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6 Wines Worth Toasting
Noted oenophiles tell us what bottles they’ll be uncorking this chilly winter
Conveniently, just when we seek warmth from winter's chill, freshly released wines crowd retailers' shelves. Coincidence? Sort of. Producers put out their product toward the year's end because cool temperatures make for favorable shipping conditions. As a result, oenophiles get to try new vintages during the perfect months for entertaining at home and lounging around the fireplace. We've asked some of our favorite wine lovers to clue us in on the bottles they're sharing with family and friends this season. Cheers!
2007 THREE STICKS CHARDONNAY
Price tag: $45
Who picked it: Andrea Immer Robinson
Wine cred: Master sommelier and author of Andrea Robinson's 2010 Wine Buying Guide for Everyone
Choice words: "Bill Price, who used to be a partner with a private equity firm, bought a top vineyard in Sonoma. Highly regarded wineries have been sourcing from there, and now he makes his own wines. This chardonnay is really rich and unctuous. Its fruit is very plush. The people at Three Sticks are known for being maniacal about quality. For example, they harvest their grapes into small, breadbox-sized crates. This keeps the grapes on top from squashing the grapes below and breaking them. The resulting wine is creamy and almost tender tasting."
2007 PEAY VINEYARDS SCALLOP SHELF ESTATE PINOT NOIR
Price tag: $52 (750 mL),
$110 (magnum)
Who picked it: Jordan Mackay
Wine cred: Author of Passion for Pinot
Choice words: “Peay Vineyards’ vines are 10 years old now and entering into an early stage of adulthood. As a result, the wines are becoming much more complex and much more interesting. They’re evolving from pleasurable, fruit-dominated wines to something more serious with minerality, earthiness, spice, and pepper. This particular pinot drinks well today, going nicely with duck, but you can tell that the wine is coiled up and still has a lot of unfurling to do over the next eight or 12 years. My suggestion would be to get a case of the 750 mL bottles to drink now and a couple of magnums for the cellar. Magnums age more evenly, and they’re great for parties. Show up with one of those, and everyone knows you mean business.”
2004 CAPANNELLE CHIANI CLASSICO RISERVA
Price tag: $55
Who picked it: Stacie Hunt
Wine cred: Certified AIS sommelier, wine reporter for National Public Radio’s Good Food, and the Italian wine specialist at Du Vin Wine & Spirits in West Hollywood, Calif.
Choice words: “This comes from a small winery in Gaiole in Chianti, Tuscany. It’s made from the same Sangiovese grape that’s used to produce the area’s great wines: Super Tuscan, Brunello di Montalcino, and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. Capannelle makes this beautifully crafted wine that I would describe as extremely food friendly. The wine gives off aromas of red berries and currants and has enough acidity to pair with heavy entrées. Steak Florentine is perfect, and Capannelle can also match nicely with turkey and all the trimmings.”
2002 LEGRAS BRUT PRÉSIDENCE CHAMPAGNE
Price tag: $72
Who picked it: Gary Vaynerchuk
Wine cred: Co-owner and director of operations of the Wine Library shop in Springfield, N.J., and host of Wine Library TV, a videoblog that has an estimated 90,000 viewers per episode
Choice words: “I tasted the Présidence in a blind champagne tasting, alongside several vintage 2000 bottles, and it blew everyone away. This is from a champagne house that goes back to the 1600s. The family that currently owns it, they go back to 1808. So it has crazy pedigree. It’s dry, with components of golden apple and pear. Then there’s a bread pudding finish. The Présidence is made only in great years, and this is their best vintage since 1989. In terms of food, people don’t recognize champagne as a good match with lobster and drawn butter, but it is. Viscosity goes with bubbles, and the pairing is perfect.”
2006 OPUS ONE
Price tag: $195
Who picked it: Leah Hammer
Wine cred: Retail sales manager of Hart Davis Hart Wine Co. in Chicago, which specializes in fine and rare wines
Choice words: “Opus One has been around for more than 25 years and it ranks with the premier wines of Napa Valley. Baron Rothschild and Robert Mondavi created it as a labor of love, to show that wines from Napa can rival the great wines of France. They proved their point and, from there, things have just kept getting better. This wine is listed as a proprietary red, but it’s made mostly with cabernet sauvignon grapes, along with a lot of merlot and cabernet franc. This is a very harmonious wine, full-bodied but not so overpowering that it bashes you on the head with tannins. Robert Parker deemed this as being among the best-ever vintages of Opus One.”
CAMILLE SAVES BRUT ROSE CHAMPAGNE
Price tag: $60
Who picked it: Charles Curtis
Wine cred: One of just 26 American Masters of Wine, head of North American wine sales at Christie’s in New York, and organizer of the Institute of Masters of Wine annual champagne tasting
Choice words: “I love this as an aperitif. Champagne is very cleansing on the palate and it’s all about luxury and celebrating. Preceding a meal with a glass of Camille Saves puts everybody in a great mood. But it’s not necessarily what you want to drink with the meal. Wines that go best with foods are concentrated and robust. They have a lot of stuffing to them. This particular champagne is softer around the edges and has really pretty floral notes. In my book, this is one of the best nonvintage rose champagnes out there.”
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