(Image: Rick VanSickle)Niagara-based wine writer Rick VanSickle reports on the February 5, 2022 release of two Versado Malbecs in the LCBO Vintages system, and comments on the Niagara connection to these wines - the winemakers, Ann Sperling and Peter Gamble.
"The CVs for these two gifted Canadian wine industry stalwarts run deep, but briefly: Sperling is the winemaker at Southbrook Vineyards in Niagara and at her family’s Sperling Vineyards in the Okanagan. Gamble is an accomplished wine consultant with deep roots and achievements in the Canadian wine industry (including founding Executive Director of VQA) and presently is the consulting winemaker at On Seven Estate Winery in Niagara and many other projects in Canada. Together they are co-proprietors of Versado, their Argentine venture in Mendoza wine country, making exciting and nuanced Malbecs from a vineyard and villa near the old town of Chacras de Coria that they purchased in 2007."
Rick goes on to explain the tiers and where each is available:
''The small-lot wines from Versado — made in three tiers from the regular Malbec to Reserva to the Old Vine bottlings — are extraordinary wines quite unlike most everyday Malbecs from Argentina you find at Vintages stores.
"Two of the tiers — the top reserve and the estate bottling — are being offered in the Vintages release on Saturday, Feb. 5, while the Old Vines is being offered through Cru Wine Merchants. It’s the first (time), in my recollection, that three Versado wines have been available at once in Ontario.
"It’s highly recommended that you seek these wines out on Saturday as they represent the best of the best from Argentine Malbec."
Rick's reviews and scores are given on each wine's own page but right here we'll list that the Versado Reserva received at 93 score, and the Versado Malbec a 91!