Join us this Saturday as we taste a new line up of organic wines from local distributor Owen Kottler. Come celebrate the equinox with these balanced natural wines.
2018 La Staffa, “Mai Sentito” Verdicchio Frizzante $19
Young winemaker Riccardo Baldi is behind La Staffa in the town of Staffolo in the Marche. He has 10 HA of vineyards he farms. In the cellar, only native yeast is utilized. Just as in the vineyard, with all winemaking, Riccardo acts with total respect for the grape and for the viticultural traditions of the area. The family produces wine exclusively from grapes grown on estate vineyards. “Mai Sentito”means “never heard”, as in I’ve never heard of a sparking Verdicchi.
2018 Le Fraghe, Garganega Veneto $16
Nestled between the eastern shores of Lake Garda, the hills of Valpolicella and the ancient city of Verona is where we find Matilde Poggi’s vineyards. Her winery is outside of the town of Affi. She makes her wine naturally (no additives, native yeast, no enzymes). From Matilde: “I love this earth, every square metre of it somehow different, brought here by the glaciers that carved out, in remotest times, the the bed of the lake and the valley of the Adige river. Everything that I do in the vineyard is aimed at respecting and preserving those unique and literally incomparable qualities that I find only in my wines.”
2017 Le Fraghe “L’escluso” Bardolino $16
Like her Garganega, L’escluso is organically grown, harvested by hand, and vinified with native yeast. The fermentation at a cool-temperature, the cap is managed daily – délestage in the morning & pumpover in the evening. Malolactic fermentation and maturation is in stainless-steel until bottling the following spring
2017 Les Amethystes, Chiroubles $20
Located in the AOC Morgon, Michel Guignier prefers a natural approach to winemaking and believes a wine should above all be the fruit of the earth. “Too many chemicals prevent the terroir from coming through in the wine”. His wines are steeped in terroir, the yields are low and the harvest is done by hand. The grapes are pressed in a wooden press and matured in oak barrels on their lees.
2015 Casa de Mouraz, Dao Tinto $18
Tinta-Roriz, Touriga-Nacional, Jaen, Alfrocheiro
In the DÃO region of Portugal these vineyards of 30-40 year old vines in Granitic soils are worked using biodynamic practices and are certified ECOCERT since 1997. The wine is a field blend using natural vinificatio, then matured in old, inert French oak barrels for 8 months. Cherry and strawberries, intense bouquet of red fruits, plum and rosemary with notes of dark chocolate.
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.