Domaine La Tour Vieille Rimage Banyuls 2012
‘Tis the season for fortified dessert wines, and Banyuls is, of course, no exception. This budget-friendly Kermit Lynch import from Domaine La Tour Vieille offers up a welcome bouquet of plums, prunes, sultana, and dark chocolate shavings. Composed of 45 year-old Grenache and Carignan vines grown in schist soils, it’s full-bodied and somewhat one-dimensional on […]
Domaine de Roche-Guillon Fleurie 2014
Crushed raspberries, pie cherries, cranberries, and underbrush waft from the glass. Beguiling secondary notes of dried violets, lilacs and potting soil lend perfumy complexity. It’s a light, nimble Gamay—classic Fleurie—with lifted red fruit tightly wound round a mineral vein of iron ore followed by loamy soil, and bay leaf. 13.0% ABV Domaine de Roche-Guillon 8.8 […]
Larmandier-Bernier Champagne Vieille Vigne de Cramant Grand Cru 2006
Walnut skins, curling yellow parchment paper, roasted yellow apples, poached pear, and honeysuckle. Larmandier-Bernier’s Vieille Vigne de Cramant Grand Cru 2006 always feels autumnal to me and masterfully constructed. Subtle oxidation, ultra-fine mousse and quarried vinosity on the finish makes this a somewhat austere Champagne. One feels compelled to study it, the graceful lines and […]
Lucien Albrecht Crémant d’Alsace Brut Rosé NV
The season of lights continues with this mercurial Cremant d’Alsace from Lucien Albrecht. Glinting copper and rose gold in the glass, it’s an expressive wine, trimmed with apricot and quince, red berries and spice—notes that rise and tumble through an alluvion of cascading bubbles. In the mouth, this 100% Alsatian Pinot Noir is fresh and […]
Kősziklás Borászat Juhfark 2016
Enjoyed at the recent #winelover hangout in Bucharest, the 2016 Kősziklás Juhfark sports a classic profile of walnut skins, almond and, perhaps a touch of lemon pith. Medium-bodied and angular, fruit is not the focus, nor is it the soul of this wine. The real joy lies in the unfolding of its arching, rocky spine, […]
Dopff & Irion Crémant d’Alsace Rosé Brut NV
A luminous salmon-hued sparker, Dopff & Irion’s Brut Rosé is composed of 100% Pinot Noir and opens with a cascade of lively bubbles that give rise to a chorus of citrus, raspberry, alpine strawberry, and spice notes. Nice energy on the palate, with acidity that ebbs and flows as it darts through clean layers pink […]
Vinarte Castel Bolovanu Soare Cabernet Sauvignon 2013
Another local wine from my recent trip through Romania’s picturesque countryside. This modern Cabernet Sauvignon from Vinarte Castel Bolovanu (it took some digging to figure out the actual producer) is fully-loaded. Chocked full of plums and vine-ripened blackberries, it’s fresh, plump and round on the palate with high levels of cedar-tinged tannins and acidity. A […]
Yves Cheron Les Dentelles Côtes du Rhône 2015
I wanted to find a little more concentration of fruit at the core of this otherwise easy-drinking blend of 65% Grenache and 35% Syrah from Yves Cheron. The 2015 ‘Les Dentelles’ sports a classic Southern Rhône profile of plums and blackberries couched in garrigue, warm spice, and dried violet. It’s bright on the palate, not […]
Gustave Lorentz Crémant D’Alsace Brut NV
The color of sun-bleached straw, this charming Crémant D’Alsace from Gustave Lorentz opens with a lively torrent of fine bubbles and inviting layers of baked yellow apple, smokey pear, granulated honey and sea foam. In the mouth, orchard fruit is couched in blithe minerality and weightier layers of marzipan and wet dough. Finishes on a […]
Camille Braun Crémant d’Alsace Brut NV
Really loving this year’s crop Crémant d’Alsace sparklers, including this honey-hued biodynamic blend of 60% Auxerrois and 40% Pinot blanc from Camille Braun. It’s expansive on the nose, expressing baked apple and poached pear along with a heady topnote of shortbread, brioche, and earth. In the mouth, there’s weight, but there’s nice palate tension, too—a […]