Wine & Spirits - June 2017 - 51

L'ECOLE NO 41
L'Ecole No 41 is responsible for some of the
most highly rated wines from the Columbia
Valley in the pages of Wine & Spirits-particularly the single-vineyard blends Perigee, Apogee and Ferguson. The winery also excels
at more affordable regional blends, like the
juicy 2015 Old Vines Chenin Blanc, and the
fleshy, quince-scented 2015 Columbia Valley
Semillon-both $15.

NOBLE TREE
Thomas George Estates mostly makes Russian River
chardonnay and pinot noir-usually expensive commodities
these days-but in 2009 the partners decided to launch Noble
Tree in an effort to make some wines they could sell for less
than $20. They soon bought two vineyards to support the
brand, one on the warmer, inland side of the Russian River Valley where it overlaps Chalk Hill, the other in the remote northwestern hills of Sonoma County. The wines are now 100 percent estate-grown, and run $18. The 2015 Russian River Pinot
Noir is light, trim and fragrant. And the 2015 Noble Blend
Blanc-a deliciously bright, orange-blossom-scented blend of
viognier and grenache blanc-is one of the best inexpensive
California whites we've tasted in a long time.

MCMANIS FAMILY
VINEYARDS
With over 2,700 acres of vineyard land in inland California,
the McManis family farms
a lot of grapes. At their
River Junction vineyard,
planted at the confluence of the San Joaquin
and Stanislaus rivers, air
drainages form a slightly
cooler spot in the Central
Valley, which allowed
them to grow an unctuous and nutty, yet
brightly floral 2015
Viognier. Their rich,
purple-fruited 2015
Pinot Noir and clean,
grapey 2015 Pinot
Gris, both drawn
from estate vineyards, are also wellbalanced bargains at
$12 or less.

PARDUCCI
Parducci is one of California's
oldest wine brands, founded in
1932. It's gone through several
ownership changes over the
years, but has maintained its
historical focus on fruit grown
in the warm hills and valleys of
inland Mendocino County. The
winery's Small Lot Blend wines
stand out with fresh flavors and
varietal typicity-from a curranty, herbal, mouthwatering
2013 Merlot ($13) to a crisp,
clean, lilac-scented 2015 Pinot
Gris ($14).

FRANÇOIS LURTON
Tempted by the sundrenched, craggy hills
of France's Roussillon,
François Lurton gave
up a career as a flying
winemaker to settle at
Mas Janeil in 2008.
The old vines on
this 59-acre estate
give intense, concentrated wines, like
Le Petit Pas ($17),
a lemony, garriguescented blend of grenaches gris and blanc
with macabeu; they
also provide fruit for
Les Hauts de Janeil,
a line of wines priced
for everyday drinking,
like the warm, generous 2015 SyrahGrenache at $13. Cape Classics, NY

MEZZACORONA
Mezzacorona produces an array
of affordable wines from the fruit
of some 1,300 grower-members
who tend vines on Trentino's
steep hillsides. Especially good:
the blends of teroldego and
lagrein, two local red varieties.
The 2013 Castel Firmian Nerofino ($14) combines them in
equal parts for a bright, fruity
red; the 2014 Cliffhanger
($15) is 70 percent teroldego and spent a year in oak
barrels to create a meatier,
smokier wine. Both would
match just about anything
off a wood-fired grill. Prestige
Wine Imports, NY

WINE & SPIRITS

JUNE 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - June 2017