Alpine Wine Tasting May 19th
Cool Off With Thirst-Quenching Bubbles, Pristine Crisp Whites, And Lively Refreshing Reds!
Inspiring New Wine Projects From The Veneto, Piedmont, and Trentino-Alto Adige in Italy, & Absolutely Profound Wines From Franken.
Alpine Wine Tasting
Thursday, May 12th 4-6pm
*Our original wine bar location- 103 Northside Square*
$35 Per Person (Includes Personal Charcuterie Pairing)
Or
$20 Per Person (Wine Tasting Only)
Reservations Requested. Call 256-964-7980
Presented by special guest, Robert Gunn of Pinnacle Imports
The Line-Up
NV Furlani Bianco 'Alpino' Frizzante, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy $28.99
Nosiola, Verdealbara, Lagarino
Towering over the alpine city of Trento, at some 700+ meters of altitude, are the tiny parcels of vines tended by Matteo Furlani. Matteo is the current custodian of his family plots high in the Dolomites; he is a fourth generation winemaker.
Wines are fermented either in cement tanks or small glass demijohns with no temperature control, no yeast, no sulfur. To clarify the wines they are often racked into demijohns during the winter and placed outside in the snow allowing the wine to naturally settle. The "Metodo Interrotto" or Interrupted Method cuvee's essentially refer to an unfinished method champagnoise, bottle refermentation.
NV Furlani 'Antico' Frizzante (skin contact), Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy $29.99
Furlani Antico Skin Contact Frizzante is 100% Nosiola grape that sees 10 days skin contact bottle fermentation from added frozen must.
10 days skin contact. Super earthy and dry with a wonderful fizz. Tastes like citrus rind and almond skins with great, bright acidity.
After studying agronomy, not winemaking (he learned that from his father and grandfather) Matteo set his sights on working his land in the most natural of ways. Chemicals were never a part of what Matteo's predecessors used to tend the vines yet Matteo took an even more rigorous approach, incorporating biodynamic preparations and methodologies in the vineyards today.
NV Kraemer Pet-Nat Muller Thurgau, Auernhofen, Germany $35.99
The wines are a pure image of their work with the soils. Stephen says the vineyard work is more about the soil than about the plants itself. He is convinced that healthy and lively soils have a direct influence on the grapes.
It is the first harvest of Müller-Thurgau grapes. Whole cluster pressing and fermentation in stainless steel tank. Bottling takes place at the end of fermentation to save approximately 20–24 g/l sugar. Disgorged. No sulfur added.
2019 Ronchi Langhe Bianco 'Amphoris', Piedmont, Italy $23.99
A more profound and thrilling take on Piedmont’s native white grape, Arneis. Like with his Langhe Nebbiolo, winemaker Giancarlo Rocca ages his white wine in terracotta (clay) amphorae for a few months, for more texture and flavorful depth. This is a medium-bodied, silky wine, beautifully rendered.
2018 Kraemer 'Keuper & Kalk' White, Franken, Germany $24.99
Müller-Thurgau, Bacchus, and Johanniter grapes harvested from a total of .64 hectares, with the vines ranging between 12-38 years old growing on Muschelkalk (shell limestone) with flint. Fermentation begins with cloudy must in stainless steel, with complete malolactic and finished with a tiny addition of sulfur the day before bottling.
Explore Franken a little, and you’ll soon start seeing the many crumbling stone walls, remnants of medieval monastic demarcations of long abandoned vineyards. Nowadays, only the best vineyards sites have remained. Kraemer has parcels on the steep cru slopes of Hasennestle (with Muschelkalk or Shell Limestone soils), and Feurstein (Silex soils); they buy some organic grapes from their friend who has a small parcel on the Kronsberg slopes.
2020 Furlani Maddie Rosso, Alto Adige, Italy $21.99
“Maddie” is named as a tribute to the Santa Maddalena DOC. 100% Schiava. Spontaneous fermentation without temperature control. Aged in stainless steel. No filtering or fining and minimal sulfur addition if needed.
Watermelon rind with puckering cherry acidity and a wedge of lemon - when you should be drinking water but rather wine.
2020 Sassara Bardolino, Veneto, Italy $27.99
This is a favorite chillable red. A traditional blend of Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara it spends a short 6 days macerating before aging in stainless steel. So bright, so blindingly fresh with high toned cherry fruit, juicy raspberry and striking minerals. Just a touch of grip and earthy acidity provide structure for all of that joy.
Vini Sassara Bardolino Goto is a red natural wine made from a blend of Corvina, Rondinella, and Molinara grapes grown sustainably in Valeggio Sul Mincio, within the Bardolino DOC appellation area. Spontaneous fermentation with native yeast, 6-day maceration on the skins, bottled unfined, unfiltered, no added sulfites. "Goto" means "glass of wine" in the local dialect.