 Much of the Wine Warehouse origin story can be traced back to a profound love for the great Sauvignon Blanc wines of the Loire, particularly the racy and vibrant fruit character of Sancerre. So when a New Zealand version not only gets us excited but can be touted as a 'significant house pour' for us, it has to be noteworthy. Owner/winemaker/name on the label Jules Taylor came from a career of running some of Marlborough's most visible wine brands to start her own personal label with her husband and a small crew of employees, Like so many of our favorites, they only look to make wines they are excited for, managed the way they want (certified Sustainably Farmed and Vegan), and judging by the results in the bottle they like to drink exactly what we do. Fruit for their Sauvignon Blanc comes from vineyards in the cooler Wairau and Awatere Valleys, and the fresh pop of acidity on the nose immediately cuts through the classic NZ tropical fruit to show bright green apple and minty herbs. Intentionally less fat with fruit on the palate than typical, but still with a full mouth of flavor to enjoy with immensely mouth-watering citrus skin, kiwi fruit and the lingering herbal note often compared to jalapeno (but without the heat). Under the radar for not trying to be as 'in your face' as the stereotypical NZ Sauv Blanc, and precisely why we like it so much.
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INSIDER'S PICK: 2021 CLEMENT & FLORIAN BERTHIER COTEAUX DU GIENNOIS ROUGE (Pinot Noir/Gamay)-$24.992/22/2024  With the prices for even the most basic Red Burgundies continually creeping upward, it makes more and more sense to explore other parts of France to find good values. Giennois sits just North of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fume on the Loire River, but the geography has almost as much in common with Burgundy as it does with others further downstream. Sitting around 50 miles away as the crow flies (corbeaux if we're being accurate), Chablis is the northenmost end of Burgundy and far closer in soils and climate to Giennois than those near Tours and Nantes, but it sits on a different river system than the Loire so they very rarely get thought of together. Pinot Noir has always existed in both places, but never produced wines to the heights of the heart of Burgundy so they stayed more of a local entity. Today they can go shoulder to shoulder with most anything you can find from Burgundy at the dollar mark. This producer plays with blending a portion of Gamay into the wine (called 'Passetoutgrain' when done in Burgundy), mostly there to soften the edges a bit but does not dilute or get in the way of the wine's Pinot-ness. Lovely dried cherry nose with a touch of cool raspberry, slowly getting a pop of Gamay's tart berry and game as the wine opens up, but that's about as present as the Gamay gets. The palate is pure Pinot silky texture, savory dark fruit with nice weight, and a fine dusty tannin through the finish with a bit of tart berry. This shows more and more the longer you let it be open and play around with it, delivering a surprisingly satisfying Old World style Pinot experience for the money.
INSIDER'S PICK: 2021 BODEGAS CATENA CABERNET FRANC SAN CARLOS (Wine Advocate 93points)-$24.992/15/2024  Malbec is the dominant grape variety across the Mendoza region of Argentina, but it isn't the only game in town. Nor should it be, with the subtle diversity of soils and climates available among the more obvious and dramatic changes in elevation along the Andes Mountains. One of our favorite producers, Bodegas Catena, has been at the forefront of exploring this diversity, most prominently in their 'Maps' label series. Each wine showcases one of the many subregions with a variety that benefits the most from that terroir, which does include a couple Malbecs, of course, but also explores the likes of Chardonnay, Bonarda, and Cabernet Sauvignon. In the case of San Carlos, they focus on the mix of clay and sandy soils that tend to aid in giving wines a brighter and more floral character, a perfect setting for Cabernet Franc. Vibrant red in the glass and a bit of a modern aroma of darker raspberry fruit and a touch of oak at first, but quickly gets more floral and savory with spice and hints of cut green peppers. The palate is impressively bright and vibrant with plenty of complexity and staying power, surprisingly also light on its feet and allowing the fruit to be pretty without trying to saturate your taste buds. Definitely a New World version of Cabernet Franc, but it learned some important lessons from the great regions of the Loire and has some great food pairing capabilities.
INSIDER'S PICK: 2020 BONIPERTI VESPOLINA COLLINE NOVARESI 'FAVOLALUNGA' (Vinous 92points)-$24.992/8/2024  The Alto Piedmonte wine region was once considered the equal of Alba and Asti, with their most famous Nebbiolo based wines (Gattinara, Boca, Ghemme) just as prized as Barolo and Barbaresco. The phylloxera blight of the late 1800s put a sizeable dent in the region's production, and after World War II much of the population left rural life for the hopes of finding work in Milan, reducing the region to less than 5% of its original vineyard acreage. Recent decades have seen a gradual return for both agriculture and vineyards here, especially around the improvement and exposure of their more 'everyday' wines using the Vespolina grape. Parallel in many ways to the Barbera grape further south, Vespolina is brighter in fruit, softer in tannin, and generally more approachable for wines than Nebbiolo (also called Spanna here). The cooler climate really kicks up the brightness of the fruit and makes it easier to producer wines at lower alcohol levels while still achieving great complexity. This is a bottling we have carried in many vintages, and this is likely their best to date. Unoaked but full of natural cedar-y aromas, along with peppery red berry and dried fruits, very savory at first and gaining some warmth and spice as it opens. The palate is bright, almost quenching with tart cranberry fruit and herbs, light and dusty on the finish, immensely easygoing and full of food pairing possibilities.
 The Grenache Blanc grape has long been a workhorse white wine grape in Southern France and along the Mediterranean, made most famous by its featured use in White Chateauneuf-du-Pape but quite present throughout the warmer growing regions. In its original growing areas, the plantings have reduced some in recent years, losing ground to increased red grape demand and yield issues that tends to be easier to be easier for bulk production. In that same time Grenache Blanc has been on the rise in the New World areas that have earned fame for doing well with other Rhone varieties, such as California, Washington, South Africa, and of course Australia. The winemakers in these regions have also helped the grape buck its long-standing reputation for making low acidity, 'fat' wines that need to be blended with high acidity grapes; with freshness and lower alcohol becoming more emphasized, picking Grenache Blanc early can make fantastic offerings like this one all on its own. Lovely peach and white flower aromas right from the start, but also with a hint of lime and minty coolness, especially when first out of the fridge, never heady or overtly tropical. The palate is equal parts round and vibrant, loads of white fruits and crunchy pear at first that gets more green apple-y the longer it sits in your mouth, finishing quite bright and zesty with a light green apple skin tannin note. A great wine to have on hand for seafood or lighter white meat dishes that need a wine with some body, or whenever Spring decides to roll into town for us.
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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
October 2025
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