A Little Bit Of What You’re Missing

​In something of a recap post, we had a pretty busy week around the Eastgate Wine Department, with not one, or two, but three wine tastings this week.  Thursday night is pretty standard, as we boast our Thursday Night Wine Jam, a bit of a leftover concept of mine that has finally found a home, and is growing slowly, a bit like watching a sapling tree get a few inches taller with each passing year – not ideal for the instant gratification generation, but you got to start somewhere, right?  Yet this past week, we had another edition of our #WineWednesday #winemakertakeover night with Lorenzo Pasquini from Cheval des Andes taking over our cellar, and another edition of our #WalkaboutofWine, which happens the 2nd Saturday of every month.

To give a bit of background on these three tasting formats, the mainstay is the Thursday Night Wine Jam, a bit of an homage to my days in rock ‘n’ roll.  A kind of opening mic night, I leave a bit of grey area in the outside chance a special guest rolls into town, and can jump in and take over the set, so to speak.  I try to keep it fairly informal, casual, you can taste-at-your-own-pace.  But I’m there to present the wines, give them some context, back story, and teach a little bit about the wines, or just in general.  Wednesdays are usually reserved for the #winemakertakeover events, usually done in the cellar, but not always, and shine a spotlight on a particular producer or importer.  More formal, but certainly not a black tie gig, we like to bring our patrons some incredible guests who make some of the best wines of their respective regions.  And then of course, our Saturday Walkabouts, which are almost always the 2nd Saturday of every month.  Very casual, in the afternoon, this tasting featuring 5 of our sales reps, each hosting a table of 5 wines from around the world.  Cocktail style, it’s a friendly atmosphere, where regulars catch up with each other, and newbies become regulars in a hurry.

So first up, this Wednesday’s #winemakertakeover with Cheval des Andes.  While I wasn’t in attendance, the event was an intimate affair, with a small group lucky enough to try a vertical of Cheval des Andes out of magnums (including the 2003 and the 2007 vintages).  If you’ve been lucky enough to try these wines, they are pretty spectacular.  One could argue Cheval des Andes being one of (if not, the) best wine out of Argentina (and perhaps all of South America).

Cheval des Andes is the collaboration between legendary Bordeaux producer Chateau Cheval Blanc and Argentina’s Terrazas de los Andes, the brainchild of Cheval Blanc’s president, Pierre Lurton, is the only collaboration this esteemed Saint-Emilion producer has deemed worthy.  Hailing from the venerable Las Compuertes vineyard in Mendoza’s Vistalba subregion, Pierre Lurton believed this plot of land every bit as rich and extraordinary as the vineyards of Saint-Emilion and Pomerol (in the Right Bank region of Bordeaux).  Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot make up the blend – in different percentages depending upon the vintage – and this exceptional homage to the wines of Bordeaux – make this a phenomenal wine pretty much every single vintage.

This Thursday Night’s Wine Jam boasted the Values of Napa Valley, and although value and Napa don’t necessarily go together, we stressed on the price threshold of $30, highlighting some pretty great wines, including Honig Sauvignon Blanc 2015, Napa Cellars Chardonnay 2013, Tess Red & White NV, Rutherford Hill Merlot 2013, Buehler Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 and Girard Petite Sirah 2012.

The Honig Sauvignon Blanc has always been one of my favorites, and having known proprietor Michael Honig for close to 20 years, along with his winemaker Kristin Belair (who was the first winemaker I interviewed at my old blog years ago), they consistently turn out what I feel is the best value in Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc on the market today.  Boasting 4% Semillon and 1% Muscat, this aromatic white wine just screams, “Hello and welcome to my house!  Kick off your shoes, take a seat and relax.  We’ll eat shortly.”

And the other wines showed well also, but I finished with the Girard Petite Sirah 2012, a wine that seems like every vintage, not just this one, reminds me of the blueberry pies my Grandma Keith would make for me for my birthday every year, piping hot, fresh from the oven.  All those baked pie dough and bubbling blue fruits, mixed in with baking spices and melted butter just wafting up into the air, intoxicating my mind with dreams of cool Autumn evenings, a roaring bonfire, and ooey-gooey love.
And of course, our biggest shindig of the month, our September edition (Lord, it’s September already!) of the Walkabout of Wine.  We informally relaunched The Prisoner Wine Company after a bit of an absence in the store (the wines were recently acquired by Constellation Brands, which meant an interruption at the wholesale level), featuring the Saldo Zinfandel 2014 and Blindfold White 2014.  We also had some very cool wines like the Cultivate Pinot Noir 2014 – a new endeavor from Petaluma Gap wunderkind Pax Mahle, Highflyer Centerline Red 2011, Carol Shelton Coquille Blanc 2014, Pietranera Rosso di Montalcino 2013 and Domaine Lafage Bastide Miraflors 2014.  We boasted a Cabernet Franc from New York, a sweet Spanish sparkling wine, a new Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon, a Riesling from Washington State, several wines from Italy and France, and of course, there was much California love to be had.  It’s always lively, and always interesting to host this wine tasting, smack dab in the middle of our enormous grocery store.

The overall goal with all our tastings is simple:  wine is meant to be casual, impromptu and inviting, and we dial down the pretentiousness to zero around here – though we are still quite prone to flights of poetic fancy now and again.
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If you’re in town for a visit, or happen to live in the neighborhood, we’d love for you to join us.  Check out our schedule.  Or visit our Facebook events page.