MCF Rare Wine

I eat Lamb most chances I get.

Definitely on Easter...    (speaking of which, we will be CLOSED on SUNDAY)

Just earlier today, I picked up a most delightfully, cartoonishly long-boned leg from Dickson's over in Chelsea Market.

I've been thinking about it all week.  

How to season it...

How to cook it...

...and, of course, what to drink with it!

So as I meandered through the zillions of options you have to go with old-school roast lamb, many of the more exotic choices came first, but then I found myself thinking about some of that good ol' Bordeaux-type taste.

So I browsed the shelves and found myself realizing that I had a bunch of Bordeaux-type (or Bordeaux-adjacent, to be contemporary) wines, so I thought they'd make a nice offer.  

So here you go!

L'Esquisse de la Tour Figeac Saint Emilion 2014
The only actual Bordeaux on this short list, the second wine of La Tour Figeac, the organic producer in Saint Emilion, is a textbook Right Bank little beauty.  Generous and open, with a classic Merlot/Cab Franc profile, the dark fruits are nicely interwoven with those classic, minty/herb-y aromatics and it finishes with freshness and a lovely soft-spoken structure.

Castello di Selvole 'Barullo' 2011
Like the above, here we have another Merlot/Cab Franc based wine, but the addition of Sangiovese gives it a really nice touch of rustic minerality.  Given its age, it's pretty much wide open, too.  The soft dark fruits are showing nice secondary nuance and the structure is nearly integrated.

Tenuta di Trinoro Le Cupole 2016 $35
Another Super Tuscan, this one from the famous Tenuta di Trinoro.  The Le Cupole (a blend of Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Petit Verdot) is a perennial contender for 'Best Bordeaux-Like Value on the Market' (seriously that category exists...in my head), but in 2016 it's really knocking it out of the park.  This is definitely the most flamboyant and full throated wine on the list, but it's easily one of, if not the, best Cupoles I've ever had.

Elian da Ros Vignoble d'Elian Cotes du Marmandais 2015
Finally, how could I write an email about Bordeaux-ish wines without including our Man in the Marmandais, Elian da Ros?  The Vignbole d'Elian is his second step on the ladder in terms of price, but it is, in many ways, my favorite wine he makes.  It's a bit brawnier and more intensely mineral than the 'Fete', and, at $28, it's also a hell of a value.  It's Merlot, Cab Franc and Syrah, the last of which offers up a touch of Rhone-iness to the situation, but to me, this is a dark, stony, herbaceous wild-man of a Bordeaux (though I supect that the Sud Ouesters might like to be compared to their counterparts to the North).  But it really does get the point across...

To inquire about this wine, please email info@mcf-rarewine.com or call 212.255.8870.

Matt Franco
MCF Rare Wine, Ltd
249 West 13th Street NYC 10011
212.255.8870