New Red Wines on the Shelves

By Kathleen Todaro

Earlier this summer, I wrote about one of my favorite parts of returning to Avalon each season: catching up on what’s new. Restaurants open, menus change, shops bring in new products, and even the places we’ve been going for years usually have something different waiting for us. The wine shop is no exception.

Throughout the year, we’re constantly tasting and deciding what deserves a place on the shelves at Fred’s Avalon Liquor Store. Sometimes that means discovering a producer we’ve never worked with before. Other times, it’s a new wine from an estate we’ve carried and trusted for years. And occasionally, it’s simply a bottle that fills a gap we didn’t realize we had, whether that’s a region we want to represent better, a style that customers have been asking for, or a wine that offers particularly good value for what it is.

There were enough new arrivals this year that trying to fit them all into one article would have meant giving each wine little more than a name and a tasting note. So, in the first installment, I focused on the new whites, rosés, and orange wines that made the most sense for the beginning of summer, and promised I’d return to the reds.

Now it’s their turn. As with the first group, “new” doesn’t necessarily mean a new producer. Some are wineries we’ve carried for years with a bottling that’s new to us; others are making their first appearance in the store. What they have in common is that each gave us a reason to make room on the shelf.

François Labet Bourgogne Pinot Noir Vieilles Vignes 2023: Burgundy is an obvious place to begin when looking for a lighter red. François Labet’s Bourgogne Pinot Noir comes from old vines, or vieilles vignes, a designation that has no fixed legal definition in Burgundy but generally indicates parcels with mature vines and naturally lower yields. This is classic Pinot Noir territory: red fruit, freshness, relatively delicate tannins, and enough savory character to keep the wine from feeling simple. Bourgogne-level wines can also be one of the more approachable ways to explore Burgundy without immediately moving into increasingly expensive village and Premier Cru bottlings. Serve it slightly cool and give it a little time in the glass.

Harper’s Rest Pinot Noir: Harper’s Rest moves us from France to California, but keeps us with Pinot Noir. The winery itself is genuinely new, although the people behind it are hardly newcomers to the business. Proprietor Chris Underwood represents the fifth generation of a family involved in wine and spirits since 1888, and Harper’s Rest launched on the former Arista property in the Russian River Valley. The estate focuses on Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and is transitioning its vineyards toward organic and regenerative farming. The wines are made without commercial yeast, enzymes, added acid or fermentation aids and spend 14 months in French oak. It’s an interesting case of a completely new winery built on established vineyards and generations of experience.

Elk Cove Clay Court Pinot Noir 2024: Elk Cove may sound familiar because I included the winery’s Riesling in my last article. This time we’re returning for what Oregon is best known for: Pinot Noir. The Campbell family planted its first vineyard in the Willamette Valley in 1974, making Elk Cove one of the region’s pioneering wineries. Clay Court takes that story a step further. Rather than blending fruit from across the Willamette Valley, this is an estate-grown, single-vineyard Pinot Noir from the Chehalem Mountains AVA. Oregon has moved well beyond proving that it can produce serious Pinot Noir. Today, much of the interesting conversation is about the differences between its individual AVAs, vineyards and sites, and Clay Court offers a good way into that discussion.

Sierra de Toloño La Dula, Rioja: If your mental picture of Rioja involves Tempranillo and plenty of time in oak, La Dula is worth trying. Winemaker Sandra Bravo works with old-vine Garnacha from several high-altitude parcels in Rioja Alavesa, including vineyards planted around 700 meters above sea level. The winemaking is equally interesting. The grapes undergo spontaneous fermentation in small foudres before the wine is aged in 300-liter amphorae rather than relying on oak as a defining feature. It is then bottled without fining or filtration. The result offers a very different perspective on Rioja and reflects the increased attention some of the region’s contemporary producers are giving to individual sites, old vineyards and varieties beyond Tempranillo.

Morino Chianti Classico: Most people know that Chianti Classico means Sangiovese, but it doesn’t necessarily mean only Sangiovese. Morino is 80% Sangiovese, 10% Canaiolo, 5% Colorino and 5% Pugnitello, from a small 1.2-hectare old-vine parcel. Those supporting grapes are part of what makes this bottle interesting. Canaiolo and Colorino have long histories in Tuscan wine, while Pugnitello is a much less familiar native variety. It’s an opportunity to look beyond Sangiovese and see some of the other grapes that have historically contributed to the wines of the region. The vineyard is organically farmed, and the wine is made without additives.

Arrocal Gumiel de Mercado Village 2024, Ribera del Duero: Ribera del Duero takes Tempranillo, known locally as Tinto Fino or Tinta del País, and gives it a very different expression from Rioja. Arrocal comes from a family with nine generations of viticultural history, and this particular bottling puts Gumiel de Mercado directly on the label. That village designation is the interesting part. Rather than treating Ribera del Duero as one large, homogeneous appellation, wines like this put more emphasis on exactly where within the region the grapes were grown. It’s a useful way to dig a little deeper into an appellation many wine drinkers already know.

Tenuta Gorghi Tondi SorelleSala Rosso Riserva 2021: SorelleSala comes from Gorghi Tondi in southwestern Sicily and takes its name from sisters Annamaria and Clara Sala, who run their family estate near Mazara del Vallo. The blend combines Sicily’s native Nero d’Avola with Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon, followed by extended aging in French oak. That combination is what makes it interesting to me. Rather than choosing between indigenous Sicilian grapes and international varieties, the wine puts them together, allowing Nero d’Avola to retain a distinctly Sicilian identity while Cabernet and Syrah contribute additional structure and depth.

There are always more wines than I have room to write about, but these are the new reds that caught my attention this season. Some are easy bottles to bring to dinner, others are worth putting away for a few years, and a few offer a chance to dig a little deeper into a region you may already know. Hopefully there’s something here that gives you a reason to try a bottle you might otherwise have passed on.