Newsletter
August 15, 2015 – September 14, 2015
New Cabernet Franc
2014 Saumur-Champigny ‘Voltige des Clos’ (Les Clos Maurice)
Sale Price $12.99 – $132.50 case of twelve
Saumur-Champigny is a one-grape pony. There is no white or rosé in Saumur-Champigny, just red wine made from Cabernet Franc. Back in February we tasted with Mickael Hardouin, the proprietor of Les Clos Maurice, and found his wines to be delicious. His entry-level wine, the ‘Voltige des Clos,’ is a complex mix of smoky blackberry aromas and ripe round tannins with a long, lingering, dry finish. In our experience Loire Valley reds have amazing versatility. This is the red wine to serve with fish.
Real Chianti
2012 Chianti Classico (Viticcio)
Sale Price $15.99 – $163.10 case of twelve
What we liked most about the 2012 Viticcio was its directness. This Chianti Classico is neither brooding nor going through an identity crisis. It slaps you across the palate with a vibrant dose of Sangiovese’s hallmark sour cherry fruit, snappy acidity, and fine, biting tannins. With the proper balance these elements knit together to make a memorably honest Chianti that will sing with a fresh tomato sauce and some homemade pasta.
Made in Tenerife
2013 Valle de la Orotava-Tenerife ‘7 Fuentes’ (Suertes del Marqués)
Sale Price $19.99 – $203.90 case of twelve
Valpolicella
2014 Valpolicella Classico (Ca’ la Bionda)
Sale Price $11.99 – $122.30 case of twelve
Verduno Pelaverga
2014 Verduno Pelaverga ‘Speziale’ (Fratelli Alessandria)
Sale Price $19.99 – $203.90 case of twelve
Sometimes we come across a wine that unexpectedly delights with its unique personality. There’s no wine quite like this one. And according to Vittore Alessandria, who runs his family’s historical estate Fratelli Alessandria in Verduno, this is also a rare wine, as there are only twelve producers of Verduno Pelaverga. Although the hilltop village of Verduno might be better known as one of the eleven communes of Barolo, it also has its very own DOC using the native Pelaverga Piccolo grape. This particular Verduno Pelaverga from Fratelli Alessandria is named ‘Speziale’ after the characteristic spiciness of Pelaverga Piccolo. Translucent in color and fragrant with dried rose petals and white pepper, this elegant red charms with its delicate strawberry fruit and spice. As the back label suggests, this wine pairs well with ‘good company.’
Corbières
2013 Corbières (Domaine Sainte-Eugénie)
Sale Price $9.99 – $101.90 case of twelve
Listed prices are honored through September 14th, 2015. We will not honor mistyped prices. Vol. 39, No. 9
Good news for the fans of this Lugana: it’s back, and it’s just as juicy and delicious as ever. The grape variety behind the wine has many names, the most common being Trebbiano di Lugana. However the name is somewhat misleading in that the grape is not a Trebbiano but genetically a Verdicchio. Technicalities aside, this is a refreshing and unoaked white to be enjoyed with food, preferably outside with friends who like to eat. Pears, flowers, and lemons characterize this vintage. Having grown up on the shores of Lake Garda, this Lugana is a natural match for fish, but because the wine has some body it can also be enjoyed with heavier fare, making it a versatile match for different kinds of foods. In fact it was successfully road tested with Lamb Vindaloo and Aloo Gobi recently. This is an easy choice for the remaining cook-outs of the summer.
The 2014 vintage in the Loire Valley has yielded great wines and, thanks to the currency exchange, some exceptional values. This hand-harvested Touraine Sauvignon is a full flavored, bone-dry white that cries out for a summer salad with steamed new potatoes, green beans, hardboiled egg, parsley, and fresh goat cheese. This is a totally French Sauvignon Blanc, totally dry and totally delicious.
The successes in the Loire Valley in 2014 did not exclude Sancerre. This great deal from Célestin Blondeau is a classic Sancerre with signature green plum and apple fruit fused with fine minerality.
2012 Vin de Pays du Mont Caume (Terre d’Ombre)
As white wine goes, the Clos de Briords from La Pépière has delivered more for the dollar than any French white since we first began selling it in the 1995 vintage. If this stellar old-vine, single-vineyard prodigy was miraculously transported to Chablis and given an equally passionate owner, its price would increase fourfold. Instead we are blessed by Marc Ollivier’s vision. This is the essence of Muscadet: superbly tended old vines, hand-harvested grapes, natural yeast fermentation, the wine aged in a cold cellar. In good vintages, this wine improves with age significantly. For years Marc did almost all of the work by himself. Now he has a couple of partners, and when we saw him in February he seemed happier than ever. That made us happy, and this wine may make you happy too.
Dry Riesling is here to stay. Maybe in the near future, the knee-jerk too-sweet Riesling
reaction will become less common. Dr. 
The Baudrys are terrific winemakers. In the cool 2013 vintage they scrapped some of their single-vineyard reds to bolster their Domaine bottling and make more rosé. In 2014 they were able to make all of their wines plus a superior rosé. In this vintage they stretched the fermentation to near total dryness and full malolactic. The result is a rosé with more color and depth of flavor. We think that this is a rosé of Cabernet Franc that requires food. The savory, mouth-watering raspberry fruit is suited for either a poached salmon with a tangy green sauce or a grilled skirt steak with a chimichurri sauce.
This is a truly superior Vinho Verde. The 2014 Muralhas de Monção is made almost entirely from Alvarinho – which the Spanish just over the Minho River call Albariño. We like both versions, but the more affordable Portuguese avatar with its natural spritziness has considerable charm. This is refreshingly dry, and perfect with a big bowl of mussels, lots of garlic, and crusty bread.
We featured this Jasper Hill cheese in the spring, and find ourselves coming back to it. It’s consistently outstanding. A soft ripened cow’s milk cheese encased in a bloomy rind and wrapped with spruce bark, it’s at once woodsy and sweet, with a gooey, spoonable texture. It recently won first place in the category of soft ripened cheeses made from cow’s milk and 3rd place in the best of show at the 2015 American Cheese Society Competition. Well deserved!
A raw cow’s milk Havarti-style cheese from Mt. Mansfield Creamery, a family owned dairy in Morrisville, Vermont, Forerunner is a sight to behold with a creviced cave-aged rind (kept thin to allow for full bodied flavor in the cheese) and a dense, semi-firm, cream colored paste. Like all of the cheeses from Mt. Mansfield Creamery, this one is named after a ski slope in Stowe. Second place winner in the 2015 American Cheese Society competition in the Dutch-style all milks category. 
Combining two desirable qualities in cheese, the sharp spiciness of blue and the fresh tang of goat’s milk, this rindless blue cheese made with pasteurized goat’s milk is equally well suited to a salad or a cheese plate. It was the first cheese produced by Arnaud Solandt and fourth-generation French cheesemaker Jean Rossard when they started Montchevré in Preston, Wisconsin in the late 1980s. Since then they have grown tremendously, now producing over 50 different goat’s milk cheeses using quality milk from 360 local and independent family farms who supply milk exclusively to Montchevré. This cheese has received many accolades over the years, most recently first place in its category at the American Cheese Society.
2014 Pinot Noir (Moulin de Gassac)
2014 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine ‘St. Vincent’ (Delhommeau)
2014 Chardonnay (Los Vascos)
2013 Vino de la Tierra de Castilla (El Paso del Lazo)