Vinopolis Newsletter 8-23-24

 

“Tasting a Dagueneau wine for the first time was a revelation. His Sauvignon Blancs had an unexpected purity and clarity to them. The flavors were intense but nuanced. It wasn’t the fruit that was piercing, as in so many Sauvignon Blancs, but the freshness and the focus. As powerful a personality as he was, his wines did not exalt the stature of the winemaker so much as the beauty of the terroir.” –Polaner Imports
 
Didier Dagueneau was known as a man who always flew close to the Sun and never succumbed to danger. Instead, he laughed at it, in fact ran towards it. So of course after stints as a professional motorcycle racer and dog sledder, among many other dangerous pursuits, he became a winemaker.
 
As the Loire wine industry’s premier enfant terrible, Didier pushed boundaries and adopted many radical practices that are almost taken for granted these days. Organic viticulture, sans-souffre winemaking, own-rooted vineyards, and natural fermentations? Didier did it all before it was cool.
 
Although his untimely death left a gaping hole in French wine, his son Louis Benjamin took on the family business without missing a beat, in fact surpassing Didier in some critic’s eyes and bringing Loire wines to new heights.
 

 
Dagueneau Buisson-Renard, Loire, Vin de France 2018 750ml $139 special, 6 bottles available
Vinous 93 Points “Returning in 2018 after 2017 was wiped out by frosts, this is an intense, wild 2018 Buisson Renard, like an untamed head of curls. In clear evidence at this early stage, it has floral and boxwood characters and a nutty oak-derived influence. There’s even an intriguing note of peppermint on the sinewy, lengthy finish. In a mid-weight, linear style with a firm, phenolic finish that almost requires knife and fork. This needs more time in bottle to shed its austere frame, but if you’re not in a hurry…”
 
Dagueneau Silex, Loire, Vin de France 2020 750ml $185 special, 3 bottles available
Vinous 93-94 Points “While this was a warm season leading to richness in many wines from the region, the Silex 2020 shows ripe fruit, but there’s no sense of being overblown. The fine line that races through many wines relying on flint-based parcels is there, carrying the nectarine and oak-derived vanilla flavors, but its influence never tips into austerity nor firmness. There’s a sense of tenderness that runs through its core while remaining light in body.”
 
Arriving next Friday, August 30th
 
Dagueneau ‘Blanc etc,’ Loire, Vin de France 2019 750ml $99 special, 6 bottles available
The 2019 bottling of this wine was not reviewed, more recent vintage provided for reference.
Vinous 93 Points “The 2020 Blanc etc. is developing into a mellow style with the richness of the vintage showing. It is what the French would call gourmand and, close to three years after being harvested, has entered a delectable stage of its evolution. Yes, it’s still young but has improved and opened up since tasting a year ago. It now offers baked apple, honey and pastry flavors while retaining freshness. It is long and concentrated with a firm sense of structure, doing the mouth equivalent of providing a firm, reassuring handshake, likely due to the clay-flint soils, which make up two-thirds of the blend.”
 
Dagueneau Les Jardins de Babylone Sec, Jurancon, France 2019 750ml $99 special, 3 bottles available
Polaner Imports Note “100% Petit Manseng. Dagueneau makes a limited number of bottles of dry wine from these beloved Jurancon hectares. The aim is to produce a wine that brings out the natural minerality of the soil and have balance, harmony and longevity. Concentrated, racy and extremely memorable.”
 
Dagueneau Buisson-Renard, Loire, Vin de France 2019 750ml $149 special, 3 bottles available
Vinous 92 Points “The Buisson Renard tends to be a more supple, more aromatically restrained cuvée in the Dagueneau stable, and the 2019 is no different. It’s probably the richer clay soils on this section of the domaine. There’s a delicate savory, herbal and oak-derived nutty character. It is fine and fresh with a supple texture that holds the mouth like a gentle embrace.”

 

 

Oregon
 

 

“In the summer of 1986, my young family and I began on a journey that, in our wildest optimism, never thought Beaux Frères and our Oregon wine industry would be on the center stage with the fine wine industry. I believe our success is a lesson for anyone with a dream: follow your heart.” –Michael G. Etzel, Founder and CEO
 
Who doesn’t love Beaux Freres? After nearly 40 years in operation, they are still among the finest estates in the Willamette Valley, with generations of winemakers and winery owners who got their starts working with the Etzel clan.
 
As if that legacy were not enough, they present this wine, Les Cousins, as a gift to us: a low-priced mystery blend of Beaux Freres’ Estate barrels. This is a crazy bargain next to Beaux Frere’s single vineyard wines that run at roughly three times the price!
 
 HOT DEAL!  Beaux Freres ‘Les Cousins’ Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, USA 2022 750ml $36 special, 24 bottles available
 

Lowest Price in the USA
Average Price is $40

 

California
 

 
One of the finest producers of Syrah in the United States, Pax has bucked the old trends of flabby, over-ripened reds in favor of freshness, balance, and savory elements. It is the herbaceous qualities of these syrahs that has made them a favorite around Vinopolis. In particular, they are fantastic with lamb, steak salads, and pretty much anything with grill marks. Delicious!
 

 
Pax The Bench Vineyard Syrah, Clements Hills, USA 2022 750ml $31.90 special, 12 bottles available
Vinous 92 Points “The 2022 Syrah The Bench Vineyard is a joyous, explosive wine. A burst of dark red/purplish fruit, mocha, lavender and spice saturates the palate. This is an especially forward, juicy style for Pax. There’s gorgeous immediacy here. The 2022 was done with 100% stems and aged in neutral oak.”
 
Pax Sonoma Hillsides Syrah, Russian River Valley, USA 2022 750ml $59 special, 12 bottles available
Vinous 94+ Points “The 2022 Syrah Sonoma Hillsides is a blend of several sites. Aging in cement helps retain a good bit of freshness, and that gives this wine quite a different feel from the other Syrahs, all of which are aged in neutral oak. The 2022 doesn’t have the immediacy or flashiness of the very best years, or of the other Syrahs in the range, but readers who can wait will find a wine of magnificent pedigree.”
 

Italy
 

 
Paolo di Marchi was a pioneering winemaker who revitalized two Italian wine regions. He first gained fame in Tuscany, revitalizing Chianti, and later returned to his family’s winery in Piedmont to rehabilitate it using techniques he’d learned in Tuscany. Today, Proprieta Sperino, his family’s winery, produces high-quality wines that reflect both the region’s unique character and his modern winemaking approach.
 
Proprieta Sperino Vigna Cova Riserva Lessona, Piedmont, Italy 2015 750ml $139 special, 12 bottles available
Vinous 96 Points “The 2015 Lessona Riserva Vigna Cova is one of the very best wines I have tasted from Proprietà Sperino. It embodies everything Lessona and Alto Piemonte can be. The aromatics alone are simply beguiling. But the 2015 has plenty of textural depth and body too. Constantly changing in the glass, the 2015 will take readers on a fabulous ride. Superb.”
 

This is the lowest price in the United States by far!
Average price is $160

 

Germany
 
 

 
These Rieslings have been moving fast! We are down to the final bottles. Reminder: we will not be receiving any more Falkenstein until next year!
 
Falkenstein Ternesen Euchariusberg Marlies Kabinett AP14, Mosel, Germany 2023 750ml $33 special, 4 bottles available
Mosel Fine Wines 94 Points “This wine offers a beautiful nose of peach sorbet, slate, elderflower, citrusy fruits, and whipped cream. It proves superbly precise and balanced on the palate and leaves a gorgeously finely chiseled feel of fruits and minerals in the finish. The aftertaste is racy, engaging, and hugely persistent.”
 
Falkenstein Ockfener Bockstein Riesling Kabinett Mia Alte Reben AP22, Mosel, Germany 2023 750ml $49 special, 4 bottles available
Mosel Fine Wines 94+ Points “This offers a stunning nose of elderflower, mint, pear, citrusy elements, starfruit, and smoke. The wine offers a great feel of green herbs and fine spices on the racy yet delicately smooth palate and leaves an incredibly vibrating feel in the long and juicy finish. This is a stunning Kabinett in the making!”
 
Falkenstein Krettnacher Ober Schafershaus Riesling Spatlese Trocken Manni AP18, Mosel, Germany 2023 750ml $39 special, 6 bottles available
 
Falkenstein Krettnacher Altenberg Spatlese Trocken AP7 Mosel, Germany 2023 2023 750ml $34.50 special, 5 bottles available
Mosel Fine Wines 92 Points “It offers a beautiful and superbly finely chiseled nose of mirabelle, greengage, smoke, and citrusy elements. The wine is superbly light-footed yet packed with flavors on the zesty palate. It leaves a great sense of minerals and subtle fruits in the long finish.”
 
Falkenstein Krettnacher Euchariusberg Riesling Spatlese Klaus Lang AP6, Mosel, Germany 2023 750ml $39 special, 3 bottles available
Mosel Fine Wines 94 Points “This offers a beautiful nose of bitter lemon, mint, white peach, cream, and smoke. It proves beautifully creamy yet focused on the palate and leaves a gorgeous, slightly earthy feel in the long finish. Citrusy and minty elements add to the pleasure in the long and lingering finish.”
 

We have 9 wines from Falkenstein for sale, including their Pet-Nat and Rose.
Click here to visit our webstore.
 

 
 

 
WAS $59
Saint Cosme Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Rhone, France 2018 750ml $45 special, 25 bottles available
Vinous 93 Points “Brilliant violet. Pungent red berry and cherry aromas are complemented by emerging floral and succulent herb nuances. Alluringly sweet and juicy on the palate, offering concentrated black raspberry, cherry and candied lavender flavors that deepen through the back half. Finishes supple, spicy and long, with lingering floral and cherry notes and gentle tannic grip.”
 

Lowest price in the USA BY FAR.
Average price $65

 
WAS $59
Saint Cosme Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Rhone, France 2019 750ml $49 special, 36+ bottles available

Wine Spectator 93 Points “Modern and stylish, offering an engaging mix of raspberry puree, warm baking spices and red licorice, with vanilla highlights. A beam of iron minerality brings shape and balance to this version, while invigorating acidity and tannins drive the energy. Grenache, Mourvèdre, Syrah, and Cinsault. Drink now through 2035.”
 
 

 
WAS $51.90
Evesham Wood Le Puits Sec Pinot Noir, Eola-Amity Hills, USA 2021 750ml $44.50 special, 36+ bottles available
Eric Guido-Vinous 94 Points “What a beauty! The 2021 Pinot Noir Le Puits Sec blossoms in the glass with a gorgeous mix of dusty violets and roses complemented by autumnal spice, giving way to citrus-tinged wild berries. This sweeps across the palate with finesse, lifted and ethereal, with shades of blue and purple inner florals accentuating dark red fruits. It finishes long and hauntingly floral with a tactile mineral crunch and coating of gently grippy tannins. For lovers of old-school Oregon Pinot, the 2021 is dreamy.”
 

Lowest Price in the USA

 
WAS $41.90
Evesham Wood La Grive Bleue Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, USA 2022 750ml $36 special, 36+ bottles available
Winery Note “While more savory than the Eola-Amity Hills Cuvee, this wine offeres fresh flowers (running from violets and jasmine to roses) atop cosmic crisp apples and blueberry compote. The very discrete fruits are balanced by fine tannins nicely punctuated with acid.”
 

Lowest Price in the USA

 

Click here to shop for all 239 close-out wines on our webstore
 
The New World, Elevated.

 
 

 

The world is getting hotter.
 
We are now living in an era of 14% Willamette Pinot Noirs and 15.5% California Cabernet. While viticultural and winemaking techniques can help alleviate this problem, some cooler climate regions have a natural advantage providing fresher, lower alcohol vintages even as temperatures rise.
 
So let’s take a gander at some of America’s natural cool spots: high elevation and mountain vineyards. At higher elevations, the temperature drops, creating lower sugar concentrations and higher acid.
 

 
Mount Veeder is the coldest of Napa’s growing regions, ensuring naturally small yields of thick-skinned, high acid grapes that produce racy and lithe wines. At a staggering 1,800 feet above sea level, Mount Brave Vineyard is located above the fog zone of the Napa Valley, which means that despite low temperatures, the grapes receive enough extra sunlight in the mornings to provide the concentrated flavors that Napa is famous for.
 
Mt. Brave Malbec, Mount Veeder, USA 2016 750ml $79 special, 8 bottles available
Jeb Dunnuck 96 Points “The 2016 Malbec Mt. Veeder is another fabulous wine from winemaker Chris Carpenter. It offers a vibrant, focused, savory style in its blue fruits, graphite, and lead pencil aromatics, and has a concentrated, layered style on the palate. It’s a complex, age-worthy Malbec that will evolve for over a decade.”
 
Mt Brave Malbec, Mount Veeder, USA 2018 750ml $79 special, 4 bottles available
Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Wine Advocate 95 Points ” …Deep garnet-purple colored, the nose is flamboyantly scented of baked plums, blackberry compote and blueberry coulis with wafts of baking spices and dried Provence herbs. Full-bodied, the palate is packed with concentrated black and blue fruits, supported by firm, grainy tannins, going long, lively and with a spicy kick on the finish.”
 
 

 
Much like Mount Veeder, Howell Mountain receives extra sunshine by sitting above the Napa Valley’s fog line, but the region is also much warmer and drier, providing full-bodied wines with deep, dark fruit notes in addition to savory spice characteristics.
 
La Jota Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Howell Mountain, USA 2018 750ml $128 special, just 1 bottle available
Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Wine Advocate 97 Points “A blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, 5% Malbec and 2% Petit Verdot, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain was aged for 22 months in oak barrels, 84% new … Medium to full-bodied, the palate has a solid structure of firm, grainy tannins and tons of freshness, finishing long and fragrant.”
 
 
La Jota Vineyard Cabernet Franc, Howell Mountain, USA 2019 750ml $119 special, 11 bottles available
Joe Czerwinski-Wine Advocate 93 Points ” …Medium to full-bodied, silky, fine and elegant, this is a perennial favorite, drinkable on release and for a decade or more afterward.”
 
La Jota Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Howell Mountain, USA 2019 750ml $169 special, 14 bottles available
Antonio Galloni-Vinous 96 Points “A Rush of black cherry, blackberry, licorice, spice and menthol builds into the huge finish. This is a fabulous vintage for the La Jota Cabernet.”
 
La Jota Vineyard Merlot, Howell Mountain, USA 2019 750ml $99 special, 15 bottles available
James Suckling 95 Points “Lots of black olives with some conifer and mushrooms. Raspberries, too. Full-bodied with soft and round tannins. Really savory. Juicy.”
 
La Jota Vineyard W. S. Keyes Chardonnay, Howell Mountain, USA 2020 750ml $109 special, 6 bottles available
No review available for the 2020 vintage. 2019 review provided for reference.
Antonio Galloni-Wine Advocate 93 Points “Medium-bodied, this is a crisp, lean and focused effort that retains a pleasantly silky feel and plenty of length.”
 

Lowest non-auction listing in the USA

 
 

 
In their conquest to produce wine from all the best cool-climate sites on the west coast, Failla does not tie itself to one vineyard, region, or even state. Their estate vineyard located in Fort Ross-Seaview, a 1400 foot tall ridge located just miles from the Pacific Ocean. The terroir here provides excellent minerality and salinity, creating wines with serious umami and savory character.
 
Failla Estate Vineyard Syrah, Fort Ross-Seaview, USA 2021 750ml $59 special, 7 bottles available
Antonio Galloni-Vinous 96 Points “The 2019 Syrah Estate Vineyard is an elegant supremely classy wine. Sage tobacco mint black pepper and lavender lead into a core of beautifully layered dark blue/purplish fruit. Silky and polished the Estate Syrah is an absolute delight to taste. I loved it.”
 
Hirsch Vineyard, a vineyard perched 1500 feet above the Sonoma coast, abuts the San Andreas fault, providing a patchwork of soil types and creating exceptionally distinguished and complex wines.
 
Failla Hirsch Vineyard Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, USA 2021 750ml $84.50 special, 12 bottles available
Jeb Dunnuck 98 Points “The 2021 Pinot Noir Hirsch Vineyard is gorgeous, with a floral perfume of fresh roses, raspberry eau de vie, fresh coniferous herbs, and spice. Medium-bodied, this stunning wine has wonderful transparency, with fine sweet tannins, ripe red berries, and fresh flowers. It’s fabulous, mineral-laced texture lasts for days, and while it will certainly have serious longevity, it’s irresistible now.”
 

Next Week: we travel to South America and the highest altutude vineyards in the Americas!