Every week, we select a wine from the store as our Insider's Pick. We send out tasting notes to our email customers the evening before, and have the wine open to taste at the store Thursday and Friday from 12:00 until closing. If you purchase the wine on the days it is tasted, you receive a 10% discount from the bottle price, and a 15% discount if the wine is part of a mixed case (no further discount on 1 item cases).  Below are the tasting notes from the most recent Insider's Picks.

October 1, 2009
2005 CHATEAU MOURGUES DU GRES COSTIERES DE NIMES 'CAPITELLES'
$16.99, $14.44/case
Perhaps it was a clerical error. Perhaps the bottle broke on the way to the tasting. Perhaps it just wasn’t ready yet, and the importer never was able to get the wine in for review at a later date. But somehow, some way, inexplicably, this wine was never reviewed by the Wine Advocate for the 2005 vintage. This is a bit noteworthy, as the estate is a pet favorite of Robert Parker’s, and the Capitelles bottling is their top cuvee, selected and picked cluster by cluster from their older vines and barrel aged for a year before release. Even on the strength of the 2005 vintage in the Rhone and the unmistakable quality of the wine once you put it in your mouth, this pressless silence caused this wine to sell slower than usual. Two years later, in the face of the impending release of the even more remarkable 2007 vintage, we have been presented with an excellent deal, which helps to bring you this wine for $4 or more off its usual price. This is regularly a very good deal at $20+, an intense and full flavored Syrah grown in the warmth of the Southern Rhone, where usually Grenache is king, and bottled unfiltered. At this price, it’s ridiculous. Saturated deep purple color, the aromas are filled with briary black fruits, wild game, and hits of herbs. In the mouth the texture is massive-and ever so slightly gritty from being unfiltered-loading on the gamey fruits, baking chocolate and notes of tar, but what makes this wine completely surprising is the level of acidity present, giving the wine plenty of life despite the raw density. The chewiness would lead you to think the wine would finish thick and sticky, yet it finishes quit dryly with a stimulation to your palate that seems to almost insist you salivate, hungry for a bite of food or another sip. While it may not always be about numbers and ratings, the absence of one here is very much in your favor.

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September 24, 2009
2004 OKANOGAN ESTATE PINOT NOIR
$15.99, $13.59/case
No matter how long you may have been around wine and the wine industry, the one constant is that it will always find new ways to surprise you. Washington is best known for the wines from the Columbia River Valley and the Walla Walla area, showcasing intense wines from Bordeaux and Rhone grape varieties. Little did we know way out here on the East coast that there was a little bit of winemaking action happening way up on the British Columbia border as well, and with Pinot Noir, no less. We have come across some wines from the Canadian side of the Okanogan Valley, including some justifiably famous Cabernet Sauvignons, but nothing from the American side. This is the first producer from our side, tucked in just 5 miles from the border in an old mining town. The sandy soils are great for growing grapes, and their close proximity to Lake Osoyoos helps to moderate the colder temperatures one would expect this far inland. This is a surprisingly robust Pinot Noir, fairly deep in color and sporting just the earliest tinges of maturing color changes around the edges. The aromas are equally deep for a Pinot, showing plums and tart red cherry similar to Oregon or even an entry level Burgundy. If you plunge your nose in the glass you may even pick up a hint of smoke that was actually reflective of several prominent wildfires in the area during the summer, which the maturing grapes picked up and brought into the final wine. The fruit actually holds the smoke quite well, recalling some of the grape’s more animalistic characters usually found in French bottlings. This is a very nice food wine showing soft, immediately accessible tannins but still enough flesh to handle smoked salmon or mushroom based dishes.


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September 17, 2009
2007 LEITZ RHEINGAU RIESLING TROCKEN 'EINS ZWEI DRY'
$15.99, $13.59/case
Lesson number (what are we up to, 34? 38?) oh let’s call it 44 on how Riesling does not always have to be a sweeter wine. Many of these lessons have come in the form of wines from Austria, Australia, and even Washington State, but this is one of the first times we have done one from Germany, where the stereotype of sweet Riesling more or less came into being. First, let’s make one thing totally clear: there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG with sweeter Riesling. They can be some of the most deliciously complex wines going, provide a vast array of site specific flavors, and are by far the easiest white wines to cellar long term. But because decent drier versions have been harder to come by, people with a self-imposed bugaboo about sweet wines have convinced themselves that ALL Rieslings have lots of residual sugar (Yet they guzzle back gallons of Chardonnay with similar levels of sugar masked by oak… but we’ll save that battle for another day). In recent years, German winemaking laws have been rewritten in certain ways to encourage making better dry Rieslings from better vineyard sites, resulting in a dramatic improvement of quality where dry Rieslings actually taste balanced instead of like biting into a raw lime (or as German wine importer Terry Theise likes to call it, “Raped into dryness’). Certain vineyard sites in the different growing regions are designated as a sort of Grand Cru and, if the wine from the site is dry and a high enough level, they can use the vineyard name and the term ‘Grosses Gewachs’; in the Rheingau they use the term ‘Erstes Gewachs’, but it means the same thing. With the exceptionally good ripening seasons in 2005 and 2007, these new breeds of dry wines have shown much better ripeness than previous efforts, and really launched them into the discussion of the other great dry white wines of the world. This bottling comes from an Erstes Gewachs site but was harvested at a level that was too low to earn the designation, which is great for us because we get to sell it for about 1/3 of what an Erstes Gewachs would be. Bright apple and citrus peel nose with hits of other pit fruits and an acidity that leaves your nasal passages chilly even if the wine is at room temperature. In the mouth the apple notes hit with a tartness at first that almost seems underripe, but the texture is much fuller than expected, and on the second and third sip the raciness becomes more enjoyable. It’s like jumping into a cold pool or lake; once you get past the initial shock to the system (and shrinkage), it becomes refreshing and enjoyable. Dry and light enough to go with fish, but flavorful enough to enjoy anywhere any oaky wines are not welcomed.

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September 10, 2009
2007 QUPE SYRAH CENTRAL COAST
$16.99, $14.44/case
For wine, like many things, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. When a reviewer is critiquing a wine, they are relying on their refined (hopefully) sense of taste to determine the quality of the wine and- whether it’s using a point system, stars, glasses, or whatever-rate and compare them to other wines that may be like it. Let’s put some extra emphasis on the word ‘sense’ here, because many people seem to think these ratings are some sort of absolute, like the scores on your SAT or graduate school exams. A ‘sense’ of taste is like a ‘sense’ of humor or of fashion or of art; it is very personal, very unique, and while you can never be ‘wrong’ about what you like, you can definitely find people that will disagree about just how ‘right’ you really are. Even the most trusted and respected reviewers can find themselves with opposing recommendations on the same wines. Recently both the Wine Advocate and the International Wine Cellar reviewed this wine, and they came away with very different impressions; an ‘austere, one-dimentional’ 79 points (C+ at best) from one, and a ‘pleasantly clean and brisk’ 87 points (solid B to B+) from the other. For our tastes, where nothing makes it in this store unless it’s at least a solid B, they’re both off, though one significantly more so. Owner/winemaker Bob Lundquist is one of the true Rhone Ranger originals, and he builds this Syrah in the French model, emphasizing earthy subtlety over rich fruit. Initial aromas of dried black fruit, cherry pits, smoke, and pepper are slowly joined by cherry and cola notes, and completely avoids any sign of heat on the nose from higher alcohol levels or extremely ripe grapes that can sometimes plague Californian Rhones. The French influence is even more present in the mouth, with lots of tart cherry skin, cocoa, and herbal fruit notes lying in a wine that is moderate in weight but not extracted or thick tasting, as well as a pleasantly bitter finish long on the pepper and savory. To us this is great find in Californian red wine that, for those that enjoy it, will bring loads of pleasure at a terrific price.
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September 03, 2009
DOUBLE FEATURE:
THURSDAY/FRIDAY- 2006 CALLE BRANDSEN RESERVE MALBEC
$19.99, $16.99/case
FRIDAY-THE WINES OF PATIT CREEK CELLARS
We have the unique opportunity to bring you a little something extra for the Insider’s Pick once again this week. On Thursday we will do the usual tasting with the single wine whose tasting notes follow later in the email; on Friday, in addition to the regular wine we will be hosting Ed Dudley of Washington State winery Patit Creek Cellars. Ed is a native of Charlottesville and graduate of the University of Virginia who joined a group of friends in 1999 to invest in owning a winery. Through research they determined the best place at the time to start up a winery was in the Walla Walla region of Washington, and they began their project in the small town of Dayton. Since that time four of the partners left the group, leaving Ed and one other in charge of the winery. The winery itself has expanded to produce around 3,000 cases per year over six different wines, of which we will be pouring four; the 2007 Riesling, the 2006 Trinite Red (Grenache/ Syrah/Mourvedre blend), the 2005 Merlot, and the 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon. All the Patit Creek wines will be eligible for the Insider’s Pick 10% discount on Friday.

For this Malbec, we were excited when we first tasted it by what WASN’T there as much as by what WAS there. All too often Argentinean Malbecs fall into the formula that trapped so many Australian Shiraz, going for extremely ripe fruit that provides very juicy and pleasurable wines, but can sometimes rob the wine of complexity. We enjoy those wines to be sure, and they provide great value, but they can get a bit repetitive and overly similar to one another. This is why when we find Malbecs that truly show something unique, like the Patagonian Malbec and the Malbec/Petit Verdot blend we featured in recent Select Six’s, we try to get them into everyone’s hands as much as possible. The smooth cool aromas of cocoa and smoky black fruit show some restraint, invoking some visions of the Malbec based Cahors wines from France that preceded those in Argentina. While the first sip is definitively not Cahors (as in, it isn’t so tannic that it doesn’t chew through your gums and actually leaves some enamel on your teeth), it stays away from the jammy Zinfandel like texture, bringing lots of silky blackcurrant and baking chocolate flavors on tannins that are surprisingly fine, almost completely absent until the finish. There is a bit of oak that pokes through initially, but with some time open fades to the background with just a hint of vanilla on the nose and on the finish. This is a great Malbec for someone who has a preference for European reds, or for anyone that likes to taste the true diversity of a wine region.

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August 27, 2009
THE WINES OF ANTON BAUER
We have a special treat for you this week. Instead of just one wine featured in the Insider’s Pick, we have a selection of five wines available from the Austrian producer Anton Bauer. We will also have winery representative Lydia Nastberger in the store Thursday from @ 3:30 on to answer your questions about the winery and Austrian wines in general. If you are not familiar with these wines, Anton Bauer has been a staple in our Austrian wine selection since the importer KW Selections made them a cornerstone of their portfolio. We have had numerous opportunities to taste their many wines, met with Anton and done dinners with him many times, watching the winery grow in strength over the last decade. The winery produces both great values and high quality in both reds and whites, and is generally considered one of the top producers in the Wagram region along the Danube River. If you have not tasted Austrian wines before, these are some of the best introductions you could ever have into what they are all about. We will be pouring two whites, a dry rose, and two reds from the Anton Bauer portfolio. The two whites will both be Gruner Veltliner, Austria’s best known native white grape, but will be very different expressions. The first, named Gmork ($10.99, $15.99/1.5L) after the vineyard site it comes from, is a classic example of the grape, showing crisp apple and citrus aromas and light clean flavors at an exceptional price. The Grande Reserve ($37.99) is a completely different beast, one of the few Gruner Veltliners aged in new French Oak. This wine drinks more like a fine white Burgundy, and has been one of the top scoring Gruners in the Gault Millau Austrian wine ratings. The Rose ($10.99) is made from the Zweigelt grape, as is the first red wine ($13.99), which is Austria’s most famous native red grape. The grape is similar in some ways to Syrah, with a rich red fruit and smoky, peppery notes, but tends to have a silkier and more restrained character. Both wines show off the unique character of this grape quite well. The final wine is their Wagram red blend, Cuvee 12 ($17.99), made from a selection of Zweigelt, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Blaufrankish, another unique grape found mostly in the lower areas of Austria. This wine is more substantial than the regular Zweigelt and sees some aging in used and new oak casks to give the wine more layers of complexity. All these wines will be available to taste Thursday August 27th and Friday August 28th while supplies last, and will all take the usual 10% Insider’s Pick discount during that time.

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August 20, 2009
2005 JEAN-BAPTISTE LEBREUIL SAVIGNY-LES-BEAUNE
$27.99.,$23.79/case
The 2005 vintage was one of the most uniformly outstanding harvest for France as a whole, seeing some of the best wines in decades in almost all the most important regions (only Alsace and the Northern Rhone were left out of the collective bounty). Burgundy in particular saw one of their best Pinot Noir vintages in modern history, finding it easy for a change to create top flight wines in a region that sees more inconsistency and heartache than any other in the world. Several years have past and the most heralded, highly scored, and highly priced wines have long left the retail market place for lengthy slumbers in collector’s cellars, but there are still very fine wines to be found. Due to the abundance of quality many wines got lost in the shuffle, and as importers move ever forward to the next vintage, room has to be made, and sometimes a very worthy wine has to be sold at a lower price. At the start of the vintage, you would have been hard pressed to find a Burgundy this good for under $40, much less $30. Now, we have a wine that does something very few Burgundies ever do: Over-deliver for the money. A quiet nose at first, but with some swirling and shaking it opens up to the pretty and elegant aromas Savigny-Les-Beaune is well known for; violets, strawberry, and tart cherry. The exceptional ripeness of the vintage brings up deeper, darker red fruits as well and adds a sweeter weight a wine that is often thin, barnyard-y and a bit simple compared to its neighbors. In the mouth the wine is a little slower to evolve, full of great ripeness and texture, but the complexity doesn’t quite live up to the nose, at least at first. After two or three hours open (as it will be Thursday and Friday when most of you will taste it) the red cherry fruit emerges and the silky tannins begin to diminish. With easily another decade of life ahead of it, this is just an early snapshot of what this wine will be; buy several if you want to lay any down, because as many have found with the 2005 vintage, the amazing ripeness makes it incredibly hard to leave them alone.

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August 13, 2009
2008 DOMAINE BRUSSET COTES DU RHONE VILLAGES BLANC CAIRANNE 'LES TRAVERS'
$19.99,$16.99/case
White Chateauneuf-du-Pape, and the concept of the White Rhone wine as a whole, is slowly becoming an afterthought. In a region where the newfound resurgence and (deserved) worldwide recognition of their red wines in the last few decades has brought tens of millions of dollars, winemakers are often choosing to replant many of their white grape vines. Californian planting and production using these grapes has actually begun to gain on that of the Rhone, and the quality of the best producers like Tablas Creek and other Rhone Rangers are genuinely starting to beat them at their own game. This is a shame, as White Rhones have as unique a character as their red counterparts, providing fresh, energetic, and immensely enjoyable wines that deserve as much attention at whites from any other French region. Like the reds, White Rhones are almost always a blend of grapes whose ratios can be varied from producer to producer to make an endless array of flavor combinations. In the case of this wine, no one grape of the five grapes used makes up more than 30% of the blend, resulting in a very even and well integrated final wine. Fresh aromas of wild meadow flowers and citrus skins flow at a very even pace from the glass with just a hint of perfume and tropical fruit from the small percentage of Viognier; even at only 10%, the intense fragrance of Viognier can easily poke its way through. The mouthfeel is round like a Chardonnay, but the fruit is more tart and fleshy instead of pulpy, and the absence of malolactic fermentation’s buttery character allows the wine’s natural white citrus and apricot flavors to shine through, barely showing any signs of the partial oak aging. The finish is very long without becoming overwhelming, leaving your mouth with a zesty and slightly saline note that really helps this wine call to seafood pairings like oysters and most shellfish. An ideal wine to substitute into any dish where an oaky Chardonnay would be too intrusive.
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