Don Lahey, Author at Wine Blog from The International Wine of the Month Club

Don’s March Premier Series Top Picks

March 14, 2013 by Don Lahey

This month’s first Top Pick goes to Pietra Santa’s 2009 Sassolino. Winemaker Allesio Carli has fashioned an exemplary Super Tuscan style red in California from Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes that should absolutely not be missed. And although this year’s Sassolino could be labeled as Sangiovese (as it contains 80% of that varietal), Pietra Santa has wisely stuck with Sassolino, the wine’s proprietary name. Sassolino is its own wine. The 2009 Sassolino comes across as rich, powerful, and beautifully polished. It’s a pleasure to drink now, and if previous vintages of Sassolino are any indication, Pietra Santa’s 2009 Sassolino will evolve over the next five or more years and provide even greater joy with each passing year. My other Top Pick causes me a bit of anxiety because Nidia’s 2011 Verdejo and Edgebaston’s Honey Pot drink beautifully in their respective categories and have garnered a lot of friends. Nonetheless, I have to go with Edgebaston’s 2010 The Berry Box as my second Top Pick: it’s an artful blend of grapes that expresses everything good about blending multiple grape varieties and the work that David Finlayson is doing on the Cape of South Africa. Juicy, tasty, and downright delicious is how I describe it. A votre santé.

Don

Don’s February Collector’s Series Top Picks

March 6, 2013 by Don Lahey

I really like the variety as well as the quality of this month’s features, so I may as well throw a dart at the labels of this month’s offerings and whatever labels the first two darts land upon get to be Top Picks. All right, I suppose that won’t do. Consequently, it would be a crime to leave out Querciola’s 2008 Barolo. Barolo is one of Italy’s top two wines. Among Italian wines, only Brunello di Montalcino can compete in price, quality, and overall regard with Barolo. Secondly, 2008 is an excellent vintage in Barolo and should not to be missed by serious wine lovers. And most importantly, Querciola fashions beautiful, elegant Barolo. So, Querciola’s 2008 Barolo merits the honor of this month’s first Top Pick. Now, it gets more complicated. Morgadio’s 2011 Albarino could easily serve as the poster child for Albarino, Spain’s top white grape variety. But Losada’s 2009 Bierzo Mencia is simply knock out gorgeous. Our tasting panels couldn’t get enough of this Mencia, made from the ancient Mencia grape variety that has really come into its own in the last decade. So, if I have to choose, Losada’s 2009 Mencia gets my other vote for Top Pick. It is one of a hand full of wonderful Mencia wines that have convinced me of the greatness of the varietal. A votre santé.

Don

Don’s March Collector’s Series Top Picks

March 6, 2013 by Don Lahey

This month’s two Top Picks have earned a place at my table, and from the recent reviews of these wines quite a few folks will wish they had discovered these beauties when we did, before their reviews came out in the international press. For starters, the 2006 Valenciso Reseva Rioja earns this month’s first Top Pick. A worthy successor to Valenciso’s outstanding 2005 Reserva Rioja, one would be hard pressed to find better Rioja than Luis Valentin’s suave, complex, age worthy 2006 Reserva. It’s almost a shame to drink this newly released Reserva now, as it has such a great life ahead of it, but better now than never. For members who are patient enough to give this collectable wine a bit more time in bottle, the word sublime will be more than fitting. My second Top Pick goes to Silvio Grasso’s elegant, regal 2008 Barolo. Wow! One gets a lot of bang for the buck from this wine. Grasso’s style of Barolo weds power to finesse, and in doing so Federico Grasso captures in this wine the ultimate expression of La Morra, traditionally the most elegant of Barolo wines. I truly enjoyed this beautiful Barolo just recently, even at such a tender age. But I also want some of Silvio Grasso’s 2006 Barolo in my cellar so I can enjoy this noble wine as it evolves over the next 5-10 years. My Top Picks are not meant to detract from the magnificent 2009 Gini La Frosca. It is a captivating white wine, and at its peak of perfection. So, if you really want to live right, invite a couple of friends over and serve a bottle of the 2009 Gini La Frosca as an opening act to Silvio Grasso’s Barolo. You’ll be glad you did. A votre santé.

Don

Don’s February Premier Series Top Picks

February 27, 2013 by Don Lahey

This month’s first Top Pick is a no brainer. The 2009 Château Barreyre clearly stands out as an extraordinary example of what Bordeaux can deliver for a price most of us can afford. The prodigy of an overachieving Petit Château in a fabulous vintage the 2009 Château Barreyre delivers everything one could ask from a top notch Petit Château: an alluring aromatic profile, plenty of up front cassis fruit, a nuanced complex mid-palate, and just enough ripe tannins to further its development for several more years. Drink this wine happily now and over the next four or five years. My second Top is more problematic. The 2011 Vesevo Falanghina is a delicious white wine from Italy’s Campania and the finest Falanghina we have tasted from this excellent winery. However, two other outstanding features make this month’s second Top Pick a tough choice. Bisci’s 2011 Verdicchio Matelica remains a personal favorite because I find it simply hard to resist as an aperitif or accompaniment to seafood, but then there’s the exuberant 2011 Gormaz Ribera del Duero: it may just be the best value in Tempranillo from Spain’s legendary Ribera del Duero. So, who gets the crown? It truly depends upon one’s preferences and what accompanies the wine, but pushed to make a decision I have to opt for Vesevo’s 2011 Falanghina. Falanghina is an ancient varietal that is little known in America. It’s excellent with seafood and holds up well to spicy sauces. If you have never tried a Falanghina, it’s about time you did.

A votre santé.

Don

To Screw or Unscrew the Cap Re-visited

February 21, 2013 by Don Lahey

Nearly ten years ago I wrote a feature entitled, “To Screw or Unscrew the Cap” in which I made a case for metal screw caps. A decade ago cork finished nearly every fine bottle of wine and the Stelvin metal cap was a relative novelty, except among Australian and New Zealand wineries. The prevailing sentiment in America was that screw caps, regardless of their origin were fit only for inexpensive wines with limited ability to age. No more! What started as a novel way to avoid the taint of infected cork that had become increasingly more prevalent with the shortage of high quality cork has now become mainstream in nearly all wine producing countries. Today, even Verget, the great French Burgundy producer has adopted the metal screw cap for his top end wines. Why? Screw caps work, and they work well, plain and simple. In fact, they finish wines better than cork.

In nostalgic moments, I bemoan the loss of a perfect cork exiting every special bottle of wine but the reality of the situation is that not all of those “special bottles” were as special as they should have been or could have been had they been finished with metal caps. Ten years of positive results with screw caps finishing top end wines should be all the testimony we need. Nevertheless, perceptions die hard, so I would like to reiterate my initial arguments in favor of the metal cap.

Natural cork is a limited commodity. It is the refined bark of the cork oak, which grows only in certain Mediterranean climates and locales. Moreover, it takes decades for a cork oak that has been “harvested” or flayed if you will to once again bear sufficient cork for our precious wine bottles. In a world enamored of wine, the supply of cork simply cannot keep up with demand. There just isn’t enough genuine cork to go around, and even less high quality cork to be had. Hence, the plethora of alternatives: composite corks, hybrid corks, synthetic corks, and now screw caps. Each has its attributes as well as its drawbacks, with the exception of the metal screw cap whose only downside is its lack of aesthetic appeal. Aside from aesthetics, the modern screw cap is the perfect seal for most wines. It provides an airtight seal, rarely leaks and never spoils or imparts an off taste or smell to a bottle of wine. Surprisingly, it appears to allow fine wines to mature slowly and consistently in bottle as well. The same cannot always be said for all genuine cork or the “pseudo corks” we find closing many wines today, so let’s not hold the metal screw cap in contempt. Besides, the metal cap is here to stay, whether we like it or not, and I predict that more great names in wine will soon adopt or expand their use of the metal screw cap.

Don

What to Look for in 2013

February 4, 2013 by Don Lahey

I am always looking for wines that are not yet on the tip of everyone’s tongue. Some are relative newcomers, others are ancient varietals whose many attributes are just being discovered or re-discovered in the case of Mencia.

Mencia is a red Spanish grape varietal found primarily in the Bierzo, Ribeira Sacra and Valdeorras appellations of northern Spain. The Mencia varietal was once considered by enologists to be a direct ancestor and precursor of Cabernet Franc, but recent DNA testing has shown that this is not the case. Mencia and Cabernet Franc do share some common characteristics, but not the same ancestry. It is now widely believed that Mencia and Portugal’s Jaen de Dão (Jaen for short) grape variety are one and the same. Still, not everyone agrees. However, what we do know for certain about Mencia is that it has been around for quite some time, and it is producing outstanding wines.

In Bierzo, original plantings of Mencia likely date to the earliest Roman settlers in Bierzo, who cultivated the varietal two thousand years ago in what remains one of Europe’s most isolated wine regions. Bierzo is a remote area of Galicia, Spain’s cool, windswept province astride the Atlantic. Certainly, it is the very isolation of the Bierzo that has allowed Mencia to survive and even thrive. Moreover, the average age of the hillside vines in Bierzo is quite old, which lends itself to the production of high quality wines. Consequently, the wonderfully fruity, spicy, and wholly intriguing Mencia varietal has recently been discovered or rather re-discovered by modern legions of wine drinkers. They are no doubt intrigued by the unique viticultural entity we call Mencia, whose many attributes are accentuated by organic farming, low vineyard yields, and modern winemaking techniques. In 2013, look for Mencia and other outstanding premium varietals that are not yet household names to arrive at your door.

Don

Don’s January Collector’s Series Top Picks

January 29, 2013 by Don Lahey

With Rhône wines on my mind and a plethora of splendid wines from the Rhône Valley from which to choose, my first Top Pick this month is a no brainer. Domaine du Vieux Lazaret’s 2009 Châteauneuf-du-Pape covets the first spot. It’s a wonderful Châteauneuf-du-Pape from an outstanding vintage. Enjoy it now or lay it away for a couple more years to gain further depth and complexity. The second Top Pick is a bit more challenging. Why? Caggiano’s 2011 Fiagre is a unique wine that offers tremendous personality as well as pleasure, but then there is Château St. Eulalie’s splendid 2009 cru Livinière La Cantilène from the finest area of the ancient appellation of Minervois. So, my second Top Pick depends upon whether I am hankering for a delicious white wine or an equally satisfying red wine. In an ideal world, one serves both wines on the same evening with respective courses, and both become Top Picks. Come to think of it, that’s my plan, and I’m sticking to it. Why not try it, too? A votre santé.

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