Best Buys
Digital delineation
Matt Kramer, wine columnist/muckraker for the Wine Spectator and the Oregonian, has championed the traditional Piedmontese wines of Enzo Brezza, especially the San Lorenzo Vineyard Dolcetto, a wine he memorably (and aptly) praised for its “almost digital delineation.” The 2010 Dolcetto is in fact a study in crunchy, mouthwatering freshness laced with a pine-y herbality. Think of it as a Piedmontese Cru Beaujolais, a kind of Dolcetto Fleurie. This should be in heavy rotation as your roast chicken red. |
Lovely, unaffected, simple but delicious Pinot for a song
I was fully prepared to not like this wine until I actually tasted it with Tortoise Creek owner/blender Charlie Master a few weeks ago. Show me a California Pinot Noir — make that a Pinot Noir from anywhere — that actually tastes as much like real Pinot Noir as the Tortoise Creek Pinot for a ten spot. You can’t do it. The Masters work with Pinot growers in Limoux in the Western Languedoc which is the coolest microclimate in Languedoc — Limoux produces lots of fruit for low price French sparklers because it’s cool enough to support higher acid levels. It’s all here. Crispy red fruit and an easygoing freshness. Doesn’t taste overworked at all. A lovely unaffected, simple but delicious Pinot for a song. Wednesday night wine just got a whole lot more interesting. TORTOISE CREEK PINOT NOIR “Les Oliviers” 2009, Pays d’Oc $9.97 |
A sleeper from the Languedoc
A customer tipped us off to this sneaky little wine from the rugged south-facing schist slopes of the Faugeres AOC in the Herault hills of the northern Languedoc-Roussillon. An appealing peaty/camp-fire background note frames the energetically sappy red fruit. Talk about over-delivery. Medium-bodied and lithe with an almost Pinot-like delivery. I wouldn’t blink at paying $20 for this wine. Shhh. Don’t tell anyone. It’s our little secret. CHATEAU DE LA LIQUIERE “Les Amandiers” 2009, Faugeres $14.95 |
Grand theft Burgundy!
These cats have been at it forever in Savigny-les-Beaune and their pricing structure is downright 19th century. I opened yet another bottle of this last night. Wow. This should ought to be called grand theft Burgundy because it’s got everything you could ask for in a Burgundy – heady sandalwood/incense nose and a laser beam of red fruit — except the price tag. Just get some and don’t tell anybody. A greedy, keep-it-to-yourself kinda wine if there ever was one. |
Girls, Girls, Girls
We’ll let you in on a big industry secret. Grapes grown at elevation on the volcanic soil of the Red Hill AVA of Lake Country breathe the same as air as those grown a few miles down slope in Napa Valley. They just can’t put Napa Valley on the label or charge Napa prices. So while we enjoy a big Napa Cabernet as much as the next guy or gal, we love a great buy too. Girls in the Vineyard Cabernet has everything you like about Napa Cabs except the price: loads of cassis, currant and mocha. GIRLS IN THE VINEYARD CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2007, Red Hills-Lake County $17.97 |
The most undervalued white wine value in the shop
You hear the word “Burgundian” thrown around quite a bit when describing California Chardonnays that aren’t oak and butter bombs. Jim Clendenen of Santa Barbara’s Au Bon Climat means it. And by Burgundian he doesn’t mean no oak at all; rather, he uses oak barrels for their oxidative properties to draw out the flavor in the wine as opposed to merely seasoning the wine with oak flavor. It’s akin to reducing a sauce. It’s a winemaking tool that intensifies the flavors rather than masking them. It’s what French winemakers call ”elevage” and it’s what Jim Clendenen learned when he apprenticed as a young American in the vineyards of Burgundy in the early 80′s before returning to the states to start his winery. And it’s not cheap, so it’s something of a minor marvel that he can produce a classic Chardonnay in a truly Burgundian style and come to market at less than $20 a bottle. I tell people this is the most undervalued white wine in the shop. |
