French Wine Tasting
Thursday, August 4th
Beautiful New Arrivals from Burgundy, Beaujolais, & Rhone Valley!
French Wine Tasting
Thursday, August 4th 4-6pm
*Our Big Spring Park location- 200 Westside Square*
$20 Per Person (Wine Tasting Only)
Reservations Requested. Call 256-759-9952
Presented by special guest,
Robert Gunn of Pinnacle Imports
The Line-Up
2020 Jean Paul Brun Roussanne, Beaujolais, France $21.99
100% Roussanne. Jean-Paul Brun planted Roussanne vines in 2000 on the clay-limestone soils typical of his home village of Charnay in the southern Beaujolais. They are farmed organically and harvested by hand. The whole clusters are pressed and fermented in cement tank with a pied de cuve started with fruit from the vineyard. The wine goes through malolactic fermentation and is aged on the lees in tank with regular bâtonnage. It is bottled with a light, non-sterile filtration in the spring after the vintage.
2020 Chevalier De La Cree 1er Cru Montagny (Chardonnay), Burgundy, France $39.99
Ken and Grace Evenstad, Founders of Domaine Serene Winery, came full circle in their passion for great Pinot Noir and Chardonnay when they purchased the respected Burgundy wine estate, Château de la Crée, in 2015. Featuring a restored 15th century château in the historic Côte de Beaune village of Santenay, the Château de la Crée estate was originally owned by Nicolas Rolin, Chancellor to the Duke of Burgundy, Philippe the Good, and founder of the renowned Hospices de Beaune. Along with his wife Guigone de Salins, Rolin established a tradition of charitable giving through wine, something the Evenstads consider a foundational principle at Domaine Serene as well.
Its aromas are acacia, mayflower, honeysuckle, bramble flowers with notes od hazelnut, white peach and ripe pear. In the mouth, the wine is fresh, young at heart, frisky, alluring, and rich. Refinement and delicacy are harmoniously matched to a durably well-built structure.
2020 Jean Paul Brun Morgan, Beaujolais, France $25.99
Winemaker Notes
Two parcels of Morgon go into this bottling, one on the famous Côte du Py hill and one in a different climat, both having sandy, decomposed-granite soils. The vinification is traditional Burgundian. The grapes are rigorously sorted and destemmed, crushed and fermented with indigenous yeasts and no sulfur. Maceration lasts about 4 weeks in concrete vats; aging is also in concrete, at 10 months the longest-aged (along with the Moulin-a-Vent) of his wines; bottling is with a gentle filtration and a small addition of sulfur. Made with 100% Gamay.
JS92James Suckling A cornucopia of red and black summer-berry aromas, plus a slew of healthy tannin on the sleek and self-confidently dry palate. Tons of herbal and stony character at the long, fresh finish. Drink or hold.
2019 Domaine Du Vissoux Fleurie "Poncie", Beaujolais, France $29.99
93 points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate Aromas of cherries, raspberries, spices and rose hips introduce the 2019 Fleurie Poncié, a medium to full-bodied, pretty and fine-boned wine that's elegant and precise, built around lively acids and powdery tannins. It's a particularly bright, vibrant Fleurie from Chermette.
93 points Vinous Deep magenta. Vibrant, finely detailed red and blue fruit, potpourri and exotic spice aromas pick up smoky mineral and licorice notes as the wine opens up. Juicy and energetic in the mouth, offering appealingly sweet, finely wrought raspberry and cherry preserve and boysenberry flavors and a touch of candied flowers. Closes very long and subtly tannic, with the floral and mineral notes repeating. (JR)
2021 Famille Oupia "Les Heretiques" Red, Herault, France $ 12.99
Everyone talks about the new quality of wines from the Languedoc. For us, this doesn't mean the ubiquitous varietal bottlings from irrigated flat vineyards but the wonderful wines coming from the best hillside vineyard sites in AOCs like Minervois, Corbières and Coteaux-du-Languedoc. The Château d'Oupia is one of the best.
Robert Parker has consistently praised this estate and rated the wine a "best buy." He wrote: "Château d'Oupia has produced the ideal bistro wine. Dark, ruby-colored, the wine is wonderfully clean and pure, with an exuberant personality, and gobs of rich, peppery, red and black fruit...Bravo to proprietor André Iché!"
2019 Domaine Boisson Cairanne "Les Trois Terroirs", Rhone Valley, France $22.99
91 Jeb Dunnuck - jebdunnuck.com "Another beauty, the 2019 Cairanne Les Trois Terroirs offers loads of herbes de Provence, ground pepper, garrigue, and both red and blue fruits. Based on 50% Grenache, 20% each of Syrah and Mourvèdre, and the balance Carignan, this medium-bodied, balanced, undeniably delicious Cairanne will drink brilliantly for 4-6 years, if not longer."
The Trois Terroirs cuvée represents the substance of the Domaine Boisson. From old vines planted in three geological areas of Cairanne (Les Sables, Coteaux and Garrigues) this cuvée offers a classic vision of Cairanne, marked by the elegance of the tannins and the finesse of the aromas.
2020 Paul Jaboulet Aine "Mule Noir" Croze-Hermitage, Rhone Valley, France $27.99
Rated 92 by James Suckling Full wild-blackberry aromas, plus some meaty character welcome you to the Rhone kingdom of syrah. Thanks to the open fruit, moderate tannin structure and creamy texture on the mid-palate, this is already a very appealing Crozes-Hermitage. Only at the finish are the tannins a bit more obvious, but the mineral freshness there is more forthright. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold.
