2016
2016
Château des Sarrins 2016 Côtes de Provence Rouge
French Red
The colour is dark purple. Black fruit, undergrowth, leather and thyme spice are present. The palate is ample and dense, with silky tannins. Syrah and Grenache make up two thirds of the blend. Mourvèdre, Cabernet Sauvignon and old-vine Carignan account for the remaining third. The wine is matured in barrel. The profile is structured and aromatic.
Château Laffitte Carcasset 2016 Saint-Estèphe
French Red
Black fruit, red plum and cedar appear with a woody texture. The tannins are pleasant, and the wine has concentration and harmony. Its ruby colour, delicate fruit and toast sit with a structured palate that is not aggressive. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc form the blend. The Saint-Estèphe red spends twelve months in oak barrels.
Campolargo 2016 Cercial Branco Bairrada
Portuguese White
Colour and aroma show clear development, with almond, dry brush and candied orange. The palate has light toast with mature orange, hazelnut and fruit. It shows a younger character than the colour and aroma, with a distinctly fresh taste and a light profile. Made from Cercial in Bairrada, the white wine carries 11.5 percent alcohol.
Domaine Chevrot 2016 Maranges Sur le Chêne
French Red
Redcurrant, cherry, cassis and wild strawberry sit beside a faint spicy note. The palate is big and round, with mouth-filling fresh red fruit; minerality and tannins are also present. The Pinot Noir comes from hand-harvested vines. Maturation includes twelve months in barrels and three months in wooden vats. Suggested pairings include duck, pork, game, mushrooms and medium-aged cheeses.
Famille Quiot Les Combes d’Arnevels 2016 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc
French White
The vines occupy a single islet of plots on a hilly limestone plateau covered with white Urgonian rocks. The site lies in the northwest of the appellation, on a high plateau overlooking the Rhône. Winemaking includes pneumatic pressing, static cold settling, four months on the lees and no malolactic fermentation. Roussanne is vinified and matured separately in barrel before final blending.
Frank Cornelissen 2016 Munjebel Bianco Classico
Italian White
Grecanico and Carricante come from vines more than forty years old on volcanic soils. The white wine spends four days in contact with its skins before fermentation in neutral fibreglass tanks. It then rests on the lees for about eighteen months. The wine is dry, carries thirteen percent alcohol and comes from vineyards on Mount Etna cultivated according to organic methods.
Quinta da Falorca 2016 T-Nac Reserva Dão
Portuguese Red
Touriga Nacional comes from more than thirty clones, with vines more than forty years old on granitic soils. The grapes are harvested by hand into eighteen-kilogram boxes and fermented between twenty-six and twenty-eight degrees. The wine ages in stainless steel and bottle without oak. Dark plum, earth, violet, spice, herbs and graphite appear with vigorous acidity, fine-textured tannins and a persistent finish.
Raventós i Blanc 2016 Silencis Xarel·lo 1.5 L
Spanish White
Xarel·lo comes from an east-facing vineyard with fifty-year-old vines rooted in limestone soils containing marine fossils. The wine is dry, acidic and saline, with fennel in the profile. Fermentation takes place without oak. The wine ages on its lees and is bottled without stabilization or filtration. Viticulture on the property extends back more than a century. This is a still white wine from Penedès.
E. Guigal 2016 Condrieu
French White
White peach, apricot, dried pear, Meyer lemon, nectarine and citrus zest appear with violet, chamomile, honey, ginger, almond cream, anise and light toast. The wine is fresh, round and rich, with chalky mineral character and a lingering finish. Viognier grows on granite and sandy soils in steep terraces. Fermentation and eight months of maturation use new oak barrels and stainless steel, and malolactic fermentation is completed.
Domaine Calvez-Bobinet 2016 Greta Carbo Saumur-Champigny
French Red
Cabernet Franc comes from a small single parcel whose vines produce unevenly sized berries. Carbonic maceration is used for the grapes and gives the wine its particular identity. The texture is silky, with vegetal, fruit and pepper notes and a delicate palate. It is a red from Saumur-Champigny in the Loire Valley and contains twelve and a half percent alcohol.
Giovanni Sordo 2016 Barolo
Italian Red
Garnet-red colour shows subtle brick reflections. Dried rose, forest floor, cherry, tar, truffle and spice form the aromatic profile. The palate is full-bodied and structured, with firm, integrated tannins, lively acidity, red fruit, liquorice, leather and earthy tones. The finish is long. This wine is made entirely from Nebbiolo, and the alcohol level is fourteen percent.
Adriano Marco e Vittorio 2016 Basaricò Collezione Privata Langhe Sauvignon 1.5 L
Italian White
Straw yellow with green tones, with exotic fruit and aromatic herbs. The palate is persistent, slightly acidic and fresh. Green apple, lime, pear, lychee, peach, grass and balsamic notes are also present, with lemon on the finish. Sauvignon Blanc comes from Alba in Piedmont. Grapes are selected, softly crushed and destemmed, fermented with selected yeast, and aged for several months in bottle.
Barbacan 2016 Livèl Valtellina Superiore Valgella DOCG
Italian Red
Concentrated red cherry and black plum appear with firm tannins and a long finish. Nebbiolo comes from the Livèl vineyard in Valgella, set between 550 and 600 metres above sea level. The site faces south and has sandy, siliceous soils with mica schist and granite intrusions. Its old vines are harvested by hand, and fermentation uses indigenous yeasts.
Domaine Philippe & Vincent Jaboulet 2016 Ermitage Blanc
French White
Fresh apple, lemon and quince define the profile. Roussanne grown on loess soils forms the entire wine. Fermentation and maturation take place in oak, half of it new. The wine is full-bodied, dry and lightly oaked. It is bottled at 13.5 percent alcohol. The low-yielding Roussanne develops in small, tightly packed bunches. Finesse and delicacy are also present.
Hacienda Araucano 2016 Alka Carménère
Chilean Red
Deep cherry-red colour appears bright and intense. Black fruit, eucalyptus, black pepper and cinnamon form an intense, complex aromatic profile. The palate is powerful, with silky tannins and balanced acidity. Prune and marmalade are present with spice in a long, complex finish. Made entirely from organically grown Carménère, the wine undergoes double sorting, destemming and gentle crushing. Skin maceration lasts one month.
Giovanni Sordo 2016 Barolo Rocche di Castiglione
Italian Red
Woodland berries, new leather and forest floor appear with morello cherry, liquorice and tobacco. The full-bodied palate is fresh and linear, with bright acidity, taut polished tannins and juicy fruit. Made entirely from Nebbiolo, the wine comes from Rocche di Castiglione in Castiglione Falletto, at 320 to 350 metres. Compact grey-white and bluish marl lies below the surface.
RAEN Winery 2016 Royal St Robert Cuvée Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast
American Red
Wild strawberry, raspberry and cranberry appear with cured meat, wood smoke, forest floor, herbs and truffle. Dark cherry, violet, mushroom and black tea are also present. The palate has a chewy frame, acidity and a long mineral finish. Fermentation uses eighty percent whole clusters and native yeasts. The wine is aged in ten percent new French oak and ninety percent neutral oak, then bottled unfined and unfiltered.
Nada Fiorenzo 2016 Barbaresco
Italian Red
Nebbiolo comes from Rombone and Manzola vineyards on sunny slopes in Treiso, at 230 to 260 metres above sea level. The colour is bright garnet red, with fresh floral aromas. Fermentation takes place in temperature-controlled stainless steel. Maturation lasts twenty-four months in oak and six months in bottle. The wine is enveloping and has fourteen percent alcohol.
Montes 2016 Purple Angel Carmenère
Chilean Red
Carmenère and Petit Verdot form a ninety-two to eight percent blend. Blackberry, fig, nutmeg, dark chocolate, pastry and soft toast are present. The palate is structured, with round tannins, volume, balanced acidity and a long finish. Fruit comes from Apalta and Marchigüe in the Colchagua Valley. Eighty percent was aged for eighteen months in new French oak; the remainder used second-use French oak.
Château Croizet-Bages 2016 Pauillac
French Red
The blend is fifty-five percent Cabernet Sauvignon, forty-one percent Merlot and four percent Cabernet Franc. Vinification takes place in stainless-steel tanks, with malolactic fermentation in barrels and tanks. Maturation lasts twelve months in French oak, half of it new. Plum preserves, baked black cherry, cassis, menthol, cigar and cumin notes accompany plush tannins and a long, spicy finish.
Casanova Di Neri 2016 Brunello di Montalcino White Label
Italian Red
This Sangiovese is selected manually, then passes through an optical selector after destemming. Fermentation is spontaneous, without added yeasts, in temperature-controlled conical steel vats. Maceration lasts twenty-five days. Oak maturation lasts forty-three months, followed by six months in bottle. Small red fruits, spice and chocolate accompany ripe tannins and bright acidity. The colour is a youthful ruby red. Harvest took place in the first week of October.
Col Solare 2016 Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon
American Red
Black cherry, currant, cinnamon and rose petal appear with vanilla and milk chocolate. Rich refined tannins accompany berry, dried-fruit and cocoa flavours. The blend is ninety-four percent Cabernet Sauvignon and six percent Cabernet Franc. The wine spent twenty-two months in entirely new French oak. Fruit came from three Red Mountain vineyards, and production totalled 5,962 cases.
Pecchenino 2016 Barolo Bussia
Italian Red
An intense garnet colour accompanies floral and red-fruit notes, liquorice, spice and tobacco. Ripe red fruit, taut compact tannins and vibrant vertical acidity characterize the profile. The fruit comes from the Bussia MGA, including the Corsini locality, on calcareous-clayey soil with brownish marl and southwest exposure. Fermentation takes place in steel, with maturation in oak casks and cement tanks.
Belle Glos 2016 Las Alturas Vineyard Pinot Noir Magnum 1.5 L
American Red
Deep garnet colour appears with black cherry, marionberry, ripe plum and anise. Wild berries, caramelized oak and cacao nibs accompany vanilla, cedar, lavender and forest-floor notes. The profile is rich and unrestrained, with firm acidity and layers of red and black fruit. The vineyard sits on one of the highest grape-growing benches in the Santa Lucia Highlands.
Paolo Bea 2016 San Valentino Umbria Rosso IGT
Italian Red
Ripe cherry, blackberry, exotic spice, wild underbrush, old leather, woody notes and dried rocky earth appear in a dry, medium-tannic red. Sangiovese is joined by Montepulciano and Sagrantino. The wine spent twelve months in stainless steel, twenty-four months in large wooden barrels and a further year in bottle. Its vineyards were farmed without herbicides, fertilizers or chemical treatments.
Warre’s 2016 Vintage Port
Portuguese Fortified
Old mixed vines from Cavadinha and Retiro account for nearly half of the blend, with Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca from Quinta da Telhada. The wine combines structure and complexity with acidity, freshness and floral aromatics. It carries balance, elegance, length and rich character. Harvesting at Cavadinha finished on October 10, after cold mornings gave the grapes a pre-fermentation cold soak.
Tassi 2016 Brunello di Montalcino
Italian Red
Candied cherry accompanies potting soil, blue flowers, toasted nuts and balsamic herbs. Leather, violet and espresso are also present. The dense palate recalls prune, liquorice and coconut alongside dusty tannins. Red-fruit tones and ruby fruit appear with acidic freshness and natural structure. The wine is made from Sangiovese and comes from Brunello di Montalcino in Tuscany.
Domaine Michel Briday 2016 Rully Les 4 Vignes Rouge Magnum 1.5 L
French Red
Fruit and a slight animal note appear with a fresh, appetizing palate. The red wine is matured in barrel. Four parcels contribute to the cuvee, including stony upper-slope sites and clay-rich lower-slope sites. Grapes are harvested by hand, sorted in the cellar and destemmed. Native-yeast vinification lasts twenty to twenty-five days, and maturation uses oak barrels with twenty-five percent new wood.
Echo de Lynch-Bages 2016 Pauillac
French Red
Fresh fruit aromas appear with oak and spice. The wine is supple and powerful, with balance and round, mouth-coating tannins. The blend is seventy-three percent Cabernet Sauvignon and twenty-seven percent Merlot. Grapes are hand picked and sorted in the vineyard. Maturation lasts twelve months in French oak barrels previously used for one vintage. The vineyards lie on Garonne gravel in Pauillac.
Silver Oak 2016 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
American Red
Ruby colour and a magenta rim accompany cassis, blackberry, vanilla, sage and spearmint. Potpourri, bramble and raspberry are also present. The finish is juicy, with chewy tannins and medium length. The blend combines 94.6 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, four percent Merlot, and one-half percent each of Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc, with 0.4 percent Malbec. It matured for twenty-four months in American oak, half of it new.