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Carbon-free Lawnmowers

Domaine des Côtes Rousses
Coteaux de la Mort 2022
100% Mondeuse
Vin de Savoie AOP
Biodynamic (cert since 2020), organic, horse powered
La Motte-Servolex , Savoie, France
Nicolas and Marielle Ferrand

Maroon with a ruby rim. Breathing in dark cherries & also dried, prunes/raisins, plums, an earth touch that has a tang to it that turns to iron, as it opens there’s a blend of strawraspboysenberry, green leaves & grass float in & out, twist of citrus peal, with a pinch of juniper, smidge of sage & a hit of mint. Sipping and all of the scents are in the taste with fresh wild blackberries and a grind of pink, white & black pepper mix. Damn this is good and don’t over think it like me. Just enjoy the ride.

Pairs with Cheez-Its: meh

I love this quote from Domaine des Côtes Rousses site, “A good winemaker can be recognized by the soil clinging to his boots.” From what I read there was a chance Nicolas’ boots could have taken a turn down another path. His Master’s degree was in Rural Land Management and as he says, “my place should have been in an office”. Well I’m glad he chose to get his boots and hands dirty in the alpine fields & vineyards because we get to enjoy the fruits of his labor. Right off the bat, he started out organic & biodynamic in 2020, which is also when Marielle was able to join him on a daily basis with all aspects of wine growing/making & also the business side. If you check out their IG, you’ll get a chance to see some of their other coworkers like the horses that till the vineyard & the grass munching sheep or as they called them “carbon-free lawnmowers at work!” Seriously, who wouldn’t want to spend their days in such good & furry company. Cheers! 🍷🐑🐴

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Hard Work + Passion = A Happy Successful Life

Pascal Janvier
Coteaux Du Loire Blanc 2023
Chenin Blanc
Farming: Lutte Raisonnée, hand harvested, native yeast
Loire, France
Pascal &  Dominique Janvier 

Light gold/straw twinkling starlight. Breathing in green apples & pears, mango, guava, pinch of cloves, a little jasmine & wisteria, and a lemony citrus blend. Everything I’m smelling is in the taste with a zippy citrus spark, apples are more round, a little grass in the back side that shyly comes out & waves hi & blends into the background again. The guava smidge of musk is joined by I think musk melon that rears it’s head once in a while. It’s bright with also a backbone and a strong sense of where it was born.

Pairs with Cheez-Its: definitely

I love reading how people find their wine path. Pascal’s parents did own land with vineyards but making wine wasn’t their thing. He also ended up in school to be a butcher but then something happened and I would love to know what because he changed his mind at 30 to head off and study the whole wine growing/making package. It took a ton of hard work & dedication to get to where they are now with 66 parcels (over 9 ha).  Now he and his wife Dominique are growing & making some of the best dry Chenin Blanc in the world. They are just another wonderful example that if you follow your passion with all your heart, you can create a happy successful life. ❤️

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Don’t Stop The Dance

La Grange de l’Oncle Charles
La Danse des Corbeaux 2021
Riesling, Chasselas, Sylvaner, Pinot Gris, Gewurtztraminer
Organic, biodynamic, no sulfur, horse & sheep powered
Alsace, France
Jérôme François & Morgane Stoquert

A golden ray of summer sun that deepens over time. Inhaling apples & pears (baked & fresh), honeycomb, pinch of allspice, clover & orange blossoms & their greenery, gentle lemons & key limes, May roses, and a cool sea breeze with a touch of spring house mineral. Sipping and all of the scents with a heightened citrus twang that now includes pink grapefruit & tangelo, dash of juniper berries, a little woodsy/smoky on the backside that joins in with the honeycomb/wax, that salty/mineral taste grows, and it all melds together into a zingy lively sip that is filled with an elevated elegance. I truly love this wine!

Pairs with Cheez-Its: Oh no! Step away from the box.

La Danse des Corbeaux translates to “the dance of the crows”. The first time I saw a murder of crows flying in a formation like a murmuration (more often it would be starlings) we were driving in the countryside in France. It was like a beautiful well choreographed swirling and whirling dance that took over the sky. Then they started coming up closer and closer to the back of the car in a way that almost looked like they were chasing us which was a slightly unsettling feeling (especially for a person who was scared & mentally scarred as a child due to the famous Hitchcock flick). Not much later they passed us and flew off to the side and continued their modern aerial ballet that just took my breath away. 🐦‍⬛

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A Portable Pup

Hamlet Hound
Bourbon and Cola
Small batch NY whiskey, honey, molasses, cola nut, and more
15% ABV
Copake, NY

Golden almost amber pour and at first bubbles that disappear. Sniffing and there’s cola, honey, molasses, pinch of holiday spice, and a little citrus zest. All of the scents are there in the sip with a little lavender, a bubble tingle, and maybe a little coconut that fades. It’s smooth, relaxing, and perfect for kicking back & chilling.

Pairs with Cheez-Its: absolutely NO

As many of you know, I love a good cocktail I can just toss in my bag and have on the go or in this case sip at home while watching the world go by or lately 🔥. Anyway, I was delightfully surprised to discover this little yet powerful pup (15% ABV) was concocted by Christy Frank. You’ve probably read one of her articles on Seven Fifty Daily (or elsewhere). She also has decades of wine & spirits experience working for Moët Hennessy USA (7 years), owned Frankly Wines before selling in 2017, became a founder of Copake Wine Works, a DipWSET, on tasting boards, a Bâtonnage mentor (“stirring up the conversation on women in wine”), and a member of Les Dames d’Escoffier…in other words she’s a wine/vine/spirit whirlwind. Hamlet Hound is another feather in her cap, and one of my favorite parts about her cocktails there’s absolutely no corn syrup in anything. 🥃

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Where Time Stands Still

Bodegas Frontonio
Microcósmico
Garnacha 2024
Organic, biodynamic, native yeasts, horse plowed vineyards
Alpartir, Zaragoza, Aragón, Spain
Fernando Mora MW & winemaking partner Mario López

Bright shining ruby. Sniffing & there’s cherries, raspberries, cool fresh mineral smell from our old spring house, plums dark & light, pomegranate, whiff of gingerbread as time goes by a  moment of Oreo center/vanilla way in the back & before you know it…it’s gone, & strawberries.All the scents are there but w a bright light kick that’s so uplifting, boysenberry, & lick of a singed orange peel lip vibrating tingle. This is a wine you want to put on repeat.

Pairs w Cheez-Its: YES

This wine was recommended by a friend since it’s fabulous but also for what she had to say on meeting Fernando. She says from 1st hand experience he’s genuinely a nice guy who will pitch in to help someone he even just met. We need more people like him in the world. Anyway, Mora didn’t grow up in the wine world. His original studies & career were in engineering. Later he fell for wine, & his 1st foray into making it was in his bathtub (actually he had a micro-winery in a room in his apartment & the ferment temp was a bit high so he put the containers in a mix of water & ice to cool in the tub). His enthusiasm, handwork, passion & creativity led him to being one of the few MWs in Spain (he passed on his 1st try) & also kicking off their winery Frontonio in Alpartir. I love what he says on his blog about how living in this town changed everything. “It’s not just where I work, it’s how I live. Slow cooking, using local produce, getting to know the people & their stories, becoming part of a small community where everything has a history. Falling in love with a place without even realizing it. Here, time doesn’t flow, it stands still. And that, for someone as active as me, has been one of the greatest lessons of my life…That contrast between speed and slow time isn’t always easy, but I think that’s where the balance lies. Having time to take care of yourself, to enjoy, to observe. Because you have to know how to observe.” 🍷

#wine #vino #vin #winestagram #instawine

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Sun-kissed Glass of Joy

Maison Idiart
Sauvignon Blanc 2024
Sancerre AOP
Sancerre, France
Winemaker & founder: Nicolas Idiart

Light straw yellow with a touch of gold. There’s nose tickling grapefruit, Valencia orange, lemon, & a citrus blend with zest & all, orange blossoms, light spring flowers, and fresh cut grass with just cut & stripped apple branches. All of the scents are in the sip with a bigger spark of everything, parsley, smidge of fresh picked oregano, tangelo, good lick of lime, gooseberries, and a shake of salt.

Pairs with Cheez-Its: NO

This is now my 3rd bottle by Maison Idiart. 1st was the Pinot Noir 2022, which was quite a delight and a wonderful introduction to Nicolas’ achievements, his “modern day wine company” that works with select natural growers whose grapes sing from where they are born, and passion for reducing carbon footprints with their “keg wines”. Albeit this is not a wine on tap, but it’s a bottled burst of Spring sliding into Summer that is a sun-kissed splash of joy that I need right now. While sipping a glass, I can almost hear a dawn chorus of migrating birds twittering & warbling away! 🪺

#wine #vino #vin #winestagram #instawine