Innehållsförteckning för September 30, 2020 från Wine Spectator

Visit WineSpectator.com/093020 to find links to all of the following resources. FREE RESOURCES FOR ALL WINESPECTATOR.COM READERS NEW RESTAURANT AWARDS SITE Easily find the 2020 award winners, with maps, or look for the perfect dining spot by wine strengths, cuisine type, pricing and more. Plus, enjoy all our dining articles in one convenient location—restaurant guides, sommelier and chef interviews, news and more. Visit WineSpectator.com/Restaurant! STRAIGHT TALK WITH WINE SPECTATOR A new Instagram Live series featuring conversations with wine-and-food newsmakers. Recent editions have featured California winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown, chef José Andrés, and wine journalist and educator Julia Coney. (All episodes are archived on our IGTV channel for viewing anytime.) Tune in to Straight Talk on Wine Spectator’s Instagram page every Tuesday and Thursday at 7 p.m. ET, and check out…

For close to 20 years, a dedicated group of Black vintners and other industry members has worked to change the lack of diversity in U.S. wine. With more Americans challenging systemic racism and looking to support Black-owned businesses, the Association of African American Vintners (AAAV) is hoping to highlight its members’ hard work and excellent wines while encouraging a new generation to see opportunity in the sector. The AAAV was founded in 2002 as a nonprofit to promote awareness of African American vintners, create a sense of community, and reach out to wine consumers. Currently the group counts 30 vintners among its ranks, such as Theodora Lee of Theopolis Vineyards and André Hueston Mack of Maison Noir, as well as other industry professionals. Since the protests sparked by George Floyd’s…

For Chris Borges, the arc of life has been a long boomerang from New Orleans to California and back again. Born and raised in the Crescent City, Borges spent more than half his life in the Bay Area, including stints at Cindy Pawlcyn’s San Francisco restaurant Roti in the 1990s and over a decade at high-end caterer Taste, where he cooked for public figures including Steve Jobs and Barack Obama. In 2017, he returned with his wife and daughters to a city transformed. “When I was growing up here, it was always just sort of a running joke that, well, New Orleans gets everything 10 years after every other place does,” he recalls. But the rise of the Internet changed that, and the wreckage of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in…

Like most of us, I’ve spent months in my home, watching these unprecedented times unfold. As we creep towards the new normal, I’ve been reflecting on what aspects of quarantine life might change how we live going forward—what niche ideas—concepts we never imagined or that never found a foothold before—will thrive in 2021 and beyond? Virtual wine tasting is a prime example of an activity that has seen huge growth during the shutdown. Given hesitation over travel and the decidedly non-socially distant structure of live wine tastings, I think we’ll see more and more wineries and retailers supplementing their communication efforts with this approach. I receive emails announcing these tastings almost daily. In the most basic format, the tasting is often free, with scheduled speakers encouraging wine-lovers to join them…

Highly Recommended The issue’s most impressive wines. Includes top-scorers and wines that represent optimal purchases based on their combination of score, price and availability. 96 Bodegas LAN Rioja Culmen Reserva 2015 $65 SPAIN Full-bodied and dense with flavor, this big red is a gentle powerhouse, remaining plush and approachable, with currant, quince, tangerine, cola and vanilla flavors, supported by well-integrated tannins and bright, citrusy acidity. Harmonious and complete, this delivers a successful blend of traditional and modern styles. Drink now through 2035. 1,000 cases made, 100 cases imported.—T.M. 95 M. Marengo Barolo Brunate 2015 $79 ITALY This attractive red features sweet, ripe cherry, raspberry, licorice and leather flavors, with iron, tar and tobacco accents. Complex, yet elegant and well-toned, this remains long, exhibiting dense tannins and bright acidity. Shows excellent…

During this pandemic period of sheltering in place, many wine lovers have turned to their home wine cellars for enjoyment and escape. Pulling out a well-aged bottle of wine with a story to tell can transport us to a better time, and a better place. Unfortunately, sometimes the wine we’ve saved for years turns out to be disappointing. Maybe it wasn’t that good to begin with; maybe we kept it past its peak. Or, more likely, our storage conditions didn’t protect and nurture it to its full potential. Fine wine needs a space that stays at a cool, steady temperature, insulated from shocks of heat, light and movement. Those who care enough for wine to mature it safely–call them collectors—create secure cellars for their bottles. These cellars often reflect traditional…

Anthony “Tony” Terlato, who devoted his life to bringing great wines to American consumers as a retailer, distributor, importer and winery owner, died June 29. He was 86. As founder and chairman of the Chicago-based Terlato Wine Group, an importer that markets top producers such as Gaja, M. Chapoutier, Piper-Heidsieck and Nino Franco, Tony introduced Americans to high quality wine—particularly Italian wines—for decades. He almost single-handedly put Pinot Grigio on the map in the United States. In the 1990s, Terlato’s company became a wine producer as well, purchasing California wineries such as Rutherford Hill, Chimney Rock and Sanford, establishing brands like The Federalist and Seven Daughters, and partnering with Michel Chapoutier on projects in France and Australia. In 2004, he was awarded Wine Spectator’s Distinguished Service Award for his philanthropy…

Dick Ponzi came to Oregon in a flatbed truck. In the mix were his wife, Nancy, their kids, two cats, a dog, a canoe, a piano and four barrels of homemade wine. He was 36, and it was 1969, a time when many Americans were going “back to the land.” The Ponzis, however, were anything but a hippy family. Dick was an aerospace engineer who later designed rides for Disney—but after a trip to Burgundy he was committed to making Pinot Noir in Willamette Valley. Little did Dick and Nancy Ponzi realize at the time but they would be pioneers in establishing the Oregon and particularly Willamette Valley wine industries. This year, they reflect on the past five decades at Ponzi Vineyards, and their accomplishments, their family and the future.…

Seattle is known for cloudy skies and lots of rain, but across the Cascade Mountains in the high desert of eastern Washington, sunshine is bountiful. That’s a blessing and increasingly a burden for the region’s vintners, with summer temperatures spiking higher and higher. Following a string of sweltering vintages, 2016 provided a much-needed respite from the heat, but the scorching pattern returned with a vengeance in 2017. Growers and winemakers rose to the challenge, having learned from past vintages how to adapt to the changing climate. Yet despite their successes, the work of making high quality wine in 2017 wasn’t easy. “There’s so much about 2017 that I’ll remember,” says Louis Skinner, winemaker at Betz. “It was the most challenging vintage I’ve faced.” Because of the near record-breaking heat and…

This Buying Guide contains ratings of new releases from around the world. Complete tasting notes are provided for new releases scoring 85 or more points (on the Wine Spectator 100-point scale, explained below); notes for wines scoring 84 points or less are included at the discretion of the taster. Hundreds of additional reviews appear each month on our website, www.winespectator.com. Each review carries the initials of the Wine Spectator editor who blind-tasted and scored the wine and wrote the review, based on the regional specializations indicated below. Thomas Matthews Spain Kim Marcus California Chardonnay, Merlot and Pinot Noir, Argentina, Chile James Laube California Bruce Sanderson Burgundy, Piedmont, Tuscany James Molesworth California Cabernet Sauvignon, Bordeaux, Rhône Valley, Port MaryAnn Worobiec California Sauvignon Blanc and other whites, Australia, New Zealand Alison Napjus Italy, Champagne, Alsace Tim Fish California Zinfandel and…

Keep Us Posted Your recent “Health Talk” article (WineSpectator.com, July 8) on the loss of smell and taste from COVID-19 hit home for my wife and I as we have been living through the same experience following a mild case of the virus. Given the number of people worldwide who have contracted the virus, I suspect a fair amount of your readers have similar symptoms and, like ourselves, are concerned about the timing and degree that our senses will return to pre-virus levels. [Please] continue to provide information and case studies of the recovery of others who have lost their smell and taste, to give us hope and confidence that we will be able to appreciate and enjoy a bottle of our favorite wine on the other side of the…

Whether you’re trying to lose weight or just stay healthy, dietary advice can seem complex and at times contradictory. It tends to be dumbed down to simplistic messages such as “fat is bad,” casting foods like cheese as the enemy. Fortunately, recent research has countered most of this fearmongering and allowed well-made, traditional-style cheeses a secure place in a healthy diet. One of the biggest anti-cheese attacks was launched around three years ago with a spate of publicity following the publication of Neal Barnard’s book The Cheese Trap. Barnard portrayed cheese as dangerously fattening and addictive, calling it “dairy crack.” Scientists had long deemed cheese addictive, mostly on account of casomorphin, an opioidlike byproduct of its main protein, casein. Also frequently cited were the feel-good chemicals tyrosine, a building block…

Tuscan Windfall This selection of wines covers Tuscany’s four major regions: Chianti Classico, Montalcino, Montepulciano and Bolgheri. All are major producers with fine track records, making these reds especially great values. Campo alle Comete is the Bolgheri project of Antonio Capaldo of Feudi San Gregorio, and Irrosso is a Sangiovese blend from Casanova di Neri. QUERCIABELLA Chianti Classico 2016 (93, $33) Powerful, deep; black cherry, plum, earth, iron, tar CASTELLO DI ALBOLA Chianti Classico Riserva 2016 (92, $25) Strawberry, cherry, oak, fresh earth, mineral; elegant, harmonious IL MOLINO DI GRACE Chianti Classico 2016 (92, $26) Stylish, refined; cherry, black currant, violet, earth, mineral MARCHESI DE’ FRESCOBALDI Chianti Classico Tenuta Perano 2015 (92, $24) Black cherry, blackberry, iron, petrol, tar, wild scrub; powerful PODERE IL PALAZZINO Chianti Classico Argenina 2015 (91,…

Growing up in Barolo, in Piedmont’s Langhe wine region, Luciano Sandrone dreamed of creating his own wine label. All he lacked was money, a vineyard and a winery. After finishing agricultural high school in 1963, Sandrone worked for what were then some of Barolo’s top producers. But he believed he could do something great only by striking out on his own. His break came in 1977, when a retirement-age grower insisted that Sandrone buy his Nebbiolo plot on Barolo’s famous Cannubi hill. The parcel was small, but prime. “For him, the vineyard had become a weight,” says Sandrone. “He would pass by [my] house and say, ‘When are you going to buy my vineyard?’ “It started as a joke,” Sandrone continues. “Then it became more serious. He came by one…

Best Values Wines with solid scores, modest prices and wide distribution. 90 Arona Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough 2019 $13 NEW ZEALAND Intense and fragrant, with orange blossom, green apple and mango flavors, set on a juicy, fleshy frame. The succulence and purity of the fruit core sets this apart. Drink now. 13,000 cases made, 12,500 cases imported.—M.W. 90 Finca La Celia Malbec Uco Valley Pioneer 2018 $15 ARGENTINA Finely textured, with concentrated dried blackberry and dark cherry flavors that feature savory accents. Hints of mint chocolate and mocha emerge on the finish. Drink now through 2023. 12,000 cases made, 3,000 cases imported.—K.M. 89 Bodegas Campo Viejo Tempranillo Rioja 2018 $13 SPAIN This plump red offers black cherry, red plum, licorice and leafy flavors, with light tannins and citrusy acidity. Fresh, juicy…