Featured Wines - Sept 2013

Bodegas Martinez Corta’s 2011 Cepas Antiguas Rioja constitutes one of the best values in Rioja wine. Cepas Antiguas spends time in new French oak and is imbued with a soft, seductive aroma, and plenty of red and black fruit flavors. Cepas Antiguas entices with soft, savory blueberry, cassis, and plum flavors that mingle with subtle hints of cinnamon and clove. Typical of fine Rioja, the youthful 2011 Cepas Antiguas requires aeration to fully release its attributes, even though it is not very tannic.

The sun-kissed 2012 Villa Torre is produced from 100% Verdicchio grapes that burst with bright intense flavors that mirror the pastoral beauty of the Marches and the alluring gleam of the nearby Adriatic Sea. Full-bodied for a Verdicchio from Castelli di Jesi, the 2012 Tavignano Villa Torre truly does evolve in the glass, gaining length and depth as it breathes and offering savory scents of apple blossoms, heather, and stone fruits, along with crisp fruit flavors, a twist of almond, and just the right amount of juicy acidity.

Terra d’Oro Zinfandel is born on old vines grown on the steep golden hills of Amador County. Deep in color, beautifully balanced, flavorful, and surprisingly elegant in a substantial frame, the 2010 Terra d’Oro Zinfandel offers an enticing aroma of ripe dark fruits redolent with the scents of blackberry, plum, pepper, bramble, and spice. Although rich and amply structured, the wine never loses composure or comes across as blousy or overblown. Better still, it unfolds slowly in the glass, becoming more intriguing with each successive sip.

To our mind, the 2012 Cantina del Taburno is the finest Greco to date from this top notch winery. This wine exhibits Greco’s attractive golden color and a scintillating aroma of spring flowers and stone fruits, along with a fine cache of spice that adds length and depth to both the wine’s flavor and aromatics. In typical Greco fashion, the 2012 Cantina del Taburno unfolds slowly in the glass, revealing bright fruit flavors, excellent minerality, and a vibrant freshness that invokes the Amalfi Coast.

What a fantastic nose! Violets, roses, eucalyptus, and savory spice tones spring from the 2011 Reyneke Syrah, while smooth, silky flavors follow in the mouth: this youthful Syrah’s mid palate is as pretty as it gets, as it’s loaded with all of the wine’s olfactory fireworks. Plus, ripe friendly tannins frame the fruit to provide an elegant, refreshing finish. Even though this wine claims 14% alcohol, you would never know it acts more like great French Côte Rôtie than the heavy Shiraz entries from Australia and other New World wineries.

Only 15 small barrels of Valenciso’s remarkable barrel aged white 2011 Rioja were produced. A wine with few peers, this blend of viura and garnacha blanca (grenache blanc) will evolve in the glass, releasing its enchanting melon, citrus, and floral components. But what is already present and front and center are the vivacity, refinement, and pinpoint precision in Valenciso’s young white Rioja that shine through the spicy patina of oak that provides texture as well as ample backbone and structure for ageing.

In this sleek but complex blend, Rustenberg has created the quintessential meritage offering, providing a true smorgasbord of scents and savors that sing from the glass. Blackberry, cherry, plum, coffee, chocolate, eucalyptus, and mint are just some of the notes we detected in the wine. Add a touch of cedar, a cigar box scent, and layered complex tones imbued by 20 months in cask and it’s easy to see that there’s a lot going on here. With such a wealth of flavors backed by firm ripe tannins, the 2010 John X. Merriman will evolve for years to come.