Muga Reserva Rioja Muga 2009
Bodegas Muga Reserva Rioja 2009 is a praise-worthy blend of traditional grape varieties: 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacha, 7% Mazuelo, and 3% Graciano. Like an old and beautiful tapestry, there is a lovely interplay of dried roses and violets, brambly fruit and ripe Italian plums, saddled horses and red clay soil. This lovely pastoral scene, and […]
Brooks Rastaban Pinot Noir 2011
From 100% estate-grown fruit, Brooks Rastaban Pinot Noir 2011 is a wine of fantastic contrasts and angles. The nose comes across as dark and brooding, laden with black cherries and blackberries, minerals and dried rose petals. On the palate, however, it presents a lighter body than expected [more or less on the light side of […]
Château Margaux Grand Vin Premier Grand Cru Classé 1990
Tasted with awe and much contemplation, the 1990 Margaux was one of the crowning jewels at my last tasting in Carmel, a parting gift opened the evening before my move to Portland. Garnet-robed with no bricking, this bottle was delightfully fresh and vibrant with pronounced aromas of forest floor, leather, earth, plums, black cherries, sandalwood, […]
Morlet Family Vineyards Coup de Cœur 2010
I tasted the 2010 Ma Princesse earlier this year and was totally blown away by how precise it was. The same can be said of the 2010 Coup de Cœur—Luc Morlet brings an Old World touch to this New World beauty with complex, glowing, sumptuous layers of fleshy golden peaches, baked apple skins and caramelized […]
Rene Rostaing Côte-Rôtie Côte Blonde 1998
The epitome of old-school Côte-Rôtie, the 1998 Rostaing offers up an ever-evolving kaleidoscope of aromas: smokey bacon fat and animal notes at first, followed by sweet violets and steeped blackberries. It’s quite lean on the palate, with ultra-fine, well integrated tannins—a mark of maturity—underpinned by high acidity and gamey-green notes of dill and green peppercorn, […]
Domaine Olga Raffault ‘Les Picasses’ Chinon 1989
‘Les Picasses’ lies along a riverbank on a fairly steep slope that is primarily alluvial clay overlaying chalk and limestone. The vines are over 50 years old and the site is known to produce wines with fabulous purity and minerality. As such, the Olga Raffault ‘Les Picasses’ Chinon 1989 has had time to mellow, and […]
Saint Aix Coteaux d’ Aix-En-Provence Rosé 2013
I cut my teeth on Provence rosé drinking Saint Aix, and it’s still just as lovely today. Bone dry and refreshing on the palate, with alluring notes of juicy white peach and melon, apricot, and a pinch of turbinado sugar. True to form, it has that sort of wonderful texture that is laden in wet […]
Château Ausone Saint-Émilion Premier Grand Cru Classé 2000
Where to begin? Château Ausone 2000 recalls some of my top red Burgundies—wines of this caliber have an otherworldly quality, that can only be described as an ethereal, gossamer, and transcendent. Complex, ever-evolving layers of black currants, ripe blueberries, gravelly earth, iron, olives, sweet tobacco, violets, camphor, and even a touch of dried honey. It’s […]
Monopole Champagne & Wine Bar
Apparently, the food scene, like the wine scene, has materialized at a breakneck pace, with phenomenal restaurants springing up across the island like daisies. Some rigidly traditional—like the Japanese restaurant, Seryna in the heart of Makati’s Little Tokyo where I sampled the best Unagi I’ve ever tasted—and others a little more avant-garde. The streets surrounding Makati, and […]
Auteur Pinot Noir Sonoma Stage Vineyard 2007
The 2007 Auteur Sonoma Stage Vineyard Pinot Noir is tired and feels like the fruit is fading. On the nose, aromas of dust, dried cherries, dried rose petal and a hit of alcohol. In the mouth, a stemmy high note, followed by rose petals and red berries, but nothing really precise. It finishes hot, too. […]