February 2025 Newsletter Wines
February isn't the coldest nor the wettest month of the year in Oregon, but sometimes it feels that way. Perhaps this is why this month's Newsletter features so many Italian wines. We are clearly dreaming of sunny days under a Tuscan sun, or a Campanian sun, or a Piedmontese sun. We have some fantastic selections from everywhere else too; a Hungarian Tokaji in honor of Furmint February, some classics from France and Portugal, South Africa and Oregon, each one containing a little slice of sunshine.
Disznoko Dry Tokaji 2022 $17
The Disznoko cru has been home to grape vines since at least 1413 when it appeared in local records. In 1757, Europe’s first vineyard Crus were established by royal decree, and Disznoko was a first growth, a status it maintained until Soviet-era bulldozers arrived to erase Tokaji’s centuries-old status as Europe’s finest wine. In the 1990s, Hungarians began to rebuild their winemaking heritage and this was one of the first vineyards they started with. Tokaji has always been famous as the original botrytis-infused sweet wine that inspired Sauternes, but the dry sort of Tokaji is a product of this age, because it’s easier to make and sell dry wine when re-starting from scratch. It has been a happy discovery, because all the tension and complexity that makes the region’s iconic Furmint perfect for sweet wine also makes for a fireworks display of a dry wine. This latest vintage from Disznoko starts with wafts of pear blossom, chamomile, gooseberry, Rainier cherry, lemon and lime. The lightly creamy palate has an electric charge of acidity, with concentrated flavors of lime and lemon with granite and chalk undertones that echo through the finish.
Mulderbosch Stellenbosch Faithful Hound 2022 $20
Mulderbosch is one of the most important estates in Stellenbosch, where they make a wine very close in character to Bordeaux. Steady ocean breezes rise off of False Bay, and roll across the gently rolling countryside where shale, clay, gravel, and sandstone earth is planted primarily to vineyards. Growers here take inspiration from the similarity to Bordeaux’s terroir, and the region has made full bodied blends from Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot and even Malbec for centuries. The Faithful Hound is one of the best – and certainly best value – available today. All of Mulderbosch’s fruit is farmed sustainably, with even temper and complexity in mind. The wine ages in used oak barrels, resulting in balance and impressive fruit freshness. The wine begins with notes of deep black cherry and currant, pipe tobacco, potting soil, and vanilla bean on the nose. Wide brim tannins provide a sturdy structure for this full bodied draft of blackcurrant pie fruit with notes of tar, pipe smoke, and aromatic herbs. Serve this soon with sturdy meats and vegetables roasted in an oven or smoked.
Domaine Chiroulet Cotes de Gascogne Terres Blanches 2023 $14
There are certain wines that reappear in our newsletter just about every vintage, because they simply never go out of style. The Chiroulet Terres Blanches is one of them. The domaine is named for the Chiroula, a whistling wind that meanders throughout the gently rolling countryside of Southwest France, and particularly through Chiroulet’s limestone laced hilltop vineyard. Roughly halfway between Bordeaux and Jurançon, the vineyard is a fitting blend of Gros Manseng and Sauvignon Blanc, with a bit of Ugni Blanc in between. While always a reliably tasty and cost-conscious beverage, the 2023 edition has an extra scoop of intensity. Scents of white strawberry and lemongrass, Cara Cara orange and wintergreen and basil approach with unusual power. The palate is both full and bright, with fresh and juicy notes of tangerine and wild strawberry that make a lasting impression on the finish. Serve with roasted squashes, Indian curries, and lemon-seasoned seafood.
Domaine de Villargeau Coteaux du Giennois 2023 $19
For fans of great Sauvignon Blanc who are also fans of great value, the Coteaux du Giennois is the name to know. The region is a long stretch of the Loire’s limestone-marl right bank north of Sancerre and Pouilly Fume. There are no dramatic hillsides here, just gently rolling countryside and underappreciated wineries like Domaine de Villargeau. Winemaker Marc Thibaud has gained a strong following among the staff at L&E for his clean-cut, powerfully structured Sauvignon Blanc. His wines are organically farmed – no mean feat in this frosty corner of France – and ferment from native yeast. Every year, Villargeau’s wines have all the flinty freshness the Giennois is known for, and nearly as much depth and weight as much more expensive Sancerres. For the 2023 vintage, look for aromas of lavender, lemon rind, apple and flint. The palate is silky and bright and seamless, with more apple and lemon, with additional touches of rosemary lingering on the finish. Pair with strong veggie flavors like artichokes and brussels sprouts, or rich seafoods like tuna and scallops.
Quinta do Ermizio Vinho Verde 2023 $17
There are a lot of cheerfully inexpensive white wines from Vinho Verde. The last ten years we’ve seen and tasted as the region has quietly reinvented itself. Those fizzy, genre defining and generally flavorless wines of the past are steadily losing ground to powerfully mineral wines with texture and often impressive complexity. In this new world of Vinho Verde, it’s even more impressive when something stands out from the crowd like this one from Quinta do Eremizio and winemaker Antonio Monteiro. Farmed organically except in extreme vintages and raised in steel tanks with no additives, this is a blend of Loureiro and Treixadura and a brilliant example of what this region has to offer. Aromas of lemon and lime zest with a strong note of the vineyard’s granite soils. The palte has pleasantly silky texture with razor sharp acid before a crisp and clean finish of citrus pith, white flowers and salt. Serve with tinned fish, fish and chips, or clams in butter.
Mesa Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2023 $18
Matt Kinne’s classy McKinlay Pinot Noir has been one of the best values in Oregon for at least a decade. From time to time, he finds a few barrels in his cellar that don’t comply with his first rule of McKinlay Pinot Noir: Thou Shalt Smell and Taste of Red Fruit. When that happens, he makes Mesa Pinot Noir for an even better price. Matt’s signatures are all over this wine: concentrated fruit from low yields, no yeast additions, and very little new oak used. There’s nothing wrong with these grapes, beyond the rich aromas of black cherry and black raspberry, pepper and roses and toffee. The palate has the same even-tempered balance of the McKinlay wines, with a core of dusty tannins soaked in raspberry, orange zest and clay earth. This is straightforward, hearty Oregon Pinot Noir to be served with a minimum of fuss alongside salmon and fingerling potatoes.
Cirelli Vino Rosso 2022 $18
Francesco Cirelli graduated with a prestigious degree in economics in 2003. He put his degree to unexpectedly hard work when he purchased a farm in Abruzzo, intent on making organic wine, olive oil and other produce in concert with the natural environment. Francesco and now his wife Michela tend the Azienda Agricola as a fully integrated ecosystem, whose animals graze on cover crops and produce the natural fertilizers for vines and olive trees. The winery is fitted with steel tanks for the everyday wines and amphora for their special reserves. This Rosso is 100% naturally fermented Montepulciano, and spends four months in steel before bottling, a straightforward, satisfying red with a lightly creamy texture and plenty of Italian sunshine. Fresh cherries, orange peel, cinnamon and guava greet the nose. Raspberries and oranges and vanilla beans feature on the palate, framed by a delicate peppering of tannins. As much thought and attention went into making this wine, pairing it with food will take less. This is wine for pizzas, weeknight pastas, burgers and club sandwiches.
Donna Laura Bramosia Chianti Classico 2021 $17
“Bramosia means ‘desire’ in Italian and as artist Rik Olsen has illustrated on the label, the underlying theme here is romance. Bacchus and Venus make great company, but the magic begins only when Cupid strikes. He is the fundamental ingredient in any romance, just like Sangiovese is the key component in Chianti Classico.” Donna Laura’s Bramosia is made by the Toliani family, in tribute to the aunt who used to host Lia Toliani in Tuscany. It’s a delicately handled wine, 85% Sangiovese and 15% Merlot with just 10% of the wine seeing any time in oak, this is a pure expression of Chianti fruit. Earthy aromas of brick dust and potting soil, red cherry, raspberry, oregano and sage lead to a classically medium bodied texture with plentiful velvety tannins, ripe berries, and a hint of baker’s chocolate. Earth lingers long on the finish. Serve early and often with bolognese, fried eggplant, and meaty stews of every stripe.
Giovanni Prandi Nebbiolo d’Alba 2019 $16
Alessandro Prandi makes about 2000 cases of wine each year in the centrally located village of Diano d’Alba just outside the limits of Barolo. He makes a little bit of everything at the winery founded by his great uncle Farinetti Cav. Majorino in 1920, but this Nebbiolo is grown in his “strongest” vineyards, south-facing sites with the most sunshine. This is a wine that has never made headlines, but ask anyone in Diano d’Alba for a wine recommendation and Prandi will come up first. This is a deep and dark wine with a strong backbone of rough hewn tannins and dense packed aromas of cherry cordial, cherrywood smoke, pipe tobacco, dried roses and tarry earth. The palate is filled with jet-black cherry, blackberry, and rustic earth notes that suggest Alessandros vines have dug deep into the chalky clay marls of southern Piedmont. This is a heavyweight Nebbiolo at a featherweight price, suitable for thick cuts of steak or pork, rich potato dishes, and earthy, pan roasted root vegetables cooked on cold nights.
Oltretorrente Colli Tortonesi Bianco 2023 $18
Piedmont’s eastern edge is a slice of undiscovered country. Once upon a time, there was a thriving wine trade here in the hills above Tortona, but when the central part of Piedmont ascended behind names like Asti and Barolo, the Tortonesi hills were too far from main street, and the local wine tradition became an ever more local curiosity. The appellation rules allow enormous latitude in this low-stakes environment. It’s a perfect place for curious winemakers like Chiara Penati and Michele Conoscente, a young couple from Milan who have left behind careers at larger conventional operations to found their own organic vineyard and reclaim a slice of local history. This Bianco is a blend mostly made of three eastern Piedmont classics: Cortese, Favorita, and Timorasso, a three part blend that offers a balance of fresh fruit, floral complexity, and smoke-tinted depth. Aromas begin with preserved lemon, Red Delicious apple, acacia and smoky soil. The palate continues with more lemon and apple rounding out to peach notes, with almond and rosemary that linger on the finish.
Colli di Lapio Irpinia Campi Taurasini Donna Chiara 2023 $21
There is a rule for selecting wine, that if a given wine is named for a member of the family it must be good. Donna Chiara is the granddaughter to Clelia Romano, who makes Colli di Lapio wines alongside her daughter Carmela in Irpinia. This rugged denomination is folded into the mountains west of Naples, and it’s the center of Campanian wine production. Clelia Romano is one of the most central figures in the valley, famous for her gob-stopping lees aged Fianos that set the standard for white wine in the region. She brings the same sort of power and textural intensity to her red wines too. This Aglianico smells of black plum and blackcurrant, iron-rich clay and sandstone, allspice, leather and oregano. Stringent tannins bind together flavors of inky black fruit and smoky black soil. This wine is full bodied like a proper Taurasi at twice the price, and as it lingers on the finish, complex notes of violets and aromatic spices appear. Pair this with full-bodied meals like Ragù Napoletano, slow cooked ribs, or creamy mushroom pastas with enough salt to match the wine’s tannic heft.
Fontanassa Gavi Cà Adua 2023 $21
Part of the appeal of Gavi is that it’s just Gavi. Historically, the very best Gavi has been labelled “Gavi from Gavi”, which is a little cheeky if you think about it. As wine merchants, we appreciate the confidence. Fontanassa’s owner Marco Gemme, however, wanted to be a little more specific. He inherited some of the denomination’s finest vineyards in the late 1980s, on iron-rich clay soils in the rugged yet impossibly green countryside of southeast Piedmont. As a veteran grape grower, he knew that his vineyards each had individual character, and he became one of the first in the appellation to make single vineyard Gavi. While those impressive wines have made the estate famous, the Cà Adua, their humble house wine drawn from all five Fontanassa vineyards, is anything but simple. Aromas of pear, marmalade, and peach come with touches of basil, herbs de Provence, and white pepper. The palate shows warmer notes of orange, with lemon and lime and a dash of salt on the finish. For best results, follow the Genoese example and serve with just about every kind of seafood.
The Winemaker's Barrel: Conur Wines by Diego Valeri
ConurWines is a winery about friendship; a good glass of wine shared with good people, and the small joys along the way, like beating the Seattle Sounders. Portland Timbers legend Diego Valeri’s new venture into wine draws on his Argentine roots, transported to Pacific Northwest soil. Help us welcome him to Liner & Elsen Saturday the 8th as we taste a set of Oregon wine with Argentinean heart.
Conur Wines Willamette Valley White Blend “Mate” 2023 $25
A blend of fresh, aromatic white grapes from the Willamette Valley reminiscent of the Torrontes-based wines of Argentina and meant for gatherings of good friends.
Conur Wines Willamette Valley Pinot Noir “Sote” 2023 $41
Perfectly balanced Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, an effortless blend of red fruits and spices that will never disappoint.
Conur Wines Columbia Valley Malbec “General” 2023 $32
A pure Malbec with fresh black and blue fruits that doesn't hit you over the head with oak. Like General Admission on game day, everyone is welcome to enjoy this crowd pleasing red.