The wine opens with ripe berries in aspic, black strap molasses, and soy sauce. This reserve red makes a bold statement with tilled soil, black cherry liqueur, and tobacco leaf, and its backbone and well-endowed acidity holds up as a match to a variety of cuisine.
Licorice and black pepper are illuminated by rich notes of black cherry for this certified sustainable red. Silky tannins soothe on the finish.
Sold in a one-liter bottle and blended from 39% Nero D’Avola, 31% Tempranillo, and 30% Barbera, this is a very informal-looking product, but one that offers delicious flavors with admirable balance. Medium-bodied, it leads with open fruit aromas and flavors lifted by some fresh acidity and firmed in the finish by very fine-grained tannins. Good wine and a good deal.
Playfully named, labeled, and offered in a one-liter bottle with a screw cap, this turns out to be seriously delicious and admirably complex. An interesting blend of 91% Sauvignon Blanc, 7% Chenin Blanc, and 2% Riesling makes this aromatically appealing and deliciously fruity and fresh on the palate, with a profile that is both lifted and substantial.
With a low abv of 10.5 percent, this delicious sparkler opens with orange creamsicle and ripe apricot. The bubbles bring a thrill to the palate with succulent notes of honeyed lemon and Anjou pear.
A marvelously detailed wine that is almost fully mature as it approaches a decade since the fruit was harvested, this shows very expressive aromas and flavors intermingling spicy, savory notes with both red and black toned fruit. Both oak and tannin are fully integrated, making this a medium-bodied, versatile, and thoroughly delicious partner for many foods.
Wise Rioja producers are acting on rising world-wide demand for white wines by increasing concentration and depth of flavor—rather than just making light quaffing wines or relying too much on oak. Here’s a case in point, with fruit from Viura grapes yielding a medium-bodied wine showing fruit akin to Golden Apples that’s lifted and energized by a streak of citrus acidity.
Interlaced with a yeasty note and a hint of mint, aromas of strawberry and cantaloupe announce this traditional-method blend of 60% Chardonnay and 40% Pinot Noir, only to reappear on the jaunty and refreshing palate with suggestions of red apple and citrus. White pepper adds dash on the finish.