It's
Going to be a Warm One!
We're
stocking up on warm weather wines for the week and weekend
to come. Here are five that landed today with more on the
way.
Read, Relax, Enjoy!
2024
Henri Poiron Muscadet
(France, Loire Valley, Muscadet de
Sèvre-et-Maine sur lie)
$18
With
the weather we have to begin with a bright,
lean, refreshing wine. That wine is Melon de
Bourgogne (the grape) from Muscadet (a
region, not a sweetness).
This
is the new vintage and it is brilliant.
Bright, lively acidity, a bit savory, with
notes of green apple, pear,
grapefruit, with a distinct mineral
finish. A perfect wine for seafood (oysters
please) and a hot afternoon.
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2023
Cooperativa Vitivinícola da Ilha do Pico
Arinto dos Açores Oceânico
(Portugal, Açores, Pico)
$42
From
the oldest winery in the Azores, the co-op
produces some of the finest wines in the
archipelago. Stone walls called currais
protect the vines planted in the black
volcanic rock soil on Pico. The youngest of
the islands, its raw landscape produces
wines of great character. This medium-bodied
white has stone fruit, sea breeze salinity,
mineral refreshness, electric acidity,
and finishes with a long island longing. The
grape is Arinto dos Açores, a
distinct, indigenous white grape of the
Azores archipelago.
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2024
Colleleva Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi
Colleleva
(Italy, Marche, Verdicchio dei Castelli di
Jesi)
$16.50
Don't
look at the price. You'll be tempted to move
along to another worthy white, but then
you'd be missing out. This is one of the
best mid-teen wines we've ever tasted. We
were pretty much in shock when we heard the
price, and then of course we looked down at
the bottle; it was suspiciously empty.
Luckily we had more.
Stone fruit,
citrus zest, minerals and savory and
beautiful acidity. Somewhere there's a hint
of unde-ripe tropicality. This is a wine
that's both substantial and light
making it perfect for the Summer.
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2024
Moreau-Naudet & Fils Chablis
(France, Burgundy, Chablis)
$65
If
you followed the weather in Chablis during
the 2024 growing season you would have seen
nothing but rain, hail, more rain, finally
some sun, then more threats of rain at
harvest. It was one tough vintage. HOWEVER,
the wines that were produced can be
outstanding. This
is one of them.
An
acid-driven, mineral-rich wine that over
delivers with vibrant notes of lemon peel,
under-ripe stone fruit, spring flowers, and
salty chalk. We love these cool vintages as
they hark (WOTD) back to a time when Chablis
had more tension and energy; a sharper edge
full of shells and stones (so to speak).
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2023
Domaine du Pavillon de Chavannes Côte de Brouilly
Cuvée des Ambassades
(France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Côte de Brouilly)
$25
Let's
begin with a few praises:
Sans
le Beaujolais, la France ne serait pas tout à fait la
France. (Without Beaujolais, France would not quite be
France.)
-Raymond Dumay, Guide du Vin
This remains one of my absolutely favorite examples of
Côte de Brouilly in the appellation and the wine deserves
to be even better known.
-John Gilman, View From the Cellar, issue 85
Domaine du Pavillon de Chavannes’ vineyards are the
highest in Côte de Brouilly. Old vine fruit is used for
the Cuvée des Ambassades bottling, which is one of the
most delicate and precise wines in Beaujolais.
-Josh Raynolds, Changing Perspectives in Beaujolais
and
this
is the wine used in French embassies around the world;
next time you're in one ask for the House Red.
This
is a old school Beaujolais in the best sense: beautiful
garnet color, beguiling aromatics, and a burst of savory,
minerally, dark earthened berries with other dark stone
fruit, violets, sauvage. It's refreshing, with nothing out
of place. Quite the finish too; exotic, charming, hint of
subtle tannins, leaving one to question why there's only one
bottle on the table.
Serve cool.
Enjoy
your week!
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