A SEPARATION
JODAEIYE NADER AZ SIMIN
Iran 2011 Farsi

DIR Asghar Farhadi
SCR Asghar Farhadi
CAST Leila Hatami, Peyman Moadi
Shahab Hosseini

Louis Martini Sonoma Cabernet 2009

Beppi in the Globe: "This is well-sculpted cabernet, with nothing out of place. The texture is polished, delivering flavours of cassis, cedar, tobacco and toasty oak. A light dusting of tannins provides structure and yields a satisfyingly dry finish. Ideal for steak or roast beef." 

There's one bottle of wine that is the introduction to what the fuss is about. "So that's what they mean when they say things like 'you can taste the dirt the grapes where grown in.'" It was a bottle of Martini Napa Cab camping in Monterey Bay summer mid-70s... This one was very nice with bar-b-que burgers at Luna Vista on Quadra Island.

Yecla Monastrell 2009. This Spanish red is derived from 100 percent Monastrell grapes sourced from older vines and aged in French oak barriques. It is a purple-hued red and offers up a nose of blackberry, pepper spice and blueberry. Ripe and fruit-forward with flavours of black cherry, chocolate and licorice, this wine is ideal for spicy dishes and Mediterranean seafood.

Beppi sez: 89 points 16 bucks: Too bracing and crisp to be called a crowd-pleaser (acid haters beware), this red will appeal to those with a taste for bone-dry, earthy Spanish bargains. Monastrell is the same as mourvèdre, a tannic grape that delivers astringent backbone. The wine is full-bodied, plummy and herbal.

Kissed by the Tuscan Sun

Monte Antico Toscana 2007. Beppi sez: 89 points, 15 bucks. Yes, one can still find affordable and positively delicious Tuscan reds from the superb 2006 vintage. This is made from 85-per-cent sangiovese, 10-per-cent cabernet sauvignon and 5-per-cent merlot. Unlike many such blends, though, it doesn’t let the French grapes obliterate sangiovese’s fragile cherry fruit and earthiness. The cab and merlot merely contribute a bit of oomph in the mid-palate as well as tannic structure. It is medium-bodied, with pure cherry, a touch of leather on the finish and dusty tannins that stimulated my chewing reflex. I love wines you can chew. Drink it now or keep it for two more years.

Meghan identified its pinot characteristics.