February 2010 Newsletter

EMERSON DELIVERS (free) FOR VALENTINES DAY

Have a bottle of champagne or your favorite wine delivered on the Friday (2/12) or Saturday (2/13) before Valentines Day. We’ll offer free delivery and gift wrapping for orders over $30. Please call by Thursday, 2/11 to take advantage of this offer. Note that our regular service areas are zip codes 23226, 23229 and 23221.

DRINK MORE RIESLING - NOW

“…indisputably the greatest white wine grape in the world.”- Jancis Robinson MW

Here are two great values from one of the best producers in the Nahe that will be reduced for February so that you can sample wine from the noblest of grapes. Remember, short of prime porterhouse these wines go with ANY meal and the introductory prices on the Schafer- Frohlich wines are only for the month of February.
2007 SCHÄFER-FRÖHLICH Riesling Spätlese Nahe Bockenauer Felseneck - “This bursts from the glass with apricot, floral, tangerine and slate aromas and flavors. Light-weight, yet saturated and full of energy, with a brisk, mouthwatering finish. Drink now through 2025. 250 cases imported. (WS 4/30/09)” $24.95 (Reg.$34.95)
2007 SCHÄFER-FRÖHLICH Riesling Kabinett Nahe - “A round, peach-infused white, with vivid acidity backing it up. It picks up a vanilla custard note as it fades gracefully on the finish. Moderate length. Drink now through 2022. 300 cases imported. (WS Web Only – 2009)” $19.95 (Reg.$27.95)

2005 ARIETTA “VARIATION ONE” - SPECIAL OFFER

Here is a special offer for newsletter readers only – this wine is not on the shelf.

Arietta started with John Kongsgaard (just try to find one of his Chardonnay’s) as the winemaker and partner. He sold his share of the partnership in 2005 and stayed on for a year to work with Andy Erikson, the new winemaker who also makes wine for Screaming Eagle. The Variation One retails for about $80-$100 usually, but it’s a different type of wine; wonderful, but atypical, so we have a very limited amount that we can offer for $48.95. Here is the Robert Parker Review:  “The most interesting blend is the co-fermented version of Syrah and Merlot, the Variation One. The 2005 Variation One exhibits musty, moss-ridden forest floor notes intermixed with pepper, earth, and black fruits. The wine is rich, extremely complex, but I have the feeling this is a love-it-or-leave-it type of wine, given its rather distinctive aromatics. It is pure in the mouth, with some slightly austere Bordeaux-like tannins, but good delineation. This wine needs 3-4 years of bottle age, and should drink well for 15 or more.” (WA #174 Dec. 2007)

NEW ARRIVALS - Domaine Hubert de Montille

Domaine de Montille is one of the great traditional Burgundy estates whose wines tend to develop slowly, and these 2006’s will take another 5 to 10 years to reach their peak. If you are a Chardonnay lover it behooves you to try Chardonnay from the source – Burgundy -  and here are two good values (we were able to buy these at a slight discount) that you can put away for a very special occasion.
2006 Domaine Hubert de Montille Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru White - “Very discreet oak notes highlight the airy green apple and spiced peach aromas that are wonderfully refined and pure before preceding impressively rich, full and powerful flavors that also possess ample amounts of dry extract that confer an almost chewy texture onto the palate staining finish that seems to go on and on. This does a slow but inexorable build from the mid-palate on back to the explosive and almost painfully intense finale. Terrific potential here and there is so much minerality that it’s like rolling liquid rocks around in your mouth.” (Burghound) $122.95
2006 Domaine Hubert De Montille Puligny-Montrachet “Les Caillerets” 1er Cru – “A wonderfully pure and refined nose of pear, white flower and spiced green apple aromas that are followed by rich, full and intense flavors that possess both excellent volume and real depth on the beautiful and lingering mineral-infused finish that is also very dry in the best sense of the term. This is a wine of style and grace and I particularly like the impeccably fine balance here and this just screams Puligny. Highly recommended.” (Burghound) $115.95

NEW ARRIVALS

2007 Bodega Goulart Malbec-Cabernet Mendoza “R Reserva”, Mendoza Argentina – “Solid, with ripe, focused plum, fig and boysenberry fruit laced with toast and spice notes, followed by a rounded finish. Direct and tasty. Drink now.” (WS Jul 31, 2009) $19.95
2007 Quinta Do Vallado Tinto, Douro Portugal – “This powerful and refined red delivers concentrated flavors of plum, dried cherry and spice. Offers a fine texture, with plenty of savory herbal notes, followed by a long, olive- and smoke-filled finish. Drink now through 2015.” (WS Feb 28, 2010) $25.95
2006 Pravis “Rebo Rigotti” IGT Dolomiti, Italy – OK, this is different, very different, but good. Rebo Rigotti an Italian oenologist, made a genetic hybrid of Merlot and Teroldego. The grape is called Rebo in his honor. This is Pravis’s homage to Rebo Rigotti. Here are the winemaker’s notes: “Rebo unites teroldego’s violet-and-earthtones with the elegant, fruity roundness of merlot. Rebo is a harmonious, well-textured, soft wine that invites immediate drinking.” This wine has a stunningly perfumed, gamey aroma a la Syrah. Be the first on your block to drink Rebo. $26.95

EDITORIAL NOTE

In keeping with our New Years resolution we will no longer provide the “points” when we provide a review from an outside source (Parker, Tanzer, Wine Spectator, etc.). The descriptions provided in wine reviews can be VERY helpful, the points – not so much. Too often we interpret the “points” as absolutes when, in fact, all the reviewers take care to caution us against such strict interpretation. Certainly there is a difference between an 80 point wine and a 100 point wine but an argument about the difference between an 89 and a 91 point wine is a waste of energy - just drink both.

MONTHLY SPECIALS