Weekly Saturday Tasting & Bonus Tasting Next Week

The Rhone Valley
with special guest Laurence O. Vuelta

Saturday, January 25th
1:00 - 3:00

On Saturday we get our first visit of 2025 with our buddy Laurence O. Vuelta, aka Dr. LOV. This time we are turning our focus onto four French gems in Laurence’s portfolio, all from the Rhône Valley. Three of the selections will be Côtes du Rhône, the workhorse wines of the Rhône Valley. Introduced in 1937, the appellation’s purpose was to provide a catch-all title for good quality Rhône wines from the valley’s lesser known and less prestigious viticultural areas. It does not hold the prestige of the Rhône’s more famous names, like Chateaufneuf du Pape, Cote Rotie, or Hermitage, however the Côtes du Rhône title has risen to become one of France’s most popular and famous. It is a region-wide appellation covering nearly all of the southern Rhône valley, and produces red, rosé and white wines, and includes more than 170 villages. The reds tend to be fruity and mid-weight, most often based on Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre. We will taste three on Saturday, starting with the Les Mésanges Blanc, a classic Rhône white blend of Viognier, Grenache Blanc, and Roussanne, some of our favois a distant memory, so we will taste the lovely Grenache, Syrah and Cinsault blend of L’Amarante Rosé. We'll enter into some red selections with the prestigious Côtes du Rhône Villages from Domaine Fournier. Finally, we'll get more appellation specific, and taste a lovely Rouge from Lirac. On the opposite bank of the Rhône to the more famous Châteauneuf-du-Pape title, Lirac boasts many similarities but often beats its prestigious neighbor on accessibility and affordability. We encourage you to shake off the winter's chill and come explore the south of France with Laurence!

Les Mésanges Blanc
Côtes du Rhône, France, 2023
 
L'Amarante Rosé
Côtes du Rhône, France, 2023
 
Domaine du Fournier 'Signargues'
Côtes du Rhône Villages, France, 2022
 
Domaine Respelido Rouge
Lirac, France, 2022

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Bonus Tasting Next Week!

Au Bon Climat Winery

Tuesday, January 28th
5:00 - 7:00

Please join us next Tuesday anytime between 5:00 and 7:00 to taste some of the beautiful wines of Au Bon Climat. A standard bearer for high quality wines out of California's Central Coast, Au Bon Climat has done some of the best Burgundian styled California wines for decades now, and have had an important impact on all Domestic wine production. We will be joined by owner Isabelle Clendenen, who continues on with the amazing work begun by her father, founding winemaker and owner Jim Clendenen. Isabelle will take us through their core three wines, the Santa Barbara Chardonnay, Santa Barbara Pinot Noir, and a tasty Pinot Gris/Pinot Blanc blend. We might have a few other gems to taste for preorders only, but those are going to hinge on FedEx getting samples here on time. Fingers crossed! Either way, mark you calendars for next Tuesday evening and start your week off right!