Featured Wines - February 2014

The 2010 Château Sainte-Eulalie La Cantilène’s deep, nearly impenetrable color beckons the taster, but it’s truly this Minervois’ expressive set of aromatics and profound flavors that make it hard to resist. The scents and savors of wild berries, black fruits, herbs, roses and violets offer plenty for the senses to savor, but the most exciting element of this satisfying wine is its ability to evolve slowly and seductively with each successive sip. La Cantilène is drinking beautifully now, yet will continue to take on weight and depth with just an additional year or two in bottle.

Winemaker Mario Geise’s reputation as the “King of Carmenère” is further solidified with this wine, the estate’s first release of Microterroir. A saturated purple color, a staggering perfume of blue and black fruits, and layer upon layer of complex ripe fruit, chocolate, coffee and spice flavors add up to a peak wine drinking experience. Elegant, opulent, and powerful all at once, the 2005 Microterroir is knockout stuff upon which legends are built. Aficionados of Chile’s unique varietal will no doubt be talking about this wine for years to come and wish they had a cellar full of it.

It’s no wonder critics have bestowed 92+ ratings on this wine: the beautiful aroma and flavor profile of the 2012 Downes Family Semillon reminds us of the exceptional semillon-based white wines produced by Bordeaux’s top châteaux. A complex cache of sappy flavors reminiscent of citrus, dried honey, herb, and melon greet the nose and palate, and all are perfectly packed into a balanced harmonious structure. In this Semillon, one finds elegance, flavor, and that indefinable “Je ne sais quoi.” Everything about this wine echoes breed and class.

Blackberry, plum, mocha and crushed violet aromas quickly emerge from the beautiful 2011 Valle Las Nencias Reserve. On the palate, the wine’s deep core of crème de cassis fruit melds with floral and dark chocolate flavors. Full-bodied, yet ripe and seamless, it’s hard to believe that this youthful Malbec blend can be so smooth and charming at such a tender age. In any case, the 2011 Las Nencias Reserve is ready to stand and deliver now, but the wine’s healthy ripe tannins will easily allow it to mature and improve in bottle for up to five years or more.

Casa Silva consistently works magic with all of its wines, thanks to the winery’s technical director Mario Geise. And their latest venture, from the exceptionally cool growing area of Paredones, is no exception. The 2012 Casa Silva Cool Coast Sauvignon Blanc sports a light, bright robe that belies the wine’s wonderfully aromatic nose and fine array of sophisticated flavors. Fresh, racy, and full of pinpoint precision, this exceptional Chilean Sauvignon Blanc offers a wealth of grassy, herbal, and smoke tinged flavors that fill the mouth.

With just a mere 11 acres of vines, it wasn’t easy procuring enough of Mary-Lou Nash’s 2010 Mischief Maker Shiraz to satisfy all of our members, but we made it. We took it all. Mischief Maker offers a saturated purple color, an alluring aroma of ripe blackberries, blueberries, and cassis infused with a hint of rose petal, and plenty of opulent fruit-forward flavors that mimic the wine’s haunting aroma. The wine delivers excellent definition, structure, and a smooth, silky finish that lingers as long as you can wait to take another sip.

Though always a great wine, the 2012 vintage has taken this estate’s Tradition Pinot Blanc to a new level. Aromas of mountain apples and pears laced with hints of freshly baked bread and soft spices are backed up by finely honed fruit flavors and subtle complexity. Beyer’s 2012 Pinot Blanc is more than just a good quaff: it offers pinpoint minerality as counterpoint to the wine’s gentle fruit flavors and intriguing notes that seem to be pleasantly ever-changing in the glass. Slowly, but persistently, this Pinot Blanc presents various facets and flavors in each sip.