BORA TIER
Meinklang Prosa Rose
Varietal: Pinot Noir
Region: Burgenland, Austria
Meinklang is still exactly what you used to find everywhere in the countryside: a diverse farm, an independent, mixed economy, managed according to gut feeling and instinct.
The Michlits Family operates one of the world's largest biodynamic farms in the Neusiedler See-Seewinkel National Park. The Meinklang farm is a wide and varied Demeter-certified agricultural operation cultivating several different crops as well as raising 300 Angus cattle. The estate represents what used to be common practice everywhere in the Pannonian countryside: a mixed farming operation, managed by extended family. The wine estate is well integrated into the farm and led by Angela and Werner Michlits.
Their rosé sparkler is made from 100% pinot noir and their hands-off winemaking process helps to express the grape's most indulgent fruit flavors. Aromas of red cherry confections, fresh raspberry, pomegranate juice, and cranberry propel to the forefront. The finish is clean, and dry, with well-balanced acidity that makes this incredibly refreshing yet fruitful. Certified biodynamic, low-intervention/natural wine, vegan.
Pair with: Red sauce pizza, fried chicken, and sunshine on the patio
Alta Alella GX Tinto
Varietal: Garnacha
Region: Catalonia,Spain
Located in the heart of Serralada de Marina Natural Park, a step away from the Mediterranean Sea and just a few miles from Barcelona, Alta Alella is a family-run winery headed by husband and wife Josep Maria Pujol-Busquets and Christina Guillen, and assisted by their daughters Georgina and Mireia.
The fruit for this wine is grown on Sauló soil, an acidic white granite-based sand with low limestone content, low organic matter, and good drainage. Expect flavors of dark raspberry and blackberry, licorice, a touch of earthiness, and a fresh finish.
Pair with: Spanish olives, chorizo lasagna
LE MISTRAL TIER
This is the first time these wines have made their way into Kentucky! You guys are some of the first in the region that get to taste these beauties :)
Jean Yves Peron 2021 I Vicini Moscato Orange
Varietal: Moscato
Region: Savoie, France
Jean-Yves Péron is a young artisan patiently reviving ancient, almost forgotten high-altitude vineyards in the French Alps, near Albertville. After studying oenology in Bordeaux, he trained with natural winemakers Thierry Allemand and Jean-Louis Grippat in the Rhône Valley and Bruno Schueller in Alsace. Started in 2004, he works with multiple steeply terraced micro-parcels (3 hectares total) of 115-30-year-old Jacquere and Mondeuse vines, planted to friable mica-schist soils; his oldest parcels were planted in 1893, and have not seen phylloxera. Organic farming, indigenous yeasts, non-interventionist winemaking, avoidance of filtering and fining, and use of little or no sulfur make these natural wines of the first rank.
Moscato Giallo is the same variety used for sweet, fizzy Moscato d’Asti, but this is treated completely differently. JYP's Moscato stays 2 weeks on skins before being pressed, leading to a wine that is magnificently aromatic, bone dry with some tannins, full of texture still with great acidity to balance all the banana blossom, star fruit, tangelo, alpine herbs, and humidity. Downright lip-smacking with tension and freshness in spades and perfectly balanced: a very fine mountain Muscat.
Pair with: Olive tapenade, or any white fish dish
Baptiste Cousin Ouech Cousin
Varietal:Grolleua
Region: Loire, France
“Life without wine would be in vain, wine without life is not.”
Baptiste Cousin includes this phrase on the back labels of his bottles, and it is his statement of intent. In a simple sentence, it is clear to see what he is talking about: totally natural wines, made from biodynamic vineyards, with total respect for the land and with minimal intervention in the winery.
This is no surprise since this Frenchman, based in the Loire Valley (in the northwest of France), in Anjou, in the village of Martigne Briand, has inherited the legacy of his father, Olivier Cousin, the famous natural winemaker who decided to hand over the care of his Gamay, Grolleau, Chenin Blanc and Pineau d'Aunis plots to his son in 2012.
This is when Baptiste’s work began, which continues with the principles he experienced growing up: working the vines by hand, plowing with horses, and using biodynamic preparations (without added sulphur) to combat the dangers of spring frosts and autumn mildew. The result is clear to see with greatly expressive and pure natural wines like the Le Batossay Ouech Cousin red wine made with Grolleau.
In the winery, built by his great-grandfather in the center of Martigné, Baptiste Olivier continues to vinify without sulphites. Following carbonic maceration, Le Batossay Ouech Cousin ferments naturally from native yeasts. No pumps or machinery are used (except for his grandfather’s vertical press). The wine and the musts are extracted by gravity, culminating this laborious process with aging in barrels and bottling without clarification, filtration, or adding sulphur.
The best way to taste a wine like the ones they used to make in the old days.
The grape is Grolleau, carbonically macerated. This natural wine is soft with crunchy red fruit and the typical freshness of this grape variety, but the palate remains silky, delicate, and ripe, proof of a healthy harvest, harvested at maturity.
Pair with: Scallops in butter, pan-fried tofu
Domaine des Buis Marin D’eau Douce
Varietal: 60% Fer Servadou, 40% Cabernet Franc
Region: Aveyron, France
Pauline Broqua makes wine by following her instincts and senses. When drinking her wines our gut instinct tells us that they are darn good.
Pauline first worked as a bartender for many years and eventually studied to become a sommelier in Toulouse before working for Domaine Yoyo and studying under Nicolas Carmarans. She eventually purchased some land and converted the domaine to biodynamic.
“The terroir is the patrimony and foundation of winemaking. When we convert to organics and hence stop herbicides and synthetics, it reveals the terroir and the nuances of the vineyards. I believe this approach also needs to be respected in terms of vinification. If we use several technical methods and chemicals/additions in winemaking, then talking about terroir is no longer legitimate.”
Domaine des Buis’s Servadou/cab franc is light-bodied and very fresh. Light red and slightly cloudy in the glass, its slightly earthy scent gives way to beautifully spicy, herbal notes, with a wild berry tingle on the tongue. Just the right side of funky once opened you will devour this.
Pair with: a cheeseburger, home-made raviolli
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