“This wine focuses a laser beam of fruit right on the tickle-spot of your palate.”
That’s how The Washington Post describes Lieb Cellars’ 2011 Blanc de Blancs ($32), a sparkling wine made from 100 percent pinot blanc. The wine was selected by the newspaper as a great value for the holidays.
“This is a reminder of why we need more New York wines, especially the bubblies, in our market,” writes WaPo food columnist Dave McIntyre.
Lieb’s Blanc de Blanc is also a favorite of our resident wine writer, Lenn Thompson, who toasted with the 2001 vintage on his wedding day.
You can see the other Washing Post holiday selections here.
In other news, online wine mag Punch described Macari Vineyards’ 2016 “Early Wine” as “brisk and jubilant” in a post entitled “The American Nouveau Wines to Drink Now.”
“Nouveau Beaujolais Day,” traditionally held the third Thursday of November, is reportedly an “international marketing ploy” to sell French Beaujolais wines to unsophisticated American palates. But according to the Punch article, American wine labels like Macari are breathing new life into the category by crafting their own nouveau wines.
“Inspired by the Jungwein (“young wine”) tradition of consulting winemaker Helmut Gangl’s native Austria, Macari’s chardonnay-based effort approximates the brisk, jubilant whites one would find in Vienna’s local wine taverns, or heurigen, at the end of harvest,” the article states. “At just 12 percent alcohol, its hint of residual sugar finds balance with a cleansing wash of acidity.”
Macari winemaker Kelly Koch told us the wine has “a slight effervescence and bright acidity [to] keep it fresh and balanced.”
