The dog days of summer are finally over! Happy August everyone!
LE MISTRAL TIER
Ilarria Rouge Methode Naturelle
Varietals: Cab Franc, Tannant, Cab Sauv
Region: Ilarria, France
This wine is without sulfites, or "sans soufra", as the French say. We have its counterpart in the shop, the exact same wine just with a small dose of sulfites.
Notes of red currant, cassis, blackberry, and plum are present on the palate. Accompanied by intense fruit, refreshing acidity, and overall elegance.
One of Iroulegy’s longstanding producers is Peio Espil at Domaine Ilarria. In fact, until 1990, he was one of just two independent producers in the appellation, which was traditionally dominated by the cooperative. Peio grew up in the region, a descendant of multiple generations who also inhabited the white stone house where he currently lives and works with his wife Lucie and their two boys. In this part of the Pyrénées, where the mountains begin to lose altitude as they weave their way toward the north of Spain, large domes of green grass cover the mounds—more so than snow that covers the granite peaks seen further east. It is a bucolic setting, with hundreds of sheep grazing the hills and where elongated white houses with red tile roofs dot the countryside.
Way back in 2005 Peio began eliminating the use of weed killers and synthetic chemical sprays, and the domaine has been certified organic through Ecocert since 2008. Working completely organically, he feels he obtains a stronger, more natural yeast formation within his vineyards. While many producers in the region have carved out terrasses along the hillsides, Peio prefers to plant top to bottom, feeling it creates less erosion. In addition, while many of the vineyards of Irouléguy are planted on iron-rich, red soils, most of Peio’s plantings are on gray limestone, which gives a particular mineral lift to the domaine’s wines. Yields are kept low, 25-30 hl/ha, and the proximity to the ocean as well as the warm winds from the south contribute to the almost ideal growing conditions.
Julian Haart 1000L Riesling
Region: Mosel, Germany
Varietals: Riesling
A wine with wonderful minerality and sharp acidity! A fine balance of sweetness and acidity.
For Julian, part of the joy of winemaking is doing everything, just he and his wife Nadine, and maybe some friends. This is vineyard work, and winemaking, at the most human scale. Nearly everything must be done by hand – most of the vineyards are steep as hell and most of them are terraced. Even walking through them is a bit hazardous.
Julian's wines have two distinct categories, “terroir wines” and the “Prädikat wines”
The terroir wines are those that ferment naturally, finding their balance that is nearly always dry tasting, though the wines might have a lil’ more sugar than would allow them to be legally called “Trocken,” or dry. In this grouping of wines, we begin with the “1000L.” This wine is made from a Fuder of Julian’s wines that he doesn’t think are good enough for any of the above classifications. Thus the distributor Von Boden buys the entire Fuder (the traditional 1,000-liter barrel of the Mosel) and calls the wine “1000L.” From here we progress up the Burgundian ladder, from “Moselle” (appellation level), “Piesporter” or “Wintricher” (village-level) up to the grand cru, single-vineyard bottlings “Goldtröpfchen” and “Ohligsberg.”
Girolamo Russo 'a Rina
Region: Etna Rosso, Italy
Varietals: Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Cappuccio
Elegant and complex on both the nose and the palate. Scents of cherry, plum, leather, and tobacco raise themselves from the glass, with a fresh and tannic body that is smooth and silky, lingering for a while.
"Making wine on the slopes of Mount Etna is an intensely personal, profound, and ongoing act of love. Love for the places of our youth. Love for a land that offers nourishment and asks for nothing in return, a land that embraces and holds on tight to and feeds anything that clings to it. A harsh land formed of restless lava, a land of oozing magma that expands and then rapidly cools and, as it tires, finds peace of a sort, eventually resembling a stony behemoth – a moonscape, conserving within in the memory of that fire.
We are such stuff as this land is made of. We, and this wine. And the wine resembles us, as though it were we who gave it life – we the fathers, it the son – when the truth is we are the product of our wine. A wine giddy with sun and with light and with the song of the wind in the valley. A wine that carries the breath of the volcano: a blend of smoke and ashes and ripe, fragrant fruit – a fruit which yields to the bite like a gentle caress. And the juice of that thick, delicate flesh is intense and full-bodied, its aromas a potent and subtle delight. This is a patient wine: it reveals itself gradually and reserves the full strength of its character for those who understand that the rhythms of the earth are sacred. "
BORA TIER
Storm Point Red Blend
Region: Western Cape, South Africa
Varietals: Syrah, Carignanan, Cinsault
Raspberry, black cherry, and crushed herbes de Provence on the nose. The palate is vibrant, with fresh, uplifting flavors of plum and orange zest. Smooth tannins and a refined finish.
The weathered landscape of South Africa is the result of millions of years of battering storms. Storms that stirred in the waters off of the ‘Cape of Good Hope.’ That name is recent as historically it was known as the ‘Cabo das Tormentas’ or ‘Cape of Storms.’ In 1488 Bartolomeu Dias made the first modern rounding of the cape. Hundreds of previous attempts were made but the rugged lands of South Africa were protected by the rough seas and punishing storms. This ‘Storm Point’ remains a fabled place to this day. The unruly landscape and intense growing season of the Swartland is the bedrock for this wine. The 2023 vintage was a nice one giving wines a real bright, aromatic character. The blend is made to showcase the goodness of the Rhône varieties grown in the Swartland.
Syrah serves as the canvas for the wine with Cinsaut providing bright red fruit flavors and Carignan painting the deeper colors. The grapes were hand harvested from early to mid-February and fermented partially whole cluster and partially de-stemmed. After 9 days on the skins and a gentle extraction via light pumpovers, the wine was pressed to a mix of stainless and neutral oak where it aged for 10 months. It was bottled without fining and just a dose of sulfur and sheet filtration at bottling.
Quinta do Ermizio Vinho Verde
Region:Ronfe, Spain
Varietals:Loureiro and Trajadura
A festive and charming Vinho Verde that has even more energy, freshness, and identity than the more typical wines from the region. Lemon curd, sponge cake, and mineral umami underneath
The area between the Douro and the Minho rivers in Portugal has a long and storied viticultural history, dating back to antiquity. Today the northern portion of the area, known as Vinho Verde, shares many varieties and traditions with Galicia to its north. Quinta do Ermízio, in the town of Ronfe outside Guimarães, is similarly old: the name dates back perhaps as far as the 12th century. The current Quinta was established in 1984 with the construction of the winery, and has been making wine in much the same style since. Today Quinta do Ermízio is owned and run by Antonio A. Monteiro, a retired horticulture professor.
The vineyards are lush and green, farmed in traditional methods: the soils are not disturbed and treatments are largely organic and only used when absolutely necessary. The vines are trained in pergolas to help protect the ripening grapes from humidity and harvested by hand. Each plot and variety is harvested and fermented separately each year to enable careful blending. Cellar work is minimalist. Fermentation and aging is done in stainless steel and the only additive is a small amount of SO2 and CO2 at bottling.
Vinho Verde is Loureiro and Trajadura from the estate’s 15 hectares of vines, all cultivated in the traditional pergola system and farmed with limited interventions and abundant cover crops. The soils are granitic and the elevation is around 500 meters. The grapes were harvested by hand, then pressed and fermented with native yeasts in stainless steel tanks. After alcoholic fermentation, malolactic conversion is blocked and the wine rests in the same vessels before bottling.
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