August Wine Club

Bora Tier Quinta de S. Sebastiao Rare, Vinho Verde

Vinho Verde is made for enjoying warm summer nights on the patio. It's light, refreshing, slightly sparkling, crisp, basically it's an alcoholic Sprite and it's delicious. Put down that luke-warm light beer and start drinking this instead.

This label from QSS was designed specifically to raise funds and awareness for endangered species with a portion of each bottles donated to protecting wildlife in Portugal. Vinho Verde wines have a distinct salinity and minerality that keeps you coming back to the glass. Combined with high acid and lemon lime fruit notes, this wine won't last long. As with all old world wines, what grows together goes together. Grab a couple of our tinned fish and make your own aperitivo hour!

Pas de Probleme

This French Sauvignon Blanc is very typical for it's style (and that's a good thing!) If I'm drinking Sauvignon Blanc, I want it to be French. To me it strikes the perfect expression of the grape, toned-down grapefruit, chalk and slate mineral notes and herbal notes veering away from fresh cut grass towards tarragon and basil. Enjoy this with anything from August's farmer's market. Garden salads, tarragon chicken salad, goat cheese and veggie tart.

Viña Laurent Cabernet Sauvignon

Winemaker Damien Laurent grew up among his family’s vines and the barrels at Chateau l’Escart, always tagging along as his grandfather made his way through the cellar to top up the wines. The growing cycle of the vineyard, the bustle of harvest and the slow rhythm of the winery have always been inextricable from his sense of family and belonging. He spent 12 years running the family business alongside his wife Lorena, a Chilean transplant who would later introduce him to the striking terroir of her homeland. In 2008 they purchased land in the Maipo valley, establishing 4 hectares of mostly Bordelaise varieties, returning in 2013 to stay with the first meaningful harvest. They have built the kind of family winery that has become the heart of a flourishing community, where kids grow up thinking it's a fun and totally normal autumnal activity to go foot crush grapes together with their friends. The wines they make tell that story with charm and humor and at a killer price point.

Le Mistral Tier

Les Equilibristes Picpoul de Pinet

Les Equilibristes (the “Tightrope Walkers”) are François de Monval and Florent Girou. François is a wine merchant and restaurant owner in Paris, and Floret is a wine-maker from the Perigord region. Together, the two are constantly thinking about preserving the old-ways of winemaking. Les Equilibristes have a simple set of rules they follow in winemaking: use indigenous grape varieties, organic winemaking practices, indigenous yeasts, and minimal sulphur. They make wines from purchased grapes, always organic, from different regions of France, the goal of each wine to convey the unique terrior and local varietals of its place.

They source the Picpoul for this wine from the Languedoc's best appellation, with rich clay/calcareous soils and organic farming -- which is super rare here (they're one out of only three organic/natural projects in the region. You can taste the mineral-rich soil and careful farming in this wine, which stands out from the legions of cheaply made Picpoul in the region. Vastly different than lean, linear one-note bistro wines, this wine has more fruit and body to balance Picpoul's famous acidity - Francois' goal is to make a “gastronomic Picpoul” that goes with all kinds of food, not just oysters. He succeeded with this waxy, round, pretty white that drinks like Chenin with a pleasantly bitter finish and saline quality. It makes a fantastic food wine, for pairing from fresh summer soups to veggie-forward or poultry dishes to baguette and cheese if you're going all out Frenchie.

Cinciallegra

TIl Roccolo di Monticelli is a small farm located in the Province of Verona, born from the desire to recover an old family vineyard to obtain a genuine wine. The land is located on the limestone hills between Verona and Soave, within a small "clos". Here old vineyards, dating back to the 1960s, flank a small area of ​​centenary olive trees. Their goal is to maintain biodiversity and respect for the terroir. In the countryside, they do not use of chemical fertilizers, weeding and pesticides and soil tillage and grass mowing is reduced to a minimum to preserve the vitality of the soils. In the cellar, the choice to use working methods that involve the least possible number of invasive interventions as well as the absence of additives and manipulations. This particular orange beauty is made from Garganega and Trebbiano. Rested on the skins and then stored in stainless steel for 8 months. This wine sings with notes of crushed rocks, fresh herbs, peach, mandarin, citrus, and some white flowers. The palate is medium, smooth has a slight grip at the end. A lovely pool side wine!

JH Meyer Pinot Noir

One of our goals at The Breeze is to introduce our club members to unique and underrepresented wines. In this case, a common varietal but grown in a truly special terroir. Kentucky sees very few South African wines and this one is coming from a single vineyard in Cape South Coast, South Africa. The grapes are fermented in whole clusters, also known as carbonic maceration. This style allows for grapes to start their fermentation within the grapes themselves, contributing to a fruitier, juicier style of Pinot Noir. Try this wine side by side with an Oregon pinot and savor the difference. .

August wine club artist is Kacy Slone. Check out her works @kaceysloneart