This Week's Tasting
Wines We Loved - Character and Poise
March 27, 2024
Part of the joy of wine is the discovery of new wines that show a unique expression. This week, we're letting loose with six wines that struck us as having extraordinary character or expression.
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This Week Wed Mar 27, 2024 Wines We Loved In-store, 5 - 6:30pm
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Part of the joy of wine is the discovery of new wines that show a unique expression. This week, we're letting loose with six wines that struck us as having extraordinary character or expression. You've never heard of some of them; we had not until we were impressed on tasting them. None of them are costly as better wines go; all of them will reward trying them.
White
Premier Cru White Burgundy at a Bourgogne price
2022 Domaine Curveux Pouilly-Fuisse Vignes Blanches 1er Cru;
We've been praising the value and quality of Guillaume Curveux's PouillysFuisses. This is the first time we have a case of some bottles we can put in a tasting. If you haven't already gotten some, don't miss this one.
Aroma: reserved, then strong apple acid, wood, and fruit, later mellows and comes together, pear and apple, wet stone lots of depth; Mouth: well-integrated oak, intense fruit, more delicacy, if not quite the volume of the Menestrieres, nuanced and complex later blooms to a deep purple-tinged apple and pear with underlying notes of wood and acid, complete and satisfying; Excellent $40; Case, $34
A Star of the northern Rhone goes to Languedoc
Domaine Rostaing Puech Noble Blanc Coteaux du Languedoc 2022;
A simply irresistible white wine from the south of France that will have you thirsting for more! : In the late 1990s, René Rostaing of Cote Rotie fame purchased near Nîmes. The ground on a small plateau is covered with galets roulés – rounded stones – like those found in nearby Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Puech Noble is higher and thus cooler than Chateauneuf, offering a fresher character in its wines.
Aroma: delicate wildflower, nectarines and honeysuckle. Mouth: the wine is a balance of fleshy, rich stone fruit, crisp zest of citrus, and crushed rocks. This makes for a juicy, racy texture and mineral white wine that will disappear quickly. We can't recommend this juice enough. Bravo!; Excellent $28.99; Case, $24.99
Red
You've Never had a Malbec like this
2021 Rocher de Violette Cot
This is not the Malbec you're used to from Argentina or southern France; it has none of their coarseness or extraction. Grown in the Loire valley, where it is called Cot, it's a wine of grace and purity that reveals the grape's violet ( both color and flower)essence that the heartier extracted tannic versions obscure. It's a marvel of purity and ripeness.
Color: medium ruby; Aroma: haunting fragrance, very pretty, very pure and fine; Mouth: v very pretty lighter, lovely intensity, finesse; Very Good - Excellent $32; Case, $26.99
Poised and Pretty Spanish Red
2022 Guimaro Ribeira Sacra Tinto
In the cooler heights of the hills of northwest Spain, the Mencia grape, when well grown, can have a pinot noir-like purity and grace. This one is full fruited and round. We loved it for its extraordinary purity.
; Color: medium red black; Aroma: very fresh, very pretty, herbal firm, nutty, piercingly herbal, firm; Mouth: fresh, very clean, fullish, fat, juicy, very intense, very pure rich; Very Good Plus $24.99; Case, $21.50
You Won't Believe It's Not Burgundy
2020 Alphonse Mellot Pinot Noir Cotes de la Charite
In Sancerre, they make a pinot noir red that can be very pretty but never seems to have too much depth. Famous Sancerre producer Alphonse Mellot found limestone soils a few miles to the east in The Cotes Charite that give more character to the wine. In 2020, he made a wine with a spice and elegance like that of a Cote de Nuits in a ripe vintage.
Color: very dark; Aroma: heady and sweet, very intense, vibrant, full, a nice sour herbal note, sour plum; Mouth: clean herbal, then acid, good fruit, graphite, some sour plum, very long, sublime and gratifying; Very Good - Excellent $40; Case, $34
The 'Grand Cru' You've never heard of
2018 Dufes Successeurs, Langlade
In the Middle Ages, the small Languedoc town of Langlade was considered a grand cru on the burgundy level. Connoisseurs from Louis XIV to Thomas Jefferson loved it. But phylloxera destroyed its vineyards in the 19th century. A Franco-American woman, Elisabeth Dufes, is working to restore its reputation. Her wine is made mainly from Rhone grapes but drinks more like a mellowed cross between a Rhone and St. Emilion. Not to overstate, it is extraordinary and worth far more than its price.
Color: medium dark; Aroma: very fine herbal dense, spicy with wood elegant, spicy wood; Mouth: smooth, elegant, clean, bright, light and lithe, fine tannins, long, very fresh, creamy in texture and supple; Very Good - Excellent $29.99; Case, $25.49
Federal Discovery Case: $335
Or mix any twelve bottles at their case prices
Order by phone at 617.367.8605, or reserve here: order@federalwine.com
Please pass this on to any friends who are wine enthusiasts!
- Len Rothenberg
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