“Muscat, you say?” (Eyebrow cocked in a full-blown look of suspicion.) “A Brit making wine in the South of France, with a Kiwi no less?”
I’ll fully admit to being suspicious of this one. But it’s an excellent wine. Nathan agreed to the point that we actually saved some for his wife to try later – perhaps that should be its own category: So Good We Restrained Ourselves (SGWRO). I stumbled upon this one at a wine festival in Catalonia in May of 2015. Jonathan (a Brit) and his Kiwi wife Rachel form a stellar partnership at their winery near Perpignan, France. Technically part of Catalonia (the border-spanning cultural region, not the autonomous political region in Spain), Trouillas is in the undervalued (according to Jonathan and Rachel) Roussillon region of France and all the grapes used in Treloar wines are estate-grown.
There’s an interesting back-story to the winery. The couple met while working in finance on Wall Street. After losing some friends in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the couple saved up some cash and said to hell with it. John took a degree in winemaking from Lincoln University in New Zealand, then finished brief residencies at a couple of Kiwi wineries before heading to their own plot in the South of France.
The back-story should give a few hints as to the fruit notes you can expect in their dry Muscat. It’s definitely a summery drinking wine that I would happily substitute any time the occasion called for a Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc, Rueda-Verdejo, Albariño, or just plain excellent crisp, dry white. I can’t wait for their wines to be available in the US and am truly lamenting the bottle I left behind in Barcelona.
- Rating: Impressive
- Name: One Block 2014 Muscat Sec
- Winery: Domaine Treloar
- Region: Cotes Catalanes
- Country: France
- Varietals: 100% Muscat Petits Grains
- Price: N/A
- Where to Buy: N/A
Big vanilla chocolate raspberry cinnamon punch in the mouth. Sound jammy? Nope. Got the tannins to collect it all up nicely at the end of the palate. The mouth punch gives way later to familiar dark tarry notes of rubber, blackberry jam, and slate that Nero is known for. A nice, stubborn wine that gets a foothold on the palate. Believe I picked this one up at Schneider’s on the Hill for around $25.
I received this estate-bottled wine as a gift. The vineyard is in the family of a work colleague. I’m not a big chardonnay fan, but have to admit this was a nice, balanced wine. The nose has interesting notes of pineapple and vanilla with a faint slate mineral note. A straw color typical of the varietal, the wine was quite balanced in spite of that initial pineapple cake advertisement. I’m not sure how much this goes for by the bottle or where to find it, but I’d say a chardonnay lover should be willing to spring for it at $45 and below.
Roses, cherries, and cotton candy on the nose, right after the cork pops. This one attacks the palate with powerful Catalan characteristics of leather, barely ripe plum, faint cocoa, some herbal grass notes. A musty, dank autumn forest feel marries well with the characteristic Catalan “fuerte” tannin. As it opens up the nose shifts to toasted marshmallows, cedar, and very faint mulling spice in a nice blended harmony. Dark cherries, milk chocolate, and leather meld with roses, all shorn up with a hit of hard, Catalan tannin. This is a fine wine, as Hemingway would say. I picked this one up in Spain, either San Sebastian or Barcelona (can’t recall), but bumped into it again at a tasting in TriBeCA. No idea what price, but below $40.
Sheridan and I shared this the afternoon that we crushed the first vintage of our “estate” Barbera, proudly grown in Kensington, MD – more on that in a later post.
A nice bubbly dry cracker nose and straw color kicks off this brut. Rich grassiness and fresh baked pie crust with a faint hit of butter. On the back end there’s some light white pepper and a bit of mineral. None of this sounds unique, but perhaps I’m failing in the review because the moment you try this one you know you have something special. Elegant, sleek, and well-balanced. Like a few wines I’ve had, it’s actually more interesting when colder and gets less complex as it warms up. I know it isn’t supposed to be that way, but . . . I picked this one up at Chambers Street Wines in TriBeCa, NY on the suggestion of their Spain wine guru, Ariana.
Aged in French Oak for 17 months, Petit Verdot, Merlot, and Tempranillo. I was intrigued by this one in the wine store and had to try it. Ronda, the alleged birthplace of bullfighting and final holdout for the Reconquista, is an oft-overlooked gem of a town not far from Malaga and the better-known towns that sit on the coast. It’s lovely and I’ve had fantastic meals there. It was a good choice. This is a nice, mid-concentrated red offering that I liked quite a bit. Nice garnet color with some juicy plum, vanilla, and cherry mixed with nice leathery spice notes. A light hit of tannin on the back end draws up the finish and keeps it structured and not a juice bomb. I picked this one up on a recommendation at Goñi Ardoteka in San Sebastian for around 18 Euros. Wine Searcher suggests it’s not even easy to find in Spain. So, yes, that’s not helpful, but it does put this one in the category of potential import.
Posto Novo 