2004 Viu Manent MALBEC "Reserve" (Colchagua Valley, Chile)

This was an excellent value. Worth seeking out and comparing to $50+ Bordeaux. Malbecs can frequently be a little on the rustic and earthy side for me, but this one kept those characteristics in check and was superb.



Deep ruby garnet. Enthralling nose of wood smoke, freshly roasted coffee beans, and dark current jam. Deep and flavorful in the mouth, with some noticeable but fairly soft (for Malbec, anyway) tannin. Deep, long flavors of earth, crushed rocks, coffee, and dry cassis extract. Very, very nice, and has such nice depth that a year or two of cellaring will probably soften it a bit without drying up. Was $12.99 at Whole Foods on Bellaire a couple of months ago (so I'm not sure whether it's still there). 89.

2005 Charles Koehly RIESLING "Saint Hippolyte" (Alsace, France)

This dry French Riesling was very good-to-excellent.

Darkish brassy gold color. Striking nose of bright peach/pear/apple fruit, stony minerals, with notes of flowers and sweet, milky tea. Soft, round, and very minerally in the mouth, with persistent flavors and balanced acidity. While the flavors were very good, they didn't quite live up the the amazing nose. 88. (91 for the nose by itself!). Was about $20 at Spec's on Smith.

2004 Cellier Pinol "PORTAL" (Tierra Alta, Spain)

This wine is 20% Cabernet, 20% Garnacha, 20% Merlot, 20% Tempranillo, and 20% Syrah. The Wine Advocate gave this a glowing review but I didn't like it that well: too tannic and rustic for my taste.

Saturated black ruby color. Closed nose, with scorched earth and some cassis being the primary discernible components. Rich, but coarsely tannic in the mouth. Somewhat astringent as well. To its credit, there is a lot of deep fruit underneath the tannic veil, but this style is just way too rustic for me. Also, my experience is that age doesn't help wines this grittily tannic soften up at all. 79. Was $12 at Spec's on Smith.

2005 "Menage a Trois" (California Red Table Wine)

This is an under $10, widely-available blend of 80% Zin, and 10% each Cabernet and Merlot. It's not bad in a pinch, and is perfectly well-made, but it's got so much fruit and so little else that its lack of any complexity is noticeable.

Deep ruby with purple highlights. Ripe grapey, blackberry, plummy aromas dominate, with a tad of gingerbready spice WAY in the background. Round, flavorful, and soft in the mouth, with lots of sweet, ripe fruit, but there is such little body/alcohol for this level of ripeness that it almost seems like a soft drink. This leads me to wonder whether the winery carted this wine off in bulk to undergo reverse osmosis or some other alcohol reduction manipulation. Some residual sugar in the finish as well. Can take a little chill for summertime quaffing. 81. Is less than $10 at Spec's and lots of supermarkets.

2005 Vincent Girardin RULLY "Vieilles Vignes" (White Burgundy)

Superb, precisely-focused Chardonnay.

Exceedingly pale gold color. Gorgeously vibrant nose of grass, sweet spices with a hint of butter, stony minerals, and appley/pear-like fruit. Soft, sensually-textured mouthfeel, with gentle but concentrated, persistent flavors of citrus oil, stones, and crisp apples. A very elegant Chardonnay done in a style that is the antithesis of its often flabby, buttery, oaky, cloying California cousins. 90. Was about $21 at Spec's on Smith.

A Cotes du Rhone at Age 6 -- 2001 Perrin RASTEAU "L'Andeol" Cotes du Rhone-Villages (Southern France)

I had this wine last 2 years ago, rating it an 89 and opining that it was at or near its peak. Found a bottle in the closet and tried it recently, and it was definitely on the decline.

Deep black ruby with a brickish tint. Spicy nose at first with scorched earth, menthol, and some plummy fruit. Peppery, scorched-earthy, winey, but surprisingly deep flavors at first, with some astringency and still some sharp tannins in the finish. As it sat, however, the fruit faded and the wine's astringency took over, as frequently happens with fairly full-bodied reds on the decline. 86 at first, and declining from there as the night went on.

2004 Rene Mure PINOT BLANC "Tradition" (Alsace, France)

I love Alsace whites. This one's a very good value entry-level Alsace wine with lots of flavor and nice balance.

Very light gold color with a slightly greenish tint. Beautifully fruity, bright nose of peach and citrus oil, with toasty minerals. Soft, round, and relatively concentrated and persistent flavors of apples and pungent minerals. Medium-full body, with a little heat showing through at the end of a pretty long, clean finish. 87. Was a very good value at $11.99 at Richard's on Shepherd.

2004 d'Arenberg GRENACHE "The Custodian" (McLaren Vale, Australia)

This wine shows the rustic side of Grenache.

Dark black ruby. Nose very peppery and woodsy, with ripe, spicy raspberry fruit taking a secondary role instead of its usual position in the driver's seat. Full-bodied, with lots of deep-toned minerals, pepper, and ripe black raspberry fruit. Long, peppery finish. 86. I think this was around $16-$17, but I can't remember where I got it.

Steaks and wine in Chicago

Went to the annual INTA (International Trademark Association) conference earlier this week. This year was in Chicago. My buddy Frank Duffin and I, as per tradition, hit the steak houses for a couple of nice dinners. First was Gene and Georgetti's. Not the most refined setting, and the wine list wasn't so hot, but the prime, dry-aged T-bone was tremendous. Had a 2004 St. Hallet Shiraz from Australia with it. The wine was not as jammy as many Aussie Shirazes, with somewhat higher acidity and tighter than I expected. Not bad, but not great.


The next night Frank and I, along with our friend Alex from Madrid, hit the Chicago Chop House, one of my favorite steak houses in the country. Their daily "off the menu" special, which I've had several times, is the Chop House Prime Rib. It's a prime, dry-aged ribeye cooked a special way: first it's roasted on the entire rib rack until just bloody, bloody rare, then sliced into individual ribeye steaks and seared to order. Even though I usually order a Strip, T-bone, or Porterhouse everywhere else, here, this cut is amazing. The wine was a 2004 J. Rochioli Russian River Valley Estate Pinot Noir -- a perfumed, concentrated, extraordinary PN whose ethereally light mouthfeel was hard to believe given its concentration of sappy, fragrant Pinot fruit and its length.








For dessert, we walked over to oENOlogy, a nearby wine, cheese, and chocolate joint in the Intercontinental Hotel. Amazingly, they had three different half bottles of Alois Kracher Austrian dessert wines on their list. We ordered a 1999 Alois Kracher #6 - Grande Cuvee Nouvelle Vague Trockenbeerenauslese. This wine was tremendously honeyed and rich, with lots of apricot and date fruit, and high enough acidity to buoy it all up. A great way to end the evening.

2005 Carchelo MONASTRELL (Jumilla, Spain)

Had the 2004 of this wine awhile back, and it was very good (and cheap) (link). So's this one.

Crystalline dark black ruby. Nose of crushed rocks, scorched earth, and blackberries swimming in sweet cream. Youthfully tight -- I'm noticing that lots of the 2005s from Spain are like that -- yet soft in the mouth. Filled with balanced, concentrated flavors of dry blackberry extract and high-toned crushed rocks. Lengthy, minerally finish, with some pepperiness and angularity that should resolve and soften in the next year or so. 87+. Good value at about $8-9 at Central Market (I think).

2005 Vina Salamanca (50% Rufete, 50% Tempranillo) (Castilla Y Leon, Spain)

This was a pretty good value.

Dark, sparkling, magenta-tinged black ruby. Assertive nose of crunchy berries, sweet cream, and powdered rocks. Vibrant, youthful flavors of resiny cherry/raspberry fruit, granite, and peppercorns. A little angular and elbow-y in the mouth, but that should settle down and round-out in the next year. Good, pure, long finish, with lots of fruit and some youthful tannin. 86+. Was about $8 at Whole Foods on Bellaire.

2004 Tenuta Villanova PINOT GRIGIO (Friuli, Italy)

This wine had loads of character. I'm not usually a Pinot Grigio fan, as so many of them are akin to glasses of water tainted by some faint bitterness and acidity. This one, however--which was given to us as a gift--was really good.

Bright, light, brassy-gold with a greenish tint. Intense nose of minerals, peach pits, and earthy herbs. Round, mouthfilling, minerally flavors. Bone dry, with excellent balance, and a long finish. This would be superb with Brodetto (a fish stew from the Marche region of Italy) or pasta with a red fish sauce. 88. A quick search on the Internet shows that most stores selling this price it at around $12, making it a very good value.

2003 Tenuta Le Farnete CARMIGNANO (Tuscany, Italy)

A flash-in-the-pan wine: good up-front fragrance and flavors, but a very short finish.

Dark, brickish-blood ruby. Spicy, smoky nose, with gingery spice and smoky balsa wood & berries. A burst of fruit, minerals, and scorched earth quickly fades, however, into a lean, minerally/earthy finish. 83. Was about $18 at Spec's on Richmond.

Quick Notes on Easter Wines

These are quick, truncated notes from memory.


NV Veuve Cliquot Brut (Champagne) -- toasty, full-bodied, intense and bone dry. Nice balance.





2004 Domaine Bott-Geyl "Pinot d'Alsace" -- a blend of 35% Pinot Blanc, 35% Pinot Auxerrois, 20% Pinot Gris, and 10% Pinot Noir. It was very nice, and I think it was around $14. Fragrance of orange skins and peach, lots of fruit and mineral flavors. Crisp and dry.





2000 Domaine Pavillon-Mercurol Crozes-Hermitage -- when last tasted a year or so ago, this was still holding beautifully. This bottle was over the hill, however, with the fruit drying up.







2003 Las Rocas Vinas Viejas GARNACHA (Calatayud, Spain) -- much leaner and more astringent than the excellent 2001 version I previously reviewed.





2004 Rosenblum Monte Rosso Vineyard ZINFANDEL Reserve -- I saved the best for last. This was a wonderful, powerful Zin. Huge aromas of port-like fruit and lots of oak spice and pepper. Rich, powerful, ripe, minerally flavors. Massive body, yet still retained elegance.

Non-vintage Patrick LeSec "Petite Crau" (Southern France)

Patrick LeSec is an excellent broker/negociant of wines from around the Rhone Valley and Provence. This is his bargain basement-priced red. It's got a lot of character for the money.

Deep ruby garnet. Fragrant nose of sweet, spiced cream, sweet-tart plums, and sandstone. Intense, lean flavors of minerals, scorched earth, dark cherries, and baker's chocolate. A bit angular, but delivers lots of galumphy flavor. Fairly long finish, with some rustic-feeling tannin. 86. Was $8 and change at Spec's on Richmond.

2004 Thorn-Clarke "Terra Barossa" SHIRAZ (Barossa Valley, Australia)

I drank this about 2 months ago but lost the notes temporarily.

It was excellent. Deep, opaque ruby (like blood). Deep nose, too, of cassis, blueberry syrup, hot sandstone, and smoky graphite. Dense, deep, and dry, with flavors of ripe cassis, minerals, and salty iodine. Very distinctive. Well-integrated tannins are barely discernible but provide nice structure. Long, smoky finish. 90. Will hold for another 2-3 years or so. Can't remember where I got it, but it was definitely around $15.

2005 Revolution SHIRAZ (McLaren Vale, Australia)

This was a very rich, elegant Shiraz.


Dense, sataurated black ruby color. Rich nose of black raspberry ice cream, balsa wood, and grilled meat. Dense, deep, oaky, iodine-y, salty flavors. Richly-extracted, but not overly jammy like lots of Shirazes. Long, soft finish. Macho and refined at the same time. 90. Was about $18 at Whole Foods on Bellaire.

2005 CAMPOS REALES (La Mancha, Spain)

A very good value. Lots of flavor for the money.


Deep, bright, luminescent ruby. Super-rich, ripe plummy-blackberry nose, with some gingerbread/scorched balsa wood notes. Rich, dense, ripe, and full-bodied. Not a heck of a lot of complexity, but lots of flavor and a rich texture. Big and satisfying. 100% Tempranillo grape, which is surprising to me because I usually figure Tempranillo based wines to be more the elegant, medium-bodied type. This was under $10, but I can't remember if I got it at Spec's or Central Market. 88.

UPDATE (4/3): Saw this last night at Central Market for $7.99.

2003 Domaine Fourrier MOREY-ST. DENIS "Clos Solon" Vieille Vigne (Burgundy, France)

This was a truly decadent wine.

Rich, vibrant ruby, with no trace of lightening or ambering at the rim. Extravagantly perfumed, almost indescribable nose: watermelon, black cherry cola, ginger root, spearmint, freshly-baked bread, and minerals. Intense, forward, full-bodied flavors of cherry liqueur, minerals, pepper, and scorched earth. Long, perfumey finish with a little heat and tannin in the back end. With just a touch more concentration in the back of the palate, this would have been nearly perfect. As it is, it is superb, and is a great example of why Pinot Noir is such an amazing grape. 92. Was $29.99 -- and worth every penny and more -- from Flickinger Wines in Chicago.

2005 Abrazo GARNACHA (Carinena, Spain)

This is a fantastic value. At $6.99, it's a great choice for a big party or cook-out.

Medium ruby withbright magenta glints. Bright, sassy nose of spicy raspberr juice and flinty minerals. Soft, round, mouthfilling flavors of sappy raspberries -- not that concentrated, complex, or deep, but lots of fun, upfront fruit. Pretty good, balanced finish. Drink by the fall. This wine could even take a slight chill for summertime drinking. 87. Got it at Whole Foods on Bellaire.