Featured Wines - Sept 2019

As one would expect from a Garnacha Tintorera, Sillares’ 2017 Almansa Garnacha Tintorera sports an intense, opaque purple robe, but that’s not all this wine has to offer. The wine’s bouquet offers a delightful array of aromas, beginning with ripe red and black fruits, freshly cut fennel, and subtle wood smoke, vanilla, and spice tones, the latter the result of 6 months in small oak barrels. In the mouth, the buxom 2017 Sillares Garnacha...

The 2018 Black Pearl Chenin Blanc positively sings from the glass. A beguiling nose of peach, pineapple and stone fruits infused with a citrus twist and a hint of chamomile wafts from the glass. The wine’s enticing apple and peach aromas carry through in the mouth and meld beautifully with the wine’s vibrant acidity. Refreshing and lively on the palate, and beautifully textured, too, it’s hard to imagine a more engaging young Chenin Blanc. Every...

Casas del Bosque continues its meteoric rise and spate of 90+ point ratings with this month’s feature, the 2017 Casas del Bosque Valle del Maipo Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon, which has earned 92 point ratings from both James Suckling and Descorchados. Redolent with the savory scents and flavors of blackberry, cassis, and plum, and adeptly infused with touches of dark chocolate, cedar, mint, and tobacco, the 2017 Casas del Bosque Valle...

Malabaila di Canale’s tiny production of 2018 Favorita may be lesser known than the estate’s Roero Arneis, but Favorita is every bit as delicious as its more celebrated sibling and immediately more accessible. Produced from a tiny vineyard of less than 4 acres, Malabaila’s 2018 Favorita (the Piedmontese name for Vermentino) offers a delightfully floral bouquet redolent with the scents of freshly picked apricots and peaches infused with...

Titus’ 2016 Andronicus Napa Valley Red is a gorgeous Bordeaux-style blend, composed of 66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Malbec, 11% Cabernet Franc, 7% Petit Verdot, and 5% Merlot, that melds juicy and smooth Napa Valley fruit with the suavity and finesse of top notch Classified Bordeaux from St. Julien. Ripe berry aromas infused with succulent hints of chocolate, earth, and spice leap from the glass. In the mouth, the wine’s beguiling olfactory...

We have always enjoyed the Chevaliers’ Les Pends Crozes-Hermitage and ranked it among the top white wines of the appellation, but clearly Nicolas and Marlène’s Domaine Chevalier 2017 Les Pends further raises the bar; the 2017 Les Pends is unequivocally the finest white wine from Crozes-Hermitage we have tasted in years. The wine’s sun-kissed golden hue first caught our eye, but the wine’s enticing potpourri and spice box aromas and flavors...

Valle Secreto’s 2012 Private Syrah-Cabernet Sauvignon-Carmenère displays a deep purple color that remains nearly impenetrable, but that should come as no surprise from a wine made from equal parts Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Carmenère – three very compatible, richly colored grape varietals. From the moment it is poured, soaring full-blown aromatics and rich, polished flavors set the 2012 Valle Secreto Private apart. Reminiscent of classified...