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The Grape That Almost Got Away

Domaine Les Grande Vignes
Pineau D’Aunis 2022
VDF
Certified organic & very grounded in biodynamics
Thouarce, Anjou, Loire, France
Famille Vaillant

First off, give this bottle a bit of a chill…you’ll be rewarded. The pour is a light raspberry maroon. Giving it several good sniffs and out pops tart cherries & cranberries, gooseberries, red currants, boysenberry,  a natural depth & darkness that eases over time, green & pink young wild strawberries, and for some of us that remember what a pencil is there’s some of that fresh shaved lead. Sipping all of the scents blended but with a lighter & even more smooth feel yet that natural twang still hanging around along with a few raspberries, smidge of rose hips, and a touch of pink & white pepper. It’s lovely, light & fun with a touch of elegance.

Pairs with Cheez-It’s: nah

This is my very first experience with Pineau d’Aunis, and I started wondering why. This little grape was adored by royalty in the 13th century, and there’s debate if it was the original claret (King Henry III loved his imported vin clairet). It was a mover and a shaker until it wasn’t. This grape is prone to have rot issues & of course the whole phylloxera blight (damn aphids), and it’s also a bit like Goldilocks where it needs the terroir to be just right…in other words it can be a pain in the butt unless you are a grape whisperer. By the early 70s it was almost lost. Luckily this little grape had winegrowing fans that decided to save it and give it a chance to shine again. For all the heroes that kept Pineau D’Aunis around and those that continue to naturally nourish it to thrive for the rest of us to imbibe, I raise a cool glass to you! 🍇🍷

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Love Your Mother (Nature)

La Collina
Lunaris Secco NV
Malvasia di Candia Aromatica
Certified organic (ICEA), biodynamic (Demeter), hand harvested
Reggio Emilia, Emilia Romagna, Italy

Warm orange gold with tiny bubbles. Breathing in oranges and blossoms with a seltzer kick, citrus zest blend, lemon/lime, smidge of shortbread, and a welcome salty breeze. Sipping and all of the scents (extra lemon/lime & blossoms and maybe Sprite) are there but more open, lively and a dry bit of spice (in my mind a bit of gingerbread warmth), and one more shake of salt.

Pairs with Cheez-It’s: Just don’t ruin the moment

La Cooperativa Agricola La Collina isn’t just about vine & wine, it’s so much more. As they say on their site it “was established in 1975 by a group of young people from Reggio Emilia who believed that it was possible to combine life, work and assisting the socially disadvantaged.” They started off step by step keeping the farming traditional with respect for nature. First focused on grains, vines, pigs & cattle; and later adding more vegetables but leaving out a special component. They did not want any chemicals/pesticides/etc. ruining their land and sucking the life out of Mother Nature & their community; so in 1985 they headed down the organic/biodynamic route (oldest bio co-op in Italy). By 1996, the whole co-op was following the same path. Now they also have educational programs to pass on their knowledge & hands on fun to youngsters & teenagers; other classes for seniors that stir dialogue and share memories; and guided tours for anyone wanting to embrace and learn more about the farms and of course wine tourism/tasting. They just want to remind us, “The earth does not belong to man. Man belongs to the earth.” and it would benefit all if we learn to love & respect it. 🥂

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Bottle Of True Love For A Hot Night

Domaine de Sulauze
Pomponette 2025
40% Grenache Noir, 15% Cinsault, 20% Syrah, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Mourvèdre, 5% Vermentino
AOP Coteaux d’Aix en Provence rosé
Biodynamic, organic & animal powered
Miramas, Provence, France
Karina & Guillaume Lefèvre

Light salmon pinky w a flash of orange. Breathing in strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, oh heck all the berries, little whiff of roses, lemon/lime/tangelo/citrus spark, & a cool fresh springhouse mineral that just refreshes all. Sip & this is so good on this over 90 degree hot night. There’s strawberries, raspberries, boysenberry, cherries, red currants, watermelon, a little citrus (including pink grapefruit) sizzle that tones back but keeps it all so alive, & that lovely cool mineral moment again. This is a wine you want to keep around for these upcoming sweltering days.

Pairs w Cheez-It’s: perfect but you know on a hot night like tonight just don’t bother

Everywhere I look Karina & Guillaume are described as “2 of the loveliest & warm-spirited people you would ever encounter”. Their tale starts w the couple meeting while hiking across Corsica & of course love at first sight (true love). Eventually they made their home in Southern France & in 2004, Domaine de Sulauze became theirs w a little help by a French govt. program to encourage the younger gens to stop leaving the countryside for the city life. Now they have 30 ha of vines, 2 of barley, 2 of wheat, 5 of olive trees, & a great team who share in the work & creations because not only is there a winery but also a brewery, “Brasserie de Sulauze” (1st brewery in France to have biodynamic certification, so hats off to them!), a ranch “La Manade du Vieux Sulauze” managed by the Fano family, & La Miellerie de Sulauze (honey farm) w beekeeper & harvester Julie Victoria. To top it all off they also have La Salle Fénière a reception hall in a 17th century hay loft transformed into an elegant event space for parties, meetings, or 💍. How perfect a space for celebrations when you have access to all the other collective amenities right there. I think I hear wedding bells calling!

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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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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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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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The Brotherhood Of Vines

Domaine des Frères
Les Moulins de Beau Puy 2020
Chinon AOC
Cabernet Franc
Organic, biodynamic, hand harvested at night, indigenous yeasts
Beaumont-en-Véron, Loire,  France
Valentin & Marie Bruneau (husband & wife)

Ruby stained glass. Sniffing and there’s cherries, forest floor that fades over time, lavender, violets, spring flowers, deep plums, blueberries, and a tad of boysenberry. All of the scents are in the sip joined with dried cherries with a touch of earth that add a rustic moment, and a small bouquet garni of thyme, juniper, horehound, marjoram and other herbs. It’s just elegant with a timeless depth that lingers long after the last sip. On day two it’s even better.

Pairs with Cheez-Its: DON’T

Valentin wasn’t always a winemaker. His first career path was in engineering, but his heart really belonged outdoors. He went back to school for a degree (BTS in Viticulture and Oenology), interned with Yvon and Jules Métra, and continued learning from other winemakers. The whole time his wife Marie was supportively by his side and also for the search for their own vineyard. In 2018, they found exactly what they were looking for in Beaumont-en-Véron (11 ha) and the mission was now on. They got help from friends and family with the financing, Valentin’s brother (Henri) came on board in 2019, and they continued with turning the lands organic. Now here’s the part that makes me scratch my head, his brother left for another venture in Oct. 2022. Being my usual curious self, I wondered what happened and found differing comments online but my guess it was amicable since Valentin did keep the name, “Domaine des Frères”. As he says on his site, “I chose to keep the original name of the estate unchanged because I don’t want to erase the past. He was fully in the development and construction of this project. Today the word ‘Frères’ with a capital F incorporates all of those who support us and are the estate’s lifeblood.” Wine can all bring us into a brotherhood, & cheers to celebrating all those that helped shape their vines & wines in the past, today, and the future! 🍷❤️🍇🇫🇷

#wine #vino #vin #winestagram #instawine

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Damm Good Wine

Adega Damm Amandi
Rocoso Vinas Viejas 2020
80% Mencia, 20% Palomino
Organic
Amandi, Ribera Sacra, Spain
Martin Damm

Dark rubilicious purple. Breathing in plums, cherries, raspberries, strawberries, cola, whiff of an Oreo center, an earthiness that grounds it, dried figs, and dark chocolate. All of the scents are in the taste along with blueberries, a sprinkle of spice (cinnamon), pinch of white pepper, smidge of Alpine herb, and singed orange/lemon zest. So smooth, delicious, and bright like a far off twinkling star born from “Rocky Old Vineyards”.

Pairs with Cheez-Its: oh yeah

I love hearing the stories of who people fell into their wine life. Turns out Martin was originally from Denmark and in his youth was already fascinated with learning and absorbing all he could on different countries & regions and how the lands influenced the grapes. Not exactly sure how this next step developed but he ended up being a therapist (curious as to what type) that became a wine importer and later decided to buy his own plots in Ribeira Sacra. His lands are beautiful, majestic…steep hillsides filled with beautiful green leaves. Just check out his IG account because the views are swoon worthy & my favorite is of a young girl atop one of the hills on a swing that looks like she could glide over the vineyards below. Oh who wouldn’t want to live here! Martin also has a great appreciation & knowledge of Burgundy and sees the same vision in Spain. As he says on Grand Cru Selections site, “What is special about it is that each vineyard has its own personality, just like in Burgundy. I like that diversity in the different plots. Each one is different from the other. I know that there is still much to be done and I am sure that there are extraordinary vineyards yet to be discovered. I am convinced that here each vineyard can give you a wine with its own personality. The future that awaits the Ribeira Sacra and therefore its wines is great. I think it is the area with the most potential in Spain and almost in Europe….” 🍷❤️

#wine #vino #vin #winestagram #instawine

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Soundtrack Of The Vineyard

Celler de les Aus
Aus
Pét Nat Rosé 2023
Mataró (Monastrell)
Ancestral method, organic
Catalunya, Spain
Mireia Pujol-Busquets

Light bubblegum pink with a flash of magenta and active bubbles. Breathing in strawberries with their caps, leaves & all, slight bit of cream, raspberries, cherries, a little good funk that deepens in a good way & later fades, and a light lemon/tangerine tingle. Everything that has my nose twitching is here minus the funk but with a tad more of a citrus twist/brightness that’s tongue & lip zinging, and a teeny splash of red currant/gooseberry blend. It’s crisp, dry & full of life with an elegant depth, and it’s bringing a brightness to this grey day & heralding in spring filled with joyful birdsongs. 

Pairs with Cheez-Its: Eh I say no

“Celler de les Aus” is a branch of Josep Maria Pujol-Baquests’ “Alta Alella” that is now helmed by his daughter Mireia. She & her family have made as they say, “A pact with nature. Commitment to the product.” They are deeply committed to being organic, sustainable, low intervention, and no sulfites added. The labels ( beautifully depicted by artist Paul Fassen) also celebrate the birds “who sing their melodies to create a soundtrack of the vineyard” and are named after the feathered friends that reside in Serralada de Marina’s Natural Park. Maybe after a few glasses of this pét nat rosé your spirits will lift and you’ll gradually hear them too. 🦜🪺🐦‍⬛

#wine #vino #vin #winestagram #CellerdelesAus #instawine #vinewinenyc

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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