Italian- Garofoli ‘Komaros’ Rosato di Montepulciano 2024 $12.70

French- Chateau St Pierre Vin de Mediterranee Tradition Rose $14.21

Greek- Gaia 4.6 Agiorgitiko Rose $13.79

Chilean- Lapostolle le Rose $12.29

German- Villa Wolf Pinot Noir Rose $11.50

It’s a $13 Pinot Noir, from France.

Ippolito is the winery. Liber Pater is Latin for Baccus, the God of Wine. Ciro is the appellation. The wine is made of 100% Gaglioppo, a grape that has been used for hundreds of years before my Grandmother was born in this area. Even when we started the Club is 2015, it was hard to find Calabrian wines that weren’t too big, heavy, and alcoholic. This is a big winter red but is a reasonable 14% alcohol. It has a clean finish that makes you want to take another sip, even at the end of the bottle. You may need two.

Upside: We’re embracing this new trend of high quality, affordable, and drinkable wines that come in one liter bottles. Downside: Your bedtime just got later. If you’ve had a chance to sip with us, you know that we are all about value. This wine brings the quality of a unique blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Vermentino…. and adds the quantity. In Italian, we say “un altro frate viene…” and this wine gives you a little wiggle room to invite another guest. For you non-Sauv fans, not to worry, even Sarah and Club member Meredith love it.

A step up from the basic Prosecco (in life and with this brand.) Still cheap enough to pour orange juice in but better if you drink it straight.

5980 BC was a good year for wine. The world was coming off the ice age and the population was exploding due to the Neolithic Revolution (more agriculture, less hunting and gathering.) That is the approximate date of the oldest pottery found to be used in winemaking in Georgia (country not state.) Mukuzani is the registered winemaking region and they only make red wine from the Saperavi grape (mentioned briefly in Drops of God on Apple TV S2E1.) Let it breathe for 10 minutes or so and enjoy. It goes well with roasted meat, mushrooms, and of course cheese, although evidence of cheese making wasn’t discovered for another 500 years. The wine tastings must have been so archaic.

This may seem like a repeat wine but it has never been “in da Club.” We purchased it before the November Delivery even though we didn’t need it. Since then, we haven’t been able to keep our hands off it. Sorry! We drink it all the time, brought it to multiple parties, sold it to people looking for reds around the holidays. It even graced O’Dowd’s teacher appreciation. It is a well-done, affordable Gamay that goes with any food but has the body and pepper to go it alone. This may be the perfect Super Bowl Red. Did I mention go 9ers?

Portuguese blends go with everything.  This one is a “field blend.” Grapes include Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, and Tinta Roriz picked and put into “lagares” together.  Lagares are traditional open vats made of stone or stainless steel used for stomping grapes manually. This one gets 90 points from Decanter.

This month marks our 20th Anniversary… of discovering Cannonau (Grenache from Sardegna).  More than any other region, Sardegna was the inspiration for Santa Ray Wine Club. When we got back from our honeymoon we could only find one or two large producers that imported Cannonau and Vermentino into the U.S. Now we have access to many smaller wineries like this one from Umberto Soletta to choose from. This is the entry-level Cannonau, meaning this is the wine that the winemaking family drinks at home.

IT’S BACK

The #1 selling wine we have ever done is back after a few year hiatus.

These pink bubbles were made famous when Obama and Putin shared a toast in 2015 at the UN. The tiny winery in Marche only found out later that their wine was served.

This wine is fun and delicious and should start every holiday celebration.

Garrafeira means “cellared wine,” meaning that its held in the bottle longer before release. Most people don’t have a true wine cellar, but if you do, I hope you don’t have many $18 bottles from 2011. They are probably vinegar by now, but this is the exception. Strong, balanced, with significant tannins, and made with the same grapes that go into port. And 2011 was an amazing vintage for port. What do you get when you have a 14-year old wine, from a great vintage, made in a place that is famous for aging wine and selling affordable, high quality reds? Lezgo.

Cenatiempo is a winery on the Island of Ischia, off the coast of Naples near Capri. We sought out this winery for another reason (see the High Road), but this wine was a pleasant surprise, and we had to have it. It is 100% Falanghina (a Club favorite) from various small growers on the mainland with vines ranging from 20-100 years old.

Jorge Ordonez was the first person to import Albarino into the U.S. His company represents many of the Spanish wineries that we have used over the years, including La Caña. They make delicious, affordable, typical Spanish wines. We have used their oaked, High Road Albarino in the past. This one is affordable, unoaked, and earned 91-95 points. Obvio!

The most popular High Road white wine from the TASTE! Fundraiser. This is a true family business, Christophe runs the winery with his wife and six kids (five too many!)  The wine is 100% Viognier. It is very floral as Viognier should be, but 70% of it is oaked, giving it more elegance and body. Suitable for a winter lunch or dinner. Or heck, leftovers even.

Weingut Stadt Krems was founded 560 years ago as a source of revenue for the hospital in Krems and is still owned by the municipality today. This plot on land in Stein borders both regions that produce the best Gruner in the world, Kremstal (this region) and Wachau. We are always careful with Gruner Veltliner, we prefer versions that finish very dry and clean, especially in the summer. It is common to drink this with semi-spicy Asian food but we think that is because this wine is versatile.  You can have this by itself or with just about anything food.

The last time we used this wine was the 2017 vintage.  Here is what we said then….

Imagine a Chardonnay Style scale of 1-10 with California butter bombs (think Rombauer) as the 10 and Chablis (think drinking a glass of rocks) as the 1. We are going to place this wine at 3. It has more of a medium body to go along with the acidity (pucker) and flinty-ness that you get from Chablis. It is an impressive white perfect for a high end lunch or a dinner outside.

Most of the time when we give you Malbec from Cahors (France) or Mendoza (Argentina) it is a big, juicy, tannic, ageable wine with a backdrop of earthiness that you get from those regions. This one is more approachable. Still from Cahors, the birthplace of Malbec, this third-generation winemaker has a more modern approach and produces a polished, wintery red that California wine drinkers will love. 93 Points from Wine Enthusiast 

Sometimes we worry about using Inama wines too often… but then we taste another one that we know you will like. Monte Foscarino is the volcanic, single vineyard where the Garganega grapes are grown for this Soave. The description mentions “aromas of golden meadow flowers” which we had never heard before, but whatever that means, we like it. This wine is highly regarded with scores from 94-97 points and Wine Enthusiast said you can drink it from now until 2040!! 

We last used this wine in the 2013 vintage. It was our introduction to Alto Adige, a region at the base of the Alps around Germany, Austria, and Italy. Expect two things from Alto Adige – very confusing labels and excellent white wines. If you are curious about the label, Kellereigenossenschaft is a wine cooperative. Weissburgunder is Pinot Blanc (or Pinot Bianco), and Schulthaus refers to an old wine school in the area. Bonus points for reading that aloud. This wine is a classic, clean, delicious high-altitude Italian white wine. 91 points from James Suckling. 

If you’ve been with the Club for a while, you know we love when Paul Hobbs partners with foreign wineries and gets the most out of their potential. Hobbs works with aging, barrels, and blending to get the best vintage of every varietal. Natural wine drinkers (cough) might call him a cheater, but we call him a Winemaker. Yes, we know. It’s a 2021, but it’s the current release and Wine Spectator said you can drink it until 2029. Awarding it 91 points and opined “There's a lush quality to this white's flavors of golden apple, creamed almond and vanilla, yet a spine of vivid acidity and a tangy streak of salinity trim the rich profile effortlessly. Fresh and well-balanced on the palate, with aromatic broom, ground ginger and Meyer lemon peel notes lingering on the finish. Drink now through 2029." Or as we would’ve put it, “That’s so Hobbs!”

Ghaia Nera means “Black Gravel”, and it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that they are referring to the soil at the vineyard, on the edge of a volcano. Fantastic pizza or pasta wine and really interesting by itself. 91-95 points from various raters including James Suckling who asked if this was possibly their best ever vintage.

We know that France identifies their wines by region rather than varietal (For example, Sancerre=Sauvignon Blanc).  This Sancerre Rouge is Pinot Noir. English and American marketers have influenced many wineries in France to start identifying their wine by grape to help with the confusion. “Pinot Noir” is written on the label, but it isn’t as prominently displayed as the marketers would like.  Let’s just say Sarah couldn’t find it on the label, even with her readers. The wine, like the label, is a good blend of French tradition with some American influence. It is a bright, well-rounded, summer Pinot with a little bit of oiliness.

When we were applying for our ABC license we needed to post an application on the front of the house. A neighbor named Clark left a note in our mailbox expressing concerns that we were starting a neighborhood wine business. More accurately, he was concerned he would be left out. He invited me over for a conversation where he served me a fresh, complex wine called Lefkos from a winery I’d never heard of (Cenatiempo), on an island I had never heard of (Ischia) with two grapes I had never heard of (Biancolella, Forastera) and it became the inspiration for the types of wines that we would showcase. This wine is the same varietals as the Lefkos but from a cooler part of the island giving it a brighter feel. If you want to try  the denser, more intense Lefkos, we have some for $38. Shoutout to Club member Clark!

Collio DOC is located in Friuli, on the border of Italy and Slovenia. We have used plenty of white wines from that region, but this may be our first red. In Collio, they generally grow French Varietals and in the summer we prefer Cab Franc to Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot. It has the seriousness, earth, and tobacco of a French wine, but with the medium tannins that you will appreciate in the summer. It’s tastes exactly what it is, a French Grape in Italian soil.

Vignoble Edmond Latour is the estate. Gigondas is the region in Southern France that neighbors Chateauneuf du Pape and Vacqueyras. The area produces the most classic GSM (Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre) blends in the world. Let it breathe and enjoy it with some red meat, something heavy, or by itself.

Traditionally we would recommend a Gamay or Pinot Noir for your Thanksgiving table, so this year we are bringing you both. There is a region in Burgundy called Passetoutgrains where they blend the two grapes, BUT this one is from California. The High Country Red is a blend of almost equal amounts of the two varietals and is from the Sonoma Coast. America!

You know the story…. grape is almost extinct, someone brings it back, you haven’t heard of it, it’s delicious, blah blah. But oops, we did it again. Schioppettino (skee-yope-eh-tee-no – repeat) is a great peppery summer red otherwise known as Ribolla Nera (event though it is genetically unrelated to Ribolla Gialla.)

Our High Road Reds tend to be French and Italian, but this Super Tuscan meets you in the middle. It is a classic Bordeaux blend (Cab, Merlot, Cab Franc, and Petit Verdot), but distinctly Italian in flavor.

If you haven’t heard of Nero di Troia, maybe it’s because the grape was known as Uva di Troia (Grape of Troia) until recently. And if you haven’t heard of Uva di Troia, maybe it’s because it was a low-yielding grape that was all but forgotten, even in Puglia. There are plenty of Low Road versions of the grape, but this Riserva is the real deal. It’s oaked and aged to calm the tannins. Surprisingly, it only comes out at only 13.5% ABV.  91-92 Points. This will be on our table for Thanksgiving dinner. Gobble, gobble.

SRWC loves Rioja and this one is not much of a “find.” R. Lopez de Heredia was one of the first three Rioja Houses and has been around for 150 years. Their signature wine is the Vina Tondonia and we tasted that side-by-side with another one of their vineyards, Vina Bosconia. This was our preference. Surprise! Big wine, 93-96 points, this is the current vintage. So, don’t be afraid of the age. If 2007 was a big year for you, this is the kind of wine you can buy now and drink forever to celebrate anniversaries or birthdays.

Meet this classic Pinot Noir from the premier Pinot Noir region in the world made by a family that has been doing it here since the 1800s. Critics of Burgundy will say that it is overpriced and overrated. But they also say it’s delicious.

An allocated wine is one that is in high demand, with limited quantity that the winery or importer dolls out sparingly, usually to reward loyalty. And boom! We got some. Alain Graillot is the maker, who over the past 30 years has been consistently lauded for high-quality Syrah from the region. 91-93 points. Our allocation is only 12 bottles for (and we already drank one.)