Babcock "Love Among the Ruins"
100% Grenache. Sta. Rita Hills, Santa Barbara, CA 2018
With such a curious name as "Love Among the Ruins" there surely must be a reason, and a story, to go behind it - and there absolutely is! Babcock is one of the founding wineries of the prestigious Sta. Rita Hills appellation. Back in 1995 they were out there meticulously measuring the soil types, the climate, and the exact square footage to establish one of the great California terroirs. This was all changed in 2016 when some newer vineyards petitioned to have the boundaries redrawn to include their vineyards - to which Babcock wasn't particularly pleased. To such an extent that he related it to when one of the great wonders of the ancient world fell into decay, and nicknamed this added land "The Ruins". Flash forward a couple of years to 2018 when the winery was diving into the world of Grenache and heard rumors of it being grown in Sta. Rita Hills, right in their backyard. Guess where the plantings were situated. The Ruins. Rather than being stubborn and not working with it, he began to work with the fruit and became quite enamored with it. Love Among the Ruins! The wine is quite vivacious, and giving, providing us with waves of opulent ripe red cherries and strawberries that luxuriously lead to a strawberry rhubarb pie filling that is mouth coating, and silky soft on the finish. Such a refreshing wine - try it on a sunny day with a slight chill!
San Fereolo "Valdiba"
100% Dolcetto. Dogliani, Piedmont, Italy 2017
Dolcetto is an often overlooked red varietal compared to it's Piedmont siblings: Barbera and Nebbiolo. Typically a winery will make a token amount of Dolcetto to round out it's offerings, with the flagship almost always being an honorable Nebbiolo (such as those from the Barolo subregion). This is very much not the case when it comes to San Fereolo. While she does make a small amount of Nebbiolo, her Dolcetto is by far and away the star here. Dogliani is just south of Barolo and is a region devoted to producing the best Dolcetto in the world, earning it DOCG status in a space that is typically reserved for Nebbiolos, this wine is a prime example as to why. While the prototypical Dolcetto violets are present, we see a bevvy of nuanced whispers of earthy dark spice and shaved almonds while leading us to a hyper expressive palate of blackberries and plush creme de violette all flowing to a perfectly balanced finish between the fruit and the spice that seems to last for an eternity. Wonderful on it's own, or rockstar with spicy Cajun dishes or your favorite thin crust pizza.
Peyrassol "Cuvee des Commandeurs"
40% Grenache, 35% Cinsault, 15% Syrah, and 10% Rolle. Cotes de Provence, France 2020
You don't get closer to rosé perfection than this! Peyrassol is one of the greats when it comes to Provence and while their estate grown 'Chateau' is more built for ageability, the 'Commandeurs' is their expression sourcing mostly from their own vineyards, with some additional fruit from neighbors on the picturesque sun drenched slopes of the Cotes de Provence. Regardless of the year this wine is a benchmark of what a rosé wine should be: light, playful, vibrant and bone dry on the finish. That being said: we're just now starting to see the 2020 rosés trickle out of Provence and it is proving to be a prime vintage. The winter was warm, so no risk of frost damage, and the summer was mild with no heat spikes. This all gave us fruit hitting peak phenolic ripeness so we get all the plush fruit, with that lean acid to make for the ultimate wines. The nose is immediately welcoming with bright pink lemonade and raspberry aromatics that are lifted with gentle hints of rose that continues on through the palate which is dazzling a brings more wild berries to the tapestry of flavors while ending with a snappy, mineral driven, finish. If only all rosés could be this hedonistic!
Arbe Garbe
50% Malvasia, 30% Tocai Fruilano, and 20% Chardonnay. Russian River Valley, Sonoma, CA 2019
Traditionally in the Northern Italian wine region of Fruili, much like more wine producing regions, they interplant what's called cover crop in the vineyard. These can provide multiple benefits such as restoring nutrients back to the soil, deterring invasive plants from growing, act as food for scavengers who may try and eat the vine, and once they live out their short life cycle: becoming top soil for the vineyard. The founder and winemaker grew-up in Fruili where they lovingly called these plants 'Arbe Garbe' and he wanted to make an homage to these hard working 'weeds' that generally travel around the world and grow wildly, much like gypsies, and very similarly to how he travelled with his family to California to bring some Italian winemaking mentality, and craftsmanship, to the sunshine state. The blend for his white wine will change every vintage, but always aims to be like a Northern Italian blend, with skin aged Italian varietals shining through with a dash of Chardonnay to give it backbone. The resulting wine is spectacular. It's instantly pleasing to the nose with freshly cut pears and honeysuckle wafting around bright apple and apricot tones that lead to a velvety, mouth filling, experience of the same white flowers and orchard fruits all leading to a soft, rounded, finish. A great choice to have poolside with grilled shrimp, or indoors with freshly cooked crab!
Ficomontanino "Bulgarelli"
100% Sangiovese. Tuscany, Italy 2019
When Maria Sole took over her grandfather's farm and vineyard she could have stuck with his more conventional practices, like most of their neighbors, but instead went with a more holistic, wild, approach. She began to see the vineyards as a larger ecosystem and strove to reach balance and equilibrium with nature so that she could progressively have less and less intervention and more and more expressiveness of what the land has to offer. This mentality carries over to the cellar as well and the wine speaks to it in such earnesty. We get a wine that has bright lifted red fruit that has a solid earthy undertone, bold powerful spice interplaying with delicate dried flowers, juicy ripe cherry and nuanced forest floor. A wine of artistic balance that shows the true beauty, and depth, of Sangiovese. Perfect for your next pasta night, or to have with friends and revel in its complexities.
Grosjean "Vigne Merletta"
100% Fumin. Valle d'Aoste, Italy 2013
Grosjean has become a bit of a darling in our wine club, having many of it's expressions represented at one point or another. The last wine we had in the club was a rare varietal known as Cornalin but this time we see something even more rare and elusive: Fumin. Typically around 10% is added to the local 'Torrette' blends to give backbone and structure much like Petit Verdot does to a Bordeaux blend. What's great about the importer we work with is he has extremely long standing relationships with many of his producers so, when he fatefully had a barrel sample of Fumin on a visit and loved it, the winery was more than happy to do a special bottling for him! The even wilder thing is he also has the luxury of determining when to release it, which is typically with a considerable amount of age. Having this wine blind one would never guess it's 8 years old from it's vibrant freshness! Much like an inky Malbec, or a robust Bordeaux, this wine has loads of black fruit and berry compotes that all intermingle with clay and loamy earth leading to all manners of spice boxes and cigar box leading to an opulent, rich, finish. Such a giving and expressive wine! Pro tip: this wine continually gets better the more air it gets, but is absolutely pop-and-pourable!