LE MISTRAL
May Wine Club
Gut Oggau Atanasius
Burgeland, Austria
Zweigelt and Blaunfrankisch
Gut Oggau is a project in the small town of Oggau in Burgenland, Austria, started by Eduard and Stephanie Tscheppe in 2007. Before starting the winery, Eduard made conventional wine with his father in Styria, and Stephanie’s family owned and operated the Michelin starred restaurant Taubenkobel. They painstakingly restored the 17th century winery that had been abandoned for 20 years, including its 200-year-old screw press. The vines’ 20-year period of neglect was fortunate, as this allowed for all pesticide and chemical treatments to be washed away. This let them begin working immediately on vines biodynamically, where they are now fully Demeter certified.
When they began to work with the wines in the cellar, they noticed that each wine seemed so alive with its own personality, that they decided to craft labels centered around the personality inside each bottle. Thus they created a family of wines: each wine is given a name of one family member and the artist Jung von Matt draws a face for each label. The children, Atanasius, Theodora, and Winifred, are wines that are more forthright, light, bold and energetic. The parents, Joschuari, Emmeram, Timotheus, and Josephine, come from vineyards with a little more direct sun exposure and therefore more ripeness producing wines with more body and power. And finally the grandparents, Mechtild and Bertholdi, are from two single vineyards of older vines that produce the most traditional wines from their lineup. Most of the vineyards are field blended, and therefore there is little mention of grape varieties here, but they do work with 6 main grape varieties– Blaufrankish, Zweigelt Grüner Veltliner, Welchriesling, Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc), and Gewurtzraminer.
Vinification Method: Grapes are hand harvested and destemmed. Fermentation takes place in used 500, and 1200-liter barrels, and the juice spends about 3 weeks in contact with the skins. The wine goes through elevage in the same barrels for about 12 months, with no batonnage. The wine is bottled unfined, unfiltered, and with zero addition of sulfur.
Fresh, elegant, and quite light! This wine offers notes of cherry, blackberry, sage, and some playful minerality.
Alta Alella Migins Grand Reserva
Penedes, Spain
Xarel. Lo, Macabeu, Parellada
Breeze’s Owner Sarah Heigh recently visited this vineyard when she was in Spain!
The harvest is carried out by hand, paying attention to each plant individually by means of accurate ripeness controls, seeking the optimum moment to pick each variety in the healthiest conditions in order to guarantee the best result. The winery works with micro-vinifications and diversity/wine variety of grapes, producing up to fifty different wines for blending every vintage. The estate is just two kilometres away from the Mediterranean Sea and the vineyards are planted on slopes and terraces between 100 and 250m above sea level. The vines are grown on Sauló soil which is one of the most important elements that define the wines from Alta Alella: an acidic white granite-based sandy soil with low limestone content, low organic matter and good natural water drainage.
The Gran Reserva cavas are bottle-aged for at least 30 months, while the some “collection” cavas has an optimal ageing period of over 10 years. All the grapes are organically farmed, using the local varieties Mataró and Pansa Blanca, and all the bottles are retailed immediately after being disgorged. A passion for cava that has been rewarded with many international prizes.
On the nose, you'll experience aromas of delicate citrus and almonds. On the palate, light and well-integrated bubbles with fresh notes of pastry and white fruit.
Tenuta Maccan Pinot Bianco
Fruili, Italy
Pinot Bianco
Tenuta Maccan is in the Friuli Venezia Giulia DOC zone, which was formed by the Tagliamento, Meduna and Cellina riversas a result of frequent flooding over the centuries. Today, the soil is rich in dolomitic limestone and, in particular, containsfossils and minerals. The richness in the soil is absorbed by the vines and consequently by our wine and gives it the right sapidity and that luster that is hard to describe in words.
The soil’s high limestone content means it is perfect for making white wines, whose style is focused on elegance and substance and are lively, light, and fresh on the palate. Furthermore, the perfect microclimate created between the sea and the mountains benefits all the winemaking processes, such as green manuring, a technique also used in organic farming, which increases the organic nutrients in the soil and helps to maintain nitric nitrogen, a natural fertilizer which otherwise would be absorbed by the soil and become unavailable to the vine roots.
On the nose, you will get hints of tropical fruit and peach. This carries over on the body and rounds out with a velvety and well-balanced body.
BORA
Division Wine Ouest Rose
Columbia Valley, Oregon
Gamay Noir
This inaugural vintage hails from the Columbia Valley, which lies near the volcanic Cascade Mountains and features rolling hills and arid landscapes. The vineyards here, which thrive in a dry and warm climate, are home to some of the most interesting and under-the-radar vine plantings, including the French variety Gamay - which is featured in our mineral and bright red fruited rosé.
The Ouest Rosé is grown at an organically farmed site that we work with in the northwestern Yakima Valley. The grapes for this vintage were harvested in late September.
Ouest tastes just like a strawberry shortcake ice cream bar with a slight touch of natty funk on the finish.
Kiki and Juan Tinto
Valencia, Spain
Bobal, Tempranillo, Macabeo (co-ferment)
Who is Kiki & Juan? Nicknames for the founders of La Luz Selections - Kiki = Kerin Auth Bembry, and Juan Casa is what most of our Iberian winemakers friends call John House.
Kiki & Juan are fun, organic wines in 1 Liter bottles that are all about supporting the farmers La Luz works with throughout Iberia.
“Kiki” uses her longstanding relationships with grape growers in Spain to find the organic vineyards that will go into Kiki & Juan.
With his low-intervention winemaking background at OVUM Wines, John House aka “Juan” focuses on making Kiki & Juan a close reflection of it’s vineyards and vintage as possible.
Native fermentation in cement, amphora and stainless steel + nothing added except sulfur - our goal with Kiki & Juan Wines is to make simple, fresh wines from old fashioned techniques. Old vine Bobal grown in the high elevations of Utiel Requena is the foundation of our tinto. Bobal is perfectly suited to make fresh red wines with bright aromatics of sour cherry, framboise and juniper.
Kiki & Juan Tinto is ready to be chilled for a poolside hang, or a night of tapas, or when you just need a fresh glass of red wine on the back porch. Salud!
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