23
Jul
2014
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Wines of the Week: July 7-13

Everyday: I went to State Bird Provisions expecting to drink “regular” wine, but one sip of the Montaña Perucchi Vermouth PerucchiBlanco ($15) put the kibosh on that game plan. This is nectar-of-the-gods stuff, rich but clean, complex but focused. This Spanish beauty, which has been produced in Barcelona since 1876, contains 40-plus ingredients, and the multilayered nose and flavors − ginger here, “limon” there, sarsaparilla over yonder − attest to the deft hand at work. Try it with pork belly or roasted fowl or a summer salad or most any seafood; it’s hard to imagine any unsuitable accompaniment, actually. An exemplary new artist out of Nashville writing and singing pure, spunky, stone-cold old-school country (here and here), Brandy Clark provides a swell soundtrack.

Occasion: One of the great joys of wine collecting is finding a forgotten bottle. In this case, a doubly forgotten one, Cenitsince I also couldn’t remember which of my wonderful friends had given me the Cenit Tempranillo ($46). It’s easy also to forget how great tempranillo can be, but this dusty, lusty, robusty red provided a quick reminder. The nose is laden with the dark red fruit and spices to come, and the texture rolls between rough and supple through the near-endless finish. Break out some big ol’ portabello mushrooms or a slab of meat and plop them on the grill to enjoy with this Spanish red. On the music front, try some White with this red − Jack White’s dandy new disc, “Lazaretto.” 

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