Featured Wines - February 2008

The 2006 Garnacha de Fuego Old Vines stands apart as an amazingly good value and a fine example of the wine maker's art. Following an extremely well received 2005 vintage, which garnered high praise indeed from The Wine Spectator, the 2006 edition offers a remarkable reprise. A clean aroma of black cherry overlaying a hint of old saddle leather lets us know that this is no ordinary wine. Once on the tongue, the clean and tightly wound character o... Read More

Excellence and consistency go hand in hand at Domaine de la Collonge. Gilles Noblet's 2006 Pouilly-Fuissé is a bright, sunny elixir that dazzles and shimmers like the noonday sun. With every glance and sip of this fulfilling wine, one sees and tastes the golden clusters of Chardonnay grapes that mature gently and slowly under the Maconnais sun. What's more, the 2006 Domaine de la Collonge Pouilly-Fuissé exhibits Noblet's telltale ripe, round, sed... Read More

The 2005 Château Thieuley Bordeaux Rouge is one more example of how fine the much touted 2005 vintage is in Bordeaux and just how good the best petits châteaux Bordeaux have become in recent years. Deeply colored, round, and generous, the 2005 Château Thieuley Rouge drinks more like classified Bordeaux and is in fact a better wine than many more famous and expensive classified Bordeaux growths we have tasted. An artful blend of 70% Merlot and 30%... Read More

All Kracher wines make a forceful statement, and the 2006 Illmitz Pinot Gris is no exception. It is a lively, expressive wine that bursts with energy. In the aroma one senses the marvelous purity of fruit that the Krachers extract from their grapes, but that's not all. The 2006 Illmitz Pinot Gris contains more than a hint of minerality and a pleasant underpinning of spice, too, in the form of clove, nutmeg, and the entrancing perfume of the Levan... Read More

The 2005 Trinchero St. Helena Napa Valley Petit Verdot hails from a tiny plot of just three acres in Trinchero's Main Street Vineyard, which is located just behind the winery. Only 400 cases of this stunning red make it into the bottle each year as St. Helena Petit Verdot; the rest goes into Trinchero's Reserve Meritage offering for extra color, elegance, and grip. As this Trinchero Reserve Petit Verdot is inky purple in color and nearly opaque, ... Read More

A stunning wine in all respects, the 2006 Loimer Steinmassl Riesling captures the essence of great Riesling, but without the sweetness or residual sugar. So, put aside all preconceived notions you may harbor about Riesling, German Riesling in particular. The single vineyard Loimer Steinmassl is an Austrian icon. Moreover, it is a dry wine of tremendous character, flavor, and depth in its own right. From the outset, this extraordinary Riesling dis... Read More