Featured Wines - November 2012

Once again Christian Beyer has demonstrated his ability to fashion exceptional Pinot Blanc. His latest release, the 2010 Emile Beyer Tradition, exudes charm, flavor, and an ethereal quality that just made us want to keep on drinking it. The aroma of mountain apples and pears, infused with a hint of freshly baked bread sprinkled with spice, ushers in finely honed fruit flavors and pinpoint minerality. Beyer’s Pinot Blanc offers an intriguing note of subtle complexity, as it presents various facets and flavors in each sip.

The 2010 Loca Cariñena Tempranillo is testament to the superb growing conditions in Cariñena during the 2010 vintage, which proved to be exceptional throughout much of northern Spain. Consequently, the 2010 Loca bursts on the scene with an amplifying bouquet of ripe berry fruit, subtle spice, and gentle minerality. Offering excellent varietal character and a smooth, mature mouthfeel from 3 months in French oak, this balanced, beautiful Tempranillo finishes clean and fresh with pleasant persistency.

Rapeneau’s elegant Premier Cru Grande Reserve Brut Champagne offers savory scents and flavors of freshly picked golden apples and oven baked bread straight from the oven. It impressed our tasting panels with pretty aromatics, a persistent mousse, and soft round flavors that leave the mouth refreshed and begging for more. Fun, yet thoroughly captivating, Ernest Rapeneau’s Premier Cru Champagne reinforces Champagne’s centuries-old reputation as the wine of celebration, conviviality, and good cheer.

Poggio ai Mandorli’s 2007 Chianti Classico Riserva is rich and aromatic. Though powerful, this Riserva offers elegance and finesse in both aroma and flavor to balance its bright structure and ripe tannins. Scents of wild berries, violets, and wood smoke are followed by a coterie of velvety flavors with just the right touch of acidity and tannic clout on the finish to assure further ageing and complexity. Pure, ripe, and round, Poggio ai Mandorli’s 2007 Riserva Chianti Classico is truly classic Chianti.

Roussanne is a difficult grape to grow, and a tricky wine to make, but when it is good, it’s very good. Happily, Jerome Quiot turned in a superlative effort in 2011 with the Château du Trignon Roussanne Côtes-du-Rhône Blanc. Our tasting panels were taken by this wine’s lovely flavors, supreme purity, elegance, and balance. Light, fresh floral aromas and flavors beguile with delicacy, finesse and the natural character of an extraordinary grape. Enjoy this superb Rhône offering moderately chilled or simply cool.

The Malibu Estate and Christian Rougenet have a knack for consistently turning out rich, full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignons of true distinction and style, and the 2007 vintage is no exception. From its inky blackness come enticing aromas of blackberry, chocolate, and sandalwood, followed by layer upon layer of flavors: cassis, dark chocolate, mint and subtle spice. Finishing with the estate’s renowned spice box finish, this knockout cabernet sauvignon offers superb flavor and texture in a supremely balanced format.

From St.-Georges-St. Emilion, an appellation of just 470 acres known for its tender, fruit driven wines, comes the 2009 Château Saint-André Corbin. Epitomizing the soft, succulent side of St. Emilion, this wine sports a deep ruby color and an amplifying bouquet of fresh summer berries, cedar, and chocolate. Hauntingly beautiful, this comely red Bordeaux delivers a flurry of lush fruit flavors, pretty spice tones, and silky tannins – all of which impart impeccable balance and structure to this very approachable Bordeaux.