Two of the hardest workin’ guys in the butchery, wine, and beer business -- Josh & Sam - - love to roll out special bottles for the holidays. As we celebrate the waning days of one glorious summer ride and an amazing fall season, the upcoming holidays loom on the horizon and you can expect some pretty spectacular liquid assets to be shared this Columbus Day Weekend!
So join us at The Local this Friday, October 9th from 4:30-6:30 and Saturday, October 10th from 10:30-2:30 at our Outpost inside 5th Quarter where you’ll get to celebrate the first of a string of special wine tasting events to enhance your holiday weekend and help you choose those special wines for the upcoming holiday season!
The Jake and Elwood of Soulful Savory Soirées have put together quite a set list!
-- Jack
P.S. There's just one magnum of the Beaujolais Le Beaujolais so make sure you order that asap!
Frank Cornelissen owns 19 hectares of vineyards in the North Valley on the side of Mount Etna where his farming philosophy is based on, “our acceptance of the fact that man will never understand nature’s full complexities.” Sage advice for someone making wine on an active volcano!
Frank’s goal with his “Classico” is to create a wine that is “liquid stone”. Indigenous grapes, Carricante & Grecanico Dorato, are exposed to a brief skin maceration to emphasize the fruit’s purity and freshness, shying away from a heavier orange wine style.
A longer maturation process and low intervention ensures that the natural mineral density in the juice develops without any wood barrel manipulation. Neutral epoxy tanks and amphoras are used to allow the wine to nourish with the fine lees.
The result is a wine with an underlying smoky volcanic core, crushed rock and flint grip and persistent mineral finish. The palate and aromatics burst over all that terroir with a big orchard fruit presence!
In 2004, the now legendary Jean-Yves Peron acquired micro plots of old vines on the mountain slopes of Chevaline in the French Alps. The mountain energy of the indigenous Jacquere grape was about to be revealed!
Sourced from limestone and clay rich plots at elevation, this 100% Jacquere goes through a 15 day maceration with the skins to showcase that a little skin contact can add depth without overwhelming the grape’s inherent qualities. After maceration the wine is aged for a year in a mix of barrels and large foudres.
This is a skin contact wine that will change your thinking about this process -- crisp and crunchy, fresh and fruity, herbaceous aromatics and a zip of bright acidity reflecting all that is appealing in an alpine wine!
The Fattoria Fibbiano farmstead dates back to 1707 but the site of the vineyards in the Pisa Hills near Terricciola is the site of many ancient Etruscan agricultural settlements. At Fattoria Fibbiano, their mantra is that quality is created in the vineyard and they aspire to make wine that, “follows the dream of the local people.”
Nicola Cantoni is the current winemaker who oversees the manual harvest on the coolest parts of the day in mid-September and immediately places the Sangiovese juice in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks to assist in settling any impurities and keeping the wine fresh.
The wine is brimming with bright cherry and raspberry fruit and a whiff of culinary spices which accent all of that fruit while the bright acidity gives the wine a tangy finish. This is a rosé that can hold up to all cool weather cuisine and savor year round!
Sibling duo Matthieu and Camille Lapierre are the children of Marcel Lapierre, a pioneer of the natural wine movement in Beaujolais in the 1980’s. A member of the “Gang of Four," a term coined by wine negociant Kermit Lynch, Marcel’s journey in wine came around when he met Jules Chauvet who advocated farming the vines and making wines in the least interventionist means possible. This also meant rejecting the use of cultured yeasts and the addition of sulfur during the winemaking process. The movement turned Beaujolais on its head and restored the region as a legitimate source for great wines.
The siblings continue their father’s tradition -- harvesting a bit later with lower yields and no added sulfur from 50-80 year old parcels just outside the Morgan AOC boundaries. A mini Morgan!
The 100% Gamay goes through a semi-carbonically maceration for 10-21 days and 6 months in cuve (large tank). The wine is super quaffable -- light and rich with bright strawberry and cherry notes and an underlying earthiness!
Everyone knows Helen Turley, the iconic winemaker and super consultant for scores of wineries in California, but Helen has a brother Larry who has a great winemaking reputation as well.
Larry purchased a single vineyard in the Saint Helena district in 1993 dedicated to Cabernet Sauvignon. The volcanic and alluvial soils were the perfect terroir for Napa Valley’s iconic grape. Larry believed that dry farming encourages the vines to develop deep root systems that foster resilience, balance, and a connection to their soil.
The result is California unfiltered! This 100% Cabernet Sauvignon is aged for 18 months in French oak (40% is new French oak). The ABV hovers around 14.8% but the wine is incredibly complex and structured with savory herbs, currants, cassis, and roast coffee aromas!
If the Turley name is on the label you can be assured that you’ll be tasting some of California’s finest wine!