Issue:
January
2012
By Manos Angelakis
The first major tastings of the new season’s wines available to the US market took place on September 13th and 14th. Two major New York City based importers brought together over 110 producers each, from all the major wine production areas, in a grand tasting of their portfolios.
Pricing seems to have remained fairly stable – with the exception of a number of the upper tier Tuscan and Bordeaux vintners that increased their list prices by about 8%. Does that mean that a buyer will have to pay more for the privilege of purchasing these wines? I believe not. There are too many deals in place that, depending on the producer, decrease the final purchase price by 9% to 13%, i.e. it is an actual retail price decrease while the quality of the vintages presented is from excellent to outstanding (with the exception of the Bordeaux 2007 vintage which is still very available and still abominable). Some of the early bottlings of Brunello and Chianti Reservas of 2008 and 2009 showed great promise and so did the German Rieslings from the Mosel and Rhine. The Chilean and Argentinean samples that I tasted, especially the Malbecs and Carmenères, were also excellent and many of the 2010 samples from South America – given 4 to 5 years of cellaring – will become really outstanding.
A few German producers showed some dazzling eisweins from the 2010 vintage and I’m waiting for the Canadian producers to provide their 2010 ice wine samples. Canadian winemakers are crying foul over large amounts of counterfeit “ice wine” for sale in China. One exporter estimated that 80 percent of ice wine sold there is fake. The problem has arisen from an emerging Chinese middle class that sees ice wine as a status symbol given as an expensive gift, but can't distinguish real ice wine from fake. High value, no regulation and consumer ignorance has created the perfect conditions for ice wine counterfeiters. Many of the fake ice wines are made from white table wine with added sugar and honey, while others are legitimately late harvest wines, not ice wines — grapes are picked late when they have dehydrated on the vine, but are not naturally frozen, as legitimate ice wines are supposed to be.
A number of new, to me, producers have brought their wines to market – and many are very good and logically priced.
From Piedmont’s wine estate Serralunga d’Alba the 2008 Barbera d’Alba Superiore is a wine that adheres to traditional ways of vinification. Perfectly ripe grapes, long maceration on the skins, lengthy maturing in mid-sized oak casks, are the reasons that the hand-crafted Mirafiore wines from Barbera, Dolcetto or Nebiolo grapes are so distinct.
The Argentinean producer Bodega DiamAndes, owned by the Bonnie family that also owns Château Malartic – Lagravière in Graves and Château Gazin Rocquencourt in Pessac-Léognan, and Argentinean partners, showed the DiamAndes de Uco 2010 Viognier, a lovely and aromatic white wine from the foothills of the Andes in the Mendoza province, and the DiamAndes de Uco 2010 Malbec (blend of 90% Malbec, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Syrah and 2% Petit Verdot). Both wines are product of the consulting oenologist Michel Rolland. The Malbec blend is a very well balanced wine, almost ready to drink on purchase that is clean and silky, full of ripe fresh fruit, with an aromatic nose, slightly off-sweet palate and balanced tannins. Malbec is one of the six grape varieties allowed for blends in Bordeaux; while in neighboring Cahors 70% of the wine must be Malbec. There were other nice wines in the tasting but these two were the most impressive and right priced.
Another 2008 Barbera d’Alba wine that I really liked was Manora from Colle Manora, a vineyard on a hill-top of Monferrato. High quality wines are created through vigorous yield control by short pruning and green harvest. It is an excellent wine that is also almost ready to drink on purchase but will benefit from 4 to 6 years of cellaring.
Peter Jakob-Kühn makes some outstanding organic wines in Germany’s Rheingau region. They presented a number of nicely dry Rieslings, especially the 2009 Riesling Doosberg Gewachs. But the highlight of my tasting was the 2004 Riesling Eiswein. Liquid gold is the description in my notebook, and at MSRP $99 for the 375 ml. bottle the wine is worth every penny.
Finally, from Chile’s Maipo Valley the wines of Fernando Espina at Viña Chocolán showed why Chilean monovarietals and blends have found such a following worldwide. Very logically priced for the quality they represent, the 2010 Selección Sauvignon Blanc, 2009 Selección Carmenère and 2008 Gran Reserva Blend wowed us with clean taste, aromatic nose and well balanced palate.
To your health!
© October 2011 LuxuryWeb Magazine. All rights reserved.