Picnic Wines, June 8, 2019

2018 Casamaro Verdejo

Rueda, SP

Regular Price $13.99

Sale price $10.99

Rueda is located in North-central Spain, on the sandy high plains that were undersea for millions of years. The old vine Verdejo grown here makes absolutely delicious wine, full of fresh peachy aromas and flavors. Bright, low in alcohol and easy to enjoy, this is a sensational summer quaffing wine

2017 Domaine de la Collonge Mâcon-Fuissé

Burgundy, FR

Regular Price $19.99

Sale price $14.99

Chardonnay stirs up strong reactions, on both sides of the fence. The haters seem to think that all Chardonnay tastes the same; the aficionados think the same, but they like it. This Chardonnay will prove them both wrong, or right. This tastes like Chardonnay, but less flamboyant, less oaked, less ripe, more balance, more restraint, more food friendly.

2018 Château Pradeau Côtes de Provence Rosé

Provence, FR

Regular Price $27.99

Sale price $21.99

Pradeau is,  of course, a Bandol producer, and this wine is sourced from grapes grown in Bandol, with the principal difference between this and Pradeau’s Bandol Rosé is the cepage (blend) and the age and location of the vines. Regardless, this is a big, rich, ageworthy Rosé, very different from the stereotypical light and simple Cotes de Provence Rosé.

2015 Vincent Girardin Cuvée Saint Vincent Rouge

Burgundy, FR

Regular Price $31.99

Sale price $24.99

Somewhere along the line, ‘light’ became a pejorative rather than a descriptive term when discussing wines. And so, elegant, balanced Pinot Noir became almost a causality as producers blended other grapes into their Pinot Noir to give it  the desired weight. That practice, while legal in the US, is definitely not legal in Burgundy, which is where this delightfully fresh and balanced hails from. Not big and jammy, it’s actually 100% Pinot Noir

2017 La Senda ‘1984’

Beirzo, SP

Regular Price $23.99

Sale price $18.99

The grape here is Mencia, which reminds me of Cabernet Franc, which is perhaps why I like it so much. Fresh and savory with both fruit and herbal aromas and flavors it’s also supple and crisply acidic. Its kinda perfect.

2015 Château Combel La-Serre

Cahors, FR

Regular Price $24.99

Sale price $19.99

Cahors is the ancestral home of Malbec and still the best expression of Malbec in the world. Or so I believe. This is a bright and fresh example of the grape with none of the syrupy fruit of Argentine Malbec and yet little of the coarse, tannic Malbec long associated with Cahors. Lively and juicy, it’s not exactly lacking in fruit, rather the fruit knows its place, as part of the whole.