Top Wines for April

The wine selection in the Philly region is getting a bit interesting in April. A lot of classics have just arrived in the region. The prices are fantastic, just as most other wines are going up in price. So, enjoy this list knowing that your friends at the Wine School have your back.

Mirafiore 2020 Barolo
PLCB Price: $29.99 | MSRP: $99.00 | Avg. U.S. Retail: ~$45.50

From the historic Casa E. di Mirafiore estate in Piedmont, this 2020 Barolo offers a poised, classically shaped expression of Nebbiolo. The nose opens with red cherry, dried rose, and a light mineral note, then deepens into plum, tobacco, graphite, and a faint balsamic lift. On the palate, it is medium-bodied and finely textured, with bright acidity and firm, fine-grained tannins that give the wine real tension without making it forbidding. There is structure here, but also polish: the wine already shows enough harmony to drink with a decant, while its frame suggests it will continue to develop over time.

Furioso Vineyards 2022 Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley
PLCB Price: $19.99 | MSRP: $39.00

This is a savory, well-composed Willamette Valley Pinot Noir that favors detail over weight. Aromas of cranberry, pomegranate, red currant, mushroom, forest floor, and spice are joined by floral notes and a touch of sandalwood. The palate is medium-bodied, supple, and bright, with silky tannins and enough acidity to keep the fruit lifted and precise. What stands out most is the balance: it carries the gentle earthiness and red-fruited energy that make Oregon Pinot attractive, but without excess ripeness or gloss. It feels honest to its region and varietal.

Pepe Mendoza 2022 “La Viña de Madaras” Alicante
PLCB Price: $14.99 | MSRP: $33.00

La Viña de Madaras is a Mediterranean red with real character and more depth than its price suggests. The 2022 shows dark berries, plum, pine, rosemary, dried herbs, and orange peel, all carried by a warm but disciplined Alicante profile. The palate is fleshy and juicy, yet structured, with ripe tannins and enough freshness to keep the wine from turning heavy. What makes it particularly interesting is the vintage context: in a very hot year, Pepe Mendoza folded fruit that might otherwise have gone into more ambitious bottlings into this wine, which helps explain its unusual concentration and complexity at this level. The result is generous, regional, and notably complete.

Cusumano 2021 “Alta Mora” Etna Rosso
PLCB Price: $14.99 (Closeout) | MSRP: $24.99 | Avg. U.S. Retail: ~$31.40

Alta Mora’s 2021 Etna Rosso captures the tensile, volcanic side of the appellation with unusual clarity. Sourced from several prized contrade, largely from alberello-trained vines at high elevation, it opens with crushed stone, dried rose, black cherry, currant, pepper, and mountain herbs. The palate is medium to lean-bodied, but there is nothing slight about it: the wine has silky tannins, bright acidity, and a stony, lifted finish that gives it both shape and persistence. This is Etna in a more restrained, nervy register rather than a plush one.

Gran Alanís 2023 “Castes Blancas” Ribeiro
PLCB Price: $12.99 | MSRP: $40.00

This Ribeiro white is brisk, textural, and quietly distinctive. Built from Godello with Treixadura, Loureira, and Albariño, it shows green apple, white flowers, citrus, fresh herbs, and a lightly saline edge, with a subtle waxy roundness that gives the wine more shape than a simple crisp white. The granitic, sandy soils seem to come through less as overt minerality than as brightness and cut. It is fresh, compact, and aromatic without becoming showy, and the finish carries a nice interplay of orchard fruit, herbal lift, and gentle bitterness.