Those of you who have been with us for a while will probably notice that I finally sent out a repeat this week. It was bound to happen, because of my unscientific method of picking wines: I send the wines that I have tasted and gotten really excited about in the past month. At least I repeated a good one! By the time I noticed, it was too late to change the shipments. For those who have been with me since April when I sent this out last, I will send you a bonus bottle next month to make up for this. In the meantime, enjoy this one.
The Vila family has been growing grapes in Argentina since colonial times. In an industry dominated by Italians and Basques this old Castilian family is a minority. Their vineyards cover several thousand acres. They have always been growers, not winemakers. Much of their acreage is under contract to large Bodegas, including some multinationals. Some grapes are sold on the spot market, crushed and sold as unfermented juice or (a small percentage) made into wine for bulk sale. All of the vineyards lie in the Cruz de Piedra area of Mendoza.
Six years ago the children (Pepe, Miriam, Susana & Sebastien) decided that they wanted to make and bottle wine. An impressive 400 acres of the best family vineyards were withdrawn from contract and turned over to them. Fernando’s son Pepe is the general manager. One daughter, Miriam, is in charge of sales. Last year’s winemaking team is gone, with Mónica Calderón replaced by a talented young graduate of the University of Mendoza, Sebastien Onofrio. Sebastien is ably assisted by yet another Vila sister, the energetic and dedicated Susana, while Miriam goes to another winery to work (at least for a 
while) as a winemaker outside the family.
The emphasis here is squarely on value. The Vilas are interested in good and fine, not great wine. What sets them apart from many other mid-size Argentine Bodegas is their absolute passion for quality and the investment capital to make it happen.
Before the new project, winemaking for bulk sale took place in a large shed with barely adequate equipment. To make wine worthy of bottling, a vast old brick building was renovated and filled with modern equipment and oak, including both barrels and innerstaves.
Tinto Fundación is one of the world’s great wine values. It is composed of 50% Bonarda, 25% each Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec. It is aged in a combination of 3 – 4 year old American oak barrels and innerstaves. This is a great wine for hard to semi-soft cheese, stew, or pizza. Drink now – 2012.
The wines of François Pinon are considered among the finest of Vouvray. François, a former child psychologist, took over the estate from his father in 1987, and has steadily made a name for the estate over the past 10 years. He is a serious winemaker whose main focus is “to keep the typicity of both the appellation and the vintage” in all his wines.
Allright, where to start here. First, a word about Schilcher. Schilcher is a protected name for rosé wines made from the Blauer Wildbacher grape in West Styria, Austria. There is a great tradition with these wines, and they represent one of the few truly noble rosé wine styles (even as a still wine, Schilcher is at it’s best after 5-7 years of ageing, and lasts up to 20). Though he is not the the only producer making méthode champenoise Schilcher sparkling wine, 
sparkling wine production process, in fact they show beautifully, with the added complexity that only a second fermentation and the resulting autolysis and Reaction Maillard can give to a wine. On top of that, the bubbles in this wine are as fine as any Champagne, and the hints of tannins from the skin contact provide what can only be described as a pleasant shock to the palate, and a great starting point for food pairings.
The 
importer, Scott Paul Wright, says that the wines are like drinking white burgundy with bubbles . . . since this is the only Champagne he imports while spending the rest of his time on Burgundy, I’d say that’s quite a compliment.
Clotilde strives to let the grapes dictate what happens in the final wine. Choosing her blends according to the flavors and particularities of the vintage and land. It is particularly unusual for a women to be the winemaker and a Champagne house, and Clotilde is both proud to be doing what she is doing, and perfectly at ease with her pears. After all, she makes great wine, and its hard to argue with that.
In 1998, Michel & Louis Bronzo, the famous pair behind La Bastide Blanche in Bandol, purchased another famous old property in the area, Château des Baumelles. The immediately went about re-vamping the vineyard, using organic farming techniques, and banning tractors. They lowered the yeilds to a nearly unthinkable 30 hl/ha (this is lower than many Grand Crus in Burgundy). The results have been oustanding, even if they have gone somewhat unnoticed in the press. They release the wines late to allow extra barrel and bottle time, and to mellow out what can be hard edges from Provençal Mourvedre and Grenache.
I have tasted this wine at a number of points through its evolution, beginning in barrel. It has always had the magical combination of intense fruit, richness, and a firm backbone of acidity (from the mineral composition of the soil and from the amazing diurnal (night to day) temperature shift of the sight. There is plenty of oak, but it never tastes overwhelming (for me this is one of the marks of wines from great sites that are made well). This is a full-throttle Chardonnay, but it’s light on it’s feet. Try this with Foie Gras, Salmon, Sautéed Wild Mushrooms, Lobster. Or for a real treat, try a dish that Kerry Sear made for a wine dinner I was hosting at Cascadia way back in the day: stuff a whole salmon with a lobe of foie gras, and slowly roast it until it’s just done. The Foie Gras disappears except for a very pretty grey/silver foam on the meat of the salmon but you then have foie Gras scented salmon . . . not bad! Drink now – 2015. Something like 125 Cases made
This is a very cool project I came across a few months ago at a tasting. Rather than pontificate, I’m going to reprint the bio of the winemaker and the vineyard manager and a profile of the vineyard from the website. The wines are as delicious as Pinot Noir can be, and though the critics disagreed with me slightly, this was my favorite of the three they made in 2006. I have also reprinted the fiche technique below, for details on winemaking etc.
Born in Otago, Grant was educated at Lincoln College in Canterbury. In 1980, he helped establish Pine Ridge Winery in Napa, California and worked there as assistant winemaker until 1986. In 1987, he helped build another Napa winery, Domaine Napa, and worked there as head winemaker until 1993. 
The vineyard is located in Westside Paso Robles out Hwy 46 about 12 miles from the ocean and Hearst Castle, as a crow flies. The proximity to the ocean helps regulate the high temperatures often associated with Paso Robles and is further aided by tremendous diurnal temperature variations. Peak temperatures can reach the low 100-degree range yet dive into the low 50s at night, allowing for the vines to recover. These large temperature fluctuations between high and low create a very desirable “sugar to acid ratio”. This, coupled with the high-lime, calcareous soils which do not allow for a lot of potassium absorption, keep pHs lower, even at elevated sugar levels, resulting in ripe fruity wines with a balanced underlying acidity. This vineyard’s attributes aid in my syrah winemaking technique of including 50% to 100% whole cluster, dependant on vintage.
Laurence Feraud is the genius behind 
tell you that the majority of the work that they do is in the vineyards, and the results of their efforts definitely show. Hendry wines have a breathtaking structure, and a very clear minerality. They are both hedonistic and intellectual at the same time.
The alcoholic fermentation was completed in approximately ten days in closed stainless steel fermentation tanks. When the wine was fermented completely dry, it was pressed to barrel for malolactic fermentation. Aging was twelve months in French oak barrels of which approximately 10% were new, with the remaining barrels 1, 2 and 3 year old barrels from our zinfandel program. This wine has a round mouthfeel and blackberry and floral aromas. Spicy, smoky currant and berry flavors on the palate with just enough soft tannins to do battle with dry-rub barbecued ribs or chicken. The tannins are substantial but not overly drying. The alcohol is 15.4%. 1050 cases produced.
Simon Hackett has a small production from his own vines which he then expands with the fruit that he sources primarily from around the McLaren Vale, but also from the Barossa.
need to filter or add SO2. Lees-stirring provides additional aromatic complexity and a sense of depth on the palate.
and wine making dating back to 1825. The Estate vineyard was originally established as the famous 
Here is a wine that epitomizes my goals with Extraordinary Wines From Off the Beaten Path. It’s not so much that the Languedoc is such an unusual region, but that this is a wine who’s entire reason to be rests in the idea that Cabernet Franc, a grape that isn’t supposed to be in the Languedoc, can make great wines there. The results speak for themselves. But even so, because no one is used to Cabernet Franc in this region, the wine sells for far less than it’s quality would suggest.
The monastery that houses the 
In the year 1845 Muri-Gries was born, as Benedectine monks from Muri in the Swiss county of Aargau were forced to leave their monastery and moved to one in Gries, which had meanwhile been quitted. It was these Monks who turned the old Gothic Cathedral into a winery. By the turn of the 20th century, they had a large portfolio of wines including Sankt Magdalener, Kretzer, Lagrein and Pinot Grigio. Up until 1968 the winery had been selling mostly bulk wine, but that year they began to improve the quality by bottling the wine at the monastery and storing it in the ancient cellars.