Wine & Spirits - Winter 2019 - 91

33RD A NNUA L B U YING G U ID E

A RM E N I A
BEST ARENI

dimpled about the fruit; it's just warm and
plump, with tannins you can breathe and a
palpable bristle of energy. The luscious blackberry fruit floods the crunchy acidity that
keeps the wine bright and zesty. Though the
wine spent 22 months in French oak, the barrel influence is apparent only in its textural
harmony and structural completion. Set for
long aging. (W&S 10/19) § Old Bridge Cellars,
Napa, CA -J.G.

the glass. This sustains its freshness over the
course of days, attesting to its bright future,
with years of development ahead if you're
patient enough to cellar it. (W&S 2/19) § Sera
Wine Imports, NY -J.G.

BEST SHIRAZES

2017 Wachau Wachstum Bodenstein
Grüner Veltliner Smaragd ^ This comes from
a vineyard at the top of Achleiten, where proprietor Toni Bodenstein planted 110 different clones of grüner veltliner in 1997. In 2017,
those vines created a gorgeous wine, crisp
and floral in its herbal citrus fruit, and sultry in its crushed-stone minerality. It expands
with air, turning toward notes of pear, peach
and plum even as the acidity holds the wine
tightly, an elegant veltliner that wears its
power lightly. (W&S 4/19) § Craft + Estate/
Winebow Imports, NY -T.Q.T.

123598

96 | Penfolds

271226

94 | Zorah

$36

2016 Rind Karasì ^ In 2006, working with
the Italian oenologist Alberto Antonini
and viticulturist Stefano Bartolomei, Zorik
Gharibian planted 37 acres of vines on a
barren, stone-filled landscape at 4,593 feet
in altitude. The cuttings came from abandoned vineyards at a 13th-century monastery nearby; the vines, planted on their own
roots, produced a beautiful areni in 2016.
The team ferments it spontaneously in the
traditional Armenian earthenware karas and
ages it in unlined concrete vats. Areni feels
cool at this altitude, firm and juicy, with an
acidity that gives it a sheer texture despite the
depth of dark-plum fruit. With air, it reveals
more detail, the notes of earth and spice taking on an exotic edge. It remains fresh over
the course of days open, a sure sign that this
will also age well in bottle. (W&S 6/19) § Garber & Co., Los Angeles, CA -T.Q.T.

A UST R A L I A
BEST CHARDONNAY

95 | Leeuwin Estate

$60

2015 Margaret River Art Series Cabernet
Sauvignon ^ There's sunglow to this wine's flavors, as if mirroring the cool, sunny autumn
days in Margaret River that extended the
growing season in 2015. There's nothing

$850

2014 South Australia Grange Shiraz ^
Grange is a blend from Penfolds' top vineyards and best growers, including fruit from
Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Wrattonbully
(a first for Grange), Coonawarra, Clare Valley and the Magill Estate in the Adelaide
Hills, where the winery got its start. That
fruit selection finishes fermentation in new
American oak barrels, where it then ages for
20 months. Peter Gago, who oversees the
winemaking team, notes that winter and
early-season rains differed substantially from
Barossa and Clare down to McLaren Vale and
Coonawarra. It was a warm summer to the
north, with heat spikes in the south; then
rain delayed harvest, allowing the fruit to
ripen under generally cooler weather. That,
in turn, allowed Gago to blend a plump,
succulent Grange with complex layers of
flavor, completely savory and ripe. The flavors might bring to mind black olive, black
currant and seedy blackberries, accelerated
by the espresso scents of new oak. There's
a restrained, slow-motion mineral explosion
in the end, taking days to develop, lasting
with a formality and elegance that belies the
wine's intoxicating richness. Great vintages
of Grange last for decades; the original wines
from the 1950s and '60s are still remarkably
fit, as this one should be for many years to
come. (W&S 2/19) § Treasury Wine Estates,
Napa, CA -J.G.
123301

95 | M. Chapoutier
& Laughton

124755

Wine & Spirits

$125

2012 Victoria Cluster M45 Shiraz ^ Michel
Chapoutier joined forces with Ron Laughton of Jasper Hill to grow this wine in Heathcote's Cambrian soils, where they dry-farm
the vines under biodynamics. Their 2012 is
a delicate beauty, a wine of cool refinement,
light in weight while driving forward with
complexity and gamey savor. The deep ruby
color mirrors the wine's concentration and
transparency; the scent of black olives and
leather and the black-peppercorn spice of its
fruit tannins will keep drawing you back to

AUSTRIA
B E S T G R U N E R V E LT L I N E R
236220

95 | Prager

$78

BEST RIESLINGS
236026

95 | Bründlmayer

$75

95 | Salomon-Undhof

$55

2016 Kamptal Heiligenstein Reserve Lyra
Riesling ^ Willi Bründlmayer makes this wine
from a parcel of vines he has trained in lyra,
with their branches reaching up and out like
arms reaching to the sky. The idea was to
allow more air and sun into the leafy canopy; this, combined with rigorous thinning
to keep the yields low, is meant to show that
younger vines can produce wines as intense
as those from old vines. That impression
comes through clearly in this 2016. It leads
with a hit of green herbs and pink-grapefruit
pithiness, tight and high toned; then the flavors settle back to earth, floral notes mixing
with the scent of hot rocks. It's powerful yet
airy, the flavors penetrating in their intensity.
(W&S 4/19) § Terry Theise Selections/Skurnik
Wines & Spirits, NY -T.Q.T.
236701
2017 Kremstal Pfaffenberg Erste Lage
Reserve Riesling ^ This is arrestingly beautiful from the very first whiff, teasing with the
delicate fragrance of peaches and lime blossoms. It comes from old vines deeply rooted
in a steep vineyard of granite and gneiss
that looms over the Danube to the south;
those vines seem to have shrugged off the
heat in 2017, producing a wine that dances
with energy. It's not just the vivid acidity; it's
also how much detail the wine packs in-the
notes of lilies and Meyer lemons, grapefruit
and dried apple, along with the earthy, fruity

WINE & SPIRITS

BBUYING GUIDE 2020

https://www.zorahwines.com https://leeuwinestate.com.au/productdetail/129-2015-Art-Series-Cabernet-Sauvignon.html/

Wine & Spirits - Winter 2019

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