If I Could Buy Only One – December 12th VINTAGES Release

If you could buy only one wine from this release, which one would it be and why?

Château De Montfaucon 2016, AP Lirac France
$24.95, Nicholas Pearce Wines Inc.
John Szabo – My “only one” pick this week is the hugely satisfying, comforting winter red, 2016 Château De Montfaucon. There’s nothing like the generous, silky, strawberry pie-flavours of a grenache-heavy southern Rhône red to warm the soul on a winter’s night, especially with something equally earthy and savoury on the table. I love the honesty and purity on offer, the pure black fruit, licorice, garrigue and more, straight out of the textbook.

Elias Mora 2015 Crianza, DO Toro, Spain
$24.95, Glencairn Wine Merchants
Michael Godel- There is nothing quite like the pitchy tempranillo warmth of Toro, here in the guise of a toasty, roasted meat, florally lifted and purple fruit layered Elias Mora Crianza 2015, out of the greater place that is Castilla y León in Spain. Amercian oak barrels make due on the coconut and graphite with a wine that does well to integrate that wood with fruit, acid and tannin. All are shining, resonant and effulgent for a mouthful of tempranillo that punches above both weight and price.

David Lawrason- During this exercise I get to be subjective, even sentimental. This is an excellent wine that scored 91 in my books, which also makes it a five-star value.  It is also a very good example of Toro’s take on tempranillo, a black, sturdy, beefy red that cellars well.  But I would buy it for my memories of Toro, one of the most interesting towns in Spain. It is perched high on cliff on the north bank of the Duero River, with a great vista of almost the entire appellation of about 5000 hectares fanning out on the other side, latticed by countless gnarly head pruned vines. In medieval times Toro was the capital of Spain, made easily defensible by the heights and the river below. In the late 15^th Century Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand were on the throne, the royal couple most famous for sponsoring the first voyage by a young Italian named Christopher Columbus who was searching for a direct westward route to Asia, and stumbled on two American continents in his path. I visited a chamber where he reportedly signed the deal with the monarchs.  In medieval Toro a glass of wine is called a ‘pinta’, which became the name of one of the three ships that made that first voyage, and it carried barrels of sturdy Toro wine in its hull – making it the first European wine ever exported to the Americas.