GUINIGI

Wine Reviews

95

Tony Bish 2025 Chardonnay, The Family, Hawk’s Bay, NZ ($45)

This is a fantastic, refined, medium-bodied Chardonnay from Tony Bish, bursting with ripe citrus and orchard fruit, white flowers, and elegant brown baking spices. All of those aromas come together on the palate, with saline minerality and crisp acidity. Excellent fruit concentration creates a harmonious mid-palate, and the wine is teeming with energy, with great length and tension. 100% Chardonnay. Abv. 13.5%

94

Walker Chiles 2024 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain, Napa Valley, California, USA

A bold, mountain-grown Cabernet with impressive power and intensity. Just-ripened blackberries and black cherry fruit are further enhanced by darkly earthy spices and dark chocolate sprinkled with sea salt. 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Malbec, 3% Merlot. Abv. 14%

95

Chateau Rouselle 2019 Tradition, Cotes de Bourg, France, by CW Underwater Cellar Coral Wine Project ($67)

This wine shows a brightness on the nose of a youthful wine, but the maturity on the palate of a wine that has aged more years than it has. And that’s what happens when a wine ages under the sea, which hastens the aging process because pressure breaks down minerals that help soften tannins and mellow ripe fruit flavors. Here, this wine is medium-bodied with lovely savory tobacco and bay laurel notes, red berry and currant fruit, and a long spicy finish. Brown baking spices and a slight nuttyniness on the lasting finish. Following conventional cellar maturation, the sealed bottle underwent additional aging beneath the sea, where darkness, stable temperature, water pressure, and gentle currents created an alternative environment for its evolution.

92

Dutton Goldfield 2025 Dutton Ranch-Shop Block Pinot Blanc, Green Valley of Russian River Valley, Sonoma, California, USA

Such a zesty, crisp, focused Pinot Blanc, with white peach and apple-pear undercurrents, white flowers and honeysuckle notes, and a long, mineral-driven finish. Ideal for a seafood restaurant by-the-glass option, or, for you, at home, with oysters or hard cheeses.

96

House of Arras 2009 Grand Vintage, Tasmania, Australia ($108)

This is a totally exotic and enticing Tasmanian sparkler. Bursting with a nutty brilliance of toasted almonds and hazelnuts, ripe orchard fruit, baked apples, and lemon meringue, all this richness is cut through with a fresh line of tangy acidity and sea-spray salinity. Tangerine and blood orange notes emerge on the lengthy, full-bodied finish, with a persistent, focused, and zesty mousse. Aged 9 years on the lees with a dosage of 3.1g/L. Vineyard sources include sites in the Derwent Valley, East Coast, Coal River Valley, Pipers River, and the Tamar Valley in Tasmania.

100

House of Arras 2013 Late Disgorged, Tasmania, Australia ($199)

A positively riveting, Champagne-style sparkling wine from Tasmania. Immediately enticing, with rich baking spices, French pastry notes, zesty citrus, and confected lemon bar flavors, along with crisp orchard fruit. A vivid, frothy, airy mousse envelops the palate, growing expansive in the mouth, with fleshy fruit and white flowers, floral notes, slivered almonds, and a long, wet-stone, saline-acid finish. The late disgorgement adds impressive complexity from 11 years of lees aging; it’s a blend of 62% Chardonnay and 38% Pinot Noir, with 10% fermented in new Francois-Frere oak barriques. This wine has great energy and is ultra delicious. Disgorged in November 2025. Founded in 1995 by pioneering winemaker Ed Carr, House of Arras produces traditional-method sparkling wines from cool-climate Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier grown across Tasmania. Based in Pipers River, the house is known for extended lees aging and precise, complex cuvées that helped establish Tasmania’s international sparkling-wine reputation.

97

Jean Mallet NV Brut Tradition, Champagne, France, by CW Underwater Cellar Coral Wine Project ($148)

Positively riveting with a gorgeous nutty richness, toasty notes, and unimaginably fresh, with a perfectly bright, frothy, ultra-creamy mousse that comes from the undersea aging. The underwater aging accelerates the tertiary notes. With 36 months on the lees with a fabulously long, saline-mineral character. So incredibly delicious. Following conventional cellar maturation, the sealed bottle underwent additional aging beneath the sea, where darkness, stable temperature, water pressure and gentle currents created an alternative environment for its evolution.

95

La Lomellina 2018 Gavi Old Annee, Gavi di Gavi, Italy, By CW Underwater Cellar Coral Wine Project ($84)

This label is owned by the owner of Ducati Motorcycles. There’s a beautiful freshness to this white, with fantastically saline mineral character infusing this candied citrus peel and lime pith, with slivered almonds and a terrific mid-palate richness. The finish is exceedingly long and resolves with mouthwatering freshness. Following conventional cellar maturation, the sealed bottle underwent additional aging beneath the sea, where darkness, stable temperature, water pressure and gentle currents created an alternative environment for its evolution.