Wine & Spirits - Winter 2019 - 98

33RD A N N UA L B U YI NG G UI D E

Wine & Spirits

lier than average. This wine, made from dried
grapes, aged for three years in Slavonian botti
and 600-liter casks, developing a voluptuous
texture and rich flavors of spiced black plum
and cherry. It layers notes of fresh tobacco,
licorice and roasted coffee with velvety tannins, the wine remarkably integrated for a
young Amarone. Delicious now, it has the
structure and complexity to improve for
more than a decade. (W&S 2/19) § Kobrand,
Purchase, NY -S.J.

BEST DESSERT
270745

96 | Donnafugata

$44/375ml

2016 Passito di Pantelleria Ben Ryé ^ The
2016 growing season on Pantelleria saw
moderate temperatures but extraordinarily
low rainfall, reducing the already miniscule
yields for this sweet wine by 30 percent.
The team at Donnafugata began harvesting
zibibbo (muscat d'Alexandria) for Ben Ryé in
mid-August, drying the clusters outdoors on
straw mats; then they made a second pass in
September, gathering grapes to crush for the
base wine. By adding the dried clusters to the
wine before fermentation, they avoid extracting any bitter flavors that alcohol might
draw out, and preserve the zibibbo's exotic
scents. The result is deep amber and heady
with scents of apricot and honeysuckle, with
complex flavors of fresh and dried apricot,
mango and orange marmalade enriched by
ginger and marzipan. While it's considerably sweet (with about 200 grams of residual sugar), tangy acidity brings the wine to
an impressively refreshing finish. Pair it with
salty cheeses rather than sweet desserts, serving it at cellar temperature to reveal the full
spectrum of aromas and flavors. (W&S 6/19) §
Folio Fine Wine Partners, Napa, CA -S.J.

N EW Z E A L A N D
BEST PINOT NOIR
123622

94 | Felton Road

$62

a few years to integrate the toasted oak, but
the wine's fragrance lasts, bright and brisk.
(W&S 4/19) § Martin Scott Wines, NY -J.G.

PORTUGAL
B E S T A LV A R I N H O
271373

95 | Quinta do Soalheiro

WINE & SPIRITS

$28

2018 Monção e Melgaço Granit Mineral
Selection Alvarinho ^ Luís Cerdeira selects
the fruit for this wine from vines growing
above 1,300 feet in altitude, where the soil is
poor in nutrients and the vines sustain high
acidity in their grapes. He allows the fermentation to run warmer than in his other
alvarinhos, pointing up the granitic minerality as it ages on the fine lees. It's a bright wine
with a smoky, dark mineral structure that
keeps it brisk, the flavors and scents layering cider apple, lavender and green almond.
"A sea urchin wine," said W&S Tastings Editor Rachel DelRocco Terrazas. (W&S 8/19) §
Independence Wine & Spirits, Syosset, NY;
Grape2Glass, Newark, NY -J.G.

BEST ARINTO
235734

95 | Caves São João

$59

1991 Beiras Quinta do Poço do Lobo
Arinto ^ It would be hard to overstate the
beauty of this wine, a fragrant Iberian anomaly on par with the whites from R. López de
Heredia in Rioja. A classic carrying no baggage (it's 11.5 percent alcohol), it came from
vines planted in 1950, the wine aged for two
years in cement tanks and then 25 more in
bottle. It's unimaginably fresh for its age
while giving all the satisfaction of long development in the cellar: Think lemon and lemongrass, hazelnuts, almonds and shortbread.
The wine's golden color and its touches of
oxidative bitterness belie the freshness it continues to give with air, a tender elegance that
suggests serving it with scallops in a walnut
sauce, or fried soft-shell crab. (W&S 2/19) § Olé
& Obrigado, New Rochelle, NY -J.G.

2017 Central Otago Calvert Pinot Noir ^
This is definitive Central Otago pinot in the
tannic precision of its cold-climate savory
spice notes. Blair Walter grows it under biodynamics (Demeter certified) at the Calvert
Vineyard, a 25-acre site on Felton Road that
the winery began leasing when it was planted
in 2001; they purchased just under half of it
in 2013. The Bannockburn soils of silty loam
mix here with lake-bed clay, quartz sand and
fine schist gravel on a sunny, north-facing
slope that ripens fruit early. That cool Otago
sun comes across in briary berry flavors,
herbal notes and apple-skin crunch. It needs
98

BEST PORTOS

BUYING GUIDE 2020

272645

100 | W. & J. Graham's

$245

2017 Porto Vintage The Stone Terraces ^
The old terraces the Graham family built at
Malvedos follow the contours of the hillside.
While most of the quinta's 220 acres of vines
have a southerly view, the old vines on the
stone terraces bend around the hill to face
north. In 2017, by separating out that northfacing block, Charles Symington created one
of the most compelling Ports in the history
of Graham's, a wine that shares the classical
certainty of the first Graham's Vintage made
by the Symington family: his uncle James's
1970, updated to the precision of viticulture
and the long odds of the 21st-century climate. It's an olfactory hallucination of Douro
Superior sweetness in the pure minor key of
Malvedos-like sour black cherries amplified and deepened into an identifiable perfume, the tartness of the fruit and the schist
of the tannins layering in a resonant chord. It
tastes as if the fruit of the Douro's olive trees,
orange trees and deep-rooted mix of vines
have merged into a form of energy, with an
impeccable balance that should sustain it for
fifty years or longer. (W&S 10/19) § Premium
Port Wines, San Francisco, CA -J.G.
272426

98 | Quinta do Noval

$1,125

2017 Porto Nacional ^ Noval's two rows
of vines, planted on their own roots-
"nacional" rather than American-date to
the 1920s, a mixed planting with a significant
proportion of souzão. Rather than following
the vintage character of any particular year,
Nacional often stands apart. In 2017, it's an
aristocratic Port, light bodied and elegant,
with a stamina that seems to rise out of the
scents of flower petals and savory spice. Or it
may be in its endless details, which defy any
specific description other than vinous, or, in
the case of their length, insane. Responding
to the vintage with a different interpretation
of greatness, this is likely to live as long as the
bigger wines, with its own remarkable grace.
(W&S 10/19) § Vintus, Pleasantville, NY -J.G.
273470

https://www.grahams-port.com/wines/bottle-aged-ports/the-stone-terraces-vintage

Wine & Spirits - Winter 2019

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