Bodegas Venta La Vega
Adaras Lluvia Blanco 2019
Reg. Price $13.99
Sale Price: $9.99
White Wine of the Month
I am super excited about the white wine of the month this month because it completely took me by surprise. I have a lot of tried and true wines this month but it’s so nice to get some new things in the store to be excited about. I talked about winemaker Raul Perez a lot last June in the newsletter when I featured a Mencia but the short version is that he is a rock star wine maker in Spain who has made such a name for himself that people all over want his help. He’s not even contained to Spain anymore and has helped make wine in South Africa. While his heart lies in Bierzo I am confident that we will start seeing him involved in more wines outside of Spain and I am excited about it! Bodega Venta la Vega is his project in Almansa in the south eastern portion of Spain on 225 hectares of sustainably farmed vineyards in the foothills of the Sierra del Mugrón mountains. The vineyards have the largest planting of the Garnacha Tintorera (Alicante Bouschet) variety in all of Europe so while their focus is on red wines they make this fantastic white blend. The Adaras Lluvia white is a blend of 15 year old Verdejo and Sauvignon Blanc that sees skin contact for a couple of days. While I had anticipated this to be lean and racy it actually has fantastic texture and notes of melon, honeysuckle and under ripe apricot. It is lightly filtered before bottling and it bursting with flavor. This was fantastic with an udon stir fry I made and will pair well with roasted chicken, fish and creamy pastas.
Rickshaw
Pinot Noir 2019
Reg. Price $16.99
Sale Price: $9.99
Red Wine of the Month
It’s hard to find good quality Pinot Noir for under $20 and I think that’s one of the many reasons that Rickshaw is one of my best sellers. I was able to get some at an even better price but I don’t think it will last through the month so stock up early! A couple of things I look for when I’m looking for a bargain is if a winery has a second label, or lower tier wine that is typically from younger vines, sees less oak or is simply not the top crème de la crème fruit from the winery. It’s still perfectly good fruit, just not the top 10% or so that goes into their pride and joy label. Instead of making multiple wines to sell some wineries will just sell off barrels of finished wine to negociants which is another way to get a killer bottle at a lower price. Rickshaw uses that business model due to the savvy, wine veteran minds behind the brand. Baron Ziegler, Noah Dorrance and Steve Graf are the brains behind Rickshaw as well as their sister label Banshee and they use their contacts to find barrels of high quality fruit from wineries across California. They blend the barrels into their own wines for a fraction of the price and pass the savings on to the customers. The Pinot Noir comes from cool, coastal areas including Sonoma Coast but they keep their sources under wraps. The wine is aged in a combination of stainless steel and oak barrels but the important part is that it perfectly toes the line between too fruity and oaky or too light. Black cherries, cola, vanilla and baking spices make this a wine to please just about any palate.
Kumusha
Sauvignon Blanc 2020
Reg. Price $16.99
Sale Price: $12.99
I am incredibly excited to be among the first stores in Colorado to have Kumusha wines from South Africa. Kumusha is the project of Zimbabwe born Tinashe Nyamudoka who paired with Attie Louw, winemaker from Opstal Estate in the Breedekloof region of South Africa. Tinashe was born in Harare, Zimbabwe and worked his way up to manager at a grocery store before the country fell into an economic crisis. He relocated to South Africa where he landed a job polishing silverware at a restaurant called The Roundhouse where he was eventually promoted to waiter. He had no prior knowledge of wine but learned from the beverage director and a fire was lit. He went on to be the wine steward at Nobu, a restaurant with the One & Only group who are behind countless five star resorts throughout the world. Tinashe won the Reaching for the Young Stars Best Wine Steward award in 2013 and soon found himself as the head sommelier at The Test Kitchen which was ranked in the top 50 restaurants in the world in 2016. I will continue on about Tinashe in the write up for the Cab but I want to talk about the Sauvignon Blanc before this gets too long! The Sauvignon Blanc comes from the Western Cape of South Africa and is made with minimal intervention and long, natural fermentation. The Sauvignon Blanc is aged in stainless steel with the lees for four months which gives it a beautiful juxtaposition between a creamy texture and zippy citrus notes. Hints of ripe peach, melon, guava and passion fruit give you the typical crisp nose but the palate is deceptively rich and mineral driven. This beautiful marriage of fruit and texture makes this wildly crowd pleasing and food friendly.
Kumusha
Cabernet Sauvignon 2019
Reg. Price $16.99
Sale Price: $12.99
While Tinashe was at The Test Kitchen he met Attie Louw who is the winemaker for Opstal Estate in the Breedekloof region of the Western Cape. Their relationship grew to the point that Tinashe was able to assemble his own blends of Attie’s wines and Kumusha was started in 2017 with only 1,200 bottles in the first year. Kumusha in the Zimbabwean Shona language translates to “your home”, “your roots” or “your origin” and it is Tinashe’s goal to blend wines that are indicative of place, made responsibly and showcase what South Africa can do. Tinashe collaborates with Opstal Estate and utilizes their wine making expertise and their fruit and brings his experience as a sommelier to create beautiful blends that are not pretentious or overly serious. These two wines of his are some of the most unique and complex South African wines I have had in a while and I am so excited to see what else I am able to get my hands on. The Sauvignon Blanc has such an elegant nose and delicate touch and blossoms on the palate into ripe fruit notes and is unlike any other Sauvignon Blanc I’ve had. The Cabernet is peppery and slightly gamy like a northern Rhone Syrah with notes of leather and earth like a great Bordeaux. The wine is destemmed and then put in an old oak cask for an extended maceration of thirty days before being taken off the skins. The wine is then aged in large oak casks for a year, bottled and then aged in bottle for four additional months. This red would be fantastic with steaks, grilled lamb or a bolognese sauce but it would also be a great bottle for burger night!
May Georges
Cremant de Loire Rosé
Reg. Price $24.99
Sale Price: $19.99
Champagne is my favorite thing but alas that is not in my weekly budget. I drink sparkling wine quite often though, no need for a special occasion and I love finding sparkling wines that feature the same grapes that are in Champagne including Pinot Noir. My favorite Champagnes are Pinot Noir dominant because it brings such fantastic structure and texture along with softer notes of candied cherries, dried flowers and raspberry. Pinot Noir has an ability to tame the savage acidity and racy citrus zest notes that can dominate other sparkling wines. So what better to have during the month of February than a pink, Pinot Noir based sparkling wine? Any time you see a wine labelled as “cremant” that means that it is a sparkling wine from France that follows the same rigorous standards as true Champagne, just from a different region. May Georges makes beautiful wines from the Loire Valley in north western France and features the grapes of the area. The rosé is a blend of 50% Pinot Noir, 30% Pinot d’Aunis, 10% Cabernet Franc and 10% Grolleau that are all grown on the quintessential “Tuffeau” soils of the Loire which is clay with pebbles and flint on a bed of limestone. This gives the wines the Loire’s racy acidity and signature minerality; it couldn’t possibly be from anywhere else! Enjoy notes of strawberries, rhubarb and pomegranate that will complement appetizers, salads or salmon. Start the evening with a bottle while enjoying small bites and each other’s company!
Kopke
LBV Port 2015
Reg. Price $31.99
Sale Price: $21.99
If you have shopped here for a while you probably know that Kopke is my favorite Port producer. They have been making Port continuously for over 370 years and still find the time to hand paint their bottles. While I typically write up their aged Tawny Ports for my December newsletter I decided to shake it up and write about their ruby styles. Don’t worry, it will still be amazing with some chocolate! If we take Port to its simplest level there are two different styles; tawny and ruby. Tawny Ports are aged in wood and are ready to drink when they are bottled and ruby Ports are aged in bottle and typically get better with age. From there the styles splinter into a mind melting array of aging denominations and ever changing names but the L.B.V is a classic. Short for Late Bottled Vintage, an L.B.V is sort of like poor man’s vintage Port. Vintage Port is aged two years before being bottled with the intention of aging in bottle for long periods of time and L.B.V’s are aged for four to six years before being bottled. Hence, late bottled. The L.B.V is ready to drink without need for decanting as soon as you open it and is delicious with dark chocolate, blue cheeses, and ripe berries. Ruby Ports are slightly less sweet than tawny styles and are more fruit forward and this one is bursting with notes of wild berries, cracked pepper and violet. Throw this in the fridge and drink it cool to the touch with chocolate covered cherries or a chocolate torte with raspberries.
I can’t wait to explore these wines and more with you!
Pop into the store for all of your beverage needs and don’t forget about our in store tastings!
Beer Tasting Thursday 5 pm to 7 pm *On hold for Covid*
Wine Tasting Friday 4 pm to 7 pm *On hold for Covid*
