Federal Wine & Spirits

29 State Street, Boston, MA 02109

Read about the wines in this tasting

Read what our customers thought

This Week's Tasting

Delicious New Arrivals
February 22, 2023

Some new wines and new vintages of favorites this week.

 

Wine Tasters

Delicious New Arrivals

Wed 2/23

5:00 - 6:30pm

 


 

Vouvray

deep beneath the Vouvray vineyard

 

Delicious New Arrivals

 

White

 

The century-old Bourillon d'Orleans family has prime vineyard sites in Vouvray, and 15th-century cellars carved out of its underlying. They are one of the classic producers there. Their single vineyard 2019 is delicious and eminently drinkable. It's dry but not austere, with full-fleshed Peach and pear-accented Chenin Blanc fruit in the mouth. It's full-fruited, mouth-filling, and nice intense, with an excellent finish.

 2019 Bourillon d'Orleans Vouvray Sec Montgouverne la Coulee d'Argent; Aroma: heady creamy peach, intense, relatively firm, heady very dense, peachy, full; Mouth: dense spicy fullish, dry but heady & full, long full finish; Very Good Plus $21; Case, $17.899

 

Can you turn grape dross into wine gold? Yes, if you are an exacting winemaker with older vines in favored vineyards. Brothers Benoit and Sébastien Danjou-Banessy – have fashioned a subtle and hauntingly allusive white from a single vineyard of the humble maccabeo grape. Their wine production method is fully biodynamic and non-interventionist. Grapes are hand-harvested, gently pressed /and aged in an old oak barrel for 10 to 14 months. The wine is neither fined nor filtered at bottling

2020 Danjou-Banessy Cotes Catalanes Blanc Coste; Aroma: heady and rich, fragrant, forward and fragrant; Mouth: clean fine, elegant, very pretty, very pure, bright acid, herbal, fresh fruit, good length, poised and lifted, crystalline, and pure; Very Good - Excellent $32; Case, $27

 

Red

 

Leonardo Bussoletti is one of the most dynamic and best winemakers in modern Umbria. He decided to revive a historic tradition of making world-class wine with the Ciliegiolo grape variety for his red. A blending grape in Tuscan, he gives it real elegance and style. The 2020 Leonardo Bussoletti Ciliegiolo Narni Brecciaro provides a Burgundian-style with wine with real depth.

2020 Leonardo Bussoletti Ciliegiolo Narni Brecciaro: Bright ruby. Aromas and flavors of red fruit and wild underbrush. The finish shows flowers and spice, and the wine has balanced structure and texture. Excellent 23.99, case  20.39

 

Alfredo and Edoardo Falvo restored the vineyards and winery of Puglia's Masseria Li Veli estate, together with some of its ancient Apulian grape varieties. For the red, they chose the millennium-old Susumaniello. The 2021 Askos Masseria Li Veli Susumaniello is a substantial, balanced wine with many unique, attractive aromas and flavors.

2021 Askos Masseria Li Veli Susumaniello : Deep ruby. Blackberry, mint, olive, licorice, espresso, and lavender. Balanced structure with a frame of silky tannin. Medium to full-bodied and a long spicy finish. Lots of character Excellent 23.99/bottle, Case 20.39

The Barale family has been making Barolo since 1870. The current generation continues producing traditional wines with seamless texture and complexity. The 2020 Barale Fratelli Langhe Nebbiolo is produced from younger vines in their great Barolo vineyards. It is a wine of real class and refinement.

2020 Barale Fratelli Langhe Nebbiolo: Ruby with garnet rim. Deep aromas and flavors with dark cherry, violets, tar, and Asian spice. Elegant structure and balanced tannins in a long textured finish Excellent $29.99, case 25.99

The hit of last week's Catalyst dinner was not the 1er Cru burgundy or the champagne but the sumptuous 2020 Flauzieres Gigondas. People thought it was sumptuous for a southern Rome with saturated fruit and deep richness. They liked its price too, 23.99 by the case. We are delivering several this week and thought we should also share this wine with you. It's well worth checking out

2020 Mas des Flauzieres (Benoit) Gigondas Four Danuga; Color: very dark, dense; Aroma: heady and bright, firm drive, heady dark fruit; Mouth: clean sweet, medium-bodied, saturated thick dark fruit, great depth rose note on the finish; Very Good Plus $27.99; Case, $23.9

 

New arrivals case: Special two each of the above wines - $269

Or mix your own case; any 12 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!

 

           - Peter Hemenway

 


 

These wines (except futures) and any wine in stock assort as follows:

For 12 or more bottles of the same wine, take 15% off.

For 12 or more bottles of various wines, take 10% off.

Wines marked “net” help assemble cases but don’t discount themselves.

 

FREE DELIVERY!

downtown on orders more than $75;

in Greater Boston on orders more than $199