Vinopolpick Mid-Week 6-30-21

Do the ghosts of ancient Etruria see the wineries up and down the Livorno coast and shake their heads at the over-the-top glossiness? Or do they lament not having planted more vines themselves? It’s a beautiful area, dotted with ruins, though even those seem to be battling the spread of vineyards. While an important part of Tuscany, Bolgheri is known for their international varieties, with Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon being the most important plantings. There have been some truly wonderful wines to come from the area, and the steady uptick in prices on the most celebrated bottles is a reflection of the international interest in these wines. Merlot fans need not solely look to the right bank of the Gironde any longer to find Merlot that aspires to greatness.

Tua Rita has been growing in reputation since the mid-1980s, with most attention being paid to their flagship Merlot: Redigaffi. It’s always an amazing and collectable wine, but 2010 was a standout. This is Pomerol with Italian verve. Expect black fruit, light leather and animal notes, as well as baking spice and a floral note that is almost herb-like. It is just entering a beautiful drinking window, but will continue to age gracefully for those with space and patience.

In Stock Now:

Tua Rita Redigaffi Toscana IGT, Tuscany 2010 750ML ($319.95) $249 special, 12 bottles in stock now
Wine Advocate 97 points “The 2010 Redigaffi is even more impressive with seamless integration of ripe fruit and oak spice that meet each other perfectly in the middle. It soars to new heights of elegance and power, imparting beautiful tones of black fruit, polished river stone, bacon fat and black pepper as it makes its steady ascent. The mouthfeel is fleshy and generous and there is plenty of backbone here to carry the wine forward throughout the years. Anticipated maturity: 2016-2038. Stefano Frascolla and Tua Rita have almost single-handedly put Suvereto on Italys winemaking map. His latest releases are nothing short of spectacular.’

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Tua Rita Redigaffi Toscana IGT, Tuscany 2015 750ML ($299.95) $229 special, 3 bottles in stock now
James Suckling 100 points “This is an extraordinary merlot with such purity and focus. Flowers such as violets and hints of orange peel. It is full-bodied yet incredibly energetic and structured. The finish goes on for minutes. Seamless texture. Fresh yet dense. Contrasty. Best Redigaffi ever. Hard not to drink now but a wine for decades.”

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Tua Rita Giusto di Notri Toscana IGT, Tuscany 2012 750ML ($99.95) $69 special, 9 bottles in stock now
Antonio Galloni 94 points “A dark, brooding wine, the 2012 Giusto di Notri presents a compelling array of dark stone fruits, grilled herbs, smoke, tobacco and menthol. The power of Suvereto and these Bordeaux varieties are both super-expressive in a virile, imposing wine loaded with personality and gorgeous, totally resonant fruit. This is a terrific showing.”

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Tua Rita Giusto di Notri Toscana IGT, Tuscany 2015 750ML ($79.95) $69 special, 20 bottles in stock now
James Suckling 96-97 points ” Best Giusto di Notri ever? Full body, ripe and powerful tannins, as well as beautiful fruit. Chewy yet polished tannins and a lingering finish. This is dense and structured with beautifully polished tannins and plenty of currant and blackberry character. Full body and chewy tannins yet refined and juicy. Lots of Mediterranean herbs with the dark fruit. Blend of mostly cabernet sauvignon with merlot and cabernet franc. Pretty barrel sample. This is coming along very nicely. Can’t wait to taste in bottle. Made from organic grapes.”

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Love Tuscany? We have over 165 different options in stock. Shop the entire selection, including staff favorites like Castell’in Villa, Fèlsina, Fontodi and more, on our web store now.

With Bordeaux vintages becoming increasingly ripe as a result of climate change, it’s easy to forget the region’s historical predilection to unusual weather events. One of the best examples if this was 2011, which resulted in some of the lowest yields ever seen in recorded history for the appellation. After concurrent frost, rain, hailstorms and disease pressure some producers lost as much as 60% of their fruit before harvest. What remained was intensely perfumed, packed with flavor and primed to aging.

We were lucky enough to secure one of the best recent examples of this vintage from Château Palmer in Margaux. 2011 was the first year that the château began to practice biodynamic farming, something their next-door neighbor Château Margaux hasn’t even initiated yet in 2021.Couple that with old vines ranging from 25-70 years old and ideal soil conditions, you can see why people compare them favorably to their first growth neighbor. 

Château Palmer has reinvented itself with modern winemaking in the past 25 years, transitioning to temperature controlled fermentation and using gravity to transport wines instead of pumps. Palmer is famous for their rigorous standards, with only 45% of the wine produced in 2011 actually being labeled under the Château’s first label –the rest went into a separate bottling called Alter-Ego. With a house style described as “silk wrapped in satin with layers of velvet”, this is one of the most collectable houses in general before price is even factored in. We only managed to secure a case of this gem and have it priced at nearly 50% less than Château Margaux from the same year!

In Stock Now:

Château Palmer, Margaux 2011 750ML ($349.95) $279 special, 12 bottles in stock now
Robert Parker 96 points “The opaque blue/purple-colored 2011 Palmer reveals a stunning bouquet of licorice, truffles, camphor, spring flowers, black raspberries and black currants. One of the superstars of the vintage, this brilliant 2011 possesses superb concentration and purity, medium to full body, and remarkable length of close to a minute. A tour de force in winemaking, the Palmer team merits accolades for achieving this level of quality in a more challenging vintage than either 2009 or 2010. The wine of the vintage in Margaux, tiny yields of 20 hectoliters per hectare, a final blend of 55% Merlot and 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, and a severe selection (only 55% of the production made it into Palmer) are the reasons for this success. Winemaker Thomas Duroux continues to fine tune this already brilliant estate, producing first-growth quality wines year after year.”

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There may be no more ambitious winemaker in the world than Markus Molitor. His determination and drive to make the best possible wines has made him a towering figure in the Mosel, with an impressive, modern winery and holdings in almost every important vineyard in the region. The critical praise backs this up –Markus Molitor’s wines are some of the most celebrated in the world. We have an extensive allotment of his 2019s arriving this fall, and included in the drop is another 100-point effort from Markus’ most beloved vineyard Zeltinger Sonnenuhr. This is a towering bottle that will cellar for decades, one that Stephan Reinhardt described as “a raw diamond but will surely develop to a spellbinding character over the years”.

Pre-Arrival ETA November:

Only 24 bottles in available!
Markus Molitor Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese***, Mosel 2019 750ML ($149.95) $128 pre-arrival special
Stephan Reinhardt – Wine Advocate 100 points “The golden-colored 2019 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Auslese *** (Golden Capsule) opens with an intense yet highly finessed and elegant bouquet of perfectly ripe, tropical fruits intermixed with very fine weathered slate aromas. This fascinating combination of richness and finesse is also mirrored on the palate, which is immediately lush and round, then intense and concentrated but always lifted and refined by this beautifully crystalline and grippy slate structure. This Auslese is still a raw diamond but will surely develop to a spellbinding character over the years. Another fabulous 2019 Auslese from Markus Molitor’s most loved vineyard. Tasted in May 2021.”

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Highlights, in Stock Now:

Markus Molitor Alte Reben Riesling Trocken, Mosel 2018 750ML ($34.95) $29 special, 36+ bottles in stock now
Stephan Reinhardt – Wine Advocate 92 points “The 2018 Riesling Alte Reben is perfectly ripe and pure on the intense yet elegant and refined, crystalline nose. Round and juicy on the palate, this is a rich and creamy-textured, finely tannic and phenolic Riesling with grip, but this old-vines Riesling cannot disguise its 2018 origin. Tasted at the domain in September 2020.”
Stuart Pigott – jamessuckling 92 points “The lovely sliced-pear, white-peach and blood-orange nose eases you into this well-proportioned dry Mosel. The crisp acidity nicely balances the generous body and the touch of tannins. Good length and some nice herbal notes and complexity at the finish. Drink or hold.”

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Markus Molitor Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Spätlese Feinherb, Mosel 2018 750ML ($44.95) $33 special, 23 bottles in stock now
Stuart Pigott – jamessuckling 95 points “The stunning aromas of cassis, fresh garden herbs and Amalfi lemons make this a very expressive, mid-weight wine that’s barely off-dry and extremely food-friendly. Great interplay of tannins, minerals and live-wire acidity at the very long finish. Drink or hold.”

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Markus Molitor Ockfener Bockstein Riesling Spätlese Trocken, Mosel 2018 750ML ($37.95) $31.90 special, 36 bottles in stock now
Decanter 93 points “Here we jump to an iconic Saar site, defined by Devonian slate, greywacke, some quartzitic sandstone and steepness. Wet stone, white currant, yellow apple and some lemon combine in a lovely vision of freshness. This is bright but even in this iconic Saar vineyard the warmth of 2018 is apparent. Yet the stoniness cuts through and leaves us with that lovely, racy zestiness we all crave from Riesling. These citrus notions linger and will you to take another sip. Wonderful.”

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Markus Molitor Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Kabinett, Mosel 2018 750ML ($34.95) $29 special, 28 bottles in stock now
Decanter 95 points “Candied tangerine peel rejoices with tangy freshness, exuberant aromatics of ripe and heady citrus. There is lovely lightness, inherent playfulness, like little putti twirling and dancing in a fruit bowl. The dry Kabinett did not reach that balance so the counter-intuition of nature decrees that a richer year can take more sweetness – not less.”

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Markus Molitor Zeltinger Himmelreich Riesling Auslese Feinherb, Mosel 2016 750ML ($69.95) $59 special, 33 bottles in stock now
Wine Advocate 97 points “The 2016 Riesling Zeltinger Himmelreich Auslese ** (Green Capsule) is terribly fine, pure and fresh but also perfectly ripe and rich on the nose without losing precision. Round and highly elegant on the palate, with tropical fruit flavors and just the perfect amount of sweetness, this is a great, vital Himmelreich with superb finesse, purity, mineral tension and bright fruit notes in the long and beautifully slatey finish. This is a gorgeous, exciting Riesling—very stimulating.”

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Love German Riesling? We have over 350 different options (not a typo!) in stock. Shop the entire selection, including staff favorites like Kruger-Rumpf, Peter Lauer, Von Winning and more, on our web store now.

It’s been nearly a quarter of century since Fabio Chiarelotto purchased the Montepeloso estate, and although the vineyard was already well-known within Tuscany, Chiarelotto knew the site had the potential for greatness. Retraining, pruning, and even re-grafting many vines, Fabio was committed to perfection, pulling up thousands of lower quality vines and replacing them with varieties more suited to the vineyard’s windy yet warm microclimate.

Chiarelotto admits that it’s “easy to produce concentrated wines in such a hot climate but it’s much harder to achieve elegance and finesse.” By making subtle changes to his blends each vintage, Chiarelotto is able to produce wines that balance the region’s generosity, with freshness that’s becoming rare in this warm area of Tuscany. The 2018 A Quo includes the usual suspects –Cabernet Sauvignon, Montepulciano, and Sangiovese, but also more obscure varieties like Marselan and Alicante Bouschet. Thanks in part to this fascinating mix of local and imported varieties, the wine offers far more complexity and intrigue than you expect from a sub-$20/bottle (by the case), and seems destined to become a customer favorite when it arrives in July.

Pre-Arrival ETA Late July:

Montepeloso A Quo Toscana IGT, Tuscany 2018 750ML ($29.95) $20.90 pre-arrival special
Case-6 Montepeloso A Quo Toscana IGT, Tuscany 2018 750ML ($179.95) $119 pre-arrival special (that’s only $19.83/bottle!)
Monica Larner – Wine Advocate 92 points “A blend of 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Montepulciano, 15% Sangiovese, 15% Marselan and 5% Alicante Bouschet, the Montepeloso 2018 A Quo is the entry-level expression that unfolds to a rich and sultry display of dark fruit, spice and a touch of charred meat. The blend is quite eccentric, but the basic elements are all there, such as the structure from the Cabernet Sauvignon, the wild character of the Montepulciano and the perfumed intensity of the other grapes. This is a 35,000-bottle production and a terrific value buy.”
Antonio Galloni – Vinous 92 points “The 2018 A Quo is rich and explosive in the glass, with superb presence and tons of intensity, but all in the gracious style of the year. Crushed flowers, sweet red berry fruit and spice are front and center. In 2018, A Quo is supremely delicious. Best of all, it remains a tremendous value in artisan wine.”

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In Stock Now:

Cayuse Vineyards En Cerise Vineyard Syrah, Walla Walla Valley 2018 750ML ($149.95) $119 special, 3 bottles in stock now
Tim Fish – Wine Spectator 95 points “Handsomely structured, with an appealing hint of wild game, this red unfolds deliberately with blueberry, river stone and pepper accents. Drink now through 2030. 398 cases made.”


Cayuse Vineyards En Chamberlin Vineyard Syrah, Walla Walla Valley 2018 750ML ($149.95) $119 special, 1 bottle in stock now
Tim Fish – Wine Spectator 95 points “A distinctive style, showing richness and detail, with expressive raspberry and blueberry flavors gathering accents of crushed rock and smoky white pepper on the way to polished tannins. Drink now through 2030. 435 cases made.”

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Cayuse Vineyards Cailloux Vineyard Syrah, Walla Walla Valley 2018 750ML ($149.95) $119 special, 3 bottles in stock now
Tim Fish – Wine Spectator 96 points “A real knockout Syrah, structured and refined yet bubbling over with personality, offering expressive raspberry, garrigue, warm pebble and smoky beef tones that build tension and polish toward fine-grained tannins. Drink now through 2032. 860 cases made.”


Other Highlights, in Stock Now:

Cayuse Vineyards God Only Knows Armada Vineyard Grenache, Walla Walla Valley 2017 750ML ($149.95) $138 special, 5 bottles in stock now
James Suckling 97 points “The subtlety of fruit here is mesmerizing with sweet strawberry, floral and tangerine aromas that follow through to a medium to full body, fine and soft tannins and a long, delicious finish. It shows such polish and fineness. Drink or hold.”


Horsepower Vineyards ‘Sur Echalas Vineyard’ Grenache, Walla Walla Valley 2011 750ML ($149.95) $133 special, 1 bottle in stock now
Wine Advocate 97 points “The 2011 Grenache Sur Echalas Vineyard is a sensational blend of 100% Grenache that comes all from a vineyard located just to the west of Cayuse’s Armada Vineyard. Planted to 4,840 vines per acre, it’s farmed completely by horse. Showing every bit as well from bottle as from barrel, it offers up layers of pepper, smoked herbs, gunpowder and black fruits to go with a deep, structured style on the palate. Incredibly concentrated, especially in the vintage, it has a gracefully, balanced feel before firming up substantially on the finish. Give this beauty 2-3 years of bottle age and enjoy over the following decade.  Unfortunately, there are only 131 cases of it to go around, so if you get the opportunity to grab some bottles, don’t miss it.”

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The next best price is $174.99

#69 Top 100 Cellar Selections 2020
Horsepower Vineyards ‘High Contrast Vineyard’ Syrah, Walla Walla Valley 2017 750ML ($219.95) $179 special, 8 bottles in stock now
Wine Advocate 96 points “Showing with a deep ruby core that fades to a purple edge, the 2017 Syrah High Contrast Vineyard explodes from the glass with pronounced smoky aromas that waft with delicate notes of dark chocolate-covered blackberries, then show hints of roasted coffee bean, notions of petrichor, baked earth and dried herbs. Medium to full-bodied, the wine is elegantly powerful, showcasing a balanced chassis of youthful tannins that evolve with the complex nature of the wine. There is a velvety firmness to the mid-palate before moving onto an elongated finish that grows in complexity and amplitude as the expression resonates harmoniously, confirming yet another blockbuster Syrah from the ever-so-talented Christophe Baron. Only 386 cases made.”
Wine Enthusiast 96 points “The aromas explode from the glass, with notes of fire pit, potpourri, black olive, wet stone, dried porcini and stone. The palate is sumptuous, layered, elegant and intensely flavorful, showing abundant savory notes. A lingering black olive and earthy finish caps it off. Best after 2025.”


Cayuse Vineyards Impulsivo Tempranillo, Walla Walla Valley 2017 750ML ($179.95) $149 special, 4 bottles in stock now
Jeb Dunnuck 95 points “While I don’t think the 2017 Impulsivo matches the 2016, it’s certainly not far off. Showing the more elegant style of the vintage, it offers a gorgeous perfume of smoked black cherries, redcurrants, green tobacco, bloody meat, sandalwood, and Asian spices that opens up with time in the glass. Ethereal, medium to full-bodied, and seamless on the palate, it has flawless balance, polished tannins, no hard edges, and a great, great finish. It’s just beautifully put together and one of the more approachable vintages of this cuvée. It can be drunk with incredible pleasure today (give it an hour decant) or cellared for 15+ years or more.”


Love Washington wine? We have over 40 different options in stock. Shop our entire selection on our web store now, including famous names like Leonetti and Quilceda Creek, as well as more from Cayuse.