Wine News

Updated 2/23/12

Wine of the Week

Altocedro Malbec Ano Cero 2010
“Altocedro’s 2010 Malbec Ano Cedro (100%) was fermented with indigenous yeasts and was bottled without fining or filtration. It saw 30% of the wine aged for 8 months in French oak. Smoke, mocha, pepper, lavender, and spicy black cherry fruit are some of the elements informing the nose of a fruit-filled, ebullient, nicely balanced Malbec that is an excellent value meant for drinking over the next 5-6 years. ”
90-pts, Wine Spectator
$15.99 / 750 ml

Wine & Swine Benefit for Cystic Fibrosis Friday June 15th

Join Us Friday,  June 15th
The Fourth Annual Wine & Swine will be an amazing and fun filled evening! This year we are expecting a sell out crowd with 500 guests at this hip Nashville wine event. Held at the Belle Meade Plantation, one of Nashville’s treasured landmarks, the party will include incredible wine and food tastings, live entertainment, and a silent auction. All proceeds from the night will be donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Where: Belle Meade Plantation, 5025 Memphis-Bristol Highway Nashville, TN 37205-2810
When: Friday, June 15th 7-10pm
How Much: $65 per person

Balvenie Tasting Double Header

Next week we will be hosting two outstanding Balvenie tastings.  Balvenie has been doing a rare craft road show across the country and Nashville will be their next stop.  First, on Thursday night at The Standard from 6-7 pm an incredible tasting:  Five different scotchs’ to taste for only $10, including the 21yr.  And then a special in store tasting on Friday from 2-4:30.

Thursday, April 26th – Balvenie Brand Ambassador Nicholas Pollacchi will be tasting the 12yr, 14yr ,15yr, 17yr peated and 21 yr from 6:00 to 7:00pm.  Tasting will be at The Standard Restaurant at the Smith House.   Cost will be only $10 per person and seating is limited.

Friday, April 27th — In store tasting from 2:00 – 4:30pm. Nicholas will be in the store tasting the 12yr and 15 yr.  Tasting is complimentary.

To check out more about the Rare Craft Road Show check out the following link:  www.thebalvenie.com/en-us/roadshow/

Two New No- Sulfite Added Wines From Rhone Master Eric Texier

Texier, Pere et Fils 2010 Vin de Table L’Indigene Sulfureux Eluney
Produced from Cinsault and Grenache grown on gneiss soil.  Red-fruited and direct with aromas of cranberry, baking spice (nutmeg and cinnamon), blackberry, and cherry. These bright flavors really come into focus with air, and the wine’s initially taut, bright acidity holds things together well as darker fruit notes come forward. Clean, fun, and a great value in natural wine. -jfr
$16.99/750ml

Texier, Pere et Fils 2010 Vin de Table L’Indigene Sulfureux Yelen
The bouquet of tart currants, tarry black berries, black pepper and minerals is pure but a bit severe.  Medium-bodied, almost tart in its high acidity, there is a good deal of chalky/gritty tannin.  Moderately intense flavors are quite savory, with the black tarry fruit taking a back seat to minerals, earth, and black pepper.  The finish is very good.
$16.99/750 ml

Eric Texier has become one of the premiere wine makers in the Rhone, Burgundy and throughout Southern France.  A leader in the natural wine movement he is a huge proponent of terroir – wines having a sense of place.  To Texier a winemaker is a shepperd, herding the best quality grapes from the vineyard to the winery, with minimal interaction and interference producing pure, organic and natural wines.  To learn more about Texier and the “natural” wine movement I highly recommend visiting the Louis Dressner Website –Official Website

Dominus Estate’s Napanook 2008

“In the late 1960s, while attending the University of California at Davis, Christian Moueix fell in love with the Napa Valley and its wines. son of Jean-Pierre Moueix, the famed wine merchant and producer FROM Libourne, France, Moueix returned home in 1970 to manage the family vineyards, including chateaux Petrus, La Fleur-Petrus, Trotanoy in Pomerol and Magdelaine in Saint Emilion.

His love of Napa Valley lingered and, in 1981, he discovered the historic Napanook vineyard, a 124-acre site west of Yountville that had been the source of fruit for some of the finest Napa Valley wines of the 1940s and 1950s. In 1982, Moueix entered into a partnership to develop the vineyard and, in 1995, became its sole owner. He chose the name ‘Dominus’ or’ Lord of the Estate’ in Latin to underscore his longstanding commitment to stewardship of the land…

Napanook is a blend of bordeaux varietals specifically selected from the estate vineyard for their lively fruit and bold character. Napanook wines are youthful and exuberant, meant to be enjoyed regularly when a more casual wine is called for.” — Dominus Official Website.

We just received a case of the 2008 vintage Napanook red, which is the second label to the aforementioned Dominus Estate red. It earned an outstanding 93-point rating from Robert Parker, with the famed wine critic saying it “may be one of the greatest Napanooks made. It is a deeper, richer, more intense wine with full body, an endearing texture and a long, pure finish. These two are ‘take your pick’ vintages, but wine enthusiasts would probably be remiss in not having both 2007 and 2008 in their cellars.”
$69.99 / 750 ml

Two New High End Italians: Amarones!

Cesari Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2007
“This grippy red shows a rich note of fresh earth supporting flavors of kirsch, date, damson plum preserves and cigar box, with a sublayer evoking the sweet smoke of burning vine clippings. Integrated tannins are lightly chewy toward the finish. Drink now through 2022.” — 90 points, The Wine Spectator
$56.99 / 750 ml

Recchia “Ca’ Bertoldi” Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2004
This is without a doubt the best bargain in high-end Italian wines you can find! Along with the likes of Barolo, Brunello and Super Tuscans, Amarone represents the finest Italy has to offer, and it’s rare that you find one under $50, much less one that tastes this amazing. It’s opulent and full-bodied, with big extracted flavors of black fruits. It’s already had a few years to mature, so it’s definitely ready to drink now, but it has the structure to continue evolving for the next 5+ years.
$36.99 / 750 ml

New from South Africa: Dark Lady Pinotage

“Quite ripe, showing a slightly jammy edge to its raspberry, black cherry sauce and melted licorice notes, with sweet spice hints that linger through the finish.” — The Wine Spectator
$19.99 / 750 ml

A New Champagne Arrives

Billecart-Salmon Brut Reserve NV
Billecart-Salmon is one of the few large Champagne houses that remains family-owned today. For nearly two centuries, they have been producing top-notch bubbly, and as an example of their quality, the Cuvee Nicolas-Francois Billecart 1959 won first place in the Champagne of the Millennium 1999, out of 150 of the finest 20th century champagnes.

“The NV Brut Reserve is a beautiful wine graced with layers of exquisite, mineral laced citrus, pears and white peaches. I suppose this could use a little more length through the mid-palate, but it is nevertheless a strikingly beautiful, pure wine at this price point. This is Lot 28201 03667A. Disgorged May 11, 2010. Anticipated maturity: 2011-2015.” — The Wine Advocate
$74.99 / 750 ml

New Arrivals: Treasure Hunter Wines

“All the Treasure Hunter wines are ‘negociant wines’… When wineries have excess supply we quickly go through our review process and if it passes, we buy it. Rather than bottle too much wine or try to lower their well deserved price point, we liberate the wine and bring it to you under our Treasure Hunter label without hurting the winery’s reputation and potentially threatening their price point.

It is a win–win–win proposition. The wineries win because they don’t have to make more wine than they can sell. We win because we get world-class wines for a bargain, and the customer wins because they get to drink wines at a price that is 1/3-1/5 of the normal price.”

The Deadlights Zinfandel 2007 — $17.99 / 750 ml
Emma’s Crush Grenache 2008 — $18.99 / 750 ml

New at Midtown: Milbrandt Vineyards

When it comes to winemaking in the United States, Washington often plays second fiddle to Napa and Sonoma, but the guys up in Columbia Valley and elsewhere in the Pacific Northwest are making some amazing wines.

Milbrandt Vineyards is an up-and-comer, with already quite a few highly-rated wines in their portfolio. We recently sent out an online exclusive offer for their “Estates” Merlot which earned 92 points from The Wine Spectator (not receiving our online offers? Click here to sign up!)

We now have on our sales floor their “Traditions” label Cabernet and Merlot at $14.99 each. These wines offer amazing QPR (quality-to-price ratio), and if you haven’t gotten a taste of Washington state recently, come give one a try!

EOS Winery Back in Business

A little over a year ago, EOS Winery, a Midtown customer favorite, went into receivership due to financial problems and looked to be going under entirely. Thankfully, we can now report that they’re up and running again under new ownership, and we now have the Chardonnay ($12.99) and Cabernet Sauvignon ($16.99) stacked out on the floor.

We hope to get their signature wine, Petite Sirah, back soon!

What do you do with 9217 corks?

Check out this time-elapsed video to find out. Artist Scott Gunderson put it together for a Grand Rapids art prize last year. Thanks to the guys over at Gang of Pour for posting this.

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