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Be a Rebel

Weingut Loacker
Santa Maddalena Classico Morit
Alto Adige DOC 2017
Vernatsch 87%, Lagrein 10%, Pinot Noir 3%
Bolzano, Italy
Organic, biodynamic, vegan, and native yeasts
Founded by Rainer Loacker and is now in the hands of his sons Franz Josef, Hayo, and Hannes

Bright cheery cherry ruby color. After pouring my nose is getting some butter at first but let that glass sit a little while and then don’t think of it again. Then comes the cherries, plums, pinch of pepper, sweet spring flowers, rosemary, and some creaminess with a faint sugar cookie with sprinkles. Wow, that was a lot and I’m wondering if the taste is heading the same way, and I’m not disappointed. There’s tart cherry brightness, bring on the funk that plum funk, strawberries, wild blueberries, black pepper, smoke, and as it rolls it’s velvet with a small orange zest kick One more thing to add, do not be an idiot like me. I was preoccupied and didn’t notice there is a glass stopper and wondered why my opener wasn’t going in. Feel free to laugh at me all you want.

Pairs with Cheez-It’s: smooth dark cherry mmmm

Rainer Loacker is yes, that Loacker from the wafer world. You remember those addictive little cookies? In 1979, Rainer saw himself as a rebel in the region, since he knew his winery had to be sustainable. The vines even get homeopathic treatment. Rainer’s vision, which at the time was very much not the norm, and as he says in the video (please click and hear his own words) people told him “Organic wine doesn’t interest us.” He was even called out of his mind. Well, look how much times have changed, and how right his decision was. From this bottle alone, I can attest his diligence has created this delicious, delightful wine. Also according to their site, Santa Maddalena Classico Morit 2017, is not only sustainable, but also organic and vegan. By the way, there are two more vineyards in their hands, and they all hold to the same standards. Do it natural, respect those beautiful lands and you have a recipe for success!

@docwineshop @docwinebarny @LoackerWineEstates @APWineImports @cheezits #cheezit #organic #biodynamic #vegan #nativeyeasts #wine #winestagram #instawine #redwine #worldbyglass @worldbyglass #needmorewine #pairswithcheezits #altoadige #Bolzano #Italy #Vernatsch #Lagrein #PinotNoir #loacker

 

 

 

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Hand Picked, Made by Heart

Tikveš
Rkaciteli Special Selection 2017
Tikves Region
100% Rkaciteli
Tikves, Macedonia
Sustainable farming, double guyot, and hand harvested
Winemaker/Chief Wine Consultant: Philippe Cambie
Head Winemaker: Marko Stojakovic

Starlight super pale purity gold/yellow. Breathing in fresh peaches, musky mango, and pineapple. It’s a funky fruit cup. Take a sip and there’s again sweet pineapple, peaches, smoky mangos, and just a little speck of rock licking granite on the back of it all. I would love a big tray of sushi with this glass.

Pairs w Cheez-It’s: fruit, fruit, fruit, sweeeeeet

Tikveš, founded in 1885, is a winery that’s lived through a lot of history…wars, independence, and an end to communism. No matter what was thrown their way, wine continued on. In 2003, M6 Co. bought the massive winery and got down to business of only making quality wine no matter high or low price. They brought in experts (like Philippe Cambie), assessed, and took on transforming to sustainable farming, pairing the soils with just the right grapes, etc. All of this hard work has led to a long list of awards, including some for previous vintages of Rkaciteli Special Selection (which 2017 totally deserves one). As mentioned before this winery is a big undertaking, in fact it is the largest in South-Eastern Europe, which makes me appreciate Svetozar Janevski’s (Pres. of the Management Board) sentiment, “From that moment to the present, I have been devoted to the idea that the colours of this country, its people, its landscape, music and aromas, should all be reflected and communicated in our Macedonian product. All that our painters and musicians have strived to capture in their art, we at Tikveš have attempted to capture in our wines.” He and their whole team have achieved this goal, and I look forward to traveling and tasting the essence of their lands in future bottles.

@vinewinenyc @TikvesWinery @EuropeanCellars @cheezits #cheezit #wine #winestagram #instawine #whitewine #naturalwine #worldbyglass @worldbyglass #needmorewine #pairswithcheezits #sustainable #Tikves #Rkaciteli #Macedonia #ericsolomonselections

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Deep Roots

Buli
Le Fonde 2019
Toscano Rosato IGT
Trequanda, Siena, Italy
100% Sangiovese
Organic and guyot training
Founder and owner: Robert Buly
Enologist: Diego Ciurletti
Agronomist: Alessandro Gemini
Cantina Chief: Stefano Censini

Radiant salmon color. First scents of very light orange cream with a tad lemon zest. Keep letting it breathe just little bit longer, trust me. You’ll be greeted by cranberries, dried apricots, touch of magnolias but not heady, and then there’s also strawberries and raspberries. Lift that glass, sip and enjoy lemon, pink grapefruit, and zingy orange which leads to apricot and a whole pile of fruits like watermelon, strawberries, and raspberries. Now there’s salt, smoke, and a lick of slate. Ok, you’re going to think I’m a weirdo, but something about this reminds me of an Orange Julius that isn’t super sweet. Maybe it’s just bringing back a memory which good wine and food always should do. For all you old mall rats and I was one of them before I got my job at the record shop, you will get this flavor (yes, this is a good thing with this wine). Some would call this a summer wine, but I think it is perfect for year round. I’m doing my third tasting on New Year’s Eve and it’s a welcome breath of fresh to 2021.

Pairs w Cheez-It’s: Delicious, it just brings out the fruit even more. Smooth.

My first Buli was their Estate 44 (2015) which was a big beautiful blend. La Fonde (2019), is a wonderful introduction for me to their varied styles. As you can tell from above, I love it. But there’s more to this tale. As in my first review, all of their wines are born from a film worthy WWII romance between a US soldier, an enchanting Italian lady, and a bottle of red wine. Robert Buly grew up in Pennsylvania, but his mother (the daughter of the mentioned couple) and brothers held on to their Italian heritage by speaking Italian at home and when they could travel back to Italy. All of their mother’s relatives were still back there, so what a better opportunity to fall for the food, wines and that way of life. Come on, who wouldn’t dream of such a great opportunity. This family is gifted to have these deep roots or in other words “Le Fonde”.

@docwineshop @docwinebar @buliwine @darkstarimports @cheezits #cheezit #pairswithcheezits #wine #whitewine #rosé #rose @worldbyglass #needmorewine #organic #trequanda #toscano #tuscany #siena #italy #winestagram #instawine #rosato #sangiovese

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Take Me Home, Country Roads

Occhipinti
SP68 Bianco 2019
Terre Siciliane IGT
Zibibbo (aka Muscat of Alexandria) 60%, Albanello 40%
Vittoria, Sicily, Italy
Organic, biodynamic, dry farming, guyot, hand-harvested, 2 weeks skin contact, and native yeasts
Owner and Winemaker: Arianna Occhipinti

Deep golden color with orange tint. Orange, tangerine, and other beautiful citrus waft in along with a hedge of honeysuckles (I can just see honey bees darting from flower to flower and shaking their little bee butts), wild flowers, and a little fresh grass. Tasting again that orange but blended with some smoke. There’s also honey, peaches, apricot, and, a little bit of a French spice blend like the Bouquet Garni from Penzeys. It’s clean and has a fresh zing on the back of the tongue.

Pairs with Cheez-It’s: Don’t even think about trying that

I’ll start with a quote by Saint-Exupery, that Arianna Occhipinti has on her site, “We do not inherit the land from our ancestors; we borrow It from our children”. What she did inherit was her love for Sicily and the wines from her Uncle Giusto Occhipinti (of COS Winery fame) while helping out in his cellar starting at the age of 16. She also picked up her natural, organic, biodynamic, and reverence for the land from him, even if she did go to oenology school (at 18) for the practical bits. While there she continued to question, made friends with “natural winemakers”, and knew that was to be her path post graduation. As she also says on her site, “Respect the wine as if it was a person. A person who takes with him/her, a world, a history, an atmosphere. And it tastes like the land where it was born from.” This is evident in her SP68 Bianco which is named after the road that winds near her vineyards…a road of deep history that part can be traced back to a 3000 year old stone path which eventually became the oldest wine route documented. When you have a glass of this, just remember a part of this history lives in you.

@docwineshop @docwinebarny @ariannaocchipinti @louisdressnerselections @cheezits #cheezit #wine #winestagram #instawine #whitewine #orangewine #whitewine #naturalwine #worldbyglass @worldbyglass #needmorewine #pairswithcheezits #organic #sustainable #biodynamic #Zibibbo #MuscatofAlexandria #Albanello #Muscat #Vittoria #Sicily #Italy #penzeysspices

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Cheers to Billie!

Fat Orange Cat
Collaboration with Twelve Percent Project
All The Kool Kats On The Back Of The Bus
New England Style India Pale Ale
8.4% ABV
Simcoe, Citra, Mosaic and Nugget Hops
North Haven, CT

Hazy golden orange with a big frothy head. Inhaling all that NEIPA citrus goodness: grapefruit, tangerine, clementines, orange zest, and pine needles. Tasting all the same citrus fruit goodness again added with pineapple and apricots. Then bitter, pine, herbal (like singed sage) and something a little toasty and dark. A very smooth easy drinker that gives you that delightful tingly feeling on your tongue and lips.

Pairs with Cheez-It’s: Makes it more herbal and floral…hmmm

I head over to Fat Orange Cat’s site to see how they’re doing and am greeted by a post that says their open air drive-thru is closed till April 2021, but you can still pick up their beers at your local purveyors and also Twelve Percent Project, who works with them on their large batch beers. Their small batches are made back at their brewery East Hampton, CT with great care to their land, their ingredients, local agriculture, and recycling as much as possible. This is a socially conscious brewery that was once overseen by their “brewmaster” and fat orange cat, Billie who is sadly no longer. There are pics of him on their site in case any of you other cat crazy people, like me, would like to see how cute he was. Join me in a little dance for him with G Love & Special Sauce – Back of the Bus.

@fatorangecatbrewco @BeerBoutiqueInc @twelvepercentbeerproject @cheezits #beer #wine #winestagram #instawine #cheezit @worldbyglass #pairswithcheezits  #neipa #ipa #craftbeer #beerstagram #beersofinstagram #Simcoe #Citra #Nugget #hops

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A Thorny Situation

Thistle & Weed
Duwweltjie 2018
100% Chenin Blanc
W.O. Paarl
Stellenbosch, South Africa
Organic and unfiltered
Viticulturist: Etienne Terblance
Winemaker: Stephanie Wild

Shimmy shimmy shiny gold. My nose is filled with an early hint of vanilla, then citrus scents of lemon. persimmon, blood orange, and light grapefruit (ie IPA). There’s also super ripe cucumber, pine, and some salty (not sexy, wiggle that moustache) thyme. Kicking back apricot, melon, pears, honeysuckle, citrus tang of lemon and mandarin orange, white pepper, and a little wax yet no wane.

Pairs w Cheez-It’s: more smooth less tang

Etienne Terblance and Stephanie Wild both come from wine in their life. Young Etienne helped out in his parents’ seaside restaurant and then took off for school and received a Masters degree in Viticulture and Oenology from Montpellier SupAgro and a PhD in Viticulture from Stellenbosch University. Stephanie’s history is little different. Her grandfather was the well known Niel Joubert, founder of the Stellenbosch Wine Route. She also holds a Masters from Stellenbosch University in Viticulture and Oenology, and everywhere I google, I see her on lists for top South African women winemakers, and top winemakers in general. Often I write about power teams like this and they are married couples but in this case, they’re friends. Their combined knowledge, experience and expertise has led them to pick the perfect spots for their vineyards, like the one for this Chenin Blanc. Duwweltjie vineyard named (fondly or maybe not so fondly) after the plant that translates to Devil’s thorns, that can puncture anything from shoes to rubber tires, etc and generally be a real pain in the ass. Just check out the label. Well, that annoyance is worth it to get to these 65 or so year old vines. I’d gladly be willing to take a wander through these plants just to get a case of these beauts.

Sidenote: as I mentioned before they are not a couple but it warms my heart to see on the site that they give shout outs to their families. Etienne is a father to Elmie (human), Ben (canine) and husband to Lizanda. Stephanie is wife to Kannas, and mother to Frances (human) and Khalessi & Khumba (canines). Reading this put a smile on my face.

@docwineshop @docwinebarny @thistleandweed.co.za @vsiwine @vsilocal @StellWineRoute @cheezits #cheezit #organic #unfiltered #wine  #winestagram #instawine #whitewine #worldbyglass @worldbyglass #needmorewine #pairswithcheezits #Duwweltjie #CheninBlanc #Paarl #Stellenbosch #SouthAfrica

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No Oak and Lots of Passion

Aaron Rawlins
Asrllc L.2018-021 2018
100% Sev Areni
Aghavnadzor, Vayots Dzor, Armenia 
Organic, native yeasts, unfined, unfiltered
Winemaker: Aaron Sedrick Rawlins

Very deep dark dense garnet purple. Bring on the dried fruit scents of prunes, raisins, and then plums, vanilla, dark really goth dark cherry, pepper, and rich. Drinking in deep plums, prunes, raisins, and rich cherry velvet. Also (I’m going to use that word I hate again) sexy dark chocolate, cherry cola, and black pepper. There’s such a warmth and it’s lovely dry end on the tongue. It’s also extremely calm and comforting yet passionate at the same time. Wow, does this sound like the description of the perfect guy or what? Yeah, if this bottle proposed, I might just say yes.

Pairs with Cheez-It’s: darker, deeper, more velvet; less dry

All I can say is what a wine. Aaron Rawlins made a great choice in life by picking Armenia and especially the Vayots Dzor region at 6500 ft elevation, volcanic soils  and 150 year old vines that had not been touched with phylloxera. Wow, just 18 and off to France to become a chef, and venture through Spain, UK, Copenhagen and to Georgia. Then to veer off into a dream of wine in Armenia. That’s one strong and dedicated to his palate guy. Oh, and may I add, he is letting the Areni tell it’s true story because there is NO oak. Love, love, love when the grape gets to let itself be it’s true self. Do yourself a favor and pick one of these up stat and drink now.

@vinewinenyc #AaronRawlins #AaronSedrickRawlins #terrellwines #Asrllc #sevareni #areni #wine #redwine # #winestagram #instawine #armenianwine #Organic #nativeyeasts #unfined #unfiltered #Aghavnadzor #VayotsDzor #Armenia 

 

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Culinary Pampering

Štekar Wines
Sıvı Pinot 2019
100% Sivi Pinot (Pinot Gris)
Goriška Brda Z.G.P.
Kojsko, Littoral, Slovenia
Organic, biodynamic
Winemaker: Jure Štekar

Copper color like one of those beautiful old bowls Julia Child used to whisk away in. Wafts of orange, grapefruit, melon, and a little fresh grass. Lots of fruit dance on my tongue. There’s an orange melon of some sort, pear but crisp and almost not fully ripe, and as it opens peaches come forward with smoke, Also a bitter herb that I am having trouble pinpointing. This beautiful glass just feels creamy and mellow. Lovely.

Pairs with Cheez-It’s: turns the bitter herb into rosemary

Štekar Wines is fairly young but they are one of the first wineries in Slovenia certified biodynamic. Along with the vineyard, they also have a farm, the main house with rooms to stay over and a whole agrotourism package. You can stay, view the beautiful countryside, taste their wines, join them in the kitchen to learn their recipes, and get as they call it, “Culinary Pampering”. The pics of their dishes look absolutely amazing and creative. Oh, please scroll down and look at those cakes! They look heavenly, and I feel pounds adding to my thighs just looking at them. Most of the ingredients from vegetables, fruits, and meat are from the farm, or if they don’t have it they reach out to organic producers. They sum up it all best, “Visit us and participate in the unforgettable experience of the wonderful Goriška Brda hills and the magic of our climate.” Oh, I so wish I could be there. We could all need a little magic right now!

@docwineshop @docwinebarny @stekar_wines @hisastekar @bonvivantimports @cheezits #cheezit #wine #whitewine #orangewine #naturalwine #worldbyglass @worldbyglass #needmorewine #pairswithcheezits #organic #sustainable #biodynamic #SiviPinot  #PinotGris #goriskabrda #Kojsko #Littoral #Slovenia

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Abracadabra!

Quartomoro
Z
Frizzante sui Lieviti
100% Vermentino
Arborea, Sardegna, Italy
Low intervention, guyot training, unfined and unfiltered
Winemaking couple: Piero Cella and Luciana Baso

Hazy golden bubbly with pretty sediment just waiting for you at the base. Pop that cap and come on lemon! You know those light layered wafer cookies that has lemon cream between each layer. Also some tangerine and dainty white flowers. Lift and swig and more lemon on my tongue with a tad of grapefruit, apple, pinch of salt, and a savory mix of spices: sage, thyme rosemary, and a toasty cinnamon thing. It’s crispy and bouncy, and I’m just realizing there’s reminders of Orangina. Fabulous sparkler and IPA lovers would have fun with it too. Best of both worlds

Pairs with Cheez-It’s: no complaints here

Quartomoro has been creating this beauty since 2012. Almost feels like an ancient science experiment, but then so do most wines when you really think about it. From what I read, they take last year’s non bubbly Vermentino (on the lees) and re-ferment the dry base in the bottle and then add the next year’s freshly crushed juice, skin, seed mixture (the must) and the ancestral method works it’s magic. Abracadabra! You have this unfined, unfiltered and non vintage bottle. I’m guessing, I’m drinking a mix of 2018 and 2019, due to the harvests being in September, but feel free to let me know if I’m wrong. It’s nice to think I’m sipping something from before all this 2020 mess. Here’s again to 2021! Raise that glass of frizzante and welcome this New Year in with a big smooch!

@docwineshop @docwinebarny @quartomoro @steephillwine @cheezits #steephillwine #cheezit #wine #whitewine #orangewine #sparklingwine #frizzante #winestagram #instawine #worldbyglass @worldbyglass #needmorewine #pairswithcheezits #Italy #guyot #Arborea #Sardegna #Sardinia #Vermentino #Abracadabra #SteveMillerBand

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Frogs and Fernet

Letherbee Distillers
Fernet
35% ABV
Chicago, Illinois
Over 20 botanicals
Distiller: Brenton Engel (and team)

Medium coffee color with no milk color or some of that black smoked tea that I drink that everyone complains about. Poured and served neat and what a pow, zing, bam, to my nose. Insanely herbal but greatly welcome. There’s pine, dried orange peels, parsnips, rhubarb, cloves, spearmint, eucalyptus, and Christmas incense. Ok so let’s see what this swirl of scents taste like. It’s every bit of all of the above and more. A total wake up call with that starts with a bang, but then goes smooth and healing. You can sip this all night on it’s own or come up with a fun cocktail on your own, or if you have a hangover (last night was New Year’s Eve, ya know) then this may help.

Pairs with Cheez-It’s: No, no, no, no, NO!

In just 13 years, Brenton Engel went from being a moonshiner playing in Pool of Frogs to now where he has an internationally distributed and highly praised distillery. While he was still bartending he was tinkering with those first batches and tuning botanical recipes until he got it just right. He drifted from moonshine, to what has now grown into their whole line of Original Label Gin, Barrel­-Aged Absinthe, Autumnal & Vernal Gins, Bësk, and Fernet. Letherbee (Let them be!) has also given back to the community. Back in March they temporarily paused their gin production to make hand sanitizer. Now that’s a good hearted thing to do.

@docwineshop @docwinebarny @letherbee @cheezits #cheezit #wine #winestagram #instawine #Fernet #spirits #botanicals #liqueur #spiritsofinstagram #gin #absinthe #distillery #worldbyglass @worldbyglass #needmorewine #pairswithcheezits #Chicago #Illinois