Fall is the season of change—as the trees shed their leaves and temperatures drop, both people and animals begin hunkering down for the cold, dark winter months ahead. The wine industry also changes this time of the year as wine enthusiasts stow their crisp white and rosé wines and replace them with bolder, richer reds that pair well with hearty fall dishes.
Rioja wine is changing rapidly. Just a few years ago, the Spanish winegrowing region was known for producing easy-drinking Tempranillo and Garnacha (Grenache) blends. While these wines were pleasant—filled with sweet strawberry flavors and the scent of baking spices—most weren’t particularly complex or valuable. However, in 2017 the region’s governing body introduced a new classification system that sets Rioja’s finest wines apart from its table wines. The wines in the highest classifications are intense, tannic, and multidimensional, a far cry from the region’s softer, more simplistic offerings.
To help you explore the region’s most complex and age-worthy wines, we’ve created a list of the top ten wines from Tuscany that are perfect for serious wine enthusiasts and collectors. While Tuscany has many other top-quality wines to offer, these ten are among the best on the market today. They are enthralling, complex, valuable, and have great aging potential, making them a wise choice for almost any collection.
Colgin Cellars’ wines are supremely rare and exclusive. The Napa Valley winery sells fewer than 2,800 cases of wine per year to a handful of upscale restaurants and 8,000 members on its selective mailing list. Getting your hands on these complex and delectable red wines isn’t easy, particularly if you’re on the hunt for one of Colgin’s many 100-point vintages. These top-rated wines are highly sought-after among serious wine enthusiasts and tend to sell out very quickly on the secondary market.
If you were to rank the best American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) in the United States, the Russian River Valley wine region would be near the top of the list. This California AVA located in Sonoma is tremendously well-respected among wine experts, who consider it one of the greatest regions in the world for growing complex Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Many of the wines made here are acidic, elegant, and multilayered. These are luscious wines that every collector should experience at least once in a lifetime.
Master of Wine Jancis Robinson says, “I am always banging on about how price is no absolute guide to quality and I believe this is particularly true of Bordeaux.” She goes on to say that although most first growths sell for hundreds or thousands of dollars per bottle, there are plenty of high-quality petits châteaux wines available for a fraction of that price. In fact, it’s possible to find many top-quality and age-worthy wines for less than $200 per bottle. This guide to the best Bordeaux under $200 will help you discover fine red and white wines that have some of the highest quality-to-price ratios on the market.
The best vintages of Château Latour are among the longest-lived wines in the world. While certain wines like fine port and Tokaji are known to age for 100 years or more, it’s rare to find a red Bordeaux blend with the same aging potential. Château Latour is one of these extraordinary wines. For instance, the 1961 vintage—considered one of the greatest in the estate’s history—continues to develop in complexity even to this day. When Master of Wine Jancis Robinson tried the 1961 vintage a few years ago, she said, “I can hardly believe the drinking dates I am suggesting for this wine! Drink through 2040.”
Fall is harvest season for producers, but it also release season across New- and Old-World wine regions. This year, California and Italy offer up their 2016 vintage while Burgundy, Chile, and Sauternes in Bordeaux offer their 2017 wines. Across the board, these releases are top-notch and represent great deals at their release prices. Here’s what…
When many people think of Chianti, they picture a squat wine bottle encased in a rustic straw covering and served alongside a heaping plate of Tuscan antipasto. This is, after all, a bright, acidic wine that has been shared at Tuscan dinner tables for centuries. It’s one of the few wines in the world that enhances almost any dish you pair with it.
A great symbol of the Médoc and the Saint-Julien appellation, Château Ducru-Beaucaillou is a majestic Victorian-style château and a classified Second Growth. The Borie family, who took ownership in 1941, is the fifth family to helm the estate, and Bruno Borie is the third generation of Bories to run it, which he has done now…
Pinot Noir is a wine chameleon—it evolves in response to its surroundings, taking on an entirely new personality in every terroir. This light-bodied red wine variety is extremely sensitive to even the slightest changes in climate, which is why there’s such a notable difference between New-World Pinot Noir and Old-World Pinot Noir. While New-World Pinot Noir is often fruit-forward, heavily oaked, and extracted, Old-World Pinot Noir is generally more delicate, acidic, and earthy.
The vast majority of labels made by Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC) are meant to be aged for decades and not opened a moment too soon. However, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Échezeaux is perhaps the one exception. While you can lay this charming wine down for many years, you can also enjoy it while it’s young. In fact, it often retains a youthful vibrancy even after it’s spent 20 or 30 years in storage.
