Featured Wines - April 2023

Sporting a radiant red and violet robe and offering an enticing aroma of freshly picked strawberries, cherries, and plums, the 2020 Shofer Vayots Dzor Areni Dry Red Wine from 120-year-old un-grafted vines had us at first sight and sip. Smooth and charming on the palate, the wine’s beautiful fruit flavors re-emerge in the mouth, interwoven with a fine, graceful texture from Vayots Dzor’s ancient volcanic soil and beautifully rendered on a bed of...

Fournier’s 2021 Sauvignon Blanc Val de Loire is another great success and the best bargain in French Sauvignon Blanc on the market today. It rivals many expensive Sancerres from well-known estates. The 2021 Fournier Sauvignon Blanc Val de Loire offers up a heady aroma of gooseberry, mineral, melon, and herb. It delights the palate with a combination of mouth-watering Sauvignon Blanc fruit, laser-like precision, and pinpoint minerality, assuring...

Nugan’s 2019 Single Vineyard Scruffy’s Shiraz is anything but scruffy, nor is it hard around the edges. Named for Nugan’s Shiraz vineyard manager, the 2019 Scruffy’s Shiraz offers dense black fruit flavors and a delightfully big mouthful of wine. This is a deep purple potion that offers spicy blackberry, cherry, and plum aromas infused with hints of violet flowers and chocolate. The wine’s beautiful olfactory carries through on the palate...

Sourced from a century-old high elevation vineyard of un-grafted vines, the 2020 Shofer Vayots Dzor Voskehat Dry White Wine emits a heavenly perfume resplendent with the enticing scents of spring flowers, pear, melon, and chamomile. Delicate and elegant on the palate, Shofer’s 2020 Vayots Dzor elicits a soft, sensuous appeal as the wine’s ethereal fruit and floral flavors waft gently over the tongue and ingratiate themselves to the mouth and...

The 2019 Taboadella Reserva Jaen Dão (91 Points – Wine Enthusiast) is a delightfully dense, full-bodied red wine that pays testimony to the quality and uniqueness of the Jaen grape as well the Amorim family’s Midas touch with this indigenous variety. Taboadella’s 2019 Reserva Jaen sports a deep purple color and offers an intoxicating perfume of savory dark fruits. Endowed with layers of black fruits, forest berries, and allspice, the 2019...

There is nothing ordinary about Herdade Aldeia de Cima’s 2020 Serra do Mendro Alentejo Reserva Branco (91 Points – Wine Advocate). Deliciously fruity tropical flavors immediately greet the nose. Think lime and pineapple with hints of mango and apricot. In the mouth, the 2020 Serra do Mendro Alentejo Reserva Branco truly bursts with flavor. Gorgeous fruit carried with laser-like precision on a bed of fresh juicy acidity enlivens the palate...

The Coustals have once again fashioned a sophisticated mouth-filling Cru de Languedoc in their 2019 Château Sainte Eulalie La Livinière La Cantilène (55% Syrah, 30% Grenache, 15% Carignan). From the moment it exits the bottle, the wine’s deep impenetrable color beckons the taster. Seductive aromatics grace the nose, while savory flavors of blackberry, cherry, ripe plums, and vanilla ingratiate themselves to the eager palate. However, the best...