Let me curate Thanksgiving for you!
Wow, that was fast! is it already November? I woke up this morning, and realized, it’s time to go for all-out baddassness… I know that’s not a word, and neither is quaaludishness . . . but consider for a moment: you wake up in the morning and proceed to quaaludishly go about your business… meaning: you are so unexcited, so tired, so uninspired, so . . . lugubrious and foggy, you practically ooze out of bed and spill onto the floor. THAT is not how I woke up this morning . . . I woke up with an M80 lit and up my bum! I hopped out of bed, gingerly, as you can imagine! Was this the definition of Badassness? One wakes up in the morning and can barely contain one’s self, as if an explosive has gone off in one’s rectum and inspired, one realizes that it’s all one. . . and brings one to this state, of possessing all of the badassness one could want, bottled up to spill into your glass and down your gullet this coming holiday! BRILLIANT!
Four and Five packs of celebration to mix and match, it’s up to you…The four pack is sparkles a-plenty, funky and staid, light and dark, elegant and expanding perceptions, of what sparkling wine can be! The five pack is the still wine package, to take you on a trip that will add unlimited dimension to the day and to your meal . . . they all will!
Mom and Dad, wishing you the best!
1. Domaine de La Roche Bleue, La Belle en Bulle, Pineau d’Aunis, Rouge Petillant of Pineau d’Aunis Ctx du Loir $32- That’s enough for me right there! The pepper palate, savor and play between earth, sun & sky, all contained in the sprightly bubbles of this PINEAU PEPPER PARTY, I’ll stop right there . . . except to say that, if you fancy something different to go with your turkey(?) or Salmon(?) this might be your bet . . .
2. Schodl, PetNaturel, 40/Gruner, 40/Riesling, 20/Weiburgunder Ostereich Austria, $38- Mathias, Viktoria and Leonhard, brothers and sisters making this wild and lovely blend of perfume and ephemerality! It’s rich, it’s lean, it’s focused and clean, it feels honest and not fettered with gimmickery. I tasted with my friend, Roland, this week and was loving this bottle of live-wire wine. It is at once, light on the palate, and so pretty on the nose, with the riesling. The bubbles bely the fact that underneath, is a substantial palate hidden behind the bubble prickle.
3. Jousset, Exilé, Rosé Petillant, 50/Grolleau, 50/Gamay Noir Montlouis sur Loire, $36- I made reference to this wine in the last installment, when I offered the blanc petillant. I’ve worked with this wine since I was able to get hold of it, almost a decade ago. This is probably one of the loveliest renderings of the cuvée I’ve had, and it fits elegantly into this line-up! In fact, what is happening here, is that on the continuum, we’re moving from the most forward, almost red sparkle, along to what will end in the most nuanced and delicate of the line-up. The Grolleau here, provides a levity that I haven’t tasted in the usual full Gamay style of the wine. Lighter press? I don’t know. I LOVE IT! A light touch in a heavy world . . . sometimes we need to be reminded.
4. Leon Boesch, Zero, 55/Pinot Blanc, 40/Riesling, 5/ Pinot Noir, Cremant d’Alsace, $33- Last of the gassy line-up, is perhaps the most focused. This is Methode Classique, style of bubbles, known everywhere outside of France as Champagne Method sparkling wine. No single fermentation in bottle, but a second one as well, brought on by a little dose of sweet must for the wine to feed on and further refine its beed. How about deep-throating an arrow of lazer sharp acid, that, feathers out into a warm blanket as it passes down the steep side of your tongue? A super dry, lightly brassy colored statue of a wine, that wants to be enjoyed in a circle of love, with briny oysters.
Onward to the still part of the offer!
5. Arnaud Lambert, St. Cyr en Bourg, Chenin Blanc, Saumur 2019, $23- I feel like there are two camps, in the Chenin fan club; those who enjoy the wooly mammoth style of mushroomy, mossy, wild honey oppulence of a barrel fermented, maybe slightly oxidative…maybe even a hint of botrytis(?) style Chenin, and the stoney, green apple, almost briny quality of a quick pressed-into non porous vessel that will keep the oxygen away, allowing for a clear sky of stars in a glass . . . I don’t personally adhere to one or the other, because I love it in all its forms. This one falls into the latter! focus! focus! FOCUS! What a beautifully refreshing, briny bridge into a literal, littoral zone of shellfish aided feeding frenzy!!
6. Domaine de l’Astre Flamenc Rosé, Purple Perigord 2021, $31- Mostly Semillon, with a bit of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon- This wine is “destined for vibrating beings”! Need I say more? Well, I will because these are some of the loveliest, most dynamic bottlings of liquid energy, to be corraled in a bottle, coming from a section of the Perigord known as the Purple Perigord. I don’t know why, but the Perigord holds a mythic place in my soul, as a crossroad of the wild, the high, the windblown and the hard. Open this up with some time to let it breathe, or better, decant and let it warm up . . . if the naked eye could detect the expansion of the universe, this would be a mini-model of that continuing process, and you would be absorbing it through your glass!
7. Domaine la Grange St. Andre, Les Cas d’Or, Grenache Blanc, Langue d’Oc 2019, $28- If the Flamenc is a magic carpet, upon which you ride the vibrations of the ever-expanding universe; this wine is what you might find, when you arrive at the point where it starts to turn back and devour itself into a dense block of matter… what? I don’t know what that even means, obviously, BUT, luckily, I am not an astro-physicist! I just rely on the imagery that it produces in my mind, and in that capacity, I can pretend I know what I’m talking about . . . because I do! I really do . . . this is a generous and rich (not in a sweet way) wine rife with apricot, peach pit . . . yes, rife! I used that word (aka abundant, plentiful, replete, RAMPANT!) with tendrils of scent that lend pollen pockets on the hind legs of honey bees, continuing the cycle of fecundity, reproduction, love, and sex . . . into your mouth! Drink it!
8. Weininger, Ponzichter, European Red Wine! 50/Zweigelt, 50/Pinot Noir, $28- The winery, Weininger, is Austrian. They source their grapes from the shores of Lake Neusiedl, which itself straddles both Hungary and Austria! The grapes for this cuvée come from both countries, engendering the European Wine label . . . could a wine get more perfumed with humus, geraniums, and beetles? Really, what I mean, is that when I sniffed this and then took a sip of it, it was as though I had become an earthworm and was making a path beneath the garden, gobbling up organic matter, and shitting out black soil . . . yes! I don’t know about you but when I taste something redolent of worm feces, I say, YES PLEASE!
9. Schodl. Sankt Laurent, 2021, Austria, $38- Another cuvée form the Schodl syblings! Does the grape, St. Laurent, have an identity? Could you taste one and say, “O yes, definitely! St. Laurent” If you answer that question to the affirmative, I say, NO WAY! YOU LIE! What is it? A burly version of Pinot Noir? Sometimes! Sometimes it trips into the realm of what I find in a Cabernet Franc . . . herbal, somewhat bell peppery, somewhat geranium-y . . . but this version, is dense and has tannins! Yes, it was getting to my gums and pulling at my dentures! And so, with that, I call this wine, the brute of the line-up, and yet, it’s 12% alcohol. Take it in the context of wines that possess, the ephemerality of Pinot Noir, or Nebbiolo, but with the extracted darkness of Cahors. And it’s all context and perspective, because, if you are a fan of warmer climate Grenache blends, or big darkness from eastern Washington, this might seem like California Pinot Noir, but with black dirt thrown in there. Let’s bring in the imagery of physics again, and say this wine is a quark! It pops in and out, and you can’t predict where it will re-surface! It gives you touch-tones of flavor that harken to something you can’t quite remember but you can’t linger upon it, because as you ponder, it puckishly pecks your palate and takes you somewhere else!
That is the line-up for this Holiday!
4 pack Sparkling: $139
5 pack Non-sparkling: $148
You can of course, mix and match.
Pick up all nine for a 10% discount!
ORDERS HERE: Cantina Sauvage You will be invoiced via Square. Please provide delivery address, even if I’ve been to you many times!
Wines will be delivered to you before Thanksgiving Thursday! They will also be on the shelves of my shop within the shop at Persephone! I am there whenever we are open. Stop in and say, hello!
Best love,
Marc