Fine Wine Source Club Selections February 2023

Posted on February 19, 2023 by thewineraconteur

With all that is going on around here, it is always a pleasure for me to find time to stop at my local wine shop The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan.  My Bride knows that it is one of the few places that I will stop at, that requires time.  We can get a week’s grocery shopping quicker than me at the wine shop.  It is an oasis, not only for me, but for most of the regulars that stop there, and I am learning some of them, as they probably see, oh, there is that crazy guy with the hat, that takes photographs of the wines.  But, by this point, we are now comparing notes and discussing wines from non-professional viewpoint and I always enjoy hearing other ideas about wines.

The first club selection and representing the Old World is Domaine J. Boulon Morgon 2019.  In the village of Corcelles-en-Beaujolais, between Lyon and Macon, the Domaine J. Boulon estate of twenty-seven hectares has been situated for seven generations. They produce three Cru wines, a Beaujolais, a Beaujolais Nouveau, a rosé, a white and a “Cremant de Bourgogne.”  Morgon is one of the ten Beaujolais Crus on the slopes of the Beaujolais hills, famed for ancient weathered, volcanic soils of granite and schist with traces of iron; the appellation only applies to red wines and the Gamay varietal.  The vines of the estate average about eighty-five-years of age.  The fruit is hand-harvested, pressed and fermentation and aging are done in Stainless Steel vats to maintain the freshness of the fruit.  The wine is a deep garnet color and offers notes of ripe cherry and plum with a touch of peach and apricot.  On the palate tones of bright cherry and cassis, with herbs and spices and soft tannins with a finish of fruit and some terroir.  Perfect for a dinner on St. Valentine’s Day.

In keeping of the theme of St. Valentine’s Day, the New World selection is Celani Family Vineyards Vincenza Rosé Napa Valley 2021.  I have written many articles about Tom Celani, his ties to Detroit and his continued largesse to his former home of metropolitan Detroit.  Celani Family Vineyards produces about four-thousand cases of wine each year, from their estate grown Merlot, Chardonnay and Cabernet Franc, and their Cabernet Sauvignon is both estates grown and from select vineyards in Coombsville and Mount Veeder. This wine is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot that is fermented in used red French Oak barrels.  A deep pink wine offering notes of cherries, cranberries, melons and white florals.  On the palate watermelon and strawberries with bright acidity that beckons a second and a third taste.           

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Give Me an Old Neighborhood Pizza, Anytime

Posted on February 17, 2023 by thewineraconteur

I may be considered a heretic, after this article, but I still like an Old-World pizza, or maybe it is called a New York pizza, but I am not partial to a Detroit pizza, and I grew up in the old part of the city.  When I was a kid, back in the dark ages when televisions in Detroit had four stations, because we could pick up Windsor, Ontario, Canada.  The first pizzeria in the neighborhood was a sit-down Italian restaurant on the highway, and some consider it the best, to this day.  Then another pizzeria opened, first as a carryout and then it became a sit-down Italian restaurant as well, and tucked way in the far corner, kind of in the neighborhood, but technically in Dearborn (a suburb) was Roman Village, and then the neighborhood got a couple more carry-out places and one is still going strong.  Why do I go into this litany?  They were all that mysterious delicacy that we called a pizza.  You know that round thing, that you could take home in a square box, and eat in a folded triangle. 

To my dying day, that will be a pizza.  The more toppings the better; a couple of different Italian cheeses, pepperoni, ham, green peppers, mushrooms, olives (your choice), hot peppers and anchovies.  Oh, and a pizza had to be kind of a circular shaped item, it was never perfect, because the dough had to be tossed up in the air and stretched and pulled so that the dough was just thick enough to bake through, but still pliable that with all the gooey cheese that would stretch five or six inches after you tried to cut one piece from another, you could fold in in half to eat, and talk with your other hand.  The other thing is that the pepperoni had to be hand cut and greasy, so that when it is baked, it doesn’t lay flat on the cheese, but curls up and contains a bead of natural grease in the cupped pepperoni.  We wanted to have a pizza, the other day and I really prefer to have a pizza, in a pizzeria or a restaurant.  Roman Village is still going strong in my old neighborhood, but the original family opened up all their newer restaurants as Antonio’s (go figure).  Still the pizza that makes me happy and I have won over my Bride as well. 

If you think about it, if we ate the pizza at home, the price of the wine would be much better, but I always think that perhaps there will be an interesting new wine to try.  And pizza is an equal-opportunity cuisine, as you can have cocktails, beer, or wine; sparkling, rosé, red or white.  Why white? it is cheese on dough and the meat traditionally is usually the other white meat.  We shared a bottle of Marchesi Antinori Castello della Sala “Bramito della Sala” Chardonnay Umbria IGT 2021.  Now, because I am old school, especially today, Marchesi Antinori is one of the old school wineries that crossed the ocean years ago and they offer from “jug” wine to great wines.  Castello della Sala is one of several estates owned by Antinori.  The winery is named for a Fourteenth Century castle on the grounds, but it wasn’t used as a commercial winery until the last century, when it was bought in 1940 by Antinori.  It was planted with Grechetto and Chardonnay and later on some other whites as well.  In 1985 they created a new state-of-the-art facility for the five-hundred hectare estate of vineyards and eight hectares of olive orchards.  Umbria IGT is a huge region in the middle of Italy that doesn’t have any coastline or international borders, and for years the huge wine producing region was considered Vino de Tavola or table wine for local consumption.  The soils for this wine have sedimentary deposits of marine fossils and veins of clay.  The grapes were destemmed and gently crushed with maceration on the skins for only about four hours and Initial Fermentation in Stainless Steel.  Malolactic Fermentation was only done that went into oak for aging.  Then the wines were blended and bottled. The wine is a soft yellow in color and offers notes of pineapple, apple and vanilla.  On the palate a nice crisp, balanced with of golden apples with a tinge of vanilla and minerals, and a beautiful finish of terroir,  The next day we had the left over pizza with a different  white wine and we both agreed that the Bramito della Sala was the perfect pairing.           

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Another Dinner at Andiamo Bloomfield

Posted on February 15, 2023 by thewineraconteur

Plenty of times a restaurant’s location determines where we are going to dine, when we are trying to find someplace halfway, since the price of petrol has become expensive again in the last couple of years.  We were meeting at Andiamo Bloomfield, which was the old Machus Red Fox, when I was young.  Harris O. Machus opened the restaurant in 1965.  It became infamous on 30 July, 1975 when James R. Hoffa disappeared, and closed in 1996.  I found some examples of matchbooks from the Machus Red Fox and I still think that they were the best form of advertising to this day;  and they had one of the best pastry shops around.  After renovations Andiamo Bloomfield opened in 1997.  

We were having a nice dinner, and we were the guests, as our son and his wife were treating us for dinner.  We shared a couple of appetizers on the table.  Carciofi alla Giudia or fried long-stem artichoke heart, done in olive oil, garlic aioli and sea salt.  There was also a charcuterie plate, their Salumi e Formaggi Meats and Cheeses with crostini, dried stone fruits, truffled honey, Marcona almonds and an olive tapenade.  My Bride and I both had the same dinner entrée of Pesce Bianco alla Siciliana or Sicilian-style Whitefish, with Italian potatoes, vegetables and an Almandine sauce.  For dessert there was Tiramisu and Macarons. 

It was easy to select a wine for our dinner and we went with Sella & Mosca La Cala Vermentino di Sardegna DOC 2021.  Sella & Mosca (Sella e Mosca) is the largest wine producer in Sardinia, featuring local varieties and “international” varieties.  The winery was founded in 1899 by two Piedmontese businessmen.  Their I Piani estate is one of the largest wine estates in Europe with five-hundred-twenty hectares of contiguous vineyards.  Vermentino di Sardegna DOC was granted in 1988 and covers the entire island.  The history of Vermentino on Sardinia is vague as to whether it is from Liguria in Italy where it is known as Pigato, Provence and the Languedoc of France where it is known as Rolle or from Spain, where it is barely seen anymore.  Internationally, the lion’s share of Vermentino is Italy.  There is not a lot of information about the wine, outside of soft pressing, cold settling, fermentation and short aging in Stainless Steel.  A pretty golden color offering notes of citrus fruit, florals and minerals.  On the palate the wine has tones of fresh fruit, a soft and balanced wine with a nice finish of terroir and a touch of iodine.  I may be biased, but I thought the Vermentino paired very well with the Whitefish.  

        

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With The Caller Again at Arta’s

Posted on February 13, 2023 by thewineraconteur

It is always a great evening when we can be with The Caller and his wife.  He received the nom de plume of The Caller, from the early days of my writing this blog, as he was always sending me messages about which wine, while they were out and about, especially when he was on the road for business.  They live out in the hinterland, in fact, Google-Earth or any of the other road apps start questioning where in the world you are, when you start the return trip home.  We try to find someplace interesting and in between our two homes, with the criteria being that the establishment has good food and they have good wines. 

We found ourselves back at Arta’s in Brighton, Michigan and the place is easy to miss, as it is in a medical center complex and looks more like a family lunch restaurant compared to a fine dining establishment; looks can be deceiving.  The restaurant opens at five in the evening, but we found out the last time, that the bar is open earlier and we ended up having cocktails to start the evening off.  We finally got to our table and we started off having some appetizers like Carpaccio di Filetto, soups and salads.  The entrée orders were mixed and so I thought just a couple of different wines that could be enjoyed several ways, so one white and one red.  The Caller had shown me a wine that they had on one of their many adventures from a volcanic island in the Canary Islands.  For the white wine we had Varvaglione 12 e Mezzo Malvasia Bianca Del Salento IGT Fashion Label 2020.  Varvaglione Vigne & Vini srl was established in 1921, located in Puglia and the produce a wide array of assorted wines under multiple DOC and IGT designations; and they are one of the oldest wineries in southern Italy and are now in their fourth generation.  They have one-hundred-fifty hectares of vineyards, and they also have contracts with many of the other vineyards in the area and they specialize in predominately Italian varieties.  Salento IGT is the most commonly used designation in Puglia and technically encompasses all wine types produced, as there are over fifty different varieties that are accepted for the region.  Malvasia Bianca is grown across Italy and is known by various local names and is often blended as well.  The fruit undergoes Maceration and Initial Fermentation in the first twenty-four hours in Stainless Steel and then continues aging for a short period after, to maintain the fruit flavor of the wine.  This very pale-yellow wine offers notes of stone fruit and soft florals.  On the palate, soft fruit and flowers, with a balanced natural acidity and a pleasant finish of limestone.

For the entrée choices, it was seafood, but it was mentioned that some would prefer red to white with their choices.  There was Grilled Bronzini, Classical interpretation of Mussels, and Lobster in a Saffron Crème. So, the hunt was on for a more subtle red wine.   We had a bottle of Arnaud Lambert “Breze” Clos Mazurique – Monopole Saumur 2020 and the wine used to go by the name of Chateau de Breze.  Arnaud Lambert calls himself a “winegrower in Breze” and a “Loire craftsman.”  Yves Lambert created the domaine in 1996, with the desire to exploit the terroir of Saumur-Champigny for both Cabernet Franc and Chenin Blanc. Arnaud joined his father in 2005 and in 2009 began their goal of working organically and they also acquired eight plots in the Monopole of the commune of Breze.  Saumur Rouge is the appellation for the area around Saumur in the central Loire Valley and Cabernet Franc, must be at least eighty-five percent of the wine, but in practice the wine is usually unblended.  The age of the vines in Breze are about forty years of age.  The Maceration, Initial and Malolactic Fermentation are done in Stainless Steel, followed by some aging in Concrete vats.  The wine had a deep-red color and offered notes of red and black fruits, smoke and spices.  On the palate very subtle notes of fresh plums and currants, with a smoky presence, and dry tannins with a softer interpretation of a Cabernet Franc and a nice finish of limestone terroir.

While the others were sharing assorted desserts, I decided to share some of my liquid dessert.  I indulged in a glass of W&J Graham’s Six Grapes Reserve Porto Douro Valley NV.  Graham’s is a prominent Port house in the Douro Valley and originally began as a textile company and were established in 1820.  They received a barrel of Port as payment for a debt, and the business began, and they are now owned by the Symington family of Dow’s and Warre’s.  They have a fine offering of assorted classic Porty wines, vintage and non-vintage.  The seven major varieties found in Port wines are: Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Barroca, Tinta Roriz (Tempranillo), Tinto Cao, Sousao, Tinta Amarela, and Mourisco Tinto. The old barrels as they aged ended up having from one to six grapes drawn on them indicating complexity, structure and balance and some of the barrels were destined for vintage port.  Six Grapes is a reserve port that is bottled younger and it has become their signature reserve port.  This deep ruby-red wine after its two years in seasoned casks offers notes of blackberries, cassis and licorice.  On the palate, the fresh fruit and subtle spices just beckon one to sit back and enjoy the smokiness, the velvety tannins and finish that even evokes chocolate and terroir to me.  The perfect way to end the evening, until our next dinner.

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A Tasting of Two White Graves

Posted on February 11, 2023 by thewineraconteur

It is always fun with a bit of trepidation when my Bride accompanies me to our local wine shop, The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan.  While I think that they abide me, the enjoy when she comes along.  After all, she is the exchequer of the household and her pen is becoming legendary when it comes to writing orders.  She may not use any of the right words, of course, there are times when I don’t either, the Royal Pass when one is a Street Somm; but she can get quite animated when tasting wines. 

We started a tasting with Chateau Carbonnieux Grand Cru Classe de Graves Pessac-Leognan 2019 from the Famille Perrin.  Most of the finer estates in the Pessac-Leognan region of Graves make red and white wines, sometimes in a couple of tiers.  The estate was founded in the 13th Century and it has passed through many of France’s “bourgeois families: over the centuries.  In the mid 1900’s it was purchased by the Perrin family.  They renovated both the winery and the vineyards and increased the property from forty-five to ninety-two hectares.  By the time of the classification of Graves in 1959, both the red and the white were rated as Grand Cru. The winery is practicing organic and sustainable farming in the vineyards and the soils are rich in gravel, clay, sand and limestone and naturally well-draining.  For the white wines the estate grows Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon.  For the grand vin blanc, Maceration and Initial Fermentation takes place in Stainless Steel and the Malolactic Fermentation takes place in French Oak for ten months.  After blending, the wines are fined before bottling and then allowed to rest for a few months prior to release.  A very pale yellow-green colored wine offering notes of vegetation and spices.  On the palate there were tones of ripe stone fruit, tart with a kiss of sweetness and toasted oak, the acidity is quite fresh and the finish was a mix of wine and terroir.

The second wine that we tried was Chateau Ducasse Graves 2021.  The estate makes both dessert and dry white wines and they have been considered great values for decades.  The soil is clay and limestone on fissured bedrock.  The wine is seventy percent of Semillon and thirty percent Sauvignon Blanc and the vines average about thirty-five years of age and is thirteen hectares in size.  The Maceration, Initial Fermentation and Malolactic Fermentation was done in Stainless Steel and then aged for six months in Stainless Steel as well.  The pale straw-colored wine offers the classic notes of grass and some lime.  On the palate fresh citrus and a touch of apple, balanced and dry with a nice finish of terroir.   

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A Couple from Langhe Nebbiolo

Posted on February 9, 2023 by thewineraconteur

Now I have to admit that I enjoy tasting and writing about wines, but the wines that I get from my local wine shop, The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan, may keep you scrambling to find some of these wines.  Since they curate every wine that they carry and they go out of their way to not compete with chains, department stores, grocery stores, party stores and gas stations; their mix is far superior and not any more expensive.  They are always looking for bargains to pass onto their customers and to their club members.  I recently tried two wines from the Langhe region in the Piedmont area of Italy and using the Nebbiolo grape, the star varietal of the area. Langhe Nebbiolo is considered by many to be a secondary version of Barolo and Barbaresco.  The rules are lax comparing to the first versions, and while fifteen percent of indigenous grapes varieties are permitted, most are pure Nebbiolo.  Winemaking processes tend to be shorter compared to the first versions as well and a lot of time offering a price value, if one can find this designation.  

The first wine that I tasted was Guido Porro “Camilu” Langhe Nebbiolo DOC 2020 from Azienda Agricola Guido Porro.  The winery is now in the fourth generation and it is six hectares in size and they produce about twenty-five-thousand bottles in several categories.  This wine comes from a vineyard that is about a third of a hectare in size, and the vines are ten to twenty years of age on limestone and clay soil.  Six to seven months in large tonneau casks for aging.  A bright garnet-red colored wine which offered cherries, roses and spices.  On the palate notes of rich concentrated black cherries and spices, perfect acidity and tight tannins with a nice medium count finish of terroir.

The second wine was Michele Chiarlo “Il Principe” Langhe Nebbiolo DOC 2018.  Michele Chiarlo is a producer in Piedmont and specializes in Barolo, Barbaresco, Asti and Gavi.  The winery was established in 1956 with vintages of Barbera and Moscato from Asti, and the first Barolo in 1958. While the winery is young, he is of the fourth generation of Piedmontese winemakers.  This wine has fruit that is from their Barbaresco vineyards that is adjacent to vineyards of Roero, named after the Roero family, who were powerful bankers in the Middle Ages and the soil is marked by its bluish-gray calcareous-clay marl and loose sandy earth.  Manually harvested, the fruit spent ten days of maceration, Initial Fermentation, and Malolactic Fermentation in Stainless Steel and then was aged in wood for about eleven months and then some time in the bottle, before release.  A pretty bright garnet red-colored wine with notes of red fruit, violets and spices.  On the palate tones of rich black cherries and spices with fine tannins, balanced with great acidity and a nice medium count of fruit and terroir.  This was a real keeper and I had to get some for the cellar.   

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Tasting a Couple of Barolos

Posted on February 7, 2023 by thewineraconteur

I don’t know about you, but I would never turn away an offer to try some Barolo wines, and that is what happened one day at my local wine shop The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan.  Barolo is a traditional village in Piedmont. The hills of the region are famous for the fragrant, tannic deep red wines made entirely of the Nebbiolo grape.  The Barolo DOCG rules require a minimum of thirty-eight months of aging, prior to release of which eighteen must be spent in barrel, the rest can be in bottle.  Traditional Barolo wine making almost required that the wine be cellared for at least ten years to tame the tannins; which when they soften offer tones of earth, truffles and dark chocolate.  There are some winemakers that are tweaking the procedure to make the wine more accessible at a younger age (more New World) and the difference in philosophies have been termed the Barolo Wars by some wags.

We started with Michele Chiarlo “Tortoniano” Barolo DOCG 2017.  Michele Chiarlo is a producer in Piedmont and specializes in Barolo, Barbaresco, Asti and Gavi.  The winery was established in 1956 with vintages of Barbera and Moscato from Asti, and the first Barolo in 1958. While the winery is young, his is of the fourth generation of Piedmontese winemakers.  This wine is named after the calcareous marl clay of sedimentary marine origin from the Tortonian period (9 million years ago) with active limestone, magnesium and manganese.  The fruit is manually harvested; maceration, Initial Fermentation and Malolactic Fermentation is done in Stainless Steel vats on the skins for about eighteen days.  The wine is aged in oak casks for twenty-four months and then an additional twelve months in bottle before release.  A very pretty garnet-colored wine with notes of dark fruit, rose petals, juniper berries, truffles and spices.  On the palate black cherries, raspberries, silky tannins, well balanced and a very nice finish of spice and terroir. I think this wine will start to be enjoyed from now to the end of the decade for sure, with a big meal.

The second wine that followed was Paolo Scavino Barolo DOCG 2018.  Paolo Scavino was founded in 1921 and they are into the fourth generation of winemakers.  They estate is twenty-three hectares entirely within Barolo with nineteen different Cru vineyards.  This particular wine has a special value and represent the history and tradition of blending different cru of Barolo.  The fruit came from the best plots of seven cru vineyards.  Separate vinification of each cru, including destemming and light crushing.  The maceration and Initial Fermentation were done in Stainless Steel and indigenous yeasts.  Malolactic Fermentation was done in oak barrels.  Each of the crus were kept separate and aged in neutral French Oak for ten months and a further twelve months in large casks.  Final blending of the cru wines for one year in Stainless Steel and then ten months of bottle aging before release. A soft garnet-red wine which offered notes of red fruit, floral, graphite and hint of menthol.  On the palate notes of cherry, raspberry, pepper; totally balanced with smooth tannins with a salty mineral finish of terroir.  Perfectly drinking now or for cellaring.     

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Two From Chateau Rouillac

Posted on February 5, 2023 by thewineraconteur

When all the wines in your local wine shop are curated by the owner and staff, like at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan there are times, more often than not, where one gets to try both the first and second label from a chateau.  This was the case when I was able to taste two wines from Chateau de Rouillac from Pessac-Leognan and both of these were red.  The Chateau actually produces six labels, three red and three whites. 

Chateau de Rouillac Pessac-Leognan 2016 is an historic estate and noble land bequeathed in the Seventeenth Century to Jean-Paul Loret, then President of the Parliament of Bordeaux.  In 2009, the property was acquired by Laurent Cisneros who accepted the challenge to reinvigorate the old estate and the grounds, while his wife and three daughters enjoyed the grounds and out buildings for their love of the equestrian arts.  The Grand Vin label is decorated with a Rose des Vents, symbol of the orientation of the new course of Chateau de Rouillac by Laurent Cisneros.  The estate is thirty-six hectares, with twenty-six hectares devoted to vineyards on fine gravel soil.  The wine is fifty-two percent Cabernet Sauvignon and forty-eight percent Merlot.  The fruit is hand-harvested and manually inspected and Initial Fermentation is done in Thermo-regulated Stainless-Steel vats for about twenty-five days.  The wine is then aged for about eighteen months in French Oak, of which a third is new.  A pretty ruby-red wine which offered notes of red fruit, cassis, toasted oak and tobacco.  On the palate the fruit, spice and oak mixed quite well with some softened tannins and a nice medium-count finish of terroir.

Le Baron de Rouillac Pessac-Leognan 2019 is the second label of the winery and an homage to Baron Haussmann.  The Baron acquired the estate in 1864 through marriage and it became his retreat from business in Paris.  He revamped the entire estate to fit his pleasures and his elegance of style.  The estate after it left his hands kind of drifted until the present owner Lauren Cisneros.  This wine does not get as much exportation as the first label.  The wine is a blend of fifty-two percent Cabernet Sauvignon and forty-eight percent Merlot.  The fruit is manually harvested and inspected.  Initial Fermentation in Thermo-regulated Stainless-Steel bats for twenty-two days and aged for twelve months in French Oak, of which fifteen percent was new.  The wine was a bright ruby-red in color and offered notes of fresh red fruit, floral and spices.  On the palate tones of blackberry and cassis, some spices and it was well balanced and crafted with a nice medium-count finish of terroir.  I thought it was refreshing and a bargain.                 

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Two From La Rioja Alta S.A.

Posted on February 3, 2023 by thewineraconteur

I have had a love affair with Rioja for the last fifty years and I think they are well aware of it at my local wine shop The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan.  I mean back when I was a student and just starting to learn about wines, I could buy two wines from Rioja, basically for the price of a Bordeaux.  My early mentors used to also tell me, that vintages were not reliable or necessary to worry about, and I have never been able to ascertain the validity of that, but I have also not been able to get that thought out of my memory banks.  Though when I was a kid, Rioja wines were very accessible, in fact more shelf space was devoted to Spain, than to California.

La Rioja Alta S.A. or the Sociedad Vinicola de La Rioja Alta was founded in 1890 by five families from Rioja and the Basque, and in 1904 the Ardanza winery joined the firm.  The estate also has about four-hundred hectares of vineyards planted in the Rioja region, including the Rioja Alta area. The flagship of the firm is the Gran Reserva 890, and the second label is Gran Reserva 890 (which was formally labeled Reserva 1904).   Now onto the notes of La Rioja Alta S.A. Gran Reserva 904 2011, and 2011 was declared and rated as “Exceptional.”  The wine is eighty-nine percent Tempranillo and eleven percent Graciano.  Initial Fermentation is done in batches for a period of seventeen days and some batches were allowed to complete Malolactic Fermentation for a period of seventy-five days.  The wine is then aged for fifty-four months with house-made barrels of American Oak.  A deep garnet-red wine with notes of black and red fruits and traces of orange zest, with secondary notes of cedar/cigar box and spices.  On the palate tones of fruit, silky tannins and totally balanced delivering a nice long delicate finish of fruit and balsamic. 

The second wine we had was La Rioja Alta S.A. Vina Ardanza Reserva 2015 and is one of three Reserva wines that they produce.  This wine is seventy-eight percent Tempranillo from thirty-year-old vines on their main estate vineyards and twenty-two percent Garnacha (Grenache) from a forty-hectare vineyard in the Rioja Oriental (formerly known as Rioja Baja).  The fruit is hand-harvested and destemmed, and this was the first year that they used an optical selection process, and examined each berry.  Initial Fermentation and Malolactic Fermentation took about seventy-five days.  The Tempranillo was aged for thirty-six months and the Grenache was aged for thirty months and then the final blending.  This Garnet-red wine offered notes of red fruit, baking aromas, licorice, coffee, cocoa, vanilla and cinnamon.  On the palate, this was a powerhouse of fruit, totally fresh with full tannins, very chewy, and a nice long finish of fruit and spices.  We tasted these two wines in reverse order, and I made a suggestion that they should do the tastings in this sequence, because the Vina Ardanza Reserva to me, just stole all the thunder, it was such a magnificent wine and the aging potential has to be at least ten to twenty years, easily.       

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Le Clarence de Haut-Brion 2019

Posted on February 1, 2023 by thewineraconteur

After fifty some odd years, I still have unicorn wines that I have desires for, as I think most wine drinkers do as well.  I was visiting my local wine shop The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan and they let me get a little closer to one of the unicorns, almost within petting range, I might add.  One of the many unicorns that I haven’t tried and there are many, as I have been a working man, raising a family and have tried to be fiscally responsible, is Chateau Haut-Brion, the only First Growth that I have not had, and the only one from Pessac-Leognan.

Chateau Haut-Brion is the oldest of Bordeaux’s five First Growths, as it was established in the early 1500s by the Pontac family and then has changed hands several times since then.  A wine that was favored by Charles II, Thomas Jefferson and Samuel Pepys to name a few.  The estate was acquired in 1935 by the American Francophile Clarence Dillon and has been managed by his family ever since.  While the Chateau is famed for their red wine “grand vin” they also produce a white wine on the property.  The property is fifty-one hectares and forty-eight hectares are planted to Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot and three hectares are planted with Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon.

Le Clarence de Haut-Brion Pessac-Leognan 2019 is the second label for Chateau Haut-Brion in the red wine.  Prior to 2007 the wine was known as “Chateau Bahans Haut-Brion” and was renamed in homage to Clarence Dillon.  The fruit for this wine gets to enjoy the same soil as the parent and that is small pebbles of assorted quartz upon a subsoil of clay, sand and limestone with excellent drainage.  The wine is a blend of seventy-three percent Merlot, eleven percent Cabernet Sauvignon and sixteen percent Cabernet Franc; all of which was hand-harvested during a three-week period.  The juice has two weeks of maceration and fermentation, and then the juice is aged in French Oak (thirty percent new) for about seventeen months before bottling.  A nice deep-dark-red wine offering notes of fresh red and black fruit, violets and spices.  On the palate there were notes of blackberry and cassis, along with spices in a well balanced and creamy wine with firm tannins, with touches of vanilla and pepper and a nice long-count finish of terroir.  If this is as close to one of the unicorns, it will suffice. 

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