Wine News (6)

Now and then, a bottle of wine will bring the spirit of joy and happiness to your table. You just begin to sip and fly into the heavens of its mysterious alchemy. This was so obvious with this Nacarat from Claude Courtois (a Loire wine) that I thought I had to write a couple of words about it. We bought this basic-cuvée (made of Gamay plus Pinot Noir plus “something else”, no SO2 added) wine when we visited the estate in may 2005 (the 18 months in our cellar may be important). Very lightly “perlant” (that’s why B. wanted to carafe it), its color is clear-bright red with some milky turbidity. Full of delicate red fruits aromas, the mouth is pure suavity with every new sip a new wonder. We finished the bottle off that evening…

Claude Gilois pouring the Monte Bello into B.’s glassLavinia, the huge Paris wine store, held a California wines tasting october 26th. 7 wines were proposed to Lavinia Club members. Most were reasonably priced on french standards (8,5 to 13,30 Euro). The first one that we tasted was amazingly aromatic: this Mc Manis Viognier 2005 (13,3 Euro) was a festival of aromas and flavours, including exotic fruits ones.
But the king of the evening was Ridge’s Monte Bello 2000, proposed at 149 Euro that evening, and presented by importer Claude Gilois (Vins du Monde) as possibly the best wine of the world. Known as the winner of the 1976 Paris tasting (with its 1971 millesime), this wine has the complexity, refined texture, plenitude and length of an exceptional wine. New aromas keep coming minutes after minutes. Santa Cruz mountains, altitude 850m, not very far from the Pacific. A real terroir, Claude Gilois says.75% C.S., 23% Merlot, 2% C.F. 1998 was a bad year, but 90, 92, 94, 96, 97 were top millesimes.

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