The New Wine Review Weekly: March 31, 2024

THE CASE FOR SPRING REDS

The days are longer. The sun is warmer. The last patches of snow glisten in the morning light and disappear into the earth. When seasons change, we crave different food—and different wine to accompany it. It’s time, writes our senior correspondent Jason Wilson, to start drinking spring reds. 

What’s a spring red? For starters, it’s:

A certain kind of red that can pair with a time of year populated with pesto and lentils and pasta primavera. A red that makes you want to break the old “white wine with fish” rules for that halibut.

It’s also:

Elemental and herbaceous. Something light bodied, but with some tannic structure. A red that’s fresh and juicy, perhaps with notes of berries, flowers, and fresh herbs, but also some earthiness and minerality. And not a lot of oak, if any. It’s a red that feels perfect on a sunny day, but also when it’s cool and windy. For me, spring reds . . . take you slightly off the beaten path. Perhaps something like Grignolino from Piedmont, pale and light but with a backbone, or Blaufränkisch from Burgenland without too much barrel aging, or a juicy, native Catalan variety like Trepat.

Read Jason’s article to discover his top bottles for this new season—the one we’re so happy to greet every year.

SHELF GEMS: GREAT BOURBON FOR (MUCH) LESS

Bourbon prices: they’re crazy. What’s a smart drinker to do, after weeping for the glorious past when Pappy cost $80 and Michter’s 10 was even less?

NWR’s whiskey editor Susannah Skiver Barton has the answer:

Reach for a “shelf gem.” Ryan Maloney, owner of Julio’s Liquors, one of the best destinations for whiskey in the U.S., coined the term to refer to bottles priced under $70 that taste like they could be much more expensive.

I’ll take his definition a little further. A shelf gem isn’t just a whiskey that represents good value. It also should be an outperformer that isn’t well known—a buy that is surprisingly great. So even though certain heavy hitters are always on my great-values list—like Wild Turkey Rare Breed and Four Roses Single Barrel—they don’t make the cut, because lots of people already know about them.

Instead, let me point you to some great inexpensive bourbons and whiskeys you may be overlooking, or perhaps haven’t even encountered.

You’ll want to bring Susannah’s list of recommended bottles to every liquor shop you know. Grab these shockingly well-priced bottles while you still can!

THE NEXT GREAT REGION IN CALIFORNIA

The vibe of California’s quiet Anderson Valley is light years from the vibe of the state’s other famed wine regions, writes Virginie Boone, and you can taste it: “Anderson Valley wines speak of its relatively remote location and sensibility—its wisps of ocean air, and leave-me-alone winemaking.” The cool climate AVA’s “nervy grapes” have long been a draw for prominent winemakers, and the potential for the region is spurring the planting of vineyards in higher-altitude areas.

Check out Virginie’s piece to find out about the history and future of this fascinating region—and the 120 acres one couple purchased in 1990 in a site so remote and challenging that, to date, only six acres have been planted—as well as the wineries you need to know and the bottles you won’t want to miss.

LET’S TRY THIS AGAIN

In last week’s newsletter, we messed up. We posted a broken link for Senior Correspondent Jason Wilson’s outstanding Off the Beaten Track article on the fabulous wine bar he found deep in the ‘burbs of Jersey. We are very sorry for leading you astray. But that story—and Versi Vino of Maple Shade, New Jersey—is still great!

FROM OUR SUBSCRIBER ONLY SLACK

• What to get instead of Zaltos—and the intra-NWR controversy over whether you should wash your best wine glasses by hand or in the dishwasher.

• Wineries to visit while peeping next week’s solar eclipse.

• Have any records been recorded at wineries? (This one is stumping everyone; if anyone knows of any, please email us at [email protected].)

WINE DEAL OF THE WEEK*

Need a spring white to go with our spring red recommendations? Grab benchmark Alsatian producer Albert Boxler’s Vielles Vignes Riesling from the excellent 2019 vintage at a lowest-in-the-nation—by a significant margin—price.

*NWR is not compensated for the links in this section.  

AROUND THE WINE (AND WHISKEY) WORLD

🇦🇺That sound you hear is Australian winemakers breathing a very big sigh of relief. 

🥵The science behind saving winemakers from climate change.

🧂Clearly we’re not the only ones who think this sounds suspicious.

🌴 “Forget magnums, dudes—next spring break we’re totally gonna pound nebuchadnezzars!”

As always, thanks for reading! See you next week for much more.

Santé!

The NWR Editors

To ensure you continue getting our emails:

• Drag and drop this email to your “primary” tab in Gmail (if it's not already there)

• Add this email ([email protected]) to your contacts or address book

Copyright (C)

Want to change how you receive these emails? You can unsubscribe

View in Browser

Click here to sign up for yourself if this was forwarded to you by a friend