Here’s a terrific sparkling wine from France that will make your palate and your pocketbook happy. It’s the Marcel Martin Tête de Cuvée Crémant de Loire Brut. The requirements for the Crémant de Loire appellation include originating in the regions of Anjou-Saumur or Touraine, lower grape yields than go into the Loire’s other sparkling wines and a higher percentage of free-run juice, as well as one-year’s aging, as opposed to nine months for other local sparklers. Grapes tend to be chenin blanc and cabernet franc, though chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and some indigenous grapes are allowed. “Tête de Cuvée” on a label implies that the product is top (or “head”) of the line, but the term is not regulated in France, so consumers must depend on the honesty of the producer. These wines are made in the champagne method of second fermentation in the bottle.

Marcel Martin Tête de Cuvée Crémant de Loire Brut presents a medium straw-gold color such as Rapunzel’s hair might be; a tremendous fountain of tiny bubbles erupts from the bottom of the glass and surges upward to the surface. This is all roasted lemon, steel and limestone, with hints of winsome acacia and almond, straw and bracing sea-salt. This sparkling wine truly is full-bodied and creamy, though cleanly cut with rapier-like acidity and scintillating limestone and flint minerality. The finish is long, fervent, steely and spicy. 12.5 percent alcohol. Very Good+ (with a couple more +s if I could; it’s that close to Excellent). I paid $23, but I have seen prices as low as $17 around the country.

Imported by The Stacole Co., Boca Raton, Fla.

The Bandwagon Chardonnay 2009, Monterey County, is completely delightful. Yes, the 2010 version is on the market, but plenty of this 09 is available in stores. The wine was made by Tony Leonardini, hence the name of his outfit, The Little Lion Wine Company. (Leonardini’s parents own Whitehall Lane Winery, and he grew up in the wine business.) Bandwagon Chardonnay 2009, made entirely in stainless steel, is a pale straw-gold color; lovely aromas of ripe apples and pears reveal hints of mango and jasmine with a background of cloves and limestone. Pineapple and grapefruit flavors, with touches of spice and smoke, are deftly balanced by pert acidity and a burgeoning mineral element through the finish; the texture is silky-smooth but lively and appealing. There’s a lot of character here for the price. 14.5 percent alcohol. Drink through Summer 2012. Very Good+. About $16.
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For the second choice in this twofer Wines of the Week, let’s turn to the Keenan Chardonnay 2009, Spring Mountain District, Napa Valley. Boy, this is so fresh and clean and pure, so scintillating yet subtly layered that it’s irresistible. Eighty percent of the wine fermented in barrels, with the other 20 percent in stainless steel; the wine spent seven months aging in oak but with no malolactic fermentation. The result is remarkable intensity and dimension married to elegance and suavity. Classic notes of pineapple and grapefruit are permeated by quince and crystallized ginger and a hint of cloves; there’s nothing tropical or buttery here, thank goodness, just a sheen of nuanced oak balanced with bright citrus flavors, chiming acidity and an almost palate-tickling limestone quality. A chardonnay to revel in for its integrity, authenticity and charm. 13.9 percent alcohol. Consulting winemaker is the venerable Nils Venge. Production was 2,600 cases. Drink through 2013 or ’14. Excellent. About $30.

These wines were samples for review.
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It’s been raining for two days is this neck o’ the woods, the temperature is dropping like drones over Afghanistan and we lie poised under threat of snow ce soir. I guess Ol’ Man Winter, wily bastard, is chuckling up his frost-rimmed sleeve right about now. (Which means that the dogs have basically been confined to quarters for two days, and if you don’t believe things are getting pretty damned high-strung …) Obviously it’s time for a robust, flavorful red wine to go two throws out of three with that cauldron of short ribs you have toiling and troubling on the stove this very moment. My recommendation, at least on this direful Monday, is the Pèppoli Chianti Classico 2008 from Antinori. Whereas many other producers in Tuscany are enamored of new French oak barrels — “they’re French! they must be better!” — Pèppoli follows local tradition by being put into large Slovenian oak casks, with 10 percent going into American oak, all this for nine months. The result is a highly aromatic wine that teems with notes of oolong tea, orange rind, black currants and plums, leather and violets and, after a few moments in the glass, hints of cloves and fruitcake. Really heady stuff, though the stuffing comes as the black and red currants and plum flavors slide through your mouth with their display of supple tannic grip and sprightly acidity and a texture balanced between lithe and luxurious. The wine builds in intensity and depth as the minutes elapse, developing richness and concentration, yet it never ceases to offer warmth and generosity. This is a blend of 90 percent sangiovese grapes, with 10 percent merlot and syrah. 13 percent alcohol. Drink now through 2013. Excellent. About $27, though often discounted around the country to $20 or less.

Imported by Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, Woodinville, Wa. A sample for review, as I am required to inform you by the FCC.

Western Australia’s Margaret River region, way down in the extreme southwest tip of the island continent, has proved to be a salubrious locale for the production of riesling. Consistently one of the best is found under the Leeuwin Estate Art Series, a winery distinguished also for its fine chardonnays. The Leeuwin Estate Art Series Riesling 2009, Margaret River, displays a radiant pale straw-gold color and a high-toned bouquet of green apples, lychee, lime and grapefruit, with some spiced peach in the background, and a distinct whiff of the grape’s requisite petrol or rubber eraser aroma, bracing and cleansing; give it a few moments and whiffs of some shy astringent mountain blossom waft from the glass. The grapes for this wine were picked at night, and the juice was cold-settled for seven to 10 days; fermentation was in stainless steel tanks. Not surprising, then, that this startlingly vivacious riesling rests on a structure of crystalline acidity that seems to grow from a bedrock of crushed gravel and flint, above which is poised a dry and quenching fruit cocktail of citrus and stone-fruit with a hint of spiced pear. The finish is crisp, minerally and vibrant. A riesling of lovely and somewhat austere purity and intensity. Alcohol content is 12 percent. Drink through 2012. Excellent. About $22.

Imported by Old Bridge cellars, Napa Ca. A sample for review.

We happily consumed this riesling with a dish that reveals, once again, LL’s intuitive genius in the kitchen. This was a pasta, concocted last night from what was on hand, that matched wholewheat penne with sauteed broccoli rabe, duck salami and duck crackings (made from leftover duck fat; throw nothing away), thin strips of carrot and a dose of the wildly savory Italian pine cone bud syrup called mugolio. Amazingly complex and delicious.

The Domaine Drouhin Vaudon Chablis 2009 may only be a “regular” Chablis AOC, but it offers perfect pitch in its attributes. Drouhin Vaudon is now the official name of the Chablis operation of the venerable Burgundian firm of Joseph Drouhin, headquartered in Beaune, the quaint medieval city that’s the center of the Burgundy wine trade. The outpost in Chablis is considered a separate entity, though, oddly, it seems to me, after the grapes are pressed at the winery in Chablis, the juice is trucked to Beaune for fermentation and aging; this process is true for the Premier and Grand Cru wines as well as for the Chablis AOC. Well, O.K., whatever. The Drouhin Vaudon vineyards in Chablis are managed on organic or biodynamic methods.

Made all in stainless steel, Domaine Drouhin Vaudon Chablis 09 sports a pale gold color sustained by a faint green undertone. (The composition, of course, is 100 percent chardonnay.) The bouquet is a classic weaving of roasted lemon, lime peel, verbena, flint and shale and a slight earthy-mushroomy aspect. The authority here derives from a frank assertion of limestone minerality and a vibrant, energetic aura that encompasses both chiming acidity and alluring suppleness in body and texture. To citrus flavors are added hints of ginger and quince, while the finish, after a few moments in the glass, becomes increasingly dry and flinty. 12.5 percent alcohol. About 3,000 cases imported. Drink through Summer 2012. Very Good+. About $23, though prices around the country range from about $19 to an unconscionable $33!

Dreyfus, Ashby & Sons, New York. A sample for review.

Think of a pork roast slathered with green chilies. Or how about grilled leg of lamb studded with garlic and rosemary. Beer-braised short ribs served with mashed potatoes drenched in a pan-reduction. You get the idea. Food you embrace; food you inhabit. Now open the inky-purple Trapiche Broquel Bonarda 2009, from Argentina’s high Mendoza region, nestled under the sunrise-facing flanks of the Andes. Trapiche is a large producer that owns more than 2,500 acres of vines in Mendoza, but big doesn’t always mean bad. Broquel is the winery’s single-vineyard label; grapes for the Broquel Bonarda 09 derive from the Santa Rosa vineyards that lies at 3,000-foot elevation. The grape presents mysteries. Three grapes bearing the name grow within spitting distance in northwest Italy, but only one of them is actually the bonarda grape, the imposters being croatina and uva rara, facts you may bear with you today as a chalice against your throng of foes. (Chops, but no cash award, to whoever identifies the source of that paraphrase.) However, the “real” bonarda grape, which is itself quite rare in these times, is not — I say, not — the bonarda grape which is the second most-planted red grape in Argentina, the first most-planted starting with the letter M and it’s not merlot. No, the bonarda of Argentina seems to be — I say, seems to be — the charbono grape that used to be grown in California but has now, sadly, almost disappeared.

Anyway, the Trapiche Bonarda 2009 feels wild, untamed, deeply spicy, immoderately savory; slightly jammy black currants, plums and blackberry preserves infused with port characterize the heady bouquet, which opens to hints of blueberry tart, lavender and licorice, potpourri and dusty graphite. It’s rich, dense, intense, chewy, thoroughly imbued with slightly roasted and meaty black and blue fruit flavors laced with burnished oak — from 12 months in new French and American barrels — and soft, velvety tannins. It is, as you surmise, almost a riot of sensations, though fortunately honed with bracing acidity and a touch of granite-like minerality on the finish. Close to being too easy to drink, but it sorta haunts you, too. 14 percent alcohol. Now through 2013 or ’14. Very Good+. About $15.

Imported by Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York. A sample for review.

Two wines from France, first the white, from the Maconnais region in the south of Burgundy, then the red, a Bordeaux Superieur.
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The Henri Perrusset Macon-Villages 2010 is the real deal as far as chardonnay goes, and I mean that this little beauty, because of its intensity, dimension and detail, could pass as a ringer for a Cote de Beaune blanc — all right, a minor Cote de Beaune blanc –at half the price. My first note on the wine, which was made all in stainless steel, was, “Damn, that’s good!” Lovely purity of chardonnay character here, with spicy roasted lemon and baked pear scents and flavors accented by cloves, quince and ginger and a scintillating limestone element that goes hand in hand with crystalline acidity; oh, and a zephyr-like wafting of camellia. Yes, this is fresh, clean and vibrant, and it delivers terrific balance and integration; not only does it taste good, but it feels good in the mouth. 13 percent alcohol. Drink now through 2013. Very Good+. About $16-$20.

Imported by Kermit Lynch, Berkeley, Ca. Tasted at a wholesaler’s trade event.
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Speaking of the real deal, the Chateau Senailhac 2005, Bordeaux Superieur — from a great vintage in Bordeaux — is the real deal as far as merlot, cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc are concerned. In fact, unusually for Bordeaux Superieur, this wine contains all five of the classic Bordeaux grape varieties: 43 percent merlot, 25 percent cabernet sauvignon, 23 percent cabernet franc, 7 percent malbec and, finally, a 2 percent dollop of petit verdot. At six years old, the wine displays a transparent medium ruby color tinged with brick-red/garnet at the rim; classic, too, is this bouquet of spiced and macerated black currants and black cherries with hints of cedar and tobacco, black olive and bell pepper and a touch of walnut shell and brambles. The wine offers slightly fleshy and meaty flavors of black currants and plums encompassed in a dense and chewy structure that’s firm and close to velvety without being heavy or obvious; tannins are mellow and a little chewy, a bit gritty with dusty graphite-like minerality that extends through the finish. Chateau Senailhac 2005 is drinking beautifully now and should do so through 2014 to ’16. Alcohol content is 13 percent. Very Good+. I paid $19; prices around the country start at $16.

Imported by Luxco Inc., St. Louis.
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Today I return to the Hugues Beaulieu Picpoul de Pinet, which I last made a Wine of the Week in 2008, for the version of ’07. Now it’s the turn of the rendition of 2010.

The Picpoul de Pinet HB 2010, Coteaux de Languedoc, produced by the Caves de Pomérols cooperative, reiterates this wine’s status as one of the Great Cheap Wines of the World. Made from white picpoul grapes — also known as folle blanche — and seeing only stainless steel in its production, the wine is exuberantly fresh and spicy, exhilarating in its crisp acidity, seductive in its roasted lemon scents and flavors spiked with lime peel and grapefruit and permeated by hints of dried thyme and tarragon and an exotic note of salt-marsh. The soil in this seaside area of Languedoc, just west of the great lagoon of the Bassin de Thau, where the French coast starts its long curve downward toward Spain, is composed of clay and pebbles and fragments of limestone and fossil shells over marl, a perfect mixture for the grape’s dry delicacy, lightness and stony, sun-drenched nature. Buy by the case to drink over the next six months. Superb with shellfish — especially oysters — but we happily consumed a few glasses with Chinese take-out. 12.5 percent alcohol. Very Good+. About $10-$11.

A sample for review.

Zaca Mesa was a pioneer in bringing syrah to Santa Barbara County, planting that region’s first syrah vines in 1978. Founded in the early ’70s, the winery first planted just about every grape variety available but gradually narrowed the field to Rhone Valley types. Since the 1990s, Zaca Mesa has produced only Rhone-style wines, with a focus on estate and single-vineyard syrah. Winemaker is Eric Mohseni.

Wine of the Week is the Zaca Mesa Syrah 2008, Santa Ynez Valley, the producer’s basic syrah wine. Aged 16 months in French oak barrels, 35 percent new, 65 percent up to four years old, the wine offers complex layering of spicy, floral and earthy elements woven with dense, chewy grainy tannins and lively acidity, all set in fine balance. The color is dark ruby-purple; aromas of blackberries, black currants and plums are permeated by notes of sage and thyme, smoky oak and leather, violets and lavender and a pointed dusty graphite quality. So far, this is textbook syrah, and the impression deepens with ripe, spicy and concentrated black and blue fruit flavors founded on a classic character of slightly mossy underbrush qualities that generously unfold to reveal a core of potpourri, bitter chocolate and scintillating slate-like minerality. The finish is long and spicy. Lovely purity and authenticity and well-suited to an upcoming Fall season of braised and grilled meat. 14.5 percent alcohol. Drink now through 2014 or ’15. Excellent. About $25.

A sample for review.

Look no further for a fresh, attractive aperitif or wine to go with sushi, fresh seafood or, as we drank it, with seared salmon, just rare in the center, with a crust of crushed black and red pepper. This is the Palacios de Bornos Verdejo 2010, from the Spanish region of Rueda, which straddles the river Duero southwest of the university town of Valladolid. The river is important; the climate of the high plateau of Castilla y León, Spain’s largest autonomous region, is harsh and arid. You won’t be thinking of anything harsh and arid, however, when you’re sipping this little gem. Made all in stainless steel from 100 percent verdejo grapes, the wine sports a pale but radiant straw-gold color; aromas of spiced lemon and pear are wreathed with hints of dried thyme and tarragon (and a faint whiff of lilac) and a bracing sort of brisk sea-breeze/salt-marsh aspect that brings it close to exhilarating. Palacios de Bornos Verdejo 2010 is dry and spare, quite lively and spicy, supple in texture but crisp with pert acidity that supports ripe citrus and stone-fruit flavors and a finish permeated by lime peel and limestone. Delightful and almost savory in effect. Winemaker was Pilar Garcia. 13 percent alcohol. Drink through 2012. Very Good+. About $13, representing Great Value.