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Pick of the week

Dark Side of the Moon Shiraz 2005 ($31.95, Product No. 072652) is no industrial Australian red.

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It may be safe to say there has been more cannabis smoked than wine sipped in the past 35 years to the ambient strains of Dark Side of the Moon. Pink Floyd's epic 1973 album was something of a twilight anthem to sixties counterculture as well as harbinger of the progressive rock era - a sonic lava lamp for potheads.

Forty million copies later, it remains a bestseller and today I'm sure triggers the impulse in many young people to dim the compact fluorescents, crank up the iPod docking station and roll a hydroponic doobie. But I'll bet the mood enhancer of choice for most of its older, original fans now is wine. Which makes it fitting there should finally be a bottled tribute to that rock masterwork, the first favourable thing about which I'll say is that the liquid is - mercifully - not pink.

Dark Side of the Moon Shiraz 2005 ($31.95, Product No. 072652) also is light-years from what I would call a mere novelty wine. At more than the price of an evening's supply of high-quality homegrown marijuana (or so I am assured), it falls

solidly in the super-premium wine category. But it's worth the price if you happen to enjoy Australian reds generally. (Note to Boomer imbibers: The screw cap is not a seventies-flashback affectation, but a way to guarantee against the modern scourge of cork taint.)

Full-bodied and rich, the wine is pressed from the concentrated fruit of parsimonious vines that remarkably yield less than two tonnes an acre thanks to assiduous pruning and the intentionally dry-farmed soil in an already arid region. It delivers a core of rich, dark-skinned fruits and bitter chocolate, lifted by classic savoury tones associated with well-balanced McLaren Vale shirazes, notably licorice and black pepper.

Released today in Ontario through specialty Vintages stores, the wine is no industrial Australian red. It hails from a 10-year-old winery owned by a former medical doctor named Anura Nitchingham, a boomer who happens to enjoy rock and roll. "It was over a glass of red, listening to this great album, that Anura was inspired to label a wine in its honour," said Carissa Major, sales and marketing manager for Claymore Wines, via e-mail from the Clare Valley.

Dr. Nitchingham didn't stop there. Claymore now produces a veritable Billboard Classics chart of varietals, including Joshua Tree Clare Riesling (after the U2 album), London Calling Merlot (The Clash), Déjà Vu Rosé (Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young), Nirvana Reserve Shiraz (after the 1990s grunge icons) and Walk on the Wild Side Shiraz-Viognier (in tribute to a Lou Reed hit).

The one exception to Claymore's classic-rock theme is You'll Never Walk Alone Grenache-Shiraz, named for the Broadway show tune associated with vocal supporters of the Liverpool FC soccer team, whose numbers include Dr. Nitchingham.

None of these other wines are available on retail shelves in Canada, but you can inquire about by-the-case private orders in Ontario at peter.sainsbury.wines@gmail.com.

Dark and concentrated are adjectives applicable to two of the best buys in today's Vintages release. Porcupine Ridge Syrah 2007 ($14.95, No. 595280) is the latest vintage of a perennial hot seller from South Africa, acclaimed by critics internationally as one of the planet's great red values. There is a conspicuous, trademark South African note of overheated rubber in this rich red from top producer Boekenhoutskloof, but it's not too discordant. Full-bodied, peppery and smoky, the wine would be a splendid match for a late-season, red-meat barbecue. It also is carried in other provinces, including Quebec ($17.25 for the 2007) and British Columbia ($16.99, where shelves may carry slightly older vintages).

From closer by but farther off the beaten track comes L.A. Cetto Petite Sirah 2006 ($11.95 in Ontario, No. 983742; $11.80 in Quebec, No. 429761). Let's call this Mexican red an acquired taste because of its exceptionally smoky quality and rough texture. Deep purple (rock reference coincidental) in colour and full-bodied, it's dense with dark-skinned fruit flavours and a kick of black pepper. It won a gold medal winner at the 2008 Concours Mondial of Brussels.

My highlights from the Burgundy spotlight in today's Ontario release (compromised by the fact that a couple of wines I sampled were spoiled by cork taint) include most notably Raphael Dubois Nuits-Saint-Georges 2006 ($53.95, No. 084608). A nice expression of the underrated 2006 vintage, it shows pure cherry fruit, minerals, firm acidity and fine tannins that should permit it to blossom in about three years.

Drinking attractively now is Domain Paul Misset Vosne-Romanée Les Barreaux 2002 ($67.95, No. 087130). Reflecting its six years, this medium-bodied red shows nicely evolved flavours of damp earth and old wood over a core of cherry liqueur.

The standout whites are Château de La Crée Chassagne-Montrachet Morgeot 2006 ($79.95, No. 087163), very ripe and buttery, with notes of sweet, spiced pear and mineral, and the much more attractively priced Alain Geoffroy Chablis Beauroy 2006 ($31.95, No. 733501), fleshy and substantial for a Chablis, with a gritty, mineral edge and very good length.