HAMILTON HOPS AND GRAPES IS PLEASE TO
ANNOUNCE THE 2007-8 LIMITED EDITIONS from

Great wine
is yours for the making. We guarantee it.
Each year, from January to April, Winexpert releases limited quantities of five
very special wine
varieties of award winning quality. In fact, all 15 varieties offered in the
past three Limited Edition
programs have won medals at the largest annual winemaking competition in North
America.
Now in its 18th year, Selection
Limited Edition is our most highly sought-after offering. Each year,
because of Limited Edition’s well-deserved reputation for delivering unsurpassed
quality, wine-lovers
wait with high anticipation, eager to place orders for each variety offered.
The premium quality continues
onto your bottles as a package of 30 specially designed, easy to use,
peel and stick bottle labels are included with each purchase. Due to the immense
popularity of this
program, reserving your Selection Limited Edition varieties is strongly advised
as each variety is only
available during their month of release. Hamilton Hops and Grapes will notify
you as soon as your
reserved wine kit arrives in store.
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Chilean Carmenère/Cabernet Sauvignon
JANUARY 2008
The Region: Chile is one
of the oldest ‘new world’ winegrowing regions, with its first vintage
planted
by the Spanish in the 16th century. Winexpert’s Carmenère comes
from the Maipo Valley, Chile’s most
famous growing area located just south of the capital of Santiago.
The Wine: Similar to Merlot, Carmenère is a synonym for brilliant red,
‘carmine’. Blended with the King
of red grapes, Cabernet Sauvignon, it produces exceptionally powerful, rich
red wines of great length
and structure. Deep crimson red colour with luscious fruit aromas of plums and
blueberry, a touch of
chocolate and hints of coffee and toasty oak. On the palate, notes of red fruit,
dark plums, damsons
and spice, generously framed by toasty oak with a soft and well structured mouthfilling
texture, velvety
on the tongue with very supple tannins.
The Food: Excellent with lighter meat dishes or sausages, smoked meats liver
pâtés and is brilliant with
roast duck. Robust, tannic and structured in its youth, this wine will require
at least a year to open up
and show its rich red fruit, and after two to three years will beguile with
its smokey, velvety finish and
spicy berry flavours.
Sweetness Code – 0 (dry)
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Australian Riesling
JANUARY 2008
The Region: Australia’s
vast Riverland region produces nearly 20% of all the country’s wine. The
warm
climate and rich sandy loam soils could produce higher yields, but artisan grape
growers remove half the
fruit at budburst and limit irrigation. With smaller numbers of berries and
water-stressed vines, the
resultant grapes, like those used in our Australian Riesling, display highly
concentrated flavour, aroma
and body.
The Wine: Medium bodied, crisp and refreshing, with aromas of white fruits,
juicy apple, and the perfume
of spring blossoms. It’s wonderfully drinkable, but still shows depth
of flavour with minerals and a bracing
backbone of acidity and structure. The main difference between a German and
an Australian Riesling is that
Australian Riesling tends to be drier. The Australian version exhibits the characteristics
of the grape that
we expect: the perfume, the complexity and the zest.
The Food: Riesling holds it’s own in food pairing like no other white
wine, especially with savoury dishes or
fruit - roast pork loin stuffed with apricots is a delightful pairing.
While crisply fresh and bright when young, it will develop more of its floral/mineral
aromas after six months,
and after a year will begin to show honey and citrus notes, and continue to
deepen in flavour after two
years or more.
Sweetness Code – 0 (dry)
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Sicilian Nero d’Avola/Shiraz
FEBRUARY 2008
The Region: The Sicilian
climate has long hot summers, plenty of sunshine and mild winters, with just
enough
rainfall to keep the vines strong. Avola is a village in South Eastern Sicily,
where Nero d’Avola evolved through
selection by vine growers centuries ago, and has spread throughout the island.
The Wine: Sicilian winemakers often treat Nero d’Avola like Shiraz, which
is why the two blend so well together.
It has the classic Shiraz notes of blueberry, blackberry and dark fruits, with
a delightful scent of rose, cherry and
herbs. This dark-garnet wine shows ripe, berrylike fruit aromas lent complexity
by hints of toast and smoke. Warm
and plummy with a touch of raisins and a hint of almonds in the flavour, there’s
sufficient acidity to give it structure,
but the overall impression is soft as velvet.
The Food: A great choice for lamb chops; rare meat rounds out the wine. Also
good with barbecued ribs, filet mignon,
classic pan-fried pork chops and Roquefort cheese.
While this is a wine that will age well for years, the exuberant fruit will
beckon you for early drinking. If you do
succumb, put a bottle aside for the future, but you won’t go wrong by
drinking it after six months to a year.
Sweetness Code – 0 (dry)
Pacific Quartet
MARCH 2008
The Region: The Pacific
Coast of North America has micro-climates that match those of the blazing sunshine
of the Mediterranean to the crisp mountain air of the upper Rhine. With so much
range and variety, there is
a perfect terroir for almost any grape you can name.
The Wine: This wine showcases bright fruit, excellent structure and a long finish.
Vidal from British Columbia
gives spiciness and stone fruit. Chenin Blanc from California gives a wonderful
melony-honeyed aroma with
hints of apple. Gewürztraminer from Washington contributes lychee, rose
petals and floral notes, and Muscat
from Australia’s Murray-Darling Valley gives wonderful grapey notes with
dried fruit and hints of orange peel.
The Food: This wine has a range of fruit character and enough acidity to stand
up to a wide range of foods,
particularly spicy and savoury dishes, including Thai cuisine, grilled fish,
herbed roast chicken or barbecued
salmon.
Although delicious right on bottling day, drinking it early would prevent it
from showing it’s best—after six
months the Muscat and Vidal will dominate with spicy/grapey notes, after a year
the Chenin Blanc’s honey
and melon will come out, and at 18 months to two years the Gewürztraminer
will show a perfumed
floweriness and lush structure.
Sweetness Code – 1 (off dry)
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Italian Brunello
APRIL 2008
The Region: Italy’s
long, narrow peninsula reaches deep into the Mediterranean, basking in the relentless
sunshine and welcoming warmth. Gentle sloping hillsides, rich mineral soils,
the moderating breezes off of
the Mediterranean waters and unique grape varieties work to make wonderful wines.
The Wine: Brunello is a large-berried variety of the Sangiovese grape, most
famous in Brunello di Montalcino.
Italy’s hot, dry climate allows Brunello to thrive, displaying great varietal
character and intensity. The flavour
profile of Sangiovese is fruity, with strong natural acidity, a firm and elegant
to assertiveness and a robust
finish that can extend surprisingly long. The aroma is generally subtle, with
cherry, strawberry, blueberry,
and violet notes.
The Food: Brunello shines in the company of assertively flavoured foods. Hard
cheeses such as Asiago and
Parmigiano Reggiano are splendid accompaniments and the wines backbone of acids
and tannins make it
work well with rich and spicy foods like Italian sausages or lasagna.
Medium-bodied but boldly tannic and intense, this gripping wine will begin to
open up after six months,
but the richer flavours will take at least 18 months to show, with cherry and
spice dominating the long,
fruity finish.
Sweetness Code – 0 (dry)
For More Limited Release wines click on box type.
Wine
made on premises just add $43 to the listed price, each kit yields 30 bottles,
price includes the corks, labels and
shrink tops.