Wine & Spirits - Fall 2022 - 112

Top 100 Best Buys
ROSÉ
the high acidity in this pinot noir. Thierry
Merlet makes this wine from fruit grown in
Morogues and Humbligny. He gives it twelve
hours on its skins before fermentation starts
in stainless steel tanks. Eichholz is right-it'll
take a cocktail shaker or a few days of air to
open it up now, the flavors muted at first, if
not completely absent from the front. The
finish is long, and a few hours of air reveal
cherry and basil jam, crunchy pomegranate
seed and firm raspberry flavors. At this price,
it's hard not to argue for a case, tracking
development over the next decade. -C.W. §
Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL
93 | Airlie
91 | Barnard Griffin
$14
2021 Columbia Valley Rosé of Sangiovese ^
A steal for the price, this tangy rosé brings
the taste of the eastern Columbia savannah.
It's dusty and forthright, the lean cherry and
plum fruits offset by a dusty minerality. For
the barbecue. -P.J.C. §
LIGHT REDS
Bl aUFRaNKISCH
95 | Rosi Schuster
$28
2016 Willamette Valley Estate Pinot Noir ^
A Christmas-time scent lends this wine an
attractive savor in notes of pine, anisette and
cut tobacco. Its flavors are juicy and bright-
crushed cherries and candied plum-with a
hint of caramelly oak to lend some heft to the
holiday spice. It's a steal at the price, ready
for plank-roasted salmon. -P.J.C. (460 cases) §
93 | Long Meadow Ranch $33
2017 Anderson Valley Farmstead Pinot
Noir ^ This wine's scent is tied to the ocean
$23
2019 Leithaberg Blaufränkisch ^ Hannes
Schuster is keeping up the reputation his
mother developed for blaufränkisch in Burgenland
with this wine, a complex, elegant
take on the variety from the family's organic
vineyards. Fermented with ambient yeasts
in open-top vats and aged in used 500-liter
Stockinger barrels, it's deep, dark, black and
blau in flavor, saturated but not sweet. A
sense of wet stone adds a deep mineral savor
and keeps the fruit fresh for days after opening.
-T.Q.T. § Winemonger, San Anselmo, CA
PINOT NOIR
and the woods, saline and earthy in its bright
red-berry flavors. It feels fully mature, and
yet it only improves with air, with layers of
flavor and a clean red glow to the fruit. -J.G. §
92 | Fournier Père & Fils
$18
2020 Vin de France Pinot Noir ^ Delicate
raspberry and jasmine-tea aromas meld with
this light pinot's savor of pips and stems, elegantly
avoiding overripeness. The wine feels
more serious than its price. For elevated comfort
food, like confit of chicken thigh and
fresh vegetables in a pot pie. -C.W. § David
Milligan Selections, Ridgefield, CT
has softened with a few years in the bottle.
It leads with scents of cherry, caramel and
tar, nicely integrated oak character that carries
through the wine, with dark cherry flavors
that are still lush, but have taken on a
burnished sheen. At $24, this is a steal for a
bottle-aged wine. -P.J.C. (3,921 cases) §
92 | The Hare
& The Tortoise
$20
2021 Yarra Valley Pinot Noir ^ Nicholas
Crampton makes this wine with Tim Shand
of Punt Road. It's a racy, pleasingly rustic
pinot with fresh cranberry-red flavor and
blue-foot mushroom notes. " Streaks ahead
of most $20 pinot, " said one panelist, this
would come alive with salty charcuterie or a
thin-crust pizza with wild mushrooms. -J.G. §
Little Peacock Imports, Brooklyn, NY
91 | Ransom
$19
2019 Willamette Valley Jigsaw Pinot Noir ^
A steal for the price, this leads with wood
spice and violets, tobacco leaf and dark
cherry. It's a touch stodgy, with a lean texture
and not all that much acidity at play in
the wine, but it does have the solid grip for
something rich, like duck confit. -P.J.C. §
90 | Palliser Estate
$20
2020 Martinborough Pencarrow Pinot
Noir ^ A blend from several of Palliser's
estate vineyards, this wine ferments with
some whole clusters (five percent) and ages
in French oak barrels (25 percent new). The
cluster spice points up the green herb scents
of Martinborough fruit, as well as it's nimble
tannins. The clean and lasting flavors make it
an impressive pinot noir for $20. -J.G. § Mack
& Schuhle USA, Miami, FL
POUlSaRD
92 | Domaine Maire & Fils $20
2020 Arbois En Geillon Poulsard ^ While
the tannins are as light as the rosy sunset
color of this wine, the delicate florals, the
black raspberry and black cherry flavors, the
leathery, earthen grip all persist far longer
than you might expect. Light and intense,
with cracked black pepper spicing the end,
this is built for carpaccio over thinly sliced,
pan-roasted potatoes, or peppery duck fat
fries. -J.G. § Boisset Collection, St. Helena, CA
94 | J. de Villebois
112
WINE & SPIR IT S
$26
2019 Menetou-Salon Rouge ^ " Structurally,
this is built for the long run, " said Jonathan
Eichholz of NYC's The Modern, struck by
F all 202 2
92 | Lucas & Lewellen
$24
2018 Santa Barbara County Estate Vineyards
Pinot Noir ^ From Los Alamos Valley
and Goodchild Vineyards, this estate blend
https://barnardgriffin.com/product/2021-ros-of-sangiovese http://www.quintessentialwines.com https://www.jdevillebois.com/
Wine & Spirits - Fall 2022

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