Library — The Cellar Book

appellations11

Barolo DOCGOne of the world's great structured reds: pale garnet but ferociously tannic and high in acidity, with Nebbiolo's signature 'tar and roses' — dried rose over dark tar — alongside red cherry, licorice and, with age, truffle, leather and game.1
Brunello di Montalcino DOCGTuscany's most powerful and long-lived Sangiovese: a firmly structured, high-acid, high-tannin red of red and black cherry lifted by violet, dried herb and licorice, built by long oak-cask ageing to develop dried cherry, leather, balsamic, tobacco and forest-floor with time.1
Chablis AOCBone-dry, high-acid Chardonnay of cut and tension rather than weight: green apple, lemon, and pear over a saline, oyster-shell and flint minerality.1
Columbia Valley AVARipe yet fresh New World Cabernet: full blackberry and cassis fruit with firm, sometimes chewy tannin, savoury herb and earth notes, and a lift of acidity from the big diurnal swing.1
MoselFeatherweight, high-acid Riesling of transparency and tension: lime, green apple, and white peach over a cool wet-stone/slate minerality, often with a wisp of reductive smoke.1
Mount Veeder AVADark, firmly structured mountain Cabernet: concentrated cassis and black fruit framed by dense, gripping tannin, cool-toned herbal and mineral edges, and the acidity and backbone to age for decades.1
Pauillac AOCThe Médoc's most powerful, structured, and long-lived Cabernet-based reds: dense cassis fruit wrapped in firm tannin, with the commune's hallmark graphite/pencil-lead minerality and cedar-tobacco maturity.4
Pomerol AOCThe plushest, most voluptuous expression of Merlot in Bordeaux: deep plum and black-cherry fruit over a velvety, generous mid-palate, with an underlying savoury iron/truffle earthiness and rounder, suppler tannins than the Left Bank.1
Rioja DOCaClassic Rioja marries savoury, mature red fruit to the sweet-spice signature of long barrel ageing: leather, dried fruit, and tobacco over strawberry and cherry, traditionally carrying the vanilla-coconut-dill imprint of American oak.1
Saint-Émilion AOCMerlot-led Right Bank reds, typically softened and lifted by Cabernet Franc: supple plum and black-cherry fruit with a fresher, more mineral, structured frame than Pomerol on the limestone plateau, and plusher, rounder wines on the clay-sand slopes.2
Saint-Julien AOCThe Médoc's model of balance and harmony: Cabernet-dominant reds that split the difference between Pauillac's power and Margaux's perfume — cassis and dark-berry fruit in a polished, seamless, medium-plus to full frame, with a hallmark cedar-and-cigar-box signature and fine, even tannins.4

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grapes12