It’s time for my monthly confession. Yes, confession is good for the soul.  My top picks this month are both red wines.  I know there may be a special warm place for me in the life hereafter for passing over a truly fine white Burgundy that I must confess I really liked, but in the month of February I believe I can be forgiven without having to suffer a colossal penance.  Why?  It’s cold in February and this month’s Collector Series reds can take the chill out of cold winter nights.

Furthermore, Valenciso makes great Rioja Reserva (their one and only wine) and the 2005 Valenciso Reserva is quite extraordinary.  It is a flawlessly balanced Rioja that is delicious now but will continue to improve in bottle for a decade or more.  My other top pick is Alejandro Fernandez’s 2005 El Vinculo.  Alejandro Fernandez is Spain’s King of Tempranillo and El Vinculo is La Mancha’s greatest old vine Tempranillo. It’s a knockout.  For my penance, I will enjoy Jacques Girardin’s 2009 Les Terrasses de Bievaux Santenay in between drinking this month’s reds.

 

A Votre Santé!

Don

There is quality and there is preference.  Sometimes, it’s difficult to ascertain where one begins and the other ends, especially when forced to choose among four high quality wines, all of which I enjoy.  Nonetheless, a choice must be made.  With that in mind, my top wine picks this month belong to Donati Family Vineyard’s 2007 Claret and Gilles Noblet’s 2010 Domaine de la Collonge Macon Fuissé.  Why?  Let’s start with this month’s primary white wine: Nobody makes consistently better Macon-Fuissé and Pouilly-Fuissé than Gilles Noblet, and he does it at a fair price so that savvy consumers can afford to purchase his wines more than once a year.

My other top pick is Donati’s delicious 2007 Claret.  Donati, like so many other small California wineries outside of Napa and Sonoma, has flown under the mainstream wine press’s radar for far too long.  Wines from smaller wineries such as Donati can go un-tasted and therefore un-sung amidst oceans of more commercial brands.  A juicy blend of Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc, the 2007 Donati Claret is both immediately satisfying and subtlety complex.  I also believe blends are one of California’s potential growth areas and true strengths, but such blends are often eschewed in favor of varietal bottling.  On the subject of blends, give this month’s Gualbenzu Vierlas a try.  It, too, is an artful blend from a lesser known region of Spain.

A Votre Santé!

Don

I must confess that red Bordeaux was my first wine love, but rather than have that youthful romance create a tender spot on my palate for the oceans of mediocre red Bordeaux that flow to our shores, it has made me hypercritical of Bordeaux reds that don’t measure up or simply under deliver.  Happily, this month’s feature, the 2008 Château Boutisse St. Emilion Grand Cru, is no under achiever.  In our panel tasting, it shone when others fell flat.  Granted, good Bordeaux can close up after a year or two in bottle and need some additional time to emerge from its dormancy.  In short, it can make a liar out of you on any given day.  However, I think you’ll find that the 2008 Château Boutisse has all it needs to please.  Moreover, it will only improve in bottle for at least five more years.  Consequently, it earns one of my two top picks.

To complicate matters, Barolo is my second love and a wine I enjoy more and more.  And to be fair, Revello’s 2006 Barolo is a beautiful Barolo from a splendid vintage, so it should rightly stand with the Château Boutisse.  That means I have a problem: the 2010 Adega O Casal Godello is delightful too, so what do I do?  If forced to choose, I have to go with the two reds, but frankly, I’m going to enjoy all three.  And you should too.  We can even pretend we never had this conversation and declare all three top picks.

 

A Votre Santé!

Don

Well, a new year hasn’t made it any easier to come up with just two top picks, but the bottle stops here, so here it goes.  The Carmen Reserva Chardonnay and Reserva Carmenere are both splendid wines, and it is far more difficult than consumers realize for a winery to excel equally with red and white wines, but Carmen does.

Nevertheless, the thought of slighting the 2010 11 Pinos Bobal, a tasty and unique offering from a little known varietal, was simply unthinkable.  Hence, I have chosen two reds this month as my top picks.  No offense to the 2010 Can Feixes Blanc Seleccio, either.  It’s just that the 2009 Carmen Reserve Carmenere could serve as the poster child for the most beautiful Carmenere of the vintage.  Moreover, in one of our largest tasting panels (27 happy souls) the 2009 Carmen Reserva Carmenere was the unanimous choice for best wine of the evening.  Hence, it is the 2009 Carmen’s Reserva Carmenere and 2010 11 Pinos that get the nod.  

 

A Votre Santé!

Don

December poses more than a few challenges. Yep, it’s hard to choose between two good friends.  I have always been fond of top notch Chablis(authentic French Chablis that is) and Domaine du Chardonnay’s Chablis, which happens to be one of this month’s features, always has a special place in my cellar and on my table.  Nonetheless, Bouchard Père et Fils’ 2008 Beaune du Château Premier Cru has to get my nod for top pick in December.  It is an authentic red Burgundy.  It is hauntingly aromatic, delicate, and refined; yet, it has years of life ahead of it.  Because it is more difficult to produce a special red wine in Burgundy than a white wine, Bouchard wins.  Kudos to the folks at Bouchard!

My other top pick is Kilkanoon’s 2003 Block Road Cabernet Sauvignon.  Not only does it have it all going on, it is ready to drink.  There’s nothing like first rate Cabernet with some bottle age on it.  Enjoy this rich, flavorful Cabernet now and over the next few years.

 

A Votre Santé!

Don

Château St. Eulalie’s 2009 Plaisir Minervois is aptly named.  In French, plaisir means to please or pleasure, and this tasty wine from the south of France pleases in a big way. I’ve always enjoyed this property’s wines.  The 2007 St. Eulalie Plaisir was excellent, memorable even, but the 2009 Plaisir (this month’s feature) is even better.  Juicy, polished and delightful with all kinds of foods, it delivers on all fronts to earn a top pick for December’s Premier Series.

Equally impressive is Massone’s 2010 Vignetto Masera Gavi – another old favorite.  Bright and fresh like the living waters of a high mountain stream, Massone’s Gavi earns special feature status this month too.  It always makes me wonder if the water from the mythical “Fountain of youth” could taste any fresher or be any more vibrant than Massone’s Masera Gavi. 

 

A Votre Santé!

Don

November presented me with some especially tough choices. I really enjoyed the 2005 Croze Cabernet Sauvignon (November’s other feature), but since Joseph Perrier’s outstanding Cuvée Royale Brut Champagne and Pasanau’s 2008 Ceps Nous Priorat offer such an ideal combination of wines to plan a dinner party around, I couldn’t help but give them top billing this month.  Joseph Perrier (not to be confused with the less expensive and more commercial Perriet Jouet) produces traditional non-vintage Champagne of the highest order.  Also, I have always found the quality of Joseph Perrier’s Cuvée Royale to be extremely consistent.

Meanwhile, Pasanau’s 2008 Ceps Nous sheds a new light on Priorat, a wine that is enjoying considerable favor at the moment.  Priorats are full-bodied Spanish wines that offer tremendous flavor, but they can at times be tough and brooding, especially when young.  Conversely, Ceps Nous offers our members an authentic Priorat experience without having to wait years for enjoyment.  There is a certain sophistication in Ceps Nous, too, that is absent in many other Priorats.  Moreover, the 2008 Ceps Nous will continue to improve in bottle for years to come, which excites me.

A Votre Santé!

Don