france
2005 Chateau Haut-Mazeris (Bordeaux, France)
2005 Chateau Haut-Mazeris (Canon-Fronsac) - 29.99
“Merlot 65%, Cabernet Franc 15% and Cabernet Sauvignon 20%. From vineyards located in the highest point of Fronsac, Haut-Mazeris shows a lot of muscle and is a wine that will develop for many years to come. Dark chocolate and meaty essences are here within an etched and structured frame. A rigorous and polished wine and an excellent example of a classically styled wine.”
91 Points, Rhett Beiletti
Staff Selection, March 2010
2007 Chateau Rigaud (Faugeres, France)
2007 Chateau Rigaud Faugeres ($11.99 for a limited time)
In the event you are a terroirist (one who is truly interested in where wines come from: how the soil and setting are expressed) this wine has much to offer. Great Priorat wines from Spain too come from slate soils (schist) and exhibit the same style of expression found here but through a different grape. In Priorat it is the old vine grenache expressing slate, here it is syrah expressing slate: that lick of wet stone YOU can taste. Geologically slate is usually found at elevations. The higher elevations add a brightness, vivacity and expressiveness too found here. This is true of higher elevation tempranillo in Spain for instance. The wines are more racy. The hints of smoke and peat and iodine should make it a single malt lovers wine balanced by Grenache flavors and textures. Now if you are not a terroirist (give it time) you will relate very well to this review: “The epitome of 2007s ability to combine lift and vivacity with ripe richness and sheer density, it represents a mind-boggling value that will in addition probably evolve interestingly in bottle for several years.” – 91-92 Points, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate. What an amazing value!!!!
91 Points, Bob Sprentall
Staff Selection, March 2010
2007 Olivier Leflaive Bourgogne Blanc Les Sétilles (Burgundy)
2007 Olivier Leflaive Bourgogne Blanc Les Sétilles - $17.99 or $16.19 by the case!
“Exceptional chardonnay without the drag of oak. A blend of wine from two villages in Burgundy, France which typically sell for 2 and three times this price. With the nerve typical of the wines from the village of Puligny-Montrachet blended with the fatter fleshier wine from the village of Meursault. Stunning Chardonnay value.”
90 Points, Bob Sprentall
February 2010
Returning from the Bordeaux Campaign Trail
- On a scenic and rainy drive through Fronsac, a beautiful terrain…
I’d intended to make little journal entries on the campaign trail, but that would have cut into my drinking and eating time, so I do it now, on my first day back and before jet lag jumps me. Maybe the delay makes it a simple report, which is fine, because blog sounds to me…well…so crude.
From 12-16 Jan we met in Bordeaux and tasted with 13 sources over 4 days. The mood there is confident toward the 2009 vintage. While the red wines are being heavily anticipated, Sauternes are said to be stellar too. It is the first vintage in some time, since 1990, that the stars have aligned in so significant a way to have such expectations between both the dry wines and the sweet. We are encouraged about the prospect of the vintage hearing what we did, but the prices will have to be right. We will return to Bordeaux and this topic in late March once we taste from barrel and sense the market’s motion toward opening. To speculate further may have no point at all.
Bordeaux is a market like no other though, and there is more to buy there than Bordeaux — many Chateaux own property in other countries, like Argentina for instance — and often more than 1 vintage of Bordeaux is available at a time. That is why we go there more than once a year. Meeting with negociants, the direct buyers from the Chateau(x), has proven to be quite a resource, and it seems to be the way of the future, one negoce head actually saying that “the middle man is being squeezed out”. But we are the end of the market and moving in this compression ever closer to the source, and that is good for all involved with B-21. It allows us to offer better pricing and to handpick our selection more finely and to offer more as well. For now, it is a bit premature to talk about just what we we net from this trip, because the business still has to be done; it’s not always how good something is, it is what it presents in terms of value too.
Monsieur Rapet in Pernand-Vergelesses
And then to Burgundy we went for 3 days of touring and tasting. We visited 14 Domaines and tasted 2008s from barrel, over 170 by my count (and we tasted other wines from bottle at a few offices too). Many white wines of 2008 were stunning, and there are many values in red wines. The whites are wines to be completely excited about; the fruit is lustrous, intense and pure and the acids abundant; the vintage is collectible and will evolve well for those that buy with that in mind. It is a vintage that many vintners compared to 1996. Meursault will be a haven, and Puligny-Montrachet will produce many exhilarating wines. Chassagne-Montrachet will also be a solid source too along with Saint Aubin and Auxey Duresses. The Grand Cru white wines I tasted, from Batard-Montrachet, Bienvenues Batard-Montrachet and Corton-Charlemagne were simply sublime and showed that special threading of a needle, combining texture and minerality into ethereal elixirs that will develop for years to come. I will break my personal bank for these kinds of wines to be able to share them with others on some special occasion in the future– thinking positively that will be some to merit this type of extravagance.
In the months to come we will begin to unveil expected arrivals as they develop… and they will.
- Rhett Beiletti, B-21 Correspondent to France
Still time for resolutions: Make mine Grenache
2008 Lafage Cote Est - 9.99 ($8.99 by the case)
If Jancis Robinson resolves to drink more Riesling in 2010… I hereby resolve to drink more and more Grenache/Garnacha/Garnacas/Cannonau. This should be easy. And fun. Grenache/Garnacha is the most widely planted grape on the planet and consequently gets no respect. But it’s hardly generic. It has accents from Catalan to Valley Girl. It’s planted in big numbers in Spain, France, Australia, California, in Sicily as well as the Rhone. And colors from blanc and gris to rosé and even near black. First up is a surprise contender, Cote Est, a lively little French white dancing in the Cotes Catalanes somewhere between the southern Rhone and Spanish Catalonia. A better hint is that it’s from Jean-Marc Lafage, who rocked us with Las Rocas (great red garnacas in Spanish Catalonia). For the white he’s in old-vine France outside Perpignan. Cote Est is a juicy blend of Marsanne, Chardonnay and half Grenache (white and gris). Tart backbone of citrus and minerals, but with a heady blast of sweet peaches, apricots, honey and a dusting of white pepper. Blindfolded, I would have smelled Viognier, tasted Torrontes and hungered for sushi. If I drink a bottle a day for a year, I could write a book called “Grenache and Garnacha’’ and then a movie. Would Meryl Streep play me?
- Chris Sherman
2008 Mas Carlot Clairette de Bellegarde (France)
2008 Mas Carlot Clairette de Bellegarde ($9.99)
From the appellation of Clairette de Bellegarde, made of the Clairette vareital, an exhilarating wine showing freshness and fragrance too, prominently fresh-cut limes, full and fleshy pears, lemon zest, it has simply mouthwatering qualities. Mineral notes, ripe and resonant fruit with fresh and vibrant acids too. This is a complete wine! Incredibly low yields from 60 yr vines, and a very low production. The Best $10 white wine of 2009.
90 Points, Rhett Beiletti
January 2010
Kudos to Rhett. He knows his wines.
2008 Mas Carlot Clairette ($9.99)
I have to give kudos to my associate Rhett Beiletti who has recently turned me on to a couple of great wines that I had not previously heard of. He continually finds great wines that are sometimes obscure yet always satisfying. The 2008 Mas Carlot from 100% Clairette grown in southern France is as fine a white wine as you will ever find for $10. It’s beautifully aromatic with mineral and citrus elements that ebb and flow. On the palate it is persistent, refreshing and delicious. Also check out Domaine d’Oupia’s 2007 Minervois. It is rich and full but also exhibits complexity and interest rarely found for the price. In fact I tell everyone it’s the best value red in B-21.
- Steve