Laguna Cellar Wine of the Month - September 2022

Laguna Cellar Selection for September 2022

So far this year, this week is the hottest one for Southern California.  Heat wave is threatening to overwhelm California's power grid.  We hope cooler days are ahead for us.  When it's hot, a good white wine serves very well, with salad, seafood, and cheese.  We picked two for the weather.

Inspired by yesterday's release by Domaine Barons de Rothschild of its 2021 dry white from its flagship Sauternes property - Château Rieussec, we present our subscribers with the 2016 vintage of R de Rieussec, a deliciour Bordeaux dry white made from blending sauvignon blanc and sémillon.  Readers of our newsletter will remember the recent makeover of DBR's Sauternes estate, and the new eco-friendly total package of Château Rieussec.

The other wine region in France, Burgundy, produces some of the world's most celebrated white wine, from the widely planted chardonnay.  We present Domaine Vincent Prunier Chassagne-Montrachet 2015.  This wine is the Chardonnay grape dressed in glittering gold! It boasts firm coloration with green highlights. Aromas of mayflower, acacia, and honeysuckle blend with verbena and hazelnut and in some cases toast or fresh butter.

For contrast and comparison of how appellations are different, we offer Château Branaire-Ducru 2016, as a specimen from Saint-Julien.  This wine was named the #16 among Wine Spectator's Top 100 Wines of 2019.

Our feature selection for the month of September 2022 is Reserve de la Comtesse 2016, the second label of the well-recognized Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande.  Wine Spectator named its 2018 vintage as the #2 of its Top 100 Wine of 2021.

R de Rieussec 2016 - "The 2016 R de Rieussec has a strict and quite stony bouquet with dew-speckled green apples and a touch of freshly sliced pear. The palate is well balanced with touches of peach skin and nectarine, a crisp line of acidity with pleasant salinity towards the finish. Drink this dry white from the Rieussec team over the next five or six years." - Neal Martin, The Wine Advocate (4/28/2017), Rating: (88-90)

Domaine Vincent Prunier Chassagne-Montrachet 2015  - "This wine is the Chardonnay grape dressed in glittering gold! It boasts firm coloration with green highlights. Aromas of mayflower, acacia, and honeysuckle blend with verbena and hazelnut and in some cases toast or fresh butter. This wine boasts a profound minerality (flint). Age brings in notes of honey or ripe pear. Rounded and often opulent, its attack is instantaneous. On the palate, fleshiness is matched by mellowness, and both are equally persistent."

Château Branaire-Ducru 2016 - "Branaire-Ducru is gorgeous in 2016. A rush of inky blue/purplish fruit, licorice, violet, lavender and dark spices give the wine its rich, textured feel. Gracious and nuanced, in the classic Branaire style, the 2016 possesses lovely depth and sensuality, with no hard edges and terrific overall balance. Time in the glass brings out the wine's more floral and spiced notes. Above all else, Branaire is a wine of finesse despite its considerable intensity. It is also arguably the most polished of the Saint-Juliens. Tasted two times." Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (4/1/2017), Rating: 92-95

Reserve de la Comtesse 2016 - "The 2016 Reserve de Comtesse de Lalande is a blend of 37% Merlot, 54% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot, with a modest alcohol level of 13.1% and a pH of 3.71. It has a tightly wound bouquet that perhaps needed more coaxing than some of its peers, but it was worth persisting, as it unveils some lovely cedar-infused black fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with quite firm tannin on the entry, moderate depth, a light marine influence upon the black fruit with a little creaminess on the finish. This is a fine Reserve de Comtesse that is on par with the excellent 2015 last year." - Neal Martin, The Wine Advocate (4/28/2017), Ratings: 90-92, Drink: 2022-2040