Phillip admits much of the growth in popularity of wine collecting stems from the fact B.C. wineries now produce some of their own world-class products.
"B.C. is really opening up to these fine wines right now and that's part of what's fueling our interest and why we have quite a high per-capita consumption of wine because we are a wine-producing province," said Phillip.
"As they get better, it gets people used to this lifestyle of wine with dinner as an option."
Although she loves the taste of those French winery tours, Phillip admits she does spit out the wine -- out of necessity.
"I tasted some samples in April 2010 when they'd had only a few months to ferment and they tasted good even then, and there was great buzz at those tastings," said Phillip.
"You have to spit it out because you're tasting upwards of 100 wines a day and you would not be in good condition otherwise. We're trained to appreciate the wine even with spitting it out. It's a fun and interesting job."
The Pine Centre store opens at 9:30 a.m. Saturday.
