Most people don't think about drinking high quality Loureiro. Most people don't think about the Loureiro grape ever, if we're honest. It's history in Portugal has largely been as a blending partner to make the classic Vinho Verde wine with the slight bit of fizz, rarely ever featured on its own with the name on the label. In recent decades there has been an increased movement to push the quality levels in wines across Portugal and elevate the reputation of the regions across the country, something the Portugal Boutique Winery project has taken to heart. Billing themselves as a 'micro-cooperative', they explore the country so source authentic older vineyards that feature native varietals, with the ideal of making the best exprssion of th grape possible. Sourced from two sites (one with schist and clay soils, the other with gravel) within a few miles of the ocean, the first aroma is intensely coastal with a mix of fresh lime and salty sea spray, with a hint of white citrus and flowers at the end. The palate is quenching with juicy lime and sour apple, oddly both mouthfilling AND light on its feet at the same time, finishing tart with another hint of the salinity. It's very much a Portuguese version of Muscadet from France, not just in the style and being extremely seafood friendly, but that they were both areas and varietals that nobody thought were worth the effort to make a 'better' wine than the ordinary. Until someone did.
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With October being Virginia Wine Month, we wanted to spend at least one Insider's pick on one of the best wineries in the state. If you were to make a list of Virginia wineries that have consistently been at the very top level of quality in the state since the 1990s, it would be impossible to not have Linden on it. The constant presence of Jim Law and consistent mindset of the team in the vineyards and the cellars have genuinely helped to set the standard the rest of the state strives to reach. Their Hardscrabble Chardonnay and Red are iconic bottlings, and their quality extends throughout their entire lineup. This is probably their most whimsical wine; the term 'wabi sabi' is the name of a Japanese style that embraces the imperfect or incomplete, and the wine (also built to work with Asian cuisine) is blended lot by lot each year, changing the blend and the winemaking to best suit each vintage. Primarily Vidal Blanc and Viognier with decent chunks of Semillon and Petit Manseng, this is rich and floral but not nearly as much sweetness as one would first think. The first whiff is honeyed beeswax and pops of Viognier's white flowers, and with the evident richness in the glass you expect the first hit on your palate to be sugary. Far from it; apple and pear skin, crunchy white fruit, lots of mouthwatering acidity, great complexity through the finish. Excellent food partner with dishes featuring soy, ginger and some heat, can even stand up to beef with its richness. Abruzzi has been an important wine growing region for Italy since Etruscan times, mostly known for volume production based around regional co-operatives. Quantity was more of the priority than quality, which is probably a factor in the workhorse Montepulciano grape (not to be confused with the Tuscan city of the same name) is not as well known or regarded outside the area. That focus has shifted over the last few decades, and while there is still oceans of the jug wines out there, producers like Valle Reale looking to make higher quality wines are having great success. Made from organic vineyards within one of Italy's most beautiful national park areas, this shows a significant step up from the everyday versions, with a deep color and lots of plum and currant on the nose with some Italian herbal notes. The palate has less acidity than your typical Tuscan Sangiovese based wine, but a lot of the flavors land the same, and being aged in concrete lets a lot of the naturally dusty earthy tannins show through quite nicely. A nice dinner wine that drinks bigger than it's price point. All too often, wine labels and names are 'brands', words and images built for the exterior of the bottle that have nothing to do with what's inside. True family vineyards and wineries connect the two, place meaning on the name so that it represents the wine inside. Ten Sisters comes from the King family farm in Marlborough purchased after World War II and planted to vines about 40 years later. The wines are named after the ten daughters in the family (with one son mixed in), one of whom has moved and lived in the Central Virginia area, so we know it isn't a marketing gimmick. Just this Sauvignon Blanc and a Pinot Noir come from their property, so their wines have a real identity and quality to them. Rich citrus and white fruits on the nose with a hint of jalapeno skin- not heat, just herbal and savory green notes. The palate is very round and plush with lots of fresh cut pear and quince notes but stays well away from any sweetness with fine acidity and a touch of grape skin/pepper skin tannin to the finish. Deliciously food friendly style that can stand up to some of the more herbal or savory poultry/pork/seafood dishes around. Custom made bottlings can be a double edged sword. They can be tasty treats, often good values, but can vary dramatically from vintage to vintage, especially if the wine isn't sourced from the same vineyards each year. The beauty of estate or smaller grower producers is that you get the wines from the same vineyards made with the same hands year after year, building consistency and reputation. Some of the better importers have been most capable of bucking that trend, usually by working with dependable wineries to help them build something reliable. European Cellars/Eric Solomon is one of the masters of this concept, and Bastide Miraflors is one of their more exemplary bottlings. Since its inception, the wine has always been built the same way; a blend of mostly Syrah with some older vine Grenache from the same sites in the Roussillon, with the blend aged in a mix of large oak demi-muids and concrete tanks. The subtle variances of vintages will of course make the character of the wine a bit different from year to year, but it would be hard to find many wines in this style that have been as consistently delicious. Deep ruby color with lots of cool dark fruits, blackberry and cola notes off the nose that get warmer and spicier as it opens up. The minimal use of oak allows the natural fragrance of the fruit to show through, and on the palate there is only the fine slightly dusty tannins; lots of surprisingly bright berry, but nothing heavy or extracted feeling, unexpectedly easy drinking for a region that has a reputation for making more oversized wines. A wine most every Rhone varietal fan should give a try! The 2020 vintage in the Willamette Valley was a double whammy of difficulty for pretty much every winery. Not only was the Covid pandemic making work in the vineyards difficult and tourism/sales nearly impossible, the wildfire outbreak around Labor Day threatened pretty much all of the year's Pinot Noir harvest with smoke contamination if not outright vine damage. Even in the best of times it would have been difficult to get vineyards harvested and processed quickly in such an emergency situation, but the added layer of Covid precautions made it all but impossible. Many wineries did the best they could with whatever early harvest fruit they got, more than a few scrapped the whole vintage and sold whatever could be acceptable off as bulk, and almost nobody made any single vineyard wines that are the showpieces of of Oregon wine. Thankfully the region has benefited from two MUCH less dramatic and relatively problem free seasons, and our favorites are back to creating great stuff at all price points. Inspired by the Bauhaus artist Paul Klee, this wine from selected family owned properties in and around the Yamhill-Carlton area is routinely a first choice by staff for value out of Oregon. Cool, classic dark fruits on the nose with lots of restrained black cherry and hints of soy or pepper, a change of pace from some of the hotter recent vintages that put out a headier fruit aroma. The longer growing season also shows up on the palate with persistent fine tannins behind the dark fruits, giving some almost Burgundian style structure all the way through the finish. Patience is needed here, but well rewarded over several hours as the aromas get more floral and spicier and the fruit on the palate deepens. A wine that shows there will be a lot of the '22 vintage in people's cellars for years to come. By its nature, Gewurztraminer is a tricky grape to grow and takes more minimum effort than others to make a healthy harvest. This makes it harder to find good value versions, especially if you like a drier style. It's easier to play up the perfumed character or the grape by leaving in the natural sweetness, plus sugar in wine is like spackle on a damaged wall, evening out rough edges and hiding problems or imperfections. Banyan has been a favorite for many vintages as it manages to do both those difficult things very, very well. Winemaker Kenny Likitprakong has always built this wine to honor his Thai heritage and marry with the cuisine, and is just a delight year after year. Classic and immediately identifiable Gewurztraminer perfume of wildflowers, juicy pear and white fruits, and a bit of spicy magnolia blossom. Without the sweetness behind it, many of the notes are cooler especially right out of the fridge, almost minty. On the palate the texture is juicy but not cloying at all, very clean white fruit all over and a touch of pear skin type tannin to the finish. A stone cold necessity to have in the fridge for midweek takeout Asian food, even the next day leftovers. There are a few examples in the wine world of 'single owner' appellations or districts, mostly in cases of smaller and unique properties. Chateau Grillet is perhaps the most famous, a small 25 acre amphitheater in the Northern Rhone surrounded by the Condrieu appellation, yet given it's own status early on in the drawing and designating of these designations (before realizing how complicated it would get to let so many of these micro-sites get their own appellations and stopped). Gravina has sort of come to this distinction by accident. This Puglian region was originally drawn as any other to cover as many producers that wanted to use it in this rural mountainous area inland from Bari. But the impoverished area had very few independent wineries, mostly growers that sold to the local co-operative. In 1991 the Botromagno family winery merged with the co-op, essentially becoming the one winery in Gravina, and this the only wine using the Gravina DOC. Hopefully that will change based on the quality of this one, as the promise is quite outstanding. A blend of Greco and Malvasia, two hearty white grapes that can handle the heat of the region, the nose right on the first pour is full of white flowers and citrus peel, gaining melon and tropical fruit tones as it opens up. The palate is round and softer on acidity in a bit of a Chardonnay sort of way, but naturally with no oak or buttery notes at all, just the texture of the grapes themselves. No sweetness at all either, actually finishes with some green apple skin or grapefruit type tartness behind the lovely melon and fruit, leaving your palate salivating. An excellent pairing with richer seafood dishes, and just a great wine to mix in for people looking to find wines outside the norm. INSIDER'S PICK: 2021 LES VIGNERONS DE TAVEL & LIRAC 'LES HAUTS d'ACANTALYS' LIRAC ROUGE $17.998/31/2023 On a map, the Rhone region can look very broad and expansive, with dividing lines drawn arbitrarily. In person it makes sense because of how the geography draws the lines for you, and it actually becomes surprising how quickly some of the major changes happen. Lirac and Tavel sit side by side just across the river from Avignon and Chateauneuf-du-Pape, home to some of the most intense wines in France, yet are combined known more for their Rose production than anything else. The key is in the river itself: the areas to the North and East of it slope up towards the Ardeche Mountains and have a looser rocky soil, while to the South and West the soils are more sand. Though the wine is made by the local co-operative, it is all from a single site just outside of Roquemaure, literally across the bridge from Chateauneuf-du-Pape. A classic Rhone blend of Syrah, Grenache, and Mourvedre, as well as a healthy splash of Carignan from the oldest parcel of vines on the property, this definitely swings with the strength of its neighbors across the way. Lovely kirsch cherry, blackberry, dark spice and iodine on the nose, with nice weight on the palate and a more savory peppery note to the finish than on the nose. Lots of value to be had here. The oaky/buttery image of Chardonnay is so ingrained in our collective psyche, it is very easy to forget how tasty the grape can be without all the added bells and whistles. Not everyone can pull it off, it takes not only the right vineyard sites but also the proper clones of the grape. Grape vines can mutate and change subtly over time, and when cuttings are taken from that vine to make new growths they carry those traits, both desirable and undesirable. Over time (decades, even centuries) certain 'clones' become known for distinctive traits such as the size of clusters, weather durability, and distinct flavor quality. Hendry Vineyard, located right on the edge of Napa's Carneros and Mount Veeder appellations, features the famed Dijon clones originating in Burgundy, creating a wine that doesn't need anything added on it to be tasty. Distinctive rich pear and Golden Delicious apple aromas that are a signature of the Dijon clones; barrel aging would give them a caramel/buttery brioche sort of enhancement, but not needed or missed here. The palate is deep and very mouthfilling loaded with crunchy apple fruit and pear skins, naturally dry and zesty with surprising acidity and freshness all the way to the finish. For the oak averse this is about as good as you will find for domestic unoaked Chardonnay, playing on par with similarly priced Burgundies. Immense food possibilities as well, with plenty of body to hold up against richer dishes. |
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
November 2023
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