November | 2012 | the wine snob.

Here’s some more information about our Turkey Wine Packs, complete with pretty pictures! see below for ordering instructions!

PACK #1– “Good Friends” $43

got good friends?

Good friends- we’ve all got ’em! Got a lot of ’em? This pack is perfect and an unbeatable value if you need to stock it up/pack it up/pack it in for your feast. This group of four will have you drinkin’ well for less than $50.

Included:

1 Subirats Cava Rose, NV Spain. bubbly, fruity and fun, this wine has been at the top of our list of Holiday sparklers for years. bright red fruits and a zippy finish. drink it while you cook!! normal retail $12

1 Loosen Brothers “Dr. L” Riesling, 11 Germany, Mosel. yet another Cellar go-to wine for years past. Ernst Loosen really knows what he’s doing with the Loosen Brothers line; the Gewurztraminer and the Pinot Blanc are also amazeballs. This wine is light, racy, and has a perfect marriage of sweetness and dryness. normal retail $13

1 Georges Duboeuf Gamay, 10 Beaujolais, Morgon. like Beaujolais? I do. Gamay is one of my all time favorite grapes, hands-down. It’s extremely expressive, perfect with Fall flavors, easy to drink, difficult to dislike, people-friendly.. the list goes on. this one is very light and pretty, with notes of fresh sour cherry and dried herbs. normal retail $14

1 Pieza “El Coll” Garnacha, 08 Spain, Calatayud. we’ve been crushing this wine for a few weeks now, and people can’t seem to get enough of it. I love it because for an inexpensive Garnacha (of which there are plenty), this one offers a ton of dark, brambly fruit, nice oak and spice, and still finishes clean and with nice acid. Don’t get much better than that. normal retail $13

PACK #2- “Great Friends” $69

your friends ROCK.

Okay, it’s the Holidays, we can all pause for a moment and be thankful for awesome friends!! or family. or both! this pack is a perfect treat for all those you truly appreciate, and will spend the day feasting with. Or, you could save it all for yourself if you’ll need to be “treated” to get through the day. Hopefully the former…

Included:

1 Gruet Brut Rose, NV New Mexico. Ohh, this one is slammin’. And you’d be wise to get up on this particular bottle ASAP- the folks at Gruet are the bomb, but the demand for this wine exceeds the supply, without fail- every single year. It really is made in New Mexico, and it’s a lean, mean fightin’ machine, with beautiful crisp red fruit and beautiful floral notes. normal retail $16

1 Mar de Frades Albarino, 11 Spain, Rias Baixas. this stuff is TO DIE! by far the prettiest, silkiest Albarino I’ve had all year. A nice touch of tropical fruit is met with the characteristic bright citrus Albarino tends to display. It’s like an Albarino… made by Chuck Norris. normal retail $22

1 Morgan “Twelve Clones” Pinot Noir, 10 California, Santa Lucia. we got a nice surprise yesterday, when *after* we’d decided to put this wine in this pack, it got named to Wine Spectator’s Top 100 Wines of 2012! We opened one for this past Saturday’s wine sale, and it went over verrrry well! it’s everything a Cali Pinot should be; ripe, round and fruit-driven but with fantastic accents of vanilla and spice. This is one you’ll wanna keep drinking. normal retail $25.

1 Giant Wine Company “The Ghost of 413” Cab/Merlot/Syrah blend, 09 Washington, Columbia Valley. a slick little bottle, this wine is very new to South Carolina and packs classic Columbia Valley dark fruit and an uuber-smooth palate. 90% Cab/10% Merlot & Syrah. very drinkable and not weighed down. normal retail $19.

PACK #3: Reserve $175

baller!

Alright, so since we’re big ol’ nerds AND we like to sell wine, we HAD to offer a Reserve level pack. The cool thing is- these bottles would cost you $220 individually, so truth be told, $175 is a total steal even though it’s no small amount of money.

Included (limited quantity):

1 Ruinart Brut Rose, NV Champagne. sexiest. Champagne. ever. don’t have to say much else. you’re missing out on a crucial delicious element of life if you’ve never had this. you’ll never be the same. normal retail $80.

1 St. Urbans-Hof Riesling, 10 Germany, Mosel, Bockstein Vineyard. so, once again- I’m a hardcore Riesling fan, but this one will really open your eyes as to how much depth a Riesling can have. the soil really shines here, bringing about a really cool element of smoke and slate, met with creamy peaches, elderflower, roses and violets. normal retail $24

1 Patricia Green Cellars Pinot Noir, 10 Willamette, Balcombe Vineyard. a teensy-weensy little 7-acre vineyard site produced just 475 cases of this wine. Patricia Green Cellars are classic Willamette winemakers; a non-interventionalist approach makes for pure, pristine Oregon fruit with aging potential. deep flavors of plum and coffee are found amongst feminine red fruits. normal retail $46.

1 Chateau de St. Cosme Cote Rotie, 10 France, Cotes du Rhone. 100% Syrah from suuuper old vines. a powerful wine with flavors of bacon, smoke, graphite, black pepper, violets, and smoky ash. only the Rhone could make this wine! It’s sibling, the 2010 Gigondas, was just named the #2 Wine of the Year by Wine Spectator! 92 Points Parker, 94 Points International Wine Cellar! normal retail $70.

**important** if you’d like to order a wine pack, please email cellarongreene@gmail.com with which pack (or individual bottle) you’re interested in. Include a phone number so we can holler at you for your payment info securely over the phone. orders can be filled relatively quickly, so act now!! and Happy Thanksgiving!

“One of these things is not like the others…”

“one of these things just doesn’t belong…”

“…can you tell me which thing is not like the others, by the time I finish my song?”

Doesn’t everyone remember that song from Sesame Street? As a child of the 80’s, I often find myself spontaneously remembering songs from Sesame Street and parroting them out at random times. (exhibit B: “one! two!…. AH-AH-AH!!”) The only KEY to this time is that this wine definitely DOES BELONG! But it’s not like the others! And by others, I mean so many other California Pinot Noirs out there in the market. And for this, I applaud it. And love it.

So the NoCo label is owned by two hella’ cool dudes that also own LIOCO wines. I’ve written about their Sonoma Coast Chardonnay (remains gorgeous with every vintage) and their microscopically produced (and alas- not to be made again) Pinot Blanc in past posts. Without going in to too much detail, they focus on site-specific, non-interventionalist winemaking- AKA, they like to let the grapes be themselves and reflect from whence they come, rather than trying to make them into something else. You could also call that terroir, if you wanted to be fancy.

Back to my point; here’s why I like this wine, in a nutshell: it’s unique AND delicious! It’s bright, radiant and really pops more than most Cali Pinots I taste in an average week, or month. It is sort of a palate/mind-expander. This is crucial, in my opinion, if you’re gonna be a wine nerd. You have to periodically taste things that stretch and expand your palate’s ability to recognize flavors. I believe there’s some science behind that, actually. Remember how when you were a kid you hated beets? (or insert some other food you hated as a kid). And then one day you tried them when you were in your 20’s and you realized they were delicious? It’s because your taste buds mature, and become more responsive to different tastes as you get older. Same is true of wine. When you first start drinking reds, you might find too much tannin to be, literally, offensive to your taste buds. But just keep drinkin’, folks. As your buds get used to tannins, they won’t offend as much. Then you’ll start to like them. Of course, it’s always possible that you just don’t like some things, and never will- but the important thing is to keep trying! Plus, it’s fun.

But let’s move back to the wine itself. It has a very bright, tangy and pronounced palate of pomegranate, redcurrant, sour cherry, black tea, five spice, rhubarb, orange peel, and a touch of flintiness and cherry pits. Finishes with a push of minerality, a bit of soft fruit, girly flowers, and a pleasant ZING of acid- it’s low in alcohol at just 13.5%. It’s a truly fantastic representation of the Chalone AVA- which is a unique little spot. High in elevation, with soil rich with limestone and granite, the grapey grapes come of age in low humidity and intense bouts of unfiltered sunlight. This really comes across in this wine, because there is a definitive quality of purity and unrestrained clarity in this juice. I would even go so far as to say this wine is verging on the precipice of genius, and at the forefront of what it means to make wine and appreciate wine. Feel free to disagree with me; but I gave that a lot of thought and I stand by it.

This juice is currently by the glass at Cellar, or you can stop in and buy a bottle to take home for $21. I also heard Noah over at Sam’s Fine Wine & Spirits in Lexington is holding onto some, if you’re from that side of town. Oh, and this wine also got 89 Points from Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar! Woop woop! Get you some!

Oh and go Gamecocks. or whatever. I’m over it.

the wine snob.

Month: November 2012

TURKEY PACKS!

NoCo Pinot Noir, 2010 California, Chalone