Liner & Elsen Wine Merchants

2006 Clos de la Roilette Fleurie
Beaujolais, France 17.99/192.50
One of our favorite Beaujolais producers, the Coudert family at Clos de la Roilette has fashioned another unqualified success with its 2006 Fleurie. The Roilette estate sits on Fleurie’s border with the Moulin-a-Vent cru, and yields wines that seem to marry Fleurie’s delicacy and lacy texture with Moulin-a-Vent’s sturdiness, structure and ageability. The 2006 Roilette begins with deep garnet color imbued with a glint of purple. Aromas of cassis, cinnamon and stony terroir leap from the glass. Roilette’s 2006 Fleurie is all about elegance and precision, its earthy terroir transparent beneath a juicy, vibrant kernel of red berry fruit. Fine, ripe tannins and firm acidity emerge on the back-palate, complemented by notes of cinnamon, cloves, dissolved minerals, smoke and game. This is superb, reference-standard cru Beaujolais that offers crunchy fruit, hair-raising energy and a pronounced stony goût de terroir for a very modest price. Drink a few bottles now with roasted chicken, and lay a larger number in your cool cellar for five to ten years for its earthy, Burgundian character to emerge.

2005 Riecine Chianti Classico
Tuscany, Italy 19.99/213.50
The tiny Riecine estate (ree-EH-chee-nay) employs organic growing principles to capture the essence of the Sangiovese grape as expressed in Gaiole in the heart of the Chianti Classico zone. Riecine's black ruby-hued Chianti Classico jumps out of the glass with aromas of leather, sun-warmed cherries and smoky soil. Deep and intense on the palate, notes of birch, menthol, cocoa, plums and black currants play with a firm, tannic structure and abundant, food-friendly acidity. The wine’s zippy acidity propels its exuberant fruit expression to a long, lip-smacking finish featuring suggestions of cola, wintergreen, cherries and a deep mineral undercurrent. Those of you who relish in the beauty of authentic, ungussied Chianti Classico will find this affordable new release to be a lovely complement to grilled steaks, burgers, pizza, pastas and a host of zucchini-based vegetarian dishes. Enjoy now and over the coming seven years.

2006 Cameron Winery Pinot Noir
Dundee Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon 18.99/203.00
John Paul’s ever delicious Dundee Hills (formerly Willamette Valley) cuvée bottling of Pinot Noir has just been released. For the 2006 edition, the majority of the blend comes from the Abbey Ridge, Clos Electrique and Gehrts vineyards, all sources of Cameron’s finest single-vineyard bottlings. Fruit of this provenance would normally go into some producer’s reserve cuvée, but as always John keeps his quality high and his prices reasonable. From the wine’s deep purple-ruby robe to its intense plum and Bing cherry nose, the superbly sourced fruit shines through. On the palate, the ’06 Dundee Hills Pinot shows plum and Marion berry fruit accented by a distinctive earthy streak, sweet tannins and a delicate kiss of oak. Its finish is long, snappy and reminiscent of the finest traditionally-styled Willamette Valley Pinots. Enjoy this lovely Pinot over the next few years with grilled salmon, dishes featuring morel mushrooms, or simply roasted chicken.

2006 Weingut Leth Grüner Veltliner, Steinagrund Lagenreserve
Wagram-Donauland, Austria 13.99/149.50
The deep loess soils of the Austria’s Wagram region are ideal for the Grüner Veltliner grape. Employing sustainable agriculture and an unbridled passion for Austria’s signature varietal, Franz Leth, Jr. has fashioned a superb, textbook Grüner Veltliner from the great 2006 vintage. Deep green-gold in the glass, Leth’s single-vineyard Steinagrund Grüner Veltliner opens with smoky aromas of lentils, snap peas and kiwi fruit. Brisk, bracing acidity mingles with an intense green fruit impression on the palate and leads to a long, smoky, soil-tinged finish reminiscent of the great Grüners from the Kamptal. Leth insists that his Grüners are structured to age ten or twenty years. We can’t help but concur, but also can’t imagine not enjoying a few bottles over the short term with grilled vegetables, lentil soup, smoky bean stews and rich braised pork preparations.

2005 Domaine Richou Anjou Blanc
Chauvigné, Loire Valley, France 14.99/160.00
Here’s the wine of the newsletter for Chenin geeks: we know you’re out there. Brothers Didier and Damien Richou produce this Savennières drink-alike from vineyards in the western Anjou. The region’s volcanic soil minerality runs like lightning bolts through Richou’s Chauvigné and propels its lovely, waxy Chenin fruit to grand cru heights. The purity of fruit and intenseness of minerality play with a firm acidic backbone to make for the Chenin sensation of the season. To top that off, the balance and finesse of the Chauvigné are simply amazing. Enjoy this now as a cellar saver for your Savennières, and pair it with freshwater fish in a beurre blanc sauce, mild poultry preparations and sautéed vegetables. It will also reward up to a decade’s ageing in your cellar. Simply fantastic wine.

2007 Cantina Valpantena Torre del Falasco
Bianco di Custoza, Veneto, Italy 10.99/117.50
The Torre del Falasco Bianco di Custoza from the Cantina Valpantena is a delicious, vibrant blend based on the noble Garganega mixed with dollops of Tocai, Cortese and Chardonnay. The result is a one of the most gulpable, delicious $11 bottles of wine one can imagine. Lovely straw-gold in the glass, the Bianco di Custoza smells like a fine, mineral-driven Soave and offers the same delicacy and refreshment, but at a far lower price. In fact, it’s often whispered that the winemakers of Bianco di Custoza feel they have something to prove, so they go the extra mile to make wines that are tastier and more affordable than those of their more famous neighbors. One can analyze this wine, but the proof is in the glass. Just chill this down to around 45º-50º – not too cold – and kick back with a glass on a warm evening. Alternately enjoy with freshwater fish dishes, halibut, asparagus frittatas, grilled summer squashes and semi-firm cheeses.

	2006 J. Vidal-Fleury Côtes-du-Rhône Blanc Rhône Valley, France 10.50/112.50 Let’s not pull any punches. This wine is 100% Viognier and as minerally and soil-driven an example of the varietal as we’ve tasted in a long, long time. Even Robert Parker was charmed: “Vidal Fleury’s 2006 Cotes du Rhone (Viognier) is a beauty. Crisp, with notes of honeysuckle and orange marmalade in a medium-bodied, richly fruity style, this is a heck of a Viognier at a very good price… Marcel Guigal, and his son Philippe are intent on getting this firm back into the top echelon of producers in the Rhone Valley.” Yes, it’s that Guigal, and yes, the wine is that good. This is a wine to buy by the case and enjoy now and over the next two years with white-fleshed freshwater fish preparations with a beurre blanc sauce, green vegetable omelettes and frittatas, or by itself to capture Viognier’s inimitable floral expression with a very special stony soil accent.
	2004 Beringer Private Reserve Chardonnay Napa California 29.99/320.00 reg. 32.00 "The 2004 Chardonnay Private Reserve is a surprisingly tighly knit Chardonnay by Beringer's standards, with notw of lemon oil, orange blossom, apple pie, and brioche in a full-bodied style.... [T]he wine shows more of a steely minerality than in the past. It is still a big, relatively extroverted Chardonnay to consume over the next 2 to 3 years." - Robert Parker 92 points - Parker