Women in Wine Evolution

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-Emilia Aiello

Women winemakers are not a new phenomena, but in the last few years as I deep dive into my own area of interest and expertise (southern Italy), I have noticed a curious commonality in emerging wine regions: women.

Italy is well established on the wine map, but certain regions remain obscure. You know where Rome is, but what about Lazio, the entire region that surrounds the ancient city? As of late, Lazio is gaining momentum. Perhaps the hype has yet to reach the United States, but in Italy the region is putting on numerous tastings each year to highlight the local producers and grapes— Lazio is hyping up Lazio. Initially, creating interest in the local area is more important than abroad as working the local community inevitably works the local economy. My eyes were already on Lazio when I worked as the wine director at a Roman osteria in New York City, but before I tasted the wines of Maria Ernesta Berucci I had yet to really experience great Lazio wine. Her vini had an entirely new character— wild and bright, with a depth of flavor I had noticed only a handful of times in my youthful career. The wines intrigued me so much that I decided to meet Maria Ernesta on her own turf (vineyards) in Piglio. I met a woman so immersed in her work that it had no separation from her life. Not as as workaholic, but rather someone who applies the same ethos and dedication to their work as they do to their overall way of living. I also discovered that Maria Ernesta is well integrated in her community, aligning herself with vignaioli (winegrower in Italian) who follow similar principles. She shows up at every community tasting event and is part of Ciociaria Naturale, a coalition of small producers from a very specific part of Lazio whose goal is not just to make good wine, but to foster community and pride in an otherwise energy-barren region.

Once in tune to Maria Ernesta, my palate was primed to taste wines differently. I began to look to other regions of Italy ramping up— who was behind this energy shift, and why now? In Abruzzo, for instance, women are emerging as some of the brightest talents (Tiberio, Ciavolich, and Emidio Pepe‘s granddaugher, Chiara is officially taking over the winemaking side). Their wines are amazing, but in a particular way. Similar to the story of Maria Ernesta in Lazio, their total immersion in their work and ability to incorporate their business skills with their agricultural and winemaking prowess are bringing hype to the region among consumers and the younger local generations. Women are often at the forefront of social movements and change, and it seems that the wine industry is no outlier.

I suppose it would now make sense for me to give you an exposé on the aforementioned names and wines, but my story is not finished. These women inspire me to step outside of my comfort zone, and I am following the breadcrumbs to other regions and winemakers that make wine with this particular energetic charge. Paul Marcus Wines  gives me the space and privilege to taste and learn about pretty much every wine region of the world. Amazingly, that energy and wild nature that I first experienced tasting Maria Ernesta’s cesanese wine from Lazio, is a throughline in particular wines made in other countries, regardless of grape and terroir. My theory is perhaps now clear. Of course, I am not claiming that only women are capable of making charged vino, but rather it takes a certain investment—winemakers that have fully bought in to what they do and who view grape growing and winemaking as a way of life. I just happen to notice this approach is more prolific among women.

For Women’s History Month I chose two women trailblazers who are not Italian, that have opened up my mind and taste buds to new possibilities. They successfully weave in their own imaginations and experience to create wines that are somehow equally wholly unique and timeless classics.

 

Terah Bajjalieh of Terah Wine Co. 

Terah Bajjalieh is a winemaker and consultant from California. A native Californian with Palestinian roots, Terah refined her unique style and found her love of wine by way of food and from her travels across the globe. She started her professional career in the hospitality industry studying at the International Culinary Institute in California. She then spent time working in wine bars, a Michelin-starred restaurant, wine education, and consulting in the Bay Area. The next step for Terah was to ambitiously immerse herself into the international world of wine, studying Enology and Viticulture in both Spain and France. She has completed 13 harvests in five countries: Meursault (France); Barossa Valley (Australia); Marlborough (New Zealand); Mendoza (Argentina); Sierra Foothills (U.S.); Sonoma (U.S.); Napa Valley (U.S.); The Willamette Valley (U.S.). 

The California wine climate is shifting and while the days of big house cabs and zins are still here, they have moved aside to allow for more diversity in grape variety and winemaking. Terah’s philosophy comes from years of experience and experimentation. She focuses on lesser known California growing areas as well as Mediterranean grape varieties. Her wines are a pure and expressive blend of CA climate, Mediterranean vibes, and Terah’s kind and discerning personality.

2023 Falanghina Skin Contact Orange (Lost Slough Vineyard in Clarksburg)

100% Falanghina, native to the Sannio area of Campania, Italy

Situated in the heart of the Clarksburg AVA, this growing region benefits from the cool breezes that flow from the Sacramento River Delta. Combined with the rich sandy, clay loam soils, it is an environment that is optimal for producing exceptional wine grapes. The maritime influence tempers the region’s warm days, allowing for slow and even ripening, which preserves acid and results in wines with incredible freshness. 

100% destemmed and fermented on skins through primary fermentation for 12 days. This process allows the grape skins to impart color, flavor, and texture, resulting in a wine with enhanced complexity and character. Pump-overs were performed during the maceration period, and fermentation naturally commenced due to the wild yeast and native bacteria. These techniques ensured even extraction of flavors, and tannins from the skins, promoting a harmonious integration of elements. The wine was aged on fine lees for 10 months in stainless steel. Unfined and unfiltered to preserve texture and integrity.

Crisp notes of freshly picked green apples and vibrant citrus peel intertwine with more intricate layers of brioche, dried apricots, and honeyed figs. Chewy tannins with long-lasting minerality. This is a very approachable orange wine, with zero funk. Think of it more like a rich white when you choose your food pairings: hard cheeses; hearty roast chicken dishes; al pastor tacos. 

2024 Terah Wine Co. Vermentino (just bottled/new release!)

100% Vermentino

The vermentino grape’s origins are unknown, with Spain, France, AND Italy claiming native rights over the variety. Regardless of its true origin, it is 100% Mediterranean. 2024 was just bottled four weeks ago and is making its debut with Paul Marcus Wines. The classic subtle peachy stone fruit, fresh cut grass, lemony zing is reminiscent of a Corsican version, while the palate has an oily/silky feel more akin to Sardegna’s blueprint. I suppose what we are tasting is the richness of the California climate and fertile soils, combined with Terah’s unique ability to coax out the grape’s vivacious acid and minerality.

 

 

Sarolta Bárdos of Tokaj Nobilis

“Sarolta is one of these people who is constantly and seemingly unconsciously sampling herbs, smelling blossoms, inspecting leaves and so on. Her palate isn’t just shaped and informed by the grapes, but everything surrounding them”– Eric Danch

Hungary is not a country that first comes to mind when we list off the great wine regions of the world, though the sweet Tokaji wines made from Hungary’s native furmint grape is one of the most reputable sweet wines of the world. It remains as the country’s flagship wine and the only testable Hungarian wine on the blind tasting portion of certified sommelier exams*. So what about the region’s other varieties and wines? While they do not totally remain in oblivion, they are so obscure we really only source them from one importer here in California, Danch & Granger. 

Tokaj, Hungary has an extraordinary number of women winemakers. According to Eric Danch, importer and our de facto Eastern European wine guru, the reasons for this are varied: since sweet wines were historically the most important wine, it’s often cited that women had a better sense of sweetness and therefore when to pick the grapes. Out of practicality, they found themselves in the cellar tasting as well. Another potential impetus could be that during the communist period, men were obligated to go out and work, leaving the women at home to tend to the family, cook, and make the house wine. 

Born and raised in Tokaj, Sarolta Bárdos possesses a keen awareness of the changes and challenges facing the region. Beginning her career studying at the University of Horticulture in Budapest, she took advantage of the recently fallen Iron Curtain and spent time in France, Italy and Spain. Upon returning to Hungary, she worked at Gróf Degenfeld and soon after became the inaugural winemaker at Béres Winery in nearby Erdőbénye overseeing 45 ha of vineyards. Preferring closer attention to detail and the total knowledge inherent in small-scale winemaking, she left and planted her own 6 ha in 1999. In 2005 she converted a traditional 19th century house into a winery and cellar in the middle of the town of Bodrogkeresztúr.  All sites are worked by hand, certified organic, and rely mainly on plant extracts, orange oil and sulfur. The wines embrace a myriad of volcanic soils with remarkable aromatics and balanced acidity. 

2019 Tokaj Nobilis Barakonyi– fully dry

100% furmint

Underbrush. As if a warm breeze just rolled through kicking up a chalky/dusty whiff. Subtle oak spice with rich caramelized pineapple and lemon curd notes on the palate, offset by high, mouthwatering acid. I usually don’t like comparing unique wines and grapes to more recognizable, pricey regions. My concern is that I will take away from the obscure wines’ unicorn vibes, but to give you an idea of what kind of value this is for the quality: think southern Burgundy (chardonnay) but with riesling** acid. What impresses me more than simply the high quality of the wine is that Sarolta achieves it via minimal intervention techniques. This wine is made from more than organic grapes— she uses orange oil in the vineyards, for Bacchus’s sake! In the cellar, it is fermented with wild yeasts, has very minimal sulfur additions, with no fining, clarification, or filtration. 

100% hárslevelű
Hárslevelű is genetically related to the furmint grape and its name means linden leaf  in Hungarian, capturing the citrusy, slightly musky aromatic intensity of the grape. Sarolta’s hárslevelű shows restraint on the musky white floral notes and instead expresses its more nuanced character: wildflower honey offset with a sour green apple pop; fresh hazelnuts; underripe yellow pear; bergamot; and wild camomile. The wine has a touch of residual sugar to it, but if I didn’t say so you likely would not have noticed due to the high acid and tingle of salty tannin on the finish. Try it with Pad Thai, miso marinated fish, chicken paprikash (Hungarian paprika chicken).

*for sommelier exams and blind tasting, there is a list of grape varieties made into certain styles of wines from various regions that the examiner is allowed to present to the examinee. This list does expand and change as our collective knowledge and curiosity grow beyond French appellations and “classic” grape varieties. But to give you an idea of how slow the process is of allowing more wines into the blind tasting exam, the only testable Italian red wines are Barolo made from the nebbiolo grape; and Brunello and Chianti Classico made from the sangiovese grape (Italy boasts over 400 documented native varieties). The sweet Hungarian Tokaji wine has been on that codified list since the inception of the certification exams and remains the only wine from Hungary allowed on the tasting portion of the exam.

**furmint and riesling share a parent grape, Gouais Blanc. 

 

/by Paul Marcus Wines

Bottle Rocket: Two from the Jura

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Nestled in eastern France between Burgundy and the Swiss border, the Jura region has amassed a bit of a cult following among wine connoisseurs. With its cool climate, hillside vineyards, unique winemaking styles, and indigenous grape varieties, Jura is producing distinctive, highly prized wines that benefit from their limestone-rich soils.

Because of relatively limited production and increasing popularity, many Jura wines can fetch steep prices. At Paul Marcus Wines, we are currently featuring a couple of Jura wines that offer a glimpse of the region’s magic without the hefty price tag.

The 2020 Domaine Courbet Cotes du Jura Blanc ‘Tradition’ is a prime example of Jura white wine, with its customary blend of chardonnay and savagnin grapes. Chardonnay, fermented and aged in barrel, accounts for three-quarters of the blend, providing richness and depth. The savagnin is aged in barrels that are not topped-off, a method known as “sous voile” that allows a layer of flor yeast to develop atop the juice and brings out nutty, tangy elements (similar to sherry).

The resulting blend offers appealing layers of complexity—it delivers ample fruit and texture balanced with an exotic savory edge. It works rather well with robust, creamy sauces (preferably with mushrooms), and it was a terrific choice with sautéed pork chops in a butter, garlic, and lemon sauce.

The 2022 Kevin Bouillet Trousseau comes from a sub-region of the Jura known as Arbois-Pupillin. One of the area’s famed indigenous grapes, trousseau can be difficult to deal with—it requires plenty of sunshine to ripen, yet its higher sugar content makes it susceptible to higher alcohol levels. These days, producers like rising-star Kevin Bouillet, a native of the region, know how to tame trousseau, and his buoyant version (his first vintage making single-variety trousseau) beams with bright red-berry fruit, notes of pepper and spice, vibrant acidity, and a hint of smoke.

This bottle was the perfect match for “reuben casserole”—a hearty melange of pastrami, sauerkraut, Russian dressing, toasty rye bread, and Gruyere cheese—thanks to its gentle earthiness and palate-cleansing freshness.

To learn more about these two standouts and other wines from the esteemed Jura appellation, please stop by the shop.

/by Marc Greilsamer

Bottle Rocket: 2020 Le Petit Saint Vincent Saumur-Champigny – Les Poyeux

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If you’re a devotee of cabernet franc, chances are you’re quite familiar with Les Poyeux. This esteemed vineyard, located within the Saumur-Champigny appellation in the central Loire Valley, boasts a unique terroir highlighted by sun-drenched southern exposure and exceptionally sandy soil composition. The resulting wines are loaded with character and complexity, and the best of them offer a truly spellbinding combination of depth and freshness, of gravity and liveliness.

Dominique Joseph, of Domaine Le Petit Saint Vincent, works with less than a hectare of organically farmed old vines in Les Poyeux. (His family has owned these small parcels for decades.) The grapes are de-stemmed and fermented in concrete vats before resting in larger neutral barrels for about a year.

Dominique’s 2020 Les Poyeux is a wonderful example of the site’s capabilities. There’s a wave of dusky red fruit on the attack, and it’s buttressed by a distinct herbaceous streak and a notable hint of stony minerality. The ample acidity and abundant tannins (naturally softened by the sandy terroir) tell you that this wine will age gracefully for several years, although it’s already a knockout–and at $50, it’s quite a fair deal for a wine that comes from one of the Loire Valley’s most prestigious vineyards.

Dominique Joseph

Thanks largely to world-class bottlings by cult-favorite producer Clos Rougeard (and various disciples), Les Poyeux has been elevated to legendary status among cab franc lovers. This version from Le Petit Saint Vincent offers a chance to appreciate its charms without the hefty price tag that is often attached to these wines.

As the saying goes, “Les Poyeux c’est soyeux”–silky. Come visit the shop, and find out for yourself.

/by Marc Greilsamer

Regional Roundup: California Regeneration

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Fall is when we often see deliveries of wines so limited in supply, or so “oversubscribed,” that they aren’t normally available for purchase. Not wines limited by savvy marketers, but limited because the acreage of the vineyard is limited, and the yield per vine is low.

Two deliveries I’m especially happy to take are from Scar of the Sea and Âmevive. Both are owned by young couples that do their own farming as well as the winemaking. It’s often impossible for young people in California to own the land that produces their grapes, or even to have a long-term lease on it that enables them to farm it the way they want, without compromise (since doing so will surely lower the yield).

Scar of the Sea’s Mikey and Gina Giugni

SOTS made news when Mikey and Gina Giugni bought a vineyard they formerly leased. They were making excellent wines from Bassi, just over a mile from the Santa Barbara coastline, before they purchased it, and now that it’s theirs, the wines have even more vibrancy and depth. It helps that 2023 is turning out to be a superlative vintage.

Alice Anderson of Âmevive

Âmevive is the work of Alice Anderson, who’s taken over farming a vineyard that was well tended for many years by Bob Lindquist of Qupé. Bob’s wines from the Ibarra-Young vineyard were often exceptional, but now, with additional vine age and rigorously healthy farming, Alice is producing wines that truly shine. (And, yes, 2023 was such a wonderfully balanced year in Santa Barbara.)

Both wineries are dedicated to practicing what’s known as “regenerative organic” farming. While organic certification limits what chemicals may be used, regenerative farming goes much deeper into soil health and how animals are used and treated. It’s hard not to feel just a little optimism when reading about people working their land with as much heartfelt care as these farmers do.

From SOTS’s Bassi vineyard we have a pinot noir and syrah (plus a superb gamay from another plot), and from Âmevive, we have their unusually lifted and pure grenache and syrah. These young winemakers are truly worth investigating, and I encourage you to do so.

/by David Gibson

Bottle Rocket: 2019 Piemaggio Chianti Classico – Le Fioraie

Every so often, we encounter a wine that turns out to be a surprise hit with our customers. After a week or two on the shelves, the wine continues to build momentum, and we notice that we need to reorder more frequently and in higher quantities. Piemaggio’s Chianti Classico is such a wine. And it isn’t just the clientele who have responded so positively. Several members of the PMW staff have enjoyed a bottle at home and come back to the shop singing its praises.

The Piemaggio estate is located in the hamlet of Le Fioraie (the flower sellers) on the northwest slopes of Castellina in Chianti. According to legend, three young flower sellers revived a traveling friar in the 10th century with a glass of wine. He never forgot their efforts and later returned to build a church and plant vines.

Surrounded by forest on all sides, the 12 hectares of sangiovese (and small amounts of colorino, canaiolo and ciliegiolo) grow at altitudes between 380 and 480 meters. The wine undergoes spontaneous fermentation in stainless-steel tanks and is then aged in a combination of concrete, Slavonian oak, and French oak.

For the superb 2019 vintage, the result is this beautifully balanced, traditional, structured wine of intensity and finesse. It is bright and elegant enough to match with simple tomato-based pizzas and pastas, yet offers the power and complexity to stand up to more serious, robust fare. And, at $29, it sports a great quality-to-price relationship.

“Wow! The Piemaggio is so good,” say both co-workers and customers. Come visit us at Paul Marcus Wines and see for yourself. Don’t miss this one!

/0 Comments/by Joel Mullennix

Producer Profile: Kumusha

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A few weeks ago, we were fortunate enough to receive a visit from Tinashe Nyamudoka, proprietor of Kumusha Wines. A native of Zimbabwe, Nyamudoka rose to fame as a highly acclaimed sommelier in South Africa. With a deep knowledge of consumer tastes and keen interest in winemaking styles, he decided to start his own winery in 2017, and the results so far have been quite impressive.

Kumusha (which means “your roots, your origin, your home” in his native Shona language) boasts wines that are interesting and creative without being at all weird or unfriendly. They nod knowingly toward tradition and terroir while keeping an eye on modern trends. Modest, reserved, thoughtful, and cerebral, Nyamudoka works with only sustainable vineyards in Swartland, Slanghoek, Sondagskloof, and the Western Cape. His minimal-intervention, natural-leaning approach is the perfect fit for Paul Marcus Wines, and we are pleased to feature three of his wines at the shop.

2023 Sauvignon Blanc – Western Cape ($17)

Very mellow for a New World sauvignon blanc, this gently tropical and aromatic wine eschews intensity in favor of elegance and refinement. The grapes come from sandstone soils at 300 meters of elevation, and the juice ages for four months on the lees in stainless-steel tanks. It’s a fresh, mineral expression of the grape–think Loire Valley rather than Southern Hemisphere.

2022 Cabernet Sauvignon / Cinsault – Slanghoek ($23)

This blend of 75 percent cabernet and 25 percent cinsault is in some ways an ode to the “traditional” style of South African cabernet–when it was common for winemakers to fill out their cabs with unlabeled amounts of cinsault. As it happens, the cinsault gives this wine a welcome spicy lift, balancing out the luscious purple fruit–the perfect barbecue wine.

2023 Wild Mutupo Chillable Carignan – Slanghoek ($25)

A classic summertime “glou-glou” red, this carignan oozes with vibrant cherries and berries complemented by a mild savory, piquant touch. It’s fermented with 15 percent whole cluster, then aged for six months in stainless steel with an additional four months in large foudre. This one goes down a bit too easily…

/0 Comments/by Marc Greilsamer

Regional Roundup: Temperance Hill Vineyard

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Originally planted more than 40 years ago, Oregon’s 100-acre Temperance Hill Vineyard is one of the most esteemed grape-growing sites in the U.S. Located in the Eola-Amity Hills AVA in the northern Willamette Valley, Temperance Hill is a cool-climate, high-elevation, late-ripening vineyard planted atop the remains of an ancient volcano, making it a perfect home for pinot noir.

The renowned Dai Crisp has been managing Temperance Hill since 1999; he immediately began farming organically, and the vineyard was eventually certified organic in 2012. With vines that are between 660 and 860 feet in altitude and the pronounced influence of the chilly Van Duzer winds, Temperance Hill produces pinot noir that is noted for its elegance, finesse, and energetic sparkle.

Vineyard honcho Dai Crisp

More than two dozen producers make wines from Temperance Hill fruit, and at Paul Marcus Wines, we are currently featuring a pair of single-vineyard expressions from this magical plot.

2021 Walter Scott Pinot Noir Temperance Hill

Walter Scott’s rendition of Temperance Hill pinot comes from a single block on the vineyard’s north side, with an elevation of 750 feet and a location directly in the teeth of the Van Duzer winds. Despite the cooler growing conditions, the Walter Scott delivers a deep core of mouth-coating blue and purple fruit–not aggressive or intense, but not particularly shy either. This explosion of fruit is gently supported by savory, herbal accents that help complete the picture. There’s real vigor and vibrancy to this bottle, and it fans out across the palate with purpose, leading to a delightfully persistent finish.

2021 Goodfellow Pinot Noir Temperance Hill

The Goodfellow Temperance Hill emphasizes and embraces the earthy spice, woody tobacco aromas, and citrusy zip that help distinguish this vineyard. Made with 100 percent whole clusters, this is a crisper, subtler take on Temperance Hill fruit that truly allows the mineral edge to shine through. Perhaps not as viscerally alluring as the Walter Scott, the Goodfellow is a graceful, charming, and wholly appealing take nonetheless.

To learn more about these exquisite offerings, stop by the shop and say hello.

/0 Comments/by Marc Greilsamer

Why We Love: Treixadura

Treixadura is not one of those grapes that most wine drinkers seek out. Yet, when you do have one, you’re more often than not pleasantly surprised. For me, it’s a little like Cesanese from Italy–you don’t have to think too hard when reaching for it. It’s a versatile table wine of sorts, one that easily pairs with most anything or nothing at all.

The venerable Luis Anxo Rodríguez Vázquez

The treixadura grape, found most commonly in the Ribeiro DO of Galicia, Spain, has a subtle richness that is buoyed by its rustic character. It’s happy alongside most seafood, especially sauced fish with plenty of herbs, but also plays well with roasted pork or something earthy like sunchokes, celery root, or sweet potatoes.

The Ribeiro DO is a small, concentrated area known for its decomposed granite and sandy soils. Ribeiro was once a thriving grape-growing region with plenty of its wines being shipped to England for consumption during the 16th and 17th centuries. Things changed after phylloxera (insect pest) hit, and many people were forced to rip out their vines and consider other means to an end. Recently though, the tide seems to be swinging in favor of bringing back the quality production of treixadura and other varieties that are at home in this verdant landscape.

I was first exposed to treixadura by Luis Rodriguez’s Viña de Martin Os Pasas Blanco. It is composed of mostly treixadura, with lado, albariño, and torrontes rounding out the blend. The beauty of this wine lies in its lemon-lime-hued complexities dancing on a spine of granite-derived minerality. I have had this bottling many times over the years, and it always makes me smile–not only for its balance of flavors but also because of its place of origin. This wine comes from Luis’s hometown of Arnoia, home to some of Ribeiro’s steepest south-facing slopes.

The 2022 Gomariz Ribeiro Treixadura ‘La Flor y La Abeja’ is 100 percent treixadura, and it really shows the grape’s quince-like qualities that keep you coming back for sip after sip. This wine shines for its overall quality-to-price ratio, and I find myself turning to this bottle often.

Also of note is the 2022 Formigo Ribeiro Blanco ‘Finca Teira’–65 percent treixadura, 20 percent godello, and 15 percent torrontes, fermented and raised entirely in stainless steel. This shows a supple, yet chiseled wine highlighting the yellow- and green-tinged fruits of this appealing grape.

When I think of Ribeiro, I think bucolic, wooded hillsides with wisps of wood smoke rising above lush, green river valleys. It’s exactly the kind of place I would love to visit and explore a bit more.

/0 Comments/by Jason Seely

The Answer: What Is Lees Aging?

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According to some, there are two kinds of people in the world: those who wonder “how it works” and those who ponder “what it does.” The “it” could be a tool or a machine or a process. Put another way, some folks focus on how a final product is achieved while others focus on the various characteristics of the final product itself.

Since I’ve always been more of a “what does it do” guy than a “how does it work” guy, I will mostly sidestep the chemistry aspect of lees aging (proteins and enzymes and the like) and turn our attention to the final product. How does lees aging affect the wine in your bottle?

Lees aging is a winemaking regimen in which the juice is not cleared of its fermentation residue. After the yeast is introduced and the process of fermentation–converting sugar to alcohol–is complete, the dead yeast (lees) sinks to the bottom of the vat or barrel. At that point, the winemaker might decide to leave the juice in contact with this milky byproduct for an extended period. Depending on how much lees influence is sought, the juice can be stirred (a process called bâtonnage) to increase its effect.

For starters, lees contact will give the wine richness, depth, and warmth. It helps to smooth a wine’s rougher edges while adding complexity and breadth to the flavors and aromas. Lees aging might also help stabilize a wine by helping to fend off oxidation. Producers of “serious” wines from Champagne and Burgundy have traditionally relied on lees aging, but so have makers of sleeker, mineral-driven wines such as Muscadet and Galician albariño.

To me, there is a certain sweet spot when it comes to lees aging–when the technique takes place in stainless-steel tanks. The combination of stainless steel and lees contact gives a wine creaminess and texture without sacrificing acidity. It creates wines that are fleshy but still fresh, and it lends the wine a bit of weight and gravity while maintaining expressive, bright fruit. It offers some characteristics associated with wood aging, but with a more restrained touch.

I find that wines made in this style are often perfect for rich, shellfish-based dishes. At Paul Marcus Wines, we offer a wide range of white wines made in this steel-plus-lees style that are worth discovering, including three of particular note:

2019 I Favati Fiano di Avellino – Pietramara Etichetta Bianca

Fiano from the hills of Campania is perhaps the most esteemed white grape in all of Italy, and this multifaceted bottling offers ample proof why–especially when accompanying casarecce with rock shrimp in a spicy tomato-cream sauce.

2022 Benanti Etna Bianco

Made with 100 percent carricante from the eastern and southern slopes of Sicily’s Mt. Etna, this bright, gently smoky, beautifully balanced wine will shine alongside brinier dishes such as steamed clams and mussels in a lemon and white wine broth.

2020 Luis Rodriguez Ribeiro – Os Pasás

Predominantly treixadura, and filled out with small amounts of albariño, torrontés, and lado, this Galician stunner would pair well with gambas al ajillo (garlic shrimp) atop buttery white beans.

These three wines seem to have much in common: distinct minerality, lovely texture, and a subtle tropical vibe–melon and mango and such–along with a cleansing salinity. We are talking about dynamic, age-worthy whites that are much more complex and stimulating than your run-of-the-mill Sancerre and half the price of a comparable white Burgundy. As summer approaches and shellfish season begins, it’s the perfect time to get to know these charming white wines.

/0 Comments/by Marc Greilsamer

Bottle Rocket: 2021 Bodega Chacra Patagonia, Argentina – Sin Azufre Pinot Noir

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Every so often, we encounter a wine that we all love, but are a bit hesitant to buy for the shop. Perhaps it doesn’t fit neatly into any of the store’s most well-traveled sections. Maybe the price tag doesn’t scream “value.” It could be that the grape or the region of origin is unfamiliar. Still, we deem it worthy of shelf space at Paul Marcus Wines because we want to share these discoveries with our customers.

Piero Incisa della Rocchetta

One recent arrival that falls into this category is the 2021 Bodega Chacra Sin Azufre Pinot Noir from Patagonia, Argentina. The winery, which lies in the Rio Negro Valley, was founded about 20 years ago by Piero Incisa della Rocchetta, grandson of an esteemed Tuscan winemaker. The Rio Negro is basically desert terrain, with fewer than 10 inches of rain per year. However, the valley is also a riverbed for the confluence of two Andes tributaries, and so its soils offer a unique mix of clay, limestone, and sand–as it turns out, a perfect home for old-vine pinot noir.

Piero’s ‘Sin Azufre’ cuvee checks all of the boxes of a natural wine–biodynamic grapes, no sulfur added–but has little of the funkiness you’d expect. The grapes, from a vineyard planted in 1955, undergo whole-cluster fermentation, a Burgundian touch for a wine that is certainly Burgundian in style, and the juice sees no new oak. Bright, floral, and succulent, this wine will especially delight cru Beaujolais fans with its clarity and liveliness, balanced by subtle mineral and earthy tones. It’s a buoyant wine, with loads of character.

To learn more about this wine or to discover other hidden gems at Paul Marcus Wines, please come visit us at the shop.

/0 Comments/by Marc Greilsamer