Capellanía and Zisola included in Wine Spectator’s Top 100 Wines of 2015

Bodega Marqués de Murrieta Capellanía and Marchesi Mazzei’s Zisola Sicilia have been included in the Wine Spectator’s Top 100 Wines of 2015!

Each year, Wine Spectator editors survey the wines reviewed over the previous 12 months and select their Top 100, based on quality, value, availability and excitement. This annual list honours successful wineries, regions and vintages around the world.

Wine Spectator awarded the Marqués de Murrieta Capellanía 92 points and described it as being full of “Aromatic notes of beeswax, camomile and orange blossom…[with] flavours of baked apple, coconut, ginger and tarragon in this generous white, whose fresh acidity and light tannins keep it structured, with the spicy accents lingering on the finish. A traditional style.”

Zisola scored 90 points and was described as “A lovely, medium bodied red, with a pure beam of ripe cherry and fresh acidity layered with supple tannins and accents of star anise, dried thyme, loamy earth and mocha.”

 

Contact the Maisons, Marques et Domaines team to find out more about these high-scoring wines.

Wine Detective Wine of the Month: Ramos Pinto Duas Quintas Tinto

Sarah Ahmed has chosen Ramos Pinto Duas Quintas Tinto 2011 (Douro DOC) as her wine of the month on her blog, The Wine Detective!

Ahmed described her reasons for choosing this wine:

“This year the Duas Quintas brand is 25 years old.  It was one of the Douro’s pioneering table wines and, as last month’s verticals of both white and red revealed, Vintage Port years were a real stand out.

In the exceptional 2011 vintage, this the junior Tinto is a markedly deep hue with a youthfully pink rim still.  A youthfulness which is reinforced by a formidably concentrated, still tightly coiled palate with prodigious ripe tannins to match.  This will go some distance.  It reveals exotic hints of coriander spice and bergamot dark currant/berry and chocolate palate as it opens up.  Great structure – an outstanding wine!”

 

Contact Christine to find out more.

Marqués de Murrieta Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva is one of James Suckling’s Top 20 Wines of 2015

James Suckling has included Marqués de Murrieta Rioja Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial 2007 in his list of “Top 100 Wines In 2015”.

All in all, “JamesSuckling.com reviewed almost 9,000 wines to create this formidable list of the Top 100 Wines in 2015.”

Suckling created this remarkable list by visiting wine regions in France, Italy, Chile, Argentina, Spain, and the United States, travelling for six months of the year in order to visit as many top wineries and producers as possible.

The diligence and skill that went into producing this list is testament to the exceptional quality of the wines that earned a place in Suckling’s Top 100.

Marqués de Murrieta Rioja Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial 2007 was ranked 13th, well within the coveted Top Twenty.

The Ygay Gran Reserva Especial 2007 is made from a blend of Tempranillo and Mazuelo grown in an old single vineyard called La Plana, located at 485 metres altitude within the 300 hectare Ygay estate in the Rioja Alta. This premium quality vineyard is used exclusively for the Ygay Gran Reserva, and only in the most outstanding quality vintages.

Click here to read the full article.

Contact Christine to find out more.

Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon is Wine Enthusiast’s Winemaker of the Year

Wine Enthusiast Magazine have named Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon “Winemaker of the Year” in their 2015 Wine Star Awards.

Roger Voss, reporting for Wine Enthusiast, writes that it is Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon’s ability to “catch the moment of Champagne’s revolution” that has made him Wine Enthusiast’s 2015 Winemaker of the Year.

Roger Voss reports that Jean-Baptiste is using modern methods – biodynamic and organic farming, fermenting in wood, picking grapes for ripeness, not acidity – to make a “new-old style of great Champagne”.

Jean-Baptiste has been working with the Rouzaud family, which owns Roederer, since he graduated from oenology school. He worked in the Roederer estates in California, Tasmania and Bordeaux, before returning to his native Reims in 1999.

Lecaillon revolutionized the vineyards by banning herbicides and introducing biodynamic farming to 184 of Roederer’s 590 acres.

He is also responsible for other properties in the Roederer group: the Bordeaux chateaux (including Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande), Roederer Estate in Mendocino, Domaines Ott in Provence and Ramos-Pinto in Portugal’s Douro region.

But, he said to Voss, “I’m not a flying winemaker. Everybody on the spot knows much better than me. I see myself as the team coach.”

Voss sums up his work today: “with ‘many more vintages to go,’ Lecaillon is one of a handful of winemakers changing the way Champagne is produced and how the region sees itself. He’s perhaps the most farsighted, seeing climate change as a major factor in how to approach vines and winemaking. While looking to the future, he has also learned to take from the past.”

 

Click here to read the full article on Wine Spectator.

Contact Marinel to learn more about the wines of Champagne Louis Roederer.

Duas Quintas 25th Anniversary Vertical Tasting

Award winning wine writer, Sarah Ahmed, has released “Part Two” of her series on the Duas Quintas 25th Anniversary Vertical Tasting.

While “Part One”, published last month on The Wine Detective, focussed on the Duas Quintas whites, “Part Two” concentrates on the reds.

Duas Quintas, of the famous Port House Ramos Pinto, was founded by brothers Adriano and Antonio, and is still run today by their heirs, João Nicolau de Almeida and Jorge Rosas.

Duas Quintas red wines are made from a blend of Touriga Franca, Tinta-Roriz and Touriga Nacional from the Quinta de Ervamoira and the Quinta dos Bons Ares. The Duas Quintas Reserva is a blend of mostly Touriga Nacional with a small amount of Tinta Barroca.

Sarah Ahmed’s article reveals the (sometimes turbulent!) history behind the Duas Quintas reds:

The eagerly anticipated release of the Duas Quintas maiden red was a “very near miss”.

“Chief Winemaker João Nicolau de Almeida told us he was ‘very happy’ with it at bottling.  However, the very next day, he received word of disaster. Hot-footing it back to the Douro from Oporto he discovered that, “in something like the coldest year in a century,” the wine had frozen, forcing the corks out!

… Fortunately, when he tasted the wine it was good.  In the end, 80,000 bottles were uncorked of which 60,000 were successfully salvaged and released.”

Following an exceptionally successful Vertical Tasting, comparing the vintages from 1990 to 2013, Ahmed concludes:

“As with the whites, this vertical revealed that the best red wine vintages were often made in generally declared Vintage Port years.  The other striking revelation of the tasting was the longevity of the Classico – it offers terrific and complex bang for modest buck”.

 

Click here to read the rest of the article.

Contact Christine to find out more about the exceptional reds produced by Duas Quintas.

Tommasi Harvest Update

2015 has been an abundant vintage of exceptional quality, according to a recent article by leading Italian business newspaper, Italy 24.

Tommasi was founded in 1902 and is located in Pedemonte in the heart of the historic ‘Classico’ region, from which the best quality wines are produced. From grandfather Giacomo’s small vineyard holding, the Tommasi estate has grown over the years and today comprises 195 hectares of vineyard including 105 hectares in the Valpolicella Classica and 15 hectares in the Lugana DOC.

Tommasi have released an update following their 2015 harvest:

“The yield is a bit lower compared to 2014, the sanitary condition of the vines is good, with few treatments and a regular vegetative growth.

The vineyards are in good vegetative-productive condition with an excellent quality of the grapes despite the lower yield. The rainfalls at the end of the summer solved some initial stages of water shortage facilitating the next vegetative growth.

The grapes are perfectly safe and intact, which is the characterizing aspect of this vintage 2015. Because of the high temperatures during the summer, the first chemical analysis on the grape show much higher sugar levels than in the past 15 years and a complete phenolic maturation. Therefore, it will not be a vintage of alcoholic wines but a vintage of very balanced wines. The acidity is much lower so the wines will be rounder and softer.

The harvest 2015 shows several strengths: safe grapes, vegetative balance of the vines, not an overabundant production, average sugar and acidity levels with excellent qualitative opportunities.”

In fact, the 2015 Harvest has been so successful that Italian wine growers are setting aside a higher than average amount of wine for “Reserve”. Reserve wines are only produced in excellent years, so the high proportion of wines being set aside this year marks 2015 out as a vintage of exceptional quality.

Italy 24 has quoted Dario Tommasi describing the 2015 vintage:

“We must think about how we can enhance an already extraordinary vintage…in which the July heatwave hindered the growth of parasites and vine diseases, eliminating the use of chemical treatments in the field. Then in August, when the plants began to suffer the stress of dehydration, the right amount of rain came just in time. All with a timeliness that seems entirely planned, and guaranteed high grape quality and a lowering of costs (due to lack of treatment) by approximately 30%.”

 

Click here to read the full article by Italy 24.

Contact Effi to find out more about the exceptional wines produced by Tommasi.

Duas Quintas 25th Anniversary Vertical of Douro Whites

Award winning wine writer Sarah Ahmed reports on the Duas Quintas 25th Anniversary Vertical Tasting of Douro DOC Whites on her website, The Wine Detective.

Duas Quintas, of the famous Port House Ramos Pinto, produces exceptional dry wines from the Ervamoira and Bons Ares vineyards in the Douro Superior region of Portugal.

Sarah Ahmed writes that Duas Quintas “helped to forge the modern era of Douro wines and Ports” by being the first winemakers to block plant (i.e. in single varietal parcels) and vertically plant their vineyards. As well as pioneering these techniques, Duas Quintas’ Chief winemaker João Nicolau de Almeida has been exceptionally successful. In fact, when describing the 25th Anniversary vertical tasting he went so far as to say: “my work is done”.

Ahmed’s detailed tasting notes describe the Ramos Pinto Duas Quintas Branco from the 1994 to 2014 vintage, and reveal that Duas Quintas have succeeded in producing some exceptionally age-worthy wines:

“[The] vertical kicked off with the 1994 Branco Classico.  It blew me away – in fact I go so far as to say it was my wine of the tasting (reds and whites).  Surprised, I asked de Almeida what accounted for the longevity of the whites given their acidity is not especially high. He replied that volume and composition is the main thing – “if you give more fruit to the wines, more different flavours and have an nice ensemble, the wine can age like that – have a nice evolution and become more complex.”  It’s why, he explained, ‘we are looking for more varieties with complexity’.”

Ahmed described the current vintage Duas Quintas Branco as: delicate toasty, nutty…with sweet yellow plum, green apple peel and hints of  pastis/anise and lime zest which follow through on an expressive palate. It has the richness with delicacy which categorises my favourite Duas Quintas whites.  A long, mineral lemony finish completes this stand out vintage.

Click here to read the whole article.

Contact Christine to find out more about these exceptional and age-worthy whites.

Faiveley Wines achieve high scores from Burghound

In his latest review on Burghound.com, Allen Meadows tasted several Domaine Faiveley wines from the 2013 vintage. He has included in his selection the Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru, which was awarded 92-94/100, as well as the Musigny Grand Cru which scored 95-98/100.

Meadows described the 2013 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru:

“An outstanding richness and and a very rounded and suave medium weight plus flavors that possess an abundance of dry extract that both coats the palate and buffers the moderately firm acid spine on the mineral-driven, saline and notably more persistent finish. This is more obviously structured and will need a few more years of cellar time to fully realize its considerable potential.”

And the 2013 Musigny Grand Cru:

“A very pungent nose displays plenty of wood and menthol influences. There is superb richness and intensity to the seductively textured mineral-inflected flavours that are at once powerful yet refined before culminating a very concentrated and stunningly long finish that just goes on and on. This is exceptionally promising and should also live for decades. In a word, brilliant.”

 

Contact Christine to find out more about these exceptional wines.

Excellent scores for Domaine Faiveley

Stephen Tanzer has awarded high scores to a large selection of Domaine Faiveley wines in his review of 2013 and 2014 Burgundy Chardonnays.

The Faiveley family have been making outstanding wine for more than 180 years. Domaine Faiveley is now under the careful stewardship of seventh generation Erwan Faiveley, one of the youngest directors of a Burgundy Domaine on record.

Stephen Tanzer describes the wines:

2014 Meursault 1er Cru Blagny: Very complex nose combines white peach, citrus fruits, flowers and smoky minerality. Wonderfully suave and horizontal in the mouth, with harmonious acidity and underlying minerality…This will be delicious at the dinner table. (91-93)

2013 Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses: Bright, pale yellow. Honey, anise and peat on the slightly exotic, smoky nose. Rich, tactile and ripe in the mouth, with strong acid spine to support the white peach, Meyer lemon, pear skin, iron and smoked meat flavours. This savoury, generous Grand Cru is about much more than simply fruit. Finishes ripe, supple and long. (92/100)

2013 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru La Garenne: Very pale, bright yellow. Tight aromas of pear, white peach, stone, menthol and caraway seed. Juicy, sappy and concentrated, showing moderate flesh but an intriguing saline character. Finishes firm, suave, dry and long, with good thrust and an impression of solid dry extract. (92/100)

2013 Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru: Pale yellow. Restrained aromas of apple, spices and minerals. Already conveys captivating delicacy and a light touch to its intense pear and white peach flavours. A real live wire today, but this is also a very refined example of Bâtard-Montrachet. Should evolve slowly and gracefully; in fact, I may be underrating this wine today. (92+/100)

2013 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru: Bright, light yellow. Aromas of spiced apple, earth and porcini, with hints of oak ad metallic minerality…Finishes sappy and smooth, with a building sweetness but plenty of buffering minerality and brown spices. This gained in sweetness with time in the glass, showing a liquid stone character. (92/100)

Contact Christine to find out more.

Schlumberger scores highly on Wine Advocate

Domaines Schlumberger have achieved excellent scores on Wine Advocate!

Domaines Schlumberger is the largest owner of Grand Cru in Alsace, and is renowned for producing terroir driven wines of exceptional quality. Today the winery is run by 6th generation Alain Beydon-Schlumberger and his 7th generation niece and nephew, Severine and Thomas.

Domaines Schlumberger’s Gewurztraminers achieved excellent results:

2011 Gewurztraminer Cuvée Christine Vendange Tardive – 93

2010 Gewurztraminer Grand Cru Kessler – 91

2010 Gewurztraminer Grand Cru Kitterle – 94

2013 Gewurztraminer Les Princes Abbés – 89

As did the Rieslings:

2012 Riesling Grand Cru Kitterle – 92

2010 Riesling Grand Cru Kitterle – 93

2010 Riesling Grand Cru Searing – 90

Please contact Effi to find out more about these outstanding wines.

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