Celler Pardas Penedes Blau Cru: Malvasia di StigesCommon Wealth Wine Co Family Meal: Red/White blend from Black, Female winemaker and sommelier Lee CampbellBegaso Full Moon Amber Wine (More the Merrier bundle only): Khikhvi, Kisi, Kakhuri Mtsvane, Rkatsitel blend from Kakheti, GeorgiaAaron Burr Cidery 'Callicoon Creek' (More the Merrier bundle only): Natural, fermented apple cider from upstate NYNovember's club was focused on Thanksgiving feast pairings. Traditional Thanksgiving dishes tend to lack a balance of acidity amid their unctuous depth. Wine can deliver the necessary pristine sharpness that cuts through thick fall dishes with acidic precision and bright fruit. I appreciate that more Thanksgiving tables will feature un-traditional dishes in progressive culinary fashion. The following wines will pair with a bevy of traditional and non-traditional dishes as you’ll read in the Food Pairing suggestions.
Heidi Schröck & Söhne Ried Kulm Blaufränkisch 2022Weingut Tement Morillon (Chardonnay) Sudsteiermark "Muschelkalk" 2022Straka Little Big M*A*S*H Blend (More the Merrier only): Field blend of a lot of white grapes, especially Traminers; skin contactKolfok All Universe Together Blend 2022 (More the Merrier only): a filed blend of a lot of red and white grapes, including ZweigeltHappy fall, wine club friends! As nature enters remission and we settle into a fall routine and elegant sartorial layers, discovering new expressions of fall wine and food pairings is on our minds. This month, we are showcasing Austrian wines and on October 25th, we will host a free Austrian wine and food pairing. Austrian wines are high in acidity thanks to the cool climate, high elevation, and mineral terroir in which they thrive. This makes them perfect pairings for a lot of seasonal fare: grilled meats, fried dishes, root vegetables, squashes...
Ficomontanino Zacinta Revi White Blend: Sauvignon Blanc, Trebbiano, and GrechettoErnest Vineyards' Edaphos Ossum Epiphanea Red/White BlendStilianou Winery Theon Dora indigenous Greek blend: Vidiano, Thrapsathiri, VilanaVer Sacrum Dona MenciaThe late summer glow and the gloaming occurring earlier, leads us into a phase of transition to fall. From Joan Didion: "The very word 'gloaming' reverberates, echoes - the gloaming, the glimmer, the glitter, the glisten, the glamour - carrying in its consonants the images of houses shuttering, gardens darkening, grass-lined rivers slipping through the shadows." (The Year of Magical Thinking)September's wine club, we hope, expresses reverberating consonance with lyrical monikers for wineries and varietals. We anticipate that this selection from the number of wines we researched and tasted, will buoy a laissez-faire transition to cooler temps and heartier seasonal fare. The commonality tethering these to our fall-transition theme is textural: the softer expressions of white wines that pair well with squash and root vegetables, or cheese plates, juxtaposed against a red field blend whose acidity and aromatics to balance pre-Oktoberfest dishes or unctuous spreads that we crave this time of year; and there is also an allusion to fuller-bodied reds that blanket our palate in velvet, earth, and fruit.
Fabrizio Dionisio's Bolla Galeotta sparkling Syrah and Linfa Viognier (both bundles)Alepa winery's Pallagrello Riccio Bianco and Privo Cabernet Sauvignon (More the Merrier only)For the month of August, we chose two wines from two producers to showcase how a single producer can grow different varietals and showcase them via different vinifcation techniques. In this month's club you will learn that non-indigenous grapes are finding new homes in non-native environments (grapes without borders, peut-etre) where they excel in suitably ripening micro-climates.
