Featured Wines - June 2002

Lemon drop, honey, and the haunting scents of spring emanate from the 2001 Il Palazzone Terre Vineate Orvieto Classico Superiore, a wine that can best be described as the concentrated beams of liquid sunshine. Drinking the Il Palazzone Orvieto recalls the natural, unadorned green and amber-hued hills, which surround Orvieto and roll in all directions from that most ancient and beautiful hill town. The wine, like the vaulted town of Orvieto itself...

A medium-bodied Malbec, the 1999 Villa Mendoza exhibits a pretty garnet robe and a generous nose full of the scents of black cherry, plum, pepper, and toasty oak. In the mouth, the Villa Mendoza Malbec offers concentrated warm flavors, minus the boatload of tannin that marks most young Malbec wines. Happily, cedar, plum, and spice caress the palate with rich, huggable flavors, but no hard edges. Smooth, round, and beguiling to the end, the Villa ...

A lovely ruby robe bedecks the 1999 Andretti Napa Valley Sangiovese. Emanating from the glass is a beguiling aroma; scents of cherry, anise, pepper and spice fold into a single captivating bouquet that caresses the nose. In the mouth, this medium-bodied red is smooth…smooth…smooth…and quite reminiscent of top Tuscan offerings. Recalling the finest Sangiovese-based wines of Chianti and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, the 1999 Andretti Sangiovese ooz...

Born of a superlative Sauvignon Blanc vintage, the 2000 Andretti Sauvignon Blanc is a classic example of this great varietal. Intense aromas of apricot, melon, and pineapple wrap around vanilla and fresh crisp citrus flavors. Each sniff becomes an olfactory feast, underscoring the subtle complexity of this beautifully wrought Sauvignon Blanc. On the palate, all of the luscious fruit and complexity, which makes the aroma so appealing, follows thro...