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.
A rich, opulent style, this delivers peach, melon and lemon notes layered over toasty oak. Bold up front, yet holds up midpalate and shows subtle length, too. Drink now through 2026. 37,000 cases made, 19,000 cases imported.
Ripe and polished yet fresh, this red seduces with ripe, generous anise, vanilla-laced blackberry and cherry flavors, then turns dark and brooding on the palate, with smoldering iron, garrigue, menthol, black pepper and dark earth framed by fine-grained t...
The 2020 Villa Antinori is packed with succulent dark cherry, plum, mocha, licorice and spice. As always, the Villa Antinori is a rich, boisterous wine, but in 2020 it is less forthcoming than it can be. There's a bit more Sangiovese in this year's ble...
This red shines for its elegance and purity of fruit, offering cherry, strawberry, rose and a flash of earth matched to a firm, well-integrated structure. Charming and approachable now, yet has a firm base of tannins too. Shows terrific length. Drink now ...
This ripe style is fresh and harmonious, delivering plum, cherry and boysenberry fruit, with accents of earth, iron and eucalyptus. Supple in texture, with a beautifully integrated structure and long, complex aftertaste. Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon and...