Our Wine Wednesdays, include one *free sample from each of our hand selected fine wine features (up to four wines). This week we have Brian from Sour Grapes.

Le Grapperie La Bueilloise
Natural Funk! The wine is fermented in 50-hectoliter fiberglass tanks for about 30 days. It is transferred to the bottle to continue fermenting, and rests in the bottle for about 12 months. The wine is hand disgorged and then recapped with a crown cap. Zero added sulfur, sugar, or yeast. Renaud Guettier is a farmer who started the La Grapperie winery in 2004 with very little previous winemaking experience. Today, he works a bit more than 4-hectares of vines where everything is farmed according to organic principles and harvested by hand. Renaud was the first in the Coteaux de Loir AOC to plow his vineyards with a horse—where he spends countless meticulous hours. His vines are spread over 15 tiny plots that sustain a diversity of microclimates along the left bank of the Loire River. These plots enable Renaud to create a spectacular balance with his wines. The majority of his vines are Pineau d’Aunis, however, he also grows some Malbec (Côt), Gamay, Grolleau, and Chenin Blanc. Vines from 8 to 115 years old!

West+Wilder Rose can 3pk
This is a rosé to enjoy day in, day out. The style stands that test of daily refreshment and can pair with a range of foods. The core of the blend is Sonoma County Pinot Noir with old vine Carignane and Zinfandel. Bone dry with juicy acidity to balance beautiful fruit.

Companon Arrieta Herrigoia
Their estate is made up of 4 ha spread across 17 mini parcels, all of which bush pruned vines averaging 50 years of age under organic certification. These vineyards have been in their family for three generations but it wasn’t until 1982 that they built their bodega and started making wine. A lighter, younger style Riojo make with 85% Tempranillo and 15% the white-berried varieties, Viura and Malvasia. Fermented with carbonic maceration. Organic farming, minimal intervention in the winemaking. As Gorka’s grandfather puts it, there’s two types of soil in Lanciego: white and red. The white being calcareous clay and the red being very old primary soils of calcareous clay with high contents of iron oxide collected on the higher plateaus free of erosion. Generally speaking, the Alavesa sub-region is known for having the poorest soils in Rioja and within it, Lanciego probably the poorest of them all resulting in very low yields but very high quality grapes. It’s young spirits like theirs that are giving Rioja some fresh air and bringing drinkability back to the region. – Zev Rovine

Marchiori & Barraud Cuartel 2
100% Malbec from the Perdriel vineyard in Lujan de Cuyo. 50+ year old vines. Hand harvest 100%. Fermentation with native yeasts. Both Andrea Marchiori and Luis Barraud come from families with long winemaking traditions in Argentina. After collaborating on a number of projects for other wineries, Luis and Andrea have finally accomplished their shared dream of making their own wine. They work with Andrea’s family-owned Marchiori Vineyard, located in the Perdriel area of Lujan de Cuyo in Mendoza. Andrea manages the vineyard with exceptional care and close attention to detail. Together they make a small amount of wine in pursuit of expressing the best of the terroir for each varietal. The grapes are organically grown and hand harvested. In the winery, spontaneous fermentation takes place with native yeasts and no winemaking additives are used. Finally, the wines are very lightly fined or filtered and the final sulfite levels are 50mg/L. Full medium ruby. Deep, slightly port-like scents of black cherry, cassis, blueberry and spicy oak, plus hints of menthol and leather. Densely packed and fine-grained, with a slightly exotic blueberry coulis flavor and a strong element of spicy oak enhancing the sweetness of the fruit. Still a bit youthfully aggressive on the primary finish, with strong dusty tannins showing some oak influence. I like the combination of density and almost roasted ripeness but this wine still needs another year in bottle to calm down. 90+ Tanzer.

 

 

 

 

 

*tasting free with purchase of $10 or more per guest