Featured Wines - March 2017

Although Argentina is best known internationally for deeply colored, full-bodied Malbecs, it is Argentina’s Cabernet Sauvignons from old vines that garner the greatest scores and provide the grandest red wines to grace the tables of the great steak houses of Buenos Aires and Mendoza. Casarena has put Argentina’s two top varietals together in the 2014 Casarena Sinco to great acclaim. In its debut vintage, the 2014 Sinco (60% Cabernet Sauvignon...

Morgadío always seems to capture the essence of Albariño, and this is certainly true in the 2015 vintage. The 2015 Morgadío Albariño Rías Baixas comes across as a truly dry wine that exhibits sophisticated fruit flavors, pinpoint minerality, and balanced acidity. Morgadío adheres to the traditional style of Albariño, which means a focused, highly structured wine with laser-like precision. The wine’s fruit emerges subtly, almost imperceptively...

The 2012 Silvio Grasso Barolo exemplifies the juicy, seductive style of Barolo for which Federico Grasso and the finest Baroli wines of La Morra are renowned. In Grasso’s 2012 Barolo, one experiences a seamless design in which finesse and power play very well together, offering the thirsty imbiber plenty in the way of flavor as well as charm. The wine’s bright ruby/garnet robe first catches the eye, but it is this Barolo’s seductive bouquet...

Gilles Noblet fashions incomparable Pouilly-Fuissé year in and year out, and yet another stellar vintage for white Burgundy has yielded the exceptional 2015 Domaine Gilles Noblet Pouilly-Fuissé. Noblet himself has stated: "The 2015 Mâcon wines are the finest I have produced in 37 years.” This is high praise from a consummate winemaker not given to brash statements or hyperbole. Given the vintage’s shy yield and Noblet’s strict selection and...

The 2015 Dominio Basconcillos Seis Meses Ribera del Duero truly reflects the estate’s pre-eminence in crafting traditional Ribera del Duero, as this wine offers a deep red color, superb concentration, and ample tannins to live a long illustrious life. It begins its magic with a tantalizing aroma of dark cherries, sassafras, and fresh, un-smoked tobacco. It follows through in the mouth with plenty of robust fruit and spice flavors backed by ripe...

Simone Santini has once again fashioned an exceptional Vernaccia di San Gimignano. In fact, his 2015 Le Calcinaie Vernaccia di San Gimignano 2015 may just be the master’s finest Vernaccia to date. Rare among Tuscan white wines for its flavor, freshness, and longevity, Vernaccia di San Gimignano owes its 800 year reign as the region’s most lauded white wine to the predominance of the relatively rare Vernaccia clones that thrive in the environs...

The 2010 Robertson Number One Constitution Road Shiraz lives up to its lofty reputation as the winery’s flagship offering. From the wine’s saturated purple color through to its long, captivating finish which lingers long after it is swallowed, Robertson’s 2010 Number One Constitution Road Shiraz sings from the glass. Intense aromas of rich ripe blackberry fruit intertwined with seductive spice tones waft from the glass. In the mouth, what...