Malbec is typically tough to drink young, at least to my taste, but I was delighted to find a young Malbec with a soul as well as a backbone.  Tremonte’s 2010 Single Vineyard Reserva Malbec is an exciting Chilean rendition of Argentina’s prime red grape, so this month’s first Top Pick belongs to the folks at Tremonte for their big, but polished Single Vineyard Reserva Malbec.  Tremonte’s Malbec is definitely powerful and structured, but also sophisticated.   It drinks well now with a juicy red steak, hearty pastas, and spicy vegetable dishes, but it will continue to improve in bottle for years to come.  For optimum enjoyment, lay this big-boned beauty down for awhile to develop further complexity: I doubt you will be disappointed.  My second Top Pick this month goes to another Chilean wine, Surazo’s 2006 Carmenere Reserva Especial.  Rarely do we see Carmenere or any wine for that matter at the very peak of performance, but Don Emilio de Solminihac’s Surazo Carmenere offers a rare glimpse of mature Carmenere.  Besides, I really like Carmenere, so this wine’s wild berry, coffee, and dark chocolate tones were just too much for me to resist.  I feel a bit guilty about not choosing Casa Silva’s beautiful Reserva Chardonnay and  Biltmore’s elegant, estate bottled Riesling, but choose I must, so A votre santé!

Artesa continues to fashions outstanding estate bottled Chardonnays, and the property’s 2010 Estate Reserve may be this formidable property’s best Chardonnay to date.  Consequently, our First Top Pick goes to the 2010 Artesa Estate Reserve Chardonnay.  Drink it now and enjoy it, or lay it down to garner additional complexity.  This Chardonnay will offer great drinking for five years or more.  This month’s second Top Pick is where the guilt sets in.  For present consumption, Peltier Station’s rare and superbly rendered 2006 Teraldego from a tiny 2 acre vineyard on the estate, is simply not to be missed.  Suave, sophisticated, and drinking beautifully right now, it’s earned a spot at the top.  It’s a Top Pick for sure.  However, Tremonte’s 2010 Monte Rekewa Oro de Los Coipos deserves to be mentioned as well.  Granted, this full-throttle blend of Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon begs for more time in the bottle to reveal all that it has to offer, but if what we tasted is any indication of what one can expect from this youthful giant, we’re in for one heck of a treat.  So it also deserves a spot at the top for the awesome potential it portends.  A votre santé!

This month’s Premier Series Top Picks causes me a bit of consternation.  Yeah, it’s the choice thing again.  I’ve always been fond of Italy’s estate bottled white wines.  They stand in stark contrast to the oceans of commercial Soaves and Pinot Grigios that the “industrial producers,” whose names everyone can recite, turn out.  This month’s Premier Series wine, the 2010 Forchir estate bottled Pinot Grigio, is the mirror opposite of the “commercial grade” of wine that rarely excites.  Hence, this month’s first Top Pick goes to Forchir’s 2010 Villa del Borgo’s Fruili Pinot Grigio – a pure, refreshing, flavorful white wine that captures the ethereal quality of Pinot Grigio without sacrificing flavor.  It’s not buttery or complex, but it’s a perfect feature for the month of August and a great value, too.  So, it’s the red wines this month that make my job tough.  Peltier Station’s 2009 is a luscious Cabernet that rocked our tasting panel.  The wine’s texture, flavor, and seamless quality put a lot of the more expensive California Cabernets we tasted to shame, so it, too, has earned a  Top Pick for the month.  Better value in California Cabernet is hard to find.  But we have a co-recipient in Bodegas Carchelo’s 2010 Carchelo from Jumilla.  Carchelo captures the power and flavor of Monastrell (Mourvedre).  Although already drinking beautifully now, this wine will knock your socks off if given a few more months in bottle.  It stands in testimony to the quality and variety one can expect from Spain, so it, too, deserves to be a Top Pick.  A votre santé!

Choosing this month’s Collector Series Top Picks isn’t any easier than in previous months, but I don’t feel the same sense of guilt. Why? This month’s Collector Series white has a good self image. Colli di Lapio’s delicious Fiano di Avellino has been a perennial favorite of mine and of the club membership, too, so no disrespect intended nor perceived. With that being said, my first Top Pick for this series goes to the 2010 La Vau Gigondas. It’s a pure, polished Gigondas from one of the finest vintages in the Southern Rhône in recent memory. Moreover, I can drink this wine happily now or better still, lay it away for several more years to gain further depth and complexity . . . but that’s only if I can contain myself. My second Top Pick is Pezzi King’s 2007 Old Vines Zinfandel. It’s classic, old time Sonoma County Zin: it’s big, brawny, and positively packed with flavor. No wimpy wine here and no smoke or mirrors, either. This big boy will never be mistaken for White Zinfandel, and for that I’m thankful.

This month’s first Premier Series Top Pick is a no brainer for my palate.  Pietra Santa’s 2009 Cienega Valley Pinot Noir gets the first nod.  Why?  Pietra Santa had built an enviable reputation over the years for fashioning classic Italian varietals, most notably Sangiovese and Pinot Grigio, but I wasn’t sure what to expect from Pietra Santa’s first estate bottled Pinot Noir.  Well, now you know.  I think winemaker Alessio Carli got it right.  His first estate Pinot Noir is bright, juicy, and true to the terroir and climate of Cienega Valley.  Pinot Noir is a tough grape to grow and a difficult wine to make, so Carli gets my first Top Pick and my second Top Pick, too.  Yep, his excellent 2010 Amore Signature Collection Pinot Grigio is simply delicious.  It’s by far one of the top two or three California Pinot Grigios in the market.  Nevertheless, this second Top Pick was a tough choice to make because I really like this month’s Vergenoegd Runner Duck Red.  It’s an incredible value and a unique wine with a lot going on.  I’m also pleased with 1805’s crowd pleasing Chardonnay.  It’s not always easy to reach a consensus on Chardonnay, but this one seemed to have something everyone enjoyed.

 

A Votre Santé!

Don

 

The 2005 Vergenoegd Cabernet Sauvignon is a clear Top Pick for this month.  Vergenoegd is one of the oldest wine estates in South Africa and the estate’s Cabernet embodies all the attributes that have made Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon both exciting and unique.  Vergenoegd’s deep, intense flavors mingle berry fruit, chocolate, coffee, and the special terroir of Stellenbosch to render each sip a new experience.  Several caveats, however: never judge a South African red by the first sip, allow Vergenoegd’s 2005 Cabernet plenty of aeration, and serve all traditional South African Cabernets with a hearty meat or vegetarian dish.  Like the finest red wines of Italy, South African reds are not giant fruit bombs built exclusively for tastings.  They do, however, shine at table and stand the test of time.

My other Top Pick this month is the 2010 Bouchard Père et Fils Pouilly-Fuissé.  Why?  It epitomizes Chardonnay, and offers a tasty draught of white Burgundy without smoke or mirrors.  It also demonstrates why first rate Pouilly-Fuissé is one of the most popular French wines in America.  It’s elegant, flavorful, and so easy to drink, so I want for nothing.

 

A Votre Santé!

Don

I like good Shiraz, and I love great Shiraz that doesn’t cost $45.00 a bottle, which means that Mary-Lou Nash’s 2008 Black Pearl Shiraz gets my vote this month as a Top Pick.  This wine really blew me away, but don’t just take my word for it.  John Platter (South Africa’s rendition of wine critic Robert Parker, Jr.) rated the 2008 Black Pearl Shiraz four stars, and for good reason.  Mary-Lou Nash knows how to make fine, natural wines with plenty of sensual appeal.  Moreover, I can recall tasting quite a few perfectly good Shiraz/Syrah wines that cost twice the price from Australia and California that can’t hold a cork to Black Pearl.  Hence, Black Pearl is hands down one of my Top Picks.

Frankly, my other Top Pick is a much tougher choice, and I might as well pick it blindfolded because each of the other three features this month has merit and appeals to me.  With that said, Domaine des Quatres Routes’ 2010 Muscadet is an ideal summer wine, and by June I’m ready for summer and seafood.  Having grown up on an island fishing and clamming, authentic Muscadet appeals to me for its simplicity and affinity to clams, oysters, scallops and just about anything else that crawls or swims in the sea.  Never complex but always refreshing, good Muscadet like the 2010 Domaine des Quatres Routes reminds me of long summer days at the beach followed by plenty of clams and steamers on the half shell.  However, in an ideal world one begins such an evening with Domaine des Quatres Routes’s 2010 Muscadet and has a bottle of the 2008 Fioravante Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon open to accompany whatever  you have cooking on the grill for a main course.

 

A Votre Santé!

Don