Last Week's Tasting
Gems from Our Cellar
August 20, 2025
Tasters snapped up some unique deals, but there are more...
Gems from Our Cellar
The two most often purchased at the tasting were the Ch. Canon and the Loren Crossing Cabernet, but the 2020 Ziereisen Gutedel Viviser was extraordinary..It was complex and multilayered, with flavors parallel to but not the same as a top Gruner Veltliner. It sold out at the tasting but we will have more in a week or two. I strongly recommend it.
Rose
2024 Herdade do Rocim Alentejano ‘Mariana’ Rose
You will fall in love with this. A lot of times Portuguese Roses get overshadowed by the big guys like France, Italy and Spain. But this blend of Touriga Nacional and Aragonez (Tempranillo) provides fresh, aromatic richness and vivacious fruit that is so easy to enjoy and highly quaffable. Great for pairing with pizza, pasta, seafood, burgers or on its own.
Aroma: Bright red berries, red currants, elderflower and melon. Mouth: A crisp yet soft textured, stone fruit, orchard fruit, balanced acidity and a touch of salinity on the finish to keep you thirsting for another sip. Very Good $18.99, Case $15.99
Two From Ziereisen
Ziereisen is well-known in Germany but rarely seen here. In the southernmost part of Baden, wife and husband team Edeltraud and Hans are famous as the producers of extraordinary wines from the Gutedel and Pinot Noir grapes
White
2020 Ziereisen Gutedel Viviser
Gutedel is called Chasselas in France, Fendant in Switzerland where it makes its finest whites, the favorites of Zurich bankers, and Davos conventioneers.
Viviser is Ziereisen’s reserve level Gutedel. Like us, Stephen Reinhardt of the Wine Advocate has been a fan for years. He wrote:
“Another excellent Chasselas from the Ziereisen family. It was basket-pressed and aged in large oak casks on the lees for about 20 months. The nose is deep, intense, pure, spicy/stony and even reminiscent of fresh green olive oil but also iodine notes of crushed limestones. Round, intense and elegant on the palate, this is a saline, fresh, seriously structured and persistent Chasselas with vibrant mineral grip and tension and a refreshingly pure finish that still doesn't offer anything for hedonists. Just 11% alcohol.”
To translate Reinhardt’s last phrase, Viviser is lean, not fat and opulent, but direct, a fine companion for food, à la Chablis. It wants some air to open and will continue to get better after a few years. Excellent $34, Case 25.99
Red
2020 Ziereisen Scholen Pinot Noir
This is parallel to and as fine as many more expensive red Burgundies. Also, a Ziereisen reserve-level. Reinhart wrote that it:
“Exhibits an intense but lively dark ruby color that speaks to the unfiltered bottling of the wine that was aged in small oak barrels for a bit more than 1.5 years. The wine shows a noble, deep, pure and refreshing bouquet of dark, ripe and intensely flavored fruit (dark cherries, Schwarzwälder Kirsch) intermingled with spicy-peppery as well as chalky notes (Jurassic limestone). On the palate, this is a silky, intense and balanced, full-bodied and juicy red with remarkably fine tannins, stunning mineral and energetic vibrancy and fine salinity on the long and intense finish that represents the warmth and generosity of the vintage. This is the most impressive Schulen I have had from this domaine, and I have missed only a very few vintages since the start in the 1990s. 13% stated alcohol.” Excellent $55, case $44
2023 Cheveaux Beaujolais Villages En Chantenay
The label is simple Beaujolais. But the wine is much better than that. Cheveaux is famous for its Macon whites, but this comes from just outside Saint Amour and is of a quality, if not the price of many a more expensive Beaujolais cru. Bright rich and creamy, it's one of the richest and most satisfying Beaujolais we've come across.
Color: vary deep purple; Aroma: bright and forward, very deep and dark, fresh intense; Mouth: bright blue fruit, nicely intense, some structure, clean light long acid finish, long; Very Good Plus $22.99; Case, $19.99
An Underpriced Bordeaux Value
2019 Ch Canon, Canon-Fronsac
We love this merlot Cabernet Franc blend
One critic wrote, "Bursting from the glass with glossy notes of black plums, crème de mure, and violets. The palate is plump and juicy, with a pleasing sweetness to the fruit to make this ever so moreish in its youth. A hint of oak spice rounds out the finish nicely."
Tasted from an aired bottle, we loved its mellowed spice of cabernet franc and wood and layered complexity. It has a lot of pleasure for the price.
Aroma: savory and herbal franc spice, some leather and cassis over blackberry; Mouth: bright, dense, smooth, clean mouth failing Merlot, herb tinged, nice lines, well composed and complete and satisfying; Very Good - Excellent$29.99; Case, $25.99
2023 Loren Crossing Cabernet Sauvignon
A Napa value
This Cabernet is enlivened by bits of Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot. We suspect that it is an out-take form a more famous estate. It certainly tastes of napa and is great value
The grapes, largely from St. Helena, are handpicked, then destemmed and crushed for native yeast fermentation in closed-top vats on the skins for 24 days. Aged in 40% new French oak for 16 months.
Color: very dark black; Aroma: heady and deep rather full, an herbal note, fat, lightly savory; Mouth: bright light clean and herbal, moderately rich on the tongue, fine tannins, good rope length; Very Good Plus $28.99; Case, $24.99
Subject to prior sale, mix any twelve at their case prices,
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