We are most delighted to announce the arrival of the 2016 La garagista Loups~Garoux. A stunning Vermont red wine by our friends Deirde Heekin & crew over in Barnard we again are able to loving share with you.
From the bottle:
La garagista: n. one who makes wine in a garage; one who works in a garage; one who uses all parts of a garage.
Loups~Garoux
Vermont Rouge = Red Wine
Loups~Garoux is the French name for mythical wolf creatures that are not cursed, but blessed. One is born a Loup-Garou and can turn at will. They are elegant, dark wolves to behold and remind us of other mythical creatures like those in the legends of the Black Wolves of the Chateauguay, the wild alpine terrain that defines our homefarm and vineyard landscapes. Loups~Garoux speak of the woodland and are mercurial in nature. Hand-harvested and unfiltered, this red wine hails from our alpine vineyard in Vermont on the edge of a lake, grown among wild purple aster and white fleabane.
What if drinking wine made the world a better place?
Proud Pour just gave your Happy Hour a major upgrade.
We pair wines with solutions to local environmental problems. Our Mendocino County Sauvignon Blanc restores 100 wild oysters per bottle, and our Oregon Pinot Noir plants 90 sq ft of bee habitat per bottle. Every time you enjoy Proud Pour wine, you get to sit back, relax, and know you are making a difference.
Pinot Noir
This beautifully balanced 2015 Oregon Pinot Noir is helping our 3,600 native bee species across the U.S. Every bottle replants bee habitat and wildflowers on local farms, which benefits both native bees and honeybees, the local ecosystem, and farmers! Enjoy this sustainably-grown and vegan wine, knowing you’re nourishing these little pollinators, who in turn nourish plants all around us.
Tasting Notes
Proud Pour’s Pinot Noir is a balanced wine with supple tannins, earthy tones, and rich notes of red plum, rhubarb, and vanilla.
Ageability
This wine is ready to drink now and should drink well through the end of 2019.
Food Pairing
The wine is nicely-balanced and so pairs well with many foods. Try it with a roast chicken or pork chop!
Sauvignon Blanc
Every bottle of our Mendocino County Sauvignon Blanc restores 100 oysters back to the wild! Oyster reefs are a critical ecosystem and also help clean our oceans. A single oyster filters about 30 gallons of water daily. And by the way, eating oysters is good for the planet because you’re almost always eating farmed oysters, which are completely sustainable. Enjoy this sustainably-grown wine’s crisp notes of citrus, well-balanced acidity, and clean finish, knowing you’re making our oceans healthier.
Tasting Notes
Proud Pour’s Sauvignon Blanc is a bright, refreshing wine with a rich bouquet of flavors. Hints of tropical fruit transition onto the palate, followed by layers of citrus and melon. Vibrant acids finish smoothly, accompanied by a pleasant minerality. This wine’s consistent profile and balanced finish are sure to please any oyster-lover.
Ageability
This wine is ready to drink now and should drink well through the end of 2019.
Food Pairing
Enjoy this wine with your locally-farmed oysters, clams, mussels, sea scallops, or periwinkles! Or simply on its own for a relaxing evening!
We are delighted to highlight a couple of Italian wines from the island of Sardinia we’ve enjoyed for years… Sella & Mosca Cannonau and La Cala Vermentino.
In addition to being delicious, the crowd friendly Sella & Mosca Cannonau and Vermentino wines are also very wallet friendly, both clocking in at under $15 a bottle.
The next time you need an easy drinking bottle of wine but want something different, snag a bottle of Sella & Mosca Cannonau and/or La Cala Vermentino and wash your palate to the Mediterranean.
Sella & Mosca | Cannonau di Sardegna Riserva DOC | Red | 14% ABV | $13.99/750ml
Sella & Mosca | La Cala | Vermentino di Sardegna DOC | White | $13% ABV $10.99/750ml
(Italian images above, and descriptors below, courtesy of sellaemosca.com)
Cannonau di Sardegna Riserva DOC –
Cannonau grapes are the very symbol of Sardinia and grow well on the Sella&Mosca estate, where the vineyards are exposed to the north-easterly winds. It is a proud, generous wine, which matures during ageing in centuries-old oak barrels, developing a complex, elegant nose. The warm, dry palate is nicely balanced with slight hints of plums and oak. It goes well with all red meat dishes and is excellent with game.
VARIETY: Cannonau, Sardinia‘s best-known red variety, as proud and wild as inland Sardinians themselves. The grape is known in France as Grenache and in Spain as Alicante.
PRODUCTION AREA: The Cannonau vine thrives both on the warm, sandy soils of the Sardinian coastline and on the harsh, rocky terrain of the island’s mountainous interior. At Sella&Mosca, Cannonau is grown in the southeastern part of the estate, where it is exposed to the Grecale wind.
HARVEST PERIOD: The grapes are picked in late autumn when the berries are just starting to dry.
WINEMAKING: The crushed and destemmed grapes are given lowtemperature skin contact for at least three days, allowing the extraction of colour compounds and tannins that will enable the wine to age unhurriedly in time-hallowed oak casks. Temperature-controlled fermentation at 25-28°C takes about 12 days.
APPEARANCE: The initial ruby red gradually shades into warmer, less intense shades as the wine ages.
NOSE: The faintly tousled woodland fragrances of the wine’s first year mature with ageing into a complex, elegant bouquet proffering distinct whiffs of violets that fuse well with the tertiary notes of spiciness contributed by cask conditioning.
PALATE: Warm, dried and beautifully poised, with a restrained background note of plums and an aristocratic hint of oak.
AGEING: For two years in traditional casks of Slavonian oak stored in temperature-controlled cellars with no direct sources of light. A further period of bottle ageing completes the wine‘s maturation process.
FOOD MATCHINGS: Beautifully complements any red meat dish and makes a perfect partner for game.
Vermentino di Sardegna DOC –
Vermentino, which has acclimatised well throughout Sardinia, is grown in the north-eastern corner of the Sella&Mosca estate, on ancient alluvial soil. Its very concentrated nose shows great complexity that focuses on the variety’s aromatic typicity. The palate has firm structure, with taut flickers of marine salinity backed by fruity notes in the soft finish. The “offspring” of the north-westerly wind, it has a natural vocation as an accompaniment to seafood.
VARIETY: A Mediterranean variety, probably from Spain, known in the south of France as Malvoisie Gros Grain. Vermentino spread along the coasts of the northern Tyrrhenian Sea and subsequently established itself in Sardinia.
PRODUCTION AREA: Alghero, Tenute Sella&Mosca, vineyards in the north-east quadrant on long-established alluvial soil.
HARVEST PERIOD: First and second ten days of September.
WINEMAKING: The crushed and destemmed grapes undergo brief low-temperature skin contact. The must obtained by light pressing is clarified and then fermented at strictly controlled low temperatures.
APPEARANCE: Very pale straw with persistent lemony-green highlights.
NOSE: Very intense, steadily unfolding all the complex aromatics characteristic of the variety. Careful analysis of the sensory perceptions reveals evidence of the Mediterranean growing environment and scrupulous fermentation.
PALATE: Notes of sea salt vein the structure, enhancing fruit, apparent on entry, that lingers on the soft, leisurely finish.
FOOD MATCHINGS: A “child of the Maestrale wind”, La Cala is at its inimitable best in the company of seafood of all kinds on very special occasions.
We most delighted to announce TWO La gargagista wine releases today! Get yours while you can because in addition to being uber scrumptious… they are of limited supply and high demand.
~ House Music | Homefarm Field Blend – Petillant Naturel Sparkling Wine | 11.5% alc./vol. | $33.99/750ml
From the gorgeous bottles our friends sent over…
ReMix | Petillant Naturel – White Sparkling Wine
B-SIDE | ft. m.guillot & d.heekin
ReMix is a sparkling tine born of a deep friendship between two families from two countries. For a long time now Domaine Guillot~Broux and La garagista at Domaine de la Forêt have been looking for ways to collaborate, ever since a French vigneron and his family came to Vermont for a summer holiday for the trout fishing and the fresh green countryside and met a burgeoning American vigneron{ne} and her chef husband, and that vigneron{ne} and chef traveled to southern Burgundy to learn the mysteries and art of pruning. Finally, through happy accidents and the threads of the Fates, this bottle was born, a conversation in amity and landscape; an ongoing dialogue in wine. – Deirde Heekin & Caleb Barber
~ ~ ~
House Music | Homefarm Field Blend Petillant Naturel
vin de jardin
“This is a journey into sounds, a journey that along the way will bring you new color, new dimensions, new values.”
Eric B. + Rakim, Paid in Full
House Music is a slightly sparkling wine for the wild alpine terrain that defines our homefarm and vineyard landscape, and speaks to the flora and fauna that we grow here, a love letter to our untamed country. Made in the ancestral method with a first fermentation in bottles, hand-harvested and unfiltered, this vin de jardin is grown in our garden, surrounded by roses and apple trees, parsnips and wile chicory. – Deirde Heekin & Caleb Barber
Our locally owned, independent store is stocked with wonderful beverages to make your celebration sparkly and bright! From amazing deals on traditional and non-traditional bubbly to beer brewed with Champagne & Caviar, plus information about Grisette (Peoples Champagne!) explore our super handy guide below!
Special Holiday Hours:
12/31 – Sunday – New Year’s Eve – 10AM to 10PM
01/01 – Monday – New Year’s Day – Closed for inventory
Redemption Center CLOSED 12/31 & 01/01
We have DOZENS of sparkling wines in stock, here are a handful of our go-to’s:
NYE Beer! Saison, Geuze, beer with Champagne & Caviar, Grisette… Champagne for the people:
> Mikkeller & Boon | Oude Geuze | $21.99/750ml | 100% Boon Lambic, blend of 1-3 years, matured in Calvados oak foeders.
> Bruery | Terreux Beret | $15.49/750ml | Imperial wit ale brewed with raspberries, oak foeder aged.
> Cascade | Vitis Noble | $20.99/750ml | Blend of blond and tart wheat ales, French oak barrel aged with Chardonnay grapes.
> Oxbow | Sasuga Saison | $15.49/500ml | Stainless steel tank aged farmhouse ale brewed with rice and fermented with brettanomyces.
> Unibroue | La Résolution | $10.99/750ml | Strong, dark, Québec beer brewed for your résolution!
> To Øl | YOLOmælk | $11.24/500ml | Imperial stout brewed with Caviar & Champagne yeast!
> Green Bench | les Grisettes | $6.99/500ml | Grisette beer is known as ‘Champagne for the people’ due it’s bright approachability and robust effervescence that causes the cap to produce an audible ‘POP’! Refreshing, crisp, and bubbly… Grisette is the perfect beer to ring in the New Year!
We are most delighted to introduce Meinklang Konkret Weiss (White) & Meinklang Konkret Rot (Red) to our ever growing natural/native wine section.
Our natural/native wine section is an abundant playground of unique and delicious wine, consisting of:
> Natural Wine – Any wine (red, white, rosé, orange, sparkling, etc.) made with minimal human and mechanical intervention, native yeast, hand harvested, and as un-fooled around with as possible.
> Orange Wine – Extended skin contact white wine resulting in a more complex, fuller bodied, increasingly interesting white wine with a darker hue (almost orange).
> Pétillant Naturel / Pét-Nat Wine – Natural sparkling wine made without adding sugar or yeast to achieve bubbles, often using méthode ancestrale.
The winemakers at Meinklang have mastered the art of gently guiding their grapes and terroir into making incredible wine. Instead of the winemakers muffling the voice of grapes and terroir, they naturally coax the wine into producing a symphony for all your senses.
Meinklang wines grace many of the finest Vermont wine lists for good reason – they are craveable and responsibly crafted. Vermont definitely has an affinity for our European alpine cousins and these wines will only become more popular as more people drink Meinklang, expand their palate, and enjoy natural expressions of wine.
Meinklang Konkret Rot | Natural red wine | $31.99
Meinklang Konkret Weiss | Natural red wine | $31.99
Konkret Rot / Red
Region: Austria>Burgenland>Neusiedlersee
Soil profile: Sandy loam soils. This site’s soils are locally also described as cool soils.
Character: deep, elegant, subtle
Grape varieties: 90% Sankt Laurent, 10% Blaufränkisch
Food pairings: Roasted beetroot with walnut sour
cream and chard salad
Alcohol: 13.5%vol
Filtration: unfiltered
Additives: none (vegan)
Certified: Demeter & Austria Bio Garantie
Konkret Weiss / White
Region: Austria>Burgenland>Neusiedlersee
Soil profile: Sandy loam soils. This site’s soils are locally also
described as cool soils.
Character: deep, elegant, subtle
Grape varieties: Field blend of Red, Yellow, & Gewürztraminer
Skin contact: 21 days
Food pairings: Confit monkfish in orange oil served with chorizo sauce, sweet peppers and a lemon and black pepper risotto
Alcohol: 12.5%vol
Filtration: unfiltered
Additives: none (vegan)
Certified: Demeter & Austria Bio Garantie
We could say so much about Meinklang, we suggest you grab a bottle, pour yourself a glass, and spend some time exploring their website to learn about their concrete shaped eggs, family and farm, biodynamic and vegan friendly practices, Demeter certification, and so much more!
Below is a sample of what you’ll find on their site:
Q: Why do some of your wines and juices contain small crystals at the bottom of the bottles? A: These are tartrate crystals which form from the wine’s acid and settle in the bottom of the bottle. They can be small individual crystals or larger clusters. Tartrate crystals are a sign of natural maturation, since the grape juice is not stabilised chemically with metatartaric acid or physically by being cooled down to a very low temperature. That is why we actually consider these completely harmless tartrate crystals a sign of quality.
Q: Are your wines vegan-friendly? A: Absolutely! Insofar as possible, we make our wines without using additives and we also completely avoid fining agents derived from animal products such as egg white, fish bladder or gelatine. Firstly, that is because we value the wine’s natural character and believe that animal products have no place in wine. Secondly, these substances often stem from the waste of intensive animal farming, which we do not wish to support at all.
Q: Why are some of your wines orange in color? A: This is because we leave our white wines to macerate on the skins during fermentation, i.e. the wine is fermented together with the grape skins, just like a red wine would be. This is the most traditional method of white wine making, which helps the wine to remain stable without additives. Since we also add very little sulphur, if any at all, the wine takes on a slightly deeper colour. These traditional and natural wines offer a completely new spectrum of aromas and therefore make wonderfully complex food wines.
From the bottle:
