This Saturday we going back to Nature with a tasting of five Natural, Organic, and Biodynamic wines. These wines are made with native yeasts, little intervention, low use of SO2 and the operations conducted by the phases of the moon. The winemaking is spot on. Come taste how good natural can be.
2014 Finca Viladellops Ancestral Pet Nat $28
100% Xarel-lo Vermell
Finca Viladellops LD Ancestral is a sparkling wine made with the ancestral method (a unique fermentation), without addition of sugars or yeasts, accidentally discovered in the 16th century in Limoux. Elaborated exclusively with the recovered grape variety Xarel-lo Vermell of old strains of Garraf. This gives it a soft color, slightly pink, and fine bubble. The wine is fragrant and aromatic, creamy and light, with a long memory. Organic and Biodynamic
2017 Dolina, Guerila $19
100% Pinela
From a small estate in Slovenia comes this indigenous varietal wine. Mago Petrič’s family’s winery is located in Vipavska Dolina and from the very beginning, they have worked organically and biodynamically. Their Pinela is only grown in this region and nowhere else on the planet. Everything is handpicked, naturally fermented and then bottled unfiltered with just a minimal Sulphur addition, creating wines that are delicate, mineral and full of freshness. It is dry with aromas of apple, pear and herbs and a smooth round body. Organic and Biodynamic
2016 Domaine Victor Sornin Beaujolais Villages – $17
Biodynamic Beaujolais which is as much fun to say as it is to drink. The grapes come from vines that are 50-60 years old in the vicinity of Morgon. The wine has aromas of red fruits-wild cherries and some black raspberries. There’s a little bit of cranberry, currant, and a tiny bit of a beeswaxy aroma as well. Bright and delicious. Organic and Biodynamic
2015 Chateau les Croisille, Croizillon Cahors $14
Malbec
Malbec is known as “the black wine of Cahors.” Hold a bottle of Chateau Les Croisille’s “Le Croizillon” up to a light, and you’ll see why the variety is described as “inky.” This deep, dark wine offers notes of blackberry, saddle leather, cherry pie filling, cedar shavings, garrigue and cocoa. It finishes with dry mineral tannins. Organic
2014 Turner Pageot Le Rouge $20
80% Grenache, 20% Syrah
This small estate is the fruitful partnership of Western Australian Karen Turner and Eastern Frenchman Emmanuel Pageot. Their love of biodynamics led them to apply these principles to ten small parcels they now own near the town of Gabian. Almost 5h of varied soils, from gravel and schist, sandstone and basalt, to clay and limestone, provide freshness and purity, complexity and balance. A natural wine the Le Rouge is spicy, bright yet brooding. Its expressive and heady nose of mixed red and black fruits, brioche, polished leather, iodine, tobacco and spice with grippy but ripe tannins and plenty of acidity to match, with a long, dry, pepper and spice finish and a bitter orange and black cherry taste that lingers for an age. Certified Organic and Biodynamic.
Madrona Wine Merchants offers free wine tastings featuring 4-5 selections on a theme every Saturday from 2 until the bottles run out and on Sunday we offer a mini-tasting of two wines all day from 11-5.