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OLD WORLD, MODERN STYLE
Our line-up for Saturday features some great "old world" wines that are anything but old fashioned. Drop by and have samples from some of the best wines we have in stock.
Our signature wine(for a $5 donation to Avery County Humane Society) is the remarkable 2008 Tribouley "Les Bacs" Vieilles Vignes (Côte de Rousillon, $29.99). Jean-Louis received his degree in oenology from the university in Beaune, worked a bit in Burgundy and then bought several small parcels in the northern foothills of the Pyranees near the Spanish border. His goal was to use bio-agriculture, to live from the earth while respecting it, to never use chemical weed killers and to plough the soil and, when needed, because the vines are close together, to go back to the ancestral practice of using a mule! He uses natural products to protect the vines from disease and never uses chemical fertilizers in order to allow the plant to find nutrients on its own, with her roots, and within the depths of the terroir. Harvesting is not done by machine, but by hand and all the grapes are sorted. In the cellar, he uses little or no sulfites, no industrial yeasts, the grapes are declustered and put in the cuves by hand. He doesn't make a lot of wine with his biodynamic, hands-on techniques, but what he makes is extraordinary.
This wine was rated 93 points in the Wine Advocate: "Tribouley's 2008 Les Bacs Vieilles Vignes is seductively scented with gentian, wisteria, arbor vitae, cinnamon, licorice, and dark cherry concentrate. In the mouth this is rich and velvety yet bright, juicy, and vibrant, with suggestions of stone, iodine, cherry pit adding further complexity to its floral, herbal, and berry melage in a terrifically lingering finish." We don't know what all that stuff is, but it's a great wine. Come see, and taste.
Our supply is limited, but we also have in stock Tribouley's 93-rated "Orchis".
Next up is the fabulous 2009 Saint-Damien Vieilles Vignes (Côtes du Rhône, ($18.99). The 2009 Côtes du Rhone Vieilles Vignes is 90% Grenache and the rest Mourvedre and Carignan. The average age of the vines, from the stony soils of the Plan de Dieu, is 50 years. From the Wine Advocate (91-92 points): "This is another full-bodied, superbly concentrated wine with the classic black cherry marmalade/kirsch notes intermixed with licorice, spring flowers, pepper, and a hint of garrigue. This ripe, full-bodied wine is opulent, voluptuously textured, long and rich."
Our third red wine offering is the 2009 Château Grand Rousseau (Bordeaux, $19.99) from the Entre Deux Mers region in Bordeaus (the vast area lying between the Dordogne and Garonne rivers. The owners are fourth generation winemakers making wonderful claret comprised of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. This is a charming, deep ruby colored wine that is round, smooth, well-balanced with integrated tannins and a classic bouquet. It has subtle red fruit flavors with notes of blackcurrant, blueberry, tobacco, violets, earth and vanilla.
We'll have two refreshing whites on display Saturday. First up is the 2020 La Cave "Les Costières de Pomerols" Picpoul de Pinet (Côteaux du Languedoc, $9.99). This wine is produced by a co-operative in the south of France. Pale yellow color with green tints, this wine has fresh and fine aromas of grapefruit and exotic fruit. Lime flavors, with typical focusing acidity, are hallmarks of Picpoul. This is our best value white wine. Known as "the Muscadet of the South" in France, this is to the Mediterranean coast of France what Albariño is to northwest Spain...the default wine for fresh shellfish & seafood.
Our "whiz-kid" wine is the 2010 Paul Direder Grüner Verliner (Austria, $11.99/liter). Paul Direder is now barely 21 years old and making quite a splash in Austria as one of the "Jungwinzer" (young vintner) whiz kids. With access to his grandfather Leopold's support, wisdom and vineyards, and with tutoring from one of Austria's top wine makers, Anton Bauer, it is no wonder that these fruit driven wines have garnered accolades. (He's been making wine since before "legal" drinking age in North Carolina.)
With yields trimmed back through careful but vigorous pruning of his grandfather's vineyards, practicing ecologically sound vineyard management and enlisting top-notch consulting advice, he has made a fabulous wine and foreshadowed a bright future.
Lemon/lime and spice aromas can be found in the nose of the this refreshing thirst-quencher, tailor made for spicy Asian dishes as well as any seafood or fried chicken dish. The wine is bone dry with lots of floral and citrus flavors evident in its straight-forward fruit-driven character. Get a third more for your money via this one liter bottling.
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