Chateau Seguin Pessac Leognan Graves a great sleeper
Christmas is slowly approaching, as you may have noticed. For those who are frantically searching for a little something sparkling and special for a lady friend and are too cheap to buy a gem, I would like to recommend La Vigne di Alice Prosecco Superiore Extra Dry from Conegliano and Valdobiaddene. The wine was introduced to me by Paul Galioto, a local fellow who imports boutique wine from small vintners in Italy. These next three can be found at Teller. As you know, I rarely publish the store names, but these wines are tough to find so I am making an exception in their case. All are very reasonably priced relative to their value.
Alice is the product of a winery owned by Cinzia Canzia and winemaker Pier Francesca Bonicelli from the Veneto region and named for Ms. Canzia’s grandmother. Although most know this from previous columns, brut is the driest champagne (no sugar even from the dosage), and extra dry has a microscopic touch of sugar. Alice is on the drier side of extra dry. It has pleasing notes of acacia, a white flower, and apple and pear. Lovely in the glass with a nice bead, the wine is a wonderful aperitif and finishes cleanly, 88 points - one price point.
Venturini Baldini Lambrusco dell’Emilia is an organic red frizzante (sparkler). The catchy label addresses one of the main problems I have had since back in the day when sparkling Lambrusco was one step above Cold Duck. The label reads, in part, “This ain't your grandma’s sweet swill.” Indeed it was not. A decent, spunky little wine, good for a pizza and Doobie Brothers.
Barbera was always known as that other Italian red that didn’t age well. Walter Massa is the precursor who worked his grapes into beautiful product by changing production methods and incorporating barrel aging in the face of much opposition many years ago. He is now the Barbera star in the region. I was taken by the description of Massa by the locals: ”When you get lost going there, start asking people 100km (60 miles) out and they know and love him, from the gas station guy to the producer next to him. A prophet, a farmer, a philosopher and someone with whom you’d want to share a glass of wine at your table.”
Monleale Vigneti Massa Colli Tortonesi 2006 is a DOC from Piedmont. This Barbera is required to undergo barrel aging, 22 months in barriques. Massa takes the added care of bottle aging and his bottling is cellared before release at 36 months. If you enjoy cherry and raspberry fruit supported by a pleasing tannic-acid frame and subtle oak, this is an inexpensive, lovely red for you to drink now or cellar. Barbara, Dan, our friend Jesse and I just shared a dinner of ham, sweet potato and tomato salad with French dressing. I served the Monleale with it. A great combination! 93 points. I truly believe this wine was back shelved by many writers because Massa is a stand-up guy, not a self-promoter. Jancis Robinson reviewed him favorably but was reserved. The guy is iconic in his area of expertise.
Chateau Seguin Pessac Leognan Graves 2009 (this is not Chateau de Seguin Entre Deux Mers) was touted by RP as the best wine ever produced by the estate. I just saw it advertised at $360 for a case. Friends, I ran out, bought a bottle and am telling you, buy with both hands if you are one who enjoys drinking great, fairly priced wine every day. Robert Parker: "91-93 points, the best wine ever produced at this estate, the 2009, a 53 percent Cabernet Sauvignon and 47 percent Merlot blend bursts with kirsch, black currants, camphor, and tobacco aromas and flavors.
“Very opulent, this seductive, lush, concentrated wine is a classic as well as a great sleeper of the vintage. Drink it over the next 12-15 years." Jancis Robinson: "16.5/20 points. Life and vivacity and succulence here. This speaks to me - quite an achievement since it’s the penultimate wine tasted in a very long morning.
“Well done! Great succulence and freshness, but no austerity." I’m with Jancis: vivacity, succulence and penultimate in the same review. Yeah baby!!
Happy Chanukah and Merry Christmas.
