Vinopolis Newsletter – Wednesday 08/2/2023

Close Out Sales
Discounts on top Rieslings, Burgundies, and Sicilian wines
2 Day Flash Sale
JB Becker– An Unsung Hero of German Riesling
One Week Sale
Magnum Madness

TWO DAY FLASH SALE
JB Becker: The Rheingau’s Wild  Man

Buy 3-5 bottles for a 5% discount
Buy 6+ bottles for a 10% discount
 
SALE ENDS @6PM FRIDAY
 

Idiosyncratic. Eclectic. Authentic. These are just some of the words that describe Hans-Joseph Becker of JB Becker. He and his father before him pursued organic viticulture, natural yeasts, warm ferments, and dry wine production before it was cool. The wines, like the man behind them, are straightforward and yet strangely inscrutable.

His wines are unfailingly honest. They present a bizarre vocabulary: dried earth and rocks, herbs, something vaguely subterranean, a savory, briny, smoky atmosphere that slowly reveals fine layers of bright citrus. They flaunt a rather prominent acidity that recalls the more nervy wines of the Mosel, Saar and Ruwer, though there is a weight, a density that speaks of the Rheingau. They seem to have more to do with great Chablis than with what we often think of as German Riesling.
  
JB Becker Berg Bildstock Kabinett 2020 750ml $29 special, 6 bottles available
Wine Advocate 92 Points “The 2020 Wallufer Berg Bildstock Riesling Kabinett is deep and pure on the bright, fresh and crunchy, saline nose. Bottled with 24 grams per liter of residual sugar, this is lush and juicy yet also fresh and piquant, persistently salty Kabinett with a long and stimulatingly grippy finish.”
 
JB Becker Walkenberg Spatlese Trocken “AR” 2020 750ml $37 special, 8 bottles available
Wine Advocate 92 Points “The 2020 Wallufer Walkenberg Riesling Spätlese trocken Alte Reben offers a pure, intense and complex, highly refined bouquet with clear and elegant fruit intertwined with very fine terroir aromas. Pure and enormously salty on the palate, this is a dense and tensioned yet also finessed and highly elegant Walkenberg with fine tannins and a long, complex finish. This is another highlight of the 2020 vintage that is shining bright and pure here.”
 
JB Becker Walkenberg Kabinett Trocken 2020 750ml $31.90 special, 7 bottles available
Wine Advocate 92 Points “The 2020 Wallufer Walkenberg Riesling Kabinett trocken offers a clear and delicately fruity bouquet with floral-scented apricot aromas. Pure, straight and fresh on the palate, this is a bone dry, crunchy and youthful Kabinett with crunchy phenols and just-ripe stone fruit. Stimulatingly crisp and salty on the finish.”
 
JB Becker Walkenberg Spatlese Trocken 2020 750ml $33 special, 8 bottles available
Wine Advocate 93 Points “The 2020 Wallufer Walkenberg Riesling Spätlese trocken opens with a fascinating, elegant and aromatic bouquet with perfectly ripe stone fruit aromas (white peach) intermingled with flinty notes. Fresh and vital on the first attack, this is dense and elegant, finely fruity, seriously structured and persistently saline and mouth-salivating Walkenberg that represents classic Rheingau Riesling at its best.”
 
JB Becker Wallufer Riesling Trocken 2020 1L $27 special, 7 bottles available
Wine Advocate 92 Points “The 2020 Wallufer Riesling Trocken shows clear fruit on the pure fresh and characterful nose. On the palate, this is a round, fresh and elegant, harmonious and juicy dry Riesling with a well-structured, stimulating saline and aromatic finish. Honestly, this is a gorgeous wine to start with here.”

SPECIAL FOR THIS WEEK
Magnum Madness

Buy 3-5 bottles for a 5% discount
Buy 6+ bottles for a 10% discount
 
SALE ENDS @6PM FRIDAY
 

Benanti Contessa Particella 587 Rsva Etna 2016 1.5L $249 special, 6 bottles available
Vinous 95 Points “The 2016 Etna Rosso Serra della Contessa Particella No. 587 Riserva is dark and savory in the glass, grumbling up with notes of crushed rocks and ash that evolve further to reveal musky black currants, hints of licorice and dried violets.”

Chateau De Pez Saint-Estephe 2018 1.5L $119 special, 5 bottles available
Jeb Dunnuck 94 Points “From the team of Nicolas Glumineau at Pichon Comtesse de Lalande, the 2018 Château De Pez is a gorgeous 2018 that should be on every Bordeaux lover’s radar (and should be a great value as well). Notes of blackcurrants, blueberries, candied violets, and graphite define the bouquet, and it hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, rockingly polished tannins, terrific purity, and a great finish. It’s terrific and is going to have 15-20 years or more of longevity. The blend is 49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 49% Merlot, and the balance Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc.”
 
Clerico Langhe Rosse Arte 2011 1.5L $66 special, 34 bottles available
Stephen Tanzer 91 Points “(90% nebbiolo and 10% barbera; aged for 18 months in new French oak):  Good medium red.  Perfumed aromas and flavors of plum, redcurrant, tobacco and spices.  Intense and vibrant, with lovely inner-mouth aromatic lift.  Very classy, delineated wine.”
 
La Gerla Brunello Di Montalcino 2015 1.5L $119 special, 1 bottle available
Wine Spectator 94 Points “Black cherry and black currant fruit is accented by tobacco, earth and mineral flavors in this sleek yet dense red. Balsamic elements of juniper, thyme and olive add depth as this cruises to a long finish. The potential lies in the excellent length. Best from 2023 through 2042. —B.S.”
 
Lopez Heredia Tondonia Reserva Rioja 2001 1.5L $219 special, 1 bottle available
Wine Advocate 96 Points ” I had the chance to taste a bottle of the 2001 Viña Tondonia Reserva 10 years after it was released, and the wine has evolved beautifully and quite slowly—at least that is the case for these bottles that have been kept in the winery for all these years. It’s austere and elegant, with balance and concentration, polished tannins and a chalky texture, long tasty and dry. This is lively and should continue developing in bottle for quite some time…”
 
Lopez Heredia Tondonia Reserva Rioja 2004 1.5L $189 special, 2 bottles available
“The 2004 Viña Tondonia Reserva is a completely different story. It is a worthy follower of the 2001 the greatest of the Viña Tondonia Reservas of recent times. It has the usual blend and usual levels of alcohol and acidity bottled after six years in oak barrels. The nose feels savory (if that’s possible?umami?) and developed with tertiary aromas and good balance between spices leathery notes cherries and balsamic notes of cigar box and incense. The palate is both round and crisp with refined tannins. It has very good balance with subtle acidity and very good persistence.”
 
Lopez Heredia Tondonia Reserva Rioja 2005 1.5L $179 special, 2 bottles available
Decanter 96 Points “Traditional Rioja at its ageworthy best, the Tondonia red is a cuvée of Tempranillo with 20% Garnacha and 5% each of Graciano and Mazuelo. Leafy, gamey and sweet, with tangy acidity and a volatile lift. Drinking Window 2018 – 2025.”
 
Montille Pommard Pezerolles 1er Cru 2016 1.5L $289 special, 3 bottles available
Stephen Tanzer 91-93 Points “(from the north side of Pommard above Les Grands Epenots on active limestone soil; vinified with one-third whole clusters and aged in one-third new oak): Good dark red. Tight aromas of black cherry, redcurrant and rust (there’s a bit of iron in the soil here as well), lifted by a floral quality. Savory and fine-grained, with red berry flavors enlivened by saline minerality. Not a big wine but offers an attractive blend of sweet, savory and acidic elements. This minerally, salty wine finishes with big, mouth-dusting tannins.”
 
Oddero Barolo Vigna Rionda 2007 1.5L $369 special, 1 bottle available
James Suckling 96 Points “This is drinking wonderfully now with so much depth of fruit and lots of juicy character. Full body, layered and intense. Plenty of dark berry and chocolate. Fantastic. Drink or hold.”
 
Peyrassol Le Clos Peyrassol Rose 2021 1.5L $149.95, 14 bottles available
Vinous 94 Points “Vivid onion skin color. A highly perfumed and complex bouquet evokes fresh citrus and pit fruits, strawberry and pungent flowers, along with building mineral and succulent herb elements. Shows excellent clarity and depth to its juicy red fruit, nectarine and mango flavors, which are sweetened by a background of vanilla note. Finishes impressively long and silky, with the mineral and floral note resonating. “
 
Bollinger R.D. 2004 1.5L $519 special, 2 bottles available
Wine Enthusiast 98 Points “Top 100 Cellar Selection in 2019. The wine’s name stands for recently disgorged and this vintage Champagne was taken off its lees in 2018. That gave many years for it to develop its depth of flavor, richness and beautifully memorable toasty flavors. Drink through 2028. -Roger Voss”
 
Thibaud Boudignon Anjou Blanc 2020 1.5L $145 special, 2 bottles available
Vinous 91 Points “Unlike his Savennières, the fruit for Boudignon’s 2020 Anjou Blanc is purchased. The result is a pure, clean wine with delectable purity. There are delicate flavors of just-ripe pineapple, citrus, nettles and a subtle hint of vanilla. It is fermented and aged in both 500-liter barrels and oval Stockinger ‘cigars’. A line of acidity pulls this wine through to a refined conclusion. It can be approached now for its fine fruit but will go on.”

Brovia Barolo Garblet Sue 2015 1.5L $189 special, 3 bottles available
Antonio Galloni 94 Points “The 2015 Barolo Garblèt Sue’ is dense and powerful in the glass. A rush of black cherry, plum, lavender, iron and sage literally burst from the glass. Ample, full-bodied and intense, the Garblèt Sue’ is another stellar wine in this range. The typically incisive Garblèt Sue’ tannins are nearly buried by the sheer richness of the fruit. Today, the Garblèt Sue’ is distinguished by its wild, feral profile and huge core of fruit. In this vintage, the Garblèt is the overachiever in the range relative to how it shows in most vintages.”
 
Brovia Barolo Villero 2015 1.5L $249 special, 5 bottles available
Wine Advocate 94 Points “The 2015 Barolo Villero offers richness and darkness with fruit from Castiglione Falletto, and it’s one of the more intense wines I tasted within this selection. The Villero is a balanced and polished Barolo that opens to nicely integrated fruit and spice tones, expertly interwoven and united. The wine has a beautiful entry to the palate. Indeed, this pretty wine presented a united front, with seamless and graceful integration.”
 
Clos Erasmus Laurel Priorat 2018 1.5L $149 special, 3 bottles available
Wine Advocate 96 Points “The second wine here and one that is easier to drink, the 2018 Laurel was produced with fruit from the younger vines, a couple of barrels that are declassified from Clos Erasmus and the Cabernet Sauvignon, more or less 70% Garnacha and 15% each Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. It has good ripeness and still a ph of 3.3. It fermented mostly in oak vats and 2,000-liter concrete vats with indigenous yeasts and matured for 18 months in 20,000-liter oak and concrete vats, second use barriques and some clay amphorae.”
 
Clos Erasmus Priorat 2020 1.5L $599 special, 1 bottles available
Wine Advocate 100 Points “The still young and primary 2020 Clos Erasmus feels very floral and ethereal (within Priorat and Clos Erasmus); it’s a fresher and lighter expression but without being weak. It’s still a baby that needs to burn the baby fat (there are still some lactic notes from the malolactic in barrel). The wine is always around 3.2 or 3.3 pH and has some 15% to 15.5% alcohol, but the sensation this year is of a much fresher, more balanced and elegant wine. This should make an elegant bottle of mature Priorat with a decade in bottle, and I guess it will be long lived.