LOW ROAD WHITE

2015 Volker Eisele Gemini $15.80

Gemini is a blend of Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc and it is delish.  If you like it – you will – visit their historic winery in St Helena. If you are ever annoyed that you need to enter a password on SantaRayWine.com, this is the reason why.  Wineries will give big discounts to restaurants that will pour their wine by the glass because they consider that sustained promotion of the winery. Santa Ray Restaurant has a nice ring to it, shh. The winery is selling it for $28, you get it for less than $16. The bottle and the wine are impressive too, which would make it a great gift.

2015 Roccolo Grassi La Broia Soave $18.13

Recommended by winemaker friend Tony, this is a wine that he buys every year blind.  We have been trying to fit it into the Club for a couple years now and we are glad that we waited. The 2015 is the best we’ve had. Like most good Soave, this is 100% Garganega with some in Slavonian Oak barrels and some in stainless steel.  It’s light but flavorful. Drink it early in the night or with a meal. It is worth paying attention to.

LOW ROAD RED

HIGH ROAD WHITE

HIGH ROAD RED

2014 Domaine de Bila-Haut L’Esquerda $16.85

Michel Chapoutier has been a winemaking legend in the Rhone since the 1980s.  He was the first winemaker to include braille on his labels in the mid-90s, and still does.  This wine, Syrah and Grenache, comes from one of his projects in the Languedoc-Roussillon region and is being rated between 93 and 95 points.  Priced elsewhere at $25, we tacked it onto a bigger order to get this extreme discount (school crab feed – thanks school!) Let it breathe, have it with a meal.

2015 L’Orangerie de Carignan Bordeaux $12

Don’t be confused, Carignan is a grape. Buuuut in this case it is just the name of the Chateau in the St. Emilion part of Bordeaux. Grapes are primarily Merlot, with a little bit of Cab and Cab Franc.  It’s not the best Bordeaux in the world (you can’t afford that one,) but we think it’s the best $12 version.  Don’t overthink it. Enjoy.

2017 Leirana Albariño $26.25

Our High Road Whites tend to be French and Italian, but we specifically asked our reps for the best they had from Spain and we are glad we did! This Albariño is something special.  Red-only Club Member Laura came by the house while we were tasting and not only ordered a case on the spot, but also opened up her membership to include white wines. For real. The refrigerator is a little too cold for this wine, let it warm a bit to taste its complexity.

2016 Kurtatsch Alto Adige Sauvignon ‘Kofl’ $24.37

 Alto Adige (Ah-dee-jay) is a white wine growing region on the mountain slopes of the Austria/Italy border.   The town, as well as the 100+ year old winery is named Kurtatsch or Cortaccia in Italian.  It’s confusing. (Kinda like no vowel on your Italian last name. Because, Austria.) Since Sauvignon Blanc is grown all over the world, its uniqueness is from the flavor of each region.  This is a fave.

2017 Côte WEST Grenache Dry Creek Valley $22.25

We hella heart Oakland. Our Oakland wine search has left us, ahem, somewhat disappointed. Most are over-ripe, over-priced, and frequently over-oxidized (thanks to the natural wine trend, that statement is no longer redundant. Sarah just gagged.)  Cote West is a breath of fresh air.  The family lives in Rockridge and just moved their winery from San Francisco to Oakland.  They are committed to sourcing California grapes and making great wines in the Burgundian Style (think lower alcohol, less purple teeth.)  Enjoy this lightly-colored, perfectly-peppered Grenache for the same price that THEIR Club Members pay. They skipped the 2018 vintage for Grenache, so it will be a couple years before we can have this again.  Yep, the other wines are good too, you should visit. Reorders expected.

2012 Antichi Vinai Etna Rosso Riserva 'Koine' $31.25

For nearly 150 years, four generations of the Gangemi family have farmed the unique soil on what is currently the most active volcano in Europe. This Riserva is a blend of grapes from the highest elevation vineyards on Mount Etna, Sicily. Volcanic soil + island air + 18 months in chestnut and oak barrels = Perfection for drinking now.