In December, The International Wine of the Month Club’s Premier Series is delighted to offer four exciting world-class wines, beginning with the full-bodied 2018 Château Beauregard-Ducasse Albert Duran Graves. In keeping with the vintage’s great strength of character, the 2018 Château Beauregard-Ducasse Albert Duran is bold and built for the long haul. For starters, the wine wears a profound purple color and offers deep-down scents of black cherry, unsmoked tobacco, and forest floor. In the mouth, blackberry and cherry fruit mingled with savory earth and vanilla tones flow on a bed of strong ripe tannins, leading to an explosive finish. Hang on for the ride. In true Graves fashion, the 2018 Château Beauregard-Ducasse Albert Duran opens nicely with aeration. This full-bodied red Graves is sure to please those who long for classic, age-worthy red Bordeaux.
Our next feature this month also hails from France, the 2019 Château Beauregard-Ducasse Cuvée Albertine Peyri Graves Blanc. Albert Perromat’s exuberant 2019 Château Beauregard-Ducasse Cuvée Albertine Peyri Graves exhibits crystalline brilliance, amplifying aromatics, and a wealth of flavors, as well as laser-like focus and intensity. Citrus, peach, and quince aromas greet the nose before re-emerging in the mouth. Full-bodied and mouth filling, the 2019 Château Beauregard-Ducasse Cuvée Albertine Peyri evolves constantly in the glass, initially offering a citrus-like intensity born of Sauvignon Blanc before revealing a mélange of dried honey, melon, guava, and quince from the wine’s predominance of Semillon. The wine’s hiatus in barrel is barely evident until a delightful hint of vanilla melds with a splash of quinine on the wine’s long, power-packed finish. Enjoy!
This month’s next venture is from the esteemed Douro estate of Quinta Nova. The richly robed 2021 Quinta Nova Pomares Tinto first captures the eye with its brilliant ruby hue. Bright cherry and wild raspberry scents waft from the glass. Elegant and subtly complex, the 2021 Quinta Nova Pomares Tinto graces the palate with juicy berry fruit flavors and deft touches of spice and vanilla. Refined tannins add lift and a racy mouthwatering finish. Pure and crystalline in flavor, the 2021 Quinta Nova Pomares Tinto brings its welcome with an approachable expressive personality. Enjoy!
Rounding out this month’s Premier Series is the racy 2022 Domaine des Quatre Routes Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine from Henri Poiron, one of the appellation’s consummate producers. Always bottled Sur Lie and downright thirst quenching, the 2022 Domaine des Quatre Routes Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine offers a brilliant pale yellow color and clean, dry, mineral-rich flavors. Soft scents of citrus and stone fruits, minerals, and sea spray emanate from this energetic Muscadet. This is a dry white wine with a fresh round texture. There’s no smoke or mirrors in Henri Poiron’s 2022 Domaine des Quatre Routes, just authentic Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine. You won’t find butter, oak, or the residual sugar associated with many New World wines either. Instead, the limestone-rich soil of the Loire, the scent of the sea, and the delicate fruit flavors of Melon de Bourgogne shine in Domaine des Quatre Routes’ crisp, refreshingly dry 2022 Sèvre-et-Maine Muscadet. Enjoy!
The International Wine of the Month Club’s Collectors Series is proud to ring out 2023 with three exceptional wines from two of the planet’s iconic producers. This month’s odyssey begins with the 2021 Titus Andronicus Napa Valley Red, a sensuous Cabernet-centric proprietary blend from the award winning Napa estate of winemakers Phillip and Eric Corallo-Titus. The 2021 Andronicus is screamingly great and downright seductive. The aroma of the 2021 Andronicus nearly leaps from the glass, offering an elixir of blackberry, dark cherry, cedar, and sweet tobacco leaf, but that’s just this Andronicus’ opening act. In the mouth, the 2021 Titus Andronicus satiates the palate with layers of rich berry fruit, dark chocolate, sweet tobacco leaf, and vanilla. Bold in flavor but with nary an edge, Titus’ 2021 Andronicus is backed by lush tannins, which add structure and form, without compromising the wine’s delectable fruit. Enjoy!
Next up is the elegant, richly flavored, and highly acclaimed Emile Beyer Crémant d’Alsace Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut NV (92 Points – Wine Enthusiast). This certified organic wine is pure pleasure. From the froth of its tiny bubbles until the last sip, Beyer’s Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut NV offers the eyes, nose, and palate a delightful interlude. Endowed with a creamy mousse and the savory scents and flavors of mountain grown apples and freshly baked brioche, it is hard to imagine a finer, more elegant wine, sparkling or still. Natural tasting and refreshingly dry straight through to the finish, Emile Beyer’s certified organic Crémant d’Alsace Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut NV truly puts to shame the vast majority of sparkling wines, including champagne, in flavor, purity, and drinking pleasure. Sante!
Completing this month’s Collectors Series is the 2020 Titus Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon from iconic Titus Vineyards. Beautifully balanced and wonderfully layered and complex, the 2020 Titus Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon embodies Titus’s distinctive poise. Regally robed in purple, the 2020 Titus Cabernet Sauvignon offers tantalizing aromatics redolent with Bing cherry, black berry, and plum. Vibrant in the mouth with delicious dark cherry and berry fruits wedded to rich cacao and black tea flavors, the 2020 Titus Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is already a delight to drink. Add hints of baking spices and cigar box to the wine’s beautiful fruit and fine grained tannins, and it’s easy to see how Napa Valley and Bordeaux converge in Titus’s multi-layered 2020 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Enjoy!
