Month: March 2018

Shamrock Selections is a monthly subscription service that brings you the best wines from around the world. Each month’s selection is carefully chosen by sommelier Keegan Sparks and his team. He keeps a keen eye out for wines that are unique, rare, and new to our market. Shamrock Selections is ideal for enthusiasts and explorers who delight in finding hidden gems and trying new, exclusive vintages. Each month, you can join us on a journey of sampling and learning about some of the greatest wines in the world. Each selection of wine comes with detailed tasting notes and food pairing suggestions from our team.

By now, you’re no stranger to my monthly stories of how Keegan and I try to plan these wines months in advance only to have the plans almost always fall apart. Well, this month, I’m happy to say that we’re finally able to give to a wine that we’d hoped to have in your January allotment: Dow Late Bottled Vintage Port.

Better late than never, right? That really is the case with this wine, as Port, especially this one, is such a fascinating category. Port wine is the traditional fortified wine of Portugal.

Though there are several different grape varieties used for Port, they are typically all harvested, crushed, and fermented together in the same vats. In Portugal these vats are called lagers and are large, shallow, open-top granite basins. Over the course of several days, the grapes are crushed in the lagers and are eventually transferred to tanks to ferment. Unlike other wines, Port doesn’t undergo a complete fermentation. Once the wine reaches an ideal sugar level, brandy is added to stop the fermentation process in its tracks.

Late Bottled Vintage Port is, as you might have guessed, a wine that comes entirely from a single vintage (2011, in this case). The “Late Bottled” aspect of the wine comes from the fact that the wines is left to age in barrel for 4-6 years as opposed to vintage port which is aged in wood for only 2.

2011 has come to be recognized as one of the top Port vintages in recent years, with some even naming it one of the top five vintages in the last century. In fact, Dow’s 2011 vintage Port was named the number one wine in the world by Wine Spectator magazine when it was released in 2014.

For those of you who have yet to try Port, I think you’re starting off on the right foot with this one. When I tasted it I was surprised by its complexity, managing to be both dark and intense, yet also somehow spacious and bright. There are, of course, notes of red fruit and tannins here, but I was caught off guard by flavors of spiced persimmons and fresh chocolate shavings.

It’s a striking wine, and I almost want to call it “elegant,” though I’m afraid that might connote that this is in any way a light bodied wine. Instead, I’d call it “regal,” much like a queen on her throne, bathed in opulence. Chocolate desserts and bleu cheese are the classic pairings and you’ll see why with this wine. I’d also recommend trying it with a dessert like almond torte or white chocolate cheesecake. Though I have no proof of this, something deep inside me wants to try this with Mexican mole sauce. It’s a pairing that seems so right and so wrong at the same time. I’ll let you know once I’ve come to a decision.

Unlike vintage ports, this LBV is ready to drink now and should be consumed within about 2 week. After opening, store it in your refrigerator to extend the drinking window.

Granted, Spring is still a few days away, but it’s definitely what Keegan and I had in mind when we found this chardonnay. This isn’t the racy, light wine for a stifling summer heat, but instead a chardonnay with enough weight and body to stand up to those Spring days that still require a heavy jacket.

Screen Door Cellars has been a favorite of ours for a few years now, and you might be familiar with their exceptional Russian River Valley pinot noir or rosé of pinot noir, both of which we carry.
The passion project of Bobby and Shannon Donnell, Screen Door Cellars was founded in 2012 with 100 cases of pinot coming from their first vintage. Since then production increases have seen the addition of single vineyard pinots as well as, in 2015, their first ever vintage of Chardonnay.

The ASERN vineyard was bought by Shannon’s parents in 2013 who named it after their grandchildren (Alex, Savannah, Emma, Robert and Norah). Located in the Green Valley of the Russian River Valley, it was planted with Spring Mountain clone chardonnay in 1991. The Green Valley of the Russian River is a sub-American Viticultural Area (AVA) of the Russian River Valley, meaning that it’s located completely within the legal boundaries of the Russian River Valley AVA. It’s widely known to be the region of the valley that receives the coldest temperatures, making it ideal for chardonnay, pinot noir, and especially sparkling wine (For those of you familiar with the locale, sparkling wine producer Iron Horse Vineyards is just down the road).

On first whif, you’ll notice that this isn’t your grandma’s chardonnay. While it’s no butter bomb, it’s not the lean and minerally chardonnay of Chablis either. Instead, it has a style that’s entirely it’s own. The fruit notes skew yellow and golden – think yellow apple skins, overripe pears, quince, and pineapple gummy bears (you know, those clear Haribo ones). But it’s the non-fruit notes that I find so fascinating. This chardonnay is downright spicy. Cardamom, baked clove, cinnamon, and nutmeg, even a little fresh vanilla pod. It’s both humble and ferocious. A real Reba McEntire of a wine (especially in the music video for “Fancy”). Naturally, I’m completely obsessed with it.

As for pairings, this wine is a diva so it’ll need something strong to keep up with it. I’m thinking lobster in vanilla and butter sauce, or maybe a nice pasta primavera, now that our gardens are starting to look a little greener. I think you could also do a chicken in a roasted mushroom sauce that would just kill at the dinner table. Either way, I’ll be accepting your dinner invitations regardless of what’s on the menu.

Want to join Shamrock Selections? There’s still time to subscribe in order to get next month’s selections. Use the link below to subscribe!

Shamrock Selections is a monthly subscription service that brings you the best wines from around the world. Each month’s selection is carefully chosen by sommelier Keegan Sparks and his team. He keeps a keen eye out for wines that are unique, rare, and new to our market. Shamrock Selections is ideal for enthusiasts and explorers who delight in finding hidden gems and trying new, exclusive vintages. Each month, you can join us on a journey of sampling and learning about some of the greatest wines in the world. Each selection of wine comes with detailed tasting notes and food pairing suggestions from our team.

For Keegan and me, February is a fun time of the year. This is due, in large part, to the fact that our birthdays are just a few days apart and we use them as an excuse to drink as much as we can of the best wines we can find. It’s in that spirit that we settled on this month’s wines. As much time as we spend thinking about what you might like, this month we just asked ourselves what we’d like to drink. I hope you’ll forgive our selfishness, but I think you’ll be happy with the results.

I have to admit that South America is something of a black hole for me in terms of wine. Sure, I know the basics, but out of all of the wine-growing regions of the world, I seem to drink from South America the least. Back in January, I told myself that 2018 was going to be my year of drinking Italian, but I think I’m also going to make it my year of drinking South American.

When most people think of South America, they think of malbec, a grape that earned a reputation as the wine you pick up when you want something good but don’t want to spend a bunch of money. And, to be honest, that’s a pretty fair assessment of a lot of the malbec we carry. But what do you get when you reach beyond that? That’s what we wanted to know.

Malbec originated in southwestern France, where it often went by the name of côt. It never quite caught on with winemakers there, but in the 1860’s, the mayor of Mendoza, Argentina ordered a botanist to plant a few vines in the city park. Today, Argentina now produces over 75% of the world’s output of malbec.

Malbec is known for its color, and this wine is no different. It’s dark, inky purple in the glass with a hint of the magenta rim that young malbec is known for. When you see malbec blended into a wine it’s most often to add a bit of color. You’ll notice that as you swirl, it might briefly stain the bowl of your glass.

Hailing from the Lujan de Cuyo region, slightly south of Mendoza proper, the Bramare is something of a tempest trapped in a bottle. Malbec is rich and full of flavor. When I tasted this, I got caught up notes of cocoa powder, molasses, black pepper, and tobacco. These were all lofted by the strong presence of fruit on the palate: black cherry, plum, blackberry, and a tell-tale sign of malbec for me, blueberry.

For those nights when February bites back and the temperature doesn’t get above 40º, I’d pair this with any hearty meal. I’m a big fan of soups and stews in the winter and this is a perfect match. It would easily go well with steak or lamb, or strong cheeses such as blue cheese or provolone.

As much as I love February (I’m always up for a party, especially one that celebrates me), doesn’t it feel like the entire month is spent waiting for March to get here? I feel like I’ve spent most of the month looking out the window waiting for the clouds to part and the sun to shine. Eventually, it must, and when it does, this is the wine I’ll be opening.

From France to California and everywhere in-between, I’m not sure there’s a better gape for making rosé than Grenache. Supple and bright with striking acidity, it seems to always produce a wine that walks the fine line of being both easily quaffable and complex enough to hold my attention. This, of course, is no exception.

We’ve been big fans of Lightning since they were first brought into the state early last year, and we shared their CdP blanc with you as a part of your May 2017 selections. Lightning was founded by husband and wife team Randy and Brooke Hester. Randy was formerly the winemaker for Cakebread Cellars among several other notable Napa properties, but he founded Lightning with the intention of making wines in the style of France’s southern Rhône valley.

While Randy’s goal was to mimic the wines of the Rhône, this is a far cry from the light, salmon pink wines of southern France. This is a top-down-on-the-car kind of rosé, the kind of wine that requires letting your hair down and turning the volume up. It may be February outside, but you’ll at least have Malibu in June in your glass.

There’s an aroma of strawberry and raspberry candy on the nose, just enough to trick you into thinking the wine isn’t as bone dry as it is. On the palate, there’s an immediate splash of fruit: strawberry, peach, kiwi, blood orange, and rhubarb. It’s all as if you were walking through an orchard just as the fruit was starting to ripen. There’s a lot going on with this wine which is what makes it perfect for something a little more substantial, pairing-wise. Try it with BLT sandwich – there’s a savory minerality to the finish that will be perfect when put against the bacon fat. You could also try it with something a little spicy like a curry or pad thai.

Want to join Shamrock Selections? There’s still time to subscribe in order to get next month’s selections. Use the link below to subscribe!