When we think of Gamay, our minds instantly head to Beaujolais in France. For many, many years our experience with this varietal was from wines that solely came from this region, and it wasn't until we got our hands on a bottle from Ayres Vineyard that we tried from the new world.
Yes- Ayres Vineyard Gamay does not come from France, and is instead from Oregon!
One winery we missed out on visiting when we explored the Finger Lakes was Heart & Hands. We had heard about wines from this vineyard for a while and were pretty bummed we couldn't make the stop happen.
Thankfully, while exploring a wine store in Ithaca we found a bottle of the Heart & Hands Pinot Noir 2018 and picked it up without hesitation to give them a try. While we would say this was a fairly representative Pinot Noir as far as the varietal is concerned, it was quite surprising that it came from the Finger Lakes!
When we visited the Finger Lakes for a weekend getaway in late 2020, one winery, Bloomer Creek, was not open for tastings (only bottle sales). We placed an order at this one all the same at the request of a friend who wanted some bottles and decided to pick up a few for us to try at home thanks to their great reviews and that one of our favorite local wine shops carries them as well.
It very much was a case of “if it is good for them, it is good for us”.
The first bottle we opened was their naturally fermented, skin contact, unfiltered Chardonnay and Gruner Veltliner blend- a more unusual grape combination than we're used to but one that we have to admit, we really enjoyed.
Our first Vermentino comes from the island of Sardinia- Tenuta Soletta Sardo Vermentino di Sardegna 2018. This one offered a fairly straightforward flavor profile of lemon and slightly bitter notes and paired quite well with a tilapia filet!
We always love getting interesting wines in wine clubs, and the Maloof Wines Riesling from Oregon was one such wine if only because we're not quite sure if we've ever had a Riesling from the Pacific Northwest.
We popped the bottle, took one sniff, and realized this one was interesting.
Nicolas Feuillatte's Reserve Exclusive Champagne is an alluring bottle with a wonderful aroma, a slight funkiness, and strong flavors of lime and tropical notes on the palate.
Consider us pleased.
Biancolella was a new grape for us when starting this project, and we first sampled it with the bottle of Antonio Mazzella Biancolella 2018.
This one comes from the small island of Ischia just off the coast of Italy and brings a modest acidity with an array of subtle fruit flavors.
Although the term Super Tuscan is more or less a marketing word used to describe high-quality wines outside of the traditional Italian designation classification when we hear the name used our ears perk up all the same if only because, on the whole, we've had some pretty stellar Super Tuscans when traveling around the region.
Fattoria di Bagnolo's Capro Rosso was one such Super Tuscan, and after visiting the vineyard on a trip to Tuscany in 2019, I was more than happy to pick up some bottles (including the delicious Fattoria di Bagnolo Chianti Riserva). In this review, we popped open a bottle of the 2016 vintage to see what the Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot blend was like four years in.
It took us a while to try our first Albarino, and it only took a few sips of the Bodegas del Palacio Albarino de Fefinanes 2018 to understand what we were missing. A strong citrus kick and a finish of salinity has us wanting to try more of this varietal very, very soon.
The Vins Contes Poivre et Sel hails from the Loire Valley of France and features a grape varietal that was completely new to us when we received the bottle- Pineau d'Aunis (90%, rounded out with Gamay). This one ended up being fairly low tannins, low ABV, and offered a nice berry blend flavor overall.
