October 2025
The Month of
The Opening Selection
The first week of cool weather is also the first week of red wine again. Three Iberian-and-Rhône reds for the opening of the season: a Roquette-family Douro that has been farming the same Portuguese hillside since the seventeenth century, J.L. Chave’s négociant Saint-Joseph from the granite slopes at Mauves, and Vega Sicilia’s five-year-aged Valbuena from Ribera del Duero — the house style without the Unico commitment.
Selections from a past month — availability may have changed.
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01
The Weekday Wine · Under $20
Quinta do Crasto Douro Tinto 2022
Douro DOC, Portugal
Dark plum and crushed violets on the nose, then a confident, ripe-fruit core that the Douro’s schist-and-shale terraces deliver on every honest vintage. Quinta do Crasto sits on a hillside above the river near Ferrão; the first written records of the property trace to 1615. The Roquette family took over in 1981 and now their sons Miguel and Tomás lead vineyard expansion. The 2022 blends the four pillars of Douro indigenous reds — Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Touriga Franca, Tinta Barroca — into a wine that drinks above its price band without trying to be Port’s sober cousin. Under sixteen dollars at Saratoga.
TASTING NOTES
Dark plum, crushed violets, ripe-fruit core
PAIRS WITH
Braised short ribs, manchego with quince paste
GRAPE
Touriga Nacional 35% / Tinta Roriz 30% / Touriga Franca 25% / Tinta Barroca 10%
DRINK WINDOW
2025–2030
Vintage Context
The Douro’s 2022 was a hot, dry growing season — the kind of year that punishes vines without deep schist roots. The Crasto property’s old-terraced parcels held their concentration without the alcohol overload that warmer Douro vintages can produce. The 2022 is forward, generous, and built to drink in the first few years after release rather than cellar for decades.
Build the Board
via Murray’s Cheese
A weeknight board for Douro red — Iberian sheep cheese against Portuguese fruit
Ossau-Iraty AOC · Jambon de Bayonne 9-month · black-cherry confiture · Marcona almonds · pain de campagne
02
The Saturday Pour · $20–$50
Jean-Louis Chave Sélection Saint-Joseph Offerus 2022
Saint-Joseph AOC, Northern Rhône, France
Black pepper, blueberry, smoked herbs, and the cool granite undertone that defines the best Saint-Joseph. Offerus is Jean-Louis Chave’s négociant label — the wine launched with the 1995 vintage as Chave’s first project outside the family Hermitage estate, sourcing Syrah from baby vines to 80-year-old plantings on the eastern-sloping granite at Mauves, Tournon, and St. Jean de Muzols. Imported to the US by Kermit Lynch. This is the Chave house style without the Hermáge price tag — structured, peppery, and unmistakably Northern Rhône. The Saturday red the table earns once the windows start fogging.
TASTING NOTES
Black pepper, blueberry, smoked herbs, granite
PAIRS WITH
Roast duck breast, mushroom pasta
GRAPE
Syrah (100%)
DRINK WINDOW
2026–2032
Vintage Context
Northern Rhône 2022 was a warm, dry vintage that pushed Syrah toward ripe-fruit concentration; for Chave, the 80-year-old vine parcels and east-facing granite slopes held acidity into the harvest. The 2022 Offerus is more generous and forward than the 2020 or 2021, drinking well now after an hour’s decanting but ready to keep five or six years before the granite undertone really comes into focus.
Build the Board
via Murray’s Cheese
A Saturday board for Northern Rhône Syrah — Italy answers the granite
24-month Parmigiano Reggiano · Taleggio Ciresa · Robiola Bosina · 20-month Prosciutto di Parma · Speck Alto Adige IGP
03
The Splurge · $50+
Vega Sicilia Valbuena 5° 2019
Ribera del Duero DO, Castile and León, Spain
Blackberry, cigar box, dried Mediterranean herbs, and a slow tannin structure that reveals itself across an hour in the glass. Bodegas Vega Sicilia was founded in 1864 by Eloy Lecanda y Chaves, who trained in Bordeaux and brought French varieties back to the Castilian plateau — the founding event that introduced Cabernet, Merlot, and Malbec into what would become Ribera del Duero. The Valbuena 5° takes its name from its release protocol: the wine is aged for five years before release. The 2019 is the wine sitting on retail shelves in 2026, the five-year cycle holding. It is the introduction to Vega Sicilia for collectors who want the house style without committing to Unico.
TASTING NOTES
Blackberry, cigar box, dried Mediterranean herbs
PAIRS WITH
Roast lamb, Manchego viejo, jamón ibérico de bellota
GRAPE
Tempranillo (Tinto Fino)-dominant blend
DRINK WINDOW
2026–2040
Vintage Context
Ribera del Duero 2019 was a balanced vintage with cool nights and a healthy harvest window; for Vega Sicilia, working at the eastern edge of the appellation, it produced a Valbuena with elegance and length that the warmer vintages can mute. The wine has spent five years in oak and bottle before release; the 2019 drinks well now with decanting and rewards another decade in the cellar.
Build the Board
via Murray’s Cheese
A Splurge board for Vega Sicilia — Iberian sheep cheese meets Castilian Tempranillo
1-year Manchego PDO · Idiazábal DOP · Roncal DOP · Paleta Ibérico de Bellota · Charlito’s chorizo
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“The first cool week is also the first red-wine week.”
— The TERROIR Editorial Desk
Producer Spotlight
Domaine Jamet
Côte-Rôtie, Northern Rhône — three generations, twenty-plus lieux-dits, one wine
Joseph Jamet planted his first 0.35 hectares of Côte-Rôtie vines in 1950 and sold the grapes to négociants for the next 26 years. The first bottle under the Jamet name came out in 1976. Three generations later — Jean-Paul + Corinne + their son Loïc — the estate still makes the single Côte-Rôtie cuvée it always has, assembled from more than twenty lieux-dits across the slope. Kermit Lynch calls it the pinnacle of classic Côte-Rôtie.
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