2009 Domaine des Roy Touraine "Les Silex" Blanc

Dear Rene, Did you know that about 90% of French wine comes from machine harvested grapes? In some other countries, it's even more. Simply put, a harvesting tractor that shakes and beats the vines until grapes fall off cannot be as selective as a person with eyes and hands. The harvesting tractor is better for tons per hour, the person is better for quality. Similarly, in many regions the norm includes the bulk spraying of chemical herbicides in vineyards because it allows the treatment of an entire vineyard in a short time. Herbicides are quicker, weeding by hand makes for healthier vines and higher quality grapes. When a small family winery like Domaine des Roy in Fontlevoy (the best part of Touraine) makes the decision to do everything by hand (from weeding to harvesting to winemaking) the quality of their wines often outshines their neighbors that work industrially. Frequently, though, this attention to detail and this more laborious method also means that their wines' prices outshine their neighbors', too. Today's wonderful featured wines are refreshing exceptions. The wines, one juicy, silky and delicious red and one nuanced and intensely flavored white, are painstakingly farmed, organically grown, hand harvested (a refreshing deviation from the norms in Touraine), and estate-bottled. The attention to detail continues in the cellar with an artisan approach that avoids adding commercial yeasts and enzymes (it means their fermentations are slower but their wines are more complex). The quality of the wines is superb and they are garnering great critical praise. But somehow they missed the memo that their prices should be higher than their more industrial, higher volume, lower quality neighbors! Kudos to Thomas Calder (of Thomas Calder selections) for discovering this star of the Touraine. The warm and sunny 2009 vintage resulted in outstanding, ripe and flavorfulTouraines. These are some of the best we've ever tasted and the prices are far lower than comparable wines. Our best e-mail prices allow you to save 25%-27% off the already amazing low prices. Doug Rosen 2009 Domaine des Roy Touraine "Les Silex" Blanc 2009 Domaine des Roy Touraine "Les Silex" Blanc Reg. $14.99 mix 6 price: $11.99 per bottle mix 12 price: $10.99 per bottle Named for the flinty stones in clay soils (the same great soil type as the best of the famous Pouilly Fumé vineyards), this shows great ripeness, depth and concentration. Certified organic by Ecocert, this white isa blend of intensely flavorful chenin blanc with soft, round menu-pineau (also called arbois) all from vines averaging 30 years of age. Here's how it tastes: The color is pale yellow with gold highlights. The aromas are ripe and exotic, bringing to mind white grapefruit, peaches and Asian pears, with a mineral nuance that suggests orange peel and slate. This is ripe and supple on the front palate showing flavors of pear and peach, on the long finish it turns more to the ripe and refreshing citrusy grapefruit notes. This has a supple, almost creamy mouthfeel and wonderful lingering aroma. This is a substantial white, but it has no oak and it is not at all heavy. For a perfect food match, consider chicken with a basil cream sauce or scallops St. Jacques. Jim Cutts

2008 Villa Medoro Montepulciano d'Abruzzo

Dear Rene, It's never happened before. Not once has an Italian wine under $20 won Italy's top award. Not until this delicious Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, and it's as low as $13.99 today! Italy's most important wine publication, Gambero Rosso considered nearly 25,000 wines for their 2011 Guide "Italian Wine". Only 32 wines won the "Tre Bicchieri Plus" ("Three Glasses Plus") award after only 31 won the award last year. No other red (or white, or sparkler, or sweet wine for that matter) in the under $20 price category has ever won this award. And it's coming to Arrowine on Thursday. Order today. To create Gambero Rosso's famous guide book "Italian Wines" for 2011, regional panels of wine professionals "selected for their competence and honesty" tasted nearly 25,000 Italian wines blind. Many wines were not rated at all. Those rated received a rating of "one glass" (good) or "two glasses" (very good to excellent). The top "two glasses" award winners (about 1,500 wines) entered the "Three Glass Finals" in which leading regional panelists came together and retasted the top wines (again, blind) and selected the best. The winners of this competition received the prestigious "Three Glasses" award. Only 402 wines (less than 2% of all wines tasted) won this award. A "Tre Bicchieri" award is a really big deal for an Italian winery; it singles out a wine as being among the best of the best. It is a major cause for celebration at a winery and is considered a real validation of a winemaker's and a winery's work. Many great wines miss the cut and get a "two glass" rating. As you would expect, the Three Glasses award most often goes to very expensive and prestigious wines. But since the tasting panels taste blind, occasionally some exceptional values are selected. Some great values have been selected before, but there's never been a value quite like this. Starting with the 2010 guide book, and continuing in the 2011 guide book, the co-founder and Editor in Chief of the Guide, Daniele Cernilli, has "allowed myself the small privilege of placing a '+' sign next to the names of a few Three Glass winners. These are the wines that most impressed me during tastings, and in most cases my view is shared by the Guide's other editors." For the 2011 guide, just 32 wines were selected (just over one tenth of one percent of all wines tastes). As Cernilli says of these "three glasses plus" wines: "Some are major classics. Four were Wine of the Year winners for red, white, sparkler, or sweet. Some are very traditional in style. Other are modern. But all are representative of their territories and, crucially, impeccably made, at least in my opinion." The 32 wines on the "Plus" list include, predictably, some seriously expensive wines such as Bruno Giacosa's Barolo "Rocche del Falletto Riserva" ($440), Giacomo Conterno's Barolo "Monfortino" ($400), Bartolo Mascarello's "Barolo" ($100), Sassicaia ($215), Biondi Santi's Brunello di Montalcino Riserva ($400), Gaja's "Costa Russi" nebbiolo blend ($440), Montevertine's "Pergole Torte" ($95), Valentini's Montepulciano d'Abruzzo ($259), and Gravner Rosso ($140). But in this list of "the best of the best of the best", alongside these great names (and startling price tags) there was one (and only one) wine that sells in the "under 15 Euros" (about $21) category. That wine is the 2008 Villa Medoro Montepulciano d'Abruzzo which sells in the United States for only $18-$20. That price puts this at very top of the list of the greatest Italian red wine values we've ever seen. Our lower price (as low as $13.99) makes it a wine you absolutely should load up on. Don't miss it. Please look at what Perry has on special this week in the Tuesday Boucher. Jim Cutts 2008 Villa Medoro Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 2008 Villa Medoro Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Reg. $17.99 6 bottle price: $15.99 12+ bottle price: $13.99 Here's just some of nice things the Gambero Rosso has written about Villa Medoro: "The entrepreneurial verve and skills of a very young Federica Morricone (pictured below) are the reason for the international success this Atri winery reaped recently. The winery has state-of-the-art equipment, a good 92 hectares under vine on the southern slopes of the Colline Teramane, and a range of wines that astonishes, not least for their affordability, not to be sniffed at in these times of recession. We were surprised to find that the best wine this year was the 2008 Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, a basic product at a truly honest price for a red of this calibre. It is masterfully made, powerful and agile, with good structure and drinkability." You've likely had Montepulciano d'Abruzzo even if you weren't aware of it. It is an all time favorite "by the glass" or "house" red wine at Italian restaurants because, even when they don't have much depth or complexity, they usually have lots of tasty fruit. These tasty but simple "house" montepulciano's are generally very inexpensive because montepulciano vines can carry very large grape yields and still make a palatable (if unsophisticated) wine. When treated seriously, though, and grown in the best locations with low yields, strict selections, and inspired winemaking, Montepulciano is capable of making gorgeous wines with real depth and power while maintaining a remarkably appealing texture and drinkability. As more producers realize this and pursue quality over volume, these wines are being recognized as belonging among Italy's best. That is why three of the 32 "Three Glasses Plus" wines for 2011 are Montepulciano d'Abruzzo. It is also why Valentini, a famous grower of montepulciano and trebbiano, was named Italy's "Winery of the Year" for 2011. You could, of course, look for Valentini's "Three Glasses Plus" award winning Montepulciano d'Abruzzo. If you found it, though, it would cost $250 or more for a bottle. Instead why not use that $250 to get a CASE of Villa Medoro's "Three Glasses Plus" award winning Montepulciano d'Abruzzo? You'll even get plenty of change back! Here's how it tastes: This is beautiful in the glass with deep purple color that's opaque at the core while bright at the rim. The aromas are intense and deep, not at all shy, and bring to mindviolet potpourri, blackberries, raspberry tarts, and licorice. On the palate, this is loaded with ripe blackberry and raspberry fruit as well as is dried herbs and black and red licorice. This is a plush, easy to drink style with cashmere texture and nice length. It feels substantial and important, but not heavy. It is so well balanced it wouldn't overpower grilled chicken and garden vegetables, yet it is plenty powerful enough to match beef tenderloins in a creamy mushroom sauce. This is delicious today and promises to keep for at least 3-4 years. To order please call 703.525.0990. We need your Visa or MasterCard information including expiration date. The wine arrives Thursday, July 28th. Thank you for reading. Jim Cutts