Last week, Kim and I, along with our good friend Ken Hebenstreit, were most pleased to attend a Louis/Dressner tasting at the West Bloomfield Plum Market. We really like what Madeline Triffon MS has done with Plum’s wine program, and we’ve been big fans of the Louis/Dressner for many years. The event also gave us the opportunity to renew acquaintances with LD National Sales Manager Josefa Concannon. I was not really surprised to see that I have at one point or another reviewed every one of the wines being poured. As Josefa remarked, “Yup, these are all our best sellers here in this market.”

Every selection was excellent, but after tasting through them all, there was one that really stood out for us, and it was, perhaps surprisingly, a Chardonnay, different vintages of which I’ve reviewed on at least three previous occasions.
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It’s no secret that many of our favorite wines come from France’s Rhône valley; we enjoy them all year round, winter, spring, summer and fall. I’ve been compiling various notes on what we’ve been trying over the past few months in an effort to catch up on my reports, and these six jumped right out at me. They’re all really good; some are more ready to drink than others, and a couple of them really want some time. If you see any of them out there, my recommendation is to buy, buy, buy. ‘Nuff said; read on, McDuff. (Click images to enlarge.)

2010 Font-Sane Ventoux Vieilles Vignes, 70% Grenache, 30% Syrah, 13.5% alc., $12.99: We’ve enjoyed this fine producer’s Gigondas last June, and also back in 2010, and while this isn’t the first time we’ve had their Ventoux VV, it is the first time I’ve reviewed it. With clean, dark color, it offers up dog fur and earthy, leathery black fruit that sets the tone for the wine’s personality in both flavor and aroma in a way that I find appealing; it also has a slightly sunbaked quality to it that I like. Full bodied and structured for some years in the cellar, this is a solid, more-than-just-serviceable red. Give it some air and it pleases now; give it another three-to-five years in the cellar and it should be even better. Excellent QPR (quality-price-ratio) here. Find this wine

Imported by AHD Vintners, Ltd., Warren, MI
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It had been a few years since we last tried anything from our stash of Sean Thackrey Orion, so I decided it was time again, and found two opportunities to do so recently. It’s hard to find better California reds than Orion, and once in a while, you just have to mine some data points, right? It wasn’t a conscious decision to open the same two we tried that last time and see how they’d progressed; I just wanted to open something good, and these are the ones that jumped out at me down in “the cellar from hell.”

Kim and I decided to open the ’05 one night, just because we could; actually, there may have been a celebration of some kind involved. Whatever the case, it has definitely gone through some changes since 2011. (Click on images to enlarge.)

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Some big guns are taking centre spot on the USA sections of Vintages stores on October 12th. The feature this release has picked several wines from the Napa Valley and the nice folks at the LCBO head office sent pretty well all the reds on the release. Tasting brought back many great memories for me as I still have a passion for these wines, albeit they are mostly out of my price range. If you want to see what is tasty and worth picking up, then you have to read on.

THE TWO “WINE OF THE MONTH” WINES

126607 NAPA CELLARS ZINFANDEL 2011 Napa Valley, California $21.95
Lots of dark berry and underbrush aromas, coupled with sweet plum and a touch of cedar. Palate is solid, not overly sweet, has clean acids, a decent finish and is drinking very well right now. Find this wine

344416 CASTELGREVE CHIANTI CLASSICO RISERVA 2009 Tuscany, Italy $19.95
Layers of dark chocolate and blackcurrant are enhanced by a tease of Turkish Delight candy and a touch of mocha. It carries some pleasing sweet fruit on the palate, a touch of blackberry and raspberry. Not a long finish, but a flavoursome wine. Find this wine

SOME SERIOUSLY TASTY WINES FROM THE NAPA VALLEY

333328 CORISON CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2005 Napa Valley $113.95
A wine that immediately peaks at that “Oh my god” factor from the first swirl of the glass to the finish. Its nose is laden with dried blueberry, cassis, dark chocolate, black raspberry, slate and mineral. It is full bodied, carrying flavours of Asian spice, purest dark fruits and impeccable balance. The degree of oak is perfect, tannins are integrating and the finish is brilliant. Find this wine

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As previously reported, Shannon aka Shawn Walters sent me home from my June road trip to Traverse City and Leland, Michigan, with a selection of wines that he’d made for various clients. Besides selections from Bowers Harbor and Chateau Fontaine, he also gifted me with selections from Boathouse Vineyards, Blustone Vineyards and Verterra Winery. We’re very familiar with Verterra, of course, but not so much with Boathouse and Blustone. The intrepid reader can follow the links to their respective websites and pretty much learn about as much as we know about them, but I promise, my next trip up to Leelanau, I will be knocking on their doors to get a better taste and a bigger picture of what these two promising producers are up to. (Click images to enlarge.)

All five of the wines tasted here give yet further testimony to the great strides that have been made in the Leelanau Peninsula with regard to wine growing and winemaking in the past several years, and Shannon (it’s hard not to call him Shawn, but Shannon is his given name, and he goes by that now) is at the very forefront of this movement. Here are my impressions of each.
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Anne Charlotte Melia-Bachas (shown on the right with this taster; click on images to enlarge) came to town last week to promote the wines of her estate in Chateauneuf du Pape, Chateau de la Font du Loup. We first met Anne Charlotte in 2010, at a wine luncheon presented by Font du Loup’s regional distributor and importer, AHD Vintners. We were charmed by both her and the wines, and I took great delight in renewing acquaintances with her and meeting her husband, Font du Loup co-owner and winemaker Laurent Bachas.

So, when AHD Sales Rep Extraordinaire Michelle DeHayes invited Kim and me to join her and Anne Charlotte for dinner, we didn’t hesitate to accept. We convened at Cuisine, in Detroit’s New Center area. The food was quite good, and we were were pleased that Chef Paul Grosz joined us to taste through the wines; he seemed just as impressed with them as we were. Anne Charlotte herself is unabashed about liking her wines, and why not? I’ve never tasted anything from this estate that wasn’t excellent. Here’s what we tasted.
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There was a time, not so many years ago, that red wines from Crozes-Hermitage were pretty common in our repertoire of drinking selections here at Gang Central. These wines are usually 100% Syrah (though it is legal to include small quantities of white Roussanne or Marsanne grapes), and tend to be more reasonably priced than their prestigious northern Rhône counterparts from Hermitage, Cote-Rotie and even Cornas. Back then, our go-to choice was the Paul Jaboulet Aine Domaine de Thalabert, and when we were slumming, Jaboulet ‘s Les Jalets was a pretty good alternative. When we wanted to treat ourselves, we’d opt for one of Alain Graillot’s beauties.
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On August 31st, Vintages will release its 90 points plus wine release and yours truly was able to taste and enjoy a few of them. For those who buy wine based on the wine gurus’ numerical ratings, there are many tasty bottles to pick from. Just for fun, I put my own numerical ratings next to those of the experts. Please do read on………

593525 FROG’S LEAP ZINFANDEL 2010 Napa Valley, California $37.95
An absolutely amazing multi-layered Zinfandel just brimming with dark fruit, mineral, Asian spices, pepper and dried mushroom. It is beautifully balanced, the dark fruit acidity is so cleansing, tannins are soft and the finish is long. Find this wine
Score: 91 Steve Heimoff, Wine Enthusiast.
Score: 92 C.Z. Gang of Pour

091058 BERINGER CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2010 Napa Valley, California $49.95
Ripe and aromatic, the nose has blackcurrant, stone, chocolate and cinnamon notes.
It has solid structure, good depth of dark fruit and plummy flavours, milk chocolate tannins and a chewy finish. Find this wine
Score: 92 Antonio Galloni, erobertparker.com
Score: 90 C.Z Gang of Pour

072603 NUGAN ESTATE MCLAREN PARISH VINEYARD SHIRAZ 2010 McLaren Vale, South Australia $24.95
Dark and shiny, it blows off notes of eucalyptus, mint, lavender and black toffee. A few spins releases layers of dark fruit, blackberry, black cherry and vanilla. Well balanced on the palate, lots of creamy sweet fruit tamed by perfect levels of acidity. Tannins are tight, although tasty right now, time in the cellar will only enhance this wine. Find this wine
Score: 90(+?) Josh Raynolds, International Wine Cellar
Score 91 C.Z Gang of Pour

719575 MOUNT LANGI GHIRAN BILLI BILLI SHIRAZ 2009 Victoria, Australia $17.95
A little supressed, some earthy aromas along with stewed fruit; palate has a sweet and viscous texture to it. The fruit is more apparent on the finish, acidity is low and tannins are soft. Find this wine
Score: 94 James Halliday, winecompanion
Score 85 C.Z Gang of Pour

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I wrote a song in 2011 that’s on my CD, “In My Element,” called “I’m Getting’ Squirrilly in My Old Age,” and the last verse pays homage to two of my very favorite California wine producers:

“These days I’m happy just to get along
All I want to do is write and swim and sing my song
I got no ambition beyond fishin’ for that next new tune
And sippin’ on some tasty wine from Mr. Ridge and Bonny Doon.”

In the past few months, we’ve had two wines each from Mr. Ridge and Bonny Doon, and my notes are presented here in the order of their mention in the song. During a recent visit from our colleague-in-crime, Alan Kerr aka Canadian Zinfan, I put him on notice that I had a nice ’09 Geyserville with his name on it, and he reciprocated with a York Creek Zin from the same vintage. Both were delightful with Australian lamb-sickles.
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It has been a while since I was able to pop up to London and taste some of the merchandise due to hit the shelves on Vintages next release this Saturday August 17th. What will be released is a mixed bag with some pleasant surprises especially in the price range of $20.00 or less. Easy Italy is the feature focus that offers several wines from lesser known regions. (click labels to enlarge)

USA

719211 CLINE ANCIENT VINES ZINFANDEL 2011 Contra Costa County, Central Coast $19.95
Pleasing aromas of blueberry, cake spice, black raspberry and plum. Its texture is quite creamy, with sweet flavours of ripe fruit, milk chocolate and mocha. Nice acidity balances the sweetness, finish is ripe and tasty. Find this wine

161190 GROVE STREET CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2010 Sonoma County $18.95
A nicely structured Cabernet showing, dark fruit and blackcurrant mixed with dusty cocoa and cough candy, bearing a nicely balanced palate and a simple clean finish. Find this wine

161273 CLOS DU BOIS PINOT NOIR 2011 California $18.95
Plum and dark cherry with some herbaceous notes and a touch of beet and sweet cherry cola on the nose. It’s sweet on the palate, although acidity is noted; it is not enough to tone down the cloying quality on the finish. Find this wine

210047 COLUMBIA CREST H3 CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2010 Horse Heaven Hills $19.95
This is a most impressive wine that starts with earthy barnyard aromas that quickly take second place to layers of dark fruit, plum, dark chocolate and mocha. Tasty palate, well balanced, with gentle tannins, the only spoiler being a touch of heat on the finish. Wine of the month. Find this wine

AUSTRALIA

336966 TOURNON MATHILDA VICTORIAN SHIRAZ 2010 Victoria $19.95
A blend of treacle, fig, sour cherry and black pepper on the nose, all coming together on a palate full of lively acidity, black fruit and dark bitter chocolate. Somewhat clumsy now, but has potential to be an interesting wine in the near future. Find this wine

FRANCE

336909 CHÂTEAU LA FLEUR GRANDS LANDES 2010 Montagne Saint-Émilion $17.95
Whiffs of dark berry, leather and espresso grounds, a palate of sweet fruit, gentle tannins and a good core of acidity render this wine simple, pleasing and quaffable. Find this wine

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