Innehållsförteckning för April 30, 2017 från Wine Spectator

Visit www.winespectator.com/043017 to find links to all of the following resources. Free resources for all our WineSpectator.com readers: SPRING ENTERTAINING Celebrate the change of seasons and the holidays with fresh new recipes from some of the country’s best chefs. Whether you’re celebrating Passover, Easter, a birthday or an anniversary, we’ll make it easy, with meals just right for milder weather and our editors’ picks of highly rated wines. EDITORS’ BLOGS Join the discussion as Wine Spectator senior editors plus our team of news and features writers blog about hot topics in current events and wine culture, their latest wine finds, dining discoveries, notes from their travels, conversations with people in the wine business and more. PRIVATE GUIDE TO DINING Our twice-monthly, free e-mail newsletter spotlights the best restaurants for wine…

REBECCA MEEKER JEFFREY’S AUSTIN, TEXAS It’s an age-old ques-tion: red wine or white wine with pork chops? For these particular chops—brined, roasted and served with creamy Cheddar grits, grilled spring onion and a honeyed, herbaceous pan sauce—Master Sommelier June Rodil, wine director of Jeffrey’s in Austin, Texas, went with a red: the Domaine de la Grange des Pères Vin de Pays de l’Hérault 2013, a Syrah-based blend from southern France’s Languedoc. With dense fruit, rounded edges and just a touch of acidity, the wine is “pleasant for both a New World–palate drinker and an Old World–palate drinker,” Rodil says. She could almost be describing Jeffrey’s. “It’s the original fancy restaurant in town,” explains chef Rebecca Meeker, an Austin native. Founded in 1975, the Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence…

THE BOOT This group of reds travels from northwest Italy’s Piedmont region through Tuscany, Umbria and down to the island of Sicily. The five different grapes represented here offer plenty of charac-ter and bold flavors, all for $25 or less. FALLETTO DI BRUNO GIACOSA Dolcetto d’Alba 2015 (92, $25) Firm, elegant; violet, blackberry, black currant, black pepper TERENZI Morellino di Scansano Purosangue Riserva 2013 (92, $26) Black cherry, spice, earth, tar; sleek, firm PAITIN Dolcetto d’Alba Sorì Paitin 2015 (91, $20) Racy; blackberry, black cherry, spice TENUTA CASTELBUONO Montefalco Lam-pante Tenute Lunelli Riserva 2010 (90, $22) Cherry, dried raspberry, spice; refined, creamy BRUNO GIACOSA Dolcetto d’Alba 2015 (90, $25) Juicy, concentrated; black currant, blackberry, violet, spice, chocolate PAITIN Barbera d’Alba Serra 2014 (90, $22) Black cherry, beet, earth; bracing, tense…

The commune of St.-Emilion, a picturesque UNESCO World Heri-tage site, is one of Bor-deaux’s biggest tourist attractions and most important wine appellations. But up close, the picture is not so pretty. A cluster of elite prop-erties makes some of Bordeaux’s finest, longest-lived wines, yet the appellation also includes a massive sprawl of vine-yards and properties that come across the transom in a blur of “sameness.” How did it get this way? The first issue is size. At more than 13,000 acres, St.-Emilion dwarfs other prominent Bordeaux appellations: neighboring Pomerol has just 1,960 acres, while on the Left Bank, Margaux totals 3,690 acres. St.-Emilion is a monster when compared to regions outside Bordeaux as well—the Rhône Valley’s Château-neuf-du-Pape has just 7,900 acres. Second is fragmentation. Within that mass of vines, the…

There are good values, there are great values and then there are extreme values. These are bottlings that offer the characteristics we expect from quality wine, yet carry the most affordable of price-$15 or less. They’re also easy to find, made asthey are in large quantities and distributed widely. But that doesn’t mean there’s anything generic about the nearly 100 reads, whites and roses on this list, which all hail from reputable U.S. pro-ducers who work hard to offer good-drinking for wine loevers on tighter budgets. Carryin regional appellations such as Willamette Valley or Mendocino County and sometimes broader designations such as otegon or California, these wines offer less specificity of place than their higher-end counterpatts, yes they deliver the goods when it comes to varietal character and expressive flavors.…

89 House Wine Merlot America Mountain 2014 $11 OTHER U.S. Plump, supple and easy to quaff, with lively blackberry and spice flavors that flow over fine tannins. Drink now through 2021. 3,000 cases made.—T.F. 89 Paringa Shiraz South Australia 2015 $12 AUSTRALIA Smoke and sandalwood details accent the black cherry and currant flavors in this red, with lingering dried herb notes. The tannins are dense but polished. Drink now through 2027. 25,000 cases made.—M.W.…

At first, Elizabeth Olson didn’t be-lieve the news. Informed that her name had been drawn from more than 40,000 entries in Wine Spectator’s recent sweepstakes and that she would receive one bottle of each of the Top 10 wines of the 2015 Top 100, she worried she was being scammed. She e-mailed the magazine’s New York office to make sure it was true. “Well, faint and fall over,” she commented at the time. “I never win anything, so that’s exciting news!” “I’m hoping to share my good fortune with friends who really enjoy good wine,” Olson said later, reached by phone. A marketing consultant and wine lover who lives near San Mateo, Calif., Olson explained that she became aware of the sweepstakes through a notice that popped up in her…

Website www.ilcortileristorante.com/events Through May, Il Cortile Ristorante is hosting a series of “reverse wine dinners.” Guests start by selecting one of three wines made in or near Paso Robles, then enjoy a three-course meal created by chef Santos MacDonal and his team to accompany that particular bottling. Past din- ners have featured wineries like Law Estate and Tablas Creek and have included de- lectables such as crostini agnello (lamb toast). The wines on offer at a recent dinner represented a range of prices, with bottles avail- able for $50, $120 and $140. These dinners are de- signed for those who enjoy thinking critically and cre- atively about food and wine pairing, so background infor- mation about the wines is provided, including production specifications and a note from the winery. Look…

At first glance, the global wine-auction market’s 2 percent decrease in sales from $345.9 million in 2015 to $338.7 million in 2016 suggests an unexciting year for the industry. But for a handful of auc-tion houses, 2016 was stellar, with several auctioneers and auction executives excited by customers’ renewed interest in Bordeaux. Two factors negatively affected the year-end totals. First, Wally’s Wine Auctions, an extension of the California-based retailer Wally’s Wine & Spirits, suspended auction activities in 2016. (In 2015, the firm grossed $12.6 million.) Second, Christie’s London re-ported a 45 percent drop. But in-dustry insiders speculate that the auction house’s numbers would have skewed significantly upward had it not elected to withhold the results of the Avery Family Cellar Sale, respecting that British wine merchant family’s privacy. Held…

Asingle number tells you all you need to know right now about where Napa Valley is headed: $1 million an acre.Land in America’s most famous wine-growing district has always been prized. But in the past two decades, prices have risen faster and steeper than anyone can recall. Moreover, there’s no reason to think that this will change any time soon. Real estate bubbles burst of course, but there are no signs that the influx of money is about to relent. As in other prestigious wine regions, land ownership in Napa has always dictated the broad financial trends, the classic divide between haves and have-nots, and that divide is only growing larger. As the valley has grown in promi-nence, there is less land to plant, mak-ing it harder for smaller brands…

Most travelers to Italy’s heartland region of Umbria are familiar with its capital city of Perugia or the pilgrimage town of Assisi. But for wine lov-ers, the excitement is found in Orvieto, about two hours’ drive south of Tuscany’s Florence, and Montefalco, just over an hour northeast of Orvieto. Producers in these two areas make red and white wines in a spectrum of styles. In the past year, I’ve reviewed approximately 120 wines from Umbria, from light, crisp whites to rich, tannic reds, and everything in be-tween. But while this diversity gives con-sumers a wealth of choices, there is no crash course to understanding what’s in the bottle.It takes time to explore all that Umbria has to offer. “THE CHALLENGE IS TO PRODUCE A SAGRANTINO WITH FRUIT CHARACTER WITHOUT THE…

95 Giovanni Sordo Barolo Gabutti 2012 $65 ITALY Iron, graphite and sanguine aromas introduce this stern, sinewy red, backed by cherry, straw-berry, floral and tobacco flavors. Beautifully balanced and long. Though firm, this remains fresh and focused on the aftertaste. Best from 2023 through 2045. 475 cases made.—B.S. 95 Tua Rita Toscana Redigaffi 2013 $400 ITALY Plum, cherry, black currant, cedar, vanilla and toast flavors highlight this plush, flashy red, which is dense, needing time to absorb the oak, yet remains smooth in texture, building to the saturated finish. A hedonistic style. Merlot. Best from 2019 through 2028. 800 cases made.—B.S. 94 Carlisle Zinfandel Russian River Valley Carlisle Vineyard 2014 $47 CALIFORNIA Here’s proof that Zinfandel can be ripe and well-structured and retain lively acidity. Fresh violet, eucalyptus and huck-leberry…

Full Marks For the Finger Lakes As a Vermont home wine-maker since 1978, I’ve had the pleasure of acquiring Riesling, Gewürtztraminer and other grapes from Keuka and Seneca vineyards in the Finger Lakes. This beautiful fruit has led to numerous awards in national amateur winemaking competitions, so I was particularly delighted to read James Molesworth’s arti-cle “Finger Lakes Passes An-other Test in 2015” (Wine Focus, Jan. 31 – Feb. 28). I hope that such publicity will increase the recognition and availability of commer-cial Finger Lakes wines that they so richly merit. Gordon Gribble Norwich, Vt. It Was a Very Good Year Loved your [40th anniver-sary] issue (Nov. 15, 2016), and read it cover to cover. I will keep the “First Issue” insert. Fascinating. Found it interesting that you started in…

New Life For Cameron Hughes Wines Cameron Hughes Wine Inc. has a new owner, saving the négociant firm from bankruptcy. Vintage Wine Estates purchased the company as part of a court settlement in January. The Santa Rosa, Calif., firm emerged as the winner in a blind auction, agreeing to pay $5.5 million. The proceeds will largely go to creditors. Founder Cameron Hughes became a prominent name in the California wine industry during the global wine glut of the past decade. Recognizing that even premium producers had excess wine, his company bought juice, blended and repackaged it under its own label, and sold it in limited-series “lots.” A deal with Costco put the wines in front of a loyal customer base. But when the excess wine dried up, so did Hughes’…

Wine Spectator senior editor Tim Fish is now the lead taster for the wines of Oregon and Washington. Fish, 57, has been working alongside editor at large Harvey Steiman, the long-time taster for both regions. “The more I learn about Oregon and Washington, the more I enjoy and respect the wines,” said Fish. Since joining Wine Spectator in 2001, Fish has reviewed wine from California, principally Zinfandel, Rhône-style reds and spar-kling wines. Based in Wine Spectator’s Napa, Calif., office, he was promoted to senior editor in 2013 and also assists with news and features coverage for WineSpectator.com, for which he writes the popular blog “Exploring Wine.” Fish has traveled to Oregon’s Willamette Valley on multiple occasions, and he accompanied Steiman on a lengthy trip to Washington wine country last year.…

It would take a truly outstanding cheese to change America’s en-trenched perception of Feta as that all-too-familiar Greek diner in-gredient—a bland, crumbly salt bomb used almost exclusively as a condiment for salads and souvlaki. Feta is by far the most popular cheese in Greece, the country with the world’s highest per-capita cheese consumption—72 pounds per year vs. about 57 in France and 38 in the United States. A ubiquitous staple of the Greek family table, it’s most often eaten simply drizzled with a little extra-virgin olive oil and sprinkled with oregano. Down through the centuries, Feta, despite its status as an ancient national icon, was only vaguely defined, and the name was left legally unprotected. (Shades of Cheddar in England.) By the second half of the 20th century, it had…

All cultures everywhere have prescribed mo-ments, often highly ritualized, that signify a certain stage in life. You have bar mitzvahs, first commu-nions, quinceañeras, weddings, school graduations and so forth. All of them are rites of passage. Wine has one too, although it’s neither formalized nor ritualized. Yet it’s real and is often deeply felt. It’s the “special wine.” When you’re new to wine drinking, the special wine seems esoteric, fetish-istic, even faintly ridiculous. Simply put, you don’t get it, like someone who doesn’t follow sports listening to devoted fans rhapsodizing over a memorable game. It’s no different with wine. You want to know the moment when you’ve crossed the threshold from being a casual or indifferent wine drinker into a real wine lover? It’s when you possess, perhaps even to…

Rhône-style white wines from California are slowly gaining traction, thanks to distinctive and aromatic offerings from a cadre of grapes. Plantings in the Golden State have increased for the varieties in this category, particularly Grenache Blanc, which has tripled in acreage in the past 10 years, and Marsanne, whose real estate under vine has doubled in the same time frame. Viognier continues to lead the Rhône white group in acreage and market presence, while the less-com-mon Roussanne is joined by a new grape on the scene, Picpoul Blanc. Since my previous report on the category (“Slow and Steady,” March 31, 2016) I have reviewed more than 100 California Rhône-style whites in blind tastings at our Napa office. (A free alphabetical list of scores and prices for all wines tasted is…

96 Giacomo Conterno Barolo Cerretta 2012 $225 ITALY A wealth of cherry flavor is sur-rounded by cut grass, tar, tobacco and iron notes in this complex, intense red. There’s plenty of tension, with a long aftertaste of licorice, tar and mineral. Balanced yet austere, this needs time to integrate fully. Best from 2023 through 2042. 60 cases imported.—B.S. 95 Domaine Faiveley Mazis-Chambertin 2014 $353 FRANCE Brilliant aromas and flavors of cherry, strawberry, currant and mineral highlight this complex red, which is intense and elegant, building to a kaleidoscopic finish. Structured and harmonious, with terrific aging potential. Best from 2020 through 2039. 50 cases imported.—B.S. 95 Giuseppe Mascarello & Figlio Barolo Mon-privato 2012 $165 ITALY A mix of chocolate, cherry, earth and tar flavors are allied to a dense structure in…

92 Quinto Chionetti & Figlio Dogliani Briccolero 2015 $26 ITALY Though plush in texture and concentrated, this red is also lively, evoking blackberry, black currant, violet and tobacco flavors. Stays sleek and focused through the finish, echoing fruit and spice elements. Drink now through 2020. 4,000 cases made.—B.S. 91 Austins & Co. Pinot Noir Geelong Six Foot Six 2014 $20 AUSTRALIA Supple and aromatic, offering juicy cherry and strawberry flavors at the core, accented by hints of sage, cedar, green tea and spice that linger on the finish. Drink now through 2027. 10,000 cases made.—M.W. 91 Jim Barry Riesling Clare Valley The Lodge Hill Dry 2016 $20 AUSTRALIA A taut and linear white, with a lip-smacking blend of peach, lime and green apple flavors, finishing on a refreshing note. Drink…

AUSTRALIA Cabernet Sauvignon & Blends 89 Lambert Estate Black Sheep Barossa 2012 $15 Fresh sage and tobacco leaf notes accent the plush plum and black cherry flavors. Juicy and elegant. Caber-net Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Shiraz, Merlot and Tempra-nillo. Drink now through 2023. 930 cases made.—M.W. 89 3 Rings Cabernet Sauvignon Barossa Valley 2015 $20 Offers an appealing mix of cedar, mocha, plush plum and wild berry flavors. Peppery and spicy on the finish. The tannins are smooth and velvety. Drink now through 2030. 1,500 cases made.—M.W. 89 Xanadu Cabernet Sauvignon Margaret River Exmoor 2013 $16 This shows rosemary and vanilla accents, with plush black cherry, licorice-scented plum, cedar and spice flavors lingering on the finish. The tan-nins are plump and velvety. Drink now through 2030. 6,000 cases made.—M.W. 88 Earthworks Cabernet…

DR. VINNY Dear Dr. Vinny, Is there an (un)written Hollywood rule that actors must hold their wineglasses by the bowl rather than the stem? —Ed S., New Westminster, B.C. Dear Ed, I confess I’m puzzled by this phe- nomenon. As much as I love seeing wineglasses on screen, they’re al- most always held by the bowl. On one hand, I want everyone to enjoy more wine and feel comfort- able doing it. But on the other hand, I feel it’s my responsibility to point out that a glass of wine should be held by the stem or base, not the bowl, so as not to warm the wine (or cover the glass in fingerprints). Sometimes wine is simply a prop, and just as it would be ridiculous to hold a…