 Pulling out the stops for our last Insider's Pick of the year, so we wanted to get it out a little earlier than usual to make sure you cleared enough time in your busy schedule to make it down here either tomorrow or Friday. Owner/ winemaker Claude Thibaut will be with us Thursday from 2:30-4:30 to taste and discuss his wines with you, but we will have all three of these wines available for tasting both Thursday and Friday, with our usual Insider's Pick discounts available for all the wines both days. This is a great chance to get your bottles ready for New Years Eve at some excellent by-the-bottle pricing.
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 Priorat is a Spanish wine growing region that doesn't pop up that much on the radar of most casual consumers. The small rugged Catalonian valley was long known for the Scala Dei monastery (or priory, called Priorato in Spanish), with vines barely hanging onto the loose rocky soils and uneven slopes. The potential here was largely untapped until the late 1980s when a group of winemakers collectively invested in developing some of the oldest properties into modern success stories. These 'Gratallops Pioneers' raised the reputation of the region tremendously, as well as the price pouints for their wines, and because it's such a difficult area there really is no way for there to be plantings for inexpensive wines. The Black Slate bottlings are the rare exception, thanks to importer Eric Solomon who was among the very first to investigate and export wines from Priorat (even marrying one of the original Gratallops Pioneers). Using his connections and continuous presence here they have been able to assemble several bottlings named for the nearby towns that represent the appellation's terroirs, in much the same way you would in Burgundy making a Meursault or Volnay wine. Sourced from vineyards around the original Scala Dei monastery, this bottling is traditionally dominated by Grenache with a decent portion of Cabernet Sauvignon and older vine Carignan, making the more elegant of the four bottlings. 'Elegant' being a relative term, of course. Currant, raspberry and cherry skin aromas with a bit of black tar and earth in the background, very Rhone-like (not surprising) but with a bit of Spanish wildness. Fleshy and bold on the palate but with more bright red fruit appearing than is on the nose, even bright and surprisingly refreshing with any oak presence exceptionally well integrated at this stage. A great value for the region as are all the bottling in the project, great to feature with any hearty meals this season.
 One of the great things about the world of wine is that there are always new ways to look at things, a different spin that can put a completely different character into a varietal or region. It's always risky going against the grain, especially when you only have one shot each harvest to get things right, so we always admire the bold strokes when they are taken. Malvasia is a prominent grape across much of Europe, known for the intense perfume wherever it goes. More often than not the easier way to go with it is to make the wine sweeter to play up the floral character, so Malvasia has the reputation of being sweet pretty much everywhere it goes. One of the tenets of the 'minimal intervention' winemaking movement-of which Birichino is one of the top names in California-is making wines with brighter acidity and lower alcohol levels, which tends to also make for drier wines. In their hands grapes like Malvasia can have a whole new impact. On first pour the famous perfume is evident, loaded with hot house flowers, white peach and magnolias, but freshness without any sort of candied notes. The palate is round but full of white citrus skin and lime zest, lively and mouth-watering with acidity instead of sweet fruit sticking to the end. Elegant enough for delicate seafood dishes and can handle loads of more exotic flavor combinations with your more subtle meat and vegetable dishes.
 This recent arrival and new (to us) producer was a big hit on our annual Thanksgiving wine list, so we wanted to get it in front of more eyes for the second part of the holiday season. With the endless parade of Sauvignon Blancs from Marlborough, it's also nice to know there's more than one wine they can do really well. Whether you talk about it from Alsace or Italy, Pinot Gris and Pinot Grigio are the exact same grape, just built with different mindsets. Grigio usually refers to the Italian mode of picking the grapes earlier and making a lighter, fresher style that can be more 'basic' at the inexpensive price point, but can be more interesting than people give credit to it when done correctly. Gris is usually of the Alsatian style, allowing the grapes to hang longer before harvest to the point where the skins can take on a grey or pinkish tint. This makes for a richer, unctuous texture and ripe honeyed melon aromas even in the driest examples; the very best versions can thrive with rich red meat dishes like Osso Buco or roast lamb shoulder, able to handle the fats and savory spices without being sugary or floral. While this doesn't quite live at that extreme a level, it absolutely stands as a wine that works with richer everyday dishes in general. Lots of peach, honeycomb and melon skin to the nose that gets more citrusy as it opens up, juicy palate yet surprisingly fresh and clean with no sign of any sweetness, and even a touch of skin tannin to the dry but quenching finish. A great Chardonnay alternative for those that want body without the oaky/buttery accompaniment.
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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
July 2024
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