 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.
With signs of actual Winter coming down on the area (snow and everything), it's a good idea to make sure you have some good wine provisions on hand in case nature imposes its own stay-at-home orders. A good value, hearty red is always a fine option, and this is a real favorite for a second vintage in a row, having just recently changed over to the 2019. This may seem a bit young for a wine from the Duero, where many of their older vine wines end up in oak barrels for significant amounts of time. The vines for this single community sourced wine were all planted pre-WWII and farmed by the same families, and is all refreshingly aged just in tank and bottled unfiltered to show off its natural character and, well, freshness. The high altitude and limestone soils imbue the fruit with plenty of acidity and natural texture, so the oak isn't missed at all. Inky, youthful purple in the glass with deep blackberry and hints of smoke and cocoa that grow and intensify as the wine is open. With the intensity of the nose one may expect the palate to be thick and aggressive, but other than some texture from the tannins the mouthfeel is surprisingly vibrant and active. If you don't need oak in your life to enjoy your red wines, this is a great option to have for hearty meals on a snowy day.
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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. 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.
An 'easy' wine for this week, something straight through the uprights of deliciousness for most everyone to enjoy. Which is never a bad thing. The Alexander Valley sits at the northernmost end of Sonoma County, long regarded as a high quality growing area, but expansive enough and remote enough that the cost of producing wine hasn't become prohibitively expensive. Values can therefore still be found, showing off the distinct regional character and still able to be enjoyed on an everyday basis. A bit cooler and darker fruited on the nose and palate, with some touches of spice and cocoa especially on the minerally texture. At the higher end the wines here show off a lot of tannic structure compared to most other Californian regions,but at this price point there is plenty of approachability with just a tinge of firmness to the finish. This isn't a weighty fruit-forward monster, nor should it be for the price point, making it ideal for a mid-week meal to scratch that Cabernet itch.  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.
Two weeks in a row that we have a 'field blend' offered in the Insider's Pick, this time from the Gattinara region of Italy. Before World War II, this area of the northern Piedmont was just as famous for their Nebbiolo as Barolo and Barbaresco were to the south. Agriculture here was decimated in the years after the war, and much of that generation moved in to Milan and the other bigger cities to find what meager work they could get. A large portion of their vineyards were abandoned, and have only been seeing a re-establishment over the last 25 years or so thanks in large part to the emergence of more 'natural' wines. The cooler climate here lends itself to less extracted wines with more natural acidity and less intensive alcohol, and there are lots of opportunities here to find reasonably priced vineyards or growing space. Paride was fortunate enough to purchase his family's vines for himself in 1999 when his father looked to stop growing grapes for the local cooperative, and his own label-cellared in the basement of the family's generational home-has grown with the purchase of several plots in adjacent vineyards. This blend is made up of approximately equal parts of Nebbiolo, Vespolina, Bonarda, and Croatina, perfectly executing the ideals of the region's everyday wines. Palish red in the glass with tangy energetic red fruits and flowers on the nose, the palate is sneaky flavorful with dusty cherry skin and tart raspberry over the fine tannins. This isn't going to be a wine that floors a room full of people in a bling tasting, or win a bunch of awards (because he only makes a few hundred cases a year and has no excess to waste in entering anything). Pure utilitarian pleasure with lighter meats and rustic cheeses.  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 steep high altitude vineyards of Ribiera Sacra in Galicia are a hidden gem in the wine world, long overlooked as much of the wine here was made for home and local consumption, rarely built with an eye towards the international market. Though the terraced vineyards were established in Roman times (think Cote-Rotie in the Northern Rhone), the appellation did not exist formally until the mid-1990s, and there were very few established wineries to take advantage of the name. Pedro Rodriguez and his family was among the very first to take their family vineyards and establish the Guimaro winery (or 'adega' in the local dialect), and ever since have been a leader in farming and winemaking using traditional methods under modern standards. Camino Real represents their version of a 'field blend', taking fruit from several separate parcels planted to multiple varieties and combining them into one co-fermented wine. Mencia is the dominant grape, but as many as six other varieties are sprinkled amongst the rows. Fresh and savory on the nose with lots of earthy tinged dark berries that definitely show the influence from whole cluster fermentation, as well as on the palate with a very fine but firm tannin character that really amplified the earthy tones of the fruit. The presence of the other varietals is felt here as it has more flesh and texture to it than the usual 100% Mencia wines of the region (which can often be compared to a Loire Cabernet Franc), but is not thick feeling at all, indeed still quite nimble on its feet. A fantastic match with braised meats, full enough to stand up to fat and charred flavors without losing the ability to mix in with subtle herbs and vegetables. |
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
March 2021
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