Larmandier-Bernier Champagne Longitude Premier Cru NV
Pierre Larmandier’s wines are pure and terroir-driven. This superb bottling of the Longitude Premier Cru Extra Brut is composed of 100% Chardonnay sourced from Vertus, Oger, Avize, and Cramant, with 40% of the blend coming from 2010 reserve. Poached pear, baked apple, lemon sorbet, and chalk are slowly released by a clinquant mousse. In the […]
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 […]
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 […]
Wijngaard Klein-Amerika Cuvée Bosrand 2009
Sampled at a recent #winelover hangout in Bucharest, the 2014 Wijngaard Klein-Amerika Cuvée Bosrand is a blend of Regent and Cabernet Colonjes—which appears to be a hybrid cross of between Cabernet Sauvignon and, as far as I can tell, an unknown mold-resistant variety. At any rate, it’s a tart, tightly-wound wine, with a modest dollop […]
Domaine Perrault-Jadaud Vouvray Pétillant Haut Les Choeurs 2014
A charming and expansive nose of baked apple, brioche, white flowers, and acacia honey graces this lemon-yellow Vouvray. Full and voluptuous on the palate, with a laser thin beam of acidity cuts a wide swath through orchard fruit, fine lees, and dried honeycomb. It’s slightly sweet, but well balanced. Overall a delight on a brisk […]
Ellipsis Red Hills Lovett Vineyard Petite Sirah 2014
Lake County wines are admittedly a new discovery for me. Thus far, the feeling is that the appellation deserves more attention than it currently sees, at least outside of California. Known for it’s high-elevation mountain vineyards with predominantly volcanic soils, the wines from the AVA are graced with intensity and poise. The 2014 Ellipsis Red […]
Biohof Pratsch Grüner Veltliner 2016
Biohof Pratsch is a solid producer, both in terms of the winery’s commitment to environmental stewardship and in price, it’s always an excellent value. The 2016 Grüner Veltliner is awash in billowy aromas of pear, lime blossom, and lemon thyme. In the mouth, the frame is wonderfully light and lean, minerality contributes as much to […]
Petro Vaselo Kotys Blanc de Noirs 2012
This multidimensional, zero dosage sparkler from Petro Vaeselo winery is from an winery is the product of a substantial Italian investment in the Romania’s bucolic Recaș DOC. Composed of 100% Pinot Noir grown in clay soils banded in limestone, it spends three years en tirage. Alluring aromas of buttered scone, baked apple, and pear waft […]
Rain Dance Vineyards Nicholas Vineyard Pinot Noir 2016
From the Chehalem Mountains sub-appellation, Rain Dance’s Nicholas Vineyard sits at an elevation of 544 feet and consists of silty clay loam Jory and Laurelwood type soils—the expression is more black fruit than red. A spicy mélange of black cherry and black raspberry hovering between vanilla and more compact forest floor notes. Smooth and silken […]