There is nothing as pleasing as really good Riesling, especially really good German Riesling. For many, German Riesling is an untapped treasure, largely a result of having had too many bottles of Blue Nun or Black Tower Liebfraumilchs. Ouch.

To me, German Riesling is all about balance and subtly. The interplay between acidity and fruit with hints of lemon, floral and stone are what make German Riesling so alluring. Weingut Leitz is a small, family run winery located in Germany’s Rheingau region. The winery’s website (http://www.leitz-wein.de) claims a link back to winemaking in 1744, although the current operation dates back to 1985 when Johannes Leitz took over the winery. Johannes is credited with being German winemaker of the year in 2011 and his Dragonstone Riesling clearly showcases his talent.

My tasting note:

Citrus nose with slate, beeswax and petrol hints. Medium-bodied with firm acidity – well balanced. Lemon, apple and honeysuckle on the palate. Classic profile. Moderate length – crisp and refreshing finish – lovely. Drinking well now – not for aging.

At an average bottle price of $17.99 before the discount, this wine is a respectable value.

Cheers!

I have to just nod my head… This wine comes from Spain, which is about 3,400 miles from Boston… Across an ocean…

It has a sturdy bottle, cork closure and an attractive label… The wine itself is quaffable, not meant for aging, but instead should be easily consumed with a nice strong Manchego cheese and paper thin slices of Serrano ham… Pepper and spice tease the palate and a vibrant core of red fruit evokes a sun-splashed Mediterranean shore line…

All this for a measly $6.99 per bottle before discount… I received 10% off when I picked up my case, bringing the per bottle price to $6.29… I checked in the Beverage Journal and the quantity wholesale price (3 cases minimum) was $64 per case, or $5.33 per bottle. So the retailer made $1 per bottle… Not sure what Winebow (the distributor) paid, but assuming they marked it up 50%, then they paid somewhere around $3.6 per bottle. Factoring in maritime shipping costs, glass and labeling costs, the wine maker, Bodegas Nekeas probably sold the wine for somewhere around $1.20 per bottle. And it’s Estate Bottled…

That is just outrageous – and not in a bad way. I keep telling anyone who will listen that as long as Spain (and parts of France and Italy) can produce little gems like the Vega Sindoa for such criminally cheap prices, there is absolutely no need to buy domestic. I will be putting this wine in a tasting, blind against a number of other wines from Europe and America. My guess is that folks will like it, but they won’t love it… probably too youthful… but when they get wind of the price, they will buy at least a case to put on table this summer with all kinds of BBQ fare.

If you’re at our house this summer, you will now know what you will be drinking… among other things…

My tasting note:

Earthy nose with cherry, eucalyptus and banana chip hints. Medium-bodied with firm acidity and moderate tannin – good balance. Youthful, vibrant with bright cherry and raspberry notes. Moderate length. Smooth with pepper and cinnamon on the aftertaste. Drinking well – not for aging.

At an average bottle price of $6.99 before the discount, this wine is a downright cheap summer quaffer.

Cheers!

I worry about the future of Malbec…

No, there is no great scourge awaiting this wonderful grape, prepared to wipe it from the earth, depriving all of us of its hearty pleasures. No, the threat is far more insidious… It is a threat that has hurt many grape varieties in the past, leaving their over cropped fruit hanging juicily on the vine, destined for that great vat of mass-produced jug wine… And what could this threat be?

I speak of, faddism… a fashion that is taken up with great enthusiasm for a brief period of time, a craze… Does the fate of Merlot and Pinot Noir jog your memory?

Malbec is perched on that slippery slope of becoming the next fad wine… or perhaps it is too late? Saving grace – while Argentina is hustling Malbec to market in every conceivable form, the French are doing what the French always do, shrug with a wily glint and walk away, letting you know that Malbec is their grape, originally, but not worth all the fuss. Bravo.

Actually, the Argentines are proceeding in a measured, if not somewhat zealous way, which bodes well. It may be that Malbec is just a little too edgy to actually become the next darling of the wine world. If Merlot and Pinot Noir have a certain smoothness and style that charms the palate, Malbec is the loud, boisterous college friend who is perpetually locked in frat party mode. Often full-bodied and unapologetic, Malbec is an in-your-face blast of black fruits and wild spices.

Another good sign… My Father-in Law eschews Malbec, despite my many attempts to convince him it is worthy of opening at table… Trend setter? No, but his taste in wine is classic and you can’t go wrong with the classics… He wears Brooks Brothers too… Need I say more?

But what about those youthful adventurers striving for the next great grape? Malbec isn’t sweet enough for their young palates… Have you noticed the sudden explosion of sweet reds on the market? Jellybean wines? Flip Flop wines? Yeah, Malbec is that scary guy in the leather jacket enjoying a few snake bites before a great game of darts… read “stay away…”

All of this makes me smile… Why? Because as long as Malbec stays just on the periphery of faddism, then wines like the 2010 Tikal Patriota are widely available at very reasonable prices. Tikal has a few different bottles of Malbec to choose from, but I think I like the Patriota the best. A blend of 60% Malbec and 40% Bonarda, the two grapes work together to create a pleasingly balanced wine with dark, inky fruit layered with exotic spices. I sipped it over two evenings and the wine held up impressively even without my usual Vineyard Fresh squirt in the bottle.

My tasting note:

Jammy nose with dark, blackberry and cedar hints. Full-bodied with moderate acidity and moderate tannin – good balance. Fruity with peppery, cherry and briarwood notes – mint and eucalyptus – youthful and vibrant. Moderate length with a smooth and layered finish – vanilla and allspice. Drinking well and should hold nicely for another 2 to 3 years.

At an average bottle price of $19.99 before the discount, this wine is a respectable value.

Cheers!

To me, Barbera always brings back memories of slices of steaming hot pizza, gooey with cheese, loaded with mushroom, sausage and maybe caramelized onion… Or, perhaps a nice slab of Lasagna Bolognese, sprinkled with Parmigiano-Reggiano and crushed red pepper… the point is, Barbera is about simple pleasures. For years I remember buying cases of sub-$10 Barbera and serving it as my house red – infinitely quaffable with no pretense except to please.

Well, it turns out that Barbera has, in a phrase, grown up. Somewhere along the way, Barbera producers got serious and decided they were going to produce wine for a more discerning palate. Giacomo Grimaldi is a small, family run winery in Langhe, Piedmont that, since 1930 has been producing some of the finest the region has to offer. Known for holding their wines for extended periods, Grimaldi’s Barolo wines are among the best. Similar care is taken with the Barbera wines from Grimaldi.

Grimaldi’s Barbera grapes are sourced from three vineyards located in Monteforte d’Alba, Barolo and Novello. The soils are primarily calcareous clay, which promotes a strong minerality in the wine. Vinification is in stainless steel with an extended maceration of 5 to 6 days, giving the wine a dark, deep ruby hue. Temperature control preserves the more delicate floral notes of the varietal and Malolactic fermentation softens the wine’s structure. The wine is aged in stainless steel for 9 months before bottling – no use of oak gives the wine a clean, fruit-forward style.

Make no mistake, this is serious Barbera, but it is youthful and fun as well. I tasted the wine over two days, with nothing but a cork in place over night and it was magnificent. I actually enjoyed the wine more on day two – it had shed some of its reticence and blossomed into quite the seductress.

My tasting note:

Bright, cherry nose with rose petal, mineral and anise hints. Medium-bodied with firm acidity and moderate, dry tannin – good balance. Sour cherry, tart with tarry, herbaceous notes. The wine really evolves with some time, showing a nice dark core of fruit and some bittersweet chocolate flavors. Moderate length, starts out tight but shows real potential as the wine breathed. Drinking well now and should improve over the next 3 to 5 years.

At an average bottle price of $23.99 before the discount, this wine is not exactly cheap, but it is very respectable Barbera with serious pedigree!

Cheers!

White wine in the middle of winter? Sure! Especially when the white wine is lush, structured and filled with complexity.

The Masseria Li Veli is a winery located on an ancient Messapian site, dominating the fertile and sunny Salento plain. The Salento region, also known as the “heel of the boot” (of Italy), is situated in the southern part of Apulia, between the Ionic and Adriatic seas. In the First century B.C. it was the land of the Messapi, whose name meant “people between two seas”.

The property was originally founded by the Marquis Antonio de Viti de Marco (1858 – 1943), an internationally known Italian economist, university professor and Radical Party Deputy of the Reign of Italy. The Marquis had wanted to transform Masseria into a model cellar for the entire south of Italy. Although this did not happen in his lifetime, the Falvo family, owners of the property since 1999, has taken 40 years of experience in the wine business to rejuvenate the property as well as the dream of the Marquis.

The climate of this area is ideal for the cultivation of the vine with mild winters and hot and dry summers. The strong diurnal weather pattern makes this peninsula the perfect place to ripen grapes.

The soil of Masseria Li Veli is karstic, mainly calcareous and clayey with gravel and tuff. The color is reddish and sandy, highly-permeable, and rich in sub-moisture from the large underground water strata present in the area that builds up during the winter. These soil conditions allow the vine roots to access water and get through the driest summers without stress.

The vineyards of Masseria Li Veli cover a total area of 33 hectares (80 acres), mainly cultivated with native alberello trained (goblet pruned without trellising) vines, with three two-bud spurs, at a high density planting (5120 plants per hectare). The layout is the settonce or “seven twelfths pattern,” whereby each vine finds itself in the center of a hexagon. This pattern was invented by Roman military engineers who for a long time used the Latin square layout, later adopting the quinconce (diamond pattern) and finally the settonce (ordo septuncialis). Today according to Li Veli, the settonce layout with the alberello training system offers, more than any other system, an ideal combination of beneficial effects: high planting density, maximum soil exploitation by the vine roots, maximum exposure of foliage to the sun, good circulation of air, vines forming rows in all directions making cultivation easier, maximum equilibrium of plant growth (all plants have the same space, both externally and below ground).

Vinification at Masseria Li Veli involves hand-picked grapes that are then refrigerated to preserve the delicate aromas of the varietal. The grapes are pressed and then macerated on the skins for a very short period, once again under refrigeration, which promotes extraction of maximum aromatic potential, which clearly shows in the final product. Fermentation is cool and slow, which not only preserves varietal character, but also impedes Malolactic fermentation.

Among the grapes cultivated at Masseria Li Veli are the Negroamaro, Primitivo, Susumaniello, Aleatico, and Verdeca. The wine under review is produced from 100% Verdeca, a white variety that has been cultivated for a many years exclusively in certain areas of Apulia, particularly in the Valle d’Itria. Because of its great resistance to disease and adaptability to different soils and conditions, for many years Verdeca was neglected and almost never used for varietal wines. Verdeca was almost always used for blending in dessert wines or in Vermouth, primarily for export. Masseria Li Veli started making varietal Verdeca in 2009 with the intent of showcasing the lovely and powerful characteristics of this historical local variety.

My tasting note:

Lush Nose with tropical fruit and chalky, mineral hints. Medium-bodied with firm acidity – good balance. Fruity with great structure and finesse – apple, apricot and pineapple notes with intense volcanic minerality. Long finish with evolving, layered complexity – very pretty – crisp and refreshing. Not for aging.

At an average bottle price of $17.99 before the discount, this wine is a superb alternative to every day whites!

Cheers!

I am not a wine snob. Actually, some folks have come to call me the “Will Rogers” of wine, in that I haven’t met a wine I didn’t like… Perhaps it is my devotion to judging wines not merely critiquing wines. So, in the spirit of fairness and equality, I will tell you about the Leese-Fitch Cabernet, a very inexpensive, very simple fruit bomb from the other coast (and as the label claims “from the other guys…”)

The 2010 Leese-Fitch Cabernet is a product of The Other Guys Winery, a subsidiary of the huge Sebastiani wine empire. The Leese-Fitch label is a value-conscience brand that strives to make high-quality, inexpensive wine that tastes at a price point $10 – $15 above its retail prices. Housed in the restored Leese-Fitch building located in Sonoma Square, the winery uses a mix of fruit from area growers, producing a Merlot, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel. The building was originally built in 1836, and is an historical landmark in Sonoma Plaza, named after Jacob Leese and Henry Fitch, brothers-in-law to General Mariano Vallejo, the founder of the town of Sonoma.

I generally eschew these easy-drinking west coast wines, usually because the value proposition isn’t there. But with Leese-Fitch, the price point is low-enough to make the ratio work.

My tasting note:

Ripe, juicy nose with black cherry jam and cedar hints. Medium-bodied with moderate acidity and supple, approachable tannins. Good balance. Youthful and fruity with bright red berry notes. Classically west coast – gulpable and easy drinking. Smooth finish without a lot of complexity – not for aging, simply for quaffing.

At an average retail price of $10.99 per bottle before discount, this wine is a good value with no pretense!

Cheers!

It’s no lie – I love the wines of southern France. Whether it is the massively complex and age-worthy wine of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, or some lovely, quaffable rose from the Côtes de Provence, many of my desert island wines would hail from that part of France that lovingly hugs the Mediterranean Sea.

So it should come as no surprise to anyone that I would love the 2010 Château Coupe Roses from Minervois. Named for the French term for “fortified farm,” La Bastide is a youthful explosion of flavors with enough structure to give it some serious aging potential. Made from a blend of old-vine Carignan and Grenache, (and yes, in France old-vines actually means something) the wine is filled with all the great terrior elements that make southern French wines so appealing.

The winery and vineyards are situated north-east of Carcassonne, which is located in the heart of the Languedoc. The climate is classically Mediterranean with warm, dry sunlit days and cool, still nights and promotes slow, steady maturation of the fruit. The vineyards are influenced by altitude, planted on barren, stony hillsides at between 800 to 1,200 feet above sea-level.  The soils are composed largely of clay and chalk, which are perfect for retaining heat in the evening (chalk) and water during the day (clay). Large manganese deposits give the eponymous faded rose coloration to the top soil.

My tasting note:

Earthy nose with dried herb, black cherry and anise hints. Full-bodied with moderate acidity and firm, tight tannins. Good balance. Youthful with a nice dark fruit core. Gamey with briar patch, red berry and deep, cocoa notes. Needs time – very tight, but showing some nice complexity offering great potential. Should be really showing well in about 5 to 7 years, if you can wait…

At an average retail price of $14.99 per bottle before discount, this wine is a stunning value!

Cheers!