INSIDER'S PICK: 2018 LIGHTWELL SURVEY 'LOS IDIOTS' BLAUFRANKISCH/RIESLING SHENANDOAH VALLEY $30.99

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 are also doing both a white and a red option each week, with the white wine available for the discount on Thursday and Friday, while the red wine available on Friday and Saturday. We hope you are able to come by and get some wines to enjoy.

Another wine with a package change from last vintage, and with this one what's inside has changed just as much as the outside. The Lightwell Survey label is a side project for Early Mountain winemaker Ben Jordan, created in partnership with several friends to explore some more experimental winemaking methods and concepts. The 2017 vintage of Los Idiots was a co-fermentation of Syrah and Riesling, but in the intervening year that parcel of Syrah was taken up. The choice was made to keep the Los Idiots name for the concept of co-fermenting red and white grapes for the wine, and Blaufrankisch (aka Lemberger) was substituted in. Along with co-fermenting the grapes, Los Idiots is made using native yeasts and utilizes no SO2 except at bottling for a very natural example of wine from the Shenandoah Valley. You may also think the Riesling would leave the wine with some sweetness, but it's fermented dry with a fair amount of natural acidity to make the wine feel quite dry and savory. A pale red in the glass with a nose of smoky red fruits and light flowers, the palate is almost Beaujolais-like in the silky soft texture and fine light tannins, and that savory aroma comes through on the palate the same way Gamay does. In fact, just slip this in to any situation you would have a Beaujolais, like with charcuterie or roasted poultry.

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