In June, The International Wine of the Month Club’s Premier Series is delighted to offer four outstanding wines from four continents, beginning with the highly acclaimed 2019 Casas del Bosque Valle del Maipo Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon (91 Points – Vinous). The decadent, highly polished 2019 Casas del Bosque Valle del Maipo Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon sports a deep purple color and entices with the redolent savory scents of blackberry, strawberry, and raspberry, all nicely imbued with dark chocolate and mint. The ebullient 2019 Casas del Bosque Valle del Maipo Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon had us at the first sniff. In the mouth, the wine reveals elegance as well as concentration with a delicious mélange of berry fruit, red pepper, dark chocolate, and spice. Ripe, well integrated tannins provide backbone and structure on which this balanced and complex Cabernet Sauvignon flows to a long vibrant finish. Although drinking beautifully now, the 2019 Casas del Bosque Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon will continue to improve in bottle and provide superb drinking pleasure for many years. Enjoy!
Our next Premier Series feature is the exuberant Ca’ di Prata Brut Prosecco DOC, a wine that embodies all that is magical about spring, an awakening land, and the ephemeral blossoms that will soon bear fruit. The Ca’ di Prata Brut Prosecco offers delicate scents of apple, pear, and white peach within its fine crystalline stream of bubbles. In the mouth, it is lively and spritely with delicate fruit flavors and a lithe elegance. Although dry and refreshing on the palate, Ca’ di Prata’s Brut Prosecco never slips into austerity, nor does it pretend to be champagne or chardonnay or anything else but Prosecco, an elegant countess of conviviality. Enjoy!
Our next offering this month hails from South Africa. It is the ever delicious 2021 Black Pearl The Mischief Maker, simply the latest in a string of excellent Shiraz-based wines from Mary-Lou Nash and Black Pearl Vineyards. The eye-catching 2021 The Mischief Maker offers a saturated purple color, and within minutes of being poured black currant, mulberry, and a cache of exotic spices emerge to charm the nose. However, it is in the mouth where this wine truly shows itself. Layers of fruit infused with sizzling bacon, deft touches of sandalwood, and a subtle smokiness tantalize the palate. The 2021 Mischief Maker embodies energy and purity along with a disarming charm thanks to Mary-Lou Nash’s commitment to the land and the wine she brings forth from the good earth of South Africa’s Western Cape. Cheers!
Completing June’s Premier Series offerings is the much lauded 2022 Rieslingfreak No. 44 Eden Valley Riesling (93+ Points – Erin Larkin of The Wine Advocate) from Australia’s fabled Eden Valley vineyards, allowing the No. 22 Riesling to express the beauty of dry Riesling from the valley’s slate soil. At the onset, a pale crystalline robe catches the eye, but it hardly prepares the taster for the wine’s bouquet, a symphony of white flowers, orange blossoms, sweet basil, and exotic spices. In the mouth, Rieslingfreak’s 2022 No. 44 Eden Valley Riesling reveals elegance and vivacity with a lovely texture and plenty of citrus and orchard fruit flavors to complement the wine’s dry flinty finish. Although this young Riesling will likely fill out and gain further complexity with another year in the bottle, it is an absolute pleasure to drink now, so we see no reason to wait. Dive right in and enjoy!
The International Wine of the Month Club’s Collectors Series is thrilled offer our members this month three truly exceptional wines from around the world, beginning with the 2019 Oliverhill Jimmy Section McLaren Vale Shiraz (93 points – Vinous – Josh Raynolds). Bottled un-fined and unfiltered, the single vineyard 2019 Oliverhill Jimmy Section Shiraz hails from a tiny 5-acre block of 49-year-old vines from the most hallowed terroir of McLaren Vale. Oliverhill’s 2019 Jimmy Section Shiraz highlights McLaren Vale’s unique terroir, yielding a wine with a saturated purple color, a flamboyant bouquet, voluptuous flavors, and exceptional length. Rich, racy, and utterly seductive, the 2019 Oliverhill Jimmy Section McLaren Vale Shiraz exudes savory scents and flavors of crushed blackberry, mulberry, exotic spices, sandalwood, violets, and much more. Bold-flavored, yet elegant and beautifully textured, Oliverhill’s basket-pressed 2019 Jimmy Section Shiraz is smooth and impeccably balanced, revealing layers of intriguing flavors with each and every sip. With four years of aging under its cap, the recently released 2019 Oliverhill Jimmy Section Shiraz is just beginning to hit its stride, and it will continue to improve in bottle, becoming even more luscious with each additional year for the remainder of the decade. However, there is no need to wait: the 2019 Jimmy Section Shiraz had us at the first sip. Taste and see!
Our next June Collectors Series offering hails from Burgundy, France: the 2020 Vignerons Réunis de Buxy Montagny Premier Cru. Crisp, racy, and subtly complex, the 2020 Vignerons Réunis de Buxy Montagny Premier Cru highlights the true character of Chardonnay as well as Montagny’s superb terroir. The bright sun-splashed 2020 Vignerons Réunis de Buxy Montagny Premier Cru regales with finesse and purity, leading with a pleasing bouquet of spring flowers, forsythia, and freshly picked mountain apples. In the mouth, the wine’s subtly seductive bouquet re-emerges, offering pure Chardonnay fruit flavors, superb texture, and a refreshing mineral-driven finish. Although the Vignerons Réunis de Buxy always manages to fashion a crowd pleasing Montagny Premier Cru, the 2020 Montagny Premier Cru appears to be the finest example to date and a candidate for further ageing, as this youthful Chardonnay is just beginning to reveal all that is has to offer. Enjoy!
Completing June’s Collectors Series is the highly allocated 2018 Quinta S. Sebastião Vinho Regional Lisboa Reserva (93 Points – Wine Enthusiast). S. Sebastião’s 2018 Vinho Regional Lisboa Reserva offers a brilliant ruby robe along with plenty of bright red and black fruit aromas, which make a formidable first impression. Savory scents of black cherry and cranberry infused with a subtle cache of exotic spices immediately engage the nose and expand gracefully in the mouth. Complex and finely textured, the 2018 S. Sebastião Vinho Regional Lisboa Reserva woos the palate with a potpourri of fruit flavors imbued with deft touches of chocolate and vanilla spice all nicely balanced by fine grained tannins and juicy acidity. Santé!
