Review: 3 Wines from the Maison Vernhes Alliance Wine Collective
The premise behind Maison Vernhes Alliance (MVA), stripped of marketing gloss, is simple enough and should ring familiar to loyal readers: it’s a wine collective built entirely around the premise that small European producers are out there making genuinely great wine but simply cannot be bothered or, more accurately, cannot afford, to fight their way into the retail shelf-space wars that larger houses win through sheer financial attrition.
So MVA finds them directly, cuts out the part of the industry where a wine has to survive three middlemen and a distributor’s opinions before it reaches you, and builds a subscription around the whole operation. Every two months, six bottles show up, curated loosely around whatever preferences you’ve indicated, at a price landing somewhere between $30 and $35 a bottle depending on your tier. Either way, it’s a reasonable fee for small producer wines from Europe, or the right amount of money necessary to never again endure small talk with the guy at your local wine shop who has Passionate Opinions about wine and will share them whether you asked or not.
The wines are sourced from some of Europe’s most esteemed regions, with a few detours into places that don’t immediately show up on a wine lover’s map. The whole model is a passport arriving in a cardboard box in front of your Ring camera instead of requiring air travel, lost luggage and people on a plane using the speakerphone setting. We were fortunate to receive a sampling from their latest collection: three reds, delivered right in time for National Red Wine Day.
2021 Chateau Les Coriselle Calcaire – Leading off things nicely: a Malbec from Cahors. It bears more than a passing resemblance to its distant cousins from Argentina, with earthy notes of black currant and pepper set against savory spice. A touch of chocolate enters and exits the conversation on the palate quickly, diminished against the ever-present black currant. The finish is the real treat, with a blend of ripe plum and nutmeg lingering about as it all recedes. Very drinkable and ready for autumn. A- / $41
2020 Chateau Pech Redon L’Epervier – The density of this 50/50 Syrah Mourvèdre blend pours dense and earthy, requiring about 30 minutes or so to sort itself out. However, that big quality quickly fades and a blend of dark cherry and elderberry becomes the main theme running throughout. Layers of licorice, graphite and cracked pepper weave in and out on the palate. Once the sheer density out of the bottle wears away, the opulence comes through, revealing a wine that doesn’t run short on complexity. B+ / $42
2021 Manzone La Marchesa Barbera d’Alba Superiore DOC – Dense and rich with fulsome notes of cherry and blackberry up front and baking spices lingering well into the finish. A bit of tobacco leaf and black tea give it an earthy kick on the finish, putting the berry compote on the palate firmly in balance. Ignore the food pairing and save this for the campfire. B+ / $42
If these reds are indicative of the quality found throughout, this very well may be something worth investigating as a holiday present for the introverted wine lovers in your life.
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