Tasting Notes (12.9.22)

​Silver Thread Pétillant Naturel 2021 ($22.99)
Seneca Lake, New York

"GRAPES: Various grape varieties were hand harvested and co-fermented. The blend includes Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Gewurztraminer, Cabernet Franc and Riesling.  
 
FERMENTATION: Fruit was pressed into neutral oak barriques where spontaneous fermentation took hold. Several different lots, including five barrels of early season fruit and one larger lot of later-picked Riesling, were blended before bottling.

TASTING: Alluring aromas of fresh fruit, yeast and earth. Broad, creamy mid-palate with a touch of grip. Pure, unadulterated and alive with moderate fizz… a lively sensory experience."


Erica Orr Wines Chardonnay 2019 ($34.99)
Columbia Gorge, Washington

"The Columbia Gorge is the best climate in Washington for the style of
chardonnay I like – mineral driven and fresh with that tension between
bright, clean and acidic and round, rich and savory.

I helped hand pick this fruit early in the morning and then we whole cluster
pressed the grapes when we got back to the winery later that afternoon. We
settled the juice in tank overnight and then filled five old French oak barrels
for native fermentation.

After a couple months of batonnage, I stopped stirring the lees and let the
wine clear by gravity. After a year in barrel, we moved the wine into
stainless steel drums which is a technique I had read about but never done
before the 2018 vintage of this wine. This is how it is said that Dominique
Lafon makes his white Burgundy, apparently Roulot follows this protocol as
well, shifting the wine from the oxidative environment of the barrels into an
anoxic reductive world of stainless steel for a couple months for the wine to
“drop the baby fat”, “chisel the cheekbones” and tighten it up a bit.

I felt strongly that the mouthfeel I’d been building for 16 nerve-wracking
months would be destroyed by filtration and I was ok with the clarity of the
wine as it is. So we went to bottle without fining or filtering in February of
2021."


Schola Sarmenti Negroamaro 2019 ($17.99)
Puglia, Italy

"Variety: Negroamaro 100%  
Aging: At checked temperature in stainless steel tanks.  
Bouquet: A singular olfactory register interwoven with notes of spices, tobacco and leather in a well-marked fruit finish.  
Taste: The enterprising sip intoxicates the palate with a softness and a velvety structure softened by a fine tannin that leaves a pleasantly bitter trail."


Sablettes Sauternes 2016 ($22.99)
Bordeaux, France

"Sablettes is a second label of sauternes from Chateau Doisy Vedrines in Barsac, a commune that is said to have “noble soils.” The relationship between the the soil, the climate and the vines is complicit in its ability to give botrytis an opportunity to work its magic. Once ready, grapes are hand
harvested and sorted up to 9 times over the course of 6-8 weeks.

This sauternes features nose of citrus, marmalade, honey and ripe pineapple with a hint of white peppercorn. Sweet on the tip of the tongue with refreshing acidity yielding to an elegant finish."