A little nicer than what we usually show in the Insider's Pick, but we wanted to get you as excited about this wine as we are, at least while there is still a bit of it to go around. It isn't often you get the chance to taste people on what is considered one of the very best versions of a grape variety, at least not without having to shell out big bucks to do so. Fiano is the variety, and the high altitude volcanic soils above Naples is considered the optimum site for it to reach it's greatest levels. This version of Fiano is from a single vineyard (Ciro 906 is the registered # of the parcel) that Picariello only feature in what they consider the best vintages. Surprisingly, the winery tends to prefer cooler vintages to do so, intensifying the acidity that allows this wine to evolve for many years after release. Loads of cool crushed stones and stone fruits on the nose, especially right out of the fridge, with warmer melon and pear coming out as it opens up and gets closer to room temperature (if you can leave it alone for that long). The palate is where the wine really separates itself from all others, flooding it with intense minerality, crisp pear and citrus zest, with a mouthfeel that is both big in size and remarkably clean and crystalline on the finish. For this special bottling the winery leaves it on the lees for a full year before bottling, giving the flavors more intensity and generally elevating the entire experience up an extra notch or two. Treat this like a Chablis or great Muscadet and pair it a colossal seafood dish or something fresh and Spring time-y.
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The return of one of our all-time favorite warm weather party sippers in liter form. Alsace is one of the great wine destinations in the world, providing both great juice AND natural/architectural excitement, keeping everyone's senses stimulated. It has in recent years grown more difficult to find value except in the largest of producers, and you tend to lose the charm of the region in most of those. All the more interesting (and surprising) to find a wine blend of this quality and value from one of the region's best-known creators of higher end varietal wines. Do the math here, and this is a $16.99 bottle of wine in a regular bottle, and you get to invite an extra friend over to enjoy it, if you want. The term Edelzwicker and Gentil d'Alsace both mean essentially the same thing as a blend of Alsatian varieties; Meyer-Fonne actually makes both using the same grapes in each, with the younger vines going into the Edelzwicker to make a more easy drinking and everyday wine. Classic Alsatian Five here of Pinot Blanc, Riesling, Muscat, Sylvaner and Gewurztraminer. Those that have a phobia about sweetness may worry about the Muscat and Gewurztraminer, but they are here purely for aromatics. This is drier than 95% of your oaky Chardonnays out there, and infinitely more complex and compelling. Loads of peach and white fruits on the nose with a little zesty lime and magnolia flower, pretty but not overpowering. A nice juicy body that gets a lot of the fruit on the palate, but also immediately minerally with lots of pear skin type drying tannins, leaving you with a nervy lime finish that begs for another sip. Very easy drinking and food friendly. Most wine drinkers 'know' the Piedmont region for the great wines of Barolo and Barbaresco or the prolific production from the areas of Alba and Asti. Recency bias has largely pushed the historical greatness of the Alto Piemonte to the background, so it always makes us happy when we find a wine that helps bring them forward again. At one point the Nebbiolo from Gattinara and Ghemme were every bit the equal of Barolo and Barbaresco, and there were tens of thousands of acres of vineyards across the region. The phylloxera blight decimated the region around the turn of the 20th century and WWII left it in ruins with the loss of workers leaving rural work for jobs in Milan. The winery named itself 'Il Centovigne', or 'One Hundred Vineyards', as their 20 or so acres of vineyards is spread over 37 tiny plots, a sign of the fractured state of the wine industry here. The less expensive wines from here can have a reputation for being lighter or leaner with the stronger Alpine influence, but this one lacks for nothing. Dusty cherry, earth and tobacco notes on the nose that gets a touch of sweetness and black pepper as the wine opens up, showing off the complexity of Nebbiolo. The palate has a juicier, less tannic attack than found in your typical Nebbiolo Langhe thanks to the inclusion of some Vespolina, a featured grape in Alto. It also brings a nice tart cranberry-like note to the finish that makes it more mouthwatering, lingering longer than the tannins and feels quite refreshing. A lovely and distinct Piedmonte red with loads of food possibilities from hearty vegetarian to rustic lighter meats. From a technical and legal standpoint, we would describe this wine by saying it's a 'baby Bandol'. In our hearts and based on our palates (and channeling our inner Telly Savalas), we would say "it's Bandol, baby!' The Delille family spent more than a decade restoring and renovating the Terrebrune property in Bandol before creating their first commercial vintage in 1980. Much of their strategy, formed in large part with help from their neighbors at the famous Domaine Tempier, involved replanting many parcels of vines that had been poorly created by the previous owners, and even leaving parcels unplanted for an extended time to improve the soil health. As a result their property of roughly 70 acres -all within the borders of Bandol- has vines of vastly different ages. The younger vines are 'declassified' to be used in this more basic bottling, aged for a shorter time in used oak and released young to drink young, but is still dripping with classic Bandol character. Savory currents, dark berry and Provencal herbs pop from the glass at first pour, getting more intense as it opens but staying subtle and cool. A major difference between a true Bandol and a wine at the IGP designation is the alcohol level, where the IGP bottlings generally landing 1%-1.5% less than Bandol. The palate definitely feels lighter because of it, but only by comparison, and also shows a lot less of Mourvedre's intense tannins, allowing the dark herbal flavors to hit your palate a lot easier. The approachability for a wine from this region is almost unheard of, and it gets more compelling the longer it's open. A great wine to take your grilling to the next level. 'Don't mess with the bull, or you'll get the horns'. The 'bull' in this case is the Toro wine region in Old Castile, just down the river from Ribera del Duero. Just like its more famous neighbor, Toro has grown grapes for centuries but known for quality only in the past 30-40 years. Their style is also largely built on more modern techniques and characters, richer and extracted, more new oak, etc. So to go against the establishment style is to 'mess with the bull', and that is exactly where the Bigaro wines go, embracing the horns and daring to be different. The wine is 'experimental' in that Kiko calls his own shots and sets his own standards working the fruit from his family's ancient vineyard, building on techniques learned at working wineries on four continents, like following the mantra at harvest 'don't cut fruit you wouldn't eat'. The wine has plenty of size, but not in a dense or heavy way, with lots of dusty dark fruits on the nose from the start, earning a bit of blackberry sweetness and peppery spice the longer it stays open. The palate is very mouthfilling with its unfiltered texture and surprisingly light dusty tannin, allowing the fruit to show through naturally with some unexpected tart notes (boysenberry-ish?) behind the currant and dusky black cherry. The finish is remarkably refreshing for a wine with such dark notes and almost unheard of from the region. A wine for big foods, but not one-dimensional kill-it-and-grill-it dishes, able to handle lots of marinades and savory side dishes. For much of its existence Muscadet was considered a very basic wine region with little potential for making 'great' wines, only straightforward white wines that go great with local seafood but offer little to the outside world. In the late 1980s/early 1990s, a 'New School' developed looking to make more substantial wines from some of the older and more unique vineyard sites, helping them to stand out by aging them on their lees for an extra long period of time to give them more body. The best producers of the time - Pepiere, Michel Bregeon, Luneau-Papin- earned quite a fan following as their wines were routinely described as 'baby Chablis' for their seashell-like saltiness. That 'New School', has now not as new as they once were, but it's great to see more of the new generation they helped to inspire coming into play. New to the area and with a youthful family member at the helm, Bouet checks all the right boxes for making excellent Muscadet. Crisp apple and leesy pear aromas pop from the glass with a hint of wet seashell are the hallmarks of Muscadet, and they're all here. Plenty of natural weight give the apple and pear fruit an extra juiciness on the palate, with a mouthwatering salinity that just begs for something from the sea to pair with it. The brinier the better! Even though the calendar isn't quite ready to say it for another two weeks, all the signs of Spring are here. The temperature, the budding flowers, the impending Madness that is March, and of course major league baseball's Spring Training (it's in the name, for crying out loud!). Best then to get an early jump on finding your wine choices for the season. While you don't have to limit enjoyment of this wine to just these months, it doesn't need saying Spring on the label for it to just scream it from the glass. Crisp pear and red apple in with the signature Vouvray honeyed aromas, but absolutely dry (sec) and even slightly herbal in a lavender/tarragon way. The palate is cool, clean and mouth-wateringly juicy with a bit of skin tannin to the texture, lots of apple flavors that feel almost crunchy with all the acidity. Very all purpose wine capable of working with creamy fish or white meat courses, lighter Spring salad or just chilled down while you enjoy the sunshine for a change. Much of the Wine Warehouse origin story can be traced back to a profound love for the great Sauvignon Blanc wines of the Loire, particularly the racy and vibrant fruit character of Sancerre. So when a New Zealand version not only gets us excited but can be touted as a 'significant house pour' for us, it has to be noteworthy. Owner/winemaker/name on the label Jules Taylor came from a career of running some of Marlborough's most visible wine brands to start her own personal label with her husband and a small crew of employees, Like so many of our favorites, they only look to make wines they are excited for, managed the way they want (certified Sustainably Farmed and Vegan), and judging by the results in the bottle they like to drink exactly what we do. Fruit for their Sauvignon Blanc comes from vineyards in the cooler Wairau and Awatere Valleys, and the fresh pop of acidity on the nose immediately cuts through the classic NZ tropical fruit to show bright green apple and minty herbs. Intentionally less fat with fruit on the palate than typical, but still with a full mouth of flavor to enjoy with immensely mouth-watering citrus skin, kiwi fruit and the lingering herbal note often compared to jalapeno (but without the heat). Under the radar for not trying to be as 'in your face' as the stereotypical NZ Sauv Blanc, and precisely why we like it so much. INSIDER'S PICK: 2021 CLEMENT & FLORIAN BERTHIER COTEAUX DU GIENNOIS ROUGE (Pinot Noir/Gamay)-$24.992/22/2024 With the prices for even the most basic Red Burgundies continually creeping upward, it makes more and more sense to explore other parts of France to find good values. Giennois sits just North of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fume on the Loire River, but the geography has almost as much in common with Burgundy as it does with others further downstream. Sitting around 50 miles away as the crow flies (corbeaux if we're being accurate), Chablis is the northenmost end of Burgundy and far closer in soils and climate to Giennois than those near Tours and Nantes, but it sits on a different river system than the Loire so they very rarely get thought of together. Pinot Noir has always existed in both places, but never produced wines to the heights of the heart of Burgundy so they stayed more of a local entity. Today they can go shoulder to shoulder with most anything you can find from Burgundy at the dollar mark. This producer plays with blending a portion of Gamay into the wine (called 'Passetoutgrain' when done in Burgundy), mostly there to soften the edges a bit but does not dilute or get in the way of the wine's Pinot-ness. Lovely dried cherry nose with a touch of cool raspberry, slowly getting a pop of Gamay's tart berry and game as the wine opens up, but that's about as present as the Gamay gets. The palate is pure Pinot silky texture, savory dark fruit with nice weight, and a fine dusty tannin through the finish with a bit of tart berry. This shows more and more the longer you let it be open and play around with it, delivering a surprisingly satisfying Old World style Pinot experience for the money. INSIDER'S PICK: 2021 BODEGAS CATENA CABERNET FRANC SAN CARLOS (Wine Advocate 93points)-$24.992/15/2024 Malbec is the dominant grape variety across the Mendoza region of Argentina, but it isn't the only game in town. Nor should it be, with the subtle diversity of soils and climates available among the more obvious and dramatic changes in elevation along the Andes Mountains. One of our favorite producers, Bodegas Catena, has been at the forefront of exploring this diversity, most prominently in their 'Maps' label series. Each wine showcases one of the many subregions with a variety that benefits the most from that terroir, which does include a couple Malbecs, of course, but also explores the likes of Chardonnay, Bonarda, and Cabernet Sauvignon. In the case of San Carlos, they focus on the mix of clay and sandy soils that tend to aid in giving wines a brighter and more floral character, a perfect setting for Cabernet Franc. Vibrant red in the glass and a bit of a modern aroma of darker raspberry fruit and a touch of oak at first, but quickly gets more floral and savory with spice and hints of cut green peppers. The palate is impressively bright and vibrant with plenty of complexity and staying power, surprisingly also light on its feet and allowing the fruit to be pretty without trying to saturate your taste buds. Definitely a New World version of Cabernet Franc, but it learned some important lessons from the great regions of the Loire and has some great food pairing capabilities. |
The Best of the Best.We offering free tastings on these wines in the store every Thursday and Friday, and a 10% discount off the retail price through the duration of the day. Come on by and give them a try! Archives
April 2024
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