Things are getting busy around here with the lords a leaping and the pipers piping.  But it keeps them warm with the cold weather nipping at our nose.  The other thing that keeps us warm is a sip of wine.  We’ll have some open the next couple of days.  Stop in and have a taste as well.

Thursday

2019 Château de Montfaucon,  La Côte, Côte du Rhone  $18
50% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 15% Carignan, 10% Cinsault, 5% Counoise
This Côtes du Rhône is full-bodied, tannic, with leather notes, herbal notes, cranberry notes.

Friday

2017 Franchetto, Valpolicella Ripasso  $30
Corvina, Molinara, Rondinella
A rich and full Ripasso.  Aromas of cured cherries, black pepper, spices and a palate packed with Bodacious summer fruit – black berries, cherries, vanilla, lush body and supple tannins.

Shop Hours
Tuesday-Sunday, 12-6PM

What to do when you realize you didn’t get anything for the eight maids a milking, nine ladies dancing, and your wife’s cousin Richard who are all showing up at you house this coming weekend?  Don’t worry, Madrona Wine is One Stop Shopping for those on your list who are 21 years and older.  To make the shopping easier we’ll be opening a few things to taste over the next few days.

Tuesday brave the snow is the way to go.

2017 Saint-Jacques de Siran, Bordeaux Supérieur  $19
42% Merlot, 29 % Cabernet Franc, 29% Cabernet Sauvignon
Château Siran dates back to 1428.  At one point in time, it was owned the grandparents of the famous French painter, Toulouse Lautrec. Their Saint-Jacques cuvée is sourced from a plot adjacent to their Margaux holdings, but outside that appellation and hence much more affordable. This wine is smooth, rich, and beautifully structured.
Wednesday Winter Solstice

2009 Siglo, Rioja Grand Riserva  $22
Tempranillo – with a bit of Garnacha & Graciano
Cool and foresty in tone, this wine feels integrated, with a lovely weave to its tannins and fruit. The wine melds tannins from oak, fruit skin and seeds in notes of caraway and walnut, with a vegetal anise scent adding complexity. The texture is plump and silken, with a ping of fruit that accelerates those tannins into a savory power drive. Classical Rioja.

Shop Hours
Tuesday-Sunday, 12-6PM

‘Twas the week before Christmas and our heads are spinning with visions of sugarplums, gold rings and geese a laying.  To clear our heads we are tasting some great wine this weekend.  Châteauneuf-du-Pape on Saturday and on Sunday a lovely white Malagousia from the Aegean Islands.

Saturday –-gold rings

2019 Domaine Comte de Lauze, Châteauneuf-du-Pape  $48
80% Grenache, 20% Syrah
This wine opens up onto a lovely bouquet surprising in its youthfulness; with red fruit, spice and garrigue (Provençal herbs) notes. The cherry and white pepper flavors open and lengthen out onto a refined licorice feel. The palate is full and shows elegance that is further demonstrated by the ripe tannins at the end.
We also have a couple of Magnums of the 2017 vintage for $85

Sunday — lazy geese

2020 Moraitis, Malagousia $23
100% Malagousia from the Aegean Islands. Intense peach aromas with a lovely purity of fruit that flow onto the palate. Crisp acidity and fresh with a lasting finish.
Organic

Monday we are talking the day off to watch the swans swim.  But we’ll be back on Tuesday with more wine to open.

Shop Hours
Tuesday-Sunday, 12-6PM

There is a lot of poultry this time a year so we are popping the corks the next two days to help wash down four calling birds and three French hens.  Even if you are a vegetarian, you should swing by the shop and have a sip.

Open late ’til 8.
The Madrona Neighborhood association is promoting a holiday shopping event this evening in the hood with cookies and raffle tickets and a lot of the local businesses staying open until 8pm.  Take a halftime break from the Seahawks game and come get a cookie and a bottle of wine.

Thursday

2016 Il Nespoli, Romagua Sangiovese Superiore Reserva  $28
100% Sangiovese
A wine of great complexity combining typical marasca cherry, blackberry and plum notes of the Sangiovese variety together with notes of licorice and roasted coffee beans which come from the aging in French barrique, following by stainless steel tanks. A touch of vanilla is coming from the wise but modest use of American oak. Soft and warm, with well-balanced tannins, it has an excellent potential for ageing.

Friday

2016 Château Moncets, Lalande de Pomerol  $21
86% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Franc
A good Bordeaux from a good vintage.  This wine, hugely rich and packed with tannins, has equally powerful black fruits . . . rich texture and blackberry and licorice flavors

Shop Hours
Tuesday-Sunday, 12-6PM

Wondering what to drink with the two turtle doves that showed up unannounced for dinner?  Pull out a bottle of Chateau Daviaud.  We’ll be sampling it today at the shop. 

2019 Chateau Daviaud / Maison Sichel Bordeaux Rouge  $14
45% Merlot, 21% Cabernet Franc, 19% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Malbec
This Bordeaux blend is quite charming with expressive notes  of fruit and lots of spice; it reveals ripeness and is very fresh. On the palate, this wine is charming, with surprising fullness, smoothness and also a lot of depth.

Shop Hours
Tuesday-Sunday, 12-6PM

A glass of Refosco!

We are trying to keep Santa happy right up to Christmas by popping corks for the next 12 days.  Today we start out with a Refosco from Friuli.  A perfect match for Partridge cooked with Pear.

2015 Giorgio Colutta, Refosco  $20
From Friuli, this Refosco is intensely favored and wonderfully aromatic, yet not heavy or overwrought, it has dark berry and woodland flavors and aromas of cinnamon and herbs. Bold and powerful it has structured and defined tannins and invigorating acidity. Not fruity and sweet, like far too many New World reds, its bone dry and lengthy.

Store Hours
Tuesday-Sunday, 12-6

We are popping the corks on a Rhone and a Rioja this weekend to ward off the wet weather.

2021 Germán Blanco, La Bicicleta Voladora Rioja $18
100% Tempranillo
The Tempranillo shines through in this Rioja. Made with certified organic grapes, aged in concrete, amphoras and flexitank eggs, the Bicicleta has bright fruit character and freshness, with a smooth body and silky tannins.
Organic

2019 Mas des VolQue, Esus, Duché D’Uzès  $15
40% Syrah, 30% Grenache, 15% Carignan, 15% Cinsault
From a lesser known Village in the Rhone, The Esus has peppery herbs, plums, blackberries and earthy/loamy notes give way to a medium to full-bodied, concentrated, beautifully textured Rhone red that’s packed with charm.

Shop Hours
Tuesday-Sunday, 12-6PM

Yesterday’s Dolcetto dissapeared so quickly that we decided today to open a Sardinian Cannonau for the brave souls who wander into the shop to sample.

2018 Gabbas, LilLove Cannonau  $20
Gabbas LilLove’ Cannonau is a fresh, juicy red showing spicy red berry fruit and soft earthy notes which is typical of what the Cannonau variety can give when grown in small concentrated yields.

Coming up next week:

LATE NIGHT OF SHOPPING IN MADRONA!
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15^th
5pm-8pm
34th AVENUE WILL BE ALIVE WITH
CAROLERS, FREE COOKIES
OPEN SHOPS
AND A RAFFLE!
RETAIL SHOPS & RESTAURANTS HAVE DONATED MORE THAN $2,000 WORTH OF ITEMS AND DINNERS TO
 RAFFLE AWAY

ON THE NIGHT OF THE EVENT RAFFLE TICKETS CAN BE PURCHASED AT THE MADRONA NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION EVENT TABLE USING CASH OR VENMO, OR FROM THE  FOLLOWING SHOPS USING CASH
JUNIPER
NIDO
KATYBIRD

THIS EVENT IS HAPPILY BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE
MADRONA NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

Shop Hours
Tuesday-Sunday, 12-6PM

What shall we open tonight?  Hard to decide, but this afternoon we are going to open a little Dolcetto at we watch the sunset reflected in the windows of the Madrona Refuge Building across the street.  Stop in and join us.

2018 Paolo Scavino, Dolcetto D’Alba  $18
50-year-old Dolcetto vines ensure a beautiful complexity in this wine.  A juicy, black cherry infused red. Vibrant and firm, with hints of chocolate and earth adding depth. Shows fine length and purity.

Shop Hours
Tuesday-Sunday, 12-6PM

Things will be just ducky this Saturday at the wine shop as we  pour two wines from the Duckhorn folks out of Napa.  These bold red wines should ward off the chill of our weekend weather Duck in, give them a try and see what all the flap is about.
 
2020 Weinhorn Estates, Et Cetera  $15
Cabernet Sauvignon
From the people who make Duckhorn, comes this juicy California Cab from mainly Napa and Sonoma fruit.  The aroma has bright notes of blackcurrant, grapefruit, lime, freshly cut grass and green pepper. The taste is rich and dense, with a light balanced acidity.

2019 Duckhorn, Paraduxx Red Blend  $35
53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Zinfandel, 11% Petit Verdot, 12% Petite Sirah, 7% Syrah, 5% Malbec
Deep, dark and luxurious, this wine offers alluring aromas of blackberry, black cherry, blueberry, currant and cocoa powder, with underlying hints of saddle leather, cinnamon and clove. The voluptuous dark berry notes are echoed on the palate where they are framed by supple tannins and sophisticated layers of anise, vanilla, sweet tobacco leaf and fresh-cracked black pepper, all of which carry the wine to a juicy dark berry finish.
Was $50, Now $35

And stop back in on Sunday When Patrick will be pouring a new Bordeaux we just got in.
 
2020 Chateau Le Roc Bordaux Rouge  $12
60% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon,
It displays a great aromatic complexity ranging from notes of red fruit to vanilla. Well-balanced with silky tannins, this is a mouth-watering drink-now Bordeaux that punches well above its weight.

Shop Hours
Tuesday-Sunday, 12-6PM