Archive for May, 2014

Fans of wines from the Cotes Du Rhone will be very happy on May 24th especially folks, like myself, that love great quality wines at reasonable prices. The board sent most of the red wines slotted for the release, made me happy, so read on, free up your credit cards and head to the store because you won’t be disappointed.

370189 CHÂTEAU SAINT ESTÈVE D’UCHAUX MASSIF D’UCHAUX CÔTES DU RHONE VILLAGES $18.95
A beautiful nose laden with Christmas cake spice, coal dust and smoke, backed up with dark cherry, dark fruit and treacle. Super silky blueberry fruit and dried strawberry on the palate, very good concentration and good length on the finish. Find this wine

374991 CLOS BELLANE CÔTES DU RHÔNE-VILLAGES VALRÉAS 2010 $19.95
An interesting blend of cedar, smoked meat, Nori and dried cherry, showing super fruit flavours of redcurrant, raspberry and blackberry on the palate all bound with milky chocolate and clean acidity. Find this wine

374983 DOMAINE COURTOIS LA GRANGE VINSOBRES 2011 $20.95
Heady aromas of black raspberry, sweet smoke, Asian spice and a whiff of mandarin peel, solid structure on the palate featuring damson and plum, black tea and a hefty layer of bitter chocolate tannin. A wine soon to be very good, but needs a little time to do so. Find this wine

374280 DOMAINE DE LA VALÉRIANE VIEILLES VIGNES CÔTES DU RHÔNE 2012 $17.95
Very ripe, projecting aromas of tar, blueberry, black pepper grounds, dried mushroom and briar, quite smooth and round on the palate showing black cherry and currant flavours controlled by a gentle layer of tannin. Find this wine

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I had the great pleasure of playing music again at Left Foot Charley Winery a few weeks ago. It’s always a treat for me to play at any of our fine Michigan wineries, tasting rooms and breweries, but LFC is special for me, because we’ve followed their progress from the very beginning and we’re big fans of their wines and ciders. It was a good night of music and a great night for trying different LFC wines. I strayed from my usual choice, the Island View Pinot Blanc, opting instead for the 2012 Dry Riesling, a glass of which I nursed over my two set performance. I didn’t manage to record any impressions, other than the fact that it’s a delicious example of just how good Michigan Riesling can be.

A few months before this, LFC announced on their Facebook page that there wouldn’t be a lot of the Island View Pinot Blanc to go around this vintage, and that the savvy customer would be wise to take advantage of a six-pack pre-order priced at $18 per bottle, which I jumped on immediately. The fine folks in the tasting room held it for me to pick up at the gig, and, of course, we tried one as soon as we got back home. Here’s what we found.
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I do not have a lot to report on for this release. Believe it or not, my notes on the wines of Chile and Argentina, the feature of the release for May 10th, are M.I.A. While driving home from the tasting, the weather cleared and the sun came out. Thus I opened my windows and instantly my notes started to fly around the car and by the time I reacted, a couple of pages exited my vehicle and by now are in tatters somewhere on Highway 401. Therefore, here are the notes from the rest of the release.

145920 MARCHESI DE’ FRESCOBALDI TENUTA DI CASTIGLIONI 2011 Tuscany $21.95
An inky enticing blend of moss, black licorice, treacle and blackberry aromas with an initial firm structure of tannin on the palate, but black cherry, currant and sweet blueberry flavours shine through. Perfect acidity, well balanced, just needs time. Find this wine

326710 LIRICA PRIMITIVO DI MANDURIA 2007, Puglia $18.95
Dark chocolate infused with black raspberry with a touch of mocha, pressed flowers and black pepper. Lovely flavourful palate, showing bright and fleshy flavours of blackberry, raspberry, lavender, cake spice and mellow tannins. A pleasing touch of sweetness on the finish along with a medicinal candy note, plus this wine is from the 2007 vintages, which indicates some bottle aging, rendering this very drinkable now. Find this wine

317313 CASALE DELLO SPARVIERO CHIANTI CLASSICO RISERVA 2010, Tuscany $19.95
Lots of aromas featuring dried cherry, underbrush, coffee grounds, prune and dark bitter chocolate lead to a mostly fruit focused palate of blackberry, damson, cherry and currant. Simple clean finish, balanced acids and minimal tannins. Find this wine

166512 VALDEMAR INSPIRACIÓN SELECCIÓN 2010, Rioja $17.00
I enjoy writing about a wine costing $17.00 that offers so much drinking pleasure at such a young age, but that also has potential to get even better with a couple of years in slumber. A dark fruit focused wine displaying great depth of black currant, black cherry, Dutch salty licorice and ground pepper. The palate hits with a whack of Ribena, dark chocolate infused with cherry liqueur, perfect acidity with a blackcurrant focused finish enhanced with mineral. Find this wine

287961 OSCAR’S ESTATE VINEYARD SHIRAZ/VIOGNIER 2011 Barossa Valley, South Australia $17.95
Sawdust, wet earth, violets, blackcurrant, Middle Eastern sweet spice and milk chocolate. Its palate is solid with plenty of dark fruit, a touch of tamarind, clean acidity and gentle tannins. Find this wine

097220 TORBRECK THE STEADING 2009 Barossa Valley, South Australia $53.95
A bit of a clumsy powerhouse right now, its nose is almost Port like, brimming with dark chocolate, blueberry, tar and candy floss. There is lively acidity, it is laden with chunky dark fruit, sweet toffee and has a finish of Fry’s chocolate cream. Tannins are silky, but solid, however, this will be quite the wine given time, but nonetheless it’s tasty albeit disjointed right now. Find this wine

948992 HEDGES CELLARS CMS 2011 Columbia Valley, Washington $19.95
A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah boasting aromas of dark fruit, chocolate covered raisins, Coffee Crisp candy bar, bacon/smoked meat and wet soil. It is a meaty wine, well balanced; the dark fruit shows well, a touch of pepper and spice lead to a clean and well balanced finish. Find this wine

951889 IRONSTONE OLD VINE ZINFANDEL 2012 Lodi $17.00
I like the crushed blackberry, blueberry, sweet cherry, black tea, lavender and linalool aromas. It is highly extracted, but no excessive heat, solid dark fruit flavours, some peppery spice, dusty blueberry, bubble gum and dried raspberry. Find this wine

186171 DECOY CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2012 Sonoma County $33.95
Duckhorn’s second wine displays lots of dusty warm dark fruit, a little nutshell and plenty of mineral notes on the nose. A solid palate, with currant and raspberry, nice clean acidity, dusty chocolate tannins and spicy finish. Find this wine
That’s it!
Cheers
CZ

My first experience with the wines of Chateau Virgile, located in Costiere de Nimes, was back in the spring of 2009, when I tasted that estate’s white from the 2006 vintage with the US importer, Patrick Allen, of United Estates Wine Imports, Ltd. We liked it so well that we blew through all we could find in short order, and didn’t get a chance to try anything else from them until September of 2010, when I happened upon their 2008 rosé; it was good, but not as good as the blanc, so we didn’t buy as much, and didn’t give it any more thought until I ran into Patrick again, this time, at a Rhône trade tasting put on by our friends at AHD Vintners this past February.

Patrick is every bit as affable and informative as he was five years ago, and once again, everything from his portfolio that he was pouring was excellent. The two from Virgile were the ones that really caught my attention, both for their tasty demeanor and their excellent QPR (Quality-Price-Ratio). We liked them so much, that we picked up a half-case of each. Here are my impressions of each, starting with the 2012 rosé, which I’m pleased to report is much more to our liking that the ’08 model.

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