September 2019

A CUBILLO FOR THE AGES

What a difference a year makes! As the majority of you who read us regularly are aware, there are likely no greater fans of Rioja, with the possible exception of some of the Riojanos themselves, than we are. One of the rewards of doing this kind of thing, for us, is to get paid for doing something we would do anyway. Today’s exercise gives us the opportunity to talk about a few of our favorite things, specifically one of the revered houses located in Rioja’s ‘holy city’ (Haro), Lopez de Heredia, and one of the greatest vintages we have had the good fortune to experience from the region, 2010.

As to Lopez de Heredia, there is little we need to say about this icon of traditional Spanish winemaking founded in 1892. We have tasted virtually every level of wine they produce, including some historic older bottlings, and have never been disappointed even given pretty high expectations. They do all the right things to create the wines they want to make and charge very attractive prices for the various levels offered. Granted prices have edged up a bit as the world continues to discover the wonders of Rioja, but they are still pretty sensational given the other choices of equal caliber.

As to 2010, it has been a while since we have talked about the vintage. It is a sensational harvest with purity of fruit, ripe tannins, classic lines and fine structure. They are wines that will age decades yet can deliver a glassful of joy next weekend. The Riojanos have definitely been surprisingly low-keyed about the exceptional year, but the rest of the wine world has been unanimous in its praise.

Simply put, releases in Rioja come sort of in waves. For the most part crianzas come out first, followed by reservas and finally gran reservas, all titles very specifically defined by Spanish law based on barrel age and time in bottle. Each winery has their own schedule as to how the wines roll out, though they mostly follow the same level by level pattern we described. Most of the 2010 crianzas and reservas are long gone and we have even moved through a number of the gran reservas. But the top older houses run on a much slower cycle. So we will be seeing a number of the ‘big dogs’ from this great vintage coming out over the next several months. Hallelujah!

As for Lopez de Heredia, they are just beginning on their efforts in 2010 starting with the Lopez de Heredia Rioja Vina Cubillo Crianza 2010, their entry-level bottling. This is where we must make the point again, one of the best houses in one of the best vintages. We have faithfully followed Lopez for years and enjoyed virtually every vintage of Cubillo along the way. This is the best version we have ever tasted by a good bit. Made from 65% Tempranillo, 25% Garnacha, and the rest Mazuelo and Graciano all from estate vineyards, this saw three years in barrel (like a gran reserva) after which it is bottled unfiltered.

Sure it has all of the accustomed sweet cherry and plum fruit, dusty/spicy classic Rioja accents and underpinning of vanilla and balsamic. But there is more weight, power and richness in the midpalate, impeccable balance between the fruit and tannins and a remarkable but refined presence in the glass. Over the course of several hours it evolved glacially, so packed and structured, yet it never ceased to impress. We dare say it is better than some of their Tondonia and Bosconia bottlings we have had in the past, yet this surprising beverage can be had for under $25. Amazing? You bet!

But that’s Rioja, that’s Lopez, and the greatness of 2010.

We were not alone in our praise. Luis Gutierrez of robertparker.com wrote, “The 2010 Viña Cubillo Tinto Crianza is superb and shows great depth and nuance, with great freshness, and the red cherries are complemented by notes of blood oranges, nutmeg and other spices. It has a soft and harmonious palate, with great balance and very good freshness. – 93 Points!”

Given James Suckling’s usual brevity of comments, this is a virtual tome, “Cubillo is a very focused and quite crisp style of red that has spent three years in barrique and then in larger cask to wait for bottling, which happens two years before the expected release. The richness and depth of complex dried wood and spice here is seamlessly sewn into the dried red and dark cherries. The palate is pinned around a fresh-blackberry core that marries still sweet fruit to more savory style. Long and balanced. The tannins are fine yet assertive. It freshens into the finish nicely. Drink or hold…95 Points!”

Great house, great vintage, great price, this one checks all the boxes! This is not to be missed.

EPIC, ‘ALMOST PERFECT’ RWT

We have been on the Penfolds trail for a very long time, going back to the 1980s when few people in this market even knew what it was or paid attention to Australian wine at all. We bought closeouts of Bin 389, 407, and even Grange back in the day at our first location. Tasting them back then, we became fans pretty quickly. How could you not? At the time the wines had plenty of pure, in-your-face fruit, supple tannins and honest flavors. They not only had charm, but they delivered value.

A lot has happened since those days. There were years of following Grange in the same way we followed top Bordeaux (the 1998 was a particular benchmark for us and before the prices got anywhere near where they are today). There was a period where the wines began to take on a very commercial demeanor and showed signs of excessive acidification. There was another period where the prices on what you might call the bread-and-butter mid-range wines increased 3 to 4 fold as they became white-hot in the Asian market. There was also a period where the direction of the winery, and its corporate owners, was a little sketchy based on financials.

Fast forward to today. Prices on some items still seem a little out of sync with the marketplace, and the current distribution scenario, in California anyway, is not exactly what we would expect for mega-volume premium players like Penfolds, Berigner, and BV. But with respect to the juice itself, Penfolds is all systems go under the steady hand of winemaker Peter Gago.

Given that, our mission today is to explain why this brilliant effort of Penfolds Shiraz RWT is not only a great wine that belongs in everyone’s cellar who can pay the freight, but is actually something of a deal at its $139.98 price. First, the company spiel that RWT Barossa Valley Shiraz presents an admirable alternative to the multi-regional sourcing and American oak maturation that are hallmarks of Grange. It is intended to express the best of a single region, Barossa Valley, and is done entirely in French oak.

From Penfolds, “The initials RWT stand for ‘Red Winemaking Trial’, the name given to the project internally when developmental work began in 1995. Naturally, now no longer a ‘Trial’, RWT Shiraz was launched in May 2000 with the 1997 vintage. Its style is opulent and fleshy, contrasting with Grange, which is more muscular and assertive. RWT is made from fruit primarily selected for its aromatic qualities and lush texture. The result is a wine that helps to redefine Barossa Shiraz at the highest quality level…”

The standards for this wine are high, and the 2016 vintage offered the opportunity to shoot for the stars qualitatively. In a recent visit, Barossa winemaking dignitary Dave Powell (founder of Torbreck, and recently his own Powell label) said of the vintage ‘I didn’t have to do anything…the fruit was so outstanding.’ Aged in French oak (72% new), RWT offers hints of vanilla and cedar, but more than anything, it showcases the region’s bold berry and plum fruit. The sleek, rich oak veneer is a fine backdrop to this powerful but polished fruit, and from first whiff, you know this is a special wine.

Don’t just take our word. Jeb Dunnuck made quite the case for the 2016 RWT in his own publication, “The 2016 Shiraz RWT is a brilliant, brilliant wine, and I suspect the finest version of this cuvee ever produced. Thrilling notes of black raspberries, crème de cassis, toasted spice, mint, and espresso all emerge from this deep, rich, powerful Shiraz. With massive concentration, it still glides across the palate with no sensation of heaviness or rusticity, building, perfectly ripe tannins, and incredible opulence and intensity. It shows more grilled meat notes with time in the glass and is a monumental Barossa Shiraz that flirts with perfection… 99 Points.”

It is all of that, as well as one of the greatest wines we have tasted this year. As to the price, these days that kind of money will get you a good Bordeaux (but not a First or super Second Growth), a competent small production Napa Cabernet (but not any of the elite names), or one of the best Shiraz wines on the planet at one-fifth the price of its more famous stable-mate. The choice seems clear. It is a mouth-filling, legend-in-the-making must for those who relish big, bold, stylish reds.

BOISTEROUS BARBERA 2017

We weren’t sure how to title this one. The reference to Barbera is a murky one for some people. In Piedmont, Barbera is considered one of the ‘little’ wines, something of an everyday beverage with the grapes usually relegated to the lesser terroirs.

Barbera also has an image problem of a sort. What is it? There are so many variations. You’ve got something decidedly utilitarian and unadorned from a number of the larger producers in Piedmont all the way to someone like Braida who is shooting for the stars with carefully tended vineyards and an upscale oak regimen.

There are many personalities from firm and fruit forward to stern and acidic, and all of them perform better if the is food involved. Most recently in the 2013 and 2014 vintages, very difficult for the earlier harvest, ‘lesser’ grapes in particular, they mostly ranged from uninspired to awful. The 2015s and 2016s were at the other end of the spectrum, generally very good and often outstanding. Given the variations in style and dramatic swings in vintages, we couldn’t begin to guess what most folks think about Barbera.

The 2017 vintage isn’t going to answer the question of what Barbera should be. But it is a unique and joyful look at something the grape can be but rarely is. The short story of the vintage is crops reduced by weather quirks in the spring, low yields, warm dry summer, phenolic ripeness and an early harvest. The result is possibly the juiciest, tenderest, most engaging examples of Barbera we can recall tasting…ever!

Hey it’s early in the game, but there’s no reason to expect that the freakishly friendly 2017 Barberas we have tasted thus far aren’t a proper vanguard for what is coming (the 2017 Nebbiolos have been remarkably precocious as well).

Our poster child for what we have seen thus far is the Revello Barbera d’Alba 2017 . Billowing nose of spicy dark red fruits, supple palate with tender edges, gregarious and juicy every step of the way, the profile hardly says Barbera given the history of the grape here, though the flavors are varietally correct.

Also, at $15, it’s a lot of wine for the fare and, even though it is an uncommonly friendly version of the genre, it is just as food friendly as it should be as, under all of that fruit, there’s enough cut to get the job done.

RHONE 2016: AN IMPORTANT NEW/OLD FACE

At this point we’ll presume that you have heard us wax poetic about the 2016 vintage in the southern Rhone on multiple occasions, so we’ll cut right to the main story. Even in a place with the long history of the Rhone, there are new stories and exciting new things to discover. The land, of course, has always been here, and farmhouse from which the property takes its name, St. Antonin, has been in references back to the time of Napoleon and was built in the 17^th Century. What made the big change at this property, and likely the reason you re hearing about it today is the new ownership circa 2014.

A number of serious Rhone domaines have looked to this area, called Plan de Dieu, as a place that provided terroir that is not unlike Chateauneuf itself and offers the opportunity for expansion. But here estates with contiguous holdings of clay, galet, and sand soils, don’t come up very often. When this one did, the Sabon family was on it. Now there are a few Sabons in the Rhone. But this particular family of Sabons are the folks that own the iconic Domaine de la Janasse in Chateauneuf.

This new domaine of 15 hectares, plus a couple of hectares of Chateauneuf transferred from Janasse to the Clos St. Antonin estate, are under the control of daughter Isabelle along with her father Aime. Certainly the succession of vineyard land (Napoleonic law and all of that) had a part in the creation of this project, but we are only focused on the juice itself. On that score, Clos St. Antonin is off to a whale of a start. These are only their second releases and, while the timing couldn’t have been better with respect to vintages, it is clear that Isabelle Sabon has quite the touch.

As we tasted through the lineup, we mused that her wines showed a deft hand and a certain refinement yet still delivered a substantial mouthful of rich, savory fruit. Brother beware, the lady has skills. The Clos St. Antonin Cotes du Rhone 2016 is a polished bargain at its price point and, as we have said on a few occasions with specialty Cotes du Rhone in 2016, her Clos St. Antonin Cotes du Rhone Villages Plan de Dieu 2016 could hang with the ‘bigger fish’ and outscored a number of Chateauneufs. The proof is in the glass.

Made from 80% Grenache, the balance Mourvedre and Syrah, all from 30-50 year old vines, it is raised in concrete tanks, foudres and neutral French oak demi-muids. We’ll let Jeb Dunnuck do the play-by-play, “…the 2016 Côtes du Rhône should be sought out by savvy buyers. Ripe, rounded, and incredibly sexy, with lots of kirsch and blackberry fruits, garrigue, and mineral notes, it has impeccable balance as well as purity of fruit. It’s a knockout Côtes du Rhône to drink over the coming 3-4 years.

This up and coming superstar of an estate was created by Isabelle and Christophe Sabon (of Domaine de Janasse) in 2015. The estate is located in the Plan de Dieu, northeast of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, yet they have access to some prime terroirs in Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the La Crau and Font du Loup lieux-dits. These are legit, awesome wines, and savvy readers need to get on board!... 91 Points “

Of the Plan de Dieu, “Even better, the 2016 Côtes du Rhône Villages Plan de Dieu has to be one of the great wines from this appellation, which comes from an ocean of vines located on the valley floor between Vacqueyras and Cairanne. Made from 50% Grenache, 30% Mourvèdre, and 20% Syrah brought up in foudre and demi-muids, it offers awesome notes of cassis, blackberries, spice box, and licorice. Ripe, full-bodied, and powerful, yet also balanced and pure, do your best to latch onto a few bottles…94 Points.”

Yes the field is crowded right now. But even in this current (though diminishing) sea of glorious southern Rhones, these are significant efforts. They are lush, engaging, pure and hedonistic, yet at the same time are beautifully aligned and somehow more precise than most. Like the man said, “savvy readers need to get on board.”