Robert Parker - Wine of the Day
September 3, 2010
02:00
2007 Valdicava Rosso di Montalcino
2007 Valdicava Rosso di Montalcino
The 2007 Rosso di Montalcino is one of the more massive Rossos in this vintage. In fact, it is one of the few wines that may actually require a year or two in bottle for the tannins to soften! Super-ripe red cherries lead to kirsch, earthiness, leather and spices as this full-bodied, tannic Rosso struts its stuff. The wine possesses exceptional depth, purity and class. Proprietor Vincenzo Abbruzzese elevates Rosso to another level with this effort, but readers will need to be patient. The Valdicava Rosso is made from the estate’s youngest vines, all of which are Brunello-designated. In 2007 Abbruzzese gave his Rosso an additional 4-5 months in cask above the usual 8-10 months. He describes the wine as “too important for a Rosso” and I tend to agree as this is by no means an approachable, easy going wine. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2022. Valdicava has been somewhat of a controversial property over the last few years. The Brunellos are typically very concentrated and dense when young, which can make them hard to assess. Make no mistake about it though; these are very serious wines whose only difficulty lies in giving them a few more years in bottle than the vast majority of Brunellos. A vertical tasting last year going back to 1988 published on www.erobertparker.com showed that the Valdicava Brunellos age exquisitely. Importer: Vinifera Imports, Ronkonkoma, NY; tel. (631) 467-5907
Rating: 91 Estimated Cost: $29-$50
Categories: Wine Blogs in English
September 2, 2010
02:00
2006 Arnaldo Caprai Montefalco Rosso
2006 Arnaldo Caprai Montefalco Rosso
The 2006 Montefalco Rosso is a harmonious wine bursting with dark red fruit. This generous entry-level red is sure to offer fine drinking over the next few years. It also makes a great introduction to the wines of Marco Caprai. The Rosso is 70% Sangiovese, 15% Sagrantino, and 15% Merlot that spends 12 months in French oak. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2011. This is another strong set of releases from Marco Caprai, the producer most responsible for calling attention to the potential of Sagrantino in these hillside vineyards. The estate itself is sprawling, and covers 150 hectares of vineyards planted to various densities and trellising systems that clearly show the enormous expense Caprai has undertaken to fully understand the unique qualities of Sagrantino. At the heart of the property is a large, well-appointed visitors’ center and tasting facility that looks more like something out of Napa Valley rather than rural Italy. My tasting at Caprai was remarkable as I had a chance to revisit a number of older vintages, which will be reviewed in a forthcoming article on www.erobertparker.com. Caprai’s wines tend towards the modern end of the spectrum, with French oak used for both malolactic fermentation and aging. The wines often appear tough when young, but with a few years in bottle they can develop beautifully. In the finest vintages, Caprai’s top wines drink well to age 15 and occasionally beyond. Importer: Villa Italia Imports, South San Francisco, CA; tel. (650) 873-6060
Rating: 89 Estimated Cost: $18-$32
Categories: Wine Blogs in English
September 1, 2010
02:00
2008 La Clotte
2008 La Clotte
A sexy St.-Emilion with more concentration and density than usual (yields were 30 hectoliters per hectare), the 2008 La Clotte represents a blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc that came in at 13.7% natural alcohol. Its strong perfume reveals scents of black fruits and forest floor, with plenty of glycerin as well as an impression of sweetness from the higher than normal alcohol and ripe fruit. The vintage’s freshness (from higher acids than normal) combined with ripe tannins result in a singular style with full-bodied power and richness yet nuance and delicacy. This will be a crowd-pleasing, quasi-St.-Emilion fruit bomb to enjoy over the next 12-14 years.
Rating: (91-93) Estimated Cost: $29-$37
Categories: Wine Blogs in English
August 31, 2010
02:00
2004 Tenuta di Nozzole Chianti Classico Riserva
2004 Tenuta di Nozzole Chianti Classico Riserva
The 2004 Chianti Classico Riserva La Forra is made in a similar style, but shows more complexity in its dark cherries, smoke, tobacco and licorice.. Like the regular bottling, a more enlightened use of oak might give the wine better balance and finesse. Today the tannins lack some polish, but La Forra is a wine that offers excellent potential for the future. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2019. Importer: Kobrand Corp., Purchase, NY; tel. (914) 253-7756
Rating: 89 Estimated Cost: $23-$24
Categories: Wine Blogs in English
August 30, 2010
02:00
2006 Iron Horse Wedding Cuvee
2006 Iron Horse Wedding Cuvee
Revealing tiny, well-formed bubbles, the 2006 Wedding Cuvee (86% Pinot Noir and 14% Chardonnay aged 3 years on the yeast) offers a chalky, lemon zest, and citrus-scented bouquet, a crisp, medium-bodied style with lots of minerality, outstanding purity, and good length. Hints of nectarine and lemon drops also emerge from this sparkler. It should drink well for 2-4 years. This is an impressive group of sparkling wines from Joy Sterling and her team at Iron Horse. Tel. (707) 887-1507; fax (707) 887-1337
Rating: 91 Estimated Cost: $24-$40
Categories: Wine Blogs in English
02:00
2006 Iron Horse Wedding Cuvee
2006 Iron Horse Wedding Cuvee
Revealing tiny, well-formed bubbles, the 2006 Wedding Cuvee (86% Pinot Noir and 14% Chardonnay aged 3 years on the yeast) offers a chalky, lemon zest, and citrus-scented bouquet, a crisp, medium-bodied style with lots of minerality, outstanding purity, and good length. Hints of nectarine and lemon drops also emerge from this sparkler. It should drink well for 2-4 years. This is an impressive group of sparkling wines from Joy Sterling and her team at Iron Horse. Tel. (707) 887-1507; fax (707) 887-1337
Rating: 91 Estimated Cost: $24-$40
Categories: Wine Blogs in English
August 29, 2010
02:00
2008 Joh Jos Christoffel Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling Kabinett
2008 Joh Jos Christoffel Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling Kabinett
Kiwi, brown spices, and hints of Treppchen-like sassafras grace the nose of Christoffel’s 2008 Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling Kabinett, which comes to the palate with a fine balance of subtle creaminess and refreshment, apple pit bitterness and wet stone helping to balance out a slightly superfluous sweetness that this will lose perhaps halfway through its anticipated 15-20 year lifespan. Hans-Leo Christoffel can continue to point out that an abundance of ripeness has made for “Pradikat inflation”, yet even he will admit that his and partner Robert Eymael’s 2008 vintage Kabinetts would have been top-notch Spatlesen during the 1980s, but not Auslesen. Speaking of which, not only did Christoffel and Eymael offer a complete range of 2008 Auslesen, they also did not begin picking any of them until late, insisting that there was not enough rain during harvest to dampen and diminish the value of botrytis as it collected on the grapes. Noble rot affected around 20-30% of the base material for those wines, an impressive group if not (in its early days, at least) on the stellar level often reached at this address. Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300
Rating: 89 Estimated Cost: $15-$28
Categories: Wine Blogs in English
August 28, 2010
02:00
2008 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese
2008 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese
Scents of Normandy apple cider, marzipan, lily perfume, and vanilla in the nose of Selbach-Oster 2008 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese lead to a subtly creamy, delicate, and refreshing palate. Nut oil richness and transparency to myriad nuances of – for want of a better word – mineral nature lend this complexity, and honey, white raisin, and spice reveal the element of botrytis in fruit picked later and riper than that for the corresponding Schlossberg. Here – as with that wine – the notable achievement is of a sense of lightness and clarity in a wine influenced by noble rot. I suspect this will remain seductive for 15-20 years, and might well recall a 1975 Auslese as much as it would a 1988. More obviously sweet than most of the wines in this collection, it is one I would personally be inclined cellar for the better part of a decade before even broaching. Johannes Selbach responded to the high energy and acidity of the 2008 vintage by giving most of the wines extra fine-lees contact and later-than-usual bottling. As a champion of (in his words) “genuine Kabinett” and “drinking wine, not trophy wine” and a resister against the encroachment of high must weights and residual sugar to which the weather in most recent vintages has left even him susceptible, Selbach was predictably overjoyed both with the refreshment, delicacy, and infectious drinkability made possible by vintage 2008, and with its preponderance of Kabinett and Spatlese. Several single-parcel, block-picked (i.e. the whole crop at once), vineyard-designated wines were essayed (that from the Anrecht – within Zeltinger Himmelreich – being new this year) although at Spatlese rather than, as usually in the past, Auslese Pradikat level. In fact, it remains Selbach’s intention to very soon remove the already small-print reference to Pradikat from these special bottlings, whose focus is intended to be entirely on reflecting terroir and vintage. (Ironically, though, the reference to the sites themselves remain in very small print, because the authorities are testy about the use of geographical designations other than those of the official Einzellagen singled-out – or, to put it more appropriately, assembled – in 1971.) There are a few regional importers of certain Selbach wines, but the majority (and those whose prices are noted above) are Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300
Rating: 91 Estimated Cost: $23-$30
Categories: Wine Blogs in English
August 27, 2010
02:00
2008 Godeval Vina Godeval
2008 Godeval Vina Godeval
The 2008 Vina Godeval was fermented and aged in stainless steel. Light gold-colored with an earth/mineral and melon-scented bouquet; on the palate it is creamy-textured with excellent depth and balance. Drink this excellent value over the next 3 years. Importer: Jorge Ordonez, Fine Estates from Spain, Dedham, MA; tel. (781) 461-5767
Rating: 90 Estimated Cost: $18
Categories: Wine Blogs in English
August 26, 2010
02:00
2006 La Dame de Montrose
2006 La Dame de Montrose
The second wine, the 2006 La Dame de Montrose, is a shrewd choice for wine consumers. A blend of 58% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 12% Cabernet Franc, plus a small quantity of Petit Verdot, it is a layered, lush, fleshy effort possessing ripe red and black fruits interwoven with hints of earth and spice box. Plush, round, and sexy, it should be enjoyed during its first 10-12 years of life.
Rating: 90 Estimated Cost: $22-$39
Categories: Wine Blogs in English
August 25, 2010
02:00
2007 Adega Eidos Eidos de Padrinan Albarino
2007 Adega Eidos Eidos de Padrinan Albarino
The 2007 Eidos de Padrinan is a light gold-colored Albarino with an alluring nose of spring flowers, honey, and lemon. Smooth-textured, it has plenty of ripe fruit, crisp, lively flavors, and excellent depth. Drink this lengthy effort over the next three years. Importer: Classical Wines From Spain, Seattle, WA; tel. (206) 297-6713
Rating: 90 Estimated Cost: $16-$22
Categories: Wine Blogs in English
August 24, 2010
02:00
2009 Le Crock
2009 Le Crock
The 2009 Le Crock is the finest wine I have tasted from this vineyard owned by the Cuvelier family (who also own Leoville Poyferre). A picture postcard chateau sandwiched between Cos d’Estournel and Montrose, it is good to see this under-performing St.-Estephe finally producing better wines. A blend of 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, the 2009 displays an inky/purple color in addition to an opulent nose of black and blue fruits intermixed with licorice, crushed rocks, and flowers. Fat, plush, and fleshy, with terrific fruit purity and a long, layered finish, this sleeper of the vintage can be enjoyed over the next 15+ years. (Tasted two times.)
Rating: (90-92*) Estimated Cost: $22-$39
Categories: Wine Blogs in English
02:00
2009 Le Crock
2009 Le Crock
The 2009 Le Crock is the finest wine I have tasted from this vineyard owned by the Cuvelier family (who also own Leoville Poyferre). A picture postcard chateau sandwiched between Cos d’Estournel and Montrose, it is good to see this under-performing St.-Estephe finally producing better wines. A blend of 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, the 2009 displays an inky/purple color in addition to an opulent nose of black and blue fruits intermixed with licorice, crushed rocks, and flowers. Fat, plush, and fleshy, with terrific fruit purity and a long, layered finish, this sleeper of the vintage can be enjoyed over the next 15+ years. (Tasted two times.)
Rating: (90-92*) Estimated Cost: $22-$39
Categories: Wine Blogs in English
August 23, 2010
02:00
2007 Luce della Vite IGT Lucente
2007 Luce della Vite IGT Lucente
The 2007 La Vite Lucente is a dark, sensual beauty graced with layers of expressive, perfumed fruit. Soft and generous on the palate, the wine offers notable length and an elegant finish framed by ripe, silky tannins. This is one of the better wines I have tasted here in a number of years. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2017. Importer: Folio Fine Wine Partners, Napa, CA; tel. (707) 256-2700
Rating: 89 Estimated Cost: $22-$29
Categories: Wine Blogs in English
August 22, 2010
02:00
2009 Tronquoy-Lalande
2009 Tronquoy-Lalande
The 2009 Tronquoy Lalande (a blend of 51% Merlot, 42% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Petit Verdot) boasts a dense purple color along with a beautiful bouquet of boysenberries, spring flowers, black currants, and a hint of ink, a full-bodied, supple, opulent mouthfeel, and a long finish. It should drink nicely for 10-15 years. (Tasted two times.) This estate, which was acquired by the international telecommunications giant, the French-based Martin Bouygues, has produced their finest wines to date under the guidance of Jean-Bernard Delmas (who made every Haut-Brion between 1961 and 2003). Delmas, who was coaxed out of retirement to apply his enviable talents in St.-Estephe, is a master at attaining sweet tannins, which is always a challenge in this northern appellation.
Rating: (90-93*) Estimated Cost: $32-$49
Categories: Wine Blogs in English
August 21, 2010
02:00
2007 Alvaro Palacios Les Terrasses
2007 Alvaro Palacios Les Terrasses
The 2007 Les Terrasses is the same blend as the Camins cuvee but entirely sourced from old vines. It spent 12 months in 20% new French oak. Aromas of mineral, Asian spices, espresso, black cherry, and black raspberry lead to a medium to full-bodied, concentrated, smooth-textured wine. Savory, moderately structured, and approachable, it may evolve for 1-2 years but can be enjoyed now and over the next 6-8 years. Alvaro Palacios established his namesake winery in 1989. The flagship L’Ermita made its debut in 1993. Finca Dofi and L’Ermita vineyards are farmed biodynamically. All of the wines are bottled without filtration. Importer: Manny Berk, The Rare Wine Co., Sonoma, CA; tel. (707) 996-4484
Rating: 92 Estimated Cost: $30-$45
Categories: Wine Blogs in English
August 20, 2010
02:00
2007 Bonny Doon Le Cigare Blanc Beeswax Vineyard
2007 Bonny Doon Le Cigare Blanc Beeswax Vineyard
The delicious 2007 Le Cigare Blanc Beeswax Vineyard (nearly 2/3 Roussanne and the rest Grenache Blanc) offers a crisp, fresh nose of citrus blossoms, honeysuckle, and quince. Medium to full-bodied with good acidity, lots of personality, and an enticing texture, it should drink nicely for 1-2 years. www.bonnydoonvineyard.com
Rating: 89 Estimated Cost: $17-$20
Categories: Wine Blogs in English
August 19, 2010
02:00
2007 Selection Laurence Feraud Cotes du Rhone Villages Seguret
2007 Selection Laurence Feraud Cotes du Rhone Villages Seguret
The outstanding 2007 Cotes du Rhone-Villages Seguret is a brilliant wine as well as a fabulous bargain. Aromas of licorice, lavender, cassis, and kirsch emerge from this dense ruby/purple-hued offering. Full-bodied and pure with the sweet tannins that make this vintage so impressive, it can be enjoyed over the next 5-6 years. These cuvees, which I previously profiled before they were bottled, are now in the marketplace, and they represent three bargains made by Laurence Feraud at the famed Chateauneuf du Pape estate, Domaine Pegau. Importer: Dan Kravitz, Hand Picked Selections, Warrenton, VA; tel. (540) 347-9400
Rating: 90 Estimated Cost: $16-$19
Categories: Wine Blogs in English
02:00
2007 Selection Laurence Feraud Cotes du Rhone Villages Seguret
2007 Selection Laurence Feraud Cotes du Rhone Villages Seguret
The outstanding 2007 Cotes du Rhone-Villages Seguret is a brilliant wine as well as a fabulous bargain. Aromas of licorice, lavender, cassis, and kirsch emerge from this dense ruby/purple-hued offering. Full-bodied and pure with the sweet tannins that make this vintage so impressive, it can be enjoyed over the next 5-6 years. These cuvees, which I previously profiled before they were bottled, are now in the marketplace, and they represent three bargains made by Laurence Feraud at the famed Chateauneuf du Pape estate, Domaine Pegau. Importer: Dan Kravitz, Hand Picked Selections, Warrenton, VA; tel. (540) 347-9400
Rating: 90 Estimated Cost: $16-$19
Categories: Wine Blogs in English
August 18, 2010
02:00
2007 Chateau des Roques Vacqueyras
2007 Chateau des Roques Vacqueyras
My notes for this 2007 Vacqueyras are somewhat generalized since the wine was not yet blended when I tasted it. This should not be a problem since I rated both components 90 points. One blend was composed of 60% Grenache, 20% Syrah, and 20% Mourvedre, and the other was 70% Grenache, 15% Syrah, and 15% Mourvedre, all from Vacqueyras’ limestone soils. The 2007 appears to be the finest Vacqueyras I have tasted from Chateau des Roques, which owns 36 well-situated acres in this appellation (the total domaine consists of 95 acres). The 2007 exhibits a deep ruby/purple color, loads of roasted herbs, smoky black cherries, and cassis, good acidity, and a sumptuous, full palate. Elegant and pure, it should be a crowd-pleaser over the next 3-4 years. Importer: Alain Junguenet, Wines of France, Mountainside, NJ; tel. (908) 654-6173
Rating: (89-91) Estimated Cost: $17-$21
Categories: Wine Blogs in English
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