April Wine Tasting

Wine Tasting

Friday, March 16th

3:30 – 7:30

Featuring Wines from Small Vineyards, our beloved Italian importer……Small Vineyards…….small wineries…..family-owned…..organic, sustainable farming…..more grown than grapes……they live there……they aren’t polluting .

10% savings on all wine tasting wines (yes….take 10% off the sale price).

The Whites:

Giocato Pinot Grigio 2010 (Primorska, Slovenia) Reg. $12.99, Sale $11.99 - We love this! We’ve brought in and sold about 3-4 vintages of this wine. Each year we love it. Each year, the complexity grows. Fresh, bright, lively and fun to drink! This is crisp and fresh with beautiful tropical fruit and a light kiss of lime/lemon. Great for seafood! Made by CULT Winemaker Aleks Simcic, perhaps Eastern Europe’s best! Italian – “Giocare” – to play; gamble; deceive; trick. Organic farming. Food pairing – lobster, seafood, lighter chicken dishes, salads.

Marchetti Verdicchio Dei Castelli di Jesi Classico 2010 (Marche, Italy) Reg. $14.99, Sale $13.99 - This is one of the best Mediterranean whites under $15 I've ever tasted! We’ve sold 5 vintages of this. Each one gets better. Served at a wedding at an UP-SCALE Hudson River estate and loved! I recommended it….best value on the list! Wonderful citrus & mineral flavors & aromas. This also has notes of green apples & tropical fruits. Vibrant acidity and loads of minerality throughout the wine. Has a little nuttiness (almonds?) on the finish. Long, crisp finish! Maurizio Marchetti, the winemaker, only uses the best grapes (most years he gets no more than 1/2 a bottle from a single vine). 900 cases made. Organic farming. Food pairing - seafood, shellfish, swordfish, etc. Great with poultry.

The Reds:

Arcangelo Negroamaro Salento IGT 2010 (Puglia, Italy) Reg. $13.99, Sale $11.99 – We are in the heel of the boot......Old World, Old School Italy......no....wait.....Old World Apuglia.....these people are Apuglians first.....not Italians first.....This family is Greek….the Palamas….they settled here about 2,000 years ago. They’ve been making wine ever since. Recent immigrants. A few years ago, the only people drinking these wines were the Palamas and their neighbors……then Small Vineyards found them and their wines found an international market. These wines are of the soil and place! Fermented in concrete vats. This sees no oak. Fresh and vibrant. Aromas of Mediterranean herbs. Given this winery’s proximity to the sea, it’s a red that is good with much seafood. 3,500 cases made. Food pairing – grilled or seared tuna. Pasta with Puttanesca sauce. Grilled polenta with sun-dried tomatoes. Okay….I’m hungry now.

Sikelia Nero d’Avola (Sicily, Italy) Reg. $13.99, Sale $11.99 – This wine is smoking good at this price! It’s also smokin’ dangerous……Julius Caesar was leery of all things Sicilian his last days….Ides of March was Thursday…..how trusting are you? Sikelia is name ancient Greek sailors gave to this island. Nero D’avola is the classic grape of Sicily. It really is the backbone grape for most red wines from Sicily. Aromas and flavors of blackberries, mulberries and spices. Well-balanced with nice fruit and spices.

La Quercia Aglianico 2010 (Puglia, Italy) Reg. $17.99, Sale $15.99 – Aglianico is one of Italy’s noble grapes. Greek settlers brought it to southern Italy thousands of years ago. The name might be a corruption of Vitis Hellenica, Latin for Greek wine. Pliny the Elder wrote of this grape and made wine from it (he’s regarded as one of Rome’s outstanding winemakers). It thrives in warm, dry areas. This wine comes from a single a single vineyard in Puglia. It has those classic plum and white pepper notes that typify Aglianico. This is made in a style to drink young. Stainless steel fermentation. No barrel aging. Food pairing – grilled or seared tuna, a fish stew such as Cioppino, grilled polenta.

Tre Donne Barbari Nebbiolo Langhe DOC 2008 (Piedmont, Italy) Reg. $24.99, Sale $21.99 - Antonella, Rosanna and Daniela Lequio are 3 sisters who run this wonderful Piedmontese winery. They took over the running of the winery from their somewhat chauvinistic father who wasn't that sure about women as winemakers and he had no son! Turns out the 3 sisters are great at this! Barbera amd Barbaresco, 2 famed wines of the Piedmont, take their names from Barbarian. Hence the name and label of this wine. Nebbiolo is the grape used to make Barbaresco and Barolo. Nebbiolo Langhe s the grape from the Langhe region, which encompasses Barolo and Barbaresco. Organic & Sustainable Farming. This nicely blends power and elegance, which is a hallmark of this winery. Aged 12 months in 1^st use French Allier oak barriques (300 bottle barrel). 1,250 cases made. Aromas and flavors of dark berries, cedar and smoke. Food pairing – pork tenderloin, pasta carbonara, porcini mushroom risotto.

Podere Ciona Le Diacce Merlot 2006 (Tuscany, Italy) Reg. $37.99, Sale $34.99 – This wine is made by our friend, Lorenzo Gatteschi, at his family’s estate in the Chianti Classico part of Tuscany. It’s a Super Tuscan. Grown at a high altitude in Chianti Classico (1,800 feet). This has that lushness accompanied with a firm feel that is a hallmark of outstanding Merlot. That smooth, velvety, coat and massage your mouth feel. This has bright red fruit with a nice smoky note to it. 92% Merlot and 8% Alicante Bouchet. Barrel aged for 18 months and bottle aged for at least a year before release. Food pairing – pork tenderloin, wild game, Fontina, bruschetta.