The Cellars are nearly bare

By TOM MARQUARDT and PATRICK DARR

We know your cel­lars are nearly bare, so we’ve drummed up a num­ber of inter­est­ing buys for you to con­sider. We taste wines every week and maybe one out of 10 are worth mentioning.

It’s rare when we taste a really bad wine. It’s not hard to make a tech­ni­cally cor­rect wine nowa­days. It is more dif­fi­cult to cre­ate some­thing spe­cial and will speak of its wine region.

Here are a few we like:

Decoy Sauvi­gnon Blanc 2010 ($18). From the mak­ers of Duck­horn, this Napa Val­ley sauvi­gnon blanc offers fresh acid­ity and the clas­sic notes of grape­fruit, fresh-mown grass, pineap­ple and cit­rus. Assertive dis­play of sauvi­gnon blanc’s expression.

Domaine du Vieux Chene Bosquet du San­glier Vin de Pays 2009 ($13). This wine was the steal. From the Vau­cluse region of south­ern France, it has gen­er­ous grenache fla­vors of ripe cher­ries, straw­ber­ries, black pep­per and a hint of tobacco. There’s prob­a­bly syrah or mer­lot blended with this deli­cious wine.

Cloudy Bay Sauvi­gnon Blanc 2011 ($25). Always one of the best from New Zealand, this sauvi­gnon blanc has grape­fruit and cit­rus fla­vors, fresh acid­ity and aro­mas of peach and lime.

Gab­biano Chi­anti Clas­sico DOCG 2008 ($14). There is a lot of mediocre chi­anti on the mar­ket to con­fuse con­sumers, but we have always found the ones from Gab­biano to be reli­ably deli­cious and bal­anced. This clas­sico rep­re­sents value. It sports a flo­ral nose and plum, cherry fruit. Gabbiano’s reserve chi­anti is a more com­plex wine for $23 — still a very good buy.

Gab­biano Alleanza 2008 ($35). Using the best estate grapes, this blend of mer­lot, caber­net sauvi­gnon and san­giovese is an iron fist in a vel­vet glove — bold in style but soft in tex­ture. Black­berry fla­vors and flo­ral, herbal and clove aromas.

Dry Creek Val­ley Sauvi­gnon Blanc 2010 ($16). This Cal­i­for­nia sauvi­gnon blanc has a lot of per­son­al­ity with lemon grass and pineap­ple aro­mas, cit­rus and trop­i­cal fruit fla­vors. Rich in the mouth and long in the finish.

Murphy-Goode Chardon­nay 2009 ($14). We tasted this in a flight of a half-dozen chardon­nays and we were most impressed with its restrained oak. The oak fla­vors are there but in mod­er­a­tion. The fla­vors are of trop­i­cal fruit and pear with a dash of min­eral and vanilla.

Plan­ta­genet Omrah Sauvi­gnon Blanc 2010 ($15). This Aus­tralian wine packs soft trop­i­cal fruit fla­vors and gen­er­ous min­eral and cit­rus aro­mas. Crisp fin­ish and enjoy­able as an aperitif.

d’Arenberg The Bro­ken Fish­plate Sauvi­gnon Blanc 2010 ($17). More com­plex than we expected, this Aus­tralian beauty has opu­lent aro­mas of cit­rus and guava fol­lowed by mango and pineap­ple flavors,

Anti­nori Tenuta Guado al Tasso Scalarone 2010 ($21). This is a block­buster blend of caber­net sauvgnon (40 per­cent), mer­lot and syrah from one of the most reli­able pro­duc­ers in Italy. Dark red fruits abound with nice hints of herbs and cedar.

Patz & Hall Sonoma Coast Chardon­nay 2009 ($35). We loved the rich creme brulee fla­vors of this opu­lent chardon­nay. Trop­i­cal fruit and peach fla­vors with a nice splash of sweet, toasty oak.

Patz & Hall Zio Tony Ranch Russ­ian River Val­ley Chardon­nay 2009 ($60). The price is high for chardon­nay, but this comes close to bur­gundy. Well bal­anced and opu­lent in tex­ture, it has a broad array of aro­mas and entic­ing fla­vors of peach and apples.

Clos Pegase Napa Val­ley Caber­net Sauvi­gnon 2008 ($48). This is an extra­or­di­nary wine that con­tin­ues to please year after year. It may be pricey for you, but it’s worth every penny — and more. Very com­plex with fruit for­ward fla­vors and dusty tan­nins. Ripe black cher­ries, plum and choco­late notes.

Cave de Tain Crozes Her­mitage Red 2008 ($17). Often under­es­ti­mated, the Crozes Her­mitage region of north­ern Cotes du Rhone pro­duces great val­ues. This one has the gen­er­ous and round black­berry fla­vors with soft tan­nins and hints of spice and cas­sis. Syrah is the dom­i­nant if not only grape used in this lus­cious wine.

Cave de Tain Crozes Her­mitage White 2010 ($17). This is a won­der­ful blend of marsanne and rou­sanne has a beguil­ing bou­quet of pineap­ple, mango and anise. Fresh cit­rus notes dom­i­nate the palate with hints of almonds.

Rod­ney Strong Sym­me­try 2008 ($55). Indeed, this wine has a lot of sym­me­try. Using grapes from Alexan­der Val­ley, the wine­maker has crafted a deli­cious, bal­anced wine that is 65 per­cent caber­net sauvi­gnon. The rest of the blend is made up of mal­bec, mer­lot, petite ver­dot and caber­net franc. Ripe sweet plums and black­ber­ries com­mand the palate and are fol­lowed by hints of dark choco­late and cinnamon.

Posted by Guest 2 Columnist on Mar 2 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.