~$20US, 100% Mencia, Bierzo, Spain

Deep purple and magenta. Almost thick in it’s aromatics with robust plum, blueberry, black cherry, earthy wet leaves, leather and dried herbs - oregano. Lots of complexity on the nose; echoed on the palate. Medium weight and mercurial - lots of fruit, herbal, and earthy interplay. Anise one moment, curry another, dry smokiness then peppery spice. Perfect fruit ripeness, good acidic lift = richness with vibrancy.

This is real, interesting wine - and so far, the best value wearing the Palacios name that I’ve tasted.

With wines like this in the $20 range, Bierzo a region to watch.

~$22US, 100% Gamay, Fleurie, Cru Beaujolais

This summer’s Beaujolais adventure takes me to Fleurie, one of the 10 Crus in the region known for it’s eponymous floral aspects. This is my first 2006, which I understand to be a textbook year in Beaujolais, yielding characterful and focused wines.

Bright ruby color with the slightest yellow and magenta hues at the rim. There is a cool haze, which I attribute to the importer ’s (Kermit Lynch) appreciable insistence on non-filtering for purity. Very aromatic nose - strawberries and violets go on and on - very clear and definite. The palate is soft and sweet on entry and moves into a cranberry tartness which is just mouthwatering. Pencil-box flavors come into focus for a moment and more flowers and spice hit toward the finish - something like a sandalwood soap (?) - but cranberries and strawberries really persist. The lightest dusting of tannins finish it out. Can I say strawberries again? Right off the vine.

Pure and vibrant - walking the line between elegance and opulence. Without question, the palate here rivals that of a fine Pinot Noir - but it’s lighter and a little higher-pitched. It lights up with food (light-medium bodied fare) - Poached salmon? all day long. Turkey sandwich? brilliant. Light pasta? no prob. It’s drinking so well now, I don’t have the patience to wait to see how it evolves - the purity of fruit here is really the key - but will probably show other dimensions in the next 3 years. Excellent wine. A sleeper.

Update: I Vac’d ~300ml in half-bottle and popped it 24 hours later. Better integration and lusher  - with the fruit was as vibrant as ever. Even better - You could really confound folks in a blind tasting w/ this and some old and new-world Pinots.

Big name, quick notes.

Day 1 - Austere. Shut down like the Beach Boys tune.

Day 2 - Opening up wonderfully with grapefruit and seashells notes. The more air it got, the more expressive it got - in both fruit and mineral aspects. It developed some of the flavors I get from some Chenin Blancs as the chill blew off; A pleasant sweet pea flavor with a toasted bread edge to it. It really put on a great deal of weight over time, rounding and integrating into a really pleasurable wine. - Very complex and complete, but too young at this point to show it’s true colors. It paired confoundingly well with poached eggs. An awesome buy @ under $15 - but I will wait try it again in 2010.

~$17US, 100% Gamay, Cote de Brouilly, Cru Beaujolais, France

Delicate floral nose. High-toned palate, with pure and light cherry flavors supported by a tremendous acidic backbone. Graphite and lavender. Fattened up nicely with air, making me feel that this could live a few more years in the cellar. A perfect pairing with goat cheese, and one of those rare red-wines to enjoy with fish. Love the old-school label.

~$20-40 US 40% Touriga Nacional, 40% Tinta Roriz, 20% Touriga Franca, Douro Portugal

I’m just getting into the dry wines of Portugal, and the last few I’ve tried have really overdelivered on their $10-15 price point. I’m curious to see what the next pricing tier had to offer - so when I saw this Douro wine with a slashed price, it was a no brainer.

Day 1- Deep garnet. Red and black cherry with subtle garrigue/herbal notes. Very tight - but serious “delicious potential” - needs more time.

Day 2-Slightly more open - now showing white pepper and a very refined and elegant palate. Still very tight - I wouldn’t be afraid to put this away until 2012+ - but there is no harm in enjoying it now (with food to help balance the mild tannic astringency on the back-end.) Medium bodied and stylishly balanced acidity, herbal complexity and fruit. Leather and cherries. Again, the finish speaks to me about the ’schisty’ Douro hills - and the overall impression reminds me of the more elegant Priorats like Lo Givot.

Terrific value at its sale price - it’s simply rare get this level of quality and age-ability for this price. This Douro strikes well beyond it’s weight class.

~$20US, 100% Gamay, Moulin-a-Vent, Cru Beaujolais, Burgundy France

I’m starting to tire of big wines  - They have their place in my cellar (and heart), but the warm spring weather has really inspired me to dig into the lighter-bodied reds and more delicate whites. I also find myself getting more excited about wine that bucks the trends…wine that is almost uncool, varietals like Muscat, Carignan, some Rieslings, Melon, Cab Franc, etc. And not too expensive….

Cru Beaujolais offers much of what I’m looking for. Made from the Gamay grape, the wines are lighter-bodied, but can be quite complex and interesting in the right hands. The 10 Crus Beaujolais have traditionally proven to be more distinctive and compelling than the simpler Village or plain Beaujolais appellations - with some examples exhibiting the finesse and age-ability of the much more expensive Pinot-based Burgundies. Moulin-a-Vent is probably the most prized (and some say “most serious”) of the Crus especially in terms of power and longevity. The Potel-Aviron was of particular interest to me for 1. Being an Old Vines cuvee, 2. Being a few years old, and 3. Coming from the hands of Nicolas Potel, who has proven a track record of creating quality Burgundies.

Great translucent Ruby color. The nose was just a tiny bit shy, but seductive with red cherry, some wet leaves, and a mysterious crayon-box aroma. Beautifully light and soft on the palate - showing a refinement and velvety finesse that I rarely encounter in under $40 wines. Perfect acidity and balance. Great flavors echo the nose - pure red cherries, but not too fruity or candied, and the crayon/colored pencil/graphite notes really intermingling with some light leather/funk to make for a complex but harmonious wine. Still showing the tiniest bit of tannic astringency on the backend, making me believe this could live on in bottle for another year or 2.

Way over-delivering for the price and great with food. Pair with picnic fare, sandwiches, salmon, or heartier salads. This gets me excited to obtain more of this and the other Crus, and see how they develop. Recommended for a lighter touch and an old-world value.

~$14US, 100% Riesling, Rheingau, Germany

Leitz’s Dragonstone is a wine I keep coming back to, despite not really getting it on first tasting. I gave it a second try a few months ago and was able to observe some nice evolution in the bottle - the early 2005s had a fierce minerality supported by great fruit, nearing a spatlese-level of ripeness (at least to my palate) - but it was disjointed. The later 05’s started to get that beautiful petrolly aspect along with a tapering of the fruit and an integration of the slatey mineral notes - making for an altogether more mature, harmonious and integrated wine. It was a welcome change, and I was interested to see if the 06’s followed suit.

My first ‘06 poured a very very pale straw - almost clear. The aromatics were obvious and clean with dominant white peach and fresh apple juice. Some nectary/floral notes beyond the fruit, and the tell-tale mineral rocky aromas that I’ve come to associate with this wine.

On the palate, I was pleasantly surprised by the freshness compared to the ‘05. On entry, the fruit ripeness dominates - but the brisk acidity comes dashing through to balance the wine perfectly - ever so slightly off-dry and chalky on the finish. Light-to-medium palate-feel and enough complexity/vineyard character/etc at this price point to keep my wife and I pouring more. In recent memory, I’m not sure I can remember a wine that was as simply refreshing to sip alongside a meal.

Very well-crafted, distinctive, refreshing and food-friendly - what else is would you need for a perfect summertime white? And I’m pretty sure that it will evolve in the bottle for a few years for anyone who has enough patience and discipline not to drink it now - but for me, I”ll be drinking it.

&

2 singular wines produced by 2 singular producers on different sides of the world. They actually had quite a bit in common - especially from a structural point-of-view (aside from their winemaker’s dedication to quality and uncommon passion_

Chateau Musar Blanc 1998, Bekaa Valley, Lebanon: Deep gold color. Fascinating nose of marzipan, honey and hazelnuts. Sherry-like. Dried strawberries, dates and figs with slight citrus and floral notes. Very round and mouth-coating entry - the nose really lets on that this will be sweet - but NO! It’s dry. It has a generous body, but the mouthwatering tart acidity that gives the wine focus. Lemon cake. It opened up beautifully after 6-10 hours, and showed very little disintegration after 24(!). Thought-provoking and totally versatile: from mac-n-cheese to mixed mezze to fish to pastilla to baklava. This wine transcends preconceptions like color/varietal/blend/terroir and just exists. It’s polarizing, but not to be missed.

Clos Pepe Estate Pinot Noir 2005, Sta. Rita Hills, California: Beautiful purple-tinged ruby; translucent, but rich. The nose is perfumed with ripe strawberries, red raspberries, and some muted but alluring star anise, sandalwood, and cinnamon. There is an unusual perception of big volume and perfect fruit ripeness immediately on the entry (almost sweet?!) - which transitions towards a very elegant and finessed midpalate and finish. Medium body with great acidity to pair with anything from a burger to simply prepared salmon. Very fine tannins. The tiny touch of minerality and discrete bitterness on the finish is characterful. A superb example of using the right wood. Attractive but not sexy, charismatic but still humble, and bright but not pedantic. The bottle was gone way before we were ready to say goodbye.

~$20US, 100% Chenin Blanc, Coteaux du Layon, Loire Valley

Classic Chenin nose, floral, with yellow peach and some woody aromas. Sweet and oily palate, left an overall cloying and flabby impression - just too much residual sugar and too little acidity to balance it. Not a bad dessert wine by any means - the fruit here is delicious and peachy clean but simple, just a little unbalanced. A good introduction to this producer that may improve with cellaring. If im going for a sweet Chenin, I’d rather lay down the extra cash for the more refined and age-worthy Baumard Clos Ste. Catherine, or Foreau’s Moelleuxs.