MCF Rare Wine
Four of My Current ‘Hot Weather’ Favorites
It’s hot in NYC right now...
...we went from the wettest, windiest and coldest Memorial Day Weekend I can remember in my life, to the 90s basically overnight.
So, naturally, some really light and refreshing wines have been at the top of everyone’s mind lately...
...and here are four of my favorites.
CHATEAU DELUXE Methode Rurale Brut NV
Since Chateau Deluxe, a tiny, super-cool Willamette winery, arrived in the NYC market, we've made a whole lotta local fans of their delicious Pet Nat sparklers. Our current offering from them is this lovely Methode Rurale Rosé, which is a blend of Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc and Chardonnay. It's really fresh, has beautiful, soft pink fruits and a wonderfully wild complexity to it. What separates it from a lot of Pet Nats for me, though, is that it retains a razor's edge of acidity on the finish, which, when combined with the tighter bubbles, maximizes the refreshment factor.
F.X. PICHLER Riesling Federspiel Ried Burgstall 2017
Few things have the ability to counter a warm day better than a glass of racy, dry Austrian Riesling, and FX's 2017s, with their laser-beam focus did that about as well as anything. I say 'did' because most of them are gone now, but I got the last few cases of this amazing Burgstall '17 from a 'restaurant never took their allocation' offer, so I jumped on them, envisioning a hot Summer day where I'd be very glad to have them. It's, of course, zippy, floral and intensely focused, with lovely, highly-textured white fruit and wonderfully dense mineral notes at the core. In other words, it's textbook Wachau Riesling.
CALX Primitivo Puglia 2019
Filippo Cassano, proprietor of the fabulous Polvanera winery in Puglia, makes this sprightly little Primitivo for the FUSO line of wines by PortoVino, and it's flat-out lovely. All of the dark, exotic, spicy and rustic elements you expect from a well-made Primitivo are here, but in a super-light, flowery expression like this, they're allowed to really take flight. Chill it down with some delicious Mediterranean fare and prepare to have your mind changed about Primitivo!
NEISS Frühburgunder Trocken Bockenheimer Vogelsang 2014
Ahhh, the well known, ubiquitous Frühburgunder grape - something I'm sure you're all familiar with! In all seriousness, though, Pinot Noir Precocé (or Pinot Madeleine), as it's also known (to those who know it at all) is a dark, thicker-skinned biotype of Pinot Noir that tends to ripen earlier (hence the Precocé). This juicy, fresh, light and fabulously drinkable version from Neiss is about as delightful a glass of Summer Red as you'll encounter. It drinks like a classic German Pinot Noir with a darker, juicier and super-friendly personality. Delightful.
You may order by emailing info@mcf-rarewine.com or calling 212.255.8870.
Matt Franco
MCF Rare Wine, Ltd
