Michael Stickings

Domaine De La Valériane Vieilles Vignes Côtes Du Rhône 2012, Ac

This has pretty much everything you can ask for in an affordable, well-structured CDR, the depth of flavour coming from old Syrah/Grenache vines close to Avignon: rich blueberry, raspberry, and dark cherry, some redcurrant zing, loads of herbs, black pepper, cinnamon, even a mysterious hint of soy sauce in the background. This complexity gives way initially to excessive Syrah meaty notes and then to one-note blackcurranty softness, but in general the balance and density are quite impressive.

La Casona De Castano Old Vines Monastrell 2013, Do Yecla

If there were a competition for the sub-region with the best values in the world, Spain's Yecla would have to be a candidate, and this astounding value doesn't disappoint, with inviting notes of violet, dark fruit, tobacco, leather, spice, and, emerging later, sweet strawberry and even licorice, though there's not as much going on deeper down, and it's a bit flat, if still rich, on the palette, ending with some bitterness amid the sudden dryness; overall, somewhat out of balance, with firm tannins but not quite enough fruit to stand up to aging, but it's still fairly lively and interesting.

Braschi Albana Di Romagna 2012, Docg

Bitter and short. That's certainly how this wine comes across at first. But it *is* an "orange" wine, beautifully gold-bronze in appearance, a very old-school Albana that is nothing if not interesting, a wine that gets better with time, if still a wine that's much better with food than on its own. There's some peach-apricot and lemon, but more than fruity it's nutty and herbal, with a load of wet-stone minerality providing backbone. It gets longer, to be sure, but the bitterness remains, and defines it. Admirable, even if, for all its character, it lacks charm and is rather too severe overall.

Peique Tinto Mencía 2012, Do Bierzo

July 2014: Nothing all that complex, but lovely aromas of strawberry and cherry, with an intriguing licorice note, then black pepper emerging on the finish; young, from a less-appreciated Spanish appellation, but also pleasantly, mouth-fillingly rich; excellent value.

April 2015: No changes. Basically, it's a pleasant, textbook Mencía that points to the varietal's appeal (while hinting at its higher-end complexity and depth) and goes well with a wide range of casual fare.

Talamonti Trabocchetto Pecorino 2012, Igp Colline Pescaresi

This pleasant, aromatic Pecorino from Abruzzo opens up with a waft of lemon and peanut-buttery nuttiness before broadening into an appealing range of notes including lemon-lime, peach-apricot, green apple, gooseberry, a melange of tropical fruits, and raw nuts, with a streak of minerality running through it and a light spritziness livening it up, the whole affair quite dry and tart. It actually comes across like a subdued Sauvignon Blanc, in a good way. The problem is that the parts don't really hold together all that well, and so for all the appealing complexity the whole is a tad disjointed.

Tessellae Louis Roche Old Vines 2012, Ap

There's good depth of flavour to this Côtes du Roussillon (40% old vines Grenache), but there just isn't much definition to that flavour. It's sort of a jammy puddle, with thick blackberry, blueberry, and other dark fruit supported by black pepper, roasted meat, vanilla, and bitter herbs, along with some cranberry tartness. There's a hint of leanness lurking underneath it all, a sense of the rugged place peaking out from beneath the ripeness/sweetness, notably in the chalky tannins, but it's not enough to break through, and the fruit doesn't really hold up. Decent, but rough and muddled.

Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough 2014

Like the other basic Kim Crawford wines, this one delivers quite well, year after year, generally hitting the right notes as a competent, if largely uninteresting and uninspired, expression of the varietal. It's juicy, approachable, and easily appealing, a nice summer sipper with standard notes of guava and passion fruit, along with a tart lemon-lime streak that quickly cleanses the palate, but little beyond this tropical and citrus fruit mélange save for some bitterness lurking in the background. The main problem is the price, though, because there are many better and more distinctive NZ SBs you can get in the $20 range.

Salton Classic Cabernet Franc 2012, Serra Gaucha

Given its origins, this is a surprisingly good effort, a ripe Cab Franc with compelling aromas of dark fruit, raspberry cordial, earth, and leather; unfortunately, there isn't nearly enough fruit to offset the dry, green tannins that fill the mouth along with cherry tartness on the finish, and so it doesn't really have anywhere to go in terms of aging, and with some time in the open it turns a bit funky and pruny, though the emergence of savoury vegetal and green pepper notes helps; flaws aside, a great value for an enjoyable wine from a part of the world not exactly known for its viticulture.

Castillo De Almansa Reserva 2009

A very savoury medium-bodied Tempranillo-Monastrell-Garnacha blend that initially resembles a Chilean Carmenere with its dominant green pepper and herbal notes, but with a lot of oak as well, and some fleeting alcohol aromatics; the fruit emerges later, and slowly, rich and deep, with raspberry and then sour cherry, leading to more oak on the pleasant finish, with well-integrated tannins throughout; just seems to get better and better the longer it's in the glass; astounding value for such a complex and intriguing wine, showing just what this less-heralded Spanish appellation has to offer.

Casas Del Bosque Reserva Carmenère 2012, Rapel Valley

Even by the standards of Carmenere, which lacks the commercial sexiness of more popular varietals, this is an excellent value. As for the wine itself, which is probably still a bit too young at this point given that it teases without ever really opening up, it's deep and rich if lacking the truly distinctive savoury-green qualities that the better examples reveal. There's a lot of dark fruit, along with spicy, woodsy, herbal, and murky green notes, plus a touch of rubber, but it seems more like a monolith of flavour than a harmony of complexity.