Over the course of a week, I taste a bunch of wine, usually with friends, and almost always with my wife. Here are some of the wines we tasted over the past few weeks. These are wines that were not sent as samples—in most cases, I actually paid for these wines (although a few have been given as gifts).
2016 Castellare di Castellina, Chianti Classico DOCG, Tuscany, Italy: Retail $25. Extremely Responsible Bottle (375g; 13.2oz). 90% Sangiovese, 10% Canaiolo. While this sells for around $25 in the States, I picked up three bottles for roughly half of that while I was in Verona for VinItaly a few years ago. Smart decision. Wow. Great dark berry fruit on both the nose and the palate along with some spice and earth. When I have a bottle of wine like this, I realize fairly quickly that I need to buy and drink more Chianti Classico. Magnifico! Outstanding. 93 Points.
2010 Bodegas Cenit Tempranillo Cenit, Vino de la Tierra de Zamora, Castilla y León, Spain: Retail $30. Extremely Heavy Bottle (848g; 29.9oz). This wine is made from about six hectares (~14 acres) of historic, own-rooted (pre-phylloxera) vines in Tierra del Vino de Zamora, with vines aged between 80 and 100 years (in 2010). My wife really liked the 2003 version of this wine, and that is the understatement of the year; she would regularly drink the 2003 while I was out of town with no remorse for not having shared it with me. And that was (mostly) fine, as I like to see myself as a Renaissance man, willing to support my lovely partner as she imbibes in my absence (but only to a point; keep your grubby hands off my Clos Vougeot). Thus, when I saw this 2010 on the now-defunct Snooth website, I leapt. And this is now the fourth bottle of six that I have opened. Delicious. Inky dark. Maybe even “black” in the glass with heavy cassis aromas, black pepper, tobacco leaf, and hints of clove and vanilla. Whoa. Luckily, I did not tell my wife about this 2010 (I did, but she didn’t remember), thus, we shared this together, and we both loved it. Sure, it is a big boy (and the bottle is completely idiotic), but man, is it tasty! Outstanding. 94 Points.
NV Philippe Gonet Champagne Brut Grande Réserve, Champagne, France: Retail $50. Extremely Heavy bottle (838g; 29.5oz). 60% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay, 10% Pinot Meunier. Another fabulous bottle. I have had a few wines from this producer, which is located on la Côte des Blancs in Le Mesnil sur Oger (a grand cru village), and I bought a case of this Grande Résèrve a couple of years ago. They offer a few different cuvées including the “Brut Résèrve” which only serves to confuse dumb Americans like me. This wine, the “Grande Résèrve” is not on the website, however, which makes me think that this might be intended only for the U.S. market, or perhaps an exclusive for the nice folks at Last Bubbles (which is where I purchased it). Slightly golden in the glass with a delicate yet fervent sparkle and lovely aromas of freshly baked apple pie. The palate is tart and precise with plenty of fruit, great acidity, and just a kiss of sweetness. I would not hesitate to buy this again, but I would try to remember to give it a bit of cellar time (at least I would hope to remember, but I know how that would go) as these later bottles are a notch above those first few we opened. Outstanding. 94 Points.
NV Piper-Heidsieck Champagne Essentiel Extra Brut, Champagne, France: Retail $65. Extremely Heavy Bottle (870g; 30.7oz). Based on 2016 vintage. 45% Pinot Noir, 36% Pinot Meunier, 19% Chardonnay. 23% reserve wine. Disgorged 2022. 6g/l dosage. This is at the upper limit of Extra Brut, which means, of course “Extra Dry”, but Extra Dry, of course, is actually sweeter than Brut. Wait. Huh? Gotta love the French. I also love this wine. It is about twenty bucks more than the standard Brut and I would have to say it is probably worth it. The website claims that this blend is designed for it to be more age-worthy, and suggests it can withstand another 10-15 years of cellar time. I don’t doubt it. Piper also includes what vintage the wine was based on (in this case, 2016) and when the wine was disgorged (here, 2022). Both provide the consumer with valuable information when deciding how long to age it and when to drink it. I found a case of this on WineSlash for $40/bottle and it already has some additional age on it, which if perfectly fine by me. Rich, layered, complex, and loaded with that yeasty, autolytic component for which Champagne stands apart. Outstanding. 94 Points.
NV Piper-Heidsieck Champagne Cuvée Brut, Champagne, France: Retail $45. Extremely Heavy Bottle (837g; 29.5oz). 50-55% Pinot Noir, 20-25% Pinot Meunier, 15-20% Chardonnay with 10-20% Reserve wines. Consistently one of the better widely available non-vintage wines on the market, which can usually be had for a decent price with a bit of effort (I purchased this for $36 from my local H-E-B). Yeasty, citrusy, lovely on the nose, with a straw color with a slightly golden hue, there’ are delicate, yet persistent streams of bubbles, looking to escape after their years of captivity. The palate is crisp, fresh, fruity, yeasty, and delicious. It is also a tad drier than previous iterations I have consumed with utter glee. This is certainly worthy of “house champagne” status if you happen to be looking for one. It seems like we have several”house champagnes” in our house, which is perhaps something I should think about. Excellent. 92 Points.
2013 Purple Star Syrah, Columbia Valley, WA: Retail $19. Extremely Responsible Bottle (396g; 13.9oz). I was gifted this bottle by Kyle and Amy Johnson, ostensibly for helping them obtain entry into the Texas market, but I am really not all that sure that I did very much. Still? Thank you! And Yowza! Near inky-dark in the glass with plenty of black fruit: cassis, plum, blackberry. Whoa. Add in some Christmas spice, nutmeg (wait, is that part of “Christmas spice”?), a touch of mocha, and a whole lotta verve. Yowza. The palate does not disappoint either. In fact, it may be even better than the nose. Rich, fruity, spicy, tart, this pretty much has it all. In fact, if it were not for the zingy acidity, I would label this as “big and brooding,” but all of that acid brightens this wine up considerably. Whoa (again). Yowza (again). i know this has an entry-level price point. I know many think this should have been consumed several years ago. But I also know that Kyle Johnson knows what he is doing, and this is absolutely freaking delicious. Outstanding. 94 Points.
WINE OF THE WEEK: It was one of those nights. We had popped a few bottles of wine when some friends came over and I was huddled over my computer after they lest, writing tasting notes on the wines we just had. I used to write the notes contemporaneously, but I found that rather rude and it detracted from the evening. Now, I try to squirrel away the last bit of wine in every bottle so I can hopefully wax poetically while I follow George Thorogood’s advice. While many wines stood out this week, I opted for the 2013 Purple Star Syrah as this week’s Wine of the Week, since a) it was delicious, and b) Amy and Kyle Johnson are just really fantastic people.
What was your Wine of the Week?
the drunken cyclist 