May 2024 Newletter

NEW –WINE EDUCATION CLASSES

Please join us this month for our “Atlantic Loire” class featuring wines from the coastal Loire valley and fresh oysters.  Tickets are $50 and there are two seatings: Thursday, May 16th @ 6:30pm & Saturday, May 18th @ 12pm.  Email to RSVP or for more information.

MAY Tasting Events

Please join us on Wednesday May 8th from 5:30-7:00pm as we welcome
                          Lisa Pecchenino
        Azienda Agricola PECCHENINO | Dogliani, Italia
                    Wines from Italy’s Piedmont.

ON SUNDAY, MAY 19th anytime between 1:30pm to 4:30pm
you will be attending OUR 15th annual ROSÉ-A-PALOOZA an often imitated, but never equaled, event with food & the best pink wines plus discounts. Thank-you.

WINE TASTING EVERY SATURDAY   2:00pm - 5:00pm
        ‘Whatever we feel like opening’
      LAST SATURDAY WINE SCHOOL 5/25.

MAY Special OFFERS

MAY SPECIAL OFFER – Your Summer Sparkler!
Vigna Belvedere Prosecco Extra Dry DOC Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy, - We opened this at a staff dinner and everyone was smitten with this little gem. From a small family run winery this is a delightful, fresh organic sparkling wine with peach, apricots, ripe apples and elegant acidity. A wonderful summer sparkler with a lower ABV of 11. 5%                                        Regular price: $19.99, On sale in MAY: $13.99

MAY SPECIAL OFFERS Red Wines– (no further discounts)
    We all liked this Brunello because, in spite of its youth, it was delightfully drinkable!
2018 San Giorgio Ugolforte Brunello di Montalcino DOCG, Italy – “Showing medium-dark concentration, the 2018 Brunello di Montalcino Ugolforte is savory in character with black spice, saddle leather and some distant hints of cured meat. I always associate Ugolforte with a more contemporary winemaking style that showcases spice, ripe fruit and soft tannins. This vintage delivers all of these things over a plush and accessible mouthfeel. Some 50,000 bottles were made.” (WA)  Regular price: $64.99, On sale in MAY: $39.99
And now for something completely different and organic! (Inama has been organic for years.)
2021 Inama Carmenere Più Veneto Rosso IGT Italy – “Peppery wild berries, roses and hints of wet stone waft up to form an inviting bouquet as the 2021 Carmenere Più evolves in the glass. This is silky and pliant with juicy acidity and tart raspberry fruits. Rosy inner florals amass toward the close. Crisply refreshing, the 2021 tapers off with medium length and hints of tart blackberry that curl the tongue. This is a total pleasure to taste and a remarkable value.” (Vinous)  Regular price: $25.99, On sale in MAY: $18.99

MAY SPECIAL OFFERS OREGON CHARDONNAY - (no further discounts)

Eola-Amity Hills vs Yamhill-Carlton - Two iconic producers: one from the Northern Willamette AVA of Yamhill-Carlton and one from the Southern AVA of Eola-Amity Hills.
2021 Cristom Chardonnay Eola-Amity Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon-  “The 2021 Chardonnay Eola-Amity Hills opens with a rich blend of crushed yellow apples, mint, whole butter and stone dust. This is a soft, round and distinctly savory effort with a pronounced mineral core and tart orchard fruits cascading throughout. It finishes with a medium length and a lemony concentration, tapering off flinty and tense. “(Vinous 1/24)            Regular price: $44.99, On sale in MAY: $29.99
2018 Elk Cove Vineyards Goodrich Vineyard Chardonnay, Yamhill-Carlton, Willamette Valley, Oregon- “Supple and polished, with expressive Asian pear and toasty spice flavors that build richness on the finish. Drink now. 509 cases made.” (WS)                            Regular price: $49.99, On sale in MAY: $29.99
BUY AN OREGON 2 PACK AND SAVE AN ADDITIONAL 10% (no further discounts)

MAY SPECIAL OFFERS CHARDONNAY – From the Cellar!

Some incredible Chardonnays from the Cellar. –It’s National Chardonnay Month (not really) but it is fascinating to compare vintage Chardonnay from around the world as it is one of the noble grapes.
Kooyong Winery - Chris and Gail Aytward established Kooyong in 1995 with three acres of Chardonnay vines in the Mornington Peninsula. It is now owned and operated by the Gjergja family. All Kooyong wines are entirely domain grown, vinified and bottled. The “Clonale” is a blend of different estate clonal varieties. The following reviews, written shortly after the wine was released, indicate the drinking window is 2010-2011 but the wines are STILL drinking great right now!
2004 Kooyong Estate Chardonnay Mornington Peninsula, Australia – “Ripe and round, with a woodsy, leafy edge to the pear and spice flavors. The fruit persists nicely on the finish. Drink now through 2011. 192 cases imported.” (WS)                                          Regular price: $35.99, On sale in MAY: $12.99
2004 Kooyong Clonale Chardonnay Mornington Peninsula, Australia –“Tangy, generous and immensely appealing for its harmonious pear, spice and almond aromas and flavors, lingering enticingly on the refined finish. Drink now through 2010.  200 cases imported.          Regular price: $15.99, On sale in MAY: $9.99
BUY A KOOYONG 2 PACK for $19.99!

Add this 2004 Chablis for a fascinating tasting! You can still taste the chalky soil of the region.
2004 Billaud-Simon Montee de Tonnerre Chablis Premier Cru, France - “Musky, complex, pure aromas of flowers and minerals. Fat and full for the vintage but with excellent shape and grip. Flavors of minerals, flowers and mint show terrific stony cut. Very subtle wine with noteworthy concentration and excellent sneaky persistence. The crop level was a good 60 hectoliters per hectare here despite the green pruning in spring, noted Billaud, who added that the 2004 grand crus were more typically in the range of 48 to 50 hectoliters per hectare.” (Vinous)                                            Regular price: $44.99, On sale in MAY: $29.99

NEW ARRIVAL

2021 Lail Vineyards J. Daniel Cuvee Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley, USA – A Perfect Wine!
“Lail’s 2021 J. Daniel Cuvée Cabernet Sauvignon blends lots from several high-end vineyards, including Heimark (Calistoga), Vine Hill Ranch (Oakville) and Steltzner (Stags Leap), plus Lail’s own Mole Hill on Howell Mountain. It’s an exciting wine, starting from the pulse-quickening aromas of raspberries and black cherries tinged with dark chocolate. In the mouth, this full-bodied beauty is richly concentrated, with a sensuous texture somewhere between silky and velvety, while the softly dusty finish shows terrific length and a spine-tingling hint of licorice. To reduce this wine to deceptively simple yet hard-to-pin-down words, it’s complex, harmonious and elegant, yet it’s enough of its place that it could only come from Napa Valley.” (WA) $329.99

MONTHLY SPECIALS