Wine of The Week - Domaine Dublere Bourgogne Blanc Les Millerands 2009

Domaine Dublere Bourgogne Blanc Les Millerands 2009 ($24.99)

This past Sunday, I sat down to taste a bottle of white Bourgogne Les Millerands from producer Domaine Dublere. The winery was started by Blair Pethel, a former political journalist from Washington, DC. After multiple trips to the region, he was so enchanted by Burgundy that he decided to quit his job, move to France, and begin producing wine. I was especially looking forward to trying this particular Chardonnay, hoping that a fellow Washingtonian could effectively capture the essence of Burgundy.

After pouring a glass, I first examined the color of the wine. It was about the color of straw, not too light and not too dark with a slight golden hue. Upon smelling my glass, I immediately noticed that this is not an overpoweringly fragrant wine, but it does have very pleasant hints of both oak and vanilla.

On taking my first sip, I observed that the wine was medium bodied, which I initially interpreted as a light cream taste. As with the aroma, the wine’s flavors are delicately present but not overpowering. The wine exhibited a nice acidity in the beginning which gave way to a restrained yet definitive mineral and oak taste. After the mineral and oak subsided on my palate, I was left with a clean, crisp finish which lasted well over thirty seconds. As the wine warmed up a bit in my glass, a faint nutty taste also materialized. It was enjoyable to sit and sip this wine on a Sunday afternoon while imagining the vineyard at this time of year.

Overall, I was very pleased Domaine Dublere’s entry level Chardonnay. offering good quality at such a reasonable price, given Burgundy’s high land and labor costs. The balance of the various flavors in the wine was excellent and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking to venture into white Burgundy. I have no doubt that I will be trying more of Blair Pethel’s wines in the near future.

Kevin Ross

Wine of The Week - Máté Mantus Merlot 2007

Máté Mantus Merlot 2007, Tuscany Italy ($29.99)

Not content with his success as a writer, photographer, and ship builder (which he of course wrote about very successfully), around ten years ago Ferenc Máté turned his hand to making wine.

After sailing around the Pacific with his wife Candace in the boat they built, the couple finally chose to settle down in Tuscany, Italy. To begin with Ferenc renovated a beautiful 13^th Century Friary nestled in the hill of Montalcino and then set about building a winery and growing vines on the surrounding land.

With the help of Fabrizio Moltard, agronomist to Angelo Gaja, Ferenc chose grape varieties that suited each field of the small, 15-acre estate. Mate Winery makes a variety of remarkable wines, with their Brunello at the apex, reaching sensual heights. They also make a few “international” varietals, including a Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, and Merlot.

I took home a bottle of the Merlot last week and was thoroughly impressed. If there is anyone out there who turns their nose up at Merlot, this is a wine to persuade them otherwise. The soft plum and sumptuous dark fruit on the nose are more akin to a Pomerol than any other Merlot I have tried.

Like Pomerol, Ferenc grows his Merlot in plots where the soil has a high proportion of clay. The combined facts that Merlot is happy to have wet feet and needs long warm days and cool evenings to ripen, explains why it works so well here. Montalcino enjoys a warmer, more arid climate than Chianti zones to the north, receiving several inches less rainfall every year. With less rainfall the roots stays well irrigated by the highly absorbent clay soil throughout the ripening period.

This wine would work well with any number of rich tasty dishes. I tasted it alongside a Burger from Five Guys, and although it probably isn’t a food match normally associated with fine wine, the result was sensational.

Felix Milner

Wine of The Week - Toluca Lane Pinot Noir 2009

Toluca Lane Pinot Noir 2009 ($31.99)

Pinot Noir is rarely inexpensive, even when you consider large producers who churn out a couple of hundred thousand cases a year, their price still hovers around $20-25 a bottle . The reason, to a large extent, is a result of the cost of production. Pinot is a hard grape to grow, thin-skinned and temperamental, it thrives in climates that offer warm days and cool nights and well-manicured vines that allow sunlight and ventilation without excessive exposure require lots of labor. This drives up the cost of production before the grapes have even made it to the winery. One of the most successful ways of producing Pinot Noir, as far as quality is concerned, is to grow in tiny parcels, like those of Burgundy. Except of course, making wine in tiny quantities often comes at a high price, or so you would think.

Toluca Lane, is a boutique winery we’ve been lucky enough to offer to our customers for a number of years. They have a small patch of land in Eola-Amity, Willamette Valley. After setting up in the late 90s in one of the most scenic parts of the country, Geoffrey and Lane Crowther bottled their first vintage in 2003. As a husband and wife team, they take great care of their 2.4 acres under vine, producing a modest 300 cases a year.

Pinot grows so well in this area because of two natural components. The shallow Nekia soils composed of volcanic basalt provide great drainage, helping regulate the vines hydration producing small concentrated grapes. Secondly a break in the coastal range, known as the Van Duzer corridor, allows ocean winds to cool the afternoons and evenings. This large diurnal range, the difference between the hottest and coolest part of the day, helps maintain the natural acidity which is an essential component to reaching balanced ripeness.

The Toluca lane retails for $32.99, which in my mind is exceptional value for a wine that has had so much care put in to it. The nose is a classic combination of fruit, earth and herbs. Lots of bright cherries and violets lift from the glass at first, but after a few minutes the nose displays more earthy characteristics of cedar and juniper. The palate is as balanced as the nose, with lots of ripe juicy fruit and a scrumptious mouth feel. The 2009 vintage is beautiful right now and will develop elegantly for the next few years.

Felix Milner

Wine of The Week - Las Pizarras del Jalon 2008

Bodegas y Viñedos del Jalón Las Pizarras del Jalon 2008 ($23.99)

Bodegas y Viñedos del Jalón S.A. is a group of three bodegas within the Denominación de Origen Calatayud. It is named after the river Jalón, a tributary of the Ebro, which wends it way through the middle of the region.

The Government of Aragón, through it's Instituto Aragonés de Fomento, along with investment from a few major financial institutions, established the company in 1999. As one of the region’s, if not the country’s, most high tech wineries, it has succeeded in consistently producing wines of stunning quality.

Made from Garnacha (Grenache), a grape now becoming synonymous with the region and accounting for nearly two-thirds of production, the unoaked 2008 Las Pizarras del Jalon is sourced from vines ranging in age from 70-100 years. Inky purple in the glass, it smells like a wine from the Rhone Valley in France (think Chateauneuf-du-Pape). Opulent scents of lavender, black cherry and violets jump from the glass. The absence of oak by no means limits its depth and character, with lots of lively fruit and soft tannin on the palate.

Delicious with thin slices of Spanish ham, this wine also works well with hearty stews or an after dinner cheese board.