What’s most striking about Malleron’s bottle—something the Sancerre obsessives will pick up on from the first sip—is the texture. Yes, this wine has the flinty minerality and floral bouquet. Yes, it’s got the straight line of bright, clean flavors and zippy acidity. But Malleron’s bottle is bolstered with a bit more ripeness—and combined with all of the above, it equals Sancerre at its best.
From the Monção e Melgaço sub-region of northern Portugal, the natural home of the alvarinho grape, and made by one of its finest producers, who uses a little skin contact (hence the name) to give structure to this invigorating linear dinner-table white.
The 2019 Chianti Classico Riserva is a potent, brooding wine. Black cherry, chocolate, new leather, torrefaction, tobacco, incense and scorched earth add to an impression of somber intensity. This powerhouse Riserva could use another year or two in bot...