Impress Your Weekend Host
Is a $100 bottle of wine ever really worth the money? In the case of the 2001 Ramonet Batard-Montrachet, the answer is, emphatically, yes. Made by one of Burgundy’s most revered producers, this muscular, impressively concentrated white grand cru more than lives up to its noble pedigree. A word of advice: The wine is young, so decanting is a good idea. ($119.99 at Astor Wines & Spirits, 12 Astor Place.)
Perfect With Seafood
No wine flatters lobster quite like white Burgundy. And amid all the hype over 2002 Burgundys, bargains abound in other vintages. Case in point: the 2001 Joseph Matrot Meursault Les Perrières, a rich, nutty, and supremely elegant white wine sourced from a premier cru vineyard that consistently yields grand cru quality. Again, decant. ($36.99 at Garnet Wines & Liquors, 929 Lexington Avenue, near 68th Street.)
Affordably Trendy
Rosé is the new “It” wine, and it’s about time—there’s no finer summer quaffer. The 2003 Mas de Bressades, from the Languedoc region of France, is an unusually dark and serious rosé, qualities that can be attributed to the presence of Syrah in the blend of grapes used to make the wine. ($14.99 at Union Square Wine and Spirits, 33 Union Square West, near 16th Street.)