Elegant and Layered Reds Flashcards
DOMAINE de VIEUX TELEGRAPHE, “La Crau”, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, France, 2016
Grenache Blend
$159
The flagship wine, the 2015 Chateauneuf du Pape, is a blend of 60% Grenache, 20% Mourvèdre, 15% Syrah and 5% other permitted varieties.
It features delicate floral scents and ample cherry and licorice aromas. Somehow, it manages to be full-bodied and almost creamy in texture but without much weight, then it ends powerfully, with a flourish of rich Mexican chocolate on the long, silky finish. It should drink well for up to 20 years.
Undoubtedly one of the top vintages of this wine, the 2016 Chateauneuf du Pape La Crau features classy notes of crushed stones and black tea to go along with ripe raspberries and black cherries. Full-bodied yet silky, there’s more power and richness in La Crau than in Piedlong, yet there’s commensurate elegance and finesse. The wine grows in intensity on the finish without ever seeming heavy or overripe, instead offering hints of tea and licorice.
DAL FORNO ROMANO, “Superiore”, Veneto, Italy, 2008
Valpolicella Blend
$149
The 2008 Valpolicella Superiore hails from the famed Monte Lodoletta cru and immediately struts its stuff: It opens to huge intensity, an inky appearance and tight tannic astringency. Great care is taken to transform each berry of fruit into this dense, syrupy wine that is redolent of bitter chocolate, dried fruit, blackberry preserves, baking spice and toasted herbs. The oak tannins dry every last drop of moisture from your mouth. The blend is 70% Covina and Corvinone, 20% Rondinella, 5% Oseleta and 5% Croatina aged 36 months in barrique. This wine has a long, long way to go. Don’t even think of popping the cork for five years or more. Drink 2018-2035.
DAL FORNO ROMANO, “Superiore”, Veneto, Italy, 2009
Valpolicella Blend
$149
Built like a tank, the 2009 Valpolicella Superiore Monte Lodoletta is a masterful achievement. This wine shows so beautifully, especially in a warm but balanced vintage like 2009.
The fruit is expressive and articulate with deep layers of blackberry preserves, dried cherry, dark chocolate, espresso bean, mesquite smoke and soy sauce. The mouthfeel is super rich and concentrated as the Dal Forno signature style would dictate. The tannic bite is still strong and this wine needs a few more years to stretch out its muscular build. I’d suggest drinking it after 2018.
DAL FORNO ROMANO, “Superiore”, Veneto, Italy, 2010
Valpolicella Blend
$149
The 2010 Valpolicella Superiore is a utterly fascinating wine from Dal Forno in this vintage. Composed from 70% Corvina and Corvina Grossa, 20% Rondinella, 5% Croatina, 5% Oseleta, the selected grapes are then placed in plastic plateaux and are left to rest for 45 days in large open rooms, where an innovative ventilation system helps maintain an elevated and thorough air flow. After the racking process, the Valpolicella rests for a few days in stainless steel tanks and subsequently is placed in new barriques to mature for 36 long months. The result is a wine which displays a pitch dark, inky color, followed by complex aromatics of ripe black currants, black cherries, mission figs woven together with espresso, grilled herbs, bittersweet chocolate, graphite and some earthy loam and straw characteristics all taking shape in this seductive Valpolicella. On this palate this is full-bodied with beautifully polished tannins and remarkable overall structure and balance, with impressive minerality at it core. It all comes together beautifully on the long, expansive finish which lingers on and on. It seems as if this wine continues to improve in quality each vintage, and the 2010 is the most compelling Valpolicella I have ever tasted from the estate. Overall, this is another total success from the Dal Forno Family.
CLOS DU MARQUIS, Saint Julien, Bordeaux, France, 2010 $225
Bordeaux Blend
$225
With the alcohol hitting 13.6% in a blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot and 8% Cabernet Franc, this wine displays plenty of sweet kirsch, licorice and black currant fruit in a classy, seductive style, with medium to full body, soft but abundant tannins and a long finish.
It does indeed possess the elegance and finesse of its bigger sibling, Leoville Las Cases. Drink it over the next 10-15 years.
CLOS DU MARQUIS, Saint Julien, Bordeaux, France, 2005 $279
Bordeaux Blend
$279
The superb second wine, the 2005 Clos du Marquis, reflects the utter brilliance of the 2005 grand vin. It boasts an inky/ruby/purple color along with a sweet perfume of lead pencil, ripe cherries and black currants, and hints of earth and vanillin. Dense, chewy, fleshy, and full-bodied, this beauty will be drinkable in 3-4 years, and should keep for 15-20.
CLOS DU MARQUIS, Saint Julien, Bordeaux, France, 2000
Bordeaux Blend
$239
One of the great sleepers of the vintage and probably the best Clos de Marquis I have ever tasted, this wine could easily compete with many of the vintage’s classified growths. Dense, opaque purple-colored, with creme de cassis, vanilla, and cherry notes, medium to full body, an unctuous texture, low acidity, and a more evolved style than its bigger sibling, Leoville Las Cases, this dense, chewy, remarkably concentrated and stylish wine should be at its best between 2005 and 2018.
CHATEAU PANET, “Grand Cru”, Saint-Emilion, France, 2006
Bordeaux Blend
$89
Château Panet is a very elegant wine thanks to its delicacy, its red berry scent and very discreet spicy notes.
Appellation : AOC Saint-Emilion Grand Cru
Area : 19 ha
Soil : Clay
Grape varieties : 80% merlot, 20% cabernet franc
Ageing : 12 months in French oak barrels, 10% of which is new barrels, 30% barrels of wine and 60% barrels of two wines
Château Panet is the historic property of the Carles family, heir of the Barrat family who owned it since 1880. In the aftermath of the Second World War, Jean-Claude Carles took over the management of the vineyard. Today, Château Panet is the main château of the Carles Vineyards.
CATEGORY
AOC Saint-Emilion Grand Cru
BARBOURSVILLE VINEYARDS, “Octagon”, Monticello, Virginia, 2014
Bordeaux Blend
$99
Tight-knit yet finessed on the palate, this Bordeaux-style blend offers notes of blackberry, graphite and coffee grounds.
GLEN MANOR VINEYARDS, “St. Ruth”, Warren County, Virginia, 2014
Bordeaux Blend
$70
56% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Franc, 9% Petit Verdot
St. Ruth is the more delicate, curvaceous partner to our Hodder Hill. A red blend that changes with the season, the wine carries itself with patience, allowing its structure, character, and nuance to blossom later in the glass or after cellaring.
GLEN MANOR VINEYARDS, “Hodder Hill”, Warren County, Virginia, 2013
Bordeaux Blend
$84
67% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot
Hodder Hill is a structured red blend (usually Cabernet Sauvignon dominant), focused on the terroir of our mountain farm. The blend of varieties and nuances of flavor change with every season, just as nature gives us different fruit every season, and we allow the best of this bounty to frame our wine.
KING FAMILY VINEYARDS, “Mountain Plains”, Monticello, Virginia, 2016
Bordeaux Blend
$89
a blend of Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc and Merlot grapes. “After careful selection of the ripest fruit from our best vineyard blocks, the grapes were hand-sorted and then destemmed. Based on varietal characteristics, the newborn wines underwent four to eight weeks of maceration in open top, concrete fermentation tanks to extract color, tannin, and concentration. After pressing, the wines were aged separately for 22 months in new barrels from the Tronçais oak forest in Central France, specially selected for their tight grained wood to impart fine tannins, and a well-integrated oak profile.
On the nose it was full of ripe black briar fruits and oak and spice, but was integrated, with ripe fruits, rich and smooth tannins on the palate, with a long finish.
