It’s still winter — you deserve an EXCELLENT wine splurge
Some moments call for that easy-drinking Pinot Grigio or Cabernet, but others require a really good bottle: one that anchors the attention to the here and now and draws you in with its fragrance, flood of flavour and quiet, shifting contours, expanding the moment with its coy complexity and long slow finish. Read on for five bottles that are worth the splurge, plus food suggestions to match.
The first bottle won’t last. So snap it up. It’s the newly released 2020 William Fevre Champs Royaux Chablis AC, France (Vintages $36.95). Each pour starts with the impression that light has gathered and pooled in the glass — it shines so glossy and bright. Then, it exudes grapefruit rind and peanut shell on the nose before streaming in with silky-lit flavours of orange zest, passion fruit, lemon cream and cool stone with a certain steeliness too. Plunging acidity both anchors and lifts this classic unwooded Chardonnay — a mere five per cent of the wine was fermented in old oak, the rest in stainless steel. As the wine winds toward its long, slow close, peanut shell and grapefruit emerge again along with a touch of oyster shell. Score: 92
Serve this classic Chablis with sole almandine, bouillabaisse or spaghetti and mussels tossed with garlic and olive oil for a meal. Or, as an aperitif with almonds, olives and escargot with garlic butter.
For a fuller-bodied white, pick up the recently released 2020 Bogle Vineyards Phantom Chardonnay from Clarksburg, California (Vintages $26.95). This rich, wooded Chardonnay starts with pronounced scents of smoke, burnt sugar and toasted marshmallow. Then, it floods in with a generous, mouth-filling rush of sumptuous fruit. Find toffee, toasted almond, vanilla bean and buttered toast balanced with citric tension. This is a muscular, full-bodied white with 14.5 per cent alcohol, yet this wine is actually very well-balanced. Score: 91
Pour this wine with butternut squash ravioli tossed in a sage brown butter and dusted with Parmigiana Reggiano. The flavours of the wine and food create a beautiful synergy.
For a red with power and restraint, subtlety and finesse, reach for the 2019 Louis M. Martini Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, Calif. (Vintages Essential $54.95). This newly released 2019 vintage enchants with a muted, discreet, brooding fragrance. Each swirl of the glass draws suggestions of blackcurrant and cedar, pink peppercorn and violet. The entry is controlled rather than forward, making you pay attention. You’ll find charcoal and graphite, cigar box and spearmint, espresso, and muddled blackcurrant and blackberries — all well-defined yet unshowy. This serious, dark and allusive red with its long finish is a gem. Score: 93
Pour this red with roast beef and potatoes. It’s a simple, well-made meal that lets the wine shine.
From Spain comes the 2018 Muga Reserva Rioja, Spain (Vintages Essential $27.95), which offers open-handed pleasure. Each eager-to-please sip opens with heady scents of chocolate, cherry liqueur and vanilla cream. Then, it sweeps in with immediate thrills. Muddled berries — juicy and ripe — lead to flavours of melting chocolate, toasted praline, vanilla nougat with a touch of earthiness that is both felt and tasted. You are in Rioja here. It’s obvious. Finely grained tannins support the plump centre and hem in the ample fruit of this accessible red. Score: 92
Pour this Rioja Reserva with cheese, charcuterie and good bread. The food, the wine and the idea — an elevated tapas night — takes you straight to Spain.
For those who appreciate Barolo and Barbaresco, those great reds from Piedmont in northwestern Italy, there is the 2019 Castello di Neive Barbaresco DOCG (Vintages Essential $34.95). This wine is a bit of a steal. It’s just sings in the glass with shifting, sheer aromas and flavours of dried roses pressed in tar, sun-warmed violet, red and black fruit, dusty earth and more. This is wine of great tension — the structure is firm but elegant, too. This is, after all, pure Nebbiolo. So despite the wine’s 14.5 per cent alcohol, each sip tastes suave, reserved, balanced. This serious, long wine is charming and sure to appeal to connoisseurs. Score: 93
Pour this wine with a wild mushroom and truffle risotto for a greater than the sum situation.
It’s freezing out and spring is still weeks away. So treat yourself to one of these wines, whip up a meal to go with it and entertain your friends. You deserve it. Or buy two. One to enjoy now. The other to enjoy later.
You deserve it.