Featured Wines - May 2012

All of Mary-Lou Nash’s wines are pure and bursting with flavor and charm, yet the 2008 Nash Family Vineyards Rhinoceros Hill Shiraz is especially impressive. Rich and polished, savory and succulent, this inky black potion exudes blackberry, cassis, lavender, rose and exotic spice. Haunting, full-bodied, and supremely sophisticated, the 2008 Nash Family Vineyard Shiraz is a tour de force in Paarl winemaking and ample testimony to Nash’s talent and commitment.

Commemorative, celebratory, spontaneous and always versatile, Mont-Marçal’s Brut Reserva resonates with quality in both flavor and texture, with a balanced and supremely classical expression. Harmonious aromas of honey-tinged golden pears dusted with chalky minerality spring from the glass. The fruits, threaded with vibrant citrus, are generous, clean, and clearly delineated. On the palate a fine texture of delicate, almost creamy bubbles carry the flavors through to a satisfying and mouth-refreshing finish.

Taste Marie-Pierre Manciat’s 2010 Mâcon “Les Morizottes” and see just how good the wines of the Mâconnais can be. Endowed with a bright yellow robe and a seductive bouquet that blends soft scents of acacia blossoms, beeswax, and mountain apples with the vibrancy of a citrus twist, this wine is an utterly pleasing experience. Long, pure, and mouth filling, it follows through on the palate with a set of complex flavors reminiscent of the wine’s exquisite bouquet, replete with pure varietal character and minerality.

Largely made from vines over 100 years of age, Michel Arnaud’s 2005 Domaine la Millière Châteauneuf-du-Pape is a warm and expansive wine through and through. Deeply purple, it offers a rich, sexy bouquet of freshly picked cherries, currants, and raspberries. It carries its warm welcome onto the palate where hints of fig, lavender, and fine leather mingle with the wine’s pure fruit and subtle herbal notes. Blessed with supreme balance, this suave, sophisticated wine glides across the palate with elegant, ripe tannins.

Christian Beyer has a way of marrying the exceptional flavors of Alsatian varietals to fresh, balanced acidity. The 2010 Emile Beyer Cuvée de l’Hostellerie Pinot Gris provides all that and more, with intriguing aromas of apricot, plum, and spice, all of which carry gleefully through to the palate. In the mouth the wine truly blossoms with mesmerizing flavors of white plum, cardamom, and dried honey, supported by crisp acidity, subtle minerality, and exceptional balance and structure.

Chateau de Pizay is no ordinary Beaujolais. It offers a bouquet redolent with the savory scents of Bing cherry, raspberry and red currant and a flavor profile to match. Elegance, flavor and purity are this wine’s calling cards. And in the mouth, the 2010 Chateau de Pizay Régnié is round, vinous, and positively charming with cherry fruit and spring violet flavors that seem to seep from the wine’s soft, round marrow. Enjoy the 2010 Chateau de Pizay Régnié cool (55º-62º F) after just a few minutes of aeration.

The 2009 Contadero Joven offers an intense, mouth-filling glass of Tinta de Toro (Tempranillo). This deeply colored wine produced from old vines should enthrall any serious red wine lover, exhibiting a brooding crimson color with blue and violet highlights and intense aromas of ripe berry, plum, and spice. In the mouth, it is fleshy, full, and harmonious. Un-fined and un-filtered, this full-bodied beauty never comes across as harsh or ponderous. Its ripe fruit is nicely balanced with healthy tannins.