Category Archives: Featured Wine

Sep 17, 2021

New Arrivals – Âmevive

Extra! Extra! Read all about our new arrivals. For a fresh surge of dopamine, trade-in your mindless scrolling for the novelty experience of indulging in the Fall 2021 release from Âmevive.

Âmevive wines are made from grapes grown in the Ibarra-Young Vineyard. This historic vineyard is family-owned and one of the first vineyards to be planted in the Santa Ynez Valley back in 1971. It was planted by Charlotte Young and is currently owned by her three daughters.

The vineyard thrives on biodynamic and sustainable practices with minimal interference resulting in high-quality fruit and a healthy ecosystem. Their wines are thoughtfulness in a bottle.

The 2020 Marsanne

It’s produced from the fruit of 40-year-old vines and fermented in stainless steel drums and French oak. The wine is flinty and has a precise nose with a warm and welcoming palate. It pairs well with cold oysters at golden hour at your favorite tranquil spot. This wine is great now, great the next day, and will age for many years. Imagine grapes in the California sun as you drink this fresh!

The 2020 Gamay Noir

“Earthy nose with essence of petals and bright fruit and a little tannin grip. Imagine yourself in your fancy clothes strolling around the forest floor-filling your basket with rose hips, wild berries, and fresh porcini. Don’t be afraid to decant this if drinking young.”

The 2020 Syrah

Let this wine take you to an old flower shop in the back alley of some European city. Think dried rose petals, raspberry tarts by the cashier stand, and well-kept antique knickknacks.

Grab a three-pack or a six-pack and enjoy a glass while you unplug.

Jun 16, 2021

Winery of The Month – Domaine Jean Vullien & Fils

Our winery of the month is located in the Auvergne Rhone Alpes region of France, home of a few ski areas you might have heard of. While this alpine area of eastern France may be better known for skiing than it is known for viticulture, Savoy also produces some delightful wines. The region’s best comes from a boomerang-shaped string of hillside villages between Grenoble and Albertville (site of the 1992 Winter Olympics) called the Combe de Savoie (Combe is a word of Celtic origin meaning a sharp, deep valley).

The sustainably farmed vineyards consist of sixty-nine acres planted in the Combe de Savoie including Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Rousette, Jacquere, and Gamay. 

Jacquere

The nose is delicate and fine with intense or mingled notes of boxwood and white flowers or dominant notes of minerals and lemons. The mouth is light and straight which leaves a pleasant impression. Pairs well with shellfish, fish, and cheese like fondue.

Mondeuse

One of the oldest and distinctive red grape varieties of Savoie, Mondeuse is showing great potential as global demand for this rare wine grows. Some of the best Mondeuse comes from the Bugey region or is sold as a varietal Vin de Savoie, often from a particular cru. Somm Secret—DNA profiling has confirmed that Mondeuse and Syrah are related. The two have a lot of common characteristics, namely a dense color with black fruit on the palate and herbal or spicy aromas.

Rose 

Sustainably farmed, the Rose is a blend of 40% Mondeuse and 60% Gamay.

Though the Vulliens have been making wine for 40 years, the family is perhaps best known as a leader in another segment of the wine industry. Since 1890, Vullien Pépinière Viticole (vine nursery) has been supplying young vines to growers throughout France. In fact, they were the source for about 25% of the Chardonnay planted in Chablis after the ravages of phylloxera.

We highly recommend you sample these delightful wines from Jean Vullien’s winery.

Photo by Sven Wilhelm on Unsplash

May 26, 2021

Memorial Day Pairings: Lady of The Sunshine

Photo courtesy: LadyofTheSunshine.com

You can’t really start a conversation about summer imbibing without talking about rosé. Our appreciation of rosé has grown expntentially over the past several years, owing to the clarification that not all rosé tastes like white zinfandel. 

We discovered Gina Giugni (née Hildebrand)and her Lady of the Sunshine wines through her boyfriend, now husband, Mikey Giugni, co-creator of Scar of the Sea wines two years ago. We were immediately smitten with the wines. Gina’s light touch allows nature and the vineyard to shine forth. 

A California native raised on her family’s eighty-six-acre biodynamic farm, Gina grew up learning about vineyards and wine. According to Mikey, her husband, she cut her teeth on winemaking creating something the two of them were calling “breakfast wine,” a light, easy-drinking wine to enjoy while messing about on boats. In the immortal words of Kenneth Graham, “there is nothing half so much worth doing as messing about in boats.” He would have added “while drinking breakfast wine” if he had discovered lady of the sunshine.

The 2019 Lady of the Sunshine received accolades throughout the wine world,  including 92 points from Wine Enthusiast Magazine, and was moved quickly throughout the west and by the end of June, we were shipping it back to thirsty customers The Lady of the Sunshine 2020 rosé is on the shelf now and it’s exquisite. 

Gina has this to say about her wine:

“This wine is a blend of clone 2A Pinot Noir from the certified biodynamic Chene Vineyard I farm, and Clone 1 Sauvignon Blanc from the neighboring, Oliver’s Vineyard, both in Edna Valley.  Both grapes were foot stomped and soaked on skins for 24 hours before whole bunch pressing. The juice was fermented separately with native yeast in neutral oak barrels and aged on lees for 8 months before it’s first racking to blend before bottling, unfined and unfiltered.

“Think pink lemonade, citrus popsicles & summertime cherries.”

You’re thinking salads and omelets, but if the conversation is about grilling and barbecue, then I’d answer chicken. Grilled chicken with a light Dijon mustard sauce, perhaps. The pinot noir makes me think of salmon and this wine would work beautifully with that or other light fish as well.

A great deal of light and laughter to be had with this one and late afternoon – this wine pairs brilliantly with Alpenglow.