2008 Dona Paula Malbec/Shiraz Estate, Mendoza, Argentina

86               Drink 2012               $12, QPR index - 7.2

The 2008 Shiraz/Cabernet Estate is a strong effort.  With air, aromatic notions of blackberry pie, wild fennel, and black pepper emerge and preface a medium-bodied palate rife with black licorice and leather flavors, while copious quantities of plum and blackberry fruit provide Malbec-specific typicity.  Here the  alcohol is already creeping up on the finish, suggesting that an already precarious sense balance should be enjoyed much sooner than later.

User-friendly and consistently reliable wines are the norm at Dona Paula.  David Bonomi heads the winemaking duties here, and has shown a deft ability to turn out rich, compelling, and generally well-balanced wines at accessible prices.  The Estate wines represent particularly outstanding value, and should not be overlooked.

2010 Burgans Albarino, Rias Baixas, Spain

88               Drink 2012              $12, QPR index - 7.3

Burgans has crafted a distinctive, nearly outstanding Albarino bottling in 2010.  Even better, it represents exceptional value.  A lifted bouquet integrates bananas, peach skin, and pineapples, which lead to a palate marked by racy acidity, a vibrant yet pliant texture, uncharacteristic opulence for this variety, and a mouthwatering, floral finish.  Drink it over the next year.

2005 La Perla del Priorat, "Noster," Priorat, Spain

90               Drink now-2015               $20, QPR index - 4.5

The 2005 version opens with alluring, sweetly ripe aromas of blueberries as well as black plums and other darker fruits, while notions of coffee and exotic spices emerge with air.  The palate shows a gorgeous, focusing vein of acidity, excellent balance, and a mineral finish.  Lavishly flavored, full-bodied, and possessed of refined, satiny tannins, this Priorat will be a revelation for readers looking for heady, rich, Chateauneuf du Pape styled wines at more accessible prices.

2007 Glaetzer, "Wallace," Barossa Valley, Australia

88               Drink now-2013               $24, QPR index - 3.7

The deep purple-colored 2007 "Wallace" is a blend of 80% Shiraz and 20% Grenache hailing from the Ebenezer sector at the northern end of the Barossa Valley.  In the glass, the 2007 wafts aromatic notions of candied and carmelized blacker fruits as well as touches of chimney soot and decadent flowers, which lead to a voluminous palate of more sweet dark fruit along with additional dimensions of herbs and chocolate.  The finish shows a certain ornery astringency, only a minor distraction from an otherwise excellent effort.

Broadbent Port Auction Lot 1, Portugal

86               Drink n/a               $28, QPR index - 3.1

The Auction Lot 1 registers promising aromas of carmel, black currants, marker ink, and vanilla extract.  It has a rounded entry, a medium-full bodied mouthfeel, some alcoholic heat on the midpalate, and a moderately long finish streaked with blackberries and cocoa powder.  Well-composed, medium-sweet, and reasonably balanced, this is tasty though unremarkable and in need of greater depth and complexity.

MV St. Cosme Little James Basket Press Rouge, Southern France

87               Drink now-2012               $12, QPR index - 7.3

This is the 2011 bottling (for more on which see below).  The characteristically black raspberry and concord grape scented Basket Press Rouge is quite pretty this year.  The palate echoes the wine's bouquet though with a distinctively peppery edge, plenty of freshness, and an herbal/floral pungency that is faintly reminiscent of Campari.  Seamless, downright delicious, and eminently drinkable, this would translate effortlessly from a cocktail hour to the dinner table.  Perhaps the best value in Louis Barruol's portfolio, which is saying something.

The multi-vintage (MV) Basket Press Rouge is rendered via the "solera" system.  This practice stipulates that the wine released in a particular year is composed of 50% the previous year's fruit (here 2010), while the difference consists of some quantity of juice from each vintage dating back to 1999.  A pure Grenache cuvee fermented and aged exclusively in tank, proprietor Louis Barruol has conceived a wine that memorably welds the evolved, earthier, and dry-fruited personalities of older vintages with the strapping, boisterous and sweetly ripe qualities of the current one.  In a sense the results are head scratching, as I simply can't come close to understanding how prices for this label remain so inexpensive.

Various Tasting Notes, Mostly Austria

Thanks to Kris Nelson of Vermont Wine Merchants for another revealing and thoughtfully constructed tasting.  I must say that one-on-one styled, intimately set tastings continue to be my preferred modus operandi (especially with a rep I have come to trust), if only because the physical space afforded and abscence of a bullishly commercial atmosphere gels more with my view of wine as a beverage of pleasure as opposed to a mere consumer commodity.

I feel compelled to simply express how impressed I continue to be with the general direction of Austria's wine culture.  There are still too many insipid, overcropped and uninspiring wines to be found, but they seem to be showing up less frequently in the marketplace.  As the follow notes suggest, there are a growing number of growers and producers whose insistence on naturally made and, increasingly, estate-bottled wines augur well for their future.  While the Wachau, Kremstal, and Kamptal remain the most consistent areas for beautifully rendered and, indeed world class wines (mostly whites), there are a bevy of superb wines to be found in the vast, geologically heterogeneous tracts of land to the southeast.  

Of these regions, Carnuntum seems forwardly placed to stamp itself as the epicenter of quality oriented reds.  The native grapes Zweigelt and Blaufrankisch thrive in this easterly region, and international varietals including Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah are being planted with greater frequency, with a handful of producers making convincing wines with still attractive price tags.  The best producers in Carnuntum, whether working with varietal wines or blends, seem to capture a sense of concentration and distinctiveness wedded to understated and polished structures that, in terms of consistency of execution, seem to me to elude the reds of Austria's other wine regions.

A number of the wines in this report are imported by Michael Skurnik, with many selections made by one of his associates, Terry Thiese.  Especially for those lacking experience with Austrian wines (or any imported wines for that matter) it would be difficult to overstate the crucial role of the importer.  In fact, I would go as far as stating that for the consumer a good importer is as valuable a piece of information as one can find on a wine label.  I may risk sounding like a broken record, but importers who proudly represent the wines of organic/biodynamic estates and producers intent on bottling, except in rare circumstances, without fining or filtration are most worthy of consumer attention.  Names like Michael Skurnik and Kermit Lynch on the back of a wine label will never assure the consumer of a profoundly complex and ageworthy wine, but they are rarely another manifestation of the inexpressive and distressingly denuded wine whose only "merit" is that it possesses "no hard edges."  Only that those days were entirely in the past!

For the convenience of readers, wines are listed by points and in descending order.  I am avoiding adding notes on producers for reasons of space.  Wines scored below 85 are scored but not afforded tasting commentaries.  All are ready to drink unless otherwise noted.

Austria

92 - 2009 Schloss Gobelsburg Gruner Veltliner "Renner," Kamptal

The 2009 "Renner," hails from the famous Gaisberg vineyard located on the river Kamp, a northern tributary of the Danube.  A perfumy bouquet offers lemon meringue, flowers, sweet spices and Gruner's telltale green bean/herbal pungency, while the palate captures a lean, driven, powerful character that is rare in this early-ripening vintage.  Today this comes across as perhaps a touch young, but its concentration, seamlessness and length suggest at least half a dozen years of outstanding drinkability. 

90 - 2009 Ludwig Hiedler Gruner Veltliner "Loss," Kamptal

The 2009 Gruner Veltlines "Loss" is grown entirely on parcels with a high occurrence of Loess, a yellowish, ashy soil created by receding glaciers during the last ice age.  This soil drains expressly and efficiently, forcing wines to pursue deep root structures to assure themselves of a ready water supply.  Vivid aromatics redolent of candied lemons, flat Sprite and dried apricots lead to a surprisingly tropical, almost honeyed character on the palate, with a very sexy underlying exoticness.  There is a wonderful richness here, and a well-mannered finish.

89+ - 2010 Leth Gruner Veltliner "Steinagrund," Traisental

Hailing from Loess-bedecked and rocky terrain of the Traisental region south of the Wachau, the 2010 Leth "Steinagrund," ("stony soil") leads with notes of ripe pears, white pepper and flowers.  I like the density of flavors allied to the prominent acidity that characterizes so many 2010s, lending the wine a slender attractiveness.

89+ - 2008 Glatzer Blaufrankisch, Carnuntum

I am ecstatic to have discover the wines of Walter Glatzer, an organic producer stationed in Carnuntum (for more on which, see above).  His 2008 Blaufrankisch is scented like a well-endowed Sonoma County Syrah, with beautifully sculpted aromas of roasted herbs, cherry jam and game that impress for their length and ripeness, while an expressive detail of dark chocolate emerges on the finish.  Firmly structured and beautifully rendered.

88 - 2007 Glatzer Zweigelt Riedencuvee, Carnuntum  

More supply textured is the 2007 Zweigelt Reidencuvee, a pleasure-bent offering that houses flavors of worn leather, frying bacon, smoky raspberries within a lip-smacking, dares-you-not-to-take-another-sip sort of style.  Nice background details for the more prominent and eminently enjoyable dark cherry and raspberry character.   

87 - 2010 Rotes Haus Amnussberg Gemischter Satz Classic, Vienna 

This belongs to a class of wines called "Gemischter Satz."  Such labeling denotes a wine produced from a number of white grape varieties grown in the same vineyard and harvested on the same day.  No grape-specific differentiation is permitted during sorting or fermentation in this very traditional style of winemaking.  Of the two tasted here, I preferred the 2010 Rotes Haus Amnussberg Weiner Classic for its greater depth of flavor, including a distinctive hazelnut edge to the lemon starburst flavors that detonate on the palate.  A touch of residual sugar is briskly housed in this piquant white that harbors a healthy acidity and an elegant, charming demeanor.

85 - 2010 Weingut Christ Gemischter Satz,Vienna 

Also enjoyable is this offering from Weingut Christ, a wine laced with pretty notes of white peaches, flowers, melon and cinnamon as well as nice aromatic persistence.  Only a surprisingly short finish proves penalizing.

85 - 2009 Heidi Schrock Weinbauerin in Rust Weissburgunder, Neusiedlersee 

I am surprised I eventually succumbed to the virtues of this wine considering its initial blue cheese and aging produce-inflecked bouquet.  Most of those odd details blew off with air, giving way to fresh, even vibrant flavors that evoke orange and orange rind and a touch of tropical fruit.  I'm not always convinced about the qualities of Weissburgunder, but this delicious effort leaves me smiling.

85 - 2009 Weingut Christ Blauer Zweigelt Bisamberg, Vienna 

The 2009 conveys rich, almost candied aromas that seem a bit artificial to me.  There is no problem with drinkability here, although the monolithic profile and lack of genuine midpalate concentration disappoint.  After all that, the finish does its best to redeem things, revealing a balsamic, earthy edge.  I'd love to revisit this slightly perplexing Zweigelt in the near future.

81 - 2010 Martinshof Gruner Veltliner, Vienna

Other Various Tasting Notes

88 - 2008 Zind Humbrecht Pinot Blanc, Alsace, France

The 2008 Pinot Blanc flows with liquid dandelions, lemons and a hint of bitter greens.  A very distinctive and well-crafted Pinot Blanc, with a razor sharp acidity to keep everything in focus.  Impressive.

87+ - 2009 Mount Difficulty Pinot Noir, Central Otago, New Zealand 

The 2009 Mount Difficulty is a pleasant if somewhat uninspiring Pinot Noir, rendered in a style that favors purity and cleanliness of action that, to this taster, come at the expense of complexity and individuality.  Exhibits a noteworthy amplitude and fresh berry character on the palate, but remains adamantly one dimensional even with extended time in the glass.

87 - 2007 Ramsay Cabernet Sauvignon, North Coast, California 

An excellent value in North Coast Cabernet Sauvignon is the sweetly fruited 2007 Ramsay, which belies its outstanding vintage in its supple, silky tannins, while saturating the palate with fennel bulb, herbs, and sweet dark fruit tones.  This is nicely extracted, and represent outstanding value.  Delicious.

85 - 2009 Roth Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley, California 

Value-oriented readers might also seek out the 2009 Roth Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley, crafted in a fresh, early drinking style that oozes mint, eucalyptus, and a slight notion of parched soil.  Its modest capabilities are betrayed on the back end, which becomes medicinal and astringent.  Still, there is a good deal to like at this price.

85 - 2010 Sean Minor Pinot Noir, Central Coast, California

The 2010 seems just a touch short on varietal character and vigor, as its cherry fruit leans closer to fruit roll up than fresh cherries, although healthy acid levels and pleasantly firm sense of structure must be counted as virtues.  I can't believe I'm saying this considering that the Sean Minor wines are almost always intended for immediate consumption, but a year or eighteen months in bottle may help shed some primary fruit, while lending greater polish to the tannins.  

83 - 2009 Stickybeak Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, California

82 - 2006 Zind Humbrecht Pinot Blanc, Alsace, France

2009 Milbrandt Vineyards Pinot Gris, Columbia Valley, Washington

87               Drink now-2012               $12, QPR index - 7.3

The infectiously drinkable 2009 Pinot Gris is a terrific antidote for palates jaded with innocuous styles of Pinot Gris.  It exhibits flavors of chive and almond-infused butter as well as a whiff of tropical fruits in a youthfully generous, lively style.  A light spritz helps add some bite and focus on the back end, making this an eminently quaffable and delicious value-priced white perfect for cocktailing or an hors d'oeuvres hour, especially when served with richly textured foods.

2007 Domaine des Entrefaux, Crozes-Hermitage, Rhone Valley, France

90               Drink now-2016               $20, QPR index - 4.5

The expressive 2007 carries a mere 12.5% alchohol and evokes in its bouquet notions of black raspberries, subtle oak, and licorice together with details of blueberries and Provencal herbs that emerge with coaxing.  Its medium body, silken texture, and noteable purity and length are wrapped in a package of undeniable elegance and finesse.  I like the 2007 as much as the decidedly more firm and muscular 2005, and believe its intrinsically high sense of equilibrium should allow it to effortlessly reach its eighth or perhaps even tenth birthday.

2008 Xabec, Monstant, Spain

93               Drink now-2020               $15, QPR index - 6.2

The impressively endowed 2008 Xabec, a blend of equal parts Carignan and Garnacha, exhibits rich, spicy aromatics, a voluptuous texture, extraordinary opulence, and a palate profile of sweet dark fruit, forest floor, sweet spices, and well integrated oak.  Already showing excellent integration of its component parts, this beautifully crafted blend is approachable now, though its impeccable balance, commanding sense of structure, and incipient complexity augurs well for those with patience.  This amounts to an intelligent marriage of informed winemaking and gloriously opulent, beautifully ripe fruit.

2007 Castro Ventosa Mencia, "El Castro de Valtuille," Bierzo, Spain

89               Drink now-2014               $15, QPR index - 6.0

Sourced from 20-40 year old vines from a number of vineyards in and around the town of Ventosa de Abajo with sandy/quartize/slatey soils, the 2007 Mencia Joven possesses a sweet perfume of dried cherries, strawberry starburst, balsamic, and underpinnings that evoke blueberry and fish sauce.  Its attack is marked by admirable focus, a medium body, inviting and integrated tannins, a concentrated midpalate, no hard edges, and a short-moderate finish.  This bottling captures the sexy, sensuous side of Mencia that is often missed in the low acid, pillowy, fleshed-out expressions of the grape that typically emanate from Bierzo and nearly Ribera Sacra.

2008 Mount Eden Chardonnay Estate, Santa Cruz Mountains, California

94               Drink 2013-2020+               $50, QPR index - 1.9

Another installment in an unbroken string of utterly profound estate grown Chardonnay is the 2008, the most unctuously textured, extracted and, at three years of age, youthful and unevolved Chardonnay I have ever tasted from Jeff Patterson.  A nose of carmelized peaches and green apples as well as minerals, buttered toast and a touch of hazelnuts leads to an oily, immensely concentrated and powerful mouthful of white currants and buttered popcorn with, and this is amazing considering the sheer opulence here, a heavy dosage of underlying minerality.  It will reward two more years of cellaring, and should easily provide a plateau of optimal drinking until 2020.  While not as youthfully generous as, say, the 2005 or the 2007, the 2008 will have its day and will ultimately be seen as one of the great vintages of the Estate Chardonnay. 

2009 Embocadero Tempranillo, Ribera del Duero, Spain

90               Drink now-2014+               $15, QPR index - 6.0

The 2009 Tempranillo surrenders aromatic notions of parched soil, ripe red currants, black cherries and broccoli crowns, with a palate that exues lush and pure Tempranillo, with lightly spiced red fruits, a full-bodied opulence, firm tannins, and a mouthwatering currant tartness that lingers persistently through the finish.  Drink this voluminous, textured, delicious, exceptional value over the next three years if not longer.