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Can Fix Your Car and Make a Kicking Wine

Rodica
Sparkling Refošk Saignée 2018
100% Refošk
Certified organic, dry farmed, environmentally friendly & energy efficient wine cellar
Truške, Istria, Slovenia
Winemaking family: Rodica, founded by Marinko Rodica

Cranberry with white/very light pink bubbles. Looks like your Thanksgiving cranberry out of the can or homemade sauce with a little doily dancing on top. Letting the first bit of funk dance in and out, then strawberries, tiny roses that float in and wander back and forth, and sweet fresh cut grass that works it’s way in. Next there’s blend of coriander and cinnamon but mellow and not too in your face. For some reason when I hit the roses, all that kept popping into my head were a swirl of Frida Kahlo’s work full of beauty and strength. Sipping strawberry fizz (reminds me of mom’s homegrown not over sweet strawberry jam), raspberry and blackberry smash (seeds and all), and lemon/lime squeeze. Refreshing! A little strawberry Starbust as I get to the end of the glass. Don’t over think it like I have been and just enjoy it like I will the next glass or two. Dancing berries left…dancing berries right….dancing berries in the middle…shake your tail feather!

When I found out this wine/winery was created by a car mechanic that wanted a change in life (1998)…well as you can see, I just had to buy it. As you read above, this is no motor oil but a bottle of dancing love. Marinko Rodica and his family have a great care for their beautiful land, the vines, the creatures, and the world around them. They also mostly work with indigenous grapes such as this Refošk, and as I read more about this beautiful grape, it has health advantages too. Supposedly some part of it can help with atherosclerosis, has a component of aspirin, and can help digestion. Who knew? Evidently the Slovenians do and they have a yearly festival in Marezige celebrating the wine and all the great foods, etc. to go with it. It’s on hiatus till next year due to well, you know the world we’re still living in, but you can still check out the experience and plan next year’s trip.

@vinewinenyc @rodicawines @vinum.slo.cro @cheezits #Saignee #wine #vinho #vino #vin #PétNat #petnat #bubbly #sparklingwine #organic @worldbyglass #worldbyglass #needmorewine #cheezit #vinewinenyc #winestagram #instawine #wineinfluencer #Refošk #Truške #Istria #Slovenia #bluesbrothers #raycharles

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A Lovely Reliable Old Friend

Domaine de La Pinardière
Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Sur Lie 2019
100% Muscadet (Melon de Bourgogne)
Sustainable agriculture
Vallet, Loire Valley, France
Owner/Winemaker: Christophe Olivier (4th generation of this longstanding wine family)

Shiny golden with a light green hue. Scents of seaside saltiness then open to green apples, a mix of pretty pears, and granite. Sipping in pears, golden delicious apples that when you bite in are juicy and crisp all at once, a minerally lick of a rock, shake (or two) of salt, and a spark of lime zip. So fresh! Exhale and there’s a little salty peatiness in the back of your mouth. Smooth…Oh this is an old friend that stays consistent each time I meet you, and you always make me crave shrimp, langoustines, and oysters…but then when am I not craving those.

Pairs with Cheez-It’s: ooh clean and lovely

I first met this wine on a night on my own. Walking home, I passed a bustling oyster bar and noticed the window seat open, and that never happened. My S.O. was living in Switzerland, and I was missing him and decided to treat myself but not break the budget. The sun was dimming, and this little glass transported me to France. It became a stop on evenings when it was still too warm to go home and this glass of muscadet was a delightful partner with a handful of oysters. Tonight, this wine is just the same as it was in the past and all of these memories and emotions come flying back. It’s amazing how time flies, places close, people move…sigh…but so happy to have some things not change.

@docwineshop @docwinebarny #DomainedeLaPinardiere @BaronFrancois @cheezits #pairswithcheezits #wine #cheezit #whitewine #organic @worldbyglass #needmorewine #winestagram #instawine #wineinfluencer #Muscadet #MelondeBourgogne #Vallet #LoireValley #France

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Spring on a Wing

Wild Nature Wines
Prosecco Rosé Brut DOC 2019
Millesimato
90% Glera, 10% Pinot Noir
Certified vegan, organic for more than 40 years, and biodynamic
Veneto, Italy
Winemaker: Emilio Fidora

Salmon rose pour with delicate white bubbles. So alive and romantic! Breathing in a salty fizz, laid back strawberries and cherries, light cherry blossoms, red delicious apple peels, and a dreamy breath of Spring. This is a beautiful mouthful of cherries, strawberries, cranberry, and salt. The tingly bubbles also have a spritz of lime, and an apple roundness, a smidge of cinnamon on the back, and as time goes on all of a sudden a cherry jelly belly drops in. It’s a total party!

Pairs with Cheez-It’s: Makes it even more crisp if that is possible

Wild Nature Wines are essentially that. They have two estates in Veneto (Venice and Verona) where they live in harmony with the all sorts of four-legged and winged neighbors such as owls, foxes, rabbits, and even this regal and funky pheasant on this label. Each wine gets their own unique familiar drawn entwined with the environment and growing as one. I don’t know who the artist (anyone know?) is but they are truly talented. Talent also runs in this family, and innovation. Emilio’s grandfather (Guido), made history bringing on the organic over 40 years ago (Veneto’s oldest organic estate); and then Emilio decided to embark forward in the steps toward biodynamic and now they are certified bio and vegan and living up to their name.

@docwineshop @docwinebarny @wildnaturewines @SkinContactWines @cheezits #pairswithcheezits #Millesimato #wine #vino #cheezit #Prosecco #Rosé #rose #sparklingwine #bubbly #organic #naturalwine @worldbyglass #needmorewine #winestagram #instawine #Italy #Veneto #Venice #Verona #Glera #PinotNoir #WildNatureWines

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Am I In The Back Of A Bakery?

Evil Twin Brewing
Cookies ’N Cream ’N Chocolate ’N Chili ’N Cookies
Imperial Pastry Stout
12% ABV
Queens, New York
Founder, owner, brewer: Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø

Super deep dark brown with tiny caramel head that quickly flees. Oof direct hit to the nose here of massive chocolate cookies and fresh baked brownies, chocolate croissants, brown sugar, and vanilla. This smells so good! Am I in the back of a bakery? First sip and wooooowheee! Full on dark and sweet chocolate, coffee, ice cream sandwich with extra cookies, and a pinch of spicy pepper that grows as you drink, but not too much. Just helps even everything out.

Pairs with Cheez-It’s: I thought I would hate it but it’s fine. Brings out more deep chocolatey bursts.

Dang Evil Twin is always so darn good in any style beer they create. I grabbed this Imperial Pastry Stout when it was still blazing outside, but today is the perfect day for it on a lazy rainy weekend. Perfect sipping while I’m relaxing post a crazy week, and it has turned on the radio that lives in my head to a favorite Tom Waits (Ice Cream Man) and the memories that go with it.

@EvilTwinBrewing @BeerBoutiqueInc @twelve.percent.beer.project @twelve.percent.nyc.metro @hkarlphoto @cheezits #beer #wine #winestagram #instawine #cheezit @worldbyglass #pairswithcheezits #imperialstout #imoerialpastrystout #craftbeer #beerstagram #beersofinstagram #beerlife  #jeppejarnitbjergsø #EvilTwinBrewing #tomwaits

 

 

 

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Rugby Pandamonium

Vinovalie
Les Valeurs Sures
Les Blousons Noirs 2018
100% Malbec
AOP Cahors
Saint Sulpice, France
Wine co-op; Cellar master (for Cahors): Hervé Froment

Inky dark ruby with blue highlights (natural not dyed). After pulling the cork, it’s buttery at first, and then start rolling out of the pour are vanilla, cherries, plums, and a walk around a lush dark velvety forest. Hmmm this is really friendly and enchanting. Sipping and white pepper says “hello”, then dried and dark fresh cherry, blueberries, plum and prunes, and a few blackberries wave back. It’s smooth with a tiny upstart fight, but after a bit there’s a light little brown sugar brittle. This is one scrumptious Malbec.

Pairs with Cheez-It’s: smooth lovely sailing

Who out there loves rugby and of course a good scrum? Well, I sure do; and Vinovalie sees their co-op in team terms. As they say, “Vinovalie is all about collective performance. As in rugby, success is in the quality of the pass – through mutual dialogue and shared exchanges”. They draw on everyone’s diverse experience and knowledge to get the best from their lands and vineyards, and work forward to the best in bottle goal (or a try). Les Blousons Noirs is one cool panda sporting a very apropos biker jacket. Rugged on the outside and warm and sweet on the inside. Hey, that sounds like a description of many players I know. All I can say is grab a glass and let’s head to the match!

@docwineshop @docwinebarny @vinovalie @steephillwine @cheezits #pairswithcheezits #wine #cheezit @worldbyglass #needmorewine #winestagram #instawine #Cahors #saintsulpice #France #Malbec #LesValeursSures #LesBlousonsNoirs #panda #rugby

 

 

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Get Up! Get On Up!

Domaine Julien Prével
Sec Machine 2019
Pét-Nat
100% Chenin Blanc
Organic and hand-harvested
Montlouis-sur-Loire, France
Winemaker: Julien Prével

Cheery gold with a fun and fine foam. Right on the tip of my nose is a little malt yeast (like what you’d find at an Athens, GA bar popcorn machine, and if you haven’t tried it…do!), Meyer lemon, mellow apples, grass, and wet rocks after a good hard rain. Sipping and still a pinch of that malty yeast, apples, pears, hay, and baking spice blend. Ooh next there’s a good lemon squeeze to wake it up and smack me in the face alive and vibrant. So, there is also a banana bit, and I have a love/hate relationship with that flavor. It’s a Bavarian weissbier banana, so it’s a love for me. This sparkler is made for all sorts of beer lovers, and as it opens it’s a massive easy drinker. Oh, one more note all of a sudden…on the back end there is some yellow cake (not uranium). Who doesn’t love cake?

Pairs with Cheez-It’s: Yes! Everything heightens and it’s a party!

I’m so glad Julien Prével didn’t go into the academia/teaching realm as a profession and ended up in wine. We wouldn’t have this lovely “Sec Machine” if life had taken a different route, and I wouldn’t have this classic stuck in my head for days! Let’s all get up and “Shake your money maker”!

@vinewinenyc #domainejulienprevel #JulienPrevel @TerrellWines #terrellwines @cheezits #wine #vinho #vino #vin #PétNat #petnat #bubbly #sparklingwine #organic @worldbyglass #worldbyglass #needmorewine #cheezit #vinewinenyc #winestagram #instawine #CheninBlanc #Montlouis #Loire #France #jamesbrown

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Generation to Generation

Domaine Victor Sornin
Beaujolais Lantignié Nature
“Les Monthieux” 2019
100% Chardonnay
Appellation Beaujolais Villages Protégée
Organic, sustainable, hand harvested, native yeasts, and NO OAK in aging
Lantignié (vineyard), Régnié-Durette (winery), Rhône, France
Winemakers: Frédéric Sornin (Domaine Frédéric Sornin) and his son Victor who this cuvée is named after

Light straw yellow. Inhaling crisp apple and pears, orangey bits floating on a fresh clean spring breeze, and clean wet granite. First sip and say hello to crisp and clean apples, then luscious pears, some tartness and tang from a smidgen of orange rind, and a little nectarine. It’s clean and fresh, a splash of salty; and no I haven’t been crying into my wine. There’s something bitter in the end. It’s like biting into rosemary but not the fragrant exhale, but all the fruit comes quickly back. I have to say, thank the Lord there is no oak and you get to embrace the pure chardonnay.

Pairs with Cheez-It’s: ooh perfect! More fruity goodness

Frédéric Sornin’s father passed down the estate to him in 1990, and now he has his son Victor learning and working with him, so what better way to honor that than have two cuvées in his son’s name (a red and this white). It truly must be wonderful to watch your offspring grow while working by your side and sharing the same love of the land and creating wine. It’s such a beautiful snapshot of family love, and I bet Frédéric is one proud papa. Oh by the way, they’re also joined in the vines by free roaming sheep that graze and replenish the land, the natural-organic-bio way.

@docwineshop @docwinebarny @Domaine-victor-sornin @vinotas_selections @DomainedesRonze @cheezits #pairswithcheezits #wine #cheezit #whitewine #organic @worldbyglass #needmorewine #winestagram #instawine #Chardonnay #Beaujolais #BeaujolaisVillages #Lantignié #regniedurette #Rhône #rhone #France

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Follow That Cat!

Fat Orange Cat
Double Walkabout
Imperial Sour with Passionfruit, Orange, and Guava
8.7% ABV
North Haven, CT

Very thick/hazy orange and guava smoothie pour. Delightful exotic wafts of passion fruit, guava, orange, tiny squeeze of tangerine, and lemon/lime candy. Oh this is absolutely freaking delicious! Passion fruit, Valencia oranges, guava, and that lemon lime squish. This tastes like a perfect beach drink that on the other hand is really healthy and full of vitamin C, but you and I know that this “walkabout” can creep up on you and get you totally tipsy (ok maybe more than a little tipsy). And here’s the thing, I don’t care! I’m on a happy wander through the wild, just following that Fat Orange Cat wherever it leads me.

Pairs with Cheez-It’s: Pfffft, ack, ack, ack! Noooooo! That was worse than a hairball.

@fatorangecatbrewco @BeerBoutiqueInc @twelvepercentbeerproject @hkarlphoto @cheezits #beer #wine #winestagram #instawine #cheezit @worldbyglass #pairswithcheezits  #sour #imperialsour #craftbeer #beerstagram #beersofinstagram #beerlife #fatorangecat #hops #cats #catsofinstagram

 

 

 

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Rose Dappled Moonlight

Valdinera
Chiaro di Luna Rosé
Langhe DOC
Rosato 2019
100% Nebbiolo
Uncertified organic
Roero (winery), Corneliano d’Alba (CN), Piedmont, Italy
Winemaking Family: Giuseppe “Beppe” Careglio and daughters Pamela and Carol

Delicate salmon color. Breathe in and there’s light Crème de Cassis, shortbread, then all that fades or blends into light dancing cherries and everything keeps circling and eventually chercranstrawberry enters stage right but walking in on tiptoes ever so lightly. First sip and all that tiptoeing stops. Out pops cherries, strawberries, and cranberries. This is just a happy delicious wine full of dance and life.

Pairs with Cheez-It’s: Not bad. Everything goes deep and dark. It’s like from day to night.

One dad, two daughters and two majestic dogs carry on the winemaking/vineyard history passed down through this family. Their beautiful land of Roero (which is part of a Unesco World Heritage site since 2014) is filled with “Rocche” which were created from erosion and are canyons, chasms, hills that are sheared off, pinnacles, and such that appear through the region. They are incredible geological wonders, and detail the history of this part of the world. Much to my delight you can still find fossils and shells. I can only imagine this place dappled by moonlight or “Chiaro di Luna”.

@docwineshop @docwinebarny @valdinera_azienda_agricola @cheezits #pairswithcheezits #wine #cheezit #Rosé #rose #rosato @worldbyglass #needmorewine #winestagram #instawine #Arnad #Italy #Nebbiolo #Roero #Alba #Piedmont #Langhe #Italy #Rocche #moonlight #chiarodiluna #jgwines

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Hatched in a Garage

Constantina Sotelo
Pío, Pío 2018
100% Albariño
Natural, minimal intervention, and hand harvested
Cambados, Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain
Winemaker: Constantina Sotelo

Glimmering gold color. First scent that bounces out is Lemonhead candy, and next creeps out orange hint, spring flowers including a butterfly lilac, slate and grows into pear brandy. Sipping and there’s a tart start of citrus blend that heads into apples, pears (fresh and baked), as it blooms there’s honeysuckle delight, salt, baking spice, sweet tarts, and a back end hint of Poire Williams. It’s clean, fresh, delicious and an adventure in a glass.

Pairs with Cheez-It’s: meh no

Constantina Sotelo’s small garage micro winery (that wants to stay small), has set out to let the wine speak for themselves, or as is said on the site “Minimal intervention to obtain maximum expression.” They may differ over vintages or even bottles from the same year, but she would rather allow nature to choose the path for the final outcome. Diverse personalities are welcome here as long as they are honest representations of the land, the vines, and grown as hands off as possible. Pío Pío 2018, definitely has a lively and unique personality as you can see from what I previously wrote. The label is adorable, but what’s in the bottle is a distinguished beauty that would easily stand out at an upper crust black tie affair and make everyone do a double take. It honestly rocked my world.

@vinewinenyc @constantinasotelo @d_i.wine @cheezits #wine #vinho #vino #vin @worldbyglass #worldbyglass #needmorewine #cheezit #vinewinenyc #winestagram #instawine #naturalwine #Albarino Albariño #Galicia #Spain #ConstantinaSotelo