Page 31 - Blog

If the snow and ice of January and February have you dreaming of all things summer – like the light, white wines we associate with warm weather, sun and fun – consider a wine from Friuli! It is a region in Italy’s northeast corner bordering Austria and Slovenia known for the wide array of white wines produced. The winemakers there are a select group, all working on a smaller scale and able to concentrate entirely on the quality and diversity of their wines. The region is home to three DOCG titles, all for whites.

One of these producers, Vie di Romans, has a family history of over a hundred years and has been managed for the last 35 or so by Gianfranco Gallo. Their Piere vineyard is nearly 20 acres at 33 meters elevation with well drained pebbly soil. The vine age averages 18 years and all of their whites are released two years after harvest.

On a recent weekday evening, when I had planned chicken in a light cream sauce served over puff pastry squares, I

Let’s face it, this winter has been a rough one for most of us throughout the country and unless you plan on hitting the slopes, you’re probably sick of the snow.  Like me though, you probably try to enjoy your time huddled inside with some bottles of red wine.  And I couldn’t think of a more appropriate winery for the season than Snowden! 

The Snowden ranch lies on the eastern slopes of the Napa Valley overlooking the towns of Rutherford and St. Helena.  The property was homesteaded in 1878, and the Snowden family has owned it since 1955.   In the 1980s they sold grapes to Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, and in the 1990s grapes from the property went to a number of other vintners, including Silver Oak Wine Cellars, Frank Family Vineyard, David Ramey, Viader, and Caymus Vineyards.  Beginning with the 1993 harvest, they began to save and use a portion of each harvest for the production of estate-specific family wines, gradually

The 2010 Claude Dugat Bourgogne Rouge has all the prerequisites to be a great wine.  It is made by a long-time and well-known Burgundy producer, and it is of the sought-after 2010 vintage.

The 2010 Burgundy vintage yielded a small production, and it was given grand reviews. 

Antonio Galloni from Vinous Media (and formerly of Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate) said this about the 2010 Burgundy vintage: “The wines are racy, show fabulous minerality and are very true to site. In other words, the vintage embodies all of the qualities that make red Burgundy

Straight from the largest vineyard in St. Emilion comes this stunning bottle of 2000 Fombrauge that I recently had the pleasure of tasting with several close friends.  Immediately after opening it, I knew that we had an amazing bottle of Bordeaux on our hands. 

A lighter wine with an oaky and sweet mid-palate, this fourteen-year-old Bordeaux (from the remarkable 2000 vintage, I might add) is drinking extremely well at the moment.  Ripe berries, chocolate, and oak dominate the nose only to give way to the sweet roller coaster finish.  Each glass is smoother than the last. 

“…a seamless finish revealing loads of fruit, chocolate, glycerin, and ripe tannin, this opulently-styled 2000 will have few detractors. It is hard not to be totally seduced by this effort.” –Robert Parker

If I were to have tasted this blind, I would

As we reach the end of January, I find myself really looking forward to and dreaming of spring.  It’s inevitable with the passing of the holidays, and I’m sure most people like myself are ready to say goodbye to winter and welcome to the next season.  With that always comes the shift from drinking big, heavy reds to nice, crisp white wines.  White Burgundy is definitely my top pick, but it’s always a challenge to find one that drinks like a Puligny Montrachet and priced like a Pouilly Fuisse.

One of the benefits of working for a wine retailer is that I get to see first hand our ever-changing inventory.  One that recently caught my eye was the 2011 Verget Macon Vergisson La Roche.  Verget has holdings throughout Burgundy, but this one comes from the Macconias or Macon

‘Tis the season to share some bubbly, and this Grower Champagne by Vilmart is perfect to share at just $64.95. With such a creamy texture and long finish, your guests will assume that they are drinking a bottle that costs 3-4X the price!

Vilmart & Cie has been in the Champagne business since the late 19th century. The vineyard is located in the northern section of Champagne known as the Montagne de Reims. The cliffs in this region are known for their limestone powder and cool climates, perfect terroir for the very old vines that the estate relies on for their wine. The estate is currently run by Laurent Champs, the fifth generation to work the estate, and he employs sustainable and organic practices. His use of oak barrels, most of them neutral, is determined by the complexity of the wine – only

If several big name producers come to mind when you think of Champagne, you might be in for a pleasant surprise. An increasing number of smaller Champagne producers are easier to find in the US than ever before!

One of these is Henriot, a seventh generation family business which has produced Champagne going back some 200 years, and they were one of the first to graft new stock in their vineyards after the phylloxera crisis at the end of the 19th century. Their perseverance paid off, and they became the Champagne of choice among European royalty.

They are among a small number of independent houses remaining in Champagne, and they are known for an artisanal approach that results in elegance, sophistication and richness. They select from only the best vineyards and concentrate on the purity of the grapes, balancing the finesse and elegance of Chardonnay with the structure of Pinot Noir. The bottles have a very long maturation process, twice what is required by law, in the dark,

About two years ago, the following 91 point review for 2008 Ricominciare Altisimo Malbec was posted in Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate:

“Sandalwood, exotic spices, cherry cola, incense, and assorted black fruits titillate the nose while pointing to an incipiently complex, ripe, plush Malbec with good balance and length. Give it 2-3 years to fully blossom and drink it from 2013 to 2023.” Release Price: $36

Now that’s a lovely review, and I would have been happy to try a sample…except that we were just offered the sample last week. To be clear, this is the current offering from Ricominciare, not like the bounty of 2010s – 2012s on most shelves. I mean there are some 2008 Argentine Malbecs out there like Catena Zapata’s luxury cuvee Argentino or their historic single vineyard Nicassia which run around $100 a pop. But most of the moderately priced 2008s are leftover inventory taking up space, so I was very intrigued when

Tenuta Sette Ponti lies on historic land in the heart of the Chianti zone at the end of the Via del Monte.  Their first release was the 1998 Crognolo, named after a wild bush, Cornus, which grows on the estate.  The estate's second release, Oreno, is named after a small river running through the estate.  I first came to know of the Sette Ponti name when the 2001 vintage of Oreno was released.   I would say that was their break-out year when the Oreno received 95 points from Robert Parker.  

Each year the Sette Ponti estate has ratcheted up the quality and regularly receives above 90 point scores from the critics.  Their newest arrival and release is the  that just received a huge score from James Suckling of .  In fact, James Suckling called this “…the best ever Crognolo.”

We were very eager to give this wine a try when it recently arrived.  Once we pulled the cork and poured our first glass, we knew we were