Wine Blog from The International Wine of the Month Club

Great California Wine Bargains of 2019

April 24, 2019 by Don Lahey

The number of California wineries continues to explode and given the recent spate of excellent vintages, both quality and bargains abound. Although California has suffered through a number of drought years which has resulted in many smaller than average crops, the proliferation of new wineries coupled with greater attention to viticulture and appellations other than Napa and Sonoma guarantee plenty to like. Moreover, one need not be a multi-millionaire to enjoy the Golden State’s viticultural fortunes.

Boutique family owned wineries are firmly behind California’s most exciting wines. However, many long established California wineries are also re-inventing themselves by establishing vineyards in locales heretofore out of their realm and by growing a wider range of grape varieties. Blends have become popular again and Rhône varietals, such as Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre, have gone mainstream, both as individual varietals and in blends labeled GSM.

One of my favorite California off the radar wineries that offers superb quality is Fisher. Fisher’s Mountain Estate Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon constitute some of the tastiest and most endearing Chardonnays and Cabernets we have come across in recent years. Fisher’s wines are not cheap, but far more recognizable California Chardonnays and Cabernets sell for a lot more and deliver much less. Fisher’s wines are hard to come by but worth the price.

Union Sacre’s 2016 Squire Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir from longtime friends Philip Muzzy and Xavier Arnaudi is not exactly on the tip of everyone’s tongue yet; these guys have crafted an exceptional Pinot Noir for under $40.00 that positively rocks. Look out Russian River! You have some real competition from Santa Barbara and points south.

Pedroncelli remains a stalwart family owned Sonoma County winery that consistently puts good wine in the bottle at a very fair price. Known for more than 90 years for their Zinfandels, Pedroncelli has been quietly bottling small lots of knockout Petite Sirah in addition to first rate Sauvignon Blanc. The moral of this story is “search for the small batches and little known bottlings from established California wineries.” Therein lay the values and troves of undiscovered gems.

The 2016 Andronicus from Napa Valley’s Titus Vineyards is one Bordeaux blend that should not be missed. Priced around $30.00 a bottle, this beauty combines the best of Cabernet Sauvignon (at 66%) with varying amounts of Malbec, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. Andronicus sells for a fraction of the price of Titus’s fabulous award-winning Cabernets and Merlots but is every bit as rewarding in its own right, and it’s ready to drink from the moment the cork is pulled. We are sure to see more of this beauty.

Salud!
Don

What to Look For in March 2019

March 22, 2019 by Don Lahey

In March, The International Wine of the Month Club’s Premier Series is proud to offer members four special wines from iconic producers from two hemispheres. This month’s odyssey begins with the charming, easy to like 2013 Laderas de Cabama Rioja, an elegant, fragrant Rioja from Valenciso that brings out the feminine side of Tempranillo at the same time that it offers bold flavors and impeccable balance. Luis Valentin’s magic touch with Tempranillo shines through in the 2013 Laderas de Cabama. Produced from 100% Tempranillo, this wine delights the nose with savory scents of woodland berries, pomegranate, dried leaves, and exotic spices. In the mouth, the wine displays a smooth round feel that carries the wine’s spicy cherry and blackberry flavors to a delightfully fresh conclusion. In true Rioja Alta fashion the 2013 Laderas de Cabama unfolds beautifully in the glass, revealing layers of complex flavors and a freshness rarely seen in other Riojas. Once again, Valenciso has released a wine that strikes a perfect balance between fruit and structure that is ideal for drinking now!

Our next feature this month is the 2017 Château La Gabarre Bordeaux Blanc, a traditional blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon that comes across as the quintessential white Bordeaux. The 2017 vintage yielded exceptional quality white Bordeaux wines and the finest Château La Gabarre Bordeaux Blanc to date, thanks to the Gabards’ expertise with Bordeaux varietals and a late spring frost in 2017 that drastically reduced yields in 2017 but increased quality. The wine’s bright glint in the glass makes a fine first impression that is quickly followed by a savory bouquet redolent with the scents of freshly cut melons, citrus, herbs, and orchard fruits. The wine’s sensual appeal continues in the mouth, where deep drafts of melon, citrus and minerals combine to embrace the palate. In the mouth one also tastes and feels the roundness and superb texture that Semillon imparts to the wine. Fresh, layered, and artfully balanced the 2017 Château La Gabarre Bordeaux Blanc offers plenty of flavors before finishing with verve and vigor.

This month’s next feature is the 2015 Nugan’s Scruffy’s Single Vineyard Shiraz, a wine that is anything but scruffy or even slightly hard around the edges. Named for Nugan’s Shiraz Vineyard Manager, the 2015 Scruffy’s Single Vineyard Shiraz shines from the moment it is poured. This a deep purple potion that offers spicy blackberry, cherry, and currant aromas infused with hints of violet flowers and Asian spices that woo the taster. The wine’s beautiful olfactory carries through on the palate, where it offers a mélange of succulent dark berry and fruit flavors, dried flowers, and delicate spice tones. Silky soft in the mouth but never flabby this Shiraz exhibits just the right amount of gentle ripe tannins to seal the deal. The 2015 Scruffy’s Single Vineyard Shiraz over delivers in every respect, offering the class and breed one normally associates with the finer Syrah based wines from France’s Rhône Valley. Enjoy!

Rounding out this month’s Premier Series selections is the sunny, straw-colored 2016 Domaine Talmard Macon-Chardonnay from the birthplace of Chardonnay in the heart of Burgundy’s Maconnais. From its ebullient straw colored robe emanate orchard scents of ripening apple and pear, coupled with soft floral tones reminiscent of acacia and mimosa. Interlaced among the wine’s floral aromas is a beguiling limestone minerality, the very calling card of the finest Maconnais Chardonnays, thanks to the region’s unique terroir. And to everyone’s delight the 2016 Domaine Talmard Macon-Chardonnay carries its delightful olfactory onto the palate. Imbued with a wonderful smooth texture and bearing a host of savory orchard fruit flavors, minerals, and lemon zest this bone dry, medium-bodied Macon-Chardonnay leaves the mouth invigorated and refreshed. .

The International Wine of the Month Club’s Collector Series is proud to deliver three truly exceptional wines this month from three of the planet’s most prized appellations. Leading this month’s Collector Series is the 2015 Mauritson Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel, a wine that has garnered a cult following among consumers and critics alike (93 Points Wine Spectator). The 2015 Mauritson Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel is not only delicious and easy to drink it offers a degree of complexity rarely seen in Zinfandel. A superb blend of 95% Zinfandel and 5% Petite Sirah Mauritson’s 2015 Dry Creek Zinfandel positively sings from the glass, offering a beguiling bouquet of blackberry, black cherry, and exotic spices. Redolent but not overpowering, this medium to full-bodied, sleekly structured Zinfandel offers up an enviable array of flavors to match its seductive bouquet: blackberry and blueberry fruit infused with vanilla, baking spices, and bramble unfold seamlessly in the mouth. One can hardly resist this bold flavored handsomely made Zinfandel, its innate charm, and explosive finish.

Next up is the exceptional and rare 2017 Domaine du Grand Tinel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc. Grand Tinel has been on a roll in recent vintages with its Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc and their 2017 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc is perhaps the finest to date. From this light straw-colored wine, which holds more than a glimmer of the shimmering Provencal sun, emerges the seductive scents of tropical fruits: pineapple, guava, and lime infused with subtle hints of wild herbs and minerals. On the palate, the wine truly blossoms, revealing a lush creamy texture backed by a bright citrus vivacity that makes it hard to resist and the ideal companion to bring to table. Unlike so many white wines whose flavor profiles appear wrapped up mainly in the bouquet, it is the center of this intriguing Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc that makes it special. This classic Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc is ideal for drinking now and over the next several years.

Completing this month’s Collector Series is the 2016 Consortium Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Born in a perfect vintage in America’s premier appellation for Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2016 Consortium Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is already an absolute delight to drink. Bold but not brazen, this superbly crafted Cabernet exudes exceptional flavor, charm and precision. From the moment it reaches the glass, the 2016 Consortium begins to work its magic by offering beguiling scents of blackberry, Morello cherry, plum, and hints of bay leaf, all of which come wrapped in a well-integrated patina of oak. The 2016 Consortium Cabernet doubles the pleasure in the mouth as the wine’s beautiful olfactory wells up on the palate, providing rich black and red fruit flavors infused with deft touches of bay leaf, dark chocolate, and tobacco. Fine ripe tannins support the wine’s complex flavors and provide impeccable balance and mouthfeel. Enjoy!

Zinfandel: America’s Own Grape

March 15, 2019 by Don Lahey

Zinfandel has been dubbed “America’s own grape” despite or perhaps on account of its obscure heritage and its immigrant status. Like the vast majority of Americans, Zinfandel’s ancestry and roots hail from lands far away. Zinfandel’s DNA points to Eastern Europe and the Primitivo grape variety whose origins lay in Croatia and more recently Italy, which may in part account for its popularity among the Italian immigrant population that began flocking to our shores, both east and west, in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Finding favor in California among a welcoming immigrant tide in search of a grape capable of producing wine with both a body and a soul in a climate conducive to its production should come as no surprise.

Nonetheless, Zinfandel produces a wine quite different in California from Primitivo and its Croatian and Italian forbearers, and nowhere is that more apparent and welcome than in Sonoma County – the spiritual home of Zinfandel. In Dry Creek Valley and along the banks of Sonoma County’s Russian River, Zinfandel relishes the cooling Pacific breezes that funnel up the appellation’s canyons and valleys as its fruit basks in the long dry summer afternoons, which not surprisingly bring the grape to the pinnacle of perfection. Amador County, Lodi and other California locales also call home to America’s quintessential varietal where Zinfandel’s deep rich colors, intense berry, bramble, and herb flavors, high alcohol, and lush tannins result in wines that fill the mouth and satisfy all of the senses, yet there is more to Zinfandel than strength and vigor.

One of Zinfandel’s keys to success is its extraordinary lifespan, which enables it to produce quality fruit well into old age. In fact, the oldest Zinfandel vineyards (many in California are in excess of 100 years of age) are the most prized. Another attribute of Zinfandel is its versatility. Zinfandel can take on the role of chameleon, equally capable of becoming a light pink quaffable wine such as White Zinfandel, or a deep, dark intense potion of incredible proportion, or something altogether different in the refined style of classic claret.

As an immigrant to our shores, Zinfandel embodies the American experience.

It is a grape that has transformed itself over the last century and a half and honed its own unique identity, an identity that is continually evolving and infinitely open to interpretation. In the eyes of its many admirers, Zinfandel has become a bigger, better, more complex grape since its arrival in America with “a can do attitude” and an identity all of its own. This year, why not take a tour of America and discover America’s own grape. Enjoy!

Salud!
Don

What’s Coming in February 2019

February 22, 2019 by Don Lahey

In February, The International Wine of the Month Club’s Premier Series is excited to offer our members four outstanding wines from around the world, beginning with the 2017 Château Sainte Eulalie Plaisir d’Eulalie Minervois. Ripe, round, and beautifully textured, the 2017 Plaisir d’Eulalie highlights this renowned Languedoc estate’s inimitable terroir, old vines, and expert winemaking in yet another exceptional vintage. Savory scents of black cherry and plum, intertwined with hints of violet, Provençal herbs, and black pepper greet the nose and continue to develop and impress for hours. Juicy red and black fruit flavors mingle with hints of garrigue and violets to fill the mouth and grace the palate, while soft, ripe tannins frame this seductive red and carry the wine’s pleasing surfeit of flavors to a fulfilling finish. The 2017 Château Eulalie Plaisir d’Eulalie is a wine for those who appreciate a pure unadulterated red wine that displays both beautiful fruit flavors and an authentic taste of its place of origin. For those seeking such a wine, they need look no further than this superb country wine from France’s oldest wine producing region.

Our next Premier Series feature is the bold and complex 2017 Rustenberg Stellenbosch Chardonnay, a wine that bears more than a passing resemblance to the traditional Napa Valley Chardonnays of the 1970s – the very wines that challenged France’s superiority with Chardonnay and established California as the New World’s premier wine producer. The 2017 Rustenberg Stellenbosch Chardonnay offers enticing aromas of apple, apricot, coconut, orange peel, and toasty oak. In the mouth, Rustenberg’s Chardonnay is equally rich and balanced. It fills the mouth with complex fruit flavors tempered with hints of marzipan and fresh acidity, all wrapped in creamy oak from a 12 month hiatus in barrel. Add the further complexity imparted by wild yeast fermentation in barrel and Rustenberg’s 2017 Stellenbosch Chardonnay presents itself as world class wine and a real Chardonnay lover’s dream.

Next among this month’s exceptional features is the 2015 Château Barreyre Bordeaux Supérieur. With ideal growing conditions throughout the 2015 vintage, and traditionally very low vineyard yields, Château Barreyre has produced the château’s most prodigious wine to date. The 2015 Château Barreyre weighs in at a whopping 15% alcohol and is packed with color and mouth-filling flavors. It wears a deep purple robe and offers a seductive set of aromatics. The savory scents of blackberry, cassis, dark chocolate, and hints of cedar and fresh forest floor come to fore. In the mouth, the wine’s haunting aromatics reappear to grace the palate. Carried on a bed of smooth-textured tannins, one hardly notices the power this wine packs until the wine has slipped ever so easily down the throat. Bold and beautiful but never brash, the 2015 Château Barreyre is a joy to drink now, though it will undoubtedly continue to improve in bottle for at least several more years.

Completing this month’s Premier Series offerings is the 2016 Steve Bird Gisborne Pinot Gris, a wine that makes a bold statement right out of the bottle with Pinot Gris’s natural tint – a bright luminescent golden yellow color. From the color, one might almost think an unctuous wine awaits a beckoning sweet tooth, but not so. Fresh, clean aromas reminiscent of pear and white peach imbued with a hint of exotic spice greet the nose. In the mouth, one immediately realizes the magic in this wine is not in the form of sweetness. Steve Bird’s single vineyard Pinot Gris offers a wealth of subtle fruit flavors, a gentle flinty minerality, and an impeccable texture and mouthfeel. Moreover, touches of spice and refreshing acidity lead to an immensely satisfying finish that made tasting panel members beg for more.

The International Wine of the Month Club’s Collectors Series is thrilled to offer three special collectable wines in February, beginning with the rare 2016 Domaine Chamfort Vacqueyras from the Southern Rhône Valley. As a blend of 65% Grenache, 20% Mourvèdre, and 15% Syrah, the 2016 Domaine Chamfort Vacqueyras is a powerful yet polished wine of great character from old vines, many of which are in excess of 50 years of age. Deeply colored, full-bodied and packed with flavor, the 2016 Domaine Chamfort Vacqueyras displays a heady bouquet of dark fruits, anise, garrigue (the amplifying herbal scents and savors of the Provençal landscape), pepper and spice. Moreover, the wonderful 2016 vintage in the southern Rhône has endowed the 2016 Chamfort Vacqueyras with additional elegance. Rich in fruit and long on flavor, this youthful but complex Vacqueyras is already chock full of hedonistic pleasure, yet further reward awaits those with the patience to afford this wine an additional year or more in bottle. An outstanding effort from Domaine Chamfort, Vasco Perdigao’s 2016 Vacqueyras deserves a place on every Rhône lover’s table as well as a cool resting spot in the cellar.

Our next February Collectors Series offering is Emile Beyer’s 2016 Grand Cru Eichberg Alsace Riesling, a highly allocated, truly exceptional, delightfully dry Riesling that is meant to be enjoyed at table with a splendid meal. Emile Beyer’s 2016 Grand Cru Eichberg Riesling offers a beautiful aroma and a wealth of complex flavors, beginning with an enthralling potpourri of spring flowers, honeysuckle, orchard fruits, hauntingly delectable spice tones, and an engaging minerality, all bolstered by bright acidity. Balanced acidity with the mouthwatering freshness of lemon zest adds crispness and lift to the wine’s long, explosive finish. With a glass of Emile Beyer’s Eichberg Grand Cru Riesling, put aside all preconceived notions of the noble Riesling varietal and discover the grape’s true beauty, without the residual sugar.

Rounding out this month’s Collectors Series is the 2016 Chappellet Mountain Cuvée from master Napa Valley winemaker Phillip Corallo-Titus. The 2016 Chappellet Mountain Cuvée is a delicious crowd-pleasing Cabernet blend (51% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot, 13% Malbec, 9% Petit Verdot, and 3% Cabernet Franc). Dark purple in color, packed with rich fruit, and endowed with ripe tannins that beautifully frame the wine’s cornucopia of complex flavors, the 2016 Chappellet Mountain Cuvée raises the bar for Napa Meritage offerings. The wine’s enticing bouquet reminiscent of classified Bordeaux gives way to a wealth of black currant fruit, cedar, dark chocolate and a pleasant touch of earthiness that many other California Cabernet based wines seem to lack. Bold but not brash, the wine unfolds in the glass as it breathes, revealing plenty of appealing fruit and finesse along with ample structure to allow it to evolve further for several more years. More than just a good solid Cabernet, the 2016 Chappellet Mountain Cuvée is truly an outstanding effort from Phillip Corallo-Titus and the folks at Chappellet. Enjoy!

The Rhône Valley: Where Great Wines and Bargains Abound

February 15, 2019 by Don Lahey

The Rhône Valley of France has for many years been one of my favorite wine destinations. The swift flowing Rhône cuts a fine swath as it descends ever so swiftly from the Swiss Alps to the Mediterranean Sea. The region’s physical beauty and luminous light are legendary, and within sight of the Rhône lie some of the finest vineyards and appellations in France: Hermitage, Côte Rôtie, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Gigondas, Vacqueyras, and a bevy of Côte-du-Rhône villages that turn out some of the world’s most affordable treasures. All can be found along the mighty Rhône and upon the steep slopes of neighboring Languedoc. A recent trip to southern France has only reinforced my love for this region, but regrettably I don’t get to the south of France as often as I would like, as there are so many other wonderful wine regions to explore and new vineyards worldwide that merit attention. To compensate for my loss and to remind me of times past, I make sure to drink my share of splendid Rhône wines. Why? First and foremost, I like them. Secondly, they conjure the colorful images of Provence and nearby Languedoc that have been indelibly printed in my memory. And last but not least, year in and year out, the Rhône Valley consistently turns out an abundance of unadulterated wines that people enjoy drinking, with or without food. Consequently, one of my quests this past year has been to find more of the Rhône Valley’s hidden treasures along with those little known gems languishing in nearby Languedoc. I invite you to come and taste!

Salud!
Don

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