Michael Stickings
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Reviews (246)
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Reviews
Max Ferd. Richter Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett 2013
Mosel, Germany$21.95
With aromas and flavours of lemon-lime, peach-apricot, apple, acacia honey, and wet slate, this is lush and sweet but also tart and zesty, the acidity and minerality streaking through the rich fruit, a light spritz adding an ethereal quality. One drawback is a sulfur note, but the rest is just so good, including the bittersweet grapefruit pith and zest on the finish, and the incredible length. A bigger drawback is that it's just too tart right now, and so I would give this more time for the acids to settle and for the complete package to shine as one. Still, an exceptional Mosel Riesling.
4.0 Stars
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Club Lealtanza Reserva 2005
Rioja, Spain$29.95
When first opened, this just seems old, a decade on, and what you get is leather, wood, spice, meat, and funk, as if from a dusty attic with a leak. But you get whiffs of more in the background, and the air brings it out, with a day, two days, and multiple swirls, the cherry, redcurrant, plum, strawberry, blackberry, and sweet vanilla, bursting through with a touch of smokiness. Too much of the funk remains, but the balance that is so much a hallmark of Bodegas Altanza is evident. This has its flaws, yes, but it's one of those hugely complex wines that requires attention and rewards patience.
4.0 Stars
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Finca Constancia Altos De La Finca 2011, Vino De La Tierra De Castilla
Spain$21.95
What value! This just explodes out of the glass, and then on the palate. There's enormous depth and complexity with notes of blackberry, blueberry, cherry, woodsy oak, baking spices, and new leather. The sweet oak takes over for a time, overpowering the rest, but with more time the depth and complexity return, with even greater balance, the dark fruit joined by tangy raspberry and cherry, those dark Petit Verdot elements joined by meaty, peppery, and earthy notes from the Syrah, the acidity cutting the richness, the structure nicely balanced, the length exceptional. Quite the "country wine."
4.0 Stars
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Wynns Cabernet Sauvignon Coonawarra 2013
Australia$39.95
Very young and certainly not near its peak, this famed Cab opens with a rush of plump dark fruit but then closes quickly, only hinting at its potential with lively acidity and chalky tannins indicating sound, age-worthy structure. But it's impressive now with complex, elegant, restrained notes of cassis, blackberry, cherry, mint, red licorice, redcurrant, herbs, crushed rock, minerals, and faint wood smoke -- the cassis highlighting the varietal, the mint/minerals the place -- without any flabbiness and with only minimal wood influence. With time, it could take a significant upward leap.
4.0 Stars
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L'expression De Margaux 2010, Ac Margaux
Bordeaux, France$33.95
This "grand vin" from Ulysse Cazabonne (Château Rauzan-Ségla?) isn't a great wine, thinning out and turning bitter, and lacking profundity, but as an introduction to Margaux that works well in its own right? Sure. The nose is just gorgeous, with an exceptional mix of blackberry and cedar supported by cassis, raspberry, graphite, and light pepper spice. The dark fruit is joined by sour currant on the palate, the overall richness cut by tangy acidity. There's undeniable elegance here, the structure of excellence, and this accessible Margaux certainly points to bigger and better things.
4.0 Stars
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Domaine De Bila Haut Occultum Lapidem 2011, Ac Côtes De Roussillon Villages Latour De France
Languedoc, France$25.95
With its earthy core of rocks, minerals, and herbs, this Syrah-Grenache-Carignan blend certainly reflects its Roussillon terroir. It's a bit rough and rustic, but there's a great deal of care underlying the food-friendly elegance. The problem is that you keep waiting for the dark fruit, which builds on the nose, to burst onto the palette, and it never really does, and so despite intriguing notes of cherry, raspberry, pine, licorice, leather, and graphite, the overall flavour is muted and flat. That said, if given enough time (and it needs a lot of it to open up), it has much to recommend it.
4.0 Stars
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Orestiadi Ludovico 2008, Igt Rosso Sicilia
Sicily, Italy$19.95
The 10% Cab in this blend uplifts the 90% Nero d'Avola, providing a delicious core of juicy cassis. There's also abundant blackberry, dark cherry, vanilla, cinnamon, finely-ground black pepper, earth, iron, and herbs, very much of a southern Italian idiom but thankfully without much wood. The tannins have obviously softened considerably, but there's still remarkable acidity for a wine of this age, and the cran-cherry tartness is actually quite sharp. A very good "Super Sicilian," even if the elements don't quite hold together and the elegant core is surrounded by a rough, murky exterior.
4.0 Stars
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Markus Molitor Haus Klosterberg Riesling 2013, Qualitätswein
Mosel, Germany$20.95
An outstanding food wine, this is a dry, crisp, restrained, even somewhat severe Riesling heavy on the lemon-lime, with prominent slate and crushed rock minerality and a touch of invigorating spritz. There's more lurking in the background -- notably peach-apricot, apple, and herbs, a hint of mango, some (oxidized?) nuttiness that comes later -- but the emphasis is that racy acidity, so refreshing, so cleansing, through a prolonged finish. There could be more fruit, richer fruit, sweeter fruit, for the sake of both balance and depth, but this is very fine, with pinpoint accuracy, nonetheless.
4.0 Stars
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Vineland Estates Elevation St. Urban Vineyard Riesling 2014, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Peninsula
Ontario, Canada$19.95
Having last had the '12, with similar impressions, I continue think this is vastly overrated, if still quite good for what it is. The '14 could certainly use some aging, but there just isn't the balance, even anything close to it, one finds in great Riesling (not least in Mosels in and around this price range). I didn't get quite as much mineral this time, but the rest is there, especially pear, peach, lemon, and honey, while the texture is unctuous and the finish is long. Yes, there's a lot to like here, but overall it still falls short, and I still don't get the much-ballyhooed appeal.
4.0 Stars
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Pierre Amadieu Romane Machotte Gigondas 2012, Rhône Valley
Rhône, France$28.95
A nice value for Gigondas, this is an elegant and refined yet still quite rustic blend of old vines Granache and Syrah. It opens with a huge, marvellous hit of black pepper, so common to the region, and then presents aromas and flavours of blackberry, blueberry, plum, earth, cinnamon, and garrigue, with just a hint of meatiness. And it has a nicely evolved structure with tart blackberry acidity and fine-grained tannins, ample depth and excellent length, without ever seeming heavy. But with admiration for its overall balance, it's too reserved and it just seems to lack a certain profundity.
4.0 Stars
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