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Here is a list of feature wines from the month of January. These are excellent follow-alongs if you're looking for something new to have with dinner, or looking to shake up your weekly routine. There are easy to follow along regional guides attached to each one. All are stellar examples of their region, and will make excellent guests at get-togethers as well.
Domaine Anne Gros is a biodynamic producer making some incredible wines. Her Richebourg may not be the most sought after when compared to that of Domaine de La Romanée-Conti, but realistically, it’s just as high quality as it’s biodynamic and being from the spot of land just to the east, on the same prime soil. This wine sings of redcurrant, raspberry and elderberry. There’s some brioche-like notes, and well. You will notice a hint of nutmeg and perhaps some clove as well. Aromas of white truffle and thyme are also present. There is some semblance of turned Earth on the nose. Article here.
Giacomo Fenocchio is a smaller winemaking operation located in making what one would call classic Barolos from traditional techniques: but ones that are more immediately approachable. These wines are made in Slavonian oak casks, and are spontaneously fermented from wild yeasts. The vineyards are cared for organically, and the winery offers a lot of different options from different vineyard around Barolo. These Barolos express the terroir beautifully, especially their Bussia. They have a reserved sense of refined tannin, with delightful expressions of black truffle and cardamom, roses and asphalt. Article here.
Jean Foillard offers no better example of this very Burgundian attitude towards winemaking. His wines are structured and dynamic, specifically his Côte du Py, which is on the pricier side, but still offers exceptional value. In this wine you can find aromas of button mushroom, turned earth tree bark, and blood orange. These complexities are on full display, but are complimented by a sense of iron-like peagravel and full-force ripe raspberry and blackberry flavors. I love that this wine lacks oak character, which tends to overshadow the gaminess that Gamay can exude when when fermented without carbonic maceration. Article here.
Winderlea Weber Vineyard is another incredible wine that pays homage to the Burgundian force major with captivated the hearts of the early pioneers here. Vines have been upkept in this vineyard since the lat seventies, and some of the vines are broaching thirty years old. These wines are showing incredible fruit. Ripe red cherry, cranberry and hints of rhubarb are all aromatically present. On the Palette this wine shows white truffle and wet straw earthiness, as well as a nice subtle basalt-like minerality. Some leather is also present, but the wine quickly divulges into a long, stately, but peppery finish dominated by raspberries, and anise. Article here.
The brisk acid from this colder vintage means that it comes significantly cheaper, but is preserved quite tactfully as acid helps to preserve wine. It’s also a good thing for refreshment in the case of our pairing. Acidity and tannin soften over time, and this vintage will only mellow as it gets older, leading to light flirtations of dry blackcurrant, cedar, spice box, and tobacco, as well as some fresh-pressed coffee. The pyrazinic, and graphite flavors will be an enveloping continuation of the dry black fruit character that adds quite a nice sweetness of cassis, or blackcurrant jam to these far dryer flavors. Article here.
Domaine des Tourette’s Hermitage is warm, smooth and drinks very nicely. Noticeably, there is a strong sense of mineral I this particular wine, which is reminiscent of carbonated water. It it still a very full-flavor and fruit-forward wine. Sour huckleberry underlies rich ripe red cherry, and some blackberry syrup. This wine has flavors of lilac and smoked cedar as well, with gleaning hints of prosciutto, and fresh rosemary, and tarragon. Some aromas of leather, and shoepolish add a note earthiness to this wine as well. Though expensive, this is a wine worth splurging on, as it can make a great intro to the Northern Rhône region. Article here.
The more well-established and noteworthy Second-Growth, Leoville Las Cases is also present at in excellent deal right now, this wine normally sells at market prices of around $350, but its currently available at Costco for $259.99 - Over 25% off. This is a tremendous deal if you have a special occasion coming up, and would like to give a wonderful gift, or, simply just to keep for yourself and cellar as prices gradually continue to rise on these Second-Growth wines that are showing increasingly good esteem and can make a handsome buy and hold and their values continue to rise. This, of course, is not financial advice by any means, but merely a value recommendation. Article here.
Musella is a biodynamic producer making fine wines from the Classico zone with a hegemony towards wines of authenticity and power. The Valpolicella Riserva, aged in oak the allotted four years, boast harmonic flavors of hazelnuts, chocolate, and cedar and pumpernickel read. These incredible harmonies are acompanied by a melody of youthful ripe red fruit, a touch of cranberry, and of course the requisite plum, raisin and even prune. Fresh fennel and Tobacco nuances are woven throughout and the wine boasts a nice core of minerality which comes as hints of inorganic wet stone. Article here.
One such blend of regional varietals and plots is Domaine Pegau’s Cuvée Reservé. This wine demonstrates the incredible intensity of Grenache. Like most Châteauneuf wines, the cuvée is dominated by Grenache, which imprints own the blend a rich concentration of alcohol. The tannin is ethereally brutish, but softens in the bottle with time, becoming silky and unobtrusive. The redcurrant, and fresh red cherry flavor is bold and dramatic with wafting nuances of prosciutto and leather, tinged with a hint of tarragon. This bold, complex wine is very characteristic of this dynamic region.
Article here.
The signature wine is called Espirit de Beaucastel, or Spirit of Beaucastel. It is a blend of French vine-yield wine with a Châteauneuf-like cépage of Mourvèdre, Granache, Syrah, Counoise and Carignan. It really captures the sprit of a glossy, mineralic, and aggressive Châteauneuf, with some rustic charm and a nice, notable acidity and a firm sense of fruit - a very French wine with genuinely American appeal. The white version is a blend of Grenache blanc, Marsanne, Rousanne, and Picpoul, barrel aged, which is seemingly contrary to the French stylistic approach, but retains its acidity nicely. Article here.
That's all,
~K