Wine & Spirits - June 2021 - 40

Top 100 Values
more spice than fruit. Give it time to warm
up-a few hours or even a day-and the flavors blossom, fragrant with roses, dark cherries, herbs and gingerbread spice. The gauzy
texture fills in with a rich, pecan-like nuttiness, the wine elegant and complex. -T.Q.T.
(W&S 4/21) § Schatzi Wines, Milan, NY
525387

Château Tréviac

$18

2019 Corbières (France, 93 points) ^ Arnaud Sié took over his family's domaine in
2000, turning it into a full-fledged winery. A
selection from his 49 acres in Talairan, this
is deeply earthy, with notes of cumin, coriander and Mexican chocolate wrapped into
the fruit. The savor gives the wine a feeling of
restraint, even as it saturates the palate with
black cherry and raspberry flavor. -T.Q.T. §
Johnson Brothers, Raleigh, NC
524424

Domaine des Homs

$19

2018 Minervois Clots de Pals (France, 93
points) ^ Three generations of Crozals have
farmed this 50-acre estate, converting it to
organics in 2006. This cuvée relies mainly
on grenache (85 percent), the balance syrah,
fermented with ambient yeasts and held in
cement tanks until bottling. It's floral and
fresh, with spicy scents of roses and raspberries, the acidity keeping it brisk even as the
flavors deepen with air. Bottled with minimal
sulfur, this feels alive and energetic. -T.Q.T. §
Williams Corner Wines, Charlottesville, VA
279713

Rui Roboredo Madeira

$20

2017 Beira Interior Beyra Reserva (Portugal, 93 points) ^ Based in the village of Vermiosa, south of the Douro where the soils transition from schist to granite, Rui Roboredo
Madeira farms 38 acres of vines at an elevation of 2,460 feet. His Reserva is a blend of
tinta roriz and jaen (aka, tempranillo and
mencía) grown on schist, a violet-scented
beauty-structured, elegant and tense. Its
sleek cranberry and plum flavors are both
fresh and ripe, the tannins silky and finegrained. This should age well, and will also
drink well now with grilled pork ribs. -J.G.
(W&S 2/21) § M.S. Walker, Somerville, MA
523330

Domaine Paul Buisse

$13

2019 Chinon Cabernet Franc (France,
92 points) ^ This wine leads with jalapeño,
tomato and lemon leaping out of the glass.
The structure closely echoes the winemaking (fermented and aged in stainless)-a
buzzing tension that drives its soft tannins,
pomegranate bite and vibrant acidity, all giving way to mineral softness. Straightforward,
gentle and clean, this lasts with compelling
detail. -C.W. (W&S 4/21) § Cape Classics, NY
524426
40

WINE & SPIRITS

JUNE 2021

Château de Paraza

$13

2017 Minervois Cuvée Spéciale (France,
92 points) ^ The Danglas family bought this
17th-century estate in 2005 and now farm
173 acres of vines. This is their traditional
Minervois, a blend of 40 percent each grenache and syrah, with 20 percent mourvèdre.
It's a bit wild in its scent, with notes of mint,
herbs and rosebush that give it an untamed
edge, pointing up the succulence in the
meaty black cherry fruit, the way that rosemary heightens the gaminess of a fatty piece
of lamb. -T.Q.T. § Russell Herman, Berkeley
Heights, NJ
525499

Santa Eulalia

$13

2019 Ribera del Duero Riberal Roble Tempranillo (Spain, 92 points) ^ This tangy,
gamey red is light-bodied but complete.
Fresh fruit drives the flavors, bright black
cherries over a chassis of oak. There's energy
revving the finish of the wine, youthful dynamism that would run in tandem with baby
lamb deliciousness. -J.G. § Shop Around the
Corner, Hialleah, FL
523309

La Coeur de la Reine

$15

2019 Touraine Gamay (France, 92 points) ^
This wine is a collaboration between Rodolphe and Ludivine Marteau and Vincent
Leclair. It's a juicy gamay with electric redcherry fruit, made even juicier by eight days
of carbonic maceration. With just enough
spicy and stemmy notes to ground it, the
wine retains its joyful energy for days after
opening. -C.W. (W&S 4/21) § Valkyrie Selections, Healdsburg, CA
278637

El Coto de Rioja

$15

2017 Rioja Crianza (Spain, 92 points) ^ This
wine's fresh anise scent has the underlying
earthiness of tripe, and it would be pretty
delicious with a bowl of tripe braised in red
wine. It offers the kind of richness without
weight that allows the fragrant peppery and
cherry-skin flavors to last through the dark,
earthy tannins, a little bitter, a little oaky, but
cool in the end. -J.G. (W&S 12/20) § Opici
Wines, Glen Rock, NJ
278635

CVNE

$15

2017 Rioja Crianza (Spain, 92 points) ^ This
is the kind of brisk, savory red that sets Rioja
apart, especially when you can catch it for
$15 a bottle. Michael Kowalski of Miraval
Berkshires in Lenox, Mass., described the
savory mix of fruit as tart red cherry, celery
leaf and pomegranate. You might also find a
sweet earthy note of fruity black mushrooms,
all of it coming together in a tense, floral red
with more generosity than anyone has a right

to expect at the price. -J.G. (W&S 12/20) §
Arano USA, Riverside, CT
523344

Domaine Pré Baron

$15

François Lurton

$17

Taraval

$18

Paul Achs

$19

2018 Touraine Côt/Malbec (France, 92
points) ^ Jean-Luc Mardon took over this
86-acre estate in Oisly, between the Loire and
the Cher, in 1995, where he and his father,
Guy, continue to work together. Their malbec, planted in sand and limestone, ferments
and ages in stainless steel (five percent goes
into barriques). Colored a deep fuchsia, this
wine's first impression is minerality, then
it races out of the gates with purple florals,
gaining succulence from the ripe blueberry
fruit, kept clean by zippy acidity. Thoroughly
refreshing, this reveals layers of spice that
give it enough interest to drink all day long
at a summer barbeque. -C.W. (W&S 4/21) §
V.O.S. Selections, NY
525403
2018 Languedoc Domaine de Nizas Le
Clos Rouge (France, 92 points) ^ From François Lurton's Pézenas estate, this is a smoky,
polished red. Based on syrah with grenache,
mourvèdre and a touch of carignan, it macerated for three weeks in stainless steel tanks
before half of it was moved into oak barrels
for six months. The wood tones sweeten the
fruit a touch, turning it from cherry to blueberry, and boost the texture into the velvety
realm. -T.Q.T. § Old Bridge Cellars, Napa, CA
525003
2018 Paso Robles Red (California, 92
points) ^ In a blend with grenache and zinfandel, it's petite sirah that dominates here,
delightfully, a blueberry buckle of a wine
with dark fruit adorned by tobacco leaf and
mint accents. It's rich and round, with a
plush texture kept in check by fine tannins. A
barbecue wine if there ever was one. -P.J.C.
(1,464 cases) §
523671
2018 Burgenland Heideboden Blaufränkisch (Austria, 92 points) ^ This is an
impressively complex introductory bottling:
Sourced from vineyards on the flat, gravelly
lands between Gols and Lake Neusiedl, it's
satiny and rich, with a combination of fresh
blackberry fruit and smoky complexity-
part reduction, part wood influence from a
year in used barriques. A hint of rosemary
points up the savory elements and brings
to mind a pairing with roast lamb. -T.Q.T.
(W&S 4/21) § Winebow Imports, NY
279747

Wine & Spirits - June 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - June 2021