Got a well-mannered mutt? We have treats for them and treats for their owners.
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.
Come Get Your Gobble On!
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.
The holidays are sneaking up on us. Thanksgiving is 10 days away. So, between November 17th and New Years we will be open on Tuesdays from noon to 7 along with our regular schedule.
Thanksgiving Day we will be open for 11am to 3pm, so that Mark can get out of cooking.
Remember, wine from any other Shoppe doth not taste as sweet.
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.
Sunday Sipping
September, 27th
11 to 5
Most wines from certain regions are what you have come to expect as far as the grapes that go in them. If it is red from Bordeaux it is likely to be Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon as the major players. If it is the Rhone then Grenache and Syrah. In Tuscany, you expect there to be some Sangiovese in there setting the tone. But life is not always what you expect. This Sunday we’re pouring a couple of reds that are surprising blends for where they are from.
2013 Domaine de Mougin VDP L’ Aude $10
30% Syrah, 30% Merlot, 20% Carignan, 10% Grenache, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon
From the South of France where the Atlantic grapes (Merlot and Cabernet) can get blown together with the more Mediterranean ones (Grenache, Syrah and Carignan). A dark and fruit driven everyday drinking wine with enough going on so your tongue never gets bored. What Vin de Pays should always be.
2013 Nottola, Tre Pezzi $13
80% Merlot, 20% Petit Verdot
A Super Tuscan with bold red fruit flavors blended with soft tannins that linger through the long velvety finish. Aged for 6 to 8 months in French oak. No Sangiovese here, just big full wine.
Who is winning in our Bordeaux vs. Banylus contest so far? As of 12:30, the score is….
5 0
And as of 4pm, the totals are:
10 5
As of 5PM the totals are:
10 12
The results are in — If you count the pre-orders (we ran out of the Bordeaux at 2:20), for ten bottles of the Senhilac, we have a winner. Actually, we have TWO winners as they were both tasty.
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.
for Labor Day,
Saturday, September 5th, 2pm
It is Labor Day weekend, a “holiday honoring the American Labor movement and the contributions that workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of their country.” This Saturday we’ll be celebrating with some Hard Working Washington wines. These wines diligently labor to provide solid, quality value that greatly our well-being. Come taste the rewards of their labor.
2014 Parejas Cellars, Albarino $15
Parejas is a boutique winery in the Yakima Valley that produces high quality, great value wines from locally grown Spanish varietals. Their Albarino has stone fruit and spice notes and a good crisp mouthfeel. 13% alcohol by volume
2012 Shooting Star, Blue Franc $14
Lemberger
Shooting Star is Jed Steele’s Washington label, and Lemberger is a founding Washington grape. The Blue Franc is very clean and fresh with medium body and cherry and plum fruit along with notes of traces of pepper, almond, cherry and cinnamon.
Vina Salida Vino Rojo $15
Malbec, Temprnillo
Vina Salida is Doug McCrea’s new project focusing on Spanish varietals with a side trip into Malbec. This non-vintage bottling of Vino Rojo comes mainly from the cooler 2011 vintage with some 2010 added to fill out the body. The combo is totally successful balance between the spiciness of the cooler vintage and the full fruit flavors.
2010 Basel Cellars, Estate Claret $20
45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 12% Syrah, 7% Cabernet Franc, 3.5% Malbec, & 0.5% Petit Verdot
Basel Cellars is based in Walla Walla. Their Estate Claret is an example of precision blending and a minimal use of new barrels and emphasizing the grapes. The wine has aromas of dark fruit, cherry-cola, plum and cassis. The mouth provides a balanced acidity interwoven with dark fruit and a graphite-like minerality. The lingering finish is reminiscent of the dark spicy wrapper of a good Maduro cigar.
2011 Soos Creek Wine Cellars, Palisade Red $20
82% Merlot, 18% Cabernet Sauvignon
Soos Creek pulls it’s fruit from some heavy hitting Washington vineyards (Champoux , Ciel du Cheval, Boushey, Klipsun and Sagemoor,) The Palisade has aromas of dark raspberry, dark chocolate, musky spices and earth. At once broad and juicy, it offers savory currant and dark raspberry fruit flavors complicated by licorice and smoky soil nuances. The wine is nicely concentrated wine with a restrained sweetness, and finishes with tongue-dusting, supple tannins.
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.
But seriously folks, we pouring two Portuguese wines whether the weather is pouring or not. Stop on in for a sip in the storm.
Sunday, August 16th
Swing by on Sunday to have a swig of two distinctly unique wines from disparate parts of the world. We’ll be pouring an electrically crisp Sauvignon Blanc from Slovenia and rich and complex plum wine from Japan. They are more of a contrast than a comparison, but both are not to be missed.
2012 Domaine Ciringa Fosilni Breg Sauvignon Blanc $20
From Slovinia, this rich Sauvignon Blanc comes from Fosilni Breg (Fossil Mountain) vineyard. The Cringa has aromas of bananas, pear and pepper. It wakes up the mouth with an explosive eruption of flavor and acidity
Gekkeikan Plum Wine $15
A drier version of plum wine with more complexity, the wine is made all from handpicked plums and is aged 3 years before bottling. It has notes of raisin, pecans, nutmeg, candied oranges and a tart finish. It is unique and tasty and only 13% alcohol.
Saturday
August 15th
2pm
Summer is great for vacations. So this Saturday we are hopping all over Europe and tasting crisp and refreshing wines from Germany, France, Austria and Spain. These wines are all unique and delightful and an escape from the everyday. Come slip away with us and give them a try.
2013 Dr. Heyden, Oppenheimer, Silvaner, Trocken Alte Reben $13
The Heyden family runs a small 11 hectares estate in the town of Oppenheim. Silvaner is the second most planted grape (after Riesling) in Germany, and this old vine example is a fresh, zesty, mouth-wateringly delicious wash of Silvaner-ish-ness. Juicy and floral from start to finish, this is a great example of coaxing the best from a grape.
2014 Novellum, Chardonnay $12
Novellum is a custom cuvee of Chardonnay grown and made by Jean Marc and Eliane Lafage for Eric Solomon. The Latin name “Novellum” echoes “Nouveau” (“new. To achieve its balance of fresh acidity, ripe fruit and a touch of minerality, 70% of the wine is aged in stainless steel, and 30% is aged briefly for 2 months in one-year old barrels. But the real uniqueness in this wine comes from its aging method: it is aged on the “lees” of previously fermented Viognier for three months, imparting a luscious floral character that’s different from the average Chardonnay.
2014 Biohof Pratsch, Zweigelt Rosé $13
Pratsch is a organically certified winery in the appellation of Niederösterreich, Austria. Their unusual and delightful rosé features aromas and flavors of wild strawberries, peach and pear backed by crisp, dry, refreshing acidity.
2014 Espelt, Corali Rosat $12
Made from Grenache, the Coralí follows the purest tradition of Mediterranean rosés: pale, with the soul of a delicate white and the body of a fruity red, fresh and mouth-coating, tangy and ripe at the same time. The aromas are a blend of ripe peach and herbal notes, with a citrusy character.
2012 Michel Gassier, Cercius Vieilles Vignes, Côtes du Rhône Villages Visan, $15
85% Grenache and 15% Syrah
Made from 80+ year vines the Gassier Cercius is a lush, decadent offering that delivers loads of black raspberry and blackberry styled fruit that is intermixed with notions of licorice, rolled stone, roasted garrigue, and hints of leather on the nose, layered, fresh, and beautifully textured, with a full-bodied, rich feel in the mouth that never seems heavy. Ripe dark berries and wood smoke on the perfumed nose. Lush and creamy in texture, offering sweet blackberry and cherry flavors lifted by a spicy element. It finishes sappy and broad, with gentle tannins and subtle anise and cola qualities.
We kid you not, who knew.
Apparently these people: http://nationaldrinkwineday.org/
You have your marching order. Snap to it.
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. No matter what day you stop by we always have something open to sample.