Wine & Spirits - Fall 2022 - 109

Top 100 Best Buys
RKaTSITEl I
91 | Georgian Legend
grilled abalone or clams roasted in a wood
oven. --J.G. § Maritime Wine Trading Collective,
San Francisco, CA
$18
2019 Kakheti Rkatsiteli ^ An amber-hued
qvevri wine, this plays up rkatsiteli's herbal
edge, adding crunch and freshness to its
golden-raisin fruit. It feels clean, cleansing
even, with dry tannins and a salt-and-pepper
spice-ready to match with salads or herbstuffed
fish. -T.Q.T. § Georgian Toast Imports,
Cambridge, MA
92 | Eroica
SaUVIGNON Bl aNC
93 | Fournier Père & Fils
$20
2020 Columbia Valley Riesling ^ Eroica in
2020 reflects the confident hand of David
Rosenthal, Ste. Michelle's white winemaker,
and his partner Ernst Loosen, who settled on
this style early in his Washington tenure in
this joint project. This starts out brisk and
tense, lemon-spritz and passion-fruit scents
overlying tart green apple. Its flavors are
layered and full of energy, the whiff of petrol
filled in by a restrained, lemon-tart richness.
The dusty minerality brings to mind the
hummocky hills at Evergreen Vineyard, overlooking
the Columbia. -P.J.C.
$28
2020 Menetou-Salon Côtes de Morogues
Blanc ^ Menetou-Salon has long played second
fiddle to Sancerre, the appellation just
to the west. Yet this wine, from the clay-rich
soils in the Kimmeridgian hills of Morogues,
harmonizes green florals and rich fruit in
a way that manages to feel generous, yet
restrained. The wine invites you to sit with
it and think, rewarding patient tasters with
blossoming lemon thyme, juicy pineapple
fruit and silky lemon curd. The flavors come
through as clear on the fourth day open as
they did on the first, precise and lasting,
suggesting this wine will only improve with
a few years in the cellar. -C.W. § David Milligan
Selections, Ridgefield, CT
90 | Concha y Toro
$15
2021 Litueche Gran Reserva Sauvignon
Blanc ^ This grows ten miles from the Pacific
on the south bank of the Rapel River, the
clay-loam soils derived from granite. Concha
y Toro's team planted the vines in 2005,
which now give a sauvignon packed with passion-fruit
flavor and refreshing acidity. It's
floral, well-knit and clean, ready to decant
for Cantonese shrimp in lobster sauce. -J.G. §
Bonterra Organic Estates, Hopland, CA
TREIXaDURa
93 | Casal de Armán
$24
2020 Ribeiro Blanco ^ Grown at estate vine92
| Hosmer
$18
2019 Cayuga Lake Patrician Verona Riesling
^ Patrician Verona is the Hosmer family's
69-acre vineyard on the western slope
of Cayuga Lake. Winemaker Julia Hoyle
selected this fruit from a steep block on
the property, where she found a touch of
botrytis in the grapes. The wine is foresty
and savory when first poured, with pine tips,
camphor and smoke; it may bring to mind a
lake breeze blowing through white pines on
the Cayuga shore. Golden-apple sweetness
makes a brief appearance before the wine
finishes savory and composed, soft as a bed
of pine needles. Remarkably exotic for the
price. -P.J.C. (80 cases)
92 | Dr. Konstantin Frank $17
2021 Finger Lakes Sauvignon Blanc ^ This
bracing and dramatic white channels several
sauvignon-blanc styles at once, an aromatic
feat of dewy grass, scallion, grapefruit, cherimoya,
cat pee and gooseberry. All of that is
held together by a generous core of fruit,
juicy melon and citrus, with the racy acidity
for a seafood platter. -P.J.C. §
91 | The Better Half
$16
2020 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc ^ Yellow
peach and pale pineapple flavors meet
mouthwatering acidity in this sleek and juicy
sauvignon. It's firmly structured to take on
yards in the Valle del Avia, this is a blend
based on treixadura (90 percent) with a little
godello and albariño. It ferments and then
ages on the lees in stainless steel, developing
a dynamic richness that layers green
mango, white rose, mountain herbs and lasting
notes of fresh almonds. Jonathan Eichholz
of NYC's The Modern compared the fruit
complexity to aam papad, the Indian fruit
leather made out of mango pulp. The wine's
acidity lifts the flavors and gives a vibrant
impression that lasts. -J.G. § Think Global,
Santa Barbara, CA
WHITE BlENDS
92 | Venancio
da Costa Lima
$13
2020 Peninsula de Setúbal Pioneiro White
Wine ^ This has the clean pear-like flavors of
fernão pires with the narcissus perfume of
moscatel graudo (30 percent of the blend).
It's gentle and creamy, touching on bitter
almond and cling peaches, but altogether
lovely with an equally creamy veal with
mushrooms. -J.G. § Kysela Père & Fils, Winchester,
VA
F all 202 2
WINE & SPIR IT S
10 9
https://www.ste-michelle.com/chateau-ste-michelle/wine-shop/eroica/2020-eroica-riesling/5637404826.p https://granreserva.conchaytoro.com/ https://hosmerwinery.com/product/2019-patrician-verona-riesling/ https://www.drfrankwines.com/wine/sauvignon-blanc-2021/
Wine & Spirits - Fall 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - Fall 2022
