Next Tasting
April 5
Roseline Rosé Prestige, Côtes de Provence, 2023 ($18.49) – Rosé season has begun! This very attractive wine (and bottle) comes from Château Sainte Roseline, one of our favorite Provençal estates. (We’ll taste their “Le Cloitre” soon.) It was listed in the 1955 classification of the best estates. The property was purchased in 1994 by Bernard Teillaud and is currently run by his daughter, Aurélie Bertin Teillaud. The Prestige bottling comes in a beautiful, “glass”-stoppered bottle and is a blend of 55% Grenache, 35% Cinsault, and 10% Syrah. It’s pale and coppery in color, very pretty, and fresh with plenty of acidity to complement the lively fruitiness. Perfumed with hints of strawberry, melon, and citrus, it is complex, clean, reasonably concentrated, spicy, and crisp at the end. It finishes silky and long.
Château Donjon de Bruignac “Premium,” Bordeaux Supérieur, 2022 ($25.99) – This is the last in our tetralogy of red Bordeauxs. WE LOVE THIS WINE! It may seem expensive for a “lowly” Bordeaux Supérieur, but it shows the quality of the 2022 vintage and really delivers! It also helps that the Michel Rolland laboratory consults for this small property. The owners are Louise-Aimée Dufour and Denis Collart, who met in Quebec where she lived and he was teaching for his French military service. After his career working for a multinational company, they retired and purchased this property 10 miles southeast of St.-Emilion in Bossugan in 2005.
They lovingly restored the impressive château and cellar, added beautiful gardens, and built a hothouse so they could grow some of the exotic plants they had come to love from a stint in Haiti. The château consists of a tower (donjon) erected in 1300 and a manor house rebuilt in 1480. Six hundred pages of records for the property (in Latin and Gascon) were found at a neighboring farm and go back as far as 1000! The 75-acre property has only 6 acres of vines (with the potential for 11 more) and a lot of trees.
Severe pruning and green harvest keep yields low at 38 hl/ha (2.81 tons/acre) and optimize maturity, obvious from the deep color of this beauty. Two wines are produced, this “Premium” from free-run juice and a regular Bordeaux from pressed juice. The “Premium” is 78% Merlot and 22% Cabernet Franc (They replaced Cab Sauvignon, which barely ripens here, even in the warmest years). During the manual harvest, the bunches are sorted in the field, then destemmed and sorted again at the winery. After fermentation, further warm maceration, and malo, the wine is aged for 12 months in 30% new barrique, then five more months in stainless steel before bottling. The result is deep in color and flavor with beautiful dark fruit and a surprisingly lengthy finish. Really good stuff!
Recent Tastings
March 29
La Reserve Saint Dominique Gigondas, 2023 ($24.99)
Clos la Gaffeliere, St.-Emilion Grand Cru, 2015 ($33.99)
March 22
Château La Rose Belair Bordeaux Supérieur, 2019 ($18.99)
Finca Villacreces Pruno, Ribera del Duero, 2019 ($24.99)
March 15
Original Wines Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley, 2021 ($26.99)
Château Côte de Baleau, St.-Emilion, 2020 ($30.99)
March 8
Anselmo Mendes Alvariño Contacto, Portugal, 2023 ($21.99)
G.D. Vajra Barolo Albe, 2020 ($39.99)
March 1
La Crema Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, 2020 ($28.99)
Pauillac de Pichon Baron, Pauillac, 2019 ($44.99)
February 22
Croce dei Monti Pinot Grigio, Alto Adige, 2023
Vallepicciola Chianti Classico, 2021 ($21.99)
February 15
Ferrandières Sauvignon Blanc, d’Oc-France, 2023 ($12.99)
Querceto di Castellina Chianti Classico L’Aura, 2022 ($26.99) ORGANIC
February 8
Ferrandières Chardonnay, d’Oc – France, 2023 ($12.99)
Bibbiano Chianti Classico, 2021 ($20.99)
February 1
Campolargo Termeao, Bairrada-Portugal, 2015 ($15.95)
Lilliano Chianti Classico, 2021 ($19.99)
January 25
Amisfield Sauvignon Blanc Central Otago-New Zealand 2022 ($21.49)
Château La Tour St. Bonnet, Médoc Cru Bourgeois, 2016 ($19.99)
January 18
Amisfield Sauvignon Blanc Central Otago-New Zealand 2022 ($21.49)
Château La Tour St. Bonnet, Médoc Cru Bourgeois, 2016 ($19.99)
January 11
King Estate Inscription Pinot Noir, Willamette-Oregon, 2023 ($23.99)
Vineyard Project 005 Petershof Riesling Feinherb, 2021 ($17.99)
January 4
Bodegas Hermanos Peciña Rioja Blanco, 2021 ($15.99)
Turley Zinfandel “Old Vines,” 2022 ($36.49)
December 28, 2024
Pico Maccario Barbera d’Asti Lavignone “Le Matite (The Pencils),” 2022 ($19.99)
Rubén Díaz (the guy) Vinadores de Gredos Paso (the company) La Escalera (the wine) Garnacha (the grape), Cebreros-Spain (the place), 2018 ($23.99)
François Secondé Brut Rosé Grand Cru a Sillery, NV ($59.99)
December 14
Aldo Conterno Langhe Quartetto 2020 ($34.99)
Burgess Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon “Contadina,” Napa Valley, 2018 ($39.99)
Chateau Coutet Barsac (Sauternes), 2012 ($44.99/375ml)
December 7
Cloisonne Sauvignon Blanc, Russian River Valley, 2022 ($15.95)
On Point Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, 2022 ($39.99)
Fulcrum Pinot Noir, Wildcat Mountain Vineyard, Carneros, 2021 ($59.99)
Madman Sonoma Red Blend, 2021 ($29.99)
November 30
Il Poggio Colli Tortonesi Timorasso, 2020 ($29.99)
Dom. La Ferrandiere Cabernet Sauvignon, IGP D’Oc-France, 2023 ($12.99)
Antinori Chianti Classico Pèppoli, 2022 ($23.99)
November 23
Domaine de Cray Montlouis sur Loire Sec, Loire-France, 2023 ($23.99)
Domaine Rochette Régnié Cru Beaujolais, 2021 ($20.99)
Ramirez de la Piscina Rioja Riserva, 2018 ($24.99)
Goofy Bandit Espressotini, New York Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur ($34.99)
November 16
Pine Ridge Chenin/Viognier, 2023 ($15.95)
Tagline Chardonnay, Sonoma County, 2021 ($29.99)
Tagline Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, 2019 ($29.99)
November 9
Chateau Graville-Lacoste Graves Blanc, 2023 ($22.49)
Bodega Vistalba Corte B, Mendoza-Argentina, 2019 ($21.99)
November 2
Paco & Lola Albariño, Rias Baixas – Spain, 2022 ($22.99)
Bodegas Teso La Monja Almirez, Toro-Spain, 2020 ($36.99)
October 26
Castoro Cellars Chardonnay, Paso Robles, 2021 (sale $14.99; reg. $19.99)
Bonpas Ventoux Grande Réserve des Challières, 2020 ($15.95)
Abbadia Ardenga Brunello di Montalcino, 2018 ($38.99)