LOW ROAD WHITE

2020 St Rey ‘SRV’ Chenin Blanc $13.44

Top three things straight outta West Sac: The Pheasant Club fried ravioli, this wine, and my wife. Don’t think Bogle, this delta darling is sophisticated, local, and perfect with a meal.  A sentence I didn’t think I’d say: This West Sac winery has nailed Chenin Blanc. 

2018 Villa Raiano Greco di Tufo $19.58

From one of our favorite producers in Campania. We first tasted this at a restaurant in Sorrento in 2019.  Brand is familiar, style of the bottle is new. This Greco Di Tufo sits on the lees (the used yeast in the juice) for four months. It has staying power and can develop flavor with age, which is why you can still enjoy this 2018. This could also play in the High Road, so wear your pearls. .

LOW ROAD RED

2019 Thymiopoulos Young Vines Xinomavero $15.36

Hot August nights are here and this is their quintessential summer red. Herbaceous and peppery on the mouth, light in color, long in flavor, and good with or without a slight chill. (We know where Sarah stands, brrrr.) This will be the final vintage labeled “young vines.” That means, next year, the vines are all grown up. Drink ‘em young, drink ‘em with lunch.!

2017 Carlo Giacosa Langhe Nebbiolo “Maria Grazia” $19.80

My forever grape is Nebbiolo, but my daily budget doesn’t allow for Barbaresco and Barolo, so Langhe Nebbiolo is the perfect compromise. Lunch or dinner, holds flavor the second day (don’t judge), and priced between $20-25. If we had it, this would be middle road. We went ahead and bought a few extra cases to get the price down. Sacrifices are hard. You’re welcome.  

HIGH ROAD WHITE

2019 Giornata Vermentino $21.33

Giornata makes some of our favorite Italian varietals in California. But… we’re also suckers for pasta. They run an excellent deli and Italian shop called Etto in Paso Robles. The pasta is fresh, the wine is good, and the owners are charming. Visit. Back to the wine. The grape goes by several names: Vermentino in Italy, Rolle in France, and Vermentinu in Corsica. The famous Tablas Creek brought French vines to Paso Robles that didn’t get used, Giornata made it into Italian wine. Bellissimo! Let’s review: Italian grapes from France grown in California. Yep, you’ll love it. 

2019 Raoul Gautherin Chablis $23.90

These days it is very acceptable, even popular to speak poorly of buttery Chardonnay. The style and preference in California is slowly moving towards unoaked or neutrally-oaked wines, but the Club still prefers Chablis. The region of Chablis has been making stony, steely Chardonnay for hundreds of years. Raoul Gautherin makes this traditional version which is perfect for summer and an oaked version that old school California fans (guilty!) will love. What to do? (We bought a case of that too, so let us know if you want to add a bottle of the oaked for $29 before we drink it all.)

HIGH ROAD RED

2018 Giornata Aglianico French Camp $21.33

The Club loves Aglianico! Giornata makes two. One is big, concentrated, and from Luna Matta vineyard. The second is this from French Camp Vineyard in Paso Robles. The vines were originally planted in the 1970s for Bonny Doon winery, there is one acre left and Giornata takes it all. The flavor is restrained, the vineyard is SIP certified (sustainable), and the property uses falcons to deter pests birds from eating the ripened grapes at harvest. Whoa. Cool. 

2017 Eulogio Pomares Penapedre $38.40

Eulogio makes the wine at Bodegas Zarate, his family’s legendary winery that was founded in 1707.  Even if you are the best at something (like Air Conditioning sales for instance) sometimes you want to branch out.  So Eulogio started to make wine from other regions of Spain under his own label.  Mostly Mencia and Garnacha (with some other grapes you haven’t heard of) the flavor is very complex and long, but low alcohol  and almost all (if not all) neutral oak, it’s not crazy to deliver this in August.  This wine goes with almost any food, improves with decanting, and was just as good (or maybe even better) the second day.