Wine Club

Reserve de Marandes 2022 IGP pays d’OC

Grape Varietal: 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 50% Merlot
Origin: IGP pays d’OC (pronounced Ock)

The Réserve de Marande is a seductive and generous wine. We tasted this Cab Merlot and knew we had a spot for it in the cellar, it was so good! Turns out, that spot is where we house our featured Wine of the Month and Marandes captured the crown quite handily with its easy drinking style, incredible value and overall quality-- this is the real deal!

This Bordeaux blend completely overdelivers with floral and fruit aromas that draw you in. The rich, dark fruit flavors and silky tannins cascading across the palate are so pleasing. The finish is surprisingly long and the freshness beckons you back for more.

Some of the greatest values come from the south of France where the Languedon-Roussillon region benefits from the Mediterranean climate. With its coastline bordering the area on the South, it brings hot and dry summers after the rainy winters, favoring a perfect maturity of the grapes. Its proximity to the mountains helps reduce the overnight temperature keeping the grapes fresh and packed with fruity aromas.

The Réserve de Marande wines have been crafted by Philippe Lebrun, a key figure who has participated in the renewed success of Southern French wines. He studied winemaking and oenology in the heart of the Burgundy wine region, where he learned the importance of the terroir and its strong influence on the wine.

Bringing his experience and know-how to craft genuine wines, Philippe succeeded in improving quality and taste, thanks to a rigorous selection in the vineyards and a perfect control of the winemaking process. Vintage after vintage, he continuously strives to create tremendous wines, with passion and dedication.

The nose leads with forward fruits, currant, plum and blackberry, while intriguing elements of midnight garden and wood spice meander in the background. The fruits continue on the palate, bright, forward, ripe cherries and berries, while light tannins and gentle acidity keep the wine light on its feet and on our palate.The beautiful finish resolves with a touch of vanilla on top of the mixed berries and cherries, mocha and baking spice. Enjoy on its own or pair with charcuterie, grilled meats, pizza, lasagna, lamb and more!

Fanti 2022 Rosso di Montalcino

Grape Varietal: 100% Sangiovese
Origin: Montalcino, Tuscany, Italy

Tuscany's Fanti estate once again makes it to our Wine of the Month #2 spot, this time with their captivating 2022 Rosso di Montalcino that's styled like an "everyday Brunello." It's a serious wine for the price, showing off Montalcino's powerful style of Sangiovese in spades! The Fanti family has owned their vineyards and olive groves in southeastern Montalcino since the 1800s, and started making their own wine in the 1970s to take their place in the burgeoning Brunello scene. They practice organic farming, and don't over-manipulate their vines or wines, making traditional representations of their land.

Their 2022 Rosso di Montalcino is a brooding wine, just like the Brunellos in this warmer, drier part of Montalcino tend to be, and its delicious character emerges gradually in the glass. Dark and vibrant tones swirl in a wine of bold contrasts. Vinous red-fruited aromas like crushed Marasca cherries and wild strawberries in alcohol, cooling sage/mint, warming blood orange and woodsy balsam, a grounding clay earthiness, and the classic Montalcino accent of floral, sweet-spiced licorice root that saturates the fruit on the finish (a marriage of aromas like Mediterranean lavender & thyme with a subtle oak barrel influence giving light hints of clove, vanilla, and a fragrant smokiness). The full-bodied mouthfeel combines a juicy, suave fruit texture with a rich coating of drying, velvet tannins that ground the finish in crisp fashion, though it leaves you with delicious, warming echoes of those herbal, spiced, floral and vinous fruit flavors. We suggest pouring early to allow this red's beauty to really unfurl in the glass. Best with rich, flavorful dishes like a slow-cooked ragú, roasts, braises, steaks, stews and aged cheeses.

JAMES SUCKLING 94 POINTS - "Vinous and fresh, with a kind of spring style. The nose gives violets, flowers and fresh raspberries enhanced by notes of blood oranges and cinnamon. Supple and silky on the palate, it shows weight, a medium to full body and firm, velvety tannins. It’s still youthful and fragrant, with crisp acidity and a savory, floral finish. Drinkable now, but best from the second half of 2025."

Yannick Pelletier 2021 Rouge

Grape Varietal: Cinsault Grenache Blend
Origin: Saint Chinian, Roussillon, France

Organically Farmed

Yannick Pelletier has been producing wine since 2004 in the small city of Saint Chinian in the countryside of Beziers. This less than 2000 inhabitants’ city is nested in the mountains close to the mediterranean sea.

Yannick Pelletier craft his wine with the utmost respect of the environment, most of the work is done by hand. He uses an extremely small amount of sulfites if any. This bottle must be stored in cold conditions (no long exposure to a temperature beyond 70F).

Very low sulfites added wines like this bottle are not “pop and go” and require a little bit of patience. Opening the bottle at least an hour before drinking it, is highly recommended. Please serve the wine ideally at a temperature of 54/58F. (we could call that a "chillable red" to use a trendy term)

Fresh berries, mix of ripe black fruits and crunchy red fruits, hint of spice (clove, sage..) and gentle fine grains tannins, even better the next day if you were lucky to not finish it the first day.

Domaine Alary 2022 Cairanne L'Estevanas

Grape Varietal: 20% Grenache, 80% Syrah
Origin: Cairanne, Southern Rhone

A recent trip to France brought an exciting new discovery. A visit with Domaine Alary was an eye opener and we found these wines from the exceptional 2022 vintage to be compelling and amongst the greatest values in the Rhone Valley.

These wines have somehow flown slightly under the radar, but the critics have been noticing. The Wine Advocate's Joe Czerwinski is an unabashed fan. The Cairanne L'Estevenas received a score of 94-96 Points with Joe noting its, "stunning aromas" and, "full-bodied, lush and creamy palate." This Syrah dominant blend shows concentrated dark fruits and an attractive savory component.

This beauty showcases the quality attainable from the village of Carainne located just north of Chateauneuf du Pape. Our customers have rightly embraced the quality from this area or Cru of the Southern Rhone.

Jean-Etienne Alary is the 11th generation of this family owned domaine and has taken over the wine-making under the watchful eye of his father, Denis. Jean Etienne has focused on maintaining the freshness of the wines. The mixture of rich, pure fruit coupled with fantastic drinkability has us reaching for another glass.

If you're looking for full-bodied wine that is laden with lush fruits and that unmistakable Rhone character, this wine will be right up your alley. Don't miss these fantastic, crowd-pleasing values!

WINE ADVOCATE 94 - 96 POINTS - "When seen last summer, the 2022 Cairanne L'Estevenas looked like it would be a blend of 80% Syrah (planted in 1961) and 20% Grenache. It features stunning aromas of licorice, blueberries and blackberries. Full-bodied, creamy and lush on the palate, it finishes long and silky, with hints of black olive lending a welcome savory edge."

Bonhomme 2023 Aligote

Grape Varietal: 100% Aligote
Origin: Touraine, Loire, France

Biodynamically Farmed

Pierre-Olivier Bonhomme is part of that new wave of natural wine producers in the Loire region.

He worked with the Puzelat brothers and then started his own project. The estate produces wines from most of the famous local grape varieties, Chenin Blanc, Gamay, Pineau d’Aunis, Sauvignon Blanc etc. following organic and biodynamic practices.

Today’s bottle is made out of Aligoté, a grape variety mostly planted in Burgundy as you might know.

It is unusual to find such a bottling in the Loire region and the result is quite fantastic. Where Burgundy Aligotes are chalky, high acidity, very vibrant and fresh, this Loire version is a storm of decadent tropical fruit, pineapple, guava, mango, papaya, balanced by a coating acidity and a stunning length for a wine at that price.

This would be delicious with a green mango salad or Indian rice.

A very minimal amount of sulfite was used during the making of this wine. Please store below 70F and I recommend to open the wine one hour before drinking.

Produttori du Manduria 2023 uni

Grape Varietal: Fiano
Origin: Puglia, Italy

This Fiano comes from the Mediterranean Salento peninsula of Puglia. It's medium-bodied, with a blossomy top note, a generous, fresh apple/pear mid-palate and rounded, suave mouthfeel. It's driven through by the variety's steely beam of acidity, though, giving a clean & mouthwatering finish. Impressive for the price! Perfect for yellowtail belly and sea urchin, seafood risotto, grilled sea bass with herbs, vitello tonnato, porkloin with apples, or ricotta-stuffed pasta with lemon, butter and sage. Or enjoy as an aperitif with some semi-soft goat or sheep cheeses and pear.

Wine Tip

“Zin” means Sea Urchin in an old Italian dialect. The wine has been renamed to Uni in the US since it could be confused with Zinfandel (obviously a dramatically different wine).