Cellar Selections

Seaboard Cellar Selections:
New Collectible Wines from Australia, Spain & California

Arriving this week in very limited quantities are dozens of new wines suited for collecting or special occasions. Here are some of the stars:

Araujo Altagracia 2005 ($99.00 net) - "As for the 2005 Altagracia, which had been bottled several months before my visit, much like its sibling, it is 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, the rest Merlot and Petit Verdot. (The 2004 is 94% Cabernet Sauvignon.) A slightly bigger cuvee of nearly 1,200 cases, the wine has an almost French personality with its elegant, pure cedary and black currant fruit intermixed with hints of chocolate, oak, and earth. The tannins are supple, and the wine medium to full-bodied, very enjoyable already, yet capable of lasting 12-15 years.

One of California’s and the world’s great wine estates, Araujo continues to exhibit remarkable consistency and impeccably high quality. Little seems to change other than some minor tweaking with respect to viticulture and winemaking. The team of Bart and Daphne Araujo, their talented longtime winemaker, Francoise Peschon, and the globe-trotting oenologist, Michel Rolland, are to be commended on the extraordinary elegance of these wines." (92 points, Wine Advocate issue #174).

DuMol Russian River Syrah 2006 ($72.99) - "The 2006 Syrah Russian River is full-bodied, richly fruity, not terribly complex at the moment, but pure and nicely balanced.
Proprietor Kerry Murphy and his winemaker, Andy Smith, are doing sensational work in the cool-climate areas of the Russian River. This has become one of my favorite tastings of the year, and not only are their Chardonnays and Pinot world-class, but they have extended their brilliance to both Viognier and Syrah. This is a winery that is clearly on top of its game and pushing all the right buttons in terms of quality." (Wine Advocate issue #174).

Biale Napa Ranches Zinfandel 2006 ($42.99) - The Biale family, immigrants from Northern Italy, began growing grapes in Napa in the 1930’s – Zinfandel only. Zinfandel, California’s adopted grape, was widely planted by immigrants throughout the State’s history as a highly flavorful red grape well-suited for the climate. Committed to the tradition of farming grapes, the Biales decided in 1991 to form a partnership with the goal of producing a world-class wine from the oldest Zinfandel vines on the ranch. Now, seventeen years later, Biale is recognized internationally as being among California’s very finest producers of Zinfandel. Today, a family of wines of distinctly different personalities is produced, with the goal of capturing the ultimate expressions of  their sites. Each wine is vineyard designated only in years when it is outstanding. Good wines are made but great wines are grown.

Kilikanoon Shiraz "Oracle" 2004 ($95.00) - "The dense purple-colored 2004 Shiraz Oracle ratchets up the fruit and glycerin levels, yet remains pure, elegant, and well-balanced. It offers beautiful aromas of blueberries, blackberries, acacia flowers, and spicy oak. Full-bodied, powerful, cleanly textured, long, and heady, I would not be surprised to see it evolve for 15-20 years." (97 points, Wine Advocate issue #167).

Boarding Pass "1st Class" Shiraz 2005, South Australia ($29.99) - "The 2005 Shiraz “First Class” was barrel-fermented and aged for 18 months in new and 1 year French and American oak. More complex aromatically, it has a lovely bouquet of toast, smoke, cedar, lavender, blueberry, and blackberry. Opulent, velvety, and seamless, it has great depth, spicy blue and black fruit flavors with hints of licorice and chocolate, and a very long finish. Drink it over the next 10 years. The Boarding Pass label is just that, a dead ringer for an airplane boarding pass. According to Dan Philips, it is like going on a trip to Australia without leaving home while the First Class is a luxury upgrade. Aside from the humor, these two wines have more in common with Fed-Ex, delivering the goods right on time.

R Wines is a new company founded by importer and marketing genius, Dan Philips, along with co-owner, renowned winemaker, Chris Ringland. Winemakers for R Wines are Chris Ringland, Lisa Wetherell, Andrew Hercock, and John Hughes. It encompasses four familiar labels, Marquis Philips, 3 Rings, Roogle, and Bitch, along with 13 others created especially for R Wines. Needless to say, the packaging of these wines is amazingly creative but, more importantly, what is in the bottle consistently over-delivers from low-end to high-end.(94 points, Wine Advocate issue #173).

Torbreck "Woodcutter's Red" 2006; Barossa Valley, Australia ($21.99) - "The 2006 Woodcutter’s Shiraz was sourced from six sub-regions of the Barossa. The wine was aged for 12 months in large, neutral French oak and was bottled unfined and unfiltered. Purple-colored, it has an attractive array of pepper, spicy blackberry, black cherry, and blueberry muffin aromas. Full-bodied and opulent on the palate, the wine delivers gobs of meaty, full-flavored blue and black fruits to accompany its forward, easy-going personality. Drink this incredible value over the next 4-6 years." (92 points, Wine Advocate issue #173).

Kilikanoon Shiraz "Killerman's Run" 2005; Clare Valley, Australia ($24.99) - "The 2005 Shiraz Killerman’s Run, which had just been bottled, is unbelievably good. It possesses a deep ruby/purple color, terrific blackberry and cassis fruit, hints of charcoal, licorice, and earth, and an opulent, voluptuous personality. Enjoy this super-sexy Shiraz over the next 3-4 years." (92 points, Wine Advocate issue #167).

Torbreck "The Factor" 2005, Barossa Valley, Australia ($109.00) - "The 2005 The Factor is 100% Shiraz sourced from dry grown vines from six sub-regions of Barossa. It spent 24 months in 30% new French oak. Opaque purple-colored, it delivers an expressive bouquet of pepper, smoke, espresso roast, blackberry, blueberry, and licorice. Full-bodied and voluptuous on the palate, nuances of saddle leather and mineral emerge to complement the layers of spicy blue and black fruits. The wine is beautifully integrated with enough well-concealed tannin to keep this wine evolving for a decade. The pure finish lingers for 60+ seconds to complete the experience of a totally hedonistic turn-on.

Torbreck, under the leadership of owner/winemaker David Powell, remains a Barossa Valley benchmark as well as one of the world’s greatest wine estates. The top cuvees are limited production and expensive but there are also some outstanding values in the portfolio. With regard to the current vintages for the Barossa red wines, David Powell states '2004 is more savory while 2005 has more purity and definition. 2004 is more classic, 2005 will take longer to come around.'" (97 points, Wine Advocate issue #173).

2004 Wines From Harlan, Levy & Rolland

The prolific winemaking team of Bill Harlan, Bob Levy and Michel Rolland is producing some of the boldest, most profound wines in California today. These spectacular wines are not for the weak of heart (or shy of wallet) but they will provide drinking pleasure for decades:

Harlan "The Maiden" 2004 ($249 net) - "I was blown away by the 2004 The Maiden, which out of bottle is even better than it was from barrel. This wine exhibits a rather flamboyant scorched earth, lead pencil, incense, licorice, and blackberry and cassis-scented nose and flavors. The wine has superb concentration and is opulent, fleshy, and very much in keeping with the style of the vintage. Despite its accessibility, I suspect this wine will drink well for at least two decades. So what’s new? Harlan Estate continues to produce only a meager 1,500 or so cases from over 40 acres of beautifully manicured hillside vineyards overlooking the Oakville corridor (to be precise, the western slopes looking down on Martha’s Vineyard and parts of the To-Kalon Vineyard). Proprietor Bill Harlan and his winemaking team of Bob Levy and global oenologist Michel Rolland push the envelope in all ways, but the results continue to be magnificent as well as increasingly expensive and rare. The second wine, which is usually around 1,000+ cases, is The Maiden, which is also a super wine in its own right." (95 points, Wine Advocate issue #174). 3 bottles in stock, in original wood case.

2004 Bond "Pluribus" Proprietary Red Wine ($279 net) - "The newest wine, Pluribus, will give just about any vineyard on Spring Mountain a run for its money. The 2004 Pluribus has a dense purple color and an elegant, sweet nose of creme de cassis intermixed with some camphor, graphite, and a hint of blueberry (or is it very ripe raspberries?). Quite opulent, full-bodied, but with good underlying acidity, this wine is fresh and remarkably light on its feet for a wine of such enormous intensity and richness. These efforts are all brilliantly executed wines from obviously fabulous sites." (95 points, The Wine Advocate issue #174).

2004 Bond "Vecina" Proprietary Red Wine ($279 net) - "The 2004 Vecina shares an opaque ruby/purple color, smells of wet steel, crushed rocks, spring flowers, forest floor, and plenty of cedar and chocolatey black currant and blackberry notes. A huge, spicy, complex nose is followed by a wine of impressive ripeness, full-bodied power, and a multi-dimensional mouthfeel with huge amounts of glycerin, fruit, and thickness. This is a connoisseur’s treat, and despite the fruit-forward character of the vintage, this wine ideally needs 2-4 years of bottle age and should keep for 30-35+ years." (96 points, The Wine Advocate issue #174).

2004 Bond "St. Eden" Proprietary Red Wine ($279 net) - "The 2004 St. Eden seems to hit all the sweet spots on my palate. A wine of great complexity, richness, and intensity, with oodles of creme de cassis fruit and plenty of roasted herbs and meatiness, with exceptional power and richness, this wine has fleshed out since I had it last year, and seems to be destined to be one of Bond’s most compelling wines, a full-bodied wine with great purity, richness, and beautifully integrated acidity, wood, and tannin. Give it 1-3 years of bottle age and drink it over the following 25 years." (97 points, The Wine Advocate issue #174).

and some more Cellar Selections:

Plumpjack Napa Cabernet 2005 ($78.99) - "The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate is a full-bodied, chewy effort displaying copious aromas of lead pencil shavings, black currants, blueberries, licorice, charcoal, and spice box along with a hint of new oak. This beauty should unfold gracefully over the next 5-7 years, and last for two decades or more.

Winemaker Tony Biagi appears to have carte blanche authority to recreate the greatness that existed in this vineyard when Nils Venge was making the wines in the mid-seventies, under the Villa Mt. Eden label. There are approximately 6,000 cases of the regular Cabernet, and 600 of the Reserve offering. An impressive Syrah, a blend of fruit from Napa’s Stagecoach Vineyard and Carneros’s Hudson Vineyard, has also been added to the portfolio." (92 points, Wine Advocate issue #174).


Pride Mountain Reserve Claret 2005 ($189.00 net) - "From the barrel, the gorgeous 2005 Reserve Claret should turn out to be a top-notch example of Pride Mountain winemaking. It possesses a deep ruby/purple color as well as notes of black raspberries, espresso, sweet cherries, and notions of cedar as well as graphite. Full-bodied with strong tannins, a velvety texture, a voluptuous, long mouthfeel, and a 45+ second finish, this gorgeous 2005 should age for 15 or more years." (93-96 points, Wine Advocate issue #174).

Pride Mountain Reserve Cabernet 2005 ($195.00 net) -  "The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve is impressive. Its inky/purple hue is accompanied by aromas and flavors of incense, pain grille, blackberries, blueberries, and cassis. It is a rich, dense, full-bodied, pure, layered effort that should drink well for 15 or so years." (96-98 points, Wine Advocate issue #174).

Betts & Scholl Hermitage Rouge 2004 ($69.99) - "Dark on the nose, with blackberry and fig preserve notes. Shows a terroir -driven element on the palate, with loam, braised chestnut and spice notes. Ample structure, with a long, cocoa powder tinged finish. Drink now through 2015. 375 cases imported. (92 points, Wine Spectator issue Oct. 31, 2007).

Ogier Cote Rotie 2004 ($89.99) - "Dark red. Delicate floral-inflected raspberry and strawberry aromas with a gentle note of musky underbrush. Sweet red fruits are framed and extended by fine, silky tannins. Picks up a subtle floral note on the long aftertaste." (92 points, International Wine Cellar).

Andre Brunel Les Cailloux "Cuvee Centenaire" 2003 ($225 retail price, $149 net sale price) - "The limited production but exquisite 2003 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Centenaire is a riper, more concentrated version of the 2000 Centenaire. There are about 500 cases of this Grenache-dominated wine produced from a vineyard planted in 1889 with some Syrah and Mourvedre (about 20%) added to the blend. The latter components are aged in small barrels. The wine has a dense ruby/purple-tinged color to the rim, a strikingly pure nose of kirsch liqueur, creme de cassis, and hints of vanilla and espresso. Hitting the palate with full-throttle opulence, superb concentration, fabulous purity, and striking multiple levels of raspberries and black cherry jam, this is a beautifully full-bodied, brilliantly concentrated and structured wine that reveals sweet but abundant tannin and a finish that goes on for close to a minute. I still think the two greatest Centenaires made to date have been the 1990 and 1998, but this one is close in quality. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2020+." (96 points, Wine Advocate issue #163).

Vieux Telegraphe Chateauneuf-du-Pape "La Crau" 2005 ($66.99) - "The 2005 Vieux Telegraphe Chateauneuf du Pape, this estate’s strongest vintage since 1998, has put on serious weight since last year. Dense ruby/purple-colored with an exquisite perfume of black raspberries, kirsch, ground pepper, and incense, this full-bodied, powerful, concentrated wine reveals fabulous purity as well as a finish that lasts over 45 seconds. Purchasers of this beauty will need patience. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2025." (95 points, Wine Advocate issue #173).

Chateau Haut Brion 2004 ($299.00) - "The dark plum/ruby-hued 2004 Haut-Brion exhibits a noble, discrete, smoky bouquet revealing notions of plum liqueur, black currants, sweet cherries, and subtle earth. In addition to its aromatic complexity, this medium-bodied effort reveals classic elegance and delicacy as well as sweet fruit in the mouth and a long finish. Give this streamlined, civilized wine 2-4 years of bottle age and drink it over the following 20-25 years. It is amazingly similar to Haut-Brion’s 1999." (92 points, Wine Advocate issue #171).