 Even though we will not be doing the public tasting portion of the Insider's Pick until further notice, we will still be offering the wine for purchase with the usual 10% discount on Thursday and Friday. The wines will still be ones we highly recommend, and the tasting notes will still be our own. We will be returning to doing just the one wine on Thursdays and Fridays until further notice. We hope you are able to come by and get some wines to enjoy.
Because 'Beaujolais Nouveau est Arrive!' today, and people may be more in the mind of trying Beaujolais for Thanksgiving, we figured we should go ahead and get a Cru Beaujolais, the REAL stuff, out for the last Insider's Pick of November. Basically, you can consider the entire row of Beaujolais on the Thanksgiving recommended list, it just depends on where on the price spectrum you want to land. Julienas is one of the two northern Crus in Beaujolais, along with St. Amour, and doesn't get nearly the attention of its neighbors. High granite levels in the soil are what makes the Gamay grape really sing in this region, but in Julienas the clay content is higher so the wines don't have the reputation for being as intense and floral. This definitely does not fall into that category, delivering Beaujolais character every bit of the measure of any other Cru. Named for the blue stones in their vineyards (from the clay), this has lovely flowery aromatics, loads of cherry skin and tart cranberry but also darker fruits and even some earthy blueberry tones. The palate isn't as full and textured as wines from Fleurie or Moulin-A-Vent are famously known to be, more light and lip-smacking with bright acidity and very fine light tannins, but definitely pulls out some gamey tones in the finish. Not one to stash away for future Thanksgivings as it's pretty well ready to go, but do give it a decant or as much time open as possible to really allow the floral character to build, it will definitely make everything at the table taste that much better.
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 Even though we will not be doing the public tasting portion of the Insider's Pick until further notice, we will still be offering the wine for purchase with the usual 10% discount on Thursday and Friday. The wines will still be ones we highly recommend, and the tasting notes will still be our own. We will be returning to doing just the one wine on Thursdays and Fridays until further notice. We hope you are able to come by and get some wines to enjoy.
The measure of a great winemaker is what they are capable of creating in the more difficult vintages. Not only was 2020 difficult just because of everything in the world that was going on, frost issues early on and tough growing conditions throughout the growing season made it particularly taxing on Virginia wineries. Midlands Construction is one of the side projects for Early Mountain's winemaker Ben Jordan, based off of vineyards planted at his family's farm in Ft. Defiance between Staunton and Harrisonburg. While not to the intensity levels it has been previously (reflected in the price drop from last vintage), they managed to squeeze every drop of flavor and texture they could to make this very endearing and holiday-friendly wine. Co-fermented at roughly 80%CabFranc/ 20%Blaufrankisch with native yeasts, the black fruits are a bit subdued on the nose, giving more herbal berry and higher toned red fruits you usually get with Cabernet Franc. The palate is very polished and fuller than the aromas let on, especially with some time open, with more of the dark fruit and earthy forest floor tone showing through here, finishing with a dusty peppered cherry note. A perfect Virginian wine to have during the holiday that reminds us all to be thankful for all the positive things in our lives.  Even though we will not be doing the public tasting portion of the Insider's Pick until further notice, we will still be offering the wine for purchase with the usual 10% discount on Thursday and Friday. The wines will still be ones we highly recommend, and the tasting notes will still be our own. We will be returning to doing just the one wine on Thursdays and Fridays until further notice. We hope you are able to come by and get some wines to enjoy.
The next few weeks will provide PLENTY of time for discussion about Thanksgiving wines (watch for our yearly 'Turkey Picks' email coming out early next week), so this one is all about knocking out that chill in the air that just dropped in this week. Too often the opinions of Australian wines are colored with the same brush, that they are all 'critter labels' and mass marketing brands that taste the same and have no subtlety or character. David Powell, the senior of the two Powells, represents everything that's right about the wines, a long time proponent of saving older vineyards at a time in the 80s and 90s when many sites were being ripped up for grazing cattle. His first winery, Torbreck, was at the head of the Aussie wine movement in the early 2000s with their exquisite lineup of wines made from some of the most prestigious ancient vineyards in the Barossa. After an unfortunate dispute with his partners forced him to leave Torbreck, David restarted his wine career with his son Callum at his side with their first vintage in 2013, still sourcing wonderful properties and still creating tremendous gems. Polished and warm red fruits and dark cherry tones on the nose with a hint of toasty oak that is mostly absorbed now and gets quickly replaced with dark spice tones as it opens up. The Mataro and Shiraz (misprint on the back label has Grenache named twice, but definitely 10% Shiraz) adds some dark tones and some acidity to the velvety lush fruit on the palate, a little touch of cocoa to the cherry tones of the Grenache. At their best, Powell & Son make some of the iconic wines of the Barossa; at their most affordable here, they deliver greatness we can all enjoy.  Even though we will not be doing the public tasting portion of the Insider's Pick until further notice, we will still be offering the wine for purchase with the usual 10% discount on Thursday and Friday. The wines will still be ones we highly recommend, and the tasting notes will still be our own. We will be returning to doing just the one wine on Thursdays and Fridays until further notice. We hope you are able to come by and get some wines to enjoy.
Another pre-Thanksgiving wine to get you in the mood. We always love recommending Alsatian wines for this time of year for their versatility over the broad spectrum of foods and flavor combinations that make it to the holiday table. Many people may feel adverse to trying them expecting them to all be sweeter (a pre-associated prejudice against the tall narrow bottles, perhaps), but by and large they are much drier than people think. Grapes like Pinot Blanc and Chasselas make up a lot of their everyday wines and blends, and both are very dry and clean tasting. Riesling here also tends to be much drier and minerally/stony on the palate than in most parts of the world, though sweetness does creep in. Point being, you stand to get a fairly dry wine when picking an Alsatian wine, and a 'Metiss' field blend (also called a 'Gentil' by many producers) are a great way to introduce yourself to the region. Bott-Geyl is one of the long-standing greats of the region, known for high quality as well as one of the longest followers of organic/Biodynamic viticulture in the region. Their blend is primarily Riesling, Pinot Blanc and Chassselas, but also has a splash of Muscat, which brings a touch of perfume and prettiness without influencing the overall sweetness. Clean and forward on the nose with lots of cool pear and white fruits, fresh mountain streams and a bit of orange blossom and wildflower from the Muscat. Just enough weight to the palate to give the fruit some body and intensity, but no sugary sweetness, nothing cloying at all, just pure juice with some acidity to the finish that brings some tingle to the tongue. The clean fruit character handles all the savory and sweet combos in the food, while the body can contend with a lot of the creamier sides and diversity of meats.  Even though we will not be doing the public tasting portion of the Insider's Pick until further notice, we will still be offering the wine for purchase with the usual 10% discount on Thursday and Friday. The wines will still be ones we highly recommend, and the tasting notes will still be our own. We will be returning to doing just the one wine on Thursdays and Fridays until further notice. We hope you are able to come by and get some wines to enjoy.
With Thanksgiving approaching more rapidly than many of us would like to admit, it's actually a good time to start thinking about what to serve and accumulating some special bottles to avoid the late rush. Beaujolais and the Gamay grape is of course one of the classic all-purpose pairings, soft and savory with very easy tannins that meld with the broad spectrum of foods at the traditional holiday table. But Gamay isn't the only game in town, just the best publicized. Vespolina is the primary 'everyday' grape in the Northern Piedmont region near the city of Novara, at one time famous for Nebbiolo based wines from Gattinara and other sites, but post WWII lost a lot of the vineyards due to the rural population moving to big cities hoping to find work. The last few decades has seen a return to agricultural life here, and with it the rise of small producers revitalizing the sloped vineyards. Working barely 10 acres among three separate sites, Bonaperti has been a leading name here, and his Vespolina is routinely among the best examples of the grape every vintage. Juicy cherry and raspberry skin fruit on the nose with dark spice and tobacco leaf notes parallel the juicy/gamey combo of Gamay, a big aroma given some time open but never intense or blowing you back from the glass. The mouthfeel is a little fuller and darker than a Beaujolais but with similar juiciness and super-fine tannin texture that leaves just a kiss of dustiness behind, bringing out all the lovely dark savory nuances of the fruit. This is the type of wine that really shine with the gamey dark meats and savory side dishes, sausage or oyster stuffing, etc., but can still treat the lighter foods quite nicely.  Even though we will not be doing the public tasting portion of the Insider's Pick until further notice, we will still be offering the wine for purchase with the usual 10% discount on Thursday and Friday. The wines will still be ones we highly recommend, and the tasting notes will still be our own. We will be returning to doing just the one wine on Thursdays and Fridays until further notice. We hope you are able to come by and get some wines to enjoy.
Pinot Noir isn't often thought of as a grape of high potential in Sancerre, definitively second in plantings and reputation to Sauvignon Blanc, and even in the hands of the top producers it's primarily used for making Rose. Absolute dreamy, beautiful Rose that we can't get enough of, so it isn't a bad thing. There just aren't many producers putting the effort into making a Sancerre Rouge of much character; even one of the best and best known, Domaine Hippolyte Reverdy (not directly related), had to be convinced by the importer Kermit Lynch to develop theirs early on. When you get one that's really on it, that hits on every cylinder, they are every bit the equivalent of their Burgundian counterparts, and at this price they are a stellar value. Deep for a Pinot in color with some savory black cherry skin and dried red fruit aromas at first, a bit closed at first but getting brighter and riper over some time in the glass, a sign this wine definitely has some staying power for aging. The palate has a bit more oompf that your usual basic Bourgogne, mostly provided by that tell-tale chalky minerality so associated with Samcerre, really gives the elegant fruit and tannins some extra presence and intensity through the finish. Much like the Bordeaux in last week's Insider, this is a great wine for enjoying over a full day or two, giving it time to evolve and show more of the complexity hidden under it's youth, something rarely able to be done on a Pinot at this price.  Even though we will not be doing the public tasting portion of the Insider's Pick until further notice, we will still be offering the wine for purchase with the usual 10% discount. The wines will still be ones we highly recommend, and the tasting notes will still be our own. We will be returning to doing just the one wine on Thursdays and Fridays until further notice. We hope you are able to come by and get some wines to enjoy.
We have greatly missed doing in-store tastings over the last year (hope to return to doing them soon), not just because of the chance for you to sample the wines we enjoy presenting, but it gives us the opportunity to bring you some of the great personalities from the wine world. Importer Aymeric d'Alton had not been bringing in for long his family's selection of small hand curated estates before the shutdown, and even though he only came in a couple times to pour he quickly became a store favorite. The knowledge, the intelligence, the passion, the occasional cursing (but with a French accent, so it's charming) always made for an excellent day for everyone. It also makes life easier when literally everything in their book is a rock star. The family has a distinct idea in mind for the wines they want to represent, and from bottling to bottling each Chateau hits their mark with a classic, structured character with lots of evolution potential and value, from their least expensive to most prestigious estates. This newer arrival to us is just a baby, but with a little time and patience oh such a delicious baby. Mostly Cabernet Sauvignon with a healthy dose of Merlot and splashes of Cab Franc and Petit Verdot, this has immense dark fruit and tannic character for the price point, lots of black currant and youthful toasty character on the nose that deepens and sweetens over several hours open. Earthy and intense on the palate as well,lots of firm dark tannin that will soften some but stays fairly present throughout, as it should for a wine that can easily see another decade or more ahead of it. It's a weekend wine, in that you can easily enjoy it at your own pace over an entire weekend and never feel like it's doing to fade. This, like all the wines in Aymeric's stable, shows how great the value is within Bordeaux for those capable of seeing beyond the 'known' names and are willing to explore.  Even though we will not be doing the public tasting portion of the Insider's Pick until further notice, we will still be offering the wine for purchase with the usual 10% discount. The wines will still be ones we highly recommend, and the tasting notes will still be our own. We will be returning to doing just the one wine on Thursdays and Fridays until further notice. We hope you are able to come by and get some wines to enjoy.
Marietta Cellars and the Bilbro family are true royalty in the Sonoma/North Coast wine world, into their third generation of viticulture and genuine stewards of the land for all the historic vineyards they tend. Their most famous and widely available wine is their non-vintage 'Lot' series Old Vine Red, a value oriented throwback to the historic Californian field blends made by hundreds of immigrant families from the later 1800s well into the 1900s from the vineyards they cultivated and harvested, for sustenance well before they became fashionable or profitable. The next tier up from the OVR is their 'Family' series, three wines named after important figured in the Bilbro family, built from a more stringent selection of varieties and vineyards and with a specific historic blend in mind. One focuses on Zinfandel based blends, one on Cabernet Sauvignon based Meritage blends, and this one (named after Chris, founder of Marietta Cellars) based off of Rhone blends. The one slight Californi-fication that takes place is the substitution of Petite Sirah for Mourvedre, but otherwise they have the aura of a Southern Rhone down to a T, right down to even co-fermenting a slight bit of Viognier for a little extra pop of aromatics. Deep black fruits and dark spice on the nose, but also a coolness and a touch of smokiness as a lot of the Syrah comes from some of the cooler areas of North Coast, which really helps keep the fruit fresh and alive. On the palate the fruit is intense and immediate, filling your mouth with loads of blackberry and raspberry tones, but still has lots of savory to show and acidity keep the finish from feeling cloying or plodding. A great cooler weather wine to help warm your insides, both with the quality of wine as well as the history of the family behind it. INSIDER'S PICK: 2019 HEATHEN WINES 'CUVEE CREMISI' RED BALLARD CANYON SANTA BARBARA COUNTY $38.999/23/2021  Even though we will not be doing the public tasting portion of the Insider's Pick until further notice, we will still be offering the wine for purchase with the usual 10% discount. The wines will still be ones we highly recommend, and the tasting notes will still be our own. We will be returning to doing just the one wine on Thursdays and Fridays until further notice. We hope you are able to come by and get some wines to enjoy.
If a customer comes to us and says 'hey, would you like to try my new wine label?' we usually would respond with a healthy dose of side-eye and a heartfelt 'maybe'. If that customer is an accomplished Level 3 Master Sommelier, educator, heretic and all-around smartypants like Heath Porter, we listen. We listen even closer when we hear the fruit is from a choice site in Ballard Canyon and vinification was done via his friends at Melville Winery. Once we got to taste it, we were all in. Primarily Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon with equal doses of Sangiovese and Cabernet Franc, this was built with the same fun spirit and 'no rules/all taste' mentality those 'other' brands used to have early on before they became formulaic and lost all sense of personality or distinction. The single source gives the wine character: Ballard Canyon is a cool climate pocket in Santa Barbara, bringing better acidity and tension to the fruit, as well as the use of Sangiovese and Cabernet Franc to pop the palate and brighten the aromatics. Immediately pleasurable aromas from the get-go filled with intense dark cherry, cassis, and spiced black fruits that get warmer and richer as it opens up. The palate is where this really steps away from the competition, showing great life and brightness that bring complexity and interest to the fruit, not a plodding sweetness that hits like a soggy sponge. Completely fun to drink if you just want to kick back and not think about it, but full of thought-provoking context if you do. INSIDER'S PICK: 2020 PATRICIA GREEN CELLARS 'DOLLAR BILLS ONLY' PINOT NOIR WILLAMETTE VALLEY $22.999/16/2021  Even though we will not be doing the public tasting portion of the Insider's Pick until further notice, we will still be offering the wine for purchase with the usual 10% discount. The wines will still be ones we highly recommend, and the tasting notes will still be our own. We will be returning to doing just the one wine on Thursdays and Fridays until further notice. We hope you are able to come by and get some wines to enjoy.
The best wineries are the ones that can make delicious wines out of imperfect fruit. Patricia Green Cellars is definitely one of the great producers in Oregon, and what they would call 'imperfect' by their standards is pretty darn excellent for others. This is a value wine Patty Green Cellars doesn't set out to make every year, but some vintages give them enough fruit for it; not QUITE good enough to make it into their long lived single vineyard series, but not so weak that they choose to sell it off. From the 2020 vintage this is built from five vineyard sites (including the esteemed Freedom Hill Vineyard and their own Estate vineyards in Ribbon Ridge) and these lots were separated out early on to go into this easy-drinking treasure. The jukebox picture on the label (taken from a local Dundee joint) says 'Music For Everyone', and Dollar Bills Only takes that spirit to be a wine for everyone. Pure tank aged fruit on the nose is juicy and immediate, loaded with cherry and spiced raspberry, but also shows the breeding of its vineyard sources as it opens up with subtle notes of tar and savory notes. The palate is very soft and polished, full of juicy flavors that have a nice snap to the finish that's almost crunchy. Many wines like this would feel more extracted and saturated, but because the decision was made on these lots early the juice has a lighter body while still fully ripe in flavor, and cozies in under 13%abv without losing a bit of character. This is a great casual wine with some serious pedigree that really propels it well beyond its pop-and-pour nature. Also one of the rare Oregon Pinots we highly encourage you to NOT age, as this is built to consume on the quick. |
The Best of the Best.We offering free tastings on these wines in the store every Thursday and Friday, and a 10% discount off the retail price through the duration of the day. Come on by and give them a try! Archives
November 2021
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