Chris’s Holiday Wine Picks
We are so grateful for our in-house somm, Chris and how he has built out our beer and wine section. The newest addition to our offerings is the “Prestige” shelf, where the best of the best is waiting to be picked up for your holiday table. Below are Chris’s recommendations for the best holiday wines from this selection. In his words, “you’re welcome.”
2018 Arnot-Roberts, Trout Gulch Vineyard, Chardonnay. Arnot-Roberts Wines is a small Californian wine project founded by childhood friends, Duncan Arnot Meyers and Nathan Lee Roberts. Together with a small group of fellow trailblazers, they have led the way to help re-define what California wine can be and taste like. The "Trout Gulch Vineyard" is right on the ridge of the Pacific, cooling and misting the vines with ocean spray. Saline and wet rock undertones drive the wine, with crisp apple and green pear fruit, and a citric mineral finish. This is Chablis-level Chardonnay from an excellent cult producer. Highly allocated and rare.
2020 Scarpa, Verduno Pelaverga. Antica Casa Vinicola Scarpa has been producing traditional Piemontese wines since 1854. In 2012 they acquired vineyards in the highly sought after hilltop town of Verduno - population 564. With that vineyard came a small 10-hectare patch of the ancient indigenous grape 'Pelaverga'. This is Scarpa's first bottling of the grape. Translucent, lean, herbal, immediately captivating - this tastes like an elixir that would be drunk out of a goblet in medieval times. Also, highly allocated. Very rare. In addition, we have their 2018 vintage of Nebbiolo D'Alba. If you don't want to wait 15+ years to drink Barolo, and don't want to spend the $$$, this is Nebbiolo that can be enjoyed right away....made by a producer whose 1 & 1/2+ century old prestige is immediately evident.
2015 Chateau D'Aiguilhe, Castillon Cotes de Bordeaux. What winemaking area gets talked about with more prestige than Bordeaux? The world of Bordeaux is ever-changing, though, and some of the best wines for your money are coming from the newly minted "Cotes de Bordeaux" appellations. Expect Pomerol-level power and finesse, but at a fraction of the price. Have a blast and blind-taste your wine dork friends. I bet they'll call a name that costs about 5 times the price retail. 80% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc.
2020 Lamoresca, 'Nerocapitano' Frappato. Nerocapitano is the native name for the grape Frappato, a fruity rare Sicilian grape that evokes flavors of sweet strawberry jam and wild spices. Winemaker Filippo Rizzo and his wife Nancy built their tiny 4-hectare winery from the ground-up, after studying under Italian natural-wine spearhead Frank Cornelissen. They've crafted this heartier Frappato expression with zero sulfites, 100% wildly fermented from 'pied-du-cuve' (kind of like the equivalent of a sourdough starter for a natural winery) lending aromas of wild flowers and bitter herbs. Light-bodied and cheerful, but also deep and complex. A true treat.