2019 – Page 3

2019: CHIANTIS TO LOVE

This is less about any individual Chiantis as much as to give our impressions of the latest vintage of Chiantis starting to hit the market. Please note that we have offered up a couple of early arrivals that we think prove our point below. Also, not long after we proclaimed 2016 one of the best vintages ever in Tuscany, here we are touting a vintage again. So, for the record, we are not redacting what we said about 2016. It is still the best vintage we have tasted. But as we move forward, 2019 is going to make a LOT of friends just based on their sheer sexiness.

The 2016s still stand alone for their power, grace, balance and typicite. But the 2019s are not that far behind in terms of performance and are some of the lustiest, creamiest examples of the genre we can recall. These take people- pleasing to a new level with their overt roundness, silky texture, and fruit-driven mid-palate. Kinder, gentler Chianti? It works. Here are a couple of examples from two meticulous producers.

The Monteraponi Chianti Classico 2019 is a relatively new favorite from Radda in Chianti from a high altitude (from 400-500 meters above sea level). The wines are carefully made in a very natural way, which is to say no added yeast, nutrients, or malolactic bacteria are used, and fermentation takes place in cement tanks, followed by long macerations (even the Chianti Classico is kept on the skins for at least 25 days). The wines are aged in large oak only, and they are not fined or filtered. This Classico, a blend of 95% Sangiovese and 5% Canaiolo, expresses the outgoing spice and minerality we have come to expect from this respected source, but the urgent cherry fruit component is a much less tightly wound and more relaxed and engaging. This producer is a consistent star but this friendlier version will reach a broader audience.

We have been fans of Castellare for decades and the Castellare Di Castellina Chianti Classico 2019 is a beauty. Their Chiantis are always clean, precise and delicious, but this one has a wealth of forward dark red leaning towards black fruit and something of a slippery direction. It doesn’t happen often but this Chianti, while it will play its usual role as an augment to food, can be consumed with gusto all by itself thanks to its gentle palate, plush fruit, and well tucked in acidity.

Based on purity, quality and likability, we’d normally predict great reviews for these. But there is concern that a reviewer who is very strict in their reference points might be taken aback by these wines’ more New World demeanor. Do they fit the mold by comparison to all Chiantis that have come before? Maybe not because they are juicier and more outgoing than most examples we can think of. But that is by no means a problem. Are they delcious? Absolutely, and that is the point.

OLD VINES, GLOBAL WARMING, BURG VALUE

We’ve spent a bit of print explaining the whole theory about how global warming has elevated quality in a number of climats in places like Burgundy. That plays right into our hands of finding delicious Burgundy ‘on the cheap’. But to recap briefly, because temperatures are a little higher than they were before, places that didn’t quite ripen before now hit that sweet spot. The whole determination of prices in Burgundy is based on historic performance. The warmer weather pushes the ripeness level in place that, previously, didn’t always hit the mark. For the time being you have riper, juicier wines but market mechanics have not yet let the prices catch up.

Bottom line, there is more delicious ‘little’ Burgundy around these days ay sensational prices. The 2019 vintage was particularly successful in a number of regions throughout France, not the least of which is Burgundy. We have presented some very engaging efforts from the ripe, round 2018 vintage. But as we start working through offerings from the 2019 vintage in Burgundy, we might even be a notch or two better. This lusty, fruit driven effort from Danjean Berthoux is a beautiful example of the vintage as well as a spectacular Burgundy value.

Danjean Berthoux has been on our radar for a long time, probably before global warming was the topic it has become. Located in Givry in the Cote Chalonnaise, Berthoux was something of the poster child for wines in less esteemed appellations that delivered far above their station. But 2019 has provided a richer, sweeter, juicier effort than we can recall previously. For the record, Pascal Danjean, who took over the family estate some 20 years ago, never fines or filters and eschews the use of new wood almost entirely, resulting in soft, supple wines that allow the terroir to shine.

The Danjean Berthoux Bourgogne Chaume Ronde 2019 comes from outside the demarcation line for Givry. There are 2 parcels that are located in the lower slopes of the hills in the commune of Jambles, below the Premier Crus. Being lower on the hillside means there is more topsoil sitting on top of clay and some limestone. One of the parcels, called the Chaume Ronde, was planted in 1948 (the other parcel a mere 50 years old). This wine comes from that 1 hectare older block.

Curiously we had tasted and enjoyed the 2018 version of this wine only a week before but the purveyor showed up with the 2019 in hand and it trumped the delightful 2018 by virtue of more flesh and richness in the mid-palate. Timing is everything. The Bourgogne is done entirely in stainless steel. As Burgundy goes, this has a fleshy palate of cherry and some darker berries, streaks of minerality, and spice notes. As always there’s a firm backbone of acidity underpinning the forward fruit but it stays in a supporting role.

As for reviews, it’s a 2019, so it just got here. Even so, we don’t expect a lot of ink on wines like this. As we have often discussed, Burgundy reviews are a hierarchal exercise performed by critics bent on reviewing the elite wines that don’t really require reviews. The last time Burghound reviewed this Givry-based domaine was 2003. There were some dismissive reviews from Vinous’ Neal Martin in 2016, probably penned after a Romanee Conti vertical, and that vintage alone. The point is wines like this don’t get the attention of the media, which is why you can get something this satisfying for this kind of price in an expensive place like Burgundy. The 2019s look to be a lot of fun and you can bet we’ll be drinking a lot of this delicious, angst-free, old vine Bourgogne ourselves.

A PRINCELY NAPA CAB DEAL

Sometimes it’s good to mix things up a little bit. But we want to tell you up front and make it perfectly clear that this is a Jeb Dunnuck review for the last vintage of this wine, the 2018:

“The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon comes all from Napa Valley and is 100% Cabernet aged 20 months in 60% new French oak. It tastes as though it costs three times the price and has a rocking nose of blackcurrants, chocolate, tobacco leaf, and cedar pencil, with a touch of rocky minerality and graphite showing with time in the glass. Not your simple, value-priced fruit bomb, it has considerable depth of fruit, building tannins, and a great finish…. Hats off to winemaker Maayan Koschitzky for over-delivering on all these wines from Royal Prince…93 points.”

Now we never tasted that wine nor, for a variety of reasons, previously ever heard of Royal Prince wines. We can’t spring a review on the 2019 because it just came on the market. We looked up the label on Wine Advocate, Wine Spectator, James Suckling, and Vinous in search of any past reviews and, apparently, they hadn’t seen it either. That’s fine. It is clearly one of the better kept secrets in California Cabernet, and that can be an advantage. We can tell you that 2019 is considered an exceptional vintage in Napa and time will tell if it may be even a little better than 2018, which is great.

The ‘mind behind’ the project is one David Green, someone we have crossed paths with before with a marketing resume that includes some familiar names like Cliff Lede, Dana Estates and Joel Gott. He’s been around a while (over three decades) and has lots of contacts in the wine trade. We’re a little curious about the context of the name but most important is that this is meant to be a high-performance ‘value brand’. If you interpret that to mean a $45 Napa Cabernet that can be on the table with $80-90 Napa Cabs, you’ve got the picture.

Of course, while sourcing fruit is a significant task, someone needs to make magic in the cellar. That’s where Mayaan Koschitzky comes in. A former paratrooper and judo black belt, Mayaan made wines in Israel for a half decade before coming to America. He couldn’t have started with more impressive gigs than with Screaming Eagle and Dalle Valle in 2011, and then was tapped to work as an assistant with Philippe Melka in his consulting firm in 2014 and, two years later became director of winemaking. One piece we read said he is now Melka’s Partner. Clearly the guy has serious chops and more than a good idea of what great wine is supposed to taste like.

That brings us to Royal Prince Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2019, or what we might refer to as the ‘NDA cuvee’. The list of iconic vineyards in this blend is (which we can’t publish) pretty eye-opening, but what Mayaan did with it is the real news. To use their words, “A plush, opulent, densely textured, full-bodied wine that shows loads of black raspberry fruits, violets, shaved cocoa with polished, sweet tannins. The 2019 Royal Prince Cab is dark and almost opaque in color. It shows aromas of truffle, black cherry, and licorice. The 2019 takes over where its predecessor left off – a massive over-achiever. The NDA on the sources for this wine is long and littered with iconic names. At once powerful and richly textured, it also shows flashy acidity and great persistence in the finish.” It is all of that in fact.

But the feeling we got from the wine was almost haunting. It wasn’t ‘big’ per se by Napa standards. There was a broad swath of very engaging, spiced, cocoa-laced blueberry fruit that effortlessly rolled down the middle of the palate, nicely rounded edges, and a feeling of polished glycerin that screamed pure Cabernet fruit. More unsettling was its resemblance to an elite Bordeaux texturally, rich yet elegant and never ponderous, silky from beginning to end. Some of the flavor profiles gave us hints of very specific, elite Bordeaux like Ducru Beaucaillou and Palmer. Somehow this was Napa Cab with a higher calling and very distinct from the rest of a very good lineup of Napa juice that was on the table that day.

There are bigger Cabs out there, but this one has sufficient size and a charisma all its own. All that and its only $45? That’s a ‘wow’. Like Jeb said about the 2018, “Hats off to winemaker Maayan Koschitzky for over-delivering (again) on all these wines from Royal Prince.” For us this is a ‘ground floor’ kind of opportunity on a yet-to-be discovered gem.

BONPAS COTES DU RHONE: ANOTHER FINE 2019

It has been pretty sensational times for the Rhone Valley. A string of successful vintages since 2015 including epic harvests in the North (2015) and South (2016), with plenty of goodies to be had (be it more selectively) in the other vintages. The word on 2019 in the North is very positive, perhaps on par 2015, though three haven’t been a lot of wines to look at just yet. As to the South, while we aren’t going to tell that 2019 is quite at the supreme level of 2016, it is outstanding and certainly one of the sexiest vintages out of the gate we can recall.

We spoke of the vintage a little bit in the piece we did on longtime favorite Chateau St. Cosme a while ago. That luscious mouthful however is Syrah-centric. This Bonpas Cotes du Rhone Reserve de Bonpas 2019 makes an elegant statement about the quality, substance, and unbridled juiciness we can expect from Grenache in this engaging vintage.

Part of the expansive collection of J.C. Boisset that includes several Californi and French properties as well as one in England and India as well as the iconoc Oakville Grocery, Bonpas is the ‘gateway to the southern Rhone’, a fortress built in 1318 on the road between Avignon (the Papal seat at the time) and Rome. The soils on the state are covered with galets, the round stones associated with the vineyard lands in the region.

As you might have guessed, the lead character here is Grenache from 40-year-old vines, with dollops of Syrah and Mourvedre rounding out the blend. The wine only sees large oak vats to mere aid on the aeration of the wine but not impart any oak notes that might interfere with the purity and authenticity of the fruit.

The Bonpas Cotes du Rhone Reserve de Bonpas 2019 is a crowd-pleaser in every way. Tender and supple for its young age, it’s a plush, forward display of ripe cherry and plum with a subtle underpinning of spice and light-handed minerality and earth notes. The fruit wins the day and the texture will have broad appeal. This is a juicy, versatile red that performs admirably for its modest fare ($12.98) and is another sensational ‘teaser’ for what we expect to be a very hedonistic vintage.

NOT YOUR GRANDMA’S SOAVE

Soave has come a long way since 1970s when the market was saturated with versions from large industrial producers. A few dedicated vintners paid attention to detail, lowered yields, and today’s Soave bears no resemblance to the innocuous versions of the genre from yesteryear. One of our consistent favorites from what one might call the new age Soave is from Inama.

They have been growing grapes in the region since Roman times, with the DOC being established here in 1968. Garganega is the principal grape but the appellation allows for Trebbiano di Soave as well as Chardonnay to be grown. The secret to the best Soaves is using only Garganega, farming modest yields, and having prime vineyards in the Classico zone. Giusseppe Inama realized this early on and starting pruchasing small plot within the designated area in the 1960s.

The 2019 Inama Soave is one of the most compelling versions we have had from a producer that has been a staple around here. It simply has more of everything. Floral notes, pear, and white stone fruits invite you in via the very attractive nose. The same flavors, plus a subtle streak of minerality (the soils are red clay and volcanic tufo) present themselves on the palate. There is weight, substance, and freshness, the type character that can only be achieved through careful farming and meticulous winemaking.

No tricks here. This is a clean, naked wine at a sensational price ($12.98). It also has an enthusiastic review from James Suckling, “Dried-apple and pureed-pear aromas follow through to a dense, full body with layers of fruit and intense flavors. Such focus and purity. Benchmark, classic Soave. …93 Points.” Fire this up with some white wine fare and they will sing together.

EXCITING ‘INSIDER’ FIND IN CHABLIS

There are always new things to discover with wine. As odd as it may sound, the other day we ran across a designation we had never seen before. Now that, in and of itself, isn’t necessarily shocking. There are lots of new things coming to light in wine as new areas and producers are appearing as the world becomes smaller and more connected. But we are talking about Chablis, a place that has existed as a wine appellation for centuries within the same boundaries more or less, and our buying team that, combined, is approaching a century of experience.

The producer is one that is pretty familiar around here, Chateau des Malandes in Chablis. Founded in 1949 by the grand parents of the current owners, it was run until 2018 by their daughter, Lyne Marchive. We have sold the wines for years and they have always had a very appealing, some might say ‘feminine’ style. Malandes Chablis, while portraying the various terroirs from which they came, always had in common a tender, fruit-driven palate feel and rather gentle demeanor. Thus far not much has changed under the guidance of son Richard and daughter Amandine, and that’s a good thing.

The estate has holdings in a number of Premier Cru climats including Vau de Vey, Lechets, Montmains, Fourchaume and Mont de Milieu, as well as Grand Crus Vaudesir and Le Clos. But the subject of this piece is, as we said, something we had never seen until this bottling, the Domaine de Malandes Chablis ‘Envers de Valmur’ 2019. This is what they call a ‘lieu dit’ or ‘named vineyard’ in Burgundy. Essentially they are naming the vineyard on the bottle even though it does not have an official designation, something not that unusual in in the Cote d’Or but not all that common in Chablis.

As we all know about Burgundy, location is everything. We have talked many times about relatively unknown parcels that exist in close proximity to famous ones, and how the potential can far exceed the price commanded. That is the case here. This 1.6 ha parcel exists on the backside of the hill of Grand Cru vineyard Valmur (envers de Valmur literally means ‘behind Valmur’), and face west looking out at Grand Cru Vaudesir. The vines were planted in 1967 and typically deliver small, concentrated berries that give the wine plenty of punch and acidity as well as well-woven minerality.

The vineyard is farmed organically and the fruit sees time in oak vessels from one to seven years old with the purpose of rounding the wine and giving it a creamy texture while not letting pronounced wood notes get in the way of the vineyard terroir. The plush, inviting, somewhat gentle texture and palate feel has been a consistent feature of Malandes wines for as long as we have known them. Given this wine and the location, one has to wonder why this vineyard was never given any ‘official’ standing.

Like we said, we had not seen this designation before and there isn’t a lot of it anyway (about 900 cases produced). But it didn’t slip past the folks at Decanter Magazine who wrote, “Domaine des Malandes is a 29ha estate with the ‘Envers de Valmur’ an intriguing ‘insiders’ choice from vineyards abutting Grand Cru Vaudésir. Classic in colour, aroma and flavour profile on the palate, this is a fine Chablis with great potential for further ageing. Bright, focussed and mineral with a lovely balance between freshness, bright acidity and ripe fruit flavours. Long and precise on the finish… 94 Points!

This would have been an email but there really wasn’t enough juice to support that. We bought everything there was anyway because it is simply a lovely, well-priced example of the genre from a vintage that looks like it is going to get some attention.

2019: AN ‘EPIC’ YEAR IN GERMANY

Achtung! We interrupt this quiet holiday weekend with some potentially important news. The 2019 Germans are coming! In fact some of them are here, but we’ll get to that in a moment. For the most part the trade and the media don’t pay a lot of attention to German wines. When was the last time you saw a vintage report of German wines in a major wine publication. We thought so. For some reason these clean, precise, vivid wines have been ignored by the major media. A lot of wine folks don’t take the category seriously, and discourage others from exploring the category. Better to drink ‘orange wine’ many will tell you. What brought on this particular rant is that two publications have recently made major announcements about the 2019 Germans, and there appears to be genuine excitement. That hasn’t happened in a vary long time even though we have had some spectacular vintages in this century (2001, 2007, 2010, 2015).

It is interesting to note that the stories involved from the two critics are dramatically different in approach, but both ended up with the same conclusion…the 2019s are special. Though hampered by the pandemic, and fully admitting he didn’t have the chance to travel to the estates as he usually does, Wine Advocate’s Stephan Reinhardt encapsulated the message with the title “Glorious Twins” referring to the 2019 whites and the 2018 German reds (a category with an even smaller following).

While apologizing for not having been able to travel and even publishing some ‘barrel scores’ (pretty normal for reds but rather unusual for whites..but then these are unusual times), the gist of Reinhardt’s synopsis went like this, “The 2019 vintage has produced some of the greatest, finest and most energetic Rieslings of the last 20 years, especially in the Mosel, Rheingau, Nahe, Rheinhessen and the northern Pfalz. (I have yet to explore the Palatinate’s south in more detail, since Rebholz alone is not enough for a blanket judgment.) Although 2019 was everything but an easy vintage (with spring frost, heat waves, drought, hail and rain during the speedy harvest), yet even in August, not a single producer I have spoken with was expecting the qualities we have in the glass today.

“I consider the vintage as exceptional in terms of quality and styles. The finest 2019s are super clear, precise, pure and, strange enough, also coolish on the nose, while the palate reveals the intensity and concentration of a sunny vintage. Here, everything comes together and is balanced and also refined by absolutely incredible energy (due to the celestial alignment perhaps?) that is unrivalled. The acidity is enormously vital yet perfectly ripe and refined, giving the wines precision, elegance and finesse that makes their intensity weightless and leads to an exceptional finish and thrilling tension that nourishes my hope for exceptional aging capacity. The combination of perfectly ripe, healthy, concentrated fruit with vibrant energy and finesse in 2019 is extremely rare, if not totally unique. It makes for some of the finest estate and village wines I have ever tasted…”

We could go on but you get the point. What was perhaps even more surprising was when the James Suckling site essentially claimed this was the greatest German vintage ever. We wondered how many vintages he had actually tasted then remembered that his boots on the ground in Germany, Stuart Pigott, has been doing it as long as we have, starting with the 1983s. We have come across Pigott’s writings more than a few times over the years, and have had a few cases to respectfully disagree with some of his positions (as we have with everyone on occasion). But for someone of his experience to say something like this made an impression, “While the virus was ravaging Germany, the nation’s wine industry quietly released a slew of sensational wines that pushed us to write a headline for our 2020 Germany Report asking if 2019 is Germany’s 100-point vintage. For me, it was a breathtaking experience realizing what had happened and piecing together the story of how this great achievement came about. That sort of thrill is what being a career wine journalist is all about.”

Now Pigott is way more into the GG scene, Germany’s elite estate dry whites, than we are (if you want to spend a lot of money on dry Riesling, the Austrians like Knoll, Prager, etc. are where we turn). He speaks glowingly of the whole GG movement. But at the end of the day, he is clearly crazy about the vintage. So are we given a particularly limited exposure thus far. We did write, a while back, a glowing recommendation for the Dr. Hermann Riesling Kabinett Urziger Würzgarten Mosel 2019, literally the first 2019 we tried here. Subsequent tastings have served to support the premise that this is a fabulous vintage for Germans.

That being said, the acquisition of wines from the vintage may be difficult. Besides the effects of the lousy pandemic on distribution in general, we have no idea what the market is going to be able to offer. One of the top importers of German wines closed this year (though his former staff has joined and is fighting the good fight to carry on), and the other larger players (there aren’t that many) have appeared rather conservative in their offerings. So the ‘supply lines’ moving forward, even under the banner of an ‘epic vintage’, may be a bit uncertain for reasons that could fill a small novel. But we know all the cracks and crevices to look into, and our resolve will not be shaken. We love these wines and the specter of a ‘vintage of a lifetime’ might make more folks pay attention. Meanwhile we’ve got some pretty spectacular stuff already, including the #1 wine of James Suckling’s Top 100. Get in early! Show me the 2019 Germans

SOMETHING DIFFERENT IN A SAUVIGNON BLANC

This might get a little confusing. But these days in the wine world people are broadening their traditional horizons in order to achieve distinctive quality. That can sometimes be an international effort, as it is here. This is a Sauvignon Blanc from Chile, made by a French guy, with a French name on the label, fermented with specific Japanese sake yeasts. Of course there’s a story.

Viña Marty is named for owner/winemaker Pascal Marty. Pascal’s road to Chile went through a number of interesting and high profile stops along the way. After graduating from the Bordeaux Institute of Oenology in 1982, Pascal served as winemaker for Baron Philippe de Rothschild in Bordeaux, was later moved to California to work at Opus One, then was sent to Chile to work at the budding project between Baron Rothschild and Concha y Toro, Almaviva. That in itself is quite a resume. Vina Marty was born in 2008.

The story of this wine stems from a unique fermentation idea of using a specific Japanese yeast typically part of sake fermentation. This particular yeast strain allows fermentation to happen at lower temperatures than traditional yeasts used in winemaking, whuch further preserves the fruit character of the juice and somehow lends itself to a particular, unique clarity of flavor. According to the winery, only members of the Japanese sake guild are allowed access to this yeast, and they are permitted as the only non-Japanese member.

So what does that mean? Well, it isn’t necessarily a blatant difference you would notice if you didn’t know the story, but the results are intriguing. The aromatics are somehow brighter and cleaner, and there is a certainly an elevated aspect to the flavor profile. Super fresh, with an almost grain aspect along with more traditional citrus and dry tropical fruit notes. Also note that this yeast strain doesn’t get along with sulfur, that additions are minimal, which may serve to give this wine its very clean lines.

Bright and engaging, there’s no ‘green’ here either, just inviting fruit and a lifted feel on the palate. It got James Suckling’s attention as well. He wrote, “Fermented with a sake yeast selection, this has a fresh, lime and mango-pastry nose with a fluid, gently creamy palate. Fresh and balanced. Drink now…91 Points.”

It also boasts a 94 point score affixed to the bottle from a publication called ‘Descorchados’, essentially South America’s version of ‘Wine Spectator’. In the end, it’s a different approach that works, and has produced a delightful and well-priced version of this varietal that should find a appreciative audience.

A LOOK DOWN THE RHONE ROAD: ST. COSME CDR 2019

We’ll try an keep it simple. We could launch a rather extensive rant on our long history with Domaine Saint Cosme. We have been selling it for going on three decades and have watched passionate owner Louis Barruol go through ups and downs, style changes, and the expansion of his program to other projects. He is one of the dependable labels we always look forward to checking up on, and have made some sensational finds over the years among his value offerings in particular.

Our purpose here is twofold. First, we want to talk about his beautifully textured, pure, ample, imminently tasty Saint Cosme Cotes du Rhone 2019. Now his Cotes du Rhone, as we have mentioned the many other times we have featured it, is a little bit of a different bird. Unlike the majority of wines that bear this appellation, which are mostly Grenache, Louis’ Cotes du Rhone is all or nearly all old vine Syrah (Barruol states the average age of the vines on the property are 60 years old).

The 2019 is gorgeous and already an attractive drink. Lots of layered, plush fruit, spice and pepper, and, as Louis himself describes, “Blackberry, smoked bacon, charcoal, blueberry, rose.” We expected a lot given what we had heard about 2019, but the wine exceeded our expectations.

Besides the example this wine itself sets for expectations of 2019 from the southern Rhone, there are the outgoing Barruol’s own words. Of the vintage, within the context of his notes on the 2019 Cotes du Rhone, he said, “Be warned – this is a stellar vintage, the greatest since the extraordinary 2010. Of course, 2016 is great too, and even 2015, which in Saint Cosme was memorable. But there is a freshness, an intensity, an evanescence, something undefinable that is charming and vibrant in the 2019s.

“…The 2019 Côtes du Rhône Saint Cosme is the best since 2010. A wine with a substantial structure, it is also brimming with fruit and shows great concentra-tion, counterbalanced by the finest freshness. In a dry vintage, concentration affects all the component parts of the fruit: not just the sugars, but the acids, water (which does not concentrate but disappears…), tannins, color, aromas… etc… This natural phenomenon produces something we all love: intensity.

“Character and identity are subsequently multiplied tenfold. The fact that nature should be able to offer us these gifts is an absolute joy. These wines are suitable for either drinking or keeping. They will bring us joy and surprises. They will become advocates for what I would call ‘the red wine cause’. We live in an era of white wines, rosés and sometimes even unripe grapes – which is an aberration… 2019 is a gentle reminder from nature and a timely opportunity to set the record straight.”

This Cotes du Rhone, at $14.98, is a delicious wine and an exciting value. And in the bigger picture, it looks like there are more good times down the road in the southern Rhone in 2019. While we didn’t find any scores on this wine, but it’s early in the game for the 2019s. The gigantic barrel scores on their single-vineyard Gigondas bottlings affirms that 2019 should be on people’s radar.

DASHWOOD SAUV. BLANC RIDES AGAIN: WS 90, $10.98

There are wines for all reasons. But that is perhaps one of the hardest things to manage. There are a lot of wines out there that are designed to merely function at a ‘price point’. There’s a not a lot of style or dimension. We aren’t really interested in those. But we are perfectly aware that people don’t necessarily all drink ‘top of the category’ stuff every single day. There is a great need for dependable ‘go-to’ wines for most of the days of the week. The problem is, in these days of ‘sensationalist media’, people don’t necessarily react to things that aren’t referred to as ‘best ever’.

Still, we like to keep everything in perspective. We aren’t going to tell you that this Dashwood Sauvignon Blanc 2019 is the ‘greatest ever’. But we are going to tell you that this is one of the great, dependable, ‘staple’ Sauvignons on the market… sometimes. We have had great runs with Dashwood over the years. They don’t make the ‘cut’ every year, but when they hit it they are one of the best values around. This is one of those times.

The 2019 Dashwood Sauvignon Blanc checks all the boxes for New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. You’ve got bright flavors and zing, but also some richness and texture that a lot of examples lack. There’s a citrus backbeat here but also tropical and stone fruit tones that make the first impression. There is a great variation in the personalities of Kiwi Sauvignons on the market, but this one has broad appeal in that it is pretty easy going and doesn’t touch any of the flavor extremes that the genre can have. A lot of credit perhaps belongs to the 2019 vintage, which one of the other Kiwi pieces we researched called a special vintage. But the juice is ample and friendly in a category where some examples can make your eyes water.

It isn’t just us either. Even the ‘tough guy’ Wine Spectator gave this one a 90 point score, no small thing for a low priced Sauvignon Blanc, with comments “Aromatic and distinctive, with a thread of honeysuckle and litsea oil mingling with Meyer lemon, peach and apricot flavors that are generous and intense through the finish, showing a touch of savory sea salt. Drink now.” At $10.98, it will fit into most budgets nicely.