March Staff Picks

Don: ’02 Chateau Montelena Napa Valley Chardonnay $26.99 People who know me know I'm not into the super-ripe, oaky style of Chardonnay California is famous for, so I would have bet anyone that I, Don Castaldo, would never pick a California Chardonnay for my staff pick. I admit it. I’ve turned into somewhat of an acid freak, what with my Chablis’, my Gruners, my Fianos’ and the like. Or maybe I am just way too cool for myself. So when I had the opportunity to attend an informal tasting that Chateau Montelena had at Carnegie Hall (as informal as Carnegie Hall is) I was–to be honest–thinking red. Chateau Montelena was having participants taste wines blind on this day and first up were four vintages of the Chardonnay. OK sure, they set me up with the style of the first two Chardonnays to get me in the mood, but the third one really got me in the most positive way. I had felt the last Chardonnay was a little green and tight, but also very good and it turned out to be the yet to be released 2003. Wine #3 was of course the 2002. How refreshing this wine was, not like a gin and tonic on a hot night, I mean the style of the wine. I had convinced myself that there was not any Chardonnay in California built like this. Minerality, which one would expect from Grand Cru Chablis, but with forward fruit. My notes had words like: "spicy apple, pear, lime peel, minerals and flint with acidity that balances the oak and fruit right through its extended finish." I would enjoy this Chardonnay with food the same way I would enjoy a great white Burgundy… Amazing! I still like my job!!! The historic Chateau Montelena started as a 254 acre vineyard just 2 miles north of Calistoga at the base of Mount Saint Helena in the Napa Valley in 1882. In 1896 the winery was completed and christened Chateau Montelena (a contracted form of Mount Saint Helena) and at the time was the seventh largest in the Napa Valley. Today the vineyard is considered one of the most beautiful in California, a must see if you are in the area. The 2002 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay brings me back to my wine roots. It’s not over oaked and it’s not over priced. Robert Parker liked it too (90 points) but I guess I liked it even more than he did. You really should try this wine. Justin: ’03 Antica Cantina Sant'Amico Marche, Lacrima de Morro d'Alba Rosso $13.99 This wine is one of most the arresting young wines I have come across in a long, long time. It comes from near the Medieval village of Morro d'Alba in Marche in the eastern part of central Italy—not from Alba in Piedmont as I first thought. The Antica Cantina Sant'Amico property includes 50 hectares of vineyards in the Lacrima de Morro d'Alba DOC, which is only 60 hectares in total. The wine is made from 100%, handpicked Lacrima grapes from their own vineyards in their recently upgraded winery. While the Lacrima de Morro D'Alba DOC only came into being in 1971 their winemaking tradition and the Lacrima varietal is documented back to the middle ages to the time of the conqueror Federico Barbarossa, who enjoyed the wine in 1171 when he laid siege on the city of Ancona from his headquarters in Morro d'Alba. From this 800+ year old tradition and medieval setting comes a wine with nose-turning modern appeal. The deep, magenta tinged ruby/purple color only gives a hint of this spectacular and youthful wine. The beautiful, floral aromatics are striking and intense, featuring bundles of lavender and violet scents which overlay, deep, ripe plum, huckleberry and cherry notes. Add to that hints of spice, cherry pit and chalky minerality and you have a breakaway 2003. On the palate, the medium-bodied attack is juicy, plush and rich with deep, mouthwateringly chewy plum and sour cherry flavors. The ripeness is wonderful and complemented by refreshing acidity and a chalky, mineral density. The well-integrated structure is capped by fine, soft tannins and traces of peppery spice on the long, fruity finish. Eminently drinkable for the near term, this wine will be super with a wide range of fare from pizza to pesto and tomato based pasta dishes to roasted fowl, pork and game meats. Chris: ’02 Juan Gil Jumilla Monastrell $13.99 Over the past decade, no other wine-producing country has generated as much interest among the world’s wine buyers as Spain, and in Spain several regions have been producing very exciting wines from unexpected grape varietals. In the Jumilla DO, wine growers have turned away from making wines traditionally high in alcohol, ungainly and rough to more attractive, balanced wines, and they’ve had great results with the Monastrell grape (the Spanish name for Mourvèdre, usually found in the Rhône and southeastern of France). Jorge Ordoñez, whose wine importing company Fine Estates of Spain has an impressive portfolio of Spanish producers from Priorat, Toro and Rioja, says that Monastrell is "true to the area where it's produced. This grape does not behave like it does in France as Mourvèdre; it's better in Jumilla because it gets lots of hot sun, where it can ripen at 14% with little irrigation and low yields (1.5 to 2.5 tons per acre). If you move it away from Jumilla it underperforms." The Jumilla DO is located in southeast portion of Spain, about a four-hour train ride from Madrid. The Jumilla DO (Denomination of Origin) was created in 1966, and was incorporated into the updated 1995 regulation. Jumilla’s climate is classified as continental, and is very extreme when compared to France’s Rhone Valley. Average temperatures are 16 Degrees C (maximum summer temp’s above 40 Degrees C and minimum winter temp’s below zero with some frost) with large day/night variations. The soils are generally poor and arid, with little rain (less than 300mm per year), which is irregular and torrential (this is very hard on crops). Jumilla gets a generous amount of sunshine (approx. 3,000 hours per year) which greatly assists the phenolic ripeness of the grapes. In Jumilla, there are 32,000 hectares under vine and about 3,000 growers. One Jumilla property that Mr. Ordoñez represents is the Bodegas Hijos de Juan Gil in Jumilla. One of their selections, a wine made with 100% Monastrell called Wrongo Dongo, has proven very popular with wine buyers and reviewers alike. Another wine that has grabbed our attention is the 2002 Juan Gil Monastrell. This wine is made from very old "pre-phylloxera" vines that have been ungrafted. In the late 19th Century Phylloxera struck most of the winemaking regions of Spain, necessitating the planting of resistant American rootstocks upon which original Spanish vinifera vines were grafted. But this was not so in swaths of Jumilla due to the extreme climate and phylloxera resistant soils of the area. And this has a dramatic effect on the concentration and flavor of the fruit. Mr. Ordoñez calls the old vines "infinitely better, like day and night." The 2002 Juan Gil Monastrell is quite a nose full of dark berry aromas informed by quite alluring brambly, dusky, forest undergrowth, with a slight, sharp trace of carnation petals. In the mouth, the wine is full of ripe dark berry fruit, and on the palate one gets a formidable impression of size. The generous nature of the wine’s old vine Monastrell fruit helps to carry its big structure (tannins, acidity and alcohol), while the character on the palate is very much like a juicy, balanced, violet-inflected, spicy and playfully peppery Rhône or Languedoc wine. Kudos are due to Mr. Ordoñez and the winemakers at Bodegas Hijos de Juan Gil. This wine will match up excellently with spicy grilled or broiled red meat dishes, as well as hearty meat or pork stews and pastas with spicy sausage or meat sauce.

Patrice: ’03 Wrongo Dongo Jumilla Monastrell $6.99 Being a little tired of flashy labels and cute names I almost passed up this bargain priced wine from the Jumilla region of Spain. After giving it some thought I decided that not buying a wine because of its packaging is just as bad as the reverse so I decided to give it a try. It helped that I needed a wine for pizza night and the price was just right. Well as they say "it is what is in the bottle that counts" and the 2003 Wrongo Dongo is definitely worth trying. Imported by Spanish wine dynamo Jorge Ordoñez the wine is made of 100% Jumilla Monastrell. Called Mourvèdre in France, Monastrell is widely planted in Spain in not only the Levant (the southeastern coast of the Spanish Mediterranean that includes Jumilla) but in Catalonia as well. The Levant has become tremendously popular in more recent years for producing rich jammy wines at fabulous prices. In the glass the 2003 Wrongo Dongo is deep violet tinged with magenta. On the nose there are a lot of luscious and rich fruits including raspberries, blackberries and the heady scent of cherry liqueur. The wine has a nice textured feel in the mouth with layers of jammy plums and berries, zesty spices and hints of bittersweet chocolate. These ripe fruits and flavors are kept in balance by moderate amounts of acidity and tannin. The finish is pleasantly lingering. The 2003 Wrongo Dongo will pair well with many hearty dishes including barbecue, pizza or anything with some zing.....when evaluating your price to quality ratio on a wine Wrongo Dongo is certainly off the charts! Sam: ’01 Merryvale Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve $35.99 Merryvale is one of the oldest wineries in the Napa Valley, having been built right after Prohibition ended. The project of current owner Jack W. Schlatter, his family, Peter Huweiler and winemaker Stephen Test, the estate and winery are located in St. Helena. They age cuvees specifically made for their Reserve wines and other prestigious wines, such as Profile, Clone Six, and Beckstoffer-Tokalon in 100 percent French oak in Bordeaux-style barrels. This helps create the quality for which the wines are known. The Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve is possibly one of the steals of the vintage in its quality range. With an assemblage of ninety-one percent Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Merlot’just enough to soften the wine’s hard edges’it delineates a big, juicy, powerhouse! Unfined and unfiltered, the wine shows radiance, finesse, and beauty. Aromas of hickory smoke, cherry blossoms, and coconut waft from the glass, with the wine displaying a vivid blood red colour that intrigues the eye and the mouth. The wine itself is big and lush, with dense mouthfuls of black cherries, plum, dark chocolate, and toasted oak. I must say, however, that this is not a wine for those with an impatient palate; it is probably best, if drinking now, to let it breathe for a few hours before taking it on! For those with the cellar space, let this wine age for maybe a year or two, and the reward will be well worth the wait. Dominique: ’03 J.M. Raffault Chinon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, $13.99 Chinon is located in the central Loire valley, near Tours, and is the northernmost French red wine appellation. Chinon is reputed for its rich Cabernet-Franc based wines but also produces some rosé and a tiny bit of Chenin Blanc based whites (1% of the total production of the AOC). In the Land of Rabelais, Cabernet Franc is called "Breton" with a 10% maximum of Cabernet Sauvignon that can be blended with it to add structure and depth. So it was an unexpected pleasure to come across this excellent Chinon white. Jean-Maurice Raffault’s famed Chinon estate is now run by his son Rodolphe. The family have been vignerons (people working in the vineyard) in Chinon since 1693 and their estate now comprises 40 hectares spread over 6 communes. Raffault harvests his Cabernet Francs as late as possible and vinifies each parcel separately. Fermentation can last up to one month with daily pumping over for maximum extraction of color and flavors. The wines are then aged in Bordeaux casks in his remarkable 54 degree cellar (caves cut into the limestone slopes) and are bottled without filtration. Raffault is one of the few Chinon producers still using oak barrels to produce stable, tannic wines with impressive structure and intensity of fruit. It's fascinating to taste the high expression of the Cabernet Franc varietal in the range of styles made by this very talented winemaker. Their specialty is in creating different cuvees from distinct sites. And their Chinon AOC comes from several sites with sandy-gravel soil from the alluvial deposits of the ancient bed of the Loire River. This white Chinon from the Chinon Blanc grape showed fantastically well at a recent tasting of French releases. It is quite graceful and fresh, especially given the extremely hot conditions during the summer of 2003 and shows off the effects of the heat with richness. Round on the attack, good acidity is found on the mid-palate along with notes of lemon peel, grass and peach-nectar notes. It has an impressive balance and a long finish with hints of white fruit and minerals. I’m a red drinker but Raffault’s white Chinon was an enjoyable surprise. Highly recommended and a perfect match for Asian cuisine, grilled fish, goat cheese and all kinds of white meats. Raffault’s reds are a must have but his white has such depth and complexity; it also represents a remarkable value.