Summer Wines From Spain
Presented by Mr. Eric Bellnier from Monsieur Touton.
Atlantis Albariño
Elegant lemon-yellow color, clean and glossy. It is a very intense wine on the nose with persistent quality aromas, recalling green apple and tropical fruit, such as pineapple.
On the palate, it is long and persistent with a perfect acidity that matches its body, making it a very pleasant wine full of sensations.
This is a very crisp & snappy wine that would do well with seafood. I'm thinking a casual Captain Scott's evening with steamers, fritters, lobster rolls - you get the idea.
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Alvarez de Toledo Godello
Robert Parker -The Wine Advocate: Rated as An outstanding wine of exceptional complexity and character. "Alvarez de Toledo's new releases include one white wine, the 2010 Godello. This unoaked beauty delivers a lovely perfume of baking spices, melon, peaches, and mineral. Round, spicy, and pleasure-bent, this smooth-textured, impeccably balanced effort over-delivers in a very big way."
You can't go wrong just having it as a solo apéritif. Fish, chicken, and seafood alike, are perfect for the smooth texture and beautiful balance of this Spanish Godello, as is guacamole, Mexican, Thai and Vietnamese cuisine using these meat choices. Oh, it's fantastic with sushi too... What are we waiting for?
This is a very affordable summer treat - please try it on Friday Night.
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Ugarte Cosheca
 Founded in 1957, the owner started by delivering bottles to the town on his bicycle! It now occupies an enigmatic building in Laguardia, still in the control of the original founders. With family ties to Martin Cendoya, the wine has gone from strength to strength, encompassing environmental management as one of its core objectives. This means sustainable practises, and an ethos of recycling and re-using where possible! 120 hectares of vines are spread across some of the best sites in the Rioja Alavesa, giving wines of great character and depth. This is a blend of 80% Tempranillo, and 20% Grenache, spending just 6 months in barrel and 4 in bottle. It is dark cherry in color, with soft black fruit flavors, touched with vanilla and spice. |
Bodegas El Angosto produces remarkable wine at very affordable prices. A very popular favorite is the Bodega El Angosto Tinto. It smells expensive on the nose, a little cinnamon and some spices. The more you sip and the more you get into it - you realize we are drinking it at a perfect time. The wine is medium in body with ripe fruit, mostly red fruit with a hint of plum; strawberry licorice, some leather aromas toward the end. Be sure to try this on Friday night. The tannins are juicy and it has a long multi-layered finish. Yum.
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You don't see a ton of gin coming to the US from Austria, but Hans Reisetbauer is a distiller worth paying attention to. His focus is schnapps-incredibly flavorful fruit spirits with no sugar added.
There's a raspberry eau de vie that takes 35 kilos of wild raspberries to make one liter! And a crazy-delicious Pear Williams made from 3 different harvests of pears in order to capture the flavors of fresh, crisp fruit, ripe and juicy fruit, and lush, super-ripe fruit.
Reisetbauer makes Blue Gin with whole botanicals-27 in all, including Austrian hops, cardamom, almonds, white and black pepper, clove, cinnamon, chamomile, orange peel, and fresh juniper from Macedonia.
Though many gins are either very floral or aggressively piney, Blue Gin is marked by smooth, rich texture and multifaceted flavor, with the juniper gentle and well-integrated, and a bright citrusy spice from the orange peel and hops.
There aren't many gins that are delicious to drink straight-and even at room temperature-but Blue Gin is. If you must add tonic, taste as you go...it doesn't need much.
This is a real treat.
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EXTREMELY HARD TO FIND
Octomore 6.3 - Islay Barley - $179
If you know someone that is a true aficionado of single malts - this belongs in their collection. "Octomore 6.3 Islay Barley is the first release of the uber-experimental cult classic to be distilled using 100% Islay-grown barley. The crop was sown in 2008 by our friend James Brown in the field known as Lorgba on his Octomore Farm. This lies close to the western shore of Loch Indaal on the Rhinns of Islay, and within sight of the village of Port Charlotte."  "This is a single malt whisky distilled from the most heavily peated barley in the world. Always experimental and pushing the boundaries of the possible, a stratospheric 258ppm was coaxed into the grain by our skilful maltsters at Bairds in Inverness, a remarkable 89ppm more than the previous high of 169ppm they achieved prior to the distillation of the legendary Octomore 5.1.
The trickle distillation was slow, almost painfully so. The spirit then matured for five years in Bourbon, slumbering peacefully in our warehouses on the shore of Loch Indaal before being bottled at the Harvey Hall in Bruichladdich distillery. This is natural whisky, un-chill filtered and coloring free, a tiny amount of water from the spring at Octomore Farm being used to give an abv of 64% - 128 proof." Read More Here So limited in production that only 12 bottles were allocated for the state of Connecticut. We have one bottle. This is the kind of item that is perfect for marking milestones. Graduations, special clients, anniversary's all come to mind.
Our relationship with the Bruichladdich Distillery, we offer the full line, makes this possible. Don't hesitate it will not last long.
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And be sure to try all of the Safe Harbor beer styles this Friday night. Icy Cold and Delicious!
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Where's Your Safe Harbor?
94 points Drink Magazine - June 2015
"Elite Eight" - Washington DC BrewFest "1790 Lager best lager we have tried in years..."New London's own Safe Harbor beer has three styles to choose from. Please include a six-pack with your other  favorite beverages this summer season. And remember that $1.00 for every six-pack of 1790 Lager supports the National Coast Guard Museum Fund. Sample them all this Friday night. We look forward to seeing you on Friday night! |
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