Atlantic Wine Project

Whether they come from Chinon, Samur or Bourgueil, Cabernet Franc based reds from the Loire conjure Laphroaig-esque impressions to knowing wine drinkers.  They are often pungent, herbaceous, wildly complex wines with a small cult-like well-read fan-base.    Not in the mainstream for sure.    Just as Laphroaig is not indicative of all single malts, reds from the Loire region don't all share these same outsized traits. The wines from Xavier Amirault are just such an exception and it's not by accident that Vineyard Brands, an importer with deep roots in burgundy would be the kind of company to bring these wines into the United States. Land close to the banks of the Loire river is quite fertile and is reserved for cereals and pasture. Things begin to get interesting as one moves upwards from lower valley.    Lower parcels in the Clos de Quarterons, the Amirault family's estate, have deep (up to 25 feet) gravelly soils which drain well and where generous ra...

 I first noticed it during an extensive tasting of rieslings from Terry Theise portfolio.  Most of the wines (grower champagnes included) were either organic or biodynamic and there was a similarity among all of them...vibrance, lift and a clear presence of high tones.  There was just something "lively" about them. One  of the most recent wines in the Row 95 portfolio to go Organic is the Campos de Risca.  Though from the "Campos" group, the wine is from a small family estate in Jumilla run by the third generation, Elena Pacheco.  Risca are large broken limestone rocks of which their vineyard is entirely comprised.  These suckers aren't the smooth rounded boulders of Chateauneuf, they are rough cut, jagged and virtually impossible to walk on.  Nothing else lives there,...weeds, bugs,  and frankly I don't know why anything would want to. Mourvedre, however, loves it...the heat, those stones, no competition from pesky weeds,  as Goldilocks...

What on earth is Lacrima di Morro d'Alba?  Is it like Lacrima Christi?   Is it from Alba?...No and, er, no.  Lacrima di Morro (let's just shorten it a bit to make it more user-friendly shall we) is the name of a rare grape variety found almost exclusively in the Province of Ancona, in the Marches region of Italy.  Lacrima, meaning "tear" in Italian is a reference to both the shape of the grape and to the thinness of it's skin which can, at times, allow tears of juice to weep from the grape.  The "Morro d'Alba" part is a reference to a Castle which bears that name in the region. So now that we have all of the typical Italian confusion sorted out, let's begin talking about the wine.  The DOC was created in 1985 and the wine is made by only a handful of producers.  Scant few of those wines make it to this part of the country.  Fortunately, one of the best representations of this remarkable wine is available here via a producer named Velenosi, locate...