Drink Less But Better In The New Year

It's the season of New Year resolutions again.  We support our clients' drive for better health.  If necessary, January can be a drier month.  Who needs the Prohibition if one can exercise self discipline?  For those of us who only need a glass of wine on the weekend, here's our selection for January 2022:

• La Dame de Montrose 2018, Saint-Estèphe, rated 90-92 (Neal Martin).  Made to the same rigorous standards as the First Wine, from grapes grown in the same vineyard, La Dame de Montrose is the second wine of Château Montrose,  a heavy weight from Saint-Estèphe, just north of Pauillac.  Supple and silky Merlot generally predominates in the varietal mix. Its very pronounced red fruit aromas and flavours reflect another expression of the terroir in a distinctive style which is less elaborately complex than that of the First Wine.  Consistently reliable and reaching maturity sooner, the wine was created in 1983 in tribute to Yvonne Charmolüe, who ran Château Montrose single-handedly from 1944 to 1960. Production varies from one year to another but accounts on average for 40-45% of the total production of the Montrose vineyard. Aged for 12 months in 30% new french oak barrels.
• Château Fleur Cardinale 2016, Saint-Emilion, rated 95 (Jeb Dunnuck).  Château Fleur Cardinale is a Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Classé that has been on the rise since the mid 2000s.  The property was purchased in May 2001 by Dominique and Florence Decoster to fulfil their dream of becoming vignerons.  The former business owners who made a name for themselves in the porcelain industry were strangers to the Bordeaux wine scene, but that wasn’t going to deter them from making the best wine possible.  For the Decoster family, owning a property like Château Fleur Cardinale is a serious commitment that they devote themselves to in its entirety.  The results speak for themselves, and the wine of this estate is dynamic, expressive and richly concentrated.
• Château Latour-Martillac 2015, Pessac-Leognan, rated 92-94 (Neal Martin).  Chateau Latour-Martillac takes its name from the tower which stands in the main courtyard of the château; it is the remnant of a fort built in the 12th century by the ancestors of Montesquieu. The structure occupied a strategic position and controlled the route between Bordeaux and Toulouse. The stones of the fort were used to build the existing château at the end of the 18th century.
• Tenuta Sette Ponti Oreno 2019, Toscana IGT, rated 99 (James Suckling).  This is the 20th anniversary edition from one of the power houses of Toscana (Super Tuscan), the modern rendition of Bordeaux style blend by pioneering Italian winemakers.  The Sette Ponti Estate has been one of the family’s properties since the 1950’s, when Antonio’s father, Alberto bought the initial 50 hectares directly from the princesses Margherita and Maria Cristina Savoia- Aosta. It is located in Chianti, between Arezzo and Florence, and takes its name from the number of bridges that cross the river Arno between the two cities. The first of these bridges, the Buriano Bridge (13th century) can been seen in the background of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.