Wine Listings

Try a Google search for “Priorat wine” – you’ll find the median price of the advertised bottles that appear in results to be $49.99. Welcome to the world of Spain’s northeastern viticultural gem of Priorat where the realities of limited land and unique slate soils combine to create fabulously expensive (though admittedly fabulous) wines based largely on Garnacha.

Don’t let the humble sale price tag of La Cartuja fool you. This is no cheap imitation – but, rather, an incredible wine for the money. And, oh yes – it’s a great way to introduce oneself to one of the world’s famed wine regions – without having to dole out $50.

The village of Mercurey in Burgundy’s Côte Chalonnaise produces mostly red wine from the Pinot Noir grape. Its best wines compare favorably with the great wines of the Côte d’Or but at a more attractive price. This light to medium weight wine has a lovely soft fruity Pinot character that is delicious to drink on its own as well as with lighter meats and even many fish dishes. Here’s a little French wine trivia for you:  the grape "Pinot Noir" translates as “black pine”, named for the color.

WOW!! This is the real deal Beaujolais! If, like me, you’ve had your share of so-so, not exactly mediocre, but just not very jazzy Beaujolais, then you‘ve got to try this – you’d think you were drinking a higher end Cru or at the least a Beaujolais-Villages with a significantly higher price tag. Back in the early 80s, my wife & two eldest drove from Chamonix, Mount Blanc to Paris (about 275 miles) & naturally, I persuaded “la famille” to stop @ a few wine places along the way. We stopped in Romanèche-Thorins, the home of Georges Duboeuf (aka the King of Beaujolais), but how I wish we had stopped to see the three Dupeuble brothers who run a quality-conscious organic winery committed to making the finest Gamay possible. It is certainly no surprise that the family knows its craft so well; the Dupeubles have owned these vineyards since 1512.

This 2009 vintage from Beaujolais is all the rage; anyone & everyone is talking about it, and for good reason. It is clearly the best in a long time from this region.

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate raves about the 2009 Beaujolais Vintage, "Beaujolais: Remarkable Riches and 2009 Richness." "The 2009 Beaujolais are gloriously generous and genuinely complex, as fine as any wines from this region in recent memory."  - "the opportunity exists for what are routinely among the world's preeminent red wine values to become positively SENSATIONAL bargains in this great vintage!"

Once upon a time, there was a crazy man in Argentina who believed that his country could make world-class wines: Nicolas Catena. In the early 1990s (I cannot recall the exact year), Catena introduced his Chardonnay to select wine accounts. The wine accounts had to be “select” because the audacious Argentine priced his Chardonnay to sell for—GASP!—almost $15!  Well, upon tasting this upstart Argentinean wine, my peers and I agreed that this easily rivaled fine $20 Chardonnays! I immediately embraced the Catena wines. Customers, however, tended to be more skeptical—until I pestered them enough to try it. Catena gradually became one of our most beloved and popular Chardonnays. Today, Nicolas Catena is a world-renowned figure in the wine trade.

Almost two decades later, Catena Chardonnay remains my favorite new world Chardonnay to recommend in its price range (which has barely changed in that time). And, yes, it still beats many a $20 Chardonnay!

Wine Mad Libs? Cool idea, actually. No, simply fill in the blank with your choice of Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio or even Sauvignon Blanc.  This request has increased exponentially as more of you exhaust your palate on the “same” wines while your palate demands that you expand the palette of flavors.

I’m sourcing fabulous fresh, crisp, thrilling wines from Spain, Greece, Austria, and France which immensely broaden the flavor palette.

Yet, when you ask me for “dry, light white but not…” I frequently find myself traipsing over to the Italian section totally inspired to show you one of Italy’s compelling, brilliantly-flavored, indigenous whites.

My most recent, proud addition to this growing selection? INAMA VIN SOAVE CLASSICO, made in the Classico zone, the best Soave area, from Garganega grapes growing on approximately 30 year old vines.