The Friday Lineup™

A weekly commentary on selected wines tasted. All wines are sampled pristine and with food.

Wine Tasting of the Week:

John Larchet is at it again. The man who put together The Australian Premium Wine Collection (TAPWC) a little over a dozen years, bringing us such stellar estates as Hewitson, Elderton and Grossett, has now launched WWHQ – World Wine Headquarters. The intent of WWHQ is to put together what is in essence the Larchet Collection, consisting of two to four estate each from a half-dozen countries to which Larchet as an affinity – New Zealand, Argentina, Spain, Italy, Austria and eventually France and the U.S.

Earlier this week, I tasted some of the collection in New York with John at the Cooper Square Hotel. Almost all of the wines are under $20, and there are many winners. I will give more complete notes at a later date, but I was especially impressed by the wines from Lobster Reef (NZ), Altivo and Ichanka (Argentina), and Tilenus and Monte Vicor (Spain). Good work.



Wine of the Week

2007 Mercer Yakima Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($23). I’ve always been impressed with the promise of Washington cabs, as they seem – as a group – to be plumper in fruit than those from the Medoc, yet not as big and boisterous as many from Napa Valley. This is one of those wines – lots of sweet dark cherry and purple cassis fruit, a defining touch of brambles, followed by silky tannins. Easy to drink now, but also a keeper, one perhaps under-priced by $10 to $20.

Wines of Interest

2009 J California Pinot Gris ($15). Wines from J often have a pronounced edge – somewhere between being abrasive and peppery – that is a little heavy for my taste, especially in its sparkling wines. But here it works nicely with the grape's signature firm pear fruit, allowing it to step up to food a little more than most PGs without an excess of acidity. The price is right, too.

2007 Rocca Family Napa Valley Bad Boy Red ($32). If a label is intended as a warning, heed this one, unless you are looking for a kick-ass wine. I think it is too aggressive coming out of the bottle – alcoholic, tannic, extracted – but, like many bad boys, it mellows with morning light. There is good fruit and chocolate tannins in there, but it needs a few years in the clink or some slapping around in a decanter before it becomes acceptable for polite company.

2007 Blackstone Sonoma County Reserve Merlot ($20). This is a very nice effort from Blackstone – firm, full fruit that is neither too lean nor too fruit-forward – nice for sipping or at the table. It is well balanced (with 7% Cab, 6% Ruby Cab, 2% PV), though not particularly complex. Try a bottle, because, if you like it, it would be a nice one to lay away for future drinking at a reasonable price.



Until next time...

Roger Morris

The Friday Lineup™

A weekly commentary on selected wines tasted. All wines are sampled pristine and with food.

Wine of the Week:

NV Nicolas Feuillatte Brut Rosé ($45). This is one of the most satisfying Champagnes you can drink and not spend a fortune. It can be described in a very few words – rich, ripe fruit that envelopes the whole palate and is accentuated by dried strawberry flavors and a lengthy finish. I enjoyed sipping it before dinner, and I enjoyed pairing it with a green salad with chicken.

Back Story I:

I’ve always enjoyed the NF line (never pass up a chance to drink Palmes d’Or), so I had a great timing chatting with cellar master Jean-Pierre Vincent about the various Feuillatte cuvees during an interview in New York earlier this week at A Voce at Columbus Circle. After the interview, Jean-Pierre made a tasting presentation for media and trade of six still wines from eight villages – two each of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier. I had to leave before the lunch, and rumor had it that I, indeed, probably passed up an opportunity to drink Palmes d’Or.

Back Story II:

You’ll notice the glass in the picture is not a Champagne flute but a white wine glass, what Georg Riedel would call a “wine-friendly glass” as opposed to a “varietal specific” glass. The day after the Nicolas Feuillatte tasting, I had the opportunity to do an in-depth interview with Riedel on a Lear 35 flight from Teterboro to Ohio, where he gave a sold-out tasting workshop to winemakers from the Eastern United States in convention at Geneva on the Lake. No matter how much you know about wine, it is always fascinating to hear Riedel’s ideas about how shapes of wine glasses affect the tastes of wine. “We don’t make wines,” he’s fond of saying, “we make tools for drinking wines.” And another: “Winemakers use chemistry. We use physics.” Which brings us to the glass. Having finally abandoned the coupe, many drinkers still love the Champagne flute because of its presentation of the bubbles. Pretty, but you can’t really appreciate the aromatics or tastes of a fine Champagne in a flute the way you can in a wine glass. And taste trumps esthetics.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

The Friday Lineup™

A weekly commentary on selected wines tasted. All wines are sampled pristine and with food.

Wines of the Week:

2008 Franciscan Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc ($17) and 2008 Franciscan Napa Valley Chardonnay ($18). The area where I live – Chester County, PA – is well-known for its many great BYOBs, as on-premise liquor licenses in this quirky state are scarce and expensive. These bottles from the venerable Franciscan Estate are just the kinds of wine to “bring” on a weekday night when you want something a cut above average but not extravagant. They are of a kind – both with complex tropical fruit flavors, yet both finish with a lean, though not harsh, juiciness. The Sauvignon is in the style of Pessac-Leognan, rather than the Loire, with herbal, sur lie richness and a finishing ripe, red gooseberry tanginess. The Chardonnay has melons with lots of creamy, but not heavy, toasty oak. Both are good values.

Wines of Interest:

2008 Quivira “Wine Creek Ranch” Grenache ($26). This wine is not quite “there” yet, but it’s getting close. The fruit is right – big dark, Languedoc-style Grenache berries, good firm tannins, a gentle bit of tonic bitters prickling around the edges in the finish. The oak, to my taste, is not quite right – a little too much caramel, which fights with the fruit for dominance. The two blend much better in a next-morning second tasting, which indicates that a better harmony might be achieved with decanting or a couple of years of bottle aging.

NV Dibon Brut Reserva Cava ($9). It’s an elegant sparkler with light candied flavors, but it sort of fades in the stretch just when – like so many things in life – you wish it could last just… a… little… longer.

Articles of Interest

It’s been a good couple of weeks for articles, especially in the May issue of Wine Enthusiast – a major piece on “A Day in the Life of a Chateau” with six pages of text and photos, plus an probing Q&A session with consultant and winemaker Michel Rolland. In Signature Brandywine, there is a profile of perhaps the first cult winery and cult winemaker on the East Coast – Anthony Vietri and his Va La Vineyards. The Hunt magazine features my piece on Bluecoat gin. Online, Sommelier News (

www.internationalsommelier.com) has my piece on how Rioja is reloading, and Chester County Dwell (www.ccdwell.com) features an article on the first solar-powered vineyard operation in the region.

Until next time…

Roger Morris

The Friday Lineup™

A weekly commentary on selected wines tasted. All wines are sampled pristine and with food.

Wine of the Week:

2008 Robert Mondavi Private Selection California Merlot ($9). This was not the best wine I tasted this week, but it certainly was the best value wine I tried. I especially like it because it has more character and finesse than most low-priced wines, which are generally just fruity and acceptable. This Merlot is good for sipping and great for food, because it is a prickly fresh, lean Merlot - in itself unusual - and it has a nice dollop of ripe but subdued cherry just as you swallow.

Wines of Interest:

2006 Benzinger Signaterra “Three Blocks” Sonoma Valley Red Wine ($49). Is it just me, or do most wines that are biodynamic or made from organic grapes taste more like they’re good for you than simply just taste good? OK, then, forget that the Benzingers may know more about both bio and orgo than anyone else in California. This is just a damn good wine – 64% Cab, the rest Merlot – big without being overly concentrated or extracted. It is full of well-balanced flavors – dark chocolate tannins, mocha, sparkling blackberries, earthiness, fresh corn oil. – dark, dark, dark; good, good, good.

2004 Selvapiana “Fornace” Toscana IGT ($35). If you don’t decant this wine, it seems a little ordinary at first. With some air, it grows in the glass, tasting both Tuscan and Bordelaise – Tuscan for its lean citric finish and Bordeaux-like because of its leathery, cigar-box qualities. The fruit, once it rises, is like fresh, not overly ripe blackberries. Start shaving the black truffles, please.

2007 J Vineyards Russian River Pinot Noir ($28). On a visit to the winery in early 2008 to J’s veteran, but recently hired, winemaker, George Bursick, said, “Come back in two years, and we will be the Number 1 Pinot Noir in California.” It’s good to aim high. Maybe George has a special cuvee hidden in the cellars, but this Pinot falls somewhat short of that ambition. It is a very nice wine, though somewhat conflicted. The middle taste is light and a little thin – though with a moderate tangy, gaminess that I like – while the finish is concentrated dark Bing cherries that clings at the finish a little too long. I love wines that have an aftertaste, but it’s a tricky business in that the finish has to be fresh, or else it accumulates a heaviness over a few sips.

Until next time...

Roger Morris