Notable: Late January 2026

An American storm, a 1990 Cos d’Estournel, and wines from Olga Raffault, Benanti, La Farra, and Scharffenberger

Welcome back to Notable, where twice a month I reflect on the best wines of recent tasting.

Last week the Northeast was hit with a paralyzing blizzard. Arctic air collided with continental moisture to smother the region with a foot and a half of frigid snow. Travel was nearly impossible, and those who ventured onto roads did so at their peril; several local accidents involved the plow trucks themselves. It has remained bitter cold, well below 0°F overnight and scraping single digits during daylight, so we are still blanketed in the refrigerated remains of this storm.

Everyone’s cold and hungry. Our yard is crisscrossed with the tracks of woodland creatures, a palimpsest of their ceaseless expeditions in search of nourishment. Yesterday I watched a red-tailed hawk dive at three gray squirrels foraging in our old Christmas tree, which I stake out as a makeshift bird feeder. A few days earlier I’d seen a large bobcat policing our perimeter, and overnight the animal visited the tree, hunting the meadow voles who tunnel for seeds dropped by busy birds. Although I’ve no hard proof it was the cat, not a deer or coyote or fox, I believe it was him by his track: no paw prints per se (the snow’s too deep and fluffy), but instead a trough just cat-wide and cat-deep where he’d dragged his hungry belly.

It’s hard not to see “paralyzing storm” and “survival in extremes” as a metaphor for our country’s moment. (Not to mention “waiting for ice-out.”) And it’s hard to commit to writing about wine when that’s not what’s keeping me awake in dark hours. Given the magnitude of the current struggle, wine, and wine writing, seem laughably irrelevant. But I also don’t see that self-censorship, tools down, would be helpful while speech is under attack. Plus, one of the things we’re rooting for is comfort and safety, the ability to nourish and feed ourselves. Those aren’t just creature comforts—although all creatures need them—they’re needs both literal and figurative. Wine helps fill the void and, for me, so does the writing about it. So, I press on.

Notable Wines

Below are my reports on a 1990 Cos d’Estournel, an old-vine Chinon from Olga Raffault, a rare varietal Nerello Cappuccio from Benanti, three elegant Prosecco Superiore from La Farra, and three traditional method sparklers from Scharffenberger. Levity for cold, dark times.