2016
2016
Mazzei 2016 Ser Lapo Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG
Italian Red
Fresh cherry and savoury dried herbs lead the profile. A silky palate carries leather, cedar, spice and smoky dark fruit. The blend is ninety percent Sangiovese and ten percent Merlot. Fruit was harvested by hand from vines between fifteen and thirty years old, then the wine spent twelve months in small French-oak barrels, half of them new.
Oro Bello 2016 Chardonnay
American White
Pineapple, kiwi and Meyer lemon shape the fruit profile. The palate is smooth, fresh and balanced, with integrated toasted oak. Pear-tart notes bring baking spice, butter and fruit to a full-bodied, dry style with a rich, lingering finish. This California Chardonnay carries 13.8 percent alcohol and can accompany guacamole, fresh salsa or grilled garlic-lime prawns.
Clot de les Soleres 2016 Macabeu
Spanish White
Macabeu forms this natural white from Penedès. The cellar uses no added sulphites, artificial yeasts or enzymes, and the wine is neither stabilised nor filtered. Maturation lasts five months on fine lees in tank. The Macabeu vines cover seven and a half hectares on dry-farmed land between 290 and 325 metres above sea level, with an average yield of 4,500 kilograms per hectare.
Tenuta di Valgiano 2016 Palistorti Bianco Toscana IGT
Italian White
Vermentino accounts for half of the blend, joined by eighteen percent Trebbiano, sixteen percent Malvasia and sixteen percent Grechetto. Trebbiano spends three days on its skins, while a small portion of Vermentino ferments spontaneously in barrique and the rest remains in stainless steel at low temperature. Maturation lasts six months in the same vessels. Peach and citrus accompany freshness and a saline finish.
Olivier Ravoire 2016 Vacqueyras
French Red
Black fruit, garrigue and oak are present. The palate is powerful, smooth and rounded, with persistent fruit. The blend is eighty percent Grenache and twenty percent Syrah. All Syrah matures for twelve months in 225-litre French oak barrels, split evenly between new and once-used wood. Ten percent of the Grenache spends twelve months in new 600-litre French oak. Melted tannins, smoke and red fruit are also present.
Starmont 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 375 mL
American Red
Dark berries and herbs lead, with baking spice and subtle toasted oak behind them. Fruit, balanced acidity and resolved tannins shape a restrained profile, while the finish has structure and integrated tannins. The blend is led by Cabernet Sauvignon with Merlot, Petite Sirah and Malbec. The wine draws on vineyard lots from across Napa Valley and is presented in a half-bottle.
Lambert de Seyssel 2016 Royal Seyssel Brut
French Sparkling
Fine bubbles accompany green apple and white flowers, with a dry palate, pineapple jelly, citrus acidity and a creamy texture. Toast, salted butter and quince jelly are also present. Made from Altesse and Molette, the wine follows the traditional method and spends three years ageing sur lattes. It comes from Savoie and carries the Seyssel appellation. Alcohol is twelve percent.
Château Laurence 2016 Petite Laurence Bordeaux Supérieur
French Red
Merlot grows on clay and calcareous highlands for this Bordeaux Supérieur. Temperature-controlled fermentation takes place in stainless steel, followed by sixteen months in French oak. Coffee, oak, blackberry jam, plum and tobacco appear in the profile. The palate is fruity, fresh and silky, with blackberry, strawberry and plum held by fine tannins. The estate identifies its farming as sustainable.
Le Nuvole 2016 Iànghë
Italian White
Malvasia del Vulture and Moscato di Rapolla are vinified separately for this white from Basilicata. Spontaneous fermentation takes place in concrete before the wine rests in bottle. Straw colour introduces broom flowers, fruit and herbs, with beeswax, apricot and rosemary. The profile includes fresh acidity, salinity and length. The natural blend contains eighty-five percent Malvasia and fifteen percent Moscato.
BLANKbottle 2016 Nothing to Declare
South African White
Marsanne, Fernão Pires, Viura, Clairette Blanche, Roussanne, Grenache Blanc, Grenache Gris and Viognier come from across the Western Cape. Herbal and anise notes accompany quince, Sicilian lemon, pear, peach blossom and apricot. Moderate acidity keeps the wine fresh, while an oily texture and fynbos scent shape the 13.5% palate. The cuvée pays tribute to vine smugglers who worked around restrictions to make wines from the grapes they wanted.
Carpineto 2016 Farnito Cabernet Sauvignon
Italian Red
Smoked meat, spice, dark fruit, blackberry and leather appear with polished tannins and length. The wine is made entirely from Cabernet Sauvignon grown in Tuscany. Grapes come from the Gaville and Chianciano-Montepulciano vineyards. Parcels are vinified separately, then blended after malolactic fermentation. Maturation includes ten to twelve months in small oak barriques and at least eight months in bottle.
Château de Pitray 2016 Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux
French Red
Ripe black fruit, spice and floral notes accompany an ample palate. The structure is solid, with freshness, velvety tannins and a long savoury finish. The blend comprises seventy-five percent Merlot, twenty-three percent Cabernet Franc and two percent Malbec. Vines grow on a clay-limestone plateau. Part of the wine matures in cement and part in oak for about twelve months.
Massolino 2016 Moscato d’Asti DOCG
Italian Sparkling
Bright straw in colour, the wine has fine, persistent bubbles and fresh fruit with sage and mint. The palate is expansive and enveloping without excessive sweetness, while acidity keeps the profile balanced through a long finish. Moscato provides the full composition. Grapes come from calcareous soils around Serralunga d’Alba, and fermentation takes place in pressurized stainless-steel tanks.
Blue Mountain 2016 Blanc de Blancs R.D.
Canadian Sparkling
A fine, persistent mousse accompanies lemon, baked green apple, flowers, light toasted nut, butter and grassy notes. Biscuit and green apple also appear, with fresh acidity and a tart finish. The wine is made entirely from Chardonnay; whole clusters are pressed before seven years on the lees. This traditional-method sparkling wine was disgorged in March following its extended lees ageing.
Krolo Winery 2016 Pošip Barrique Dalmatia
Croatian White
This dry Croatian white is made from Pošip and comes from the winegrowing area around Trilj in Dalmatia. The early-ripening grape is cultivated across both central and southern parts of the region. A Croatian restaurant wine list records thirteen percent alcohol. Pošip is the offspring of two distinct local varieties, Bijela Bratkovina and Zlatarska Bistrica.
Le Coste 2016 Rosso Lazio
Italian Red
Mostly Grechetto Rosso, a local Sangiovese clone, is joined by small amounts of Ciliegiolo, Colorino, Canaiolo and Vaiano. The grapes come from biodynamically cultivated volcanic soils in Lazio. Hand harvesting is followed by destemming, ten days on the skins and fermentation with indigenous yeasts in barrels. The wine then ages for one year in old Slavonian oak before bottling without filtration, fining or added sulphites.
Poplar Grove 2016 Merlot
Canadian Red
Glimmering ruby in colour, this blend combines eighty-nine percent Merlot with eleven percent Cabernet Sauvignon. Blueberry and aged leather appear in the aromas, while dark chocolate, dark cherry and bay leaf define the palate. The wine is light yet well structured. Hand-picked berries are sorted, cold-soaked for four days and fermented in stainless steel. Ageing lasts twenty-one months in French oak, followed by one year in bottle.
Borgo Stajnbech 2016 Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso
Italian Red
Ruby colour carries purple and violet reflections. Blackberry, raspberry, blueberry and morello cherry lead the fruit, with red rose, black pepper and damp earth also present. Acidity and softness are balanced, while the tannins leave the palate dry and the finish recalls red fruit. The wine aged for ten months in stainless steel and another two months in bottle.
Echo Bay 2016 Cabernet Franc–Malbec
Canadian Red
Cabernet Franc makes up sixty percent of the blend, joined by forty percent Malbec. The varieties were destemmed, crushed and fermented separately, then matured for eighteen months in barrel, with twenty percent new wood. After blending, the wine rested briefly before bottling and further bottle ageing. The finished red records thirteen percent alcohol, a pH of 3.77 and total acidity of 7.2.
Château de Cérons 2016 Cérons 375 mL
French Dessert
The colour is bright yellow. Restrained apricot, peach and lemon-zest notes appear with candied orange peel and vanilla. The wine is sweet and medium-bodied. Botrytis spice, mushroom powder, tension and length are also present. Botrytised berries are selected in successive passes, pressed slowly and fermented naturally in barrel. Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle form the blend, and maturation in barrel lasts two to three years.
Manoir de la Tête Rouge 2016 Pierre à Feu Saumur Puy-Notre-Dame
French Red
Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon come from thirty-year-old vines on Jurassic limestone with flint. The two varieties are co-fermented after hand harvesting from two parcels. Dark ruby colour accompanies elder-bark notes, firm acidity and fine, slightly angular tannins. Iron oxides in the soil are associated with sanguine, meaty and metallic notes. The vineyards have been farmed organically since nineteen ninety-eight and biodynamically since two thousand ten.
Fairview Cellars 2016 The Bear Reserve Meritage Golden Mile Bench
Canadian Red
Red and black berries, currant, tobacco, bell pepper, herbs and anise define the profile. Integrated tannins, medium acidity and a long, clean, balanced finish are present. The blend combines Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, with Cabernet Sauvignon making up at least half. The wine comes from Golden Mile Bench in British Columbia.
Tegernseerhof 2016 Bergdistel Grüner Veltliner Smaragd
Austrian White
Medium yellow-green colour has silver reflections. Cox's Orange Pippin apple, blossom honey and delicate floral notes appear in the aromatic profile. The palate is juicy, round and almost creamy, with yellow tropical fruit, fine acidity and discreet fruit sweetness. A mineral finish is long. This stainless-steel-matured Grüner Veltliner comes from Wachau and contains thirteen percent alcohol.
Fairview Cellars 2016 The Bear
Canadian Red
Clear deep ruby colour has garnet tinges. Savoury dark plum, dark cherry, cigar box and thyme appear in an intense aromatic profile. The full-bodied palate combines rich dark fruit with tobacco, leather and a hint of cinnamon. Silky tannins and composed acidity accompany a lengthy finish. This red comes from Oliver in the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia.
Hajszan Neumann 2016 Ried Gollin Weißburgunder
Austrian White
Medium yellow colour carries silver reflections. Fine herbal spice, delicate wood, ripe pear and a touch of vanilla appear with yellow-fruit notes. The palate is substantial, with a fine arc of acidity and lasting flavour. This organic Pinot Blanc was matured in a large wooden cask in Vienna. Alcohol is thirteen percent, and the profile shows capacity for further development.
Milan Nestarec 2016 Pink Gummy Bear Zweigelt
Czech Red
Strawberry and spice appear in a red made from Zweigelt. The grapes come from South Moravia, where vines grow on loess and clay. Fruit is harvested by hand and destemmed, then macerated for fourteen days in a 3,000-litre stainless-steel tank. The wine spends twenty-three months in used 225-litre oak barrels and is bottled without added sulphur dioxide. The vineyard is farmed organically.
Piaggia 2016 Il Sasso Carmignano DOCG
Italian Red
Black cherry, plum, lavender, spice, tobacco and dried herbs appear with cinnamon and allspice. Dark fruit accompanies a soft, yielding finish and textural richness. Sangiovese is blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. The fruit comes from the estate's S. Cristina a Mezzana vineyard, and the wine contains fourteen and a half percent alcohol. The colour is red.
Bottazzi 2016 Monterosso Colli Tortonesi Timorasso
Italian White
Ripe yellow fruit and citrus sit within an intense, concentrated profile. The palate is bone dry, with fresh acidity and a full body. Timorasso ferments and ages in stainless-steel tanks. Native yeasts carry out fermentation, while slow natural sedimentation reduces the need for filtration. Herbaceous, floral and fruity aromas are joined by salinity, minerality and a light flint or hydrocarbon character that develops with bottle age.
S.A. Prüm 2016 Bernkasteler Badstube Riesling Spätlese
German White
Grapefruit, white and yellow peach, earthy spices, herbs and lemony whipped cream form the aromatic profile. The palate is delicately creamy, while the finish is long and feather-light, with whipped cream, passion fruit and melon. Ripe fruit, peach, apricot, mineral character and balance are also present. Measured acidity is 7.6 grams per litre. The wine contains 7.5% alcohol.
Finca Parera 2016 Sassó Xarel·lo Penedès
Spanish White
Xarel·lo forms the wine, and ageing takes place in acacia barrels. The fruit comes from dry-farmed vineyards and is harvested by hand. The estate lies in upper Penedès, where calcareous clay soils are present. Farming is certified organic and Demeter, with biodynamic methods in use. No sulphur dioxide is added. The vineyard area covers fourteen hectares.