November 2019 Newsletter

November Tasting events

                              SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 17th – 1:00 to 4:00pm
              Mark your calendars for our 13th ANNUAL, often imitated never equaled,
                              WINES of THANKSGIVING TASTING
Please join us for Turkey, Stuffing, Seasonal vegetables & a selection of wines for the Thanksgiving table.

Thursday, November 21st,  5:30pm to 7:30pm
Beaujolais Nouveau and more tasting.
  Taste the new vintage when you stop to pick up this year’s Beaujolais Nouveau!

WINE TASTING EVERY SATURDAY “Whatever we feel like opening” 2:00pm-6:00pm

The Last Saturday Wine School THEME: –Fer Servadou – Thanksgiving is over.
The anti-thanksgiving grape is a dark-skinned grape variety found in the wines of southwest France.
The last Saturday of the month changes from a “whatever we feel like drinking” tasting event to a theme based tasting with a purpose!  Come anytime between 2 and 5 pm on Saturday, 11/30.

TIME TO PRE-ORDER 2019 BEAUJOLAIS NOUVEAU and SAVE!!

As the harbinger of the vintage, it’s a worthy tradition and the price is the same as last year!
Slightly lower alcohol, ripe fruit flavors, food friendly acidity and mild tannins make this
the PERFECT THANKSGIVING WINE!
Call us at (804) 285-8011 or e-mail us at to place your order! This year we have, once again, selected a villages level of Nouveau, Domaine Manoir du Carra Beaujolais Villages, (a better quality level than basic Beaujolais) The 2019 Regular price is $12.99.  BUT order before 11/14 and the price is: $10.99 per bottle or save even more and order a case at $112.99 ($9.42/btl.) per case (no additional discounts).
The wine is delivered the third Thursday in November (11/21).

WINES suitable for THANKSGIVNG – ON SALE in November (no further discounts)

Limited in quantity, focused on place and made with minimal intervention here are Pinot noir, Gamay and Chardonnay offerings that are excellent wines for the Thanksgiving table:

ROUGE:
2015 Domaine Henri Montagny Volnay, Burgundy, France- The Domaine Henri Montagny is a 3rd-generation family wine-growing estate in Volnay in a located in a beautiful fully-restored property in the heart of Volnay. The wines are raised in the vaulted cellar of the domaine dating from the 18th century. From the great 2015 vintage this Volany has muted aromas of red liqueur, ripe red fruits, strawberries and raspberries. Elegant and balanced with mild tannins and minerality.          Regular price: $35.99 / On sale: $28.99/ btl.
2015 Flâneur Wines Pinot Noir, Flanerie Vineyard, Willamette Valley, Oregon – “(30 percent new French oak) Limpid ruby-red. Ripe dark berry and cherry aromas are complicated by musky floral, underbrush and herb nuances and a hint of cola. Sweet and expansive on the palate, offering concentrated cherry-vanilla, licorice and lavender flavors that pick up a spicy overtone on the back half. Shows impressive clarity and floral thrust on the persistent finish, which is shaped by smooth tannins.” (Vinous 1/18)
Regular price: $49.99 / On sale: $36.99/btl.
2016 Château Thivin Brouilly “Reverdon”, Beaujolais, France- The 2016 Brouilly Reverdon is lovely, bursting from the glass with lovely aromas of wild plums, cassis, cloves and cinnamon. On the palate, it’s medium-bodied, layered and succulent, with a generous core of crunchy, concentrated fruit, fine-grained structuring tannins and juicy acids, concluding with a long finish.” (WA 9/18)
Regular price: $29.99 / On sale: $22.99/ btl.

BLANC:
2016 MacRostie Winery & Vineyards Wildcat Mountain Vineyard Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast, CA.- “The 2016 Wildcat Mountain Vineyard Chardonnay delivers notes of white peaches, ripe Golden Delicious apples and Bosc pears with hints of allspice, shaved almonds and chalk dust. The palate nails it with intense yet elegantly played apple and pear flavors, accented with plenty of toast and spice, and gives a long, refreshing finish. 1,595 cases produced.” (WA 236)              Regular price: $44.99 / On sale: $34.99/ btl.
2016 Domaine Alain Gras Saint-Romain Blanc, Burgundy, France – “The 2016 Saint-Romain Blanc has a fantastic bouquet for a Village Cru, so fresh with Granny Smiths, flint and pressed white flowers. The palate is vivacious and focused, just the right amount of salinity flowing through. A precise finish that puts many Premier Crus to shame. Superb.” (Neal Martin Vinous 7/18)    Regular price: $45.99 / On sale: $37.99/ btl.

New ARRIVALS – RIESLING

Riesling is one of the best wines with turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, et al. There is a terrific value Riesling in the case-of-the-month and here are two others, one slightly riper and one dry and powerful.
2018 Hermann Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Leistenberg Riesling Kabinett, Nahe, Germany - “The 2018 Oberhäuser Leistenberg Riesling Kabinett is darker toned and ripe on the flinty nose, with its crushed stone aromas. Richer and more intense on the palate, this is an almost creamy-textured and persistently salty Leistenberg that is quite rich but still playful and stimulating. It’s just more generous and solemn on the palate. Perhaps more a Spätlese style but very stimulating in fact. Tasted in July 2019. This is riper and more powerful than the 2017.” (WA 10/19) $32.99
Grosses Gewächs are the Grand Cru of Riesling – always dry and always delicious!
2016 Theo Minges Riesling, Burrweiler Schäwer, Grosses Gewächs, Pfalz, Germany- “Like its Hölle counterpart, this weighs in (at 13% alcohol) a full percentage point below the 2015 installment, despite having finished with analytically radical dryness. Scents of toasted almond and lentil sprouts as well as pit-tinged apple, pit-inflected white peach and wet stone anticipate the piquant and invigoratingly incisive impression that ensues on a polished palate. A tangy, stimulatingly crunchy suggestion of seedy ripe tomato adds to the appeal. And like the Hölle, this finishes with a wonderfully active sense of stony mineral impingement. It certainly blows past its vintage 2015 predecessor.” (Vinous 6/18) $49.99

New ARRIVAL- 2018 Arnot-Roberts Gamay Noir, El Dorado, CA.

Here is an American Gamay of some consequence and a delightful US choice for Thanksgiving. From two high-elevation vineyards in El Dorado, (Sierra foothills, El Dorado CA). Bright and peppery, with lightly carbonic aromas of vanilla, cream, strawberries, and raspberries leading on to firm tannins and a viscous palate. A winery that is defining the new California with site specific wines, we get very little of this and its companion Trousseau and Syrah. Best to buy while you can. $32.99

MONTHLY SPECIALS