I can hardly believe it’s already the second Monday in May – and time to unleash this month’s Wicked Wines! These are some real treats to uncork through the ups and downs of the season change.

Buying Tip: If you can’t find the specific wines I suggest in your home market, consider the varietals (or blends) I’ve chosen and enlist your local wine buyer to make comparable recommendations.  These are some fun wines you won’t want to miss!

We’ve had a lovely bender of 80 degree temps here in Beantown. Love it. My soul is being nourished with Vitamin D, my grill is getting some much needed TLC, and I have an “excuse” to drink red wines even when it is warm out.

This week I brought home a bottle of one of my all time favorite wines: 2006 Mas du Bouquet Vacqueras by Vignerons de Caractere.  Yes, I love a good Cote du Rhone. But the Vacqueras is my true happy place in that region. Almost 20 years ago Vacqueras got a little extra “credit” for the wines it produces, largely red wines made of the famous “GSM” trifecta: Grenache, Syrah and Mouvedre; Vacqueras became one of (now) five AOCs in the Cote du Rhone. (By way of reference, there are over 100 villages within the CDR that do not have a special designation, or AOC status.)

Law mandates Vacqueras reds have at least 50% Grenache and at least 20% of either Syrah or Mouvedre. From there winemakers can blend in any one of the other 10 varietals permitted in the CDR, though you’ll often discover Cinsault if a fourth grape is included in a particular red. Vacqueras is special because of its glacial soils as well as the hot, dry climate that is perfect for producing dense, structured, concentrated wines. And yet I find Vacqueras offerings tend to be a bit more approachable than its Gigondas or Chateneuf du Pape counterparts. (Ok, fine, you’re working your way up the Wow Factor charts in “magical” qualities with those other two AOCs, but you also pay a few extra dollars accordingly.)

Vacqueras wines can certainly indulge your wild side or transport you to the great outdoors – they can offer tremendous earthy, herbaceous, rustic qualities, with trademark spice hitting a nice note on the finish. But more often I find those elements are more subtle, evolving behind the bigger fruit fiddles playing the main tune. These reds are big and bold – but soft and lush, too. The paradox enthralls my taste buds – AND more to the point, indulges my need to grill, grill, grill!

The Mas du Bouquet is a favorite of mine because of its tremendous consistency despite being the product of a co-op of winemakers. I think its consistency is actually an expression of place: the Manganelli Family has owned their vineyards for 100 years and many of the vines are quite old. That kind of history coupled with a dedication to sustainable, environmentally-friendly practices must set a certain tone and yield (no pun intended) particularly good fruit. That gives any winemaker a decent head start.

My tasting notes, you now demand? Fine, fine… When it is first opened, spices will literally tickle your nose distracting you from garnering more. But within as little as 20 minutes, its violet and lavender florals emerge, followed by aromas of black raspberries and plums. These fruits are juicy on the palate, with a touch of blackberry coming to fruition as well. A hint of leather, a hint of spice – and all is naughty and nice! The mouthfeel is what sends me to the moon, though – lush and supple with only gentle tannins becoming even softer as the wine continues to open. Lip-smacking goodness. Perfect with game, burgers, lamb – or even an earthy risotto dish, I imagine!

Which Vacqueras do you most enjoy? Or will you beginning your travels with the Mas du Bouquet?

I hope you and yours had a wonderful time popping a cork or two last Saturday night for Open That Bottle Night. For my part, a handful of my closest friends descended on my place for a wonderful meal of braised paprika chicken, orzo and lemon-garlic asparagus.

We started with an appetizer of oysters, a small aperitif of exceptional Dolin Dry Vermouth and a glass of white Bordeaux (’06 Ch. le Tucau, Graves). Then with dinner we moved on to our “serious” wines – those we had been saving for whatever special occasion had yet to materialize. I wasn’t exactly sure what my bottle of Spanish wine from Terra Alta, Spain would bring – but I had high hopes, too. This isn’t a region you often see here in the States; my bottle was actually hand-carried back from Barcelona by my best friend after her wedding there.

The Terra Alta D.O. boasts only 28 vineyards. The region is characterized by its Mediterranean & Continental climate (very cold winters, very hot summers), steep slopes and valley floors, and its proximity to its better known neighbor, Priorat. The cierzo breezes from the northeast do their part to keep the grapes dry, preventing rot. Terra Alta is considered an up and coming region, with many winemakers experimenting with better known grape varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah, which have been permitted since 1995. More often you’ll find native grapes Garnacha Tinta and Carinena as well as Garnacha Peluda and Morenillo, as far as the reds go.

Doing my best to navigate the Catalan description on the back of the bottle, I anticipated the Ede Aria 2003 would be a big boy, with need of decanting.  The wine was a blend of three grapes: Garnacha Peluda (40%), Syrah (35%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (25%). My inspiration for the paprika braised chicken was distinct from the wine I knew I would have on offer, so decanting was a priority to soften any rough edges and remove the sediment the wine was likely to throw. Since I know my friend prefers fruit-forward wines to uber-dry ones, I hoped this wine would deliver a nice silky mouthfeel, with both red and black fruits apparent. Finally, given the region’s proximity to the Priorat, I hoped it would have a gentle herbaceousness and a touch of earthy leather. I was pleased to discover it delivered on all of the above!

The other two wines we opened Saturday night were the 2004 Stevenot Tempranillo (Sierra Foothills, California) and the 2004 Villa Antinori Toscana (Tuscany, Italy).

Yes, Saturday evening I traveled the world with my friends! It was a pleasure to do so.

What wine(s) did you open for OTBN? Any highlights or disappointments in the mix?

While I may talk a lot about my love of rustic, French wines, Spain is also near and dear to my heart. In particular, I frolic in the Priorat whenever I have the excuse to take home one of their higher ticket sensations. What is it I love about these wines? Let’s see… how about:

Layered with flavor.

Concentrated with ripe dark and red fruit flavors.

Medium-plus bodied so as not to overwhelm and distract, and instead packing just enough of a mouthfilling punch.

Food friendly with  solid acidity, but dry enough to warrant a bite or two of cured meat, manchego cheese or lamb. And to my taste, perhaps their best attribute:

Rustic, though in a distinct, clean, minerally sort of way (rather than having the damp-trodden forest floor or barn-tastic qualities of many Cote du Rhone wines).

The combination of seriously old vines (less fruit produced), super challenging growing conditions and the fact that the Priorat is the new ‘hotness’, means these wines fetch worthy, but not necessarily recession-sensitive prices.

Enter the Montsant region. Montsant is the lesser known horseshoe region that encompasses the Priorat. Here the climate is similarly arid, but the soil has its own unique mixture of slate, granite, sand, limestone and clay; each vineyard has a unique terroir. Like its better-known counterpart, Montsant also boasts a tremendous number of 100+ year old vines. (Yes, you can let out a cheer!) In fact, 55% of the vines in Montsant are >20 years old; Priorat can “only” boast 40%. And there you have it – tremendous concentration and distinct, let-your-heart-sing flavors! All that hard work by the vines to produce just a few clusters means happiness in your glass.

When its cold outside and dinner “in” with friends is on the menu Montsant wines are a brilliant option. I proved this little theory of mine last weekend when I  hosted a bit of a dinner party. I was serving a spinach and beet salad with cashews and feta; garlic, lemon and thyme roast chicken; and roast potatoes. I wanted a wine with solid acidity, a bit of rusticity and great concentration. It also had to be light enough on its toes (that is, have enough bright fruit) to be universally appealing to my guests. I was tempted to go for a basic Cote du Rhone, but wanted riper, redder fruit flavors and something with a touch more minerality and less barnyard “funk”. The steep-sloped Priorat region came to mind, but I knew I’d open several bottles and didn’t want to spend $20 on each. A Montsant was a natural solution.

The Etim Seleccion 2006 is a new Montsant wine brought to us by the folks at Ole Imports. It has entered the market at a great time, too, just when we’re looking for fabulous wines at accessible prices. The Etim is 60% Grenache, 30% Carigane, and 10% Syrah. This varietal combo means sweet, juicy, ripe, red fruits are delivered in a mouthfilling package; and the terroir in Montsant means you’ll find a touch of clean, wet-slate minerality to boot.

Too much wine speak mid week? Let me put it this way: if you were going on a first date with the Etim, you’d be waiting for the moment when you could escort her out of the restaurant into the mind-clearing chill, gently push her up against the brick and discover for yourself  just how succulent, sweet and edgy she is.

Can you beat that? What wine did you enjoy last weekend?