The Wines of This Week's Tasting:
Wines for the Summer Grill
August 19, 2026
White
2024 Cascina Val del Prete ‘Luet’ Arneis
If you are looking for a white wine to go with your grilled fish and shellfish, look no further.
A fantastic wine to pair with branzino, salmon, sole, lobster, shrimp, oysters you name it for all grilling preparations. Aroma: Lively citrus fruit, apricot, honey crisp apples, honeysuckle, citrus blossoms, and crushed stones. Mouth: Light-bodied with a very good concentration of well-balanced, smooth-textured, crisp, ripe fruit flavors of lemons, limes, peaches & pear, stony minerals with a hint of honey and a crisp, lingering finish. Very Good Plus
$22.95, Case 21.25
Rose
2025 Les Cardonnieres Coteaux D'Aix Provence Rosé
The vignerons in the town of Eguilles have been making this wine for a hundred years. It is as fresh as when they first made it. Their blend of Syrah and Grenache hits all the right notes for a Provencal Rosé and drinks much better than its price.
Aroma: Delicate notes of peaches, nectarines, citrus blossom, and a hint of wild strawberries. Mouth: Crisp texture, refreshing acidity, and delicate fruit flavors make it versatile for food pairings and tasty to sip on its own.
Very Good
$15.99, Case $13.99
Red
2024 Domaine Emmanuel Darnaud Crozes-Hermitage 'Mise en Bouche'
This classic northern Rhone Syrah is great for summer grill. It is lighter in body than most, but is a prettier, easier-drinking rendition of Syrah’s classic plum and earth flavors, and will go very nicely with any red meat on the grill.
Color: Very dark black; Aroma: light, fresh, intense. pretty finely delineated, light on attack, fresh with very good intensity, clean, savory; Mouth: clean, smooth, light, pretty finely delineated, clean and firm. Very Good Plus
$32; Case, $26.95
2019 Cuvelier Los Andes Colección
Chateau Leoville Poyferre has been making some of Pauillac’s most exciting wines of late. Twenty-odd years ago, they began a vineyard in high-altitude Argentina to create a take on Bordeaux. Malbec-led, it gains complexity with other Bordeaux grapes and a bit of Syrah. Like its Bordeaux sibling, it has been getting better and better. It’s a powerful, rich, and dark companion to many red meats.
Color: very dark opaque; Aroma: intense, pretty lifted and forward, malbec cab underneath; Mouth: firm, clean fine acid, tight bright fruit, intense, clean long;
Very Good - Excellent
$29.95; Case, $25.95
2020 Combe Latour Cotes du Rhone Villages Elio
This big, bold wine has benefited from age, still keeping its traditionally styled Rhone character. It is hearty and deep with weight and structure well above our discounted price. It’s substantial, with solid smooth fruit over solid structure. Good at its original price, it’s a great deal at ours. We recommend that you decant an hour ahead.
Aroma: soft fruit, reserved herbal deep plum & garrigue notes; Mouth: solid with good concentration and deep flavors, bold and substantive with sturdy underlying fine tannins, lingering on the finish; Very Good Plus
Was $27.99 $19.95; Case, $16.99
2024 Troon Druid's Red Organic Biodynamic
The New York Times' Eric Asimov called Troon’s southern Oregon “terrific, idiosyncratic.” The Druid’s Red is, IMHO, terrific and idiosyncratic only in its name and perhaps its method. Troon does everything close to natural and right. Rhonish blend, led by Syrah and Mourvedre, uses natural yeast and is unfined, unfiltered, and aged in concrete and neutral barrels so as not to obscure its fruit. That it does very well.
Color: very dark; Aroma: dark and spicy, very savory, smooth, heady and spicy, deep and dark; Mouth: smooth but reserved, Clean, smooth, good body, bright under fruit, dark Mourvedre, a fine astringency, long fine-toned finish; Very Good - Excellent
$25.95; Case, $21.95
8-19 Summer Grill case, two each of the above wine $295, $249 ($20.75)
Mix any 12 of your own bottles at their case prices
People who come to the tasting get any bottle(s) at the discounted price.
Len Rothenberg
Order by phone at 617.367.8605, or reserve here: order@federalwine.com
Please pass this on to any friends who are wine enthusiasts!
- Len Rothenberg
FREE DELIVERY!
downtown on orders more than $75;
in Greater Boston on orders more than $199
