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Robert Foley The Griffin
I miss Bob Foley. I used to see him a lot because I was obsessed with Pride Mountain Vineyards, producer of one of the world’s great Merlots. Bob started at Heitz Cellars, but more importantly spent 15 years as the founding winemaker for Markham Vineyards (more great Merlot). Then in 1992, Bob began another 15 years as the founding winemaker for Pride Mountain Vineyards. He also created the highly acclaimed Switchback Ridge, Hourglass, Paloma, and School House wines. Now he has his own eponymous winery on Howell Mountain, and I don't get there (too many other places to be) but there he makes Cabernets as well as various blends, like the Griffin, the Foley Family crest in Irish heraldry and a blend of the best in the red wine cellar: Merlot, Petite Sirah, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Charbono, Petit Verdot, and sometimes others.
Type, Body & Flavor
Giuliano Rosati Montepulciano d'Abruzzo
Okay, we’ll admit it, Italian wine is confusing. Montepulciano is a town but it's also a grape not grown in that town. When that grape is grown in the Abruzzo region, it’s rich, plush, fun and juicy as hell. And it’s also not respected enough by the Italians to charge you a lot of money. I think they’re confused too.
Type, Body & Flavor
Giuliano Rosati Pinot Grigio
Dan Bada & Charlie Trivinia, whose mothers emigrated to the U.S. together from Le Marches, Italy, and lived in the same house for some time. The two were childhood friends and in adulthood they decided to launch a wine import business. They work with winemakers Giuseppe and Luigi Anselmi in the Veneto to create this wine from the Anselmi’s 600-acre estate near the sea.This is traditional Pinot Grigio: stainless steel, fresh and tangy.
Type, Body & Flavor
Vajra Langhe Rosso
In some ways, winemaking isn’t complicated at all: you squish grapes and then you let them ferment. They could be fermented in barrels, or in stainless steel, or in cement tanks, if you like. Here, Vajra has let the grapes ferment in stainless steel and left them to age in the same tanks for a few more months. Then they bottle it. If that sounds too simple, just know that in this wine the grapes being fermented are Nebbiolo (Vajra makes Barolo after all), Barbera, Dolcetto, Freisa, Albarosso, Chatus and Slarina. Haven’t heard of the last few? Neither has anyone else outside of folks who’ve been making wine in Piemonte for generations. That's where your complexity comes from.
Type, Body & Flavor
Cape Charles Chardonnay
When it comes to Carneros, it’s the proximity to San Pablo Bay that matters. Every time it heats up in central Napa or even in the Central Valley, the air rises and is replaced by the cold, foggy stuff flowing under and through the Golden Gate Bridge and all along San Pablo Bay. The sun burns it off each morning and grapes that require acidity for balance (like Chardonnay) thrive in it.
Type, Body & Flavor
Canteperdrix Anthologie Vacqueyras
Anthologie Vacqueyras an expression of Grenache and Syrah from one of the first villages within the Cotes du Rhone Villages to be labeled on its own (Gigondas was the first). Like other areas of the eastern side of the southern Rhone, Mount Ventoux looms large above it and allows cooler air to drain towards the valley (and Vacqueyras) below. But Vacqueyras is closer in resemblance to the rich decadence of Gigondas.
Type, Body & Flavor
Antoine de la Farge L'Enfant Rebelle
European AOC system sets the boundaries of any winegrowing region; the idea is that the best and appropriate area is reserved for the AOC’s. That means that there are other places that can make high quality wine but simply don’t fit within the AOC boundaries. That includes this site just outside of the established Loire Valley vineyards where delicious Sauvignon Blanc can be made, similarly to Sancerre and Pouilly Fumé, but not at similar pricing.
Type, Body & Flavor
Le Cabas Sauvignon Blanc
Gascony ain't just the Three Muskateers, though they have a place in our hearts as well. More than anything, Gascony is foie gras, delicious plums and apricots, rich dinners with Armagnac to follow. But the white grapes grown here are not just for great brandy, they have always been consumed as wine too and the last decade or so has seen an embrace of clean, cold winemaking to preserve the aromas of otherwise neutral grapes like Ugni Blanc or Folle Blanche. It's also seen new plantings of Sauvignon Blanc, a grape that requires no heroic measures to reveal its aromatic riches. Whats fun here is that these same winemaking methods generate something bright and vibrant but without much resemblance to other such Sauvignon Blancs (I'm looking at you, New Zealand), many of which have begun to seem like self-caricature. This one is comfortably itself, needing only an ice bucket and a big glass.
Type, Body & Flavor
Venge Silencieux Cabernet
If the name Nils Venge doesn’t mean anything to you, let us throw you this tip. The first U.S. wine that ever scored 100 points was Groth Vineyards 1985 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon made by, you guessed it, Nils Venge. Nils’ son, Kirk, has learned at his father’s footsteps, and fourth generation wine professional that he is (father and son both raised in Napa), they know how to put together a remarkable blend.
Type, Body & Flavor
Raffaello Prosecco
Until recently, for Australian producers (and others), Prosecco was a grape and not a place. Recent changes Italy made to how Prosecco is classified, by renaming the grape in these wines as Glera and deeming Prosecco a place and not a grape, mooted any possibility of other countries insisting that they were just naming their wines Prosecco as a varietal designation. Maybe it helped, but Prosecco blew up, internationally speaking. Raffaello is by far, in a sea of Prosecco producers, the best value we have ever tasted.
Type, Body & Flavor
Robert Foley The Griffin
I miss Bob Foley. I used to see him a lot because I was obsessed with Pride Mountain Vineyards, producer of one of the world’s great Merlots. Bob started at Heitz Cellars, but more importantly spent 15 years as the founding winemaker for Markham Vineyards (more great Merlot). Then in 1992, Bob began another 15 years as the founding winemaker for Pride Mountain Vineyards. He also created the highly acclaimed Switchback Ridge, Hourglass, Paloma, and School House wines. Now he has his own eponymous winery on Howell Mountain, and I don't get there (too many other places to be) but there he makes Cabernets as well as various blends, like the Griffin, the Foley Family crest in Irish heraldry and a blend of the best in the red wine cellar: Merlot, Petite Sirah, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Charbono, Petit Verdot, and sometimes others.
Type, Body & Flavor
Pairings & Occasions
Giuliano Rosati Montepulciano d'Abruzzo
Okay, we’ll admit it, Italian wine is confusing. Montepulciano is a town but it's also a grape not grown in that town. When that grape is grown in the Abruzzo region, it’s rich, plush, fun and juicy as hell. And it’s also not respected enough by the Italians to charge you a lot of money. I think they’re confused too.
Type, Body & Flavor
Pairings & Occasions
Giuliano Rosati Pinot Grigio
Dan Bada & Charlie Trivinia, whose mothers emigrated to the U.S. together from Le Marches, Italy, and lived in the same house for some time. The two were childhood friends and in adulthood they decided to launch a wine import business. They work with winemakers Giuseppe and Luigi Anselmi in the Veneto to create this wine from the Anselmi’s 600-acre estate near the sea.This is traditional Pinot Grigio: stainless steel, fresh and tangy.
Type, Body & Flavor
Pairings & Occasions
Vajra Langhe Rosso
In some ways, winemaking isn’t complicated at all: you squish grapes and then you let them ferment. They could be fermented in barrels, or in stainless steel, or in cement tanks, if you like. Here, Vajra has let the grapes ferment in stainless steel and left them to age in the same tanks for a few more months. Then they bottle it. If that sounds too simple, just know that in this wine the grapes being fermented are Nebbiolo (Vajra makes Barolo after all), Barbera, Dolcetto, Freisa, Albarosso, Chatus and Slarina. Haven’t heard of the last few? Neither has anyone else outside of folks who’ve been making wine in Piemonte for generations. That's where your complexity comes from.
Type, Body & Flavor
Pairings & Occasions
Cape Charles Chardonnay
When it comes to Carneros, it’s the proximity to San Pablo Bay that matters. Every time it heats up in central Napa or even in the Central Valley, the air rises and is replaced by the cold, foggy stuff flowing under and through the Golden Gate Bridge and all along San Pablo Bay. The sun burns it off each morning and grapes that require acidity for balance (like Chardonnay) thrive in it.
Type, Body & Flavor
Pairings & Occasions
Canteperdrix Anthologie Vacqueyras
Anthologie Vacqueyras an expression of Grenache and Syrah from one of the first villages within the Cotes du Rhone Villages to be labeled on its own (Gigondas was the first). Like other areas of the eastern side of the southern Rhone, Mount Ventoux looms large above it and allows cooler air to drain towards the valley (and Vacqueyras) below. But Vacqueyras is closer in resemblance to the rich decadence of Gigondas.
Type, Body & Flavor
Pairings & Occasions
Antoine de la Farge L'Enfant Rebelle
European AOC system sets the boundaries of any winegrowing region; the idea is that the best and appropriate area is reserved for the AOC’s. That means that there are other places that can make high quality wine but simply don’t fit within the AOC boundaries. That includes this site just outside of the established Loire Valley vineyards where delicious Sauvignon Blanc can be made, similarly to Sancerre and Pouilly Fumé, but not at similar pricing.
Type, Body & Flavor
Pairings & Occasions
Le Cabas Sauvignon Blanc
Gascony ain't just the Three Muskateers, though they have a place in our hearts as well. More than anything, Gascony is foie gras, delicious plums and apricots, rich dinners with Armagnac to follow. But the white grapes grown here are not just for great brandy, they have always been consumed as wine too and the last decade or so has seen an embrace of clean, cold winemaking to preserve the aromas of otherwise neutral grapes like Ugni Blanc or Folle Blanche. It's also seen new plantings of Sauvignon Blanc, a grape that requires no heroic measures to reveal its aromatic riches. Whats fun here is that these same winemaking methods generate something bright and vibrant but without much resemblance to other such Sauvignon Blancs (I'm looking at you, New Zealand), many of which have begun to seem like self-caricature. This one is comfortably itself, needing only an ice bucket and a big glass.
Type, Body & Flavor
Pairings & Occasions
Venge Silencieux Cabernet
If the name Nils Venge doesn’t mean anything to you, let us throw you this tip. The first U.S. wine that ever scored 100 points was Groth Vineyards 1985 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon made by, you guessed it, Nils Venge. Nils’ son, Kirk, has learned at his father’s footsteps, and fourth generation wine professional that he is (father and son both raised in Napa), they know how to put together a remarkable blend.
Type, Body & Flavor
Pairings & Occasions
Raffaello Prosecco
Until recently, for Australian producers (and others), Prosecco was a grape and not a place. Recent changes Italy made to how Prosecco is classified, by renaming the grape in these wines as Glera and deeming Prosecco a place and not a grape, mooted any possibility of other countries insisting that they were just naming their wines Prosecco as a varietal designation. Maybe it helped, but Prosecco blew up, internationally speaking. Raffaello is by far, in a sea of Prosecco producers, the best value we have ever tasted.
Type, Body & Flavor
Pairings & Occasions