Laughing Stock Vineyards Portfolio 2007

Okanagan Valley, BC, VQA, Canada
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Natalie's Score: 92/100 Community Score: 4.6/5 Community Reviews: 3 Add My Review Product #: 71464 Wine Type: Red Wine	Price: $40.00 Alcohol: 14.3% Drink: 2011-2018 Sweetness: Dry Bottle size: 750 ml Winery: Laughing Stock Vineyards
More Vintages: 2008 2006

Note: I publish batches of reviews that I call Good Values Wine Picks. These are from the regular section of the liquor store rather than the Vintages section, and tend to be lower priced and the most widely available of all wines. The last four reviews I did were: March 7, January 4, December 16 and November 20.

Tasting note:

A stunning, spectacular wine of incredible depth and length. The 2007 vintage is a blend of 56% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc, 6% Malbec and 1% Petit Verdot. This gorgeous red combines Old World structure and New World power. Food matches: prime rib, filet mignon.

Reviewed April 22, 2011 by Natalie MacLean

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Opinions about wine differ greatly as the experience is subjective. You may find it helpful to compare this critical evaluation of the wine with mine as well as your own:

Just like a finely balanced stock portfolio, putting together a blended wine takes finesse and judgement so that the experience of the whole will be greater than the sum of the individual parts. Our flagship Portfolio wine has culminated into becoming a world-class Bordeaux blend by combining first-class grapes and highly reputable winemaking.

Winemaking Notes: The 2007 vintage continues to combine the five Bordeaux varietals: 56% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc, 6% Malbec and 1% Petit Verdot to create a multi-layered complex wine. The current vintage continues to display a classic Bordeaux style that while being consistent year to year, still leverages the best each vintage brings.

In a continued commitment to quality wine production, we use double sorting tables first by clusters and then by berries to put meticulous attention on using only the best grapes in our wines. Our oak program also continues to be fine-tuned by matching the best French coopers, toast levels and wood grains of the barrels to each varietal. After 14 months of aging, barrels are then individually tasted and selected to create balance in flavours, tannins and acidity in the final blend for Portfolio. This selected blend is then put back in barrel for an additional 4 months of aging.

The resulting wine is densely packed with candied cherry, black berries and dark chocolate tones. Rich, layered and concentrated, Portfolio finishes with a smooth, refined elegance.

Vintage Notes: The 2007 vintage really kicked off with an early heat spell in late Spring and then the Okanagan summer took hold with moderately high temperatures throughout the season encouraging ripening without shutting down the vines, which is typical in extreme heat. September arrived with rain which initially caused a bit of hand-wringing for us, but ultimately allowed flavours to develop as the reds hung on the vine well into October.

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