2007 San Giusto a Rentennano Chianti Classico
Yum! How seldom you get a Chianti with fruit this focused and pure. Sour cherry sangiovese in the nose, then bright, bright cherry fruit in the mouth. Nice acidity and a decent dose of tannin, but absolutely delicious with a bolognese sauce or red meat. Best if it’s been open a bit. A real pleasure, and I’m going back for more. 95% sangiovese, 5% canaiolo. No cabernet! No syrah! No merlot! 87 points
2006 Quivira Zinfandel - Dry Creek Valley
Steve Canter, who took over as winemaker here in 2006, is quirky, but I quite liked the odd-ball things he put out under his own Luddite Vineyards label. (You have to like a guy who, first, produces an arbouriou and then describes it – with a sly glance to see if you take him seriously – as resembling a cross between a bonardo and a lagrein.)
I hadn’t tasted any of the wines he’d made at Quivira, but I got an e-mail two weeks ago from someone who had just visited the winery at my suggestion and disliked all the wines. Since I never agree with this person’s palate, I grabbed the next Quivira wine I saw.
I poured this blind and no one guessed it was a zin, but everyone liked it. It’s full of bright red fruit, not the classic zin blackberry/boysenberry. It’s got good acidity. “It’s light on its feet,” I wrote. Not a blockbuster (it’s a “mere” 14.5%), not terribly complex, but beautifully balanced and a pleasure. 86 points. The San Giusto will hold your interest longer, though.
2005 Darling Cellars “Onyx” Pinotage - Coastal Region, South Africa
I had this by the glass Wednesday at Xai-Xai, a very pleasant South African wine bar in Hell’s Kitchen here in NYC and liked it so much I tracked down a bottle the next day to pour at a brown bag tasting.
I liked it better by the glass. Whether that’s because it had had more air, or because I’d had more wine by 1 a.m. when my friend ordered this up for me. Still, it’s a nice wine in a moderately big style.
Poured blindly, several people guessed New World pinot, though some guessed a Rhone. Not bad, since pinotage is a cross of pinot noir and cinsault from the Southern Rhone.
Personally, the nose reminded me of the wet leaves of Luis Pato’s baga wines from Portugal, with a trace of something skunky that for me just added a little complexity. In the mouth, it showed a bit of alcohol and ripe cherry flavors like you get in some California syrahs and pinots. There is a slight sweet note.
I’m not big on cherry candy New World wines, but I liked this. 85-87 points.