ViniCulture Wine Club
Holiday 2023 Tasting Notes
whites
Aldinger 2013 Brut Rosé 2 Sekt Sparkling (2013) - Germany
Aldinger winery into the stratosphere of quality and acclaim, gaining the prestigious Five Grapes award by the Gault Millau Guide (similar to the Michelin Guide). Founded in 1492, the winery retains its age-old charm, even in its current urban setting, which is within a cork’s throw of the Mercedes Benz headquarters and Museum in Stuttgart.
Their Brut Rose 2 Sekt Sparkling is made from a single grape variety, the spätburgunder (aka pinot noir). In addition to its creamy texture, this wine sports gorgeous wild strawberry fruit and finishes distinctly, but not austerely dry.
Stefan Bauer 2020 Grüner Veltliner Bromberg - Austria
As a member of the “Fair and Green” group of growers, winemaker Stefan Bauer practices organic methods (but forgoes certification) across his sizable estate, which is planted with a wide mix of grape varieties. Bauer enjoys finding creative alternatives to pesticides, including the use of algae.
The grapes for this wine were picked on October 26, 2019 and matured into a wine with a lot of swagger yet surprisingly moderate alcohol level—only 13%. Bauer’s wine has the typical grüner veltliner minerality, but his 2020 vintage wraps that minerality in a smooth, glossy envelope that gives it beautiful finesse.
Domaine de Bel Air 2021 Pouilly Fumé - France
With only 25 cases of this wine available in the entire state of California, we are so happy to be able to include it in our holiday club selection. Demand was high for this vintage, which, despite—or perhaps due to—the modest yield of fruit that season, turned out to be a wine with a “thrillingly open aroma” and “vibrantly fruity palate."
This female-run winery (“Impeccably run by the ladies of the family”), dates back to 1635. The 15 hectare (37 acre) estate has three distinctive soil types, all planted with the sauvignon blanc grape. Domaine de Bel Air produces three “single soil” wines, but for their flagship Pouilly Fumé, they bring together grapes from all three soil types.
Quinta do Mouro 2021 'Zagalos Branco' - Portugal
The Zagalos Branco is perfect for the holidays—a generous white with full volume but also with intense freshness and elegance. Even the color has a bit of boldness—darker citrus in color with a bit of straw-yellow overtones.
The wine comes from a relatively small but palatial estate built by the Zagalos family in Portugal’s Alentejo region. In 1979, a twenty-six year old dentist named Miguel Louro won the historic estate in a poker game. Over the years he’s built the winery into one of Portugal’s most esteemed wineries. Here in the US you can find Quinta do Mouro wines at Michelin-star Portuguese restaurant Adega, and at purveyors of top international wines.
Polz 2021 Steirische Spiegel - Austria
The tender, “snappy” character of this wine is a bit of a surprise, considering the somewhat intense conditions of the vineyard—grown on precarious hillsides and pummeled with heavy rains. Grass and other crops are encouraged to grow among the vines to both combat erosion and to encourage healthy plant growth through competition of resources.
Also surprising to this wine is the riesling component. Winemaker Polz planted riesling, not a particularly popular grape in the region, in a few of the prime spots of his vineyard. Blending it with sauvignon blanc and scheurebe, he created this remarkable wine that sports a cool green tone and conjures flavors of ripe quince.
Anta de Cima 2019 'Argilla Branco' - Portugal
In 1950 owners of the vineyard, the Tenriero family, decided to pull up all the existing vines and replace them with younger plants. New grapes were put in, but the ancient stone amphoras traditionally used to age the wines remained and are still used in creating their Argilla Branco and many of their other wines.
This white miraculously manages to combine somewhat oppositional notes of mineral, vegetal and fruit into a harmonious whole. It’s both subtle and substantial with a wonderful volume and finish that lingers but doesn’t overstay its welcome.
reds
Aldinger 2013 Brut Rose 2 Sekt Sparkling - Germany
Despite the stellar wines they produce year after year, Il Palazzino inexplicably remains under the radar. Winemakers Alessandro and Andrea Sderci craft rich, large-scaled Chianti Classicos that capture all of the natural intensity that you expect of the variety. One taste of the bright, aromatic and silky 2018 vintage and you’ll see what we mean. Crushed flowers, mint, spice, licorice, tobacco and incense are all present in a big, but still easily drinkable and relaxed wine.
Santa Lucia 2019 'Il Melograno' Castel del Monte - Italy
As has been the family tradition since established in 1628, current winemaker (and family member) Roberto Caprano continues to run Santa Lucia estate like a garden. An earth-first, minimal interference approach is practiced from start to finish, from gaining organic certification to maturing and storing the wines underground where year-round temperatures are ideal.
The Il Melograno wine is made from a single variety, the Nero di Troia, also called the Uva di Troia (grape of Troia). Believed to have originatedaround the small town of Troia in the Puglia region, this red variety that thrives in its birthplace and is marked by notes of red cherries, red currants, black pepper, tobacco, and underbrush.
López de Heredia 2015 Viña Cubillo Crianza - Spain
Why try to wax poetic on the wines from this astounding estate when New York Times writer Eric Asimov has done it for us?
“Perhaps no winery in the world guards its traditions as proudly and steadfastly as López de Heredia does… it is paradoxically a winery in the vanguard, its viticulture and winemaking is a shining, visionary example for young, forward-thinking producers all over the world… At López de Heredia, there is serenity that comes with adherence to core principles…”
-Eric Asimov, The New York Times, August 12, 2019
Conceito 2020 Contraste Douro Tinto - Portugal
Rita Marques embraces the field blend approach to winemaking—the tradition in Portugal—with stunning results. For her 2020 Contraste Tinto, she assembled an 80% blend of co-fermented touriga franca, touriga nacional, and tinta roriz grapes harvested from 40+ year old vines with a 20% mix grapes from 60+ year old vines. The old meets young(er) blend was aged for 16 months in pre-seasoned French oak casks. As expected from this thoughtful mix of grapes and aging, it’s an elegant, but spirited wine that Rita thinks may be her best vintage of Contraste yet.
Laurent Perrachon 2020 Moulin a Vent "Terres Roses" - France
The Beaujolais region of France is enjoying a resurgence of popularity and respect these days and it’s because of wines like Terres Roses. Made by Laurent Perrachon and his son Maxime, this wine brings forth all the wonderful qualities that people love in a Beaujolais—fruity overtones grounded by light tannins. The 2020 is a particularly stunning vintage with real finesse.
Frontonio 2021 Microcosmico Garnacha - Spain
Master of Wine Fernando Mora and winemaker Mario López don’t take any shortcuts in producing their wines. Much of their land is worked using biodynamic methods, and 16 hectares (27 acres) are worked with horses. Their 2021 Microcosmico Garnacha features fruit from hearty 50+ year-old vines grown in slate soils and crushed by hand. Maturing in concrete vats for seven months, the result is a wine with black cherry notes, earthy undertones, and serious presence, softened by a lush fruit and velvety mouthfeel.
champagnes
Our three bottle champagne offering. All, of course, from the Champagne DOC, France
Dehours & Fils N.V. "Terre de Meunier" Extra Brut
This champagne is 100% pinot meunier, but from two harvests: 80% of the 2016 and 20% of the 2015. Winemaker Jérôme Dehours has deep faith in the grape’s innate qualities, and when tasting the cashmere elegance of this champagne—yet still so crisp!— you can taste why.
Dehours was the first producer in Champagne to offer “vins parcellaires,” or wines identified by the specific plot in the vineyard (their lieux dits), which is now commonplace. He is also responsible for converting the winery to organic viticulture, which he did shortly after taking over the estate in 1999.
Lacourte-Godbillon N.V. Terroirs d'Ecueil 1er Cru Brut
Geraldine Lacourte and her husband have made big changes to the family estate since taking the reins in 2007. First, exclusively using grapes grown on their vineyard, instead of sourcing from the co-op. Then in 2020 they gained organic certification. Now they are close to practicing fully biodynamic methods.
Their estate style can be described as extroverted and comfortable, expressing the natural full, fruity ripeness of their grapes, tempered and supported by the ridealong dryness these varieties deliver. The dominance of pinot noir grapes in the mix gives this champagne a wonderful yellow glow and fruity nose. This is a true “champagne de plaisir,” so good and enjoyable on its own merits to be enjoyed with any meal or for any occasion.
Diebolt-Vallois N.V. "Prestige" Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru
Winemaker Isabelle Diebolt knows how to tease out the characteristic tautness, fruit and minerality of the chardonnay grape, used in this, and most of the wines from this estate.
This Diebolt-Vallois cuvée “Prestige” has a fascinating composition. 85% is a blend of grapes from the 2016 and 2017 harvests from vineyards in Cramant, Chouilly and Le Mesnil, and are all aged in stainless steel. The balance of juice is from a “solera” or blend of reserve wines from the same villages from a wider age range (2009 to 2106), aged in oak casks. The result of this nuanced mix is a champagne that is dry but not austere with the oak-aged wines lending subtle roundness and depth.