Twenty-three mind-blowing wines of 2023

Chianti Classico Collection, Stazione Leopolda

Composing a year-end, these are the most thrillin’ wines tasted in the last 12 months list is kinda akin to scribbling up a little warble, if you get the director’s drift. The question begs, what’s the cause, what’s the meaning and ultimately why bother? Reminiscences are part of the human condition and while there is little amusement however in watching a wine critic taste wines, there just may be some interest in reading said list, checking it twice and coming to a personal conclusion as to which choices are worthy, and which are merely nice.

Nebbiolo Prima 2023

You will find a notable cadent shift in this year’s melody away from there being a substantial number of older wines chosen as having been the year’s most exciting. Not to mention a concentration of certain grapes and their OG places. It’s just, well, natural. For 2023 more of the choices are directed towards hopelessly romantic youthful wines in their extant moments still years away from entering their right proper drinking windows. No shortage of opportunities in 2023 to taste top examples – Of sangiovese, nebbiolo, nerello mascalese, nero d’avola, pinot noir, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc, grenache, syrah, chardonnay, riesling, assyrtiko and chenin blanc – Are but a range within the lion’s share of varietal moments.

Sicilia en Primeur

Old wines can elicit epiphanies but a conscious effort is made to include as many current vintages as possible, provided they represent a winery’s best of the best. This is the state of winemaking today because deeper understanding, the consummate use of technology and a passionate willingness to always improve are qualifying so many of the world’s finest wines at poll positions to a greater degree than before. There is little surprise that Italian wines coexist in highest favour if only because the author spends more than 25 percent of a 365-day timeframe in that country. Italy’s long, deep and intimate relationship with success is a serious attraction and so being afforded the opportunity to taste 2,000 Italian wines in a calendar year will almost certainly result in experiencing no less than 50 thrilling examples. A Bordeaux trip in September to 25 growth properties could and should rightly deliver wines to dot this list. Same could be said for many other palate awakening wine regions worldwide. All this and yet overall travels and tastings were less diverse and more focused in 2023. The author is known to follow the work.

L’Etna, Sicily

Act one: Nebbiolo Prima. Act two: Two weeks later, the Chianti Classico Collection. Act three: Three months later, Sicilia en Primeur and a Canadian Sommelier boot camp with Chianti Classico. Act four: Summer in Paris with Lambrusco, judging at the Nationals in the Okanagan Valley for WineAlign, shooting video in Florence, up to Collio and Hungary and finally 113 degrees in the smoky shade of Washington. Act five: Europe all fall, from Bordeaux to Monferrato, Chianti Classico to Montalcino, Piedmontazine Alta Langa and back to Chianti Classico. These decisions are not taken lightly, nor are they apocryphal fabrications, but they are Godello’s 23 mind-blowing wines of 2023.

Coppo 1892 Piero Coppo Riserva Del Fondatore 2013, Alta Langa Riserva DOCG, Piedmont, Italy

The 2013 vintage is the turning point to this 60 percent pinot noir and (40) chardonnay becoming and being labeled Alta Langa, recently disgorged in 2022. Previous disgorgements were labelled Vino Spumante di Qualità. Now into wildly vivid and famous complexity, toasty yes but there’s a crème frâiche and an almost strawberries and cream component. Eonologists GianMario Cerrutti, Guiliermo Grasso and Vittorio Pescarmona conspired to see this age 85 to 90 months on the lees, almost unprecedented around Asti. Has hit its stride, in the right place between crunchy and the kind of sparkling wine that you begin to ruminate with in the mouth. Cerebral wine in every respect. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted January 2023

Hermann J. Wiemer Riesling HJW 2020, West Seneca Lake, Finger Lakes

Upper echelon aromatic stage presence, stoic and static as riesling must be if it wants to set a gold standard. Dry entry that sides and morphs into natural sweetness of peach and Forelle pear, almost lime cotton candy scented. From the original vineyard planted in 1976 closer to the lake where tender varieties excel. The elastic extension and tension together coexist as long as Seneca runs from the snow belt to Watkins Glen. Drink 2023-2030. Tasted April 2023

Vineyards of the Szent György Hegy, Balatoni

Gilvesy Rajnai Rizling Tarányi 2020, Szent György Hegy, Balatoni, Hungary

Old vines over 50 years of age (planted sometime in the 1970s), right below the estate, just nine rows and once belonging to the cooperative. Named after a landowner from the 1920s (or 30s) connected to the local governmental administration. Crunchy as only a Gilvesy rizling can be, lime doused, acids so bloody intelligent and making sure fruit is put into flight. Aged in steel, Austrian Stockinger cask and Flex-Cube. There is no doubt that the single vineyard Tarányi delivers a richer and luxe expression of rajnai rizling but also one of flint, petrol and scintillant emission. This flashes across the palate like a supernova and lingers long after the wine is gone. That is powerful rizling. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted July 2023

Vassaltis Gramina Cuvee Des Vignerons 2021, PDO Santorini, Greece

Of course 100 per cent assyrtiko, picked and collected between six and eight AM, straight into the press, stainless steel vinified, no cooling, no passing go, no collecting 200 drachmas. All about preserving essential freshness, finesse and elegance. Spontaneous fermentation, a year on lees, in bottle six months. It is right here where we are to understand why Yiannis Valambous gave up a life 14 years ago that was not focused on Santorini, chose to return and altered his history. Santorini once a place of summers spent without purpose or tension is now all encompassing, focused on assyrtiko and for good reason. It is the variety to which all white grapes now aspire. Gramina sheds distraction and focuses on purity and 2021 is a great vintage. It celebrates assyrtiko from where it thrives and conveys that all important message of place. After tasting the Vassaltis Cuvée Des Vignerons 2021 winemakers around the world will ask their farmers to plant the grape in the place where they are. They will do so because even a fraction of this excellence will be worth pursuing. Drink 2023-2033. Tasted February 2023

Ulmo Chardonnay

Planeta Didacus 2020, Sicilia Menfi DOC

From Vigneto Maroccoli, The Didacus home where vines were planted in 1997 and 1998. The connection with chardonnay “Classico” is obvious but whole bunch fermentation and seriously selected oak barrels change the complexion and even more so the spice cupboard of this high caste wine. It may seem that Didacus would fare at its best in the warmest of vintages but it does not really need the extra sunshine and ripeness. Didacus gets there quite easily thank you very much and so the slightly cooler and more classic 2020 is ideal for a wine of exceptional depth and weight. Harmony is the result. Che equilibrio! Drink 2023-2028. Tasted May 2023

With Sarah Goedhart and Christophe Hedges

Hedges Family Estate Red Mountain Reserve 1999, Red Mountain AVA, Yakima Valley, Washington

The artist formerly known as Red Mountain Reserve became Le Haute Cuvée with the 2012 vintage. Hedges was both ahead of their time (because the word Reserve was already losing its wine world lustre) and respectful of family history by labelling in a Champagne or at least a French vernacular. Here is a nearly 24 year-old red blend that has aged remarkably well and though thinking miraculously was a momentary thought – there is no miracle but something more profound at play. The Mountain for one thing and a family at least a decade ahead of the curve. Early Washington organics, no reverse osmosis, no mechanical filtration and no lobotomizing a bottle of red wine. Yes the secondary notes are present and they are settled in a state of absolute proprietary grace. Very little trace of tannin, nor any barrel that is but a superfine mountain induction that makes for a silky feeling in the mouth. There is a chance this will live another 24 years but the fruit is already leaving and so 12 should be the maximum with half that the truest and most honest recommendation. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted August 2023

J.B. Neufeld Cabernet Sauvignon Two Blondes Vineyard 2021, Yakima Valley AVA

From Justin and Brooke Neufeld who first bottled their cabernet sauvignon in 2008. “In my opinion the Yakima is the state’s most diverse terroir,” explains Justin. “By focusing on one variety it forces me to concentrate on the nuances of the sites here in Rattlesnake Hills and the Upper Valley.” A cooler clime for a less granular if also reduced austerity as compared to what comes from Red Mountain. Here the ridges run east to west and Two Blondes is as cool a site as there is the Upper Valley where the cataclysmic glacial lake outburst Missoula Floods peaked at 1,200 feet. Early concrete raising for a cabernet of place above all else, conspicuously aromatic with a whole helluva lot of things (and love) going on. Famously and indelibly connected to the winemakers who created it. A cerebral cab that makes you perk up, ponader and pay attention. The wood factor is quite present, the wine is so young and this feeling of delicasse, grace and repose are on the indigo horizon. Should take about three years time to get to a point of heartsease and another three to gain serenity. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted August 2023

Heitz Cabernet Sauvignon Trailside Vineyard 2008, Napa Valley, California

As Trailside Vineyard from Heitz will always do, is it the acid that is preserved. This was the case in both the ’06 and the ’07 but back in 2008 the aromatics were expressed in extra level florals, savoury elements and a charming layering of swarthiness. Five years of bottle aging before release plus nine more since have gathered the necessary elements and when you nose but then taste this wine you just know that it is Heitz, by style and out of a context that speaks to what the vineyard is want and purposed to say. Fine position, time and place right here, right now, ready, willing, able to please and without any moment of equivocation. Might just stay this way for another five, perhaps even ten years. Drink 2023-2031. Tasted October 2023

Spottswoode Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2002, Napa Valley, California

Opened after a near 20-year stay in the cellar and just a few days after tasting the 2010 and 2020 with Beth Weber Novak in Toronto. The vintage has not been considered as one to hold as long as either 2001 or 2003 but there can be no questioning this 2002’s longevity on this very day. Inventiveness without reinvention because this scents as fresh as it must have been at the essence of its very nascence. All that can be crushed to express in aromas for which imagination conjures berries, stones, clay and flowers. Spottswoode ’02 defines a Napa Vally posit tug between power and grace while existing in a controlled state of confidence and calm. A wine that gently, privately seduces the palate, body and mind into the gentlest slumber of our lives. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted October 2023

Graci Etna Rosso DOC Arcurìa Sopra Il Pozzo 2018

The southwest corner of Graci’s Arcurìa cru is Vigna Sopra Il Pozzo, identified as a most important block within a larger vineyard already qualified as something of great Etna Versante Nord value. Challenging season and every iota of energy captured and encapsulated inside a nerello mascalese of supreme freshness. The palate is the profound matter of this wine’s supreme expressive nature, with soft, graceful and subtly powerful tannins. An Etna Rosso that lays in waiting, not to pounce but to slowly and persistently keep hold of our attention. No density from Sopra Il Pozzo ’18 but compact layers of slow-release tension – and also energy. Drink 2024-2035. Tasted May 202

Girolamo Russo Etna Rosso DOC Piano Delle Colombe 2020, Sicily, Italy

Piano delle Colombe is a single block (or vineyard if you like) identified within San Lorenzo aged in tonneaux and barriques. Not a different take on the contrada but one that considers some rows of nerello mascalese whose separated vinifications have consistently performed well (and more often than not better) in many consecutive vintages. Concentration and hyper purity is incredulous, encouraged to the point of hyperbole by the vintage. Would say yet another Girolamo Russo ’20 that opens the floodgates of Etna Rosso fruit potential so that this waterfall of beauty crashes over the palate. Which in turn abides if only because it has no choice or else be drowned in fruit. Submit and be graced with a fineness of structure that can only feel the condition of greatness. Texture and finish are tops. Drink 2025-2038. Tasted May 2023

Il Poggio, Castello di Monsanto, San Donato in Poggio

Castello Di Monsanto Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vigneto Il Poggio 2018, San Donato In Poggio, Tuscany, Italy

There can be little doubt that Gran Selezione is the wine to explain style from a place within a place, that being Monsanto’s Il Poggio Vineyard inside the UGA of San Donato In Poggio. Il Poggio is four things; famous, respected, stunning and structured to design formidably age-worthy sangiovese. Stylistically speaking this Gran Selezione is so very different than Riserva because older-school austerity and unrelenting tannic structure keep fruit locked in tight while also interpreting place with pinpoint precision. But 2018 is a warm and accumulating vintage and so all things being equal there are strong determining factors for the fate of this place. Highly aromatic, tripping with light, energy and the science of the soils, of Galestro and schisty fragments that must be a part of the make up, from stones through vines and vines to fruit. This Monsanto Selezione smells like the place’s dust kicked up by heels and hands dragged through the dirt. With 2018 in bottle there could be an argument that San Donato in Poggio’s are some of the richest of all the UGAs, but this is Monsanto where destiny is all. Drink 2025-2037. Tasted February and May 2023

Related – 16 mind-blowing wines of 2016

Fèlsina Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Colonia 2009, Castelnuovo Berardenga, Tuscany, Italy

Colonia Vineyard is a short jog up the hill past Rancia and through the woods. In 1966 Domenico Poggiali found a cellar set into the “tufa” hills of his Fèlsina estate. It was small, built of stone and with a wide brick vault. It was a start. In 1967 he chose to plant Colonia in an impossibly challenging and extreme Alberese limestone rocky location. He used dynamite because that was the thing at the time but it was soon outlawed and made clearing the land near impossible. Twenty-four years later Giovanni Poggiali resumed the project and planted its first vines in 1993, just before Domenico passed away. Colonia 2009 is La Prima, the first Gran Selezione and this look back is one to recall roots (tethered to 2006), familial traditions and passing of the Chianti Classico torch. This vintage separates and leaves its original designations in the rear-view mirror. At 14 years of age it remains austere but austere can be beautiful. As here, with severe and chiseled features though the savoury elements differ from Rancia. More resinous evergreen and forested aromas but also a chalkiness that speaks directly out of the Alberese. The thing is Colonia remains still young and fresh, while the powdered mineral persists unresolved. One of the most fascinating retrospective looks at aged Chianti Classico. Drink 2023-2036. Tasted October 2023

Il Molino di Grace

Il Molino Di Grace Gratius 2019, Toscana IGT

Gratius will make a very high quality Gran Selezione and the time is nigh to accord it the designation. All the qualities are inherent and intrinsic to the coming status, namely concentration, finest silken grains of texture and balancing tannin. Come now, the future is poetic and gracious. Last tasted October 2023

Choosing not to compare Gratius to Chianti Classico at any level, let alone Gran Selezione, is wise and for several reasons. For one thing the blending in of canaiolo and colorino changes dynamics by setting and settling acidity, elevating pH and stabilizing colour. For more reasons check out the manual but here are the Coles notes. Gratius delivers two-toned liquorice, more direct solar radiated brightness, finer and yet less immediately understood structure and a chewiness that sets it apart. What matters is here is that Gratius is the representative for the single San Francesco vineyard and so it is a profound IGT ready, willing and able to become a wine graced with the Gallo Nero and labeled as Panzano. Two new Austrian casks will conceive 3,900 bottles going forward and the future is all about DOCG quality at the highest appellative level. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted February 2023

Isole E Olena Cepparello 2021, Toscana IGT, Tuscany, Italy

Paolo’s first tasting of this finished 2021 Cepparello since bottling back in May is this right here. The frost vintage, namely on April 7th, with secondary buds on the Cordone vines being the source of most of the wine’s fruit. Not a disaster at Isole e Olena, maybe 35 percent loss in total but the quality was high and so less Chianti Classico was made. “That wine is less about the vintage for us,” says de Marchi and so this as the decision made to cope with the small crop. Once again (and since forever) Paolo employs the aromas and proteins inducing method of soft maceration, long délestage and skins connected back with already half fermented juice. The ’21 is a wine of “frescezza” and yet saying freshness does not do the description justice. There is tension and a nervous energy buzzing from Cepparello 2021 and one to really hold your attention. There may be no Italian word for texture but were there one that made any real sense it might be the dramatic threads of “weft” from this 2021 youthful work in progress. This will be a Cepparello for the ages, Buy it and bank on it. Drink 2026-2040. Tasted December 2023

Related – 15 Mind blowing wines of 2015

Casanova Di Neri Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Tenuta Nuova 2019, Tuscany, Italy

Tenuta Nuova is something next level and you know this from the moment you put nose to glass. It consumes the senses straight away with its intoxicating perfume as deep as it is strong. Muscular in that regard and exponentially so at the intersection of palate and structure. The stuffing, intensity, power and layers are what we call “off the charts” and there are but a few vintages that create, instil and then leave this kind of impression. Drink 2027-2038. Tasted November 2023

Conti Costanti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Colle Al Matrichese 2019, Tuscany, Italy

Take a moment, reflect even before this has even begun, focus the senses and prepare for a long connection with a 2019 from Andrea Costanti. A Brunello di Montalcino that graciously requests full attention paid because vineyard, experience and vintage have taken no liberties as it pertains to what is the necessary requiem. Aromatic wealth void of force and punch without gratuity comes out of the glass like an apparition gliding through the halls of a medieval edifice. They are sweet, flowing and casually swift. The palate and mouthfeel are one in the same – in most wines made everywhere around the world this is simply not the case. Acidity is right and it is bloody correct – whatever that means but in this case it’s true. Costanti tannins are always their best self but then there are 2019 tannins which elongate with elastic ease, always stretching forwards and return they will though it is hard to say when that will happen. It just does not happen on the finish, which is something impossibly so. Who would not wish to be frozen in this youth, impeccably fresh, limber and athletic? May act this way with generosity and charm for decades. Drink 2026-2040. Tasted November 2023

Biondi Santi Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Tenuta Il Greppo 1988, Tuscany, Italy

It is very important to be reminded that Biondi-Santi is the original but also the estate that practiced early harvesting before just about anyone else. At the time the sangiovese grosso vines from the estate BBS11 clone (mainly intended for Riserva) would have been 25 years of age and while considered then and also now as a great vintage it is worth noting that in 1988 the final alcohol was 11 percent. When the estate style is reflected upon there is just something about the continuity which begins with the 1980s and especially the 1985 forward to the later part of that decade, all the way through to 2018 more than thirty years later. Yes there is in fact a connection despite the gap, the huge change in climate and the challenge to maintain identity. The last point is key because the contiguous teams focus on this ahead of all else. The ’88 now shows dried red fruits but also the wild strawberry and then frutta di bosco that are the hallmarks of an older Brunello that has not fallen over into the porcini and truffle zone. Not Biondi-Santi because wood was never the axis nor the focus and fruit was always carefully selected before being gently coaxed to arrive at this kind of secondary level. No matter the age the style persists as fresh red fruit, with fine acids more than alive and a specific succulence specific to place. Il Greppo the estate – which means the people abided by their charge to preserve this heritage. The original endowment of Montalcino. Respect. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2023

Related – Mind blowing wines of 2014

Cantina Del Pino Barbaresco DOCG Ovello 2017, Barbaresco, Piedmont

The 2017 is part of a life’s work and now legacy defining Barbaresco by Renatto Vacca of Cantina del Pino who three years ago was lost to the nebbiolo, Barbaresco, Piedmontese and Italian world, but most of all to his adoring family. For now and wishfully forever there is Aldo Vacca of Produttori del Barbaresco who will not just transition but consult in perpetuity to this great estate. In the meantime Renatto’s 2017 Ovello from the Grand Cru vineyard overlooking the Tanaro River is sumptuous, silken textured, fruit maximized and elegance incarnate. Easy to be romantic in this situation but also wistful and somber – yet the wine speaks so clearly and emphatically it’s all that matters at this very moment. These are complete, distinct and forward carrying tannins to take Ovello ’19 deep into this and well further through the next decade. Solo cose belle Cantina del Pino. Drink 2025-2034. Tasted January 2023

Pio Cesare Barolo DOCG Ornato 2019, Serralunga d’Alba, Piedmont

Tasted with Cesare Benvenuto in Alba from the Serralunga cru and a vintage of round fruit set against a backdrop of understated if surely intense tannin. A year for which a winemaking team had to reset and not push anything too hard, lest there creep in notes of volatility and astringency. Jam as well and the report on Ornato by Pio Cesare speaks nothing of these things. A softness in the beginning and also a state of grace with the force of structure waiting in the wings, respectfully and knowing now is the merely the time for introductions. Some fruit from 1947 planted vines takes part in this nebbiolo play and the rest seem to follow, fill and support, dutifully in the tradition of this menzione. Though those vines are hard to define in how they affect overall concentration there is the unspoken aspect of experience and strength. Of character which leads to probability to say this Ornato will live long and prosper for decades. Another stunner from the world of Pio Cesare. Drink 2026-2039. Tasted January 2023

Cavallotto Tenuta Bricco Boschis Barolo Riserva DOCG Bricco Boschis Vigna San Giuseppe 2017, Castiglione Falletto, Piedmont

Not entirely sure why there is a need or desire to show a Riserva 2017 from a cask sample but frankly this feels ready to be in bottle. The aromatics are resolved, the fruit laid in a state of preparedness and the nebbiolo character intact, with tact and in display of its varietal guarantee. No other 2017 exhibits this much acidity and while some might see it as edgy to verging on volatile, the reminder is this. Bricco Boschis, Castiglione Falletto and an old school soul for Barolo that will outlast them all. What a glorious Barolo, without holes and one hundred percent in charge of its emotions. Ours submit to the character of this great nebbiolo. Drink 2025-2040. Tasted blind at Nebbiolo Prima, January 2023

Château Troplong-Mondot Premier Grand Cru Classé 2019, Saint-Émilion, Bordeaux, France

First vintage where the malolactic fermentation was done 100 percent in tank before being racked to barrel. Some simultaneous spontaneity overlapping with alcoholic fermentation but more often than that there will be control to have them happen one after the other. The fact that 35 percent of the vineyards at the top of the hill are filled with the hardest clay anywhere in Bordeaux, coupled with limestone all over creates the most mineral quotient around. This transmits as contained and controlled power, especially from the generously wooded 2019 but my goodness the saline freshness, chalky quality and silken tannin wrap up the fruit with a ying-yang of nurture and grip. Whether you are familiar with, an expert on or just arriving at a Troplong Mondot Grand Cru Classé for the first time – it just doesn’t matter. This 2019 will blow your mind. Drink 2025-2039. Tasted September 2023

Château Les Carmes Haut Brion Grand Vin De Graves 2018, AC Pessac Léognan, Bordeaux, France

Extremely different vintage but not like ’17, here with much darker, riper and developed fruit. Freshness would have to have been a challenge but at 13.5 percent alcohol and high pH there comes this ulterior freshness with texture imposed by great and forceful will. More active infusion earlier on because there was so much colour and extraction on hand from a vintage where the blend was nearly the same as that of 2017. That being 38 percent cabernet franc, (35) cabernet sauvignon and (27) merlot. There really is no other chateau that creates this style, a mix of salt and pepper seasoning over blue to black fruit and in 2018 the whole bunch inclusion was 60 percent. If you are buying high end Bordeaux from 2018 then Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion is the place to be, though it’s likely sold out wherever you may live. Just about nothing else in the Left Bank finds this level of quality, balance and success. The whole bunch “infusion” methodology controls the heat and excess of the vintage to deliver finesse, precision, restraint and honesty. Drink 2025-2038. Tasted September 2023

Good to go!

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WineAlign

50 California blasts from the past

Mar1

Godello in the Napa Valley mustard

As each calendar year counts down I set out on a long December inward journey, sifting through thousands of tasting notes, looking for reminders to trigger emotion. The purpose is a honing, a zeroing in process, first to create a shortlist and then a numbered final register to match the century’s yearly suffix. The latest was Godello’s Twenty mind-blowing wines of 2020. A bit painstaking to agglomerate while simultaneously offering a grouping of days in recollection of the year’s finest sips though rumination over the previous 365. On this the first of March 2021 there is a looming and gloaming of a particular sort, forced upon us by circumstance as the auspicious anniversary approaches. Thus it seems like a reasonably credible idea to act upon the concept of creating more top lists, or rather further “gathered reminiscences,” blasts from the past. These are 50 California wines tasted years ago, assessments that up until now remained raw and unfinished, just now committed to public record.

Carneros, Napa Valley

Chardonnay

Patz & Hall Chardonnay Alder Springs Vineyard 2014, Mendocino County

A vineyard of altitude and cool seven miles from the ocean at 1200 ft with fruit also sold to Kosta Browne. Her for banana, lemon and intense dry extract. Crisp as possible, freshness, balance, length, carries it all. No butter, no oil, no gratuitous aromas or flavours. Exceptional. Donald Patz has now retired having sold to Chateau Ste. Michelle. Buy it up. May never be this exceptional again. Wild ferment, full malolactic, 70 per cent new French wood. $60-70 US. Drink 2018-2025. Tasted August 2016

Grgich Hills Estate Chardonnay 2012, Napa Valley

In the zone, reduction blowing off to the edges of the compound. The liberally spread butter fully absorbed, the wood subsidy subsided, now all laid out in retrospect. Ripeness from that beautiful vintage has settled into a cool, lemon curd tart and nectarous nectarine delectation. All tolled the cumulative is an effect of elegance, though in this case not necessarily richesse. Drink 2016-2019. Tasted April 2016

Kutch Chardonnay Santa Cruz Mountains 2014

Santa Mateo County, really reductive, very mineral, the most thus far in a line-up of 13 California chardonnays , from what is surely the coolest spot from the Santa Cruz Mountains. Great rocks, stones and bones. Yes bones, by karst and the sea air reaching out to make this seriously cool. The great mountain tang and natural acidity, intense, snappy, snapping back and long. From Jamie Kutch, “Burgundian to a fault,” this being his first effort with chardonnay. An “abandoned” chardonnay vineyard, 12 per cent abv, pH to give you lemon juice but when you get lemons you know just what to do. $40 US. Drink 2018-2024. Tasted April 2016

Keller Estate Chardonnay Oro De Plata 2014, Sonoma Coast, Sonoma County

This makes the previous wine (RS) seem oxidative. Reductive is at the fore for the Keller, freshness locked in, really wound on the coastal spindle, intense fruit and even more so, acidity, circular, reeling, wild. A Petaluma Gap leader to be sure, chardonnay of heritage with a winemaking tie to Hansell. No malolactic and all neutral oak. This is so very Chablis, Côte de Lechet and so, wow. $35 US, 800 cases. Drink 2018-2025. Tasted August 2016

Benovia Chardonnay Fort Ross Seaview 2014, Sonoma County

A coastal vineyard (and fruit that is also employed by Flowers) and many will rank this as the coolest spot in California for growing grapes. Mike Sullivan is the winemaker, with fruit that used to go to Marquesan. This done in a richer, expressive, layered style. Some tropical notes, deeply hued, mango, nectarine, creamsicle. Fresh, tart depth, Champagne like with toast and brioche. Luscious custard, 40 per cent new wood, 400 cases made. $55-60 US. Drink 2017-2022. Tasted August 2016

Melville Verna’s Estate Chardonnay 2014, Santa Barbara County

Both rich and really reductive, deeply hued, fully sun-worshipped and deftly but intently extracted fruit. A bite into a barrel, a Mutsu apple and the inside of a platinum pipe. Big, unabashed style with never ending mineral, tart, ripping and wisely no real malolactic. Plenty of lees though and the oldest of the oak. It’s all fruit, lemon curd and so dessert-like chardonnay but of savour and spicy sapidity. Saline finish. $40-50 US. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted April 2016

Migration Chardonnay 2014, Russian River Valley, Sonoma County

The richest and most “old-school” California of the lucky 13 tasting, fruit orchard apple and pear albeit folded and blended through ripe and creamy custard. Or at least the renderings thereof. Likely able to attribute that opaque, cloudy, clotted cream sensation from the fog injection. $40-45 US. Drink 2017-2020. Tasted April 2016

Presqu’ile Chardonnay 2014, Santa Maria Valley, Santa Barbara County

Nice reserve on this nose, teasing some tropical fruit but keeping it calm, cool and collected. The calcareous aromas are quite fine, delineated like a chalky streak though less so on the palate follow through. Quite tart and nicely dry extract turn to creamy texture but not so thick in fluidity. Like barrel fermented chenin blanc so a unique expression. Listed at 13.9 abv, low pH, neutral oak and stainless, half and half. Matt Murphy is winemaker and co-owner. $35-40 US. Drink 2017-2021. Tasted April 2016

Ramey Chardonnay 2014, Russian River Valley

Some reduction and quite a corpulent, sweet herbology, genovese basil, pine nut and quality olive oil. Pesto of herb, glade, lemon and fine acidity. Always perfectly Russian River Valley, with a warm steal but ultimately cool. Drink 2017-2021. Tasted August 2016

Ramey Chardonnay 2008, Russian River Valley

Really showing some age from not the top of the top vintage, holding up but in display of its new barrels, nose oxidized and flavours still buoyed by acidity. So the corrective structure seems out of balance now while the wine marches on. Musty and microbial at this point with a fading sweetness on the finish. Drink 2016-2017. Tasted August 2016

Sonoma County vines
Photo (c): https://www.facebook.com/SonomaCountyVintners

Beringer Chardonnay 2014, Napa Valley

Continues along the Beringer scaling line of wood retreat, cool climate clarity and as a result a wider commercial appeal. Who would have predicted the success but it’s really working. There would never be a mistaking and the shining is always in play but the admiral work and practicum really does what is base, necessary and appreciated. Drink 2017-2020. Tasted April 2016

Martin Ray Chardonnay 2015, Green Valley Of Russian River Valley, Sonoma County

A greener understanding, like the smell of algae on rock in a pretty little creek. Carries some unction and creamy sherbet texture on the palate. Listed at 13.7 abv, toasty by 40 per cent new french oak, full malolactic. It leans delicious but also verdant and commercial. Drink 2017-2019. Tasted April 2016

Rodney Strong Sonoma Coast Chardonnay 2015, Sonoma Coast

Classic taut and reductive chardonnay with Petaluma Wine Gap scream, in suffragette of creamy, rich fruit. Early harvest, compressed vintage. The fruit is caught in the wine’s vacuum, a wine tunnel creating this centrifuge of richness and acidity. Commercial, composed and so very effective. $25 US Drink 2017-2020. Tasted August 2016

Mer Soleil Reserve Chardonnay 2014, Santa Lucia Highlands

A Wagner Family of Wines property, a fine restraint and a shine to cooler thoughts come from this highland chardonnay, with more than enough orchard pressed fruit to fill a trough for the quiet and the masses. Really ramps up and fleshes on the palate with some wild biters late. Good length. Drink 2017-2020. Tasted April 2016

Chamisal Stainless Chardonnay 2015, Central Coast

San Luis Obispo County, ocean proximate, cool spot, from the oldest producer in Edna Valley. Nicely lean, briny, saline, good acidity. Add some fish or seafood flesh and it will sing. Fresh and crisp. $18 US. Drink 2017-2019. Tasted April 2016

Menage A Trois Gold Chardonnay 2015

From the Trinchero Family Estates stable, classic buttery rich and slightly toasty broad California style. Barrel rendered middle road taken, wax polish, enamel-oleaginous spray. Intensely inward and uni-dimensional for commercial lobster fishing, crack a shell and pour into red plastic cup enjoyment. You know what’s it’s good for. Drink 2017-2018. Tasted April 2016

Scheid Chardonnay Escolle Road Vineyard 2014, Santa Lucia Highlands, Monterey County

The aromatics here are off the charts in the 13 strong grouping of this tasting. Waxy, caramel, smoky, flinty, butterscotch in gobs. Really odd conclusive nose and even stranger to taste, with a pencil lead and rubber tipped pencil flavour that reminds of childhood class boredom chewing mistakes. Inoculated, 7 per cent new oak, some of it “European.” Drink 2017-2019. Tasted April 2016

Sonoma Coast
Photo (c): http://www.sonomawine.com/

Other White

Long Meadow Ranch Sauvignon Blanc 2015, Napa Valley

Ripe and creamy aromas take this sauvignon blanc into fresh and exotic territory but it’s one of those wines that really improves on the palate, carrying weighty and energy together, expanding and elevating the status in so many ways. A gregarious and resourceful sauvignon blanc with more upside than many peers. Drink 2017-2020. Tasted April 2016

St. Supéry Sauvignon Blanc 2015, Napa Valley

The high stirred SS, SB style, from high and dry extract effect, fine acidity and faux sugary spell. Full fleshy mouthfeel and terrific 2015 tang. Lays out the green carpet for the vintage, the varietal and what’s to come. Drink 2017-2020. Tasted April 2016

J Vineyards Pinot Gris 2015, California

J Vineyards Pinot Gris 2015, which strikes as pinot grigio in style, dry extract to aromatic sweetness, warm and inviting. Tart and citrus intense, very appealing commercial style and a buttery finish which tells some barrel is involved. Drink 2017-2018. Tasted April 2016

Treana Blanc 2015, Central Coast

A blend of 45 each marsanne and roussanne plus viognier, a bit of aromatic reserve, quite rich and dense on the palate. Flavours of very ripe pear and even riper apple. A bit into the sauce and the purée. Could use a more purposed shot of acidity and courage. Drink 2017-2018. Tasted April 2016

Cabernet Sauvignon

Heitz Martha’s Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2012, Napa Valley

As only Heitz can do this provides the combination of elegance and structure and what may just be the finest tannins available from Napa Valley for cabernet sauvignon. That this is so understated speaks volumes about the essence and the incredulity of a Martha’s and with the dry backdrop of a perfect Napa growing season this clambers through its reps with effortless ease, muscular tension and satisfying performance. More ballerina than gymnast and certainly more statesman than warrior. Drink 2020-2033. Tasted April 2016

Groth Cabernet Sauvignon 2013, Oakville, Napa Valley

Continues the thread of dry, dusty, beautifully savoury and fruit fleshy cabernet sauvignon from the Groth team. It’s like biting into that perfectly ripe and juicy plum, in texture, not sweetness or even specific to the fruit, but that texture, its unmistakeable. Seamless, tender, age worthy and so friendly (but at the same time serious) cabernet sauvignon. Grothiness refined and defined. Drink 2019-2027. Tasted April 2016

Spottswoode Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2013, Napa Valley

A different world here, very floral, historic site with vines that go back as far as 1972, organic since the mid-1980’s. With a slice of reduction to grant forward structure where candied roses will always be there. Classic 1990’s Napa style, rich and full but focused, pure and detailed. Complex, 20 months in French wood, 60 per cent new, 88 per cent cabernet sauvignon 88 plus (8) cabernet franc and some petit verdot. The potential is great. This will become picture perfect. $185 US. Drink 2019-2032. Tasted September 2016

Etude Cabernet Sauvignon 2012, Napa Valley

The combination of fruit (could it be any riper or improved upon), acumen and no expense spared makes this the cabernet sauvignon of great esteem in that echelon where few reside. Berries in many forms; fresh, puréed and in clafouti are fully engaged. What will this not do for you, for 20 years and more? Everything. The most refined and sophisticated such a wine can be. Drink 2019-2033. Tasted April 2016

J. Davies Cabernet Sauvignon 2014, Napa Valley

From Schramsberg Vineyards, a Napa Valley aromatic beauty, the most floral of any on this table and in so many ways the most Bordelais, or perhaps more specifically Margaux with such perfume only a scant few know or understand. So pretty and powerful, lovely, structured and intense. This will age for two decades easily and tasting this really puts it all into perspective. The palate brings more of the divine, silky, fleshy and with some spicy bite and chew. Really fine. Really, really fine. Drink 2020-2035. Tasted May 2016

Gallica Wines Cabernet Sauvignon 2013, St. Helena, Napa Valley

Oakville valley floor Napa fruit gravelly soil, from Rosemary Cakebread. First wine in this haute line-up to amalgamate the blue, red and black fruit, with some volcanic aromatics. Acidity works in and all around and so this has it all going on with a chocolate finish more refined. Mainly (75 per cent cabernet sauvignon plus (25) cabernet franc, suave from blueberry to red currant to black berry. The corporeal tone is elegant and muscular. Has some real elegance and is is simply excellent. 249 cases. Drink 2019-2031. Tasted September 2016

Young Inglewood Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2012, St. Helena, Napa Valley

Deep, low, bench land gravelly soils, extended maceration, rich concentrated depth, amazingly void of chalk and grain though the tannin is intense. Very refined, spicy and great acidity. It’s all in napa, all in from Josh. Wow, so long. $157 US. Drink 2018-2028. Tasted September 2016

Signorello Cabernet Sauvignon 2013, Napa Valley, Unfiltered

From 1990 planted hillside, bench site vineyards, gravelly with good drainage, young but structured, just east of the Silverado Trail. Rich, black fruit, chalky, fine-grained and very sweet tannin. All natural yeasts, 22 months in 65 per cent new oak. All in but because the fruit is so rich and pure there is balance. Rich, spicy and focused, tempered chocolate finish, a prime example of today’s Bordelais in the retro-modern world. $156 US. Drink 2018-2026. Tasted September 2016

Silverado Estate Grown Cabernet Sauvignon 2013, Napa Valley

Also high-toned but the level of serious, depth and bad-ass intent is on the table. From steep shale soils, there is a mountain herb aroma that is distinct, ahead of the chocolate curve,. All in 100 per cent cabernet sauvignon, 45 per cent new wood, heat factor notably reduced. There is a cool-menthol note but the flavour is a change of pace, into cool, thin mountain air and the tannins are a beast. Tart and grainy finish. Needs five to seven years to integrate. Exceptional wine. $150 US. Drink 2019-2028. Tasted September 2016

Y Rousseau Cabernet Sauvignon 2013, Napa Valley

Yannick’s work, in reduction and Mount Veeder depth. Further south with fog-maritime coverage so here winemaking is in, Bordelais for sure, reminds of St. Éstephe. Dark, pitchy, cimmerian, with a steep remoteness about it. Volcanic, serious at 2000 ft, so great acidity that just seems natural and raging. Candied flowers and this is just simply intense, gorgeous and alone. Eastern exposure, naturally fermented, 18 months in 75 per cent in new oak. The structure here is second to none with focus, determination and very aggressive tannins. Quite hot on the finish being the only detractor. 150 cases made. Drink 2017-2024. Tasted September 2016

Daou Vineyards & Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Soul Of A Lion 2013, Paso Robles

Carries a cool, Mediterranean savour on the nose, with spirit, vitality and a black olive tapenade. Seamless, ripe in acidity and intensely naked but never wavering from its energy. This is a massively structured wine and no doubt will last 25 years but touched anytime in the first 10 will require hours of aeration and a more than obvious, double-digit ounce weighed, protein fleshy sidekick. It may be big and high octane on the nose, carry a truck load of architectural bones on its corpulent frame but it never loses sight of finesse and dare it be said, elegance. Well, maybe not elegance but it is charming, handsome and fine, even in the face of massive extraction. Drink 2020-2030. Tasted April 2016

Honig Cabernet Sauvignon 2013, Napa Valley

Going deeper and darker on the floor, ripe and tart black raspberries, dusty Rutherford fruit, 87 cabernet with a long splash of petit verdot, with some merlot. Aged in 100 per cent American oak (30 new). Good valley floor fruit absorption, some exotic black and white fruit, pod and kernel. Acidity is low profile, tannin slightly more but this is quite easy to get at for a Honig. A wine of good volatility. $78 US. Drink 2016-2018. Tasted September 2016

Terra Valentine Spring Mountain District Estate Grown Cabernet Sauvignon 2013, Napa Valley

High Mediterranean-savoury component, in black olive and caper volatility. So much ripe but tang-tart-sour raspberry, a product of high sun hours at elevation with the need for canopy management. Old vines, erosion hills, fog-influence, history and repetition. Very savoury and another wine with its very own kind of funk. Oak and spice with grainy tannins all over the finish. Wild, disparate and complex wine. A bit early to get to know and then it carries a bit of an advanced character or a natural cure to it that may always be there as it ages over a good long period of time. $175 US. Drink 2017-2025. Tasted September 2016

Trefethen Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon 2013, Oak Knoll District, Napa Valley

Valley floor fruit where healthy ground cover leads for major florals and minor Mediterranean scents, namely black olive. Gravelly, Oak Knoll natural acidity giving rise to the AVA nature, that ripe and round acidity for a cool feel. Aridity, pinch of salinity, rises and lingers. Minor pitches from malbec, petit verdot and merlot. Overall epitome of red fruit. Better value than most. $60 US. Drink 2017-2021. Tasted September 2016

Rocca Family Vineyards 2013, Napa Valley

Single vineyard on a 21-acre farm, high toned, dark fruit from a warm bench land site, alluvial soil, organic. Sees 20 months in 75 per cent French oak and in this case it is necessary because the fruit and the acidity are ravers and ragers. Such a cooling back side, minty, chocolate mint, rubbed between the fingers, yes, like malbec. Oak is huge. $108 US. Drink 2018-2023. Tasted September 2016

Darioush Napa Signature Cabernet Sauvignon 2013, Napa Valley

More of a proprietary red, 75 cabernet with some merlot and a minor amount of cabernet franc, plus malbec and petit verdot. More acetic tendency, tart and direct, even stark at first. High octane over bullish concentration, not so subtle, aromatically closed but the acidity and the overall structure is gritty. This needs time to settle, for the composed acidity to get together and layer into the fruit. The finish while hot is more composed. There is some dried fruit advanced character. Multifarious, both by varietal and picking times, or so it would seem. $95 US. Drink 2016-2019. Tasted September 2016

Farella Cabernet Sauvignon 2012, Napa Valley

The tones are on the rise, up in the air, quite the herb influence, whiff of pipe tobacco, seems like a higher percent of malbec and/or petit verdot. From the most recently designated AVA, volcanic meets foxy, dried fruit with spice, fig, cherry, apricot, peach and plum. Chewy dried fruit, you need to work a while (it’s actually 100 per cent cabernet) some grainy, chalky tannin and really good length. New oak is well-integrated. Not as cultured and understood in fact perhaps a bit disjointed but so much potential and expectation runs high for what will come next. Oak is an imbalance factor. Simple finish. $65 US. Drink 2016-2019. Tasted September 2016

Sara d’Amato, ROM September 2016

Pinot Noir

Etude Grace Benoist Ranch Pinot Noir 2012, Carneros

The fullest of fruit, with spice and San Pablo Bay influenced tension. The combination of ripe and ripping, rich and ricocheting. Has found the right place. Typically atypical for Carneros or rather as Carneros within a Napa to Sonoma connectivity. Holds an ability to age like few varietal sistren or brethren in either AVA. Drink 2016-2022. Tasted April 2016

Longoria Wines Pinot Noir Lovely Rita 2015, Sta. Rita Hills

“Nothing can come between us.” A wine with a song in its title, offering up the lowest hanging fruit and ready for lyrical association. Fine and elegant pinot fruit, with slender, long fingers and legs, plenty of confidence and so perfectly Sta. Rita Hills representative of place. Restrained, elegant, beautiful and ethereal. That’s a really fine pinot noir with a shot of garrigue. Drink early, If for no other reason that there is no way to resist temptation. Drink 202017-2020. Tasted April 2016

Patz & Hall Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir 2014, Sonoma County

Now under the ownership of Chateau St. Michelle Wine Estates, this is one of Donald Patz’s swan songs, a wine that has swept into a new price stratosphere, 50 per cent increase in the last what seems like five years (but is probably more like ten). Sweet pinot fruit in such a refined, elegant and classically secure Sonoma Coast style, with altitude, diurnal temperature changes and the maritime air all influencing the style. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted April 2016

Marimar Estate Mas Cavalls Pinot Noir 2013, Doña Margarita Vineyard, Sonoma Coast

Marimar Estate’s Mas Cavalis 2013 pinot noir shows great tension as always, acts nominally rustic and engaging. A turnkey pinot noir, expertly ripe and accented with sweet if spicy oak, tart but never lactic. Just terrific varietal wine noting vineyard and AVA with alternating slash double entendre distinction. Drink 2016-2021. Tasted April 2016

Reata Pinot Noir Rosella’s Vineyard 2014, Santa Lucia Highlands

From out of the Santa Lucia Highlands and a property owned by Jamieson Ranch Vineyards. Rich and velvety, slightly spicy but certainly spiced, very consumer friendly at the higher end of the scale, interesting in that it hits all the right notes and lingers nicely but it’s almost too vivid and appealing. Drink 2017-2021. Tasted April 2016

Benovia Pinot Noir Cohn 2013, Russian River Valley, Sonoma County

Sweet tension, red berry emotion, tar and roses, not as intense as perhaps expected. Great example however of Russian River Valley fruit, though low acidity, easy to like, hard to keep around. Drink 2016-2017. Tasted April 2016

Other Red

Chateau St. Jean Cinq Cépages 2013, Sonoma County

Full on deep, dark, arid and ranging wide trodding a silk road. Extensively far reaching red blend and with great formidable tannin and structure so perhaps the best of its ilk in many a moon. Top quality from Margo Van Staaveren through the looking glass of vivid transparency and vibrancy. Best I’ve tasted. Drink 2018-2023. Tasted April 2016

Duckhorn Three Palms Merlot 2012, Napa Valley

Duckhorn’s Three Palms ranks amongst the finest in Napa merlot and from 2012 I could paint my plate with this reduction. Thick, beautifully chocolatey and yet chalky, tart, angled and nearly bradding. It could pass for Masseto. Really Italianate and intense. So much chocolate and spice, clove, nutmeg, purple flowers. Not sure just anyone can handle its vivid truth but it’s a very intense and stylish merlot. Drink 2017-2022. Tasted April 2016

Twomey Merlot 2012, Napa Valley

From Silver Oak Cellars, just now coming into its window with the formidable barrel continuing its slow melt, now in a calm and gelid stage. Coconut and plum combine and then there is this chocolate smooth consistency and always the dusty feel of merlot. Still pulsing with energy but this is such a full on expression. All chocolate and espresso on the finish. So much oak. Silver oak. Drink 2017-2022. Tasted April 2016

C.G. Di Arie Vineyard & Winery Syrah 2012, Sierra Foothills

From the Sierra Foothills, this is deep mahogany red pitchy, meaty and cured syrah, full aromatic fleshy and mouth coating/filling with terrific silky addendum. A seamless syrah from start to finish. Turns into something firm (feels like granite) and even porcine at the finish. There’s a lot of fun complexity and ever-changing personality, from its roots to the Rhône and back again. Fascinating. approx. $40 CAN. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted April 2016

Cline Big Break Zinfandel 2013, Contra Costa County

Cline’s Big Break zinfandel 2013 is rich, brambly and so full of dark berry fruit, though also a bit of oxidation. Chalky, lactic, not overtly tart and I like the fennel, tar and roses aspect. Complex and really big. Drink 2016-2017. Tasted April 2016

Good to go!

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Let the gems begin

Nov20

Wine review at VINTAGES of Norman Hardie Chardonnay Niagara Unfiltered 2012 by Godello

Wine review at VINTAGES of Norman Hardie Chardonnay County Unfiltered 2012 by Godello

If the premature lashing of cold, snow and ice weren’t enough to get you thinking about holiday shopping, get thee to a Liquor Control Board Ontario store on the weekend. Same time, every year. The LCBO stocks the shelves, isles and pyramid displays with more booze than anyone should ever be faced with in one visitation.

The bi-weekly VINTAGES release calendar whirs, undulates and clutters in rataplan overload at just this very juncture in preparation of the Christmas rush. Shoppers will tear down the walls of wine, beer and spirits, only to hear the burloque fall silent when the clock strikes closing time on the evening of December 24th.

There are exactly 35 days left in 2014 to do the right wine thing for that father, cousin, colleague, mentor or loyal, long-time suffering employee. Please heed the warnings and do not buy crap for the one you love or think you should. No matter who you are picking up a bottle for, treat them well and with fermented grape respect.

There are three category of wines to look for, at least within the context of this buying guide. First there are the values under $20, wines made so properly they should cost double or triple what they do. Second are the expensive but honest wines. These are the true gems that make most $100 bottles look bad. Last are the $100 examples that are truly iconic, despite their cost. Though priced beyond the means of most, they are not a mistake to take a flyer and give as a gift. After the hand off is complete, the all-knowing, unspoken nod will follow.

Here are 22 picks from the VINTAGES November 22, 2014 release, in stores now.

From left to right: Cavino Grande Reserve Nemea 2008, Frescobaldi Castello Di Pomino Pomino Bianco 2013, Moris Morellino Di Scansano 2012, Louis Bouillot Perle D’aurore Brut Rosé Crémant De Bourgogne, McWilliam’s Mount Pleasant Elizabeth Sémillon 2007, Josef Chromy Pepik Pinot Noir 2012

Cavino Grande Reserve Nemea 2008, Pdo Nemea, Greece (295618, $17.95, WineAlign)

Nemea strikes again. Dark rust, earth juiced on and of the rocks. Like Sangiovese with attitude, made by Romans, like Syrah the way it was made in mythological times, by Greeks. A classical garden. This is actually quite modern and expressive for Agiorgitiko. Acts as if it were a touch clay (or amphora) baked but it’s really just a Peloponnese take on oak aging (18 months) and further bottle rest (12 months). This is right in its window and will be friendly for three to five years more. What a steal. Tasted November 2014 @DrinkGreekWine

Frescobaldi Castello Di Pomino Pomino Bianco 2013, Doc Pomino Bianco, Tuscany, Italy (65086, $19.95, WineAlign)

With thanks to Chardonnay, the Castello di Pomino 2013 elevates Pinot Blanc to a level not really found anywhere, save perhaps for one or two examples out of B.C. This one really leaves a tannic impression, not unlike some impossibly off-dry Pinot Gris from Alsace. There is a really sophisticated level of ambiance and a semblance of a distinctly rocky intent. Like high quality Sancerre or Chenin from Silex soils, the grain and veins running through the palate and the texture are coarse and cursive. This one writes a new script for Frescobaldi’s Florentine, Apennine mountain estate. Fresh, ventilated and airy as if breathing from blue skies at high altitudes. I can’t recall tasting this level of excellence before and would look forward to no less than five years of enjoying what it brings to the Tuscan table. Tasted November 2014 @FrescobaldiVini @liffordretail

Moris Morellino Di Scansano 2012, Docg, Tuscany, Italy (992560, $19.95, WineAlign)

A primarily (90 per cent) Sangiovese with smatterings, though not inconsequential, of Merlot and Syrah. From (non-estate) vineyards in Poggio La Mozza (Grosseto). Morellino Di Scansano, to a wine and exemplified here, sports a firm jaw and an air of tragic nobility. The question is why should it only find occasional psychic prominence as a Sangiovese go to. Moris Farms makes the lesser-known accessible, with a (sees no oak) modern accent of dark fruit and spice atop simple, pleasurable Sangiovese. Pleasantries exchanged, the 2012 MdS will work dinner, inside a Tuscan vernacular and out. Tasted October 2014 @Morisfarms @oenophilia1

Louis Bouillot Perle D’aurore Brut Rosé Crémant De Bourgogne, Ac Burgundy, France (48793, $19.95, WineAlign)

The Bouillot Rosé, for my $20 is the most impressive of their line-up, always tender and ripe as if just picked fruit, namely strawberry and raspberry. The Perle D’aurore is a faintly hued and lighthearted take but not light on effort. Elegance defined in Bourgogne bubbles with a savoury edge to give it strength. Tasted November 2014 @JCB_Wines @ChartonHobbs

McWilliam’s Mount Pleasant Elizabeth Sémillon 2007, Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia (724492, $19.95, WineAlign)

The 2007 is another fascinating study in Hunter Valley Sémillon. Like the ’06, egressing secondary notes have emerged, in equatorial garrigue and fruit having already met its aurulent stenosis. A honey note persists though less so in ’07, as does the level of tempering acidity. This vintage brings out the calm and the clam, though the petrol and the mineral are omnipresent, perhaps elevated. Must keep in mind it’s only $20 but it does fall a bit short in texture and acidity. There is lemon drop and the essential atomic Sémillon stoicism from the Hunter Valley, but it’s a bit thin and hollow up the middle. All that acknowledged, not having a look or two would be a shame. Tasted November 2014 @MtPleasantWines @PRAXISpr

Josef Chromy Pepik Pinot Noir 2012, Tasmania, Australia (162990, $22.95, WineAlign)

Pepik has elevated aromatic tones and though it appears lithe it reads like a weighty tome. Unique and of its Tasmanian self. Plums come to mind, as does red earth. The phenolic ripeness and varietal indications are ushered in with managed exceptions and are simply spot on. This does not strike as a Pinot Noir that will be long-lived because its black cherry and spice are riper than many contemporary editions in a similar price range, but it will offer great pleasure for two to three years. Tasted November 2014 @JosefChromy @bwwines

From left to right: Klumpp Pinot Gris 2013, Creekside Estates The Trad Reserve 2011, Meerlust Rubicon 2008, Tenuta Sette Ponti Crognolo 2011, Faustino I Gran Reserva 2001, Cvne Gran Reserva 2008

Klumpp Pinot Gris 2013, Qualitätswein, Baden, Germany (394155, $23.95, WineAlign)

Thoroughly interesting study in German Pinot Gris despite the timid and reserved tonal nature. Aridity in as much as the variety can muster and in the largest, atmospheric sense. Though the palate has some fine-grained texture and feigned sweetness, it’s as if Baden can only do Pinots this way, in Gris and in Noir. Acidity is tempered and a willing accomplice to the diminished components of sugar and pH. A well designed Pinot Gris. Tasted November 2014 @TheLivingVine @WinesofGermany

Creekside Estates The Trad Reserve 2011, VQA St. David’s Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (390336, $28.95, WineAlign)

The Trad ’11 has a classic toast and yeast aromatic waft and so it goes that everything that follows is embraced with curiosity and an open mind. Ginger, citrus, bronze and the sweet scents of the inside of a candy machine, its candy long gone. Creekside’s winemaker Rob Power will never be accused of dialing this sparkler in. Tasting trials help determine the necessary, final blend. The single, Queenston Road Vineyard puts 56 per cent Pinot Noir and (44) Chardonnay, aged 2 years in bottle, together for a highly effective, expansive but not explosive fizz. At 8.7 g/L of residual its dry but not quite falling off the bone. The sweetness is tempered by elevated (9.98 g/L) acidity and tension. Spent 24 months on the lees and was bottled back in February. There is balance and pleasure and a good, stretchy finish. No band-aid. Clean, precise, fizz of the day. Tasted October 2014 @CreeksideWine

Meerlust Rubicon 2008, Wo Stellenbosch, South Africa (64329, $34.95, WineAlign)

Rubber dust, road macadam and strawberry jam. Fierce Bordeaux Blend home from a hot climate. This has gritty obduracy and doggedness. Like a red blend with a gun, walking the mean streets. Acidity shot through the roof. Bordeaux meets South Africa in every shared, resplendent and promising way. Rasping tannins contain bursting dark fruit, the grain running in multiple directions. Respect. Wait two more years on this and drink comfortably to 2020. Tasted November 2014 @TrialtoON @WOSACanada

Tenuta Sette Ponti Crognolo 2011, Igt Toscana, Italy (727636, $34.95, WineAlign)

This is not the modern Crognolo as witnessed in the previous five vintages. In 2011 we have been granted the complex Crognolo. This has must and earth. It has grit and girth. Best Crognolo I have tasted. Tangy Sangiovese, with some chalk in tannin. Will live longer and offer unrequited love seven to 10 years down the road, to the patient and the faithful. Tasted November 2014 @TenSettePonti @TrialtoON

Faustino I Gran Reserva 2001, Doca Rioja, Spain (976662, $35.95, WineAlign)

It amazes me how kept wines from Rioja keep appearing as if they were just bottled yesterday but not this famous Gran Reserva. Syrupy and caramelized, bright and earthy. Mulled plum and clove with citrus accents. Bretty like a barn’s floor. Cedar and leather, big oak doors. Real mutton Rioja, still tannic, energetic and searing. Kicking it old school but wild and alive. From my earlier, April 2014 note: “Were a full-term lecture taught on the pros and cons of the Brettanomyces brannigan, this Rioja might be exhibit A. Absolutely manifest fruit meets earth, meets game perfume compendium. Call it funky yeast if you must but here is a wine that can be approached by nose only and if the relationship were to end there, novels might be written. Lives on a fermented, catalytic and plucky edge but never submits to the bacterial spindrift. Leaden fruit, red and black, smooth and layered with a tension in tang that is paralyzing to the mouth. Thirteen years old and just hitting a secondary stride, with the oak slowly dissolving and not a hint of coffee or chocolate to be found. Sexy and down to earth at the same time.” Last tasted November 2014 @bodegasfaustino @Select_Wines

Cune Gran Reserva 2008, Doca Rioja, Spain (393553, $38.95, WineAlign)

Old school. Smells like Rioja. Smells like Spanish spirit and weeds, sinew, gristle and braising pig, all parts in. Smells like cedar, like American oak and a soak in a tub of spa earth and mineral salts. Like “Spanish boots of Spanish leather.” This has already done the evolutionary dance so if you are looking for something to float your natural, honest boat, go here now. In a Rioja world where the times they are a changin‘, it will sail you back in time and away into a Mediterranean sunset. Tasted November 2014 @Cvne @vonterrabev

From left to right: Fattoria Dei Barbi Brunello Di Montalcino 2008, Dutton Goldfield Dutton Ranch Chardonnay 2012, Vincent Sauvestre Clos De La Platière Pommard 2012, Versado Malbec Reserva 2010, Laurent Perrier Millésimé Vintage Brut Champagne 2004

Fattoria Dei Barbi Brunello Di Montalcino 2008, Tuscany, Italy (928028, $49.95, WineAlign)

Firm and in a rustic vein, as per the Barbi dole, this one a bit funkier at the outset than many. Welcome to the classic firmness of 2008, antithesis of the flamboyant ’07’s but plan for 20 plus years of slow food elegance emission. Classic rose petal, tea leaves, dates and earth caked metal in this guy. From my earlier, March 2014 note: “As expected, this is a gritty effort from Barbi, in part the impart of a testosterone-laden vintage, along with the dryer and cooler climate from Barbi’s southeastern Montalcino vineyards. A low and slow ripening will surely translate to extended longevity, but the rusticity and leather/cherry continuum will never disappear. No doubt a classic example and very well-priced for such authenticity, still it can’t be helped to see Barbi’s ’08 as entrenched in an earlier period of time. The wine will need 10 years to soften its edges and reveal the refinement and elegance of a well-documented Brunello.” Last tasted November 2014 @FATTORIABARBI @Noble_Estates

Dutton Goldfield Dutton Ranch Chardonnay 2012, Russian River Valley, Sonoma County, California (287854, $58.95, WineAlign)

A study in precision, exceptional quality and poise. Golden rays mixed with misty wisps, cool nights tempering warm days. Just a touch of wood spice pricks the finish. So much flavour. Tasted November 2014 @DuttonGoldfield @TheVine_RobGroh

Vincent Sauvestre Clos De La Platière Pommard 2012, Burgundy, France (390534, $59.95, WineAlign)

This Pinot Noir speaks for the two sides of every Burgundy argument, especially considering it comes from the gritty nook of Pommard. First impressions are floral and pretty, with spice and some sort of tropical flora whispering in cooing scents. The hill offers a buoyancy, a lifted spirit and a view of its own sweet regard. Travels through a mid-village weightless hover, then returns to terroir in prime time acidity and tannin to keep time. There is a sweet tart medicinal aspect ratio on the finish and overall this does things correctly. Does not finish with the same suave seduction that it teased at the start but it does continue to impress. Tasted November 2014 @Select_Wines @BourgogneWines

Versado Malbec Reserva 2010, Luján De Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina (316984, $60.95, WineAlign)

Aromatics are racing and rising from the glass. A red rain pouring in and out. Has yet to change course. From my earlier, September 2014 note: “The floral emergence is a lodestar as periscope just now peering up from the seamless cake layering in Versado’s most liberally applied oak-imbued Malbec. The 2010 adheres in sticky savour though it remains two to three years away from finding its true gliding form. From my earlier notes through tastings on Oct. 25 and Nov. 14, 2013. “This ultra-premium Mendozan from the Canadian winemaking team of Peter Gamble and Ann Sperling boasts fruit from “the finest barrels from the finest blocks.” While certainly riding a splintered and jammy horse (what fully extracted Mendozan does not), this reserve Malbec has so much else happening, I owe it my time and focus. Dances to a triple jump height in oozing berry, compacted, brick wall infrastructure and overlapping delineation. Really like the consistency here, with no hollow middle, no umlaut, no pregnant pause. Very well made.” Last tasted November 2014 @VersadoWine

Laurent Perrier Millésimé Vintage Brut Champagne 2004, Champagne, France (983874, $84.95, WineAlign)

The reappraised vintage that was once considered good, now revealing itself as better than good uses examples like the Laurent Perrier Millésimé to drive the point. This is a classically symmetrical blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir possessive of much chaste class, incredible balance and held lotus posture. Through its waves of idiosyncratic brioche and linear citrus lines drawn in tactile angles this Champagne is unbent and unbroken. Its seamless transitions glide from delicate aromas, through a textured palate and groove forward in elastic length. Additionally graceful with an ever so slightly advanced and mature style from a mature world in vintage-dated Champagne. Tasted November 2014 @ChampagneLPUSA @Noble_Estates

From left to right: Mollydooker Carnival Of Love Shiraz 2010, Silver Oak Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2009, Château Malescot St. Exupéry 2010, Spottswoode Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2011, Sassicaia 2011

Mollydooker Carnival Of Love Shiraz 2010, Mclaren Vale, Australia (242732, $114.95, WineAlign)

While the price is just about as absurd as a “yoga class for cats” or Raine Maida’s voice, it seems logical to wonder aloud how one could question this Carnival as not being one of the biggest and baddest Shiraz you will ever encounter. It’s a veritable run on sentence of Shiraz adjectives, adverbs and hyperbole. If your hankering remains entrenched in elevated alcohol, enormity of fruit, condensed and compressed mineral, lest to be forgetting the viscous ooze of Mclaren Vale syrup, well, then this jester should fill your stocking along with those of the rest of your circle of fortifying friends. From the maw of the beast here – blood gore and fruit guts. Holy crap is this extracted, tannic, mired in impropriety, full conceit and in zero jealousy of other Shiraz. It doth joust. Certainly no lady of peace. Wow. Tasted November 2014 @MollydookerWine @bwwines

Silver Oak Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2009, Napa Valley, California (936039, $139.95, WineAlign)

Magnificent and munificent wine. Really special, magnanimous in every way, ultra-luxurious but not over the top. Alcohol, oak and extraction judged and held in check, equity and in balance. The fruit is pure and delicate, marked by plum, blackberry and hovering licorice, anise and spices. Long in chain and really sweet tannins. Like gazing into a pool of real nineties Napa and across the pond to an older school of reasoning. Tasted November 2014 @SilverOak @HalpernWine

Château Malescot St. Exupéry 2010, Ac Margaux, 3e Cru, Bordeaux, France (261552, $167.95, WineAlign)

A heightened sense of Margaux reality in 2010 comes from the château with the hybrid name; first from Simon Malescot, King’s Counsel to Louis XIV at the Parliament of Bordeaux. Second, from the post French Revolution château purchaser, Count Jean Baptiste St Exupéry, grandfather of the aviator and writer Antoine de St Exupéry. This has to be the most hedonism ever bottled in a Malescot, within reason of course. The house does not know from over the top, save perhaps for the cost of this 2010. Cassis is certainly here, as is a medicinal tension, firm acidity and the most formidable tannins known to Margaux. The grain, chalk and tincture combine for full effect. This will need 10 years to chill, then go 10 plus 10 more to much applause and the request for a final curtain call. Tasted November 2014 @VinsdeBordeaux

Spottswoode Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2011, Napa Valley, California (399592, $167.95, WineAlign)

Wow. Aromatics are off the charts. Pine forest, leather, chestnut and cedar, savoury in every wild and sauvage way, but also pure. Berries, tobacco leaf, classical logic, structures and axioms lead me to imagine mid-nineties Paulliac. Seamless texture, ripe but not overripe, rich but never overly grainy. This is super fine and dialed back (with exotic spices and wood spice filling in the holes) in the cooler 2011 vintage. A Cabernet Sauvignon of the most savour and the most class. A ten to twenty year Spottswoode. Tasted November 2014 @Spottswoode @Smallwinemakers

Sassicaia 2011, Doc Bolgheri, Tuscany, Italy (480533, $199.95, WineAlign)

Certainly a Sassicaia borne of the earth and the vintage. Cooler, with increased sapidity and elevated aromatics. While not volatile there is certainly an intimation at acetic behaviour. Though supportive in only 15 per cent of the two Cabs blend, Cabernet Franc stands firm in its concentration of tobacco, peppercorns a-popping in the pan and a smoldering of currants over an open fire. This will age for decades and return to its beautiful natural state with time-weathered, rugged facial lines. A leathery Sassicaia this, with tight, drying tannins and in need of two decades to show off its birthright. The 2011 Sassicaia is a loyal, aristocratic example to the Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta’s dream of creating a ‘thoroughbred’ wine where the ideal was Bordeaux. Tasted November 2014 @Smarent

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