Wine & Spirits - April 2012 - (Page 126)

IMPORTED NEW RELEASES Our blind panels tasted 128 new-release imported wines for this issue. Our critic for the wines of Burgundy, Italy and Portugal, Joshua Greene, rated 17 as exceptional (90+) and 15 as Best Buys. Find a complete list of wines tasted and all reviews at wineandspiritsmagazine.com. B U RGU N DY RED BEAUNE 180492 CHAPELLE CHAMBERTIN 180447 | Maison Jessiaume $ | Albert Morot $ 2009 Beaune 1er Cru Aigrots Packed with red and black forest berries, this wine’s rich texture is underlain by smoky oak. It’s ﬁrm and tightly built, the structure transforming its alcohol into cozy warmth. A winter wine for roast squab. Robert Kacher Selections, Washington, DC 180618 2009 Chapelle-Chambertin Grand Cru Closed oﬀ and showing little of itself for now, this wine’s powerful structure is enhanced by the generosity of its ripe fruit. That sweet black fruit is wrapped in an intriguing earthiness, itself surrounded by the smokiness of oak. The wine is integrated, savory, deep and youthfully opaque. Built for aging a decade or more. USA Wine West, Portland, ME fruit and generous extract with the briskness of limestone-etched tannins. The juiciness feels like it is wrung from the earth, youthfully tough, needing cellar time to mellow. The masculine side of Nuits. Robert Kacher Selections, Washington, DC 180501 | Chauvenet-Chopin $ | Albert Morot $ NUITS ST GEORGES 180507 2009 Beaune 1er Cru Marconnets This builds in a series of sine waves, ﬁrst black mushroom, then bolder, richer raspberry. An equally rich blanket of tannins settles in, with a last ﬂicker of red fruit, a hint of sweet red apple skin, turning the wine from earthy to bright before fading back into the tannins. A soft and gentle Beaune, this should evolve with ﬁnesse over the next several years. Robert Kacher Selections, Washington, DC | Domaine Lécheneaut $ BOURGOGNE 180978 | Maison Chanson Père & Fils $ 2009 Bourgogne Pinot Noir (Best Buy) Scents of violets and nori complement the tight raspberry essence at the center of this wine. It’s lean and ripe, structured by rustic tannins, ready for a pork roast. Terlato Wines Int’l., Lake Bluﬀ, IL 2009 Nuits-St-Georges 1er Cru Les Damodes Part of the 54-acre domaine of Philippe and Vincent Lécheneaut, this Nuits from a vineyard adjacent to Vosne-Romanée has the addictive scents of a great Burgundy, the reﬁnement of a country farmer’s barnyard and his cache of new oak. The wine begins as a gentle caress, a breath of earthy tannin that reveals red notes of raspberry through its darker tones of chanterelles. It has the freshness of the morning sun on a Burgundy hillside. Blissful to drink now, this will reward ﬁve or six years of patient cellaring. Robert Kacher Selections, Washington, DC 180529 2009 Nuits-St-Georges 1er Cru Aux Argillas This wine’s vibrant color and plush-textured fruit show the ripeness of the vintage. The tannins feel silky and generous while the aromas are closed and hard to reach. There’s some baked strawberry ﬂavor coming out of the blackness, a gentle red that will likely be at its best four or ﬁve years from the vintage. Robert Kacher Selections, Washington, DC VOLNAY 180532 | Xavier Monnot $ 2009 Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Chênes (Best Buy) Substantial, full-bodied and rich, this wine maintains a sense of elegance in its weave of strawberry fruit and silken tannins. Alcohol adds peppery warmth within the balance of the wine. For drinking over the next several years with roast beef. Robert Kacher Selections, Washington, DC | Chauvenet-Chopin VOSNE ROMANÉE 180594 $ LE CHAMBERTIN 180439 | Maison Jessiaume $ 2009 Chambertin Grand Cru The vibrant color and burst of small berry ﬂavor give a sense of the energy and power in this wine. It’s monumental rather than subtle in its complexity, with edges of minerality glinting like mica in the tannins. The dark tension is what lasts, a seductive interplay of fruit and earth, all blackness for now and structured to reveal itself over the next decade. USA Wine West, Portland, ME 2009 Nuits-St-Georges 1er Cru Les Chaignots This domaine includes the vineyards of Daniel Chopin (Domaine Chopin-Groﬃer) and those of his son-in-law, Hubert Chauvenet, who make the wines today. Les Chaignots is the richest of his Nuits that we tasted, and the most mineral in its dark, tannic structure. There’s a reﬁned and silken raspberry note at the center of the wine, surrounded by the smokiness of chipped stone tannins. That structure should hold the freshness of the wine as it matures over the next decade. Robert Kacher Selections, Washington, DC 180504 | Domaine Lécheneaut $ 2009 Vosne-Romanée Grounded at ﬁrst in scents of tree roots and mushrooms, this gains a fresher ﬂoral fruit intensity with air. Scents of forest berries merge with the earthiness, transforming its power into supple elegance. Its charms continue to advance with air, suggesting a few years of age will tune the wine toward roast partridge or other game. Robert Kacher Selections, Washington, DC BE AUJOL AIS RED 178449 | Chauvenet-Chopin | Georges Duboeuf $ $ 2009 Nuits-St-Georges 1er Cru Charmottes There’s a sophisticated structure to this wine, combining a bold spice, dark berry 2010 Moulin-à-Vent Domaine des Rosiers (Best Buy) A vinous Beaujolais with scents of raspberry and rose, this wine’s soft tannins are tightened up by a pinprick of acid- 126 W I N E & S P I R I T S A P R I L 2 0 1 2 http://www.wineandspiritsmagazine.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - April 2012

Wine & Spirits - April 2012
Editor's Note
Happenings
Contents
Fined & Filtered: Patrick Comiskey on pairing wine with molecular gastronomy
Extreme Values
Spirits: Lou Bustamante on cocktail bitters
Wine Superheros
Port without Serra
The Class of ’72
Brightliners in the Deep End
The Restoration of Austria’s Noble Red
New & Notable New York City Restaurants
23rd Annual Restaurant Poll
Tastings Overview
American Pinot Noir
Austrian Wines
White Burgundy
Loire Wines
Portugal Reds
Tuscan Wines
American Wines
Imported Wines
Lost Commandments Howard G. Goldberg rewrites Exodus

Wine & Spirits - April 2012