Wine & Spirits - October 2019 - 100

IMPORTED NEW RELEASES
J U RA W H I T E
273049

91 | Domaine du Pélican

$45

2017 Arbois Ouillé Savagnin ^ François
Duvivier makes this wine at the 34.6-acre
estate he and Guillaume d'Angerville have
assembled in Arbois, which includes the ten
acres they took over from Jacques Puffeney
after his retirement in 2014. This wine
comes from two parcels planted on Jurassic
marl mixed with tiny fossilized oyster shells.
Duvivier ferments it in large barrels and
then ages it in neutral 350-liter barrels for
ten months, creating a savory savagnin with
cider-apple notes and white-chalk tension.
This needs several years to fully develop in
bottle. § Grand Cru Selections, NY -J.G.

LOI RE W H I T E
273009

87 | La Forcine

$12

2018 Muscadet (Best Buy) ^ This is a pale,
soft white perked up by smoky salinity and
tart lemon flavors. Pour it for a cocktail party,
alongside poached shrimp. § Tri-Vin Imports,
Mount Vernon, NY -J.G.

RHO N E W H I T E
273044

92 | Domaine Faury

$59

2017 Condrieu ^ Lionel Faury's 2017 Condrieu stands out for its delicacy. Petal-light
floral notes blend with savory spice; lemony acidity keeps the peach flavors taut and
streamlined. A small portion of the blend
aged in used barrels, adding a little substance to the body, but it's not at all heavy;
instead, it has the crisp-yet-rich texture and
light toastiness of a sand cookie, snappy and
tender at once. § Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant,
Berkeley, CA -T.Q.T.
272963

90 | Brotte

$17

2018 Côtes du Rhône Château de Bord
Laudun Viognier ^ A clean, fresh viognier,
this lifts its apricot flavors with springtime
notes of violets and peach blossoms. It's
vibrant and pretty; for seafood salads. § Monsieur Touton Selection, NY -T.Q.T.

RHO N E RE D
272997

92 | Château Pégau

$22

Vin de France Plan Pégau Lot 14-15-16
(Best Buy) ^ Laurence Féraud blends Plan
Pégau from eight grape varieties (leading
with grenache and syrah) and three vintages
(2014, '15 and '16, in this case). Fermented
with ambient yeasts in concrete vats and
aged in a combination of concrete and oak
vessels, it's a dark, spicy wine, with a com100

WINE & SPIRITS

OCTOBER 2019

plexity brought about by the marriage of
fresh, plummy fruit and the darker, nuttier
tones of maturity. It feels chewy in its density
yet delicate in all its detail, balanced to drink
now, with something gamey, like a rosemarylaced lamb stew. § Hand Picked Selections,
Warrenton, VA -T.Q.T.
272662

91 | E. Guigal

$18

2016 Côtes du Rhône (Best Buy) ^ This
contrasts sweet, juicy plum fruit and firm,
spicy tannins with some earthy notes and
bright cranberry highlights. Philippe Guigal bases this blend on syrah with grenache
and mourvèdre, sourced from his network of
80-some growers and mellowed in barrels for
18 months before release. It's an impressively
structured and complex Côtes du Rhône red. §
Vintus, Pleasantville, NY -T.Q.T.
272419

90 | Mas de Sainte Croix

$25

2017 Côtes du Rhône Villages-Valréas
Passion d'une Terre ^ Grenache provides the
juicy red fruit of this wine while mourvèdre
fills it out with bass tones of chocolate, olives
and roasted nuts. It's dense and dark, a red
you can almost chew on. § Tri-Vin Imports, New
Rochelle, NY -T.Q.T.

S A VOIE RED

$20

87 | Lyrarakis

$16

2018 Crete Vóila Assyrtiko ^ This comes
from a parcel of bush vines growing in the
higher altitudes of eastern Crete. It's a meaty
white, powerful in its stony savor, with a peppery spice from alcohol. Broad and muscular,
it could use a few more months (or perhaps
years) in the cellar to mellow, or a decant and
a roasted game fish to match. § USA Wine West,
Sausalito, CA -T.Q.T.
273136
2018 Crete Vilana (Best Buy) ^ This tastes
like the sort of white wine poured in beachfront tavernas all over Crete: It's gentle and
spicy, with an earthy savor-a handy background wine for all manner of salads and
grilled fish. § USA Wine West, Sausalito, CA
273128

$18

2017 Jongieux Vieilles Vignes Gamay (Best
Buy) ^ This is a brisk, bright gamay with the
coolness of mountain-grown fruit. A little
gamey in the scent and a little mineral-hard
in the tannins, this will benefit from a year in
bottle and the company of croziflette, a dish
of buckwheat pasta baked with cheese, and
the nutmeg-scented diot sausages of Savoie. §
Winebow Imports, NY -J.G.

GRE EC E WHITE

90 | Lyrarakis

$24

2017 Crete Aggelis Liatiko ^ This reminded
several tasters of chinato in its bittersweet
spice, with herbal and peppercorn notes
countering the cherry and raisin sweetness.
It's a combination that harks back to the
island's Venetian days, and would work well
with a Sicilian-style caponata, studded with
currants, capers and pine nuts. § USA Wine
West, Sausalito, CA -T.Q.T.

GREEC E DESSERT

273286

92 | Boutari

91 | Lyrarakis

GREEC E RED

272696

90 | Domaine Eugène
Carrel et Fils

273133

273156
$59

2018 Santorini Assyrtiko ^ This is juicy
and sharp at once, the smooth, chalky flavors delineated by lemony acidity. It's an
approachable Santorini that gentles assyrtiko's austerity with a hint of wildflowers and
warm salt air. Still, it has the structure to take
on rich foods, like scallops in a caper-studded
butter sauce. § Terlato Wines Int'l, Lake Bluff,
IL -T.Q.T.

90 | Lyrarakis

$30/375ml

2015 Crete Liastos ^ Lyrarakis makes this
wine from a blend of varieties (vidiano, plyto,
dafni, assyrtiko, thrapsathiri and vilana), drying the grapes in the shade for a week, and
under the sun for another couple of days.
The concentrated juice is golden in color
and flavor without tasting raisined; instead,
it tastes of dried apricot and pineapple in
syrup, with plenty of lemony acidity to balance. The flavors last with a little grape-skin
spice. Give it a light chill and serve it with
fresh fruit, or with an apple tart. § USA Wine
West, Sausalito, CA -T.Q.T.

https://www.lyrarakis.com/en/wines-single-area-assyrtiko-voila

Wine & Spirits - October 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - October 2019