 At a time like this, it's pretty much impossible to be 'normal'. But it is important to try and keep what you can as close to normal as you can while you can. 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 hope you are able to come by and get some wines to enjoy.
The Paardeberg Mountain range sit along the borders of the Paarl and Swartland regions of South Africa. Babylon's Peak Winery occupies one of the highest altitudes for vineyards on the Swartland side of the mountains, which gives them uniquely rough porous limestone soils as well as a cooler wind-swept climate than the rest of the region. This provides their Rhone varietal wines a leaner, more elegant side that isn't so heavy and dependent on sweeter fruits. Not quite a replacement for a Northern Rhone wine, but definitely invites comparison. Deep and dark in color, it doesn't lack for impact on the nose with lots of currants and black fruits, but also hints of dark flowers, and peppery meats, more savory before the sweet. The palate is equally impactful, but with more polished textures and fine tannins than thick mouthfilling extraction. Elegant, lengthy dark fruits and savory tones, even a bit of acidity that brings out pops of higher toned blue fruits lingering on the finish. Would probably put this closer to the Rhone side of the variety (even though they chose to call it Shiraz like the Aussies do), but any fan of Syrah/Shiraz should give this great value a whirl.
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 At a time like this, it's pretty much impossible to be 'normal'. But it is important to try and keep what you can as close to normal as you can while you can. 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 hope you are able to come by and get some wines to enjoy.
Stefano Accordini has quickly become a store favorite since we first started working with their wines. From their uniquely high elevation vineyards above Verona in the Valpolicella region, they have given us several standout reds that many customers have fallen in love with. While white wines from the Garganega grape are known across the world from the city of Soave just to the East, they aren't known for their top flight quality many other places in the region. The higher altitude of the Accordini vineyards are what make this so distinctive, bringing a brighter, more vibrant character to a grape that often can be too soft and bland. Fresh flowers and straw aromas mix with lemon curd and zesty citrus on the nose, very Italian spring time-y sorts of aromas. The palate is super clean and fresh as well, showing plenty of body for the price point that brings out a bit more melon and a touch of the tropical towards the finish. Don't think of this as 'Soave Light', for it stands on its own merits, especially at this price.  California is a massive state with immense diversity of climates. Many of the famous growing areas gained their reputation as much from their proximity to high population centers as the quality of their wines, while more remote areas just barely scratch the surface of their potential. On the plus side, the wineries that strive to find those hidden gems can usually source fruit at a better price and deliver better values to the consumer. Broc Cellars is part of the new wave of 'hands off' winemakers, using native yeasts for fermentations, adding no outside agents during the process, and using as little SO2 as possible at bottling. The fruit for this wine comes from the Love Ranch vineyard that sits WELL off the beaten wine paths just South of Yosemite in Madera County. The isolated high altitude vineyard gives them the opportunity to dial in the farming exactly the way they want to, and still keep the pricing lower than in a more 'in demand' area. For a category of wines where it's hard to find true values, this is one that definitely over-delivers.
Built entirely from co-fermented white Rhone varieties (Marsanne, Roussanne, Grenache Blanc, and Picpoul) farmed from the Love Ranch, the aromas burst almost immediately with tangy apples and musky melons, like fresh cut fruits at a farmers market. Some natural wines veer into the sour/cidery realm, but this stay fresh and pretty, the natural processes just tamping down the tropical or overtly floral tones. The palate is a bit quieter at first, quenching and apple filled, but gets juicier and more mouth filling as it opens up. The finish is the most complex part with melon and almost almond-y tones building with a long lingering fruit skin texture that hangs around for much longer than expected. This is a great Spring wine to pair with a diversity of lighter foods, especially things with a splash of citrus or vinegar.  Burgundy is a wine region shrouded in lore, mystery, magic, and ever escalating prices. With such small parcels of production for most wines and an international demand for it that pushes prices ever higher, it get extremely difficult to find and enjoy as an everyday wine or for the novice to dip their toes into (figuratively) to learn about the hype. Fortunately the 2018 looks to be a rare vintage where both the quality AND quantity of the harvest seems to be high. While that doesn't suddenly give everyone easy access to loads of Grand Crus at rock bottom prices, it does make for a lot more worthwhile and very satisfying basic Bourgognes. Most of them are not being built for long term cellaring and taking that long, circuitous path of evolution the top wines need to take, so they will have plenty to give in their first 5-7 years of life without worry. This 5th and 6th generation father & son producer farm exclusively from family plots in the Mercurey region of the Cotes Chalonnaise, which sits in-between the Macon and Cotes d'Or. Historically this area has a reputation for lighter, leaner styled wines that can be underwhelming to some in comparison to the bigger named sites, but wines like this point to a LOT of value coming our way from here in 2018.
A deep youthful crimson in the glass, the aromas pop fairly quickly with tart cherry and almost citrusy fruit, with background notes of dark tea and spice that emerge slowly as it opens up. Tank aged but with a little bit of stem inclusion, this shows off very fresh and natural for immediate gratification, with the stem inclusion knocking the sweeter fruits down a bit and pumping up the tea and spice. The palate is clean, full and vibrant with lots of cherry skin and fresh berry, almost refreshing feeling on the finish with a lingering red citrus finish and no ponderous oak tannins. This is a Pinot Noir that isn't trying to be anything else than what it is; a pleasure to drink at a very fair price.  The Catarratto grape is (yet another) one of those Italian varieties that few people have heard of unless they live or spend time in the regions they are featured. Even in Sicily it went largely under-appreciated until the last part of the 20th century when the wines of Mount Etna earned recognition. Like the red wines, the Catarratto based white wines most sought after come from older vineyards and often with an increasingly steep price tag due to the limited sources. This makes it hard for the novice customer to dip their toes in and see if this is a grape that fits their palate. Thankfully the growers on the island are increasing their planting, and importers are becoming increasingly able to source better values like this for consumers to test drive. Valdiabella is a unique cooperative of organic family farms near Palermo that pool their resources for several products, including this very reasonable lineup of wines featuring native Sicilian varieties.
A rich golden straw color in the glass, the aromas at first have a bit of the baked apple you may find in some unoaked Chardonnays, but picks up more crisp green citrus and herbal tints as it opens up. There isn't the driving minerality on the nose that comes from the volcanic soils around Mount Etna, more warmth and softness, but still very distinct and inviting. On the palate the texture is also warm and apple-y, with a touch of melon rind and green apple skin to the finish that brings out the fresher flavors, and with successive mouthfulls it gets more zesty and mouthwatering. A tasty introduction to this Sicilian variety and an ideal pairing to fish and poultry dishes with big herbal flavors.  South Africa has a long and complicated history with Europe and the rest of the world over the centuries of colonialism. The French have a strong influence on the history of wine industry here, not surprisingly, and has been a major factor in the country's reemergence since the fall of apartheid in the early 1990s. May de Lencquesaing was the matriarch of the esteemed wine chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, with family roots that traced back to the 1780 when her ancestor was appointed 'royal wine broker' for South Africa. In the late 1990s she set out to reconnect with those past ties by purchasing an estate in the Stellenbosch wine region, the oldest established wine area in South Africa near the port city of Cape Town. The property Glenelly sits on what was part of the original Ida's Valley farm ceded over to a French Huguenot family in 1682, which had vineyards through much of its history but in more recent time had been converted to solely fruit trees. Since taking over the winery has built itself up with a Bordeaux mindset as well as a bit of New World technology and sensibility, becoming one of the more impressive 'newer' producers in the country.
Primarily Cabernet Sauvignon and dominated by the other traditional Bordeaux varieties (Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot), this does have a healthy splash of Syrah in the blend, which have been a common aspect of the reds in this part of the world. What's uncommon here is the quality and intensity this wine is bringing for the money, drinking and smelling like a young Bordeaux that could bring twice the price. Deep in color but showing the slightest bit of color change at the edges from a bit of needed time in the bottle before release, the aromas are very Old School Bordeaux with lots of dark currant, black pepper, coffee roast, cedar and spice. As it opens up there may be a little more warmth of fruit and sweetness of spice to indicate it isn't French in origin, but it's pretty darn close. The texture in the mouth is equally big and bold, but with tannins that are surprisingly fine and polished, most likely thanks to the added Syrah and the bit of extra time cellaring as well. It makes for a wine that is fairly ready to drink right now, though it does have the potential to evolve much more if you wanted to. Either way there is lots of value here for Old World and New World fans alike.  A treat for Valentine's Day, reminding us that Champagne isn't the answer for every sparkling wine need, as well as that the fact that sweetness in a wine should be a wonderful thing when done correctly. This wine comes from Beaujolais and uses the 'methode ancestrale' to create the bubbles, which is different from the 'methode traditionelle' used in making Champagne and other like-minded sparkling wines in that it doesn't use a secondary fermentation in the bottle. That bottle fermentation is what allows the wine to have carbonation and be made completely dry, while ancestrale is only able to take the wine down to 8%-9% abv and still keep its carbonation. The ancestrale method exists well before the monks in Champagne refined their process, and many examples persist to this day in regions like Bugey Cerdon in Savoie and Clairette de Die in the Rhone that are OK with making a bubbly wine with a little bit of natural sugar left behind. It is important to remember this is very different from a Moscato d'Asti and the wines made in that method, as those wines are much lower in carbonation (no 'cork and cage' Champagne type stopper because of the pressure) and their alcohol is much lower due to less sugar being fermented out. There are no added outside sugars, no cheap shortcuts. And in the broad continuum of dry to sweet, this doesn't come across cloying at all, more of the sweet taste of fresh berries, natural and delicious.
Pouring with a youthful purple color and grape-y tinted foamy bubble that lingers at the edges in the glass, the aromas are somewhere between a juicy Beaujolais and a old school soda fountain drink, savory red berries mixed with cola and sarsaparilla. Don't know if it's the carbonation that brings out the soda-ish parallels, but they definitely show through more as the wine gets warmer, while the vinous aromas show more when the wine first comes out of the fridge. On the palate the flavors are fresh and grape-y, with very little sense of sugar or anything coating the palate, with a very fine prickle of carbonation and a dusty tannin creating a fairly dry sensation on the finish. A great lighter weight foil for less intensely sweet chocolates or chocolate-based desserts, but also worth pairing with lighter savory snacks, Beaujolais style, if you just don't want anything weighing you down with much alcohol.  Valpolicella is the most famous of the red wine regions near the Italian city of Verona, deservedly so because of the high quality and the reputation of higher end wines like Amarone. Just to the West, along the banks of Lake Garda, Bardolino sits in relative anonymity by comparison, utilizing the same grapes to similar levels of excellence but mostly just selling them to the lakeside population. Every once in a while, a delicious few will escape the lake and make it over our way. From the original area of Bardolino closest to the lake (which earns it the 'Classico' designation) this is parallel to a Valpolicella Classico in that there is no use of dried grapes or pressings the way an Amarone or Ripasso, just featuring the Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara grapes in their purest form. The biggest difference between the two regions is the higher elevation up in the mountains along the lake, giving the wines a slightly lighter body and a brighter underlying acidity. You will also tend to see less usage of oak here, especially newer barrels, so the wines tend to lean towards freshness and very natural expressions.
A deep dark cherry color in the glass, the aromas are a seductive array of red fruits with hints of tartness in the background and an almost sarsaparilla/old school root beer note that also kicks into light spices. Nothing sweetened at all here, no extracted heavy tones in the nose at all, and it extends onto the palate as well. Very soft texture with virtually no tannins, somewhat of a Beaujolais type fruit softness to the dark cherry notes and just the lightest of dustiness to the finish. This is ideal to pair with savory meat dishes that aren't fatty and don't need a robust wine to lean on, likewise a mushroom or lentil heavy vegetarian dish.  The appellation system for wines is NOT a guarantee of quality, only that the minimum standards for that designation have been met and the POTENTIAL is there for quality. A wine can underachieve from a mediocre winery even with potentially great fruit to work with, and just as likely a great wine can come from meager origins at the hands of a top quality winery. To parallel food, a poorly cooked piece of filet mignon can be very ordinary (we've all cooked those once or twice at home, I'm sure), but a master chef can make a burger you dream about for weeks. So when there is a 'basic' Cotes du Rhone like this, priced a little higher than usual, you have to look a little closer to see what sets it apart. You will find this is a wine that not only justifies its price point but will even strike you as a relative bargain. Considered a 'beacon of traditionalism' by their importer and most in the industry, this is one of the older independent wineries in the region, and have not changed their style just to follow the fashion of trends, with all their vines a minimum of 40 years old used in this bottling. This bottling is made with little time in oak for a more approachable character and is the most ready to drink wine they produce, but still possesses impressive classic character that many wines in the $20+ range from more 'tenderloin' areas of the Rhone can't even touch.
Built from mostly Grenache, the small doses of Carignan and Syrah definitely make their presence known in giving the wine its rustic tones. From the first pour, there is a noticeable savory edge to the dark red fruit on the nose, equal provincial herbs and lightly smoked meat to the raspberry and black cherry tones, though the fruits start to catch up as it opens up. On the palate the texture is plenty mouthfilling, not missing the use of new oak one bit as it fills the mouth with fine tannins and savory natural flavors. Where some more modern Rhones would get into the more juicy red fruit tones, this stays robust with fine cocoa powder type tannins and only sweetening up a little bit as it opens up, the fruit mostly keeping the dried skin tones. Fans of older style Chateauneuf-du-Pape will definitely find this much more to their liking than many things out on the market now, and if you have never had the chance to taste something that was old school Rhone this is about as textbook as you will find. A perfect match with any savory, hearty and meaty dish you can imagine.  We strive to keep the wines we use in the Insider's Picks as varied as possible from week to week, in order to reflect the diversity we represent in the store. We avoid using the same wine twice in the same vintage just because we always have so many things to choose from. Some wines we just can't stay away from as they are so consistent vintage after vintage, so as soon as they change over to a new year they are right back into rotation. The wines of Zorzal are just such wines. Not only are they great values, but they represent a different mindset for winemaking than what consumers usually come across from Argentina. All too often Malbecs from here get characterized by their 'size' and 'intensity', which leads to thicker, heavier, more extracted wines and often a lot of oak aging. Nothing wrong with those types of wines, to be sure (have plenty here we enjoy like that), but it's very limiting to the expression of the grape and the winemaker it that's all you're ever expected to make. Zorzal is part of an importer's stable of wines that looks to break those trends, carrying a large selection of natural Chilean/Argentine wines, a movement that's growing in both participation and quality across South America. To us, this is the ideal introduction into tasting and learning about natural wines as it introduces enough of the principles and flavor characters that mark the concept but doesn't slam you over the head with them.
There's plenty of flavors and aromas familiar to all Malbec drinkers here that everyone will recognize, such as deep black fruits that gain a touch of richness and sweetness as it opens up. But the sweeter tones are more subtle and secondary, not the first and last thing you notice about it. There's no vanilla tones from oak, but it's not missed at all, with a mineral tone that makes the black fruits brighter and even a touch of citrus born from the use of natural yeasts during fermentation (a major component to the natural wine movement). On the palate the fruit is full bodied with plenty of intensity, but the black tones are more strongly pierced with tart berry skins, even a bit of orange and citrus peel, finishing with an almost zesty dry minerality. A wine that can handle big food with big flavors, but isn't overly 'big' in and of itself, able to play well with salty or vinegar-influenced meats as well. |
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
May 2020
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