TWITs - We Aren't Done Yet - Red Wines from Washington State - October 12th, 2019

TWITs - "We Aren't Done Yet" - Red Wines from Washington State - October 12th, 2019

Hosted by Ms. Vicki
Menu:

• Turkey Chili
• Spicy Cornbread & Regular Cornbread
• Baked Brie
• Pate & Crackers
• Manchego & Crackers
• Foie Gras with Cranberry bread
• Roasted Carrots with Balsamic glaze
• Braised Oxtail Lasagna
• Apple Pie Bites
• Salted Chocolate Bites

Tasting Notes: 
Welcome Wine:  NV Domaine Ste. Michelle Brut - Columbia Valley ~ $13
Varietals:  Blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier,
12.3% alcohol

1) 2016 Andrew Will Merlot - Vashon, Washington, Columbia Valley - $38 @ Ansley Wine Merchant,  100% Merlot,
14.5% alcohol
powdered chocolate, herbacious, baking chocolate, smooth, rustic rough edges, touch of tannins, good starter wine, goes w lasagna perfectly, sage

2) 2014 J. Bookwalter "Readers" Merlot ~ $20 @ Hinton Wine Store
80% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Cabernet Franc, 2% Syrah,
14.8% alcohol,
spicy, peppery, slides across the tongue, dark chocolate, good viscosity, pairs with cheese

3) 2015 Double Canyon Cabernet Sauvignon - $25 @ Toco Giant
14% alcohol
light, fruity, sweetness, fruits, bitter finish, cherries, chocolate, soft, needs food pairing

4) 2015 Sineann Cabernet Sauvignon - Columbia Valley ~$34 @ Ansley Wine Merchant
14.2% alcohol
green chile nose, licorice, toasted coconut, like sun tanning oil, sea oats, volcanic ash on after-taste, burnt, charred wood, graphite, minerality,

5) 2017 Stormchaser - Wild Ride Red Blend - $7 @ Aldi's
13.2% alcohol
no nose, cherry pie, manure, bitter, luscious, soft

6) 2014 Hedges Family Estate - Descendants Leigeois Dupont - Red Mountain Syrah - $28.99 @ Brookhaven Wines
14.5% alcohol
fruit forward, opens up with caramel chocolate, some spice, not too much, delicious, pairs with the turkey chili and cornbread

Le Caveau 5th Annual Holiday Champagne Tasting

Devon Price and Sarrah Wile from Sour Grapes attended, as we tasted through a lineup of small production grower Champagne from four different terroirs including the Solera Reserve from R. Dumont that contains 20 vintages with 1991 as its base vintage! 

The cost was $25 per person:

NV Champagne Bourdaire-Gallois Brut 

NV Champagne José Michel 'Cuvée Pinot Meunier' Brut

NV Champagne Perseval-Farge 'Cuvée Terre de Sable' 1er Cru Brut 

NV Champagne R. Dumont & Fils 'Solera Reserve' Brut

2007 Champagne José Michel 'Special Club' Brut

Holiday TWITs - Sparkling Wines - Friday December 5th, 2014 - Hosted byMs. Marilyn

The Holiday TWITs - Sparkling Wines - Friday December 5th, 2014 - 7pm ET - Hosted by Ms. Marilyn

Bring: TWITs should bring a bottle of sparkling wine

• made in the champagne method or methode champenoise, 
• from any country, any region, in the world, 
• within the specified price range (Up to $20/bottle for Singles, between $20 - $40/bottle for Couples)

AND

Blanc Elephant Gift Exchange:  Bring a homemade or small wrapped gift $5-10 (not expensive), for the gift exchange.

Tasting Notes:
Welcome Wine:  NV Gruet Blanc de Blanc, New Mexico - $15.99 @ Minx

1) NV Tattinger Brut Reserve Champagne, Reimes - $39 @ CostCo
12% alcohol,
(Reimes is pronounced Rhahmce, like it rhymes with France)
tastes French, very nice, crisp, dry, very dry, green, grapefruit, tart, slight sweetness, greenish tinge to the color

2) NV Gruet Blanc de Noir, New Mexico - $15.99 @ Minx
12% alcohol, Pinot Noir
white grape juice, sweeter, pleasant sweetness, palatable, golden color, more effervescent, tart, leaves me thirsty, chalky, minerality, bitterness at the end.

3) NV Laherte Freres Grand Brut 'Ultradition' Champagne - $49.99 @ Le Caveau
60% Pinot Meunier (rare to have so much), 30% Chardonnay, 10% Pinot Noir
more clear gold color, acidity, sharper, peaches & apricot, tart, floral, elegant, yeasty, savory, Val guesses cremant, champagne, Gwen guesses Prosecco,
"92 points The new release of Ultradition is absolutely lovely, offering up a complex nose of lemon, apple, bread dough, stony minerality, citrus zest, and a top note of white flowers (from the Pino Meunier?), On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, crisp and complex, with lovely mid-palate depth, elegant mousse and superb length and grip on the crisp and focused finish.  This is one high class bottle of non-vintage Brut!  2013-2025.  - John Gilman, A View From the Cellar #46, Jul/Aug 2013."

4) 2012 Peter Jakob Kuhn, Spatburgunder Rose Sekt Brut - $35-39 @ Le Caveau
13% alcohol, German Rose from Rheingau
pinky/orange hue, funky nose, Kathy guesses Blanc de Noir, apple juice, Matt says "awful", peachy, Rh says cider-ish, obscure, "better as a spritzer", we also tried this wine mixed with Anasazi Vineyards Choke Cherry wine.

5) 2010 Ironhorse Wedding Cuvee - $38 @ Toco Giant
13.5% alcohol, 75% Pinot Noir, 25% Chardonnay, aged 3 years
Rose-ish, softer, effervescent, berry, yeasty nose, not so elegant, dry, tart, honey, tight on the palate, not as satisfying, very forward, flabby/flat, might be a cava, sparkling wine begs for food

6) NV Mumm Napa Brut Rose - $15.99 @ Candler Park Market
12.5% alcohol
sparkly, rose, dry, very mainstream, very drinkable, "what you think of when you think of champagne but fruitier", this is a burpy wine!, french wine making technique, bing cherry, dark plums

7) NV Roederer Estate Brut, Anderson Valley California - $22.99 @ World Market
12% alcohol
yeasty honey nose, CA wine, asparagus pee, bready, tastes like Californian, toasted nuts, smells good, this is awesome, tastes like asparagus pee, I could drink all day, Rh guessed French

8) NV Sommariva Prosecco di Conegliano -Valdobbiadene, Superiore, DOCG, Brut - $20-29 @ Dunwoody Kroger
11.5% alcohol
clear color, perfumey, pear, swedish au pair (joke), totally different nose, light green, Marilyn guesses 2013 ?

Spring Wine Tasting at Le Caveau - Thursday May 8th 2014

Spring Wine Tasting at Le Caveau - Thursday May 8th 2014

1) 2012 Domaine Guillot-Broux Mâcon-Villages - $19.99
100% Chardonnay farmed biodynamically (certified organic) - Natural wine
Pale straw in the glass with pretty tropical fruit and brioche scents.  The palate is elegant and rich with white citrus fruit and notes of minerality framed by a round texture and vibrant acidity.

From 10-80 year old vines, all the grapes are harvested and sorted by hand in the vineyard before going to the winery.  The wine undergoes malolactic fermentation in oak.  Only native yeasts are used.  The wine rests in oak for 6 months and spends 5 months in enamal lined vats before it is bottled.  It was the first vineyard converted to organic farming in Burgundy in 1954.

*we were the first people in GA to taste this wine, they only had 4 cases of this wine.

2) 2012 Dönnhoff Estate Riesling Trocken Nahe - $22.99
100% Riesling farmed sustainably
This wine has a floral nose with ripe citrus and fresh herbs.  The palate is precise, with tart lime and a strong mineral core of structure to complement its elegant dry finish.

This wine comes from the steeply sloping vineyards of the middle Nahe region.  The vines grow in stony, weathered volcanic soils of porphyry and melaphyr with small amounts of slate and quartzite, producing some of the more notably smoky and stony Rieslings.  Sourced mostly from the Grand Cru sites of Felsenberg (90%) Hermannshohle, and Leistenberg.  The grapes are hand harvested, fermented with native yeasts, and matured in stainless steel vats and large oak barrels.

3) 2013 Calstar Cellars Pinot Meunier Rosé Russian River Valley - $19.99
100% Pinot Meunier farmed sustainably
This wine shows notes of peach, golden delicious apple, strawberry and mango with rosewater and undertones of warm cinnamon and vanilla.  Secondary notes of banana, fresh hay, and papaya round out the ripe, fruit-forward nose.  Medium bodied, with some dry extract and fresh strawberry-like tannins filling out the mouth.

This is the first time this Pinot Meunier Rose from Christinia's Vineyard in the Russian River Valley was made, and only 83 cases were produced.  Fruit was crushed and the juice was left in contact with the skins for 4 hours then pressed.  Fermentation with native yeast was 80% tank (to preserve the fruit) and 20% neutral barrel (for mouth feel).

4) 2012 Domaine Rimbert 'Les Travers de Marceau' Saint-Chinian - $16.99
40% Carignan, 30% Syrah, 25% Cinsault, 5% Mourvedre farmed sustainably
Ruby in the glass with purple highlights.  The nose is packed with crushed red berry, plum, blueberry and notes of saddle leather backed by crushed stones.  The palate is supple as it delivers red and black fruit flavors backed by silken minerality and a deft touch of acidity.  
*deceptively light

From 60 year old vines, the grapes are hand-harvested and de-stemmed before they are gently pressed.  Only indigenous yeasts are used, the varietals are fermented separately in tanks before the final wine is blended.  The wine is bottled using gravity and undergoes a slight filtration.

5) 2012 Olivier Cousin 'Pur Breton' Rouge (Anjou) - $24.99
100% Cabernet Franc farmed biodynamically (certified)
Ripe plum, juicy cherry, red apple core and chalk tones dominate the nose.  Crushed strawberries mixed with invigoratingly fresh Bing cherry and red apple flavors explode on the palate.

From 40 year old fines, the grapes are hand-harvested, brought to the winery by a horse, de-stemmed, and gently pressed.  Only natural yeasts are used and the juice undergoes an extended maceration.  Aged in old oak barrels.