What?! Yes! It's SPRING TIME! I HAVE LIQUID ELECTRICITY FOR YOU!
WOW!
It is true that the weather is slowly but surely turning in our direction . . . and in honor of the blossoming of this new season, I've chosen wines of true energy . . .
Terrifically
Terrifyingly
Electric!
I was sitting here yesterday, with my friend Andy, imbibing in the new vintage of Mirabai Pinot Noir by Kelley Fox, the 2019 vintage . . . Whispers of this vintage being the best she's produced yet; and having tasted through the last several vintages of Kelley's offerings, it could be true, although her wines are always a wonderful amalgam of character beyond character, tradition beyond tradition,
so fresh,
so clean,
so screamingly alive
they practically vibrate out of the bottle,
yet, so profound, not to be trifled with . . .
you're watching an acrobat doing handsprings through a field of flowers. From a distance it's all frivolity until they come to a standstill in front of you, fix you with their stare , and you realize their eyes go fathoms deep and whole civilizations are probing you
they see you are a clown . . .
that's godhead, my friend!
Kelley Fox, Mirabai Pinot Noir- $45
the wine is limited . . . Andy put it this way: "It's an Eric Dolphy wine: More adventurous than hard or even most post-bop, but not full-on 'free'" take that as a nod to the roots of great Pinot Noir, which would be Burgundy, and so, while Kelley's wines strain at their tethers, they never fully break with those or in yet another way, she turns those tethers into fragrant flowering vines.
While Kelley Fox does take center stage in my soul on this offer, everything here has astounded me this week.
Next, there is the new vintage of Two Shepherds, Pinot Gris, Sonoma Valley 2020- $25 I've offered the Two Shepherds wines whenever I can get hold of them and the new vintage of the Ramato style, skin macerated 'gris, is the most astounding that I have yet tasted. Not having the '19 with me as I tasted the '20, my memory is that this vintage is a bit lighter with more acid; though still substantial on the palate. It is present! and in such a way as to be that wine you drink on its own and then keep it going through the meal: native yeast fermentations, left to macerate on the skins for five days, elevage in neutral french oak.
Then there's Ambyth! Santa Barbara County, 2019- $33
I can only say this about this wine: Whatthefuck! WTF! What-The-*^*%*$&$! vibrations on a level all their own . . . this is Sauvignon Blanc on a wholly other level of holiness. There is a picture of it in the foreground of the larger of the photos, sandwiched between the Two Shepherds and the Kelley Fox. When Ambyth planted their vines, after bringing the soils to health with holistic, biodynamic preparations, each vine was provided with a five gallon bucket's worth of drip irrigation as they headed into the winter season, and that was all! The vines have dug in and thrived on their own for the last eleven years. This is in The Santa Barbara/Paso Robles area, where summers are HOT & DRY! The wines are deep, and full of presence and not to be taken lightly. Nine months on the skins, in Amphorae, give the wine dimension and depth. Don't be a hater on the Orange! and don't get trapped by pre-conceptions of what Sauvignon Blanc "should" taste like. if there's anything we've learned in the last year, it is that fluidity of mind and spirit; porosity of borders, help us establish better boundaries...what? Yes!
Ancarani, Andataeritorno, 2018, Emilia Romagna- $25
(Top right frame of the pic) I can't help it! So many wines for you this week but I was so excited when I tasted them that I knew they all had to be included! Ancarani, when I can get it, goes into the offers and this is another example of their brilliance. This is a blend of Famoso, Pignoletto and Albana, macerated on skins for a week, fermented on native yeasts in a combination of cement and steel. Andataeritorno is Italian for roundtrip and this wine definitely performs that in the mouth! Apricots and almonds, wrapped in bees wax.
Next! Merlot from Francesco Annesanti, Umbria! -$20
This is this week's wine of mass imbibability...meaning, put a little chill on this clean, fresh, unfuctwith bottle of goodness. I tasted this with Roland this week and loved it! It is completely in keeping with the theme of springtime vibrance and vibration, but this wine takes on some of the tasks that a white wine might normally have taken and in this context, is one of the lighter wines in the line-up.
FINALLY! But certainly not leastly: Libertine Wines "Acid Freak" Rosé 2020
I opened with WOW! and I will finish the same way: WOW! ( Middle frame on the bottom of the pic) Epitomizing the whole line up is this prismatic refractor of light and spirit from Libertine. A 50/50 blend of Dolcetto and Riesling, the fragrance alone is enough! such a nose-full of petrol-emotion, fruit of the wildest freshest strawberries with, as the name would imply, a streak of acid that keeps it all in line and at the same time sets it so free! Gulp it and enjoy the squirt of saliva that just soaks your plate and demands more from you.
There you have it!
Please get in touch with me here: Cantina Sauvage for questions and/or orders!
4 bottles or more brings wine to your door!
Much love to you,
Marc