Vintage Assessments has the PDF for this weekends release available here.
While I have been buying less wine from Vintages locations and more directly from wine agents, the following release has some interesting wines that have piqued my interest…
2006 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay (#701748, $44.95)
From Napa, Chateau Montelena is a very reliable and renowned winery. This chardonnay is famous for having been judged the top white wine in the now famous Judgment of Paris tasting in 1976 beating out some of the best white burgundies available at the time.
2005 Nicolas Potel Meursault Vielles Vignes (#67850, $39.95)
Allen Meadows of Burghound.com fame gives this wine high praise calling it "Outstanding! Top value". It sounds like it is approachable and enjoyable right now.
2006 Perrin Reserve Côtes du Rhone Blanc (#499509, $14.95)
The owners of Chateau de Beaucastel have a very impressive portfolio from throughout the Rhone valley. I haven't tried this wine, but for $15, I'll give it a try. It could prove to be a great summer quaffer for the patio. Rhone wines are typically blends and this is 50% Grenache blanc, 20% Viognier, and the rest Marsanne and Roussanne according to Robert Parker's review.
2005 Chimney Rock Cabernet Sauvignon (#731810, $51.95)
I haven't had anything from Chimney Rock in several years, but it is very good to see this in our market-of-little-choice. Chimney Rock has a beautiful winery off of Silverado Trail in Napa and inspired by Cape Dutch architecture. The wines are bordeaux styled and $51.95 seems like a very good price for this wine as it appears to be more expensive south of the 49th.
2005 Kaiken Malbec (#58339, $14.95)
Argentina has really made Malbec the national grape. The high end offers, big, complex and age worthy wines. The lower end offer up a lot of early drinking enjoyment with wonderful dark fruit.. I've never tried this one, but it received a solid review from The Wine Advocate, especially given the price point. It could be a great BBQ wine this summer. Could Malbec start to wine over the Aussie Shiraz crowd?
2005 Château Le Doyenné (#61739, $25.95)
The 2005 Bordeaux is arriving and this looks like a solid wine designed to offer early drinking pleasure. From what I can tell from Robert Parker's review, it's mostly Merlot (70%) and was considered to be a "sleeper of the vintage".
2005 Clos Saint Jean Châteauneuf du Pape Tradition (#70888, $45.95)
It's a top scoring wine from Châteauneuf du Pape. That's good enough for me ;)
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