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| Written by Administrator | |
| Sunday, 17 August 2008 22:31 | |
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Terre da Vino, Barolo, Piemonte These guys were our find of the year at VinItaly 2009: a modern cooperative cantina in the heart of the Barolo zona with 2800 small growers tending 5096 hectares to chose from but dedicated to quality AND value for money!
Terre da Vino Moscato d'Asti Monticelli 2009, Piemonte $19.99 The most refreshing of our gamut of Moscato d'Asti: more lemony than burnt orange in flavors and just 5% ABV so, yes, you can have a third glass! Terre da Vino Malvasia di Castelnuovo Don Bosco Dolce, Piemonte $16.99 Our notes from VinItaly: "Sex on wheels! So fragrant and fun you could drink a whole bottle. Ali will go crazy with this in Hawaii and we need an endless supply here in Santa Monica too." This is RED Malvasia with a wondrous nose of ripe red berries and rose petals, just a touch of sweetness, full pressure fizz but just 6.5% ABV.
Terra da Vino Asti Spumante Solia 2009, Piemonte $21.99 Full on froth meets the insane aromatics of perfectly cultivated Moscato with just a touch of sweetness, all backed up by bracing acidity. If this does not put a smile on your face perhaps you just need to be put out of your misery.... “Hold it just a friggin’ minute here! First you guys were touting Lambrusco and now you want me to drink Asti Spumante? You have GOT to be kidding me....right?” Uh...No, we are deadly serious. Just as (despite the tanker ships of the dreaded E. Bolla produced every nanosecond) some of the best and smallest production white wines on the planet are Soave, Asti Spumante is actually a high quality DOCG wine worthy of your attention no matter WHAT Martini & Rossi put in their bottles. Try one, you might get lucky... Castello di Gabiano, Monferrato, Piemonte This winery quietly operates in an alternate universe from many of their neighbors whose Nebbiolo based wines are all about power and tannins and long aging. Instead, they produce fantastic examples of DOCs rarely seen outside of Italy that are known for their elegance and restrained beauty. We are proud to bring to the market for the first time the wines of the Gabiano, Rubino di Cantavenna and Malvasia di Casorzo zonas. These wines are sure to delight you with their unique blend of history, poetry, grace and charm... Castello di Gabiano Malvasia di Casorzo Il Giardino di Flora 2007, Piemonte $23.99 “The Garden of Flowers” seems intriguing enough but that literal take on the name of this wine is only the start: it is a tribute to the nymph Flora, idealized by Botticelli in his portrait of Simonetta Cattaneo (the platonic love of Giuliano di Medici) entitled “La Primavera”. What it TASTES like is another thing altogether: one of our staff exclaimed “It’s like Brachetto on CRACK!” the first time we opened a bottle. Translation: insanely concentrated flavors of ripe and spicy red and black berries, a skoonch of teenage love and a pinch of “Oh! My! GAWD!” plus just enough sweetness to make it delicious with either fruit or chocolate cakes, tarts, cookies and truffles or some full flavored cheeses (and it's just 5% alcohol so you can have more and then some more!). We predict a big fan club for this so, remember, we warned you... If you are here looking for Moscato d'Asti, Brachetto and Asti Spumante we have to first tell you that the Italians do NOT consider these "dessert wine" as they instead use them as aperitivos or just a nice afternoon pick me up and serve them with SALTY things like corn nuts, prosciutto e melone, hard cheeses and sausages, dried shrimp with wasabi (well, that one is our suggestion but you get the idea!) and NOT with heavy desserts. Having said that, here they are.... Azienda Agricola Cascina Fonda di Marco e Massimo Barbero, Mango, Piemonte Living in a town named after the most sensual of fruits (Mango, near Asti) the Barbero brothers, Marco and Massimo, just HAVE to make exotically perfumed nectars of seduction, right? Well.....YES they do, and, despite the pronouncements of a recent “authoritative” book about regional wines of Italy that you would have to go to Piemonte to find any, we’ve had them (and a lot of the others mentioned) here for years. Cascina Fonda Asti Spumante 2008, Mango Piemonte $19.99 Full on froth meets the insane aromatics of perfectly cultivated Moscato with just a touch of sweetness, all backed up by bracing acidity. If this does not put a smile on your face perhaps you just need to be put out of your misery.... “Hold it just a friggin’ minute here! First you guys were touting Lambrusco and now you want me to drink Asti Spumante? You have GOT to be kidding me....right?” Uh...No, we are deadly serious. Just as (despite the tanker ships of the dreaded E. Bolla produced every nanosecond) some of the best and smallest production white wines on the planet are Soave (and there are many delicious Cru Beaujolais that have nothing in common with duBoeuf other than being French and red), Asti Spumante is actually a high quality DOCG wine worthy of your attention no matter WHAT Martini & Rossi put in their bottles. Our friends Marco and Massimo Barbero (perhaps the best producers in the zona) have already had a HUGE fan club here for their Moscato d'Asti and Vendemmia Tardiva for years so it should not be too hard to believe they can do the right thing. Try one, you might get lucky... Cascina Fonda Moscato d’Asti 2007, Piemonte $26.99 Cascina Fonda Moscato d’Asti 2006, Piemonte 375ml Sold Out, New Vintage Soon! A deliciously fun, completely non snobby tipple that is light in body, low in alcohol, lively and fizzy but not full on sparkling, this virtually explodes with citrus, tropical fruit and floral aromas. Yes, it is sweet but so are stolen kisses and homegrown tomatoes so just relax and enjoy this when you need to be reminded of the joy of life and the beauty of nature. It smells like orange blossoms and tastes like love and you just can’t put a numerical score on that.... Cascina Fonda Vendemmia Tardiva 2007, Piemonte $31.99 We call even normal Moscato d’Asti “The Zombie Detector” because if you don’t like it you might be already dead but this is a whole ‘nother thing. It is not labeled as DOCG due to its unique production methods and flavor profile: it is made from Moscato grapes left to hang an additional three weeks on the vine which give it notes of walnuts and toffee on top of the burnt orange peel, dried fruit and hibiscus flower base. OUTRAGEOUS, unique, undeniable, this has already earned cult status. Uh...Ladies Man...this is goooooooood...wink, wink. Casina Fonda Brachetto 2008, Piemonte $35.00 Brachetto is: 1) The most delicious thing you’ll swallow this week and almost too easy to drink. 2) Wonderful with prosciutto e melone, fruit & cheese, re-runs of Reno 911 on Comedy Central or just good company on a summer afternoon. 3) Red, sparkling wine that has an intesnse bouquet of fresh strawberries (and, as Miriam Makeba once noted in song, so does love!). 4) All of the above!!!
Tenuta Il Falchetto, S. Stefano Belbo, Piemonte The wines of I Fratelli Fabulosi Forno (The Fabulous Forno Brothers!) have been big hits here since we opened the doors in ‘93 and we have just unloaded a new batch of their fabulously food (and wallet!) friendly wines for your enjoyment: Il Falchetto Moscato d’Asti Tenuta del Fant 2007, Piemonte $21.99 The fresh orange blossom and citrus zest aromas and refreshing sweet / tart finish of this wine burned its sheer excitement into the brain cells of so many of you that you never let us forget about it no matter how many other wonderful Moscati we threw at you when we were out of stock. Recently we were quoted in the City Beat Summer Guide as saying that we call Moscato d’Asti “the Zombie Detector” because if you don’t like it you are probably dead. What the editor cut out (and what made the reporter do a spit take and nearly fall off his chair when we said it) was that we also noted that “neurologists will tell you that there are receptors for crack cocaine and marijuana right in your brain...well, the one for Moscato d’Asti is right between them”. Fun, fizzy, low alcohol, bursting with bright citrus aromas and LOVE, serve this with salty snacks (Corn Nuts, Prosciutto e Melone, Honey Roasted Cashews and Dried Fruit, ect) in the afternoon and all will be well with the world.
Il Falchetto Brachetto d’Aqui 2007, Piemonte $25.99 Brachetto is: 1) Perhaps the most delicious thing you’ll swallow this week. 2) Red (well dark pink actually), slightly sparkling wine with a bouquet of fresh strawberries that’s almost too easy to drink (so you had better get two to prepare). 3) A pretty darn good reason for living, come to think of it. 4) Wonderful with prosciutto e melone, fruit & cheese or just good company on a sunny afternoon. 5) One of the best seduction tools ever devised. Psych! Trick question, it’sall of the above!!! Cantina del Glicine, Nieve, Piemonte Adriana Marzi and her husband Roberto Bruno operate a tiny mom and pop cantina out of a 17th century house in the center of the capital of Barbaresco, Nieve. Nicer folks you will never meet and the wines are outstanding in both quality and fidelity to local traditions. Enjoy! Cantina del Glicine Moscato d'Asti 2007, Piemonte $26.99 Literally made by hand from a tiny plot of old Moscato vines, this wine shows flavor profile leaning more toward very ripe apples than the usual Moscato citrus bomb. The label is perhaps the most whimsical we carry: a water color of kittens relaxing on clouds that reminds us of old Betty Boop cartoons. VERY limited!
Azienda Agricola Podere Saulino, Novi Ligure, Piemonte This cantina has 12 hectares of vines in the heart of the Gavi DOCG zona, mostly dedicated to the Cortese variety for Gavi but also makes a lovely Brachetto that will be perfect for your next picnic or breakfast in bed
Il Saulino Piemonte Brachetto Dolce e Spumante 2007 $26.99 This version of our most popular fizzy red has full on pressure like Champagne, a light strawberry color that follows through on the nose and palate and is just sweet enough to set off the flavors of a nice cheese plate, some salty snacks or a groovy picnic / brunch spread. It is so good you will want to drink the whole bottle and since it is only 7% ABV we say “Why Not?”. |
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