Fall entertaining Wine and Food pairing recommendation

I don’t usually like it when a wine is defined as being like another wine that exists halfway around the world. But damn, if I had had this wine blind, I most certainly would have guessed it was a white Burgundy. The utter richness spiked by starbursts of minerals…the through-line of fresh acidity…the voluptuousness modulated by tautness...the earthy sensuality. It all added up to: Burgundy. But Gran Moraine is in the Willamette Valley, and (like a few of its neighbors), it’s making serious chardonnays that are knock-outs. The dramatic rise in the quality of Oregon chardonnay over the last few years is still largely an untold story. But try this and see for yourself. Hedonism in a glass anyone?

Rhone Reds and Blends with Neapolitan Pork Chops Iconic Copain Winery overlooks the bucolic Russian River Valley in California, crafting Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Syrah. Their Tous Ensemble (all together) wines are approachable, casual and ready to drink. The Syrah from select cool climate vineyards in Mendocino County offers raspberry, blackberry and spice with notes of pencil lead, toast and soft tannins.

Supple and sleek, with elegantly layered violet, raspberry and orange peel flavors that build richness and expression on a long finish.

Elegant yet dynamic, with violet, raspberry and spiced cinnamon flavors that build richness and structure toward refined tannins.

Impressively structured and expressive, this features refined raspberry and cherry flavors, accented by orange peel, smoky spice and clove notes, building drama toward polished tannins.

Italy, Tuscany: Chianti Classico New Releases & A New Wave of Italian Icons The 2016 Chianti Classico Riserva is a nicely integrated and seamless wine, with satisfying fullness and richness. It reveals a very contemporary bouquet with black cherry covered in chocolate. The wine is thinner in the mouth, and the tannins make their presence known. But overall, it shows a very streamlined construction. Pair it with a French onion soup. The blend is 90% Sangiovese and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon aged in French barrique for 12 months. Some 29,000 bottles were released. Again, Tenuta di Arceno gives you great value for your money.

Svelte and harmonious, with expressive raspberry, clove and orange peel flavors that build richness and polish on the long finish.

Italy, Tuscany: Chianti Classico New Releases & A New Wave of Italian Icons This wine just jumps at you with immediate notes of ripe cherry, chocolate, tobacco and toasted espresso bean. The 2017 Chianti Classico is robust on every level, a very modern and contemporary take on this Italian classic. There's a lot of sunny heat and energy in this vintage, a great choice for a cheerful plate of Tuscany's pici al buristo. The blend is 85% Sangiovese and 15% Merlot. With 95,750 bottles produced, you cannot beat this terrific value.

The Perfect Fall Wine & Cocktail Guide For Entertaining, Dining & More Filled with dynamic plum, raspberry jam and blackberry flavors from grapes grown in Mendocino and Sonoma County. Sultry cedar and spice accents linger on this captivating, long-finishing wine.

The Perfect Fall Wine & Cocktail Guide For Entertaining, Dining & More An intense concentration of black fruit and dark chocolate is enhanced by 18 months of oak barrel aging, resulting in seductive fruit tone on the nose and a long, velvety finish.

The Perfect Fall Wine & Cocktail Guide For Entertaining, Dining & More Floral and lifted, the 2016 offers terrific Cabernet aromatics to match its mid-weight structure and overall mouthfeel. Offered at a superb value, aromas of lush black cherry, blackberry and cassis fill the glass. Round, rich seamless tannins provide a robust backbone and supple mid-palate. Notes of cedar, vanilla and a hint of mocha linger on the finish.

The Perfect Fall Wine & Cocktail Guide For Entertaining, Dining & More A 90 points & Editors’ Choice awarded wine from Wine Enthusiast 2019, this vintage brings ripe fruit flavors and a generous helping of oak spices make this full-bodied wine flavorful and easy to sip. It brings cinnamon and red cherry to the nose, and black cherry, cranberry and baking spices to the palate.

South Australia's Hickinbotham Wines Bet On Bordeaux Varietals The Peake 2016 is, as is obvious from the price of $150, Hickinbotham’s top of the line bottling, using Cabernet (56%) with Shiraz (44%) blended in, rather than Merlot, a mix not unknown in Australia, where it has been done since pre-phylloxera days (the scourge arrived in 1877). With winemaker Charlie Seppelt and Viticulturer Michael Lane, Carpenter worked with vines dating to 1971 in high country (220-230 metres). Both varietals were left on the skins for a minimum eighteen days, resulting in an alcohol level of 14.5%, skirting the higher levels of so many unbalanced Australian red wines. It was indeed a beautiful wine, though still quite tannic—it went very well with a steak au poivre and rack of lamb—and Carpenter insisted it’s a wine that will improve over many years.

South Australia's Hickinbotham Wines Bet On Bordeaux Varietals Carpenter describes his Trueman 2016 as “the most homogenised, smoothly-assimilated Cabernet in recent years from Hickinbotham, reminiscent of those made by Stephen Hickinbotham in the early 'eighties. While its aromas of bergamot and blueberry have yet to lock in and settle, the palate's already there: fine, fresh and strapping. It's an elegant, savoury wine now, but will smooth out and flesh up to memorable opulence with a decade or two in the cellar.” Spending 15 months in a mixture of fine-grained Bordeaux-coopered barrels, the tannins of this 100% Cabernet Sauvignon have softened, and there is abundant acidity here that keeps it fresh. With just 14% alcohol as ballast. Carpenter recommends aging, but it is rewarding to try it right now as an example of what he’s accomplished in a short period of time with this varietal.

South Australia's Hickinbotham Wines Bet On Bordeaux Varietals The Revivalist Merlot 2016 comes from hand-picked grapes, with 21 days of skin time, then racking over the next 15 months, emerging with a balanced 14% alcohol that keeps it from becoming overly fruity or cloying. The soil is iron rich and clay, imparting its minerality. There’s a good deal of finesse here that does indeed remind me of a Bordeaux Pomerol like Château de Sales or Château Clinet. Only 748 cases were made, so this is a fine Merlot at a fair price, already sold out in Australia.

South Australia's Hickinbotham Wines Bet On Bordeaux Varietals Hickinbotham’s own Brooks Road Shiraz 2016 is from a cooler region. The time on the skins, after cold soaking, was a minimum of 18 days, then the juice was free run and separately, gently pressed. Unlike most Rhône Syrahs, which are a blend with other varietals, Hickinbotham’s is 100% Shiraz, yet, at 14.5% alcohol, it avoids being inky or too tannic, showing abundant fruit.

La Crema does it again with a benchmark setting pinot noir from the on fire Russian River Valley. Bright cherry notes with prominent spicy accents especially cinnamon. Very food friendly and balanced and a mouth filling experience.

Very aromatic with lime zest and melon flavors. Delicious to the last drop.

Wine Each Week – 2015 Freemark Abbey Cabernet Sauvignon/Rutherford There are two kinds of Napa Cabernet. Those that reflect the iconic traditional style of Napa Cab and have been for decades…and everything else. In the last number of years many stalwart Napa producers have gone for over ripe fruit, extracted wines and a homogenized style that offers nothing unique. On the plus side, wineries like Freemark Abbey have retained the iconic Napa style. What sets their 2015 Rutherford Cabernet apart is the sheer seamless-ness of the wine, deftly pulling together oak, fruit, wood, tannin and acidity to create an absolutely indulgent wine. With grapes from three separate Rutherford vineyards the result is classic blueberry, black berry, boysenberry, hints of black cherry, plum, lingonberry and those “dusty” tannins Rutherford is famous for, not to mention subtle signs of mocha and sweet tobacco. Nearly 27 months in barrel (just under 60% was new French oak) has helped create a gorgeous wine, the kind of drinking experience you never rush through, but savor because you don’t want the bottle to end too quickly.

Light ruby in color, this Pinot Noir presents with very funky aromas that flash off rather quickly to reveal more appealing scents of olive tapenade, apple skins and seawater. On the palate, the wine is surprisingly round, almost fat. The flavor profile is a juicy strawberry with red raspberry and other bramble fruits. The acidity is appropriate to balance the sweetness, the tannins are soft, and the fruit lasts into an extended finish. This wine would pair well with lighter seafood or poultry dishes. Very good.

5 Grappoli

10 Australian wines you need to try that aren't shiraz Grenache is a wildly popular variety, and for good reason; winemakers find they can craft a range of styles with this international grape. It can be bold and concentrated, lighter in body or somewhere in between. The Yangarra Ovitelli Grenache has a nose of pomegranate, cranberry and black tea, with lovely juicy fruit on the structured palate.

USA, California, Central Coast: The 2017 Vintage in Santa Barbara County Chardonnay vines in the Nielson vineyard were originally planted in 1964; this wine comes from those cuttings used to replant. Youthfully shy on the nose, the 2016 Chardonnay Nielson Vineyard opens very minerally with aromas of saline, crushed shell, gunflint and toast with ripe Golden Delicious apple, baked quince, warm Meyer lemon, pie crust and peach. The palate is medium to full-bodied, rounded and silky, oozing layer after layer of ripe, savory, spicy fruits, framed with tangy acidity and finishing very long and very flavorful.

USA, California, Central Coast: The 2017 Vintage in Santa Barbara County The 2017 Chardonnay 3D has a wonderfully open nose of honey-drizzled hazelnut, sweet hay, warm peach and nectarine with white blossoms, a hint of chamomile, red apple skin and a strong line of crushed rock minerality. It's medium to full-bodied and juicy with tons of ripe, honeyed fruits that segue back to lime skin and crushed stone on the very long, energetic finish.