No snow day for Madrona Wine Merchants. We opened a half an hour late due to stalled busses on Union, but we are open and tasting some delicious wines. Stop on in (but drive carefully).

Saturday, January 14^th

2pm

We’ve searched the world over to find this selection of distinct wines at fantastic prices!!! OK, we didn’t really, but we talked to a few people and tried numerous wines and pulled together this line up of good wines at good prices. Stop by on Saturday when we will be showing them off. Take a world tour without leaving the neighborhood.

2010 Yealands, Sauvignon Blanc $13

From Marlborough, New Zealand, Yealands is a sustainably farmed estate winery that uses sheep instead of tractors and wind turbos for power. The exposure to high sun and wind, coupled with cool nights and low rainfall produce a smaller, thicker skinned berry with intense fruit flavors.  The wine has fresh grass, herbal aromas along with citrus, guava flavors and wet stone minerality.

2010 Leyda, Pinot Noir $13

Leyda Vineyards is located in the coastal mountain area of Chile about 8 miles from the Pacific Ocean. The wine’s bright fruit-driven bouquet boasts plum, cherry and soft smokiness followed by cherry, spices flavors with soft sweet tannins. More similar to California than Oregon, the Leyda is still better than most Pinot at this price.

2009 Chateau Roc Meynard, Brodeaux Supierur $15

90% merlot, 5% Cabernet, and 5% Cabernet Franc

A smaller (29 hectare) estate winery located right next to Fronsac “separated by only a small dirt alley”. So close but they can’t put the name on it. The Roc Meynard is a full bodied, robust Bordeaux in a modern style with lots of red ripe fruit, black current notes and darker spices.

2008 Kangarilla Road, Shiraz $15

Kangarilla comes from McLaren Flat vineyards located at the northern part of the foothills where the grapes ripen later than other surrounding sub-regions resulting in “cooler climate” spicy aromatic dark berry driven wine with intense mid to back palate presence and an abundance of soft velvety tannins. The wine has aromas of spicy mulberry followed by a smooth mix of earthy black and red berry fruits on the mid and back palate.

2007 Domaine du Crampilh , Madiran, l’Originel $20

70% Tannat, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon

Located in the Southwest corner of France where the small hills start to climb into the Pyrenes, lays Madiran where the dark tannic grape Tannat is king. At Domaine du Crampilh, 4^th generation winemaker and owner Marie Oulie, blends in Cabernet to soften up wine along with some micro-oxygenation before it rests for 8 to 12 months in barrel. The result is a robust wine with notes of blackcurrants and Morello cherries. l’Originel possesses an elegant structure, with round and spicy tannins. The finish is long and suave.

Swing on by and pick up that bottle for dinner, and sample what we have open. The perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

We are running around like busy Santa’s Elves this week at Madrona Wine, but we still have time to open a few bottles for everyone to try. Today (Wednesday) we’ll be pouring:

2007 Grange Philippe Cabernet Franc Languedoc $12

Nice floral notes (violets) over dry soft fruit make this a pretty appealing wine from the South of France where all the good deals are.

2009 Enclos du Petit Chein Cheverny Blanc $10

90% Sauvignon Blanc, 10% Chardonnay More tropical flavors than you would expect in a Cheverney. This wine is from a warm vintage, but it still has some nice mineral notes. Was $13, but now a bit less.

94% Corvina, 3% Merlot, 3% Cabernet

A Super Veronesse? The grapes are dried for 3 weeks before fermentation, concentrating the flavors — lots of dried plum and cherry.

Was $20, Now $14

For our Special Sunday Bottle this week we have:

2006 Damilano, Barolo Lecinquevigne — $35
The Lecinquevigne as the name suggests consists of Nebbiolo from five vineyards. The Nebbiolo vines range in age from 30 to 50 years old. The wine has an intense fragrance of rose, leather, tobacco, and subtle hints of violet and tar with flavors of dark cherry with a long smooth finish. Like all Barolo the wine ages for 24 months in barrel before being bottled.

Stop in and have a sample.