Last Week's Tasting
Feasting on a Budget - Drinking well for less, 2024 Holidays
November 13, 2024
Sometimes, you need to serve a crowd at your holiday meal. That's no reason to stint on quality or to serve boring wines.
We tried three whites and three reds, flavorful companions for richer foods.
The favorites were the Schloss Lieser Riesling and the Bourdon Cotes du Rhone, which had a couple of hours decant. Good comments also for the Wittman Pinot Blanc.
Our favorite Beaujolais Nouveau is arriving
2024 Chermette Beaujolais Premeur $16.99, Case 14.99
White
2021 Schloss Lieser Riesling Trocken
A bright and fresh aperitif or lively partner for spicier stuffings
Aroma: deep Riesling dry, followed by crisp flinty slate; Mouth: appetizing bright ripe acid, lime, excellent drive very intense, following acidity dances on the tongue, very long; Very Good Plus $21; Case, $17.99
2020 Wittmann Weisser Burgunder (Pinot Blanc);
Fresh and pure, intense
Aroma: heady and soft, broad low acid, heady and spicy; Mouth: bright, clean, rounded, tangy lean, spicy acid rounded and fleshy bright acids spice, Very Good Plus 19.99; Case, 16.99
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2022 Maison Matisco Macon-Peronne
Classic white burgundy from our best value producer in the Maconnais. Chardonnay, poised and pretty, with no oak
Aroma: light clean, nicely rounded; Mouth: juicy forward, intense ripe apple-pear fruit, good length; Very Good Plus$19.99; Case, $16.99
Red
Don't be deceived by their low prices. These boldly flavored wines want to be treated the way that wines two or three times their price are. Closed at first, give them an hour or so in a decanter (any pitcher will do). They will reward you with expansive aromas and layered and complex flavors, which you can experience at our tasting.
2021 Paper Road Pinot Noir
This Pinot impressed people at our New Zealand wine dinner last month. From the sheltered east coast of North Island, it has a depth and solidity that evokes the Old World more than the New, with depth and structure you rarely see at its price. You can serve it this year or for the next five.
Color: very dark black; Aroma: very heady, very rich and dense, heady & ripe, fresh, clean, deep, savory with air; Mouth: light, clean, evocative, firmly structured with layering and interest, nice depth Very Good - Excellent $24.99; Case, $21
2023 Domain de Pieblanc Bourdon Cotes du Rhone
A warmer, more exciting version of Syrah that evokes the spice of the north. Last year's version was one of our most popular wines. Customers bought and rebought twenty cases and have asked when it would return. It shows more depth with air than last year's—extraordinary concentration for its price.
Aroma: heady and very dense, yet fresh, pretty fine acidity, very rich and pretty, heady and full; Mouth: Black pepper, complete and dense; Very Good Plus $18.99; Case, $15.99
2019 Chelti Winery Saperavi Heritage
From the Caucasus, a very well-priced wine from Georgia. It's full of the dark Rhone-like flavor of the Saperavi grape, made in a French style, in tank and old barrel. It has, again, much more depth and structure than its price.
Aroma: Heady, soft and dense, pretty, firm, tannin, intense, very concentrated; Mouth: smooth, Bright with heady black notes. Fleshy and intense, fine acid, clean rounded, young, well-defined tannins on the finish; Very Good Plus $19.99; Case, $16.99
Budget Feast Case, two each of the wines - $220 ($18.33 a bottle)
or mix your own, any 12 wines at their case prices
Some Other Suggestions
these mix also
Whites
Creamy and soft
2023 Matanzas Creek Sauvignon Blanc; Color: light & pretty; Aroma: very intense, sweet, very full, fat, an herbal note, lifted ripe note, touch of lemon; Mouth: clean, light refined acid, light intense bright acid over tropical fruit yet clean and firm; Very Good Plus $19.99; Case, $16.99
2023 Ch Camus, Graves; Color: light green gold; Mouth: fleshy and rounded full, fat, juicy, bright, firm; Very Good Plus $19.99; Case, $16.99
2023 Ch Peybonhomme les Tours Bordeaux Blanc; Aroma: savory and sweet, very rich and full, clean; Mouth: clean, light and lively, zesty and mouth-filling, bright and intense; Very Good Plus $23.99; Case, $20.39
Dry and Savory, full of exotic fruit
Go Greek – this was a favorite white from our tasting
2022 Alpha Estate Malagouzia; Aroma: crisp and linty, rounded fruit, spicy acid nose filling I; Mouth: rounded flinty, clean ripe fruity, intense, long, layered and intriguing; Very Good Plus 26.99; Case, 22.99
Reds
Hand-crafted Estate Willamette Pinot Noir at a price lower than many supermarket brands
2022 Scenic Valley Farms Pinot Noir Estate; Aroma: heady and sweet forward, bright intensity, intense, firm, bright light oak; Mouth: juicy forward firm, clean smooth, very pretty, nicely balanced, good length; Very Good Plus$22.99; Case, $19.99
Charmingly rounded medium-bodied Loire Pinot Noir enriched with gamay
2022 Domaine de Villeargeau Coteaux de Giennois Chicago; Color: very dark black; Aroma: very dark heady full, spicy and heady, very fruity, full; Very Good Plus $19.99; Case, $16.99
Our most popular budget Bordeaux, a more everyday wine from a classed growth
2020 D de Dauzac (Bordeaux); Color: black red, opaque; Mouth: rich and thick fin e acid on the attack, dense and nutty, fine tannins, very rich, full; Very Good Plus 19.99; Mixed Case, 17.99; Case, 16.99
Len Rothenberg
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