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Could Become a Delicious Hoarding Situation

Oltretorrente
Timorasso 2019
Colli Tortonesi DOC
Organic, hand harvested
Paderna (AL), Italy
Winemakers: Chiara Penati and Michele Conoscente

Pale twinkle twinkle starlight. Breezing out are pears, peaches, wet granite, and a basketful of spring orchard blossoms and a little honeysuckle buzzing by.First sip and wow there’s a lot going on here so give me a second to sort it all out. Luscious ripe pears and peaches, apricot (fresh and dried), and mango. Delightfully creamy! Next there’s salt, honeysuckle nectar (don’t eat any other part of the plant unless you know it is not toxic!), a sprig of grass…just a clipping, and a teeny tiny squish of lime hanging out. It’s elegant and very refined, and like a beautiful dream you don’t want to end, so I ran back to the store today and picked up two more bottles. Hoping this doesn’t become a hoarding situation.

Pairs with Cheez-It’s: nope, ruins the elegance

Restoration, elevation, and celebration of the old, that’s what Chiara Penati and Michele Conoscente embarked on back in 2010 starting their venture/adventure in Paderna. They started with 1.5 hectares and have expanded over the years with old vines ranging from 100 to 15 years old. It’s exciting to know I’m drinking something that has deep roots physically and emotionally. For some reason that feeling started before I even bought the bottle. That badger kept staring at me from the store shelf. I left it behind many times, but for some reason it felt so familiar and finally brought him home. (Side note: I ❤️ badgers! They are so cute and feisty!) Well, lo and behold, now I know why…this little critter was illustrated by Lorenzo Gritti. He’s illustrated works for Bloomberg, NY Times, New Yorker, NPR and many more and if you want to admire more of his art check it out here.

#wine #naturalwine #winelife #perfectpairing #vino #vin #winelife #葡萄酒 #ワイン #Timorasso #Paderna #Italy #Piedmont #cheezit #organic @worldbyglass #pairswithcheezits #winestagram #Oltretorrente #bowlerwine @hellogritti @Oltretorrente @bowlerwine @vinewinenyc @cheezit

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Elbow Grease Guarantee

Julie Karsten
Métaphysique des Cuves 2019
AOP Côtes du Rhône
Grenache, syrah, cinsault
Organic
Castillon-du-Gard, France

Deep dark rubylicious. Plum and cherry scents weave their way out followed by something a little buttercream frosting that blends in citrus and cedar. Slowly sipping those cherries and plums again along with prunes, Fig Newtons, raspberries, cranberries, tangerine and orange peels, and a mixed bag of spice like cloves, anise, cardamon and more. This is going to be a beautiful binge worthy paring. Yeah, I’ll admit, I’m finally getting around to watching all of “The Closer” and this is a wine I could see Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson pouring post case. “Yoohooooo! Please pass me those chocolates. Thank yooouu, thank you so much!”

Pairs with Cheez-It’s: brings out a lot of dried fruit like raisins, prunes, and blueberries and also pine sap. I like it better without but I have to admit “with” is quite fun

Julie’s wines come with an “elbow grease guarantee” and “100% happy vines”. Just take a gander at her IG account for proof. Alert roses stand guard at the end of the rows. There’s also all sorts of critters enjoying and roaming the fields and farm from spiders, snakes (and their skins), toads, sheep, praying mantis, a beautiful black cat, dogs, and a majestic horse. Her passion for her “living soil for living wines” is all there captured in perfect snapshots of “work in progress” from vine to cellar. 📸

#wine #naturalwine #winetasting #perfectpairing #vino #vin #winelife #葡萄酒 #ワイン #Grenache #syrah #cinsault #CôtesduRhône #CotesduRhone #France #cheezit #organic @worldbyglass #pairswithcheezits #winestagram @julie.karsten @vinewinenyc @cheezit

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It Don’t Mean A Thing, If It Ain’t Got That Swing!

Domaine des Terres Dorées
FRV 100
Sparkling Gamay Semi-Dry Rosé NV
Organic, sustainable, hand harvested, indigenous yeasts, méthode ancestrale
Charnay, France
Owner and winemaker: Jean-Paul Brun

Electric rose colored glasses with fine white bubbles. Nose tickling light pops of raspberries, strawberries and clean fresh breeze. Raspberries tumble out first on my tongue quickly followed by strawberries (fresh and preserves), a little cherry juice, and in the back there’s a tiny bit of dark plums that fade and blend back in with this fruited cocktail. Thankfully it’s off-dry, so the sweet is just right and doesn’t hit you over the head with a mallet. Fun and fresh and delightful and has me craving goat cheese or even a spicy pimento cheese sandwich which we all know needs to be made on Sunbeam bread.

Pairs with Cheez-It’s: whoa it deliciously works

Just check out the sparkly label and it spells out what is in this bottle: Finese, Funny, Rebelle, Rire, Veritas, Vinification d’Art, Sans Mentir, a splash of Fellini, and much more. After your first glass you’ll want to smooch Jean-Paul Brun firmly on the lips. His Gamays just sing and this one has that jazzy “swing”! Doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah!

#wine #TerresDorées #terresdorees #sparklingwine #Rosé #bubbly #rose #jeanpaulbrun #gamay #FRV100 #Charnay #France #ladygaga #tonybennett #jazz #naturalwine #winetasting #vino #vin #winelife #葡萄酒 #ワイン #cheezit #organic @worldbyglass #pairswithcheezits #winestagram @louisdressnerselections @vinewinenyc @cheezit

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Applying Natural Science

Adega do Vimbio
O Acordo 2019
“Viños Ferales”
Sousón & Caíño
As sustainable as possible, hand harvested, unfiltered, no sulfur
Goian, Tomiño (Pontevedra) Galicia, Spain
Winemakering couple: Martin Crusat and Patricia Elola

Bright ruby stained glass with magenta pops. First sniff and there’s earthy funk that will fade and blend into raspberries, strawberries, a little cream, and white and black pepper. Going in for the first sip and mmm tingle tangle sizzle with a sprig of hay, lemon spritz in a raspberry cranberry cherry juice cocktail with a lick of jolly rancher, strawberry, boysenberry, chewing wild sour grass juicy tang, and sprinkle of salt. So fresh, happy, crunchy and luscious all at the same time. Hey! Listen up all y’all fruited beer lovers, you’re going to want this bottle.

Pairs with Cheez-It’s: more fruity but nah

Wine with a biologist and environmental studies background. That is a recipe for natural perfection. The vineyards/summer home all started with Martin’s father Tito and his dreams. Years later Martin and Patricia returned from a whole other life abroad to join in on the wine and apply their science and environmental knowledge. They’re now sustainable, bio, more actual “hands on” with the earth & vines, but in the cellar more “hands off”, and taking the whole environment into consideration. All of this pure dedication brought about their signature Vimbio wine, and now their “Viños Ferales” that do not bother with “DO” restrictions which as you can see has a wild delicious outcome! 🍷

#wine #naturalwine #winetasting #vino #vin #winelife #葡萄酒 #ワイン #Sousón #Souson #Caíño #Caíno #Galicia #Spain  #cheezit #organic @worldbyglass #pairswithcheezits #winestagram @adegadovimbio @josepastorselections @vinewinenyc @cheezit

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Nothing Added Nothing Taken Away

Cantina Cantina
Sandpaintings Rosé Pet Nat 2020
Syrah Pét-Nat Rosé
100% Syrah
Sustainably farmed, hand harvested, unfiltered, native yeasts
Vineyard: Jackson Farm, North Fork of Long Island AVA, NY

Coppery blush and a fine foam almost beer-like or sea foam. Nose tickling bubbly with scents of cran-straw-raspberry, sea breeze & seltzer, and a floating whiff of ginger beer or bread. Now this is a glass of sunshine happiness! Sipping raspberry, strawberry, lemon, sumac, oh also a fresh lemon tart, the tiniest bite off of a Jelly Baby (Would you care for one? My police box is just around the corner.), and salt. Crisp and dry, and hey wait there’s a hint of ginger kick on the back.

Pairs with Cheez-It’s: meh, it’s a non-committal partner

Hands down, this is my favorite wine/Pét-Nat I’ve ever had from North Fork. As it says on the bottle “Nothing added Nothing taken away”, they just want the wine to represent the vineyard they’re rooted in and keep them as natural as possible. BTW Cantina Cantina also makes beer and co-ferments like their “Praise Both” a farmhouse ale/pressed riesling mashup which is getting raves from all I’m reading. I think I’ll be heading down this hybrid trail soon.

#wine #winetasting #vino #vin #winelife #葡萄酒 #ワイン #petnat #PétNat #cantinacantina #rose #rosé #sparklingwine #beer #cheezit #northfork #LongIsland #NY @worldbyglass #pairswithcheezits #winestagram #sandpaintings @cheezit @vinewinenyc @cantina_cantina_

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Picpoul Party Perfection

Domaine Julie Benau
Chichois à la Baraquette 2019
VDF
100% Picpoul
Organic, sustainable, skin contact
Languedoc-Roussillon, France
Winemaker: Julie Benau
Painting “Julie” by Brandon McQueen

Orange tinted gold that changes from top to bottom of the pour like a blended paint roller. Breathing in orange rind, tangerine, lemon, very very ripe Kirby cucumber, salt, and grass. Taking a swish of crisp pears, honeysuckle nectar, light peach/melon mix, and at first hay that runs away, a little of those first cuttings of grass from the weed wacker, a squish of lime & lemon, a shake of salt and even a spice like hmmm, oh yeah, mace. So luscious yet fresh and vibrant! There’s layers that surprise me like how an artist builds up an oil painting. I don’t want oysters or anything, I just want this solo.

Pairs with Cheez-It’s: Well who would have thought…I like it. Everything just ramps up more

Julie Benau, champion of Picpoul, and evidently a lot of fun if Brandon McQueen’s depiction of her is accurate. “Chichois à La Baraquette” kind of says it all, as it sort of translates into “wild stuff that went down at the party”. With all seriousness though, everything I’m finding about her makes her one really cool, creative and inspiringly dedicated person. Her family used to sell their grapes to a co-op, but in 1999, she changed all that by returning home and taking on bottling her own wine. This little wild party child is only one of her creations. Another is her “Robot Cochon” (also a cool label) Tempranillo, and then there’s one I bet I will never get to ever try but greatly intrigues me…“Libéro”. This Picpoul didn’t only benefit from the oyster shell fed terroir, it also got to age for 6 months in barrels while hanging out in an oyster bed “under the sea”. Oh lord, now I have Sebastian stuck in my head singing that tune.

#wine #winetasting #vino #vin #winelife #葡萄酒 #ワイン #Picpouldepinet #Picpoul #Languedoc #languedocroussillon #France #cheezit #organic @worldbyglass #pairswithcheezits #winestagram #juliebenau @vinewinenyc @winemc2 @jbcreyssels @cheezit

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Listening to the Vine

Domaine Les Hautes Noëlles
hého le Rouge 2019
Val de Loire IGP (PGI)
45% Cabernet Franc, 45% Grolleau Noir, 10% Gamay
Organic, hand-harvested, indigenous yeast
Saint-Léger-les-Vignes, Loire, France
Owner & winemaker: Jean-Gabriel Tridon and his wife Juliane

Ruby pool with garnet rim. Delightful strawberries and raspberries greeting my nose, and as it warms citrus zest, black pepper & a warm spice like a bit of nutmeg (which I found the hard way, I am allergic to… It’s not pretty. It sucks because I love that holiday flavor), and a puff of vanilla. Those strawberries and raspberries are back in the sip and they’ve brought along cherries, and something a little dark rugged edgy, then a vanilla droplet appears, orange rind shave liveliness with a grind of pepper. Try it chilled, or try it slightly chilled. Either way pick up two because you’ll not want them to end.

Pairs with Cheez-It’s: smoooooth yeeeesssss

Juliane & Jean-Gabriel Tridon embarked on what looks like a second act or new adventure in life with Domaine Les Hautes Noëlles. I love the fact they committed themselves fully to wine and Jean-Gabriel went back to the books and hands on experience and education (especially on working and growing organic). I’m just going to let their words from their site speak for them because there is no way I could do it better. “In a world where Man seems to want absolute control of everything, the vine gives those who dedicate themselves to it a wonderful lesson in humility. There is what we understand about Nature. There is what we know about it without being able to explain it. And then there is the great unfathomable unknown. The vine demands constant attention. In particular, it requires us to think ahead and even to prepare, today, for the generations of tomorrow. As for the wine quietly and slowly developing in the silence of a vat, it takes its time. It takes the time it needs. This is now our lives, our daily lives within this unspoilt setting; this is what we wish to share with you.” 🍷❤️

#wine #winetasting #vino #vin #winelife #葡萄酒 #ワイン #hého #heho #CabernetFranc #GrolleauNoir #Gamay #Loire #France #cheezit #organic @worldbyglass #pairswithcheezits #winestagram @vinewinenyc @skurnikwines @domaineleshautesnoelles @cheezits

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Dalmatian Coast Dreaming

Bura-Mrgudić Winery
Rukatac 2020
100% Rukatac (maraština, malvasia lunga)
Organic, hand-harvested, indigenous yeasts and grape
Pelješac Peninsula, Dalmatia, Croatia
Family winery: Niko Bura and Mare Mrgudić (brother & sister)

Skin contact antique gold. Oh and before I forget, don’t over chill it. Scents of apples, apricot, allspice, a little grassy/hay, then out pop peaches and orange. Oh those lovely apples are there again in the taste (both crisp ones and sweet), along with tangelo peel, orangey blossoms on the backside, dried parsley and herb mix, a little apple pie too since those spices emerge. It’s clean, awake and alive but comfortably snuggly. I just want to lounge, sip this and eat my new favorite triple-cream cheese, Nimbus. If you haven’t tried Chasehome Farm’s cheese, then head to the McCarren Park Greenmarket on Saturdays, but don’t buy it all before I get there!

Pairs with Cheez-It’s: Makes it more tart…so NO! Stick with the Nimbus

Rukatac, a grape with a few names and as I’m researching I’m finding a particularly irritating one dubbing it a “chick wine”. Well buddy, let me tell you, this is an equal opportunity wine. The Bura family have cultivated this bottle into a fresh fine showing of generations of winemaking and their part of the Dalmatian Coast (which I now have a new place to dream about visiting). Their Rukatac might not be the grape they’re best known for though. That would be their Plavac Mali which one of its parents is an ancestral Zinfandel and the other another native oldster, Dobričić. Looking forward to getting my hands on one of their acclaimed bottles.

#wine #winetasting #vino #vin #winelife #葡萄酒 #ワイン #buramrgudic #Rukatac #PlavacMali #Zinfandel #Dalmatia #Croatia #cheezit #organic @worldbyglass #pairswithcheezits #winestagram @buramrgudic @chaseholmfarm @cheezits

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Ancient Ways & New History

Pietro Beconcini Agricola
Antiche Vie 2020
Chianti DOCG
Sangiovese 80%, Malvasia 10%, and Trebbiano 10%
Organic
Grown in San Miniato, Tuscany, Italy
Wine Couple: Pietro Beconcini and Eva Bellagamba

Shining ruby that should be decanted for about an hour. I tried a couple different time frames and it seems to be the sweet spot. At first there’s a mellow morphing caramel scent, dark cherries, irises, forest earthiness, black pepper, and as it opens it’s more perfume. Tasting delicious cherries and dried cherries, plums, raspberry, boysenberry, blackberry, orange peel, white and black pepper, and digging in the dirt (earth)…yeah I have that Peter Gabriel song stuck in my head again. There’s also a small bite of rosemary and sage. All of this is joyfully light (that grows as it opens into medium) and lively with a seductive backbone, and this wine makes me smile and I feel like it’s winking back at me. 😘

Pairs with Cheez-It’s: deeper, darker and more sultry

Antiche Vie has ties all the way back to Pietro’s grandfather who back in the 50s bought their farmland, which is really important because it broke the cycle of being a sharecropper. Pietro’s Chianti celebrates the ways of old, the region’s indigenous grapes, and also his father who was a “pioneer in the cultivation of the vine in this area.” He also has written a new history with his San Miniato fed Sangiovese which was his 1st project and the grapes he is working with today in his “Wines of the Tradition”.  “Wines of Innovation” is the other route he has taken. They are the only ones growing Tempranillo in Italy, and their IXE will knock your socks off. As I keep repeating, it’s like Spain and Italy had a beautiful baby, and just like Antiche Vie it will be love at first taste.

#wine #winelover #vino #vin #winelife #葡萄酒 #ワイン #Chianti #Tuscany #Italy #SanMiniato #Sangiovese #Malvasia #Trebbiano #cheezit #organic @worldbyglass #pairswithcheezits #winestagram #pietrobeconcini @pietrobeconciniwines @soilairselection @cheezits

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A Dashing Waltzing Partner

Val de Mer
Sparkling Non Dosé NV
100% Chardonnay
Sustainable, hand-harvested & no dosage added
Sourced from Tonnerre, France
Co-owned: Patrick Piuze & Moutard-Diligent

Golden with a little warm glimmer and tiny bubbles popping all over. Those bubbles send my sniffer some apples, a smidge of apple brandy that walks out the door but closes it gently, toasted brioche, a little vanilla, and  an Oreo cream center. Smooth sipping ripe apples of all sorts, lemon lime twist, crisp like seltzer but not salty, touch of toast, and some mellow limestone. She’s a polished accomplished lady that I recommend keeping well chilled and she’ll shine through the evening.

Pairs with Cheez-It’s: really good! Sharpens everything

Before this sparkler came into existence, Patrick Piuze, had a winding, globe trotting road to wine. Hailing from Quebec and 3rd son of a blue collar family, the vines called to him from what I’m reading when he was 18. With guidance and inspiration he worked with wineries abroad before returning to Montreal to open the wine bar “Le Pinot Noir”. Drawn back to France for studies and more experience he opened his own winery and became a Chablis master, or as it is said on Bowler Wine’s site, “Patrick has become walking encyclopedia of the terroir of the area.” Now with Val de Mer, he has joined up with Moutard-Diligent for a 2nd wine venture. The grapes for the Sparkling Non Dosé are from 25 year old vines and the winery (& above ground cellar) is in Tonnerre which is 10 miles from Chablis. He’s still all about minimal intervention and letting the land speak, and in this bottle it says celebrate and take an elegant waltz with your dashing partner under the stars.

#wine #sparklingwine #bubbly #Chardonnay #ValdeMer #PatrickPiuze #MoutardDiligent #winelover #vino #vin #organicwine #winelife #葡萄酒 #ワイン #cheezit #organic @worldbyglass #pairswithcheezits #winestagram #Tonnerre #France @bowlerwine @cheezits