Wine & Spirits - October 2012 - (Page 86)

AMERICAN NEW RELEASES tage like 2009. It leads with scents of violets and black plum, the ﬂavors taking on a warm-weather tone of roasted cherries and grilled ﬁgs. This is built for the cellar, and once it emerges, for a steak. Leonetti Cellar, Walla Walla, WA 418880 IMPORTED NEW RELEASES Our blind panels tasted 583 new-release imported wines for this issue. Our critics rated 94 as exceptional (90+) and 52 as Best Buys. Joshua Greene reviews wines from Australia, France (Bordeaux and Burgundy), Portugal and Spain (Galicia); Patricio Tapia reviews wines from Argentina, Chile and Spain; Tara Q. Thomas reviews wines from Austria and Greece. Find a complete list of wines tasted and all reviews at wineandspiritsmagazine.com. | Kestrel $ 2009 Columbia Valley (Best Buy) Scents of cola and oak spice give way to ﬁrm, spicy tannins. Between start and ﬁnish there’s a burst of cherry ﬂavor that suggests barbecue. (841 cases) Kestrel Vintners, Prosser, WA ARGENTINA WHITE SYRAH 418412 | Sleight of Hand Cellars $ SEMILLON 109265 2010 Walla Walla Valley Funkadelic Syrah Dark with scents of charred wood and smoked tomato, this wine’s black plum fruit takes time to emerge, but when it does it’s seductive. For the cellar. (160 cases) Sleight of Hand Cellars, Walla Walla, WA 418479 | Mendel tions in Agrelo, rising to 3,600 feet, and is a serious candidate for the cellar. Give at least ﬁve years. Vine Connections, Sausalito, CA 109340 $ | Enrique Foster $ | aMaurice Cellars $ 2009 Walla Walla Valley Fred Estate Syrah Bright and seamless in aroma, with pepper, leather and pine, this wine has a sweet core of purple plum fruit. There’s admirable restraint in the structure, and a sense it will reward the patient. For a leg of lamb. (368 cases) aMaurice Cellars, Walla Walla, WA 418477 2012 Mendoza Semillon Classical in its varietal expression, this semillon has notes of honey merged gracefully with an unctuous texture and almost waxy white fruit ﬂavors. It’s shaped by pointed acidity, lending clarity to the structure and a ﬁne sheen. This comes from 60-year-old vines in the heights of Mendoza. Vine Connections, Sausalito, CA 2007 Mendoza Firmado Malbec Delicious in its depth of ﬂavor—from cherry conﬁt to black olive—this wine’s austere structure suggests cellaring it. Or decant it and the earthy side develops, adding clarity to the fruit. Firmado is a selection of old vines, some of more than 70 years old, in Lujan de Cuyo. Dreyfus, Ashby & Co., NY 109298 TORRONTÉS 109369 | La Posta $ | Finca Las Nubes $ | aMaurice Cellars $ 2009 Columbia Valley Syrah An herbal expression of syrah from three vineyards, including Boushey, this aromatic red leads with a mélange of evergreen and cassis. On the palate it’s tight, a touch green and smoky, with tannins that need cellar time to evolve. (321 cases) aMaurice Cellars, Walla Walla, WA 2011 Valle de Cafayate Torrontés A perfumed white with soft ﬂoral touches and a remarkably creamy texture for torrontés, a grape that tends to err on the side of rusticity. For slow-smoked pork. Vine Connections, Sausalito, CA ARGENTINA RED BONARDA 109300 2010 Ugarteche Angel Paulucci Vineyard Malbec In a world of superripe malbec, once in a while we come across a wine that emphasizes red fruit and tense acidity—without giving up the weight and structure that would place it with the meats of an Argentine asado. This is a selection of vines planted at end of the 1960s in Mendoza, and 2010 may be the best vintage this site has produced to date. Vine Connections, Sausalito, CA 109341 | Enrique Foster $ | La Posta $ Z I N FA N D E L 418373 | Angel Vine $ 2009 Walla Walla Valley Les Collines Vineyard Zinfandel (Best Buy) Scents of barbecued meat give way to a smoky, almost syrah-like black plum scent. Its ﬂavors are savory and red—strawberries and a hint of tar—with a smoky ﬁnish: Walla Walla terroir seen through the lens of zinfandel. (300 cases) Angel Vine, Gaston, OR 418371 2011 Mendoza Estela Armando Vineyard Bonarda Many Argentine bonardas are soft and pleasant at best, stand-ins for simple Beaujolais. This one is more ambitious, with a tense, mineral core surrounded by scents of black fruit and spice. It’s substantial enough to serve with morcilla. Vine Connections, Sausalito, CA 2006 Luján de Cuyo Limited Edition Malbec Scents of tobacco give way to sour cherry and earthy notes as this wine takes on air. The structure is tense, the tannins woven into a tight fabric. Decant it for a thick steak. Dreyfus, Ashby & Co., NY 109372 | Mendel Wines $ MALBEC 109285 | Angel Vine | Añoro $ $ 2009 Columbia Valley Zinfandel (Best Buy) Fresh and brambly, with a blue-fruited sheen, this wine’s ﬂavors are spicy and light, juicy cherry. It has the lean contour to match pork sausages. (400 cases) Angel Vine, Gaston, OR I 86 W I N E & S P I R I T S O C T O B E R 2 0 1 2 2009 Mendoza Malbec Give this time in the glass and its aromas of red fruit develop complex notes of violets and leather. The ﬂavors are powerful, with enough acidity and ﬁrm tannins to sustain it. It leaves a smooth sweetness in the ﬁnish, inviting another sip. This malbec comes from the highest eleva- 2010 Mendoza Lunta Malbec Scents of violets lead into a strong heart of cherry and mineral ﬂavor in this untamed malbec, intensely red in its fruit and powerful in its tannins. A young wine—almost electric in its energy—with a great future ahead, Lunta is Mendel’s simplest malbec, grown at a vineyard planted in 1928. Vine Connections, Sausalito, CA 109286 | Graﬃto $ 2010 Mendoza Malbec Full of aromas and ﬂavors of dark berries, radiant in its concen- http://www.wineandspiritsmagazine.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - October 2012

Wine & Spirits - October 2012
Editor’s Note
Happenings
Contents
Fined & Filtered: Jordan Mackay on Microlists
Skin Deep
Books: Josh Greene interviews Julia Harding, MW, about Wine Grapes
Spirits: Wild new whiskies, by Lou Bustamante
Best New Sommeliers 2012
Structured California Chardonnay
Nuits Blanches
Bourbon & Country Ham
New & Notable Bay Area Restaurants
Extreme Values: Great Buys for $10 or Less
Overview
American Chardonnay
Red Burgundy
Australian Shiraz
Bierzo & Galician Reds
American
Imported
Levi Dalton on Chinato

Wine & Spirits - October 2012