Featured Wines - December 2012

The serious, warm-hearted Albert Pasanau has fashioned another enviable Priorat in his 2010 Ceps Nous. As a classic Priorat, Ceps Nous exhibits a deep purple robe and youthful polished flavors. Redolent with the scents of berry fruits, forest woodlands, anise and spice, with plush, sophisticated, deep-down flavors, Pasanau’s Ceps Nous is positively enthralling. A blend of Garnacha with healthy dollops of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah, the 2010 Ceps Nous reflects the finest attributes of Priorat.

Fournier’s 2010 Cuvée Silex is named for a 6 acre vineyard of prime silex soil, a mixture of flint, clay, limestone, and silica found primarily on choice hillsides of France’s Loire Valley. The 2010 Cuvée Silex is a special cuvée, indeed. It offers an amplifying bouquet full of floral notes, flint, apricot and grapefruit. In the mouth, Cuvée Silex delivers an ideal blend of fresh Sauvignon Blanc fruit and crisp mineral driven flavors. Rare is the Sancerre that delivers as much flavor in such a balanced, elegant format as Fournier’s Cuvée Silex.

Powerful and sophisticated due to very old vines and Elie Jeune’s style of winemaking, the 2010 Alexis Establet truly takes Châteauneuf-du-Pape and the estate to a whole new level of quality. Predictably deeply colored and highly aromatic, its enchanting perfume offers the scents of black fruits, cinnamon, fennel and rose petal. Moreover, this polished wine fills the mouth with ripe black fruits, Asian spices, Provençal herbs, and subtle, complex floral tones—all perfectly framed by lush, ripe tannins. Anticipated Maturity: 2013-2022.

Nino Franco’s Rustico Prosecco Brut NV presents an outstanding example of the exuberant Valdobbiadene style of Prosecco. It offers up an aromatic cachet of pear, apple, and white peach, all of which are entwined in a delicate, round body. In addition, Nino Franco’s Rustico offers a light, creamy mousse that sparkles and caresses, and although dry and refreshing on the palate, Rustico never slips into austerity; it doesn’t pretend to be Champagne and it remains forever lively and immediately gratifying.

Wow! The 2011 Château de Saint-Lager Brouilly exudes pure perfume. Tantalizing scents of fresh ripe raspberries, strawberries and summer flowers happily carry through also in the wine’s flavor profile to fill the mouth with pure Gamay fruit, generous vinosity, and a gentle minerality that make it hard to resist. Imported exclusively for Club members, this exuberant wine is no insipid Beaujolais Nouveau; this is authentic Cru Beaujolais, a wine that indulges the senses and soothes the soul from first sip to racy finish.

The 2011 Massone Vigneto Masera Gavi is another unequivocal success from this masterful producer. This latest product of Stefano Massone’s Masera vineyard is bright, fresh, and exceptionally pure, with a delicate perfume resplendent with ethereal scents of grape, pear, and lemon/lime zest. In the mouth, the savor of soft fruit, crushed flowers, minerals, and citrus oil meld with bright acidity, while a soft, pure, mid-palate offers supreme balance leading to a crisp, refreshing finish.

The 2004 Château Laronde Desormes is an exclusive offering of The International Wine of the Month Club™ and a few of the nation’s finest French restaurants, which pour Château Laronde Desormes at $18.00 per glass. Given the wine’s still youthful color, elegant haunting bouquet, pretty cassis fruit, and velvety texture, the 2004 Château Laronde Desormes is downright irresistible. In recent panel tastings of much more expensive Haut-Médoc wines, the 2004 Château Laronde Desormes stole the show.