Is it surprising that something different can surprise you? East Hill Bottom Shop 25 Jan

Why do some people come into an event with such “convictions?” We touched on this idea a little last week with “bold” wine statements. Well the answer is that we all come from different starting points. It is not that we are all different, because we are not. We all have differences, but that does not mean that we are different. Deep thoughts, I know, I will let that sink in for a moment.Different perspectives can lead to discovering genius, unless we have stopped looking. So often I hear; “Well I can’t believe that I liked that wine, I don’t usually like….” Fill in the blank with any number of wines. Those people have stopped looking, they have assumed that they have had any and all possible variations of that wine. My response is that there are wines out there that haven’t even been thought of yet, near infinite variations of the wine that you “hate.” I guarantee that you will love one of those variations.Well we had such a wine this evening. Avancia Cuvée de O Godello 2019, from Galicia Spain. It was different, with hints of nectarine, apple, and pear that coated your tongue, yet with a refreshing finish. 100% Godello grape, not a variety that we see often, from a region that isn’t one of the famous wine regions of Spain. Unique, it pleasantly surprised many of the tasters, and overall good. Why should we not expect this Wine of Note to do anything less, unless we have stopped admiring those perspectives?

East Hill Bottle Shop 4 January 2023

Everyone is aware how much the price of just about everything has gone up over the last two years. Yet every now and then you come across a pleasant surprise. The 2018 Farmstead Long Meadow Ranch, Anderson Valley Pinot Noir, from California, was a great surprise. The Pinot Noir grape is hard to grow mostly due to its thin skin. It is finicky and can be susceptible to many kinds of grape diseases. Therefore good Pinot Noirs are usually fairly expensive. To get a “cheap” bottle of Pinot Noir, something less than $40, sometimes involves shortcuts, whether in the vineyard or the barrel. But what if that vineyard has just the right terroir, and the vintner had the right level of skill? The result is a varietally correct Wine of Note, at only $13 a bottle! A nose of spice, light pepper and a mouth of strawberry and light raspberry with no off flavors. Truly a pleasant surprise!

Anna’s Premium Holiday tasting 15 Dec 2022

Well, the folks that run Anna’s Wines & Craft Beers have been telling me about/hyping the wines that they were going to pour tonight since before Thanksgiving. Along with the upscale hors d’oeuves, it had all of the trappings to be a great tasting. Well, it was, thanks to two special wines! Both were Wines of Note. And I am starting with the red first!Austin Hope, 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon. Only out done by his 2019 which was one of the best modern Cabs ever done!!! From Paso Robles California, 2020 is everything you want from a Cabernet Sauvignon; 100% varietal, great deep ripe fruit with balanced tannins. Drink by itself or have with just about any meal, because you will remember the wine, not the meal.Next, wine with bubbles, not bubbles with wine. And pay attention there, that is a big difference. Stradivarius Brut Champagne 2007, made from Chardonnay and Pinot Muenier grapes. A true Champagne, done in the traditional manner (a topic for another post). The result is wine first that hints of bread yeast and mild chestnut. And before you can figure out everything that you just tasted the bubbles come in with perfect harmony! After the first sip the only thing on the mind is “I need to try that again!” Not cheap, but cheaper and much tastier than the majority of the $100+ Champagnes floating around. Cheers to that.

Aragon Wine Tasting 8 Dec 2022

As much as I have had it, I am still not a massive fan of Sparkling Wines, Champagne et. al. A lot of people just love it, mainly for the bubbles. Yet aside from the bubbles, is there anything more to be had for my taste buds? For the bubbles lovers; who cares, it has bubbles. I envy that simplicity. Sadly my palette craves more complexity. So, for a second Sparkling Wine to make our Wine of Note in as many weeks means it must be special!Guidobono Segretevigne Extra Brut Sparkling White, 100% Nebbiolo grapes, from Piedmont Italy comes in with actual flavor once you get past those bubbles. A nose of yellow flowers with a palette of apple cider, crisp, clean, and of course, those bubbles, which enhance the flavor of the actual wine instead of being the beginning middle and end in of itself. Just about anything goes with this because drinking it is its own party! Hope to see you out at next week’s many local wine tastings!

East Hill Bottle Shop 7 Dec 2022

With only a few more wine tastings before the Holidays, our local wine shops are pulling out some good ones to try. We had another tie for our highest classification here at GCW, a Wine of Note, and both were white!A Pinot Blanc by Pierre Sparr from Alsace France, and Fontaleoni Vernaccia di San Gimignano, from Tuscany Italy. Both unique, both liked by the tasters, and both good for different palettes. The Pinot Blanc had lots of peach and nectarine (stone fruit in wine talk), not sweet, balanced minerality and mild acidity made it very easy to drink. Pair with any chicken or white fish, or just drink. The Fontaleoni is made from Vernaccia, a native Italian hill country grape that doesn’t make it out on our tasting scene that often. It is higher in acid, making it more crisp and lively with notes of dry apple. Definitely a food wine. A good match for any Italian meal with Alfredo sauce.

Aragon’s Tasting 1 Dec

Aragon Wine Market, owner Charlotte and Wine Expert Pepper, have created a wine shop with an atmosphere that really is amazing. Great people who will guide you to the right bottle of wine for you, not what a distributor is pushing. That truly is rare.I also very rarely write about more than one wine from a tasting that only has six or less wines to taste; unless we encounter something unique and special, to which our fellow tasters must also agree. So tonight we had two Wines of Note. Jasmine Monet, an Organic Blanc de Blancs from Argentina! And Moric Hausmarke Super Natural from Austria. What?!?Jasmine Monet is a 100% Chardonnay Sparkling wine. Everything agreed that it had just the right amount of bubbles which allowed for light green apple and soft pear, gentle minerality, and then finishing with those bubbles. And it is Certified Organic, from Argentina! This bottle will be part of my New Year. Moric with their, translated, Super Natural House blend, combines 80% Gruner Veltliner and 20% Chardonnay. Finished on oak, this SUPER complex white wine hits the mouth with a crisp tornado of stone fruit, mountain flowers, woody spice, acid and that quintessential petrol mouth feel. Super unique, and excellent with roast chicken or some very good fried rice. Looking for the right bottle of wine? Go local and ask an expert.

Alice’s Wine Tasting 30 Nov

What is special about Alice’s weekly wine tasting is that for only $10 you get to try 6 to 7 very good wines. As a weekly tasting Alice’s manages to put out a higher quality of wine than any of the other weekly tastings, and a few of the monthly tastings. I hope this continues, because it really is impressive.Out of tonight’s tasting line up we had two standouts according to the tasters, a white and a red. Les Grenettes Sauvignon Blanc 2021 and Belle Glos Pinot Noir 2020. Les Grenettes Sauvignon Blanc comes from the heart of the Loire Valley in France, and from one of the best growers of Sauvignon Blanc, in the world! It is un-oaked yet not a citrus bomb. Usually you get one or the other, oaky or citrus. This is light, with mild citrus, and some green apple and pear that is just right. Pinot Noir lovers will know Belle Glos. In the Pinot Noir world it is special; that light red wine that actually has some red fruit flavors, not just bell or black pepper. Hailing from California it is a wine to seek out for Pinot Noir lovers and a great light body red to have. Both, unique and great, have made our Wine of Note list!

So Gourmet Wine Down Wednesday Tasting 23 Nov

It’s hard to say if more people like white wine over red. Some people swear red wine gives them headaches the next day from the ubiquitous and evil sulfites. Go back to read our previous post on Sulfites. Brain burster, most white wines have more sulfites than red wines. Sulfites are not the thing to blame for your wine headache. Anyway, I digress.A lot of people trend towards whites because they feel it to be more approachable (rightly or wrongly). You might be going over to a friend’s house for dinner and don’t know what to grab. Well Left Coast Cellars White Pinot Noir should be near the top of your list. From the Willamette Valley in Oregon this amazingly approachable, easy drinking wine does it’s rounds through our local wine tastings, but for good reason. It has been on our Wine of Note list since the beginning. Found for less than the magical $20, you get refreshingly mild minerality, balanced acidity, and a pleasant finish of stone fruits (fruits with pits, like peaches). In this case stone fruit with some pear.So Gourmet has brought back one of the original Pensacola wine tastings, held every other Wednesday from 5pm to 7ish. It’s free and they always have charcuterie plates that you can order and customize. Sometimes there is an awesome freebie snack (two weeks ago it was melted Swiss Raclette cheese with crackers and fig preserves). As the Pensacola Wine Scene continues to heat up, you have yet another choice to wine down your Wednesday.

Aragon’s monthly “Cru” tasting, 20 Oct

Why are wine tastings fun? Sounds like a silly question, but for me you get to taste stuff that you would probably never get to on your own, and the other folks at the tasting are fun people. Win win for me. So if your schedule doesn’t let you get to the regular tastings around town, try to do one of the monthly tastings, something I have said before, because they are worth it!Aragon has a tasting every Thursday. Five wines to taste for free. Yet on the third Thursday of the month they do a special tasting, a “Cru” tasting. It is $10 but there are 7-8 wines and the wines are of a next higher up quality. There are also some snacks too. So the Cru tasting is a great opportunity to try some of Aragon’s truly different, and unique selections. This Cru tasting gave us something rare, two Red wines tied for the Wine of Note. And the only reason that there were not three is because Daou “Pessimist” 2020 Red Blend was a previous WoN. All the tasters loved all three (tied as a Crowd Favorite), and all three were unique and very good! The two tied for WoN for this evening were Barton & Guestier French Bordeaux 2019, and Emporium Appassimento Rosso 2020 Italian blend. Two very different wines. The Bordeaux was an entry level to that complicated region but would be an outstanding wine to serve with a charcuterie board. Just enough fruit with just enough earthy bite to go with anything on that board! The Italian Appassimento, from the deep southern “heel” of the country is made by letting the grapes dry a little on the vine. Call it a quasi raisin, they are then picked and made into wine. Drink this with any pizza (pizza and wine have a special place in the universe) for a deeper pairing experience. Hope to see you at the next tasting.