Unknown wine

[Adam Balic]

Bored with the same old Northern Rhone lovely or Cal. Cab., what wines do you drink which are unknown or unloved by the wider community?

My tip is Chateau Tahbilk Marsanne. Marsanne is a white Rhone varietal and has been grown in Tahbilk since 1927. Tahbilk (in Central Victoria, Australia) has the largest plantings of this rare grape in the world ( and has had for some time) and maybe the oldest "style" of this wine as well.

The wine: Un-oaked (gosh and it's Australian too!), when young it has a lemony/lime, honey and peach flavour, with age (5-10 years) it develops the most fabulous honeysuckle and honey flavours, while still retaining fruit and acid. A lovely wine.

What's your tips?

[rich]

I've been drinking two recently. A 1998 Truchard Pinot Noir from Napa and a 1999 Cabernet Franc from Lieb Cellars on Long Island's North Fork.

[MartyL]

A few of my unheralded faves:

Beaujolais "L'Ancien" from Domaine Terres D'Orees (winemaker is Jean Paul Brun): This is much more earthy and complex and less bubblegummy than mass-market beaujolais, yet still quaffable.

Loire reds: Many of these offer great value, are good with food, and offer not only nice dark fruit flavors, but herbaceous, spicy and tobacco-style aromatics that are characteristic of the cabernet franc grape. The Clos Roche Blanche Touraine Cabernet (either 2000 or 2001) is a wonderful and widely available example. Other producers whose reds I enjoy in the Bourgeuil and Chinon appelations are Breton, O. Raffault (more so than J.M. Raffault), and Joguet.

[Dave the Cook]

Could we get you guys to include prices? I don't want to get all hot and bothered over something I can't afford.

[tommy]

Could we get you guys to include prices? I don't want to get all hot and bothered over something I can't afford.

loire reds can be had for 10-16 bucks. i'm with martyl on those, 'specially those from chinon.

long island does some fun stuff with cab franc, as rich suggests. however, they are hard to come by outside of the NYC area.

[rich]

Adam - the Truchard goes for about $30 -$35.

And Tommy's right about the Cab Franc's from LI availability- most fall in the $12-18 range. But the Chinon he mentions is an excellent wine too.

[MartyL]

The Terres D'Orees Beaujolais "L'Ancien" usually sells for $9.99 and the Clos Roche Blanche Touraine Cabernet generally sells for $8.99. Either would still be worthwhile at twice the price, IMHO.

Two good places to get these wines and the other Loire reds I mentioned in NYC are Chambers St. Wines and Garnet.

By the way, Tommy, if you like Chinon, by all means try the Clos Roche Blanche. Very Chinon-like and even cheaper.

Also, I just tasted 3 of Joguet's 2000 Chinons at a trade tasting and thought they were all terrific. While the "Petite Roches" bottling was on the lighter bistro-style fruity side, the "Chene Vert" was more spicy, tobacco-ey, and tannic. The "Clos de la Cure" was somewhere in between. All three bottlings together really showed the range of styles in Chinon quite nicely.

[Adam Balic]

The Marsanne sells for about A$10 (US$5) although the winery was selling it at US$45 per case - bargin! Harvey-Nicks in the UK sell it for about eight quid per bottle , Waintrose for about seven quid. Still a bargin.

[Saffy]

Lawsons Dry Hills Gwertztraminer produced in New Zealand- any you can get your hands on. This producer always manages to make a stunning gwertz.. if you can get one, sit down with a fresh salad and big plate full of cold roasted chicken and a pile of chutneys and fresh bread.. you are in for a treat with every spicy mouthfull of this wine.

Lawsons Dry Hills

[Adam Balic]

Saffy - That's a lovely wine, very rose petally on nose. You will be pleased to know it sells for about nine pounds here in the UK.