Fruit Basket Turnover
Have a wee bit of a sweet tooth? This flight keeps things smooth and easy drinking with just a touch of sweetness.
Rogue Vine Pipeno Tinto
Grapes: 60% Cinsault, 30% Pais, and 10% Carignan
Place: Itata Valley, Chile
Process: This red wine hails from a small vineyard in Guarilihue, Itata that was first planted sometime in the early 1800's. This coastal vineyard sits on decomposed granite and is organically farmed by hand and horse. The wine is fermented naturally in concrete globes. This is a classic Southern Chilean field blend made in the traditional method and meant to be enjoyed as a young, fresh, vibrant wine. We recommend it be served with a slight chill.
Family: Leo Erazo and Justin Decker started Rogue Vine in 2011 in a one-car garage in Concepcion, Chile. This duo met while teaching at the University of Concepcion. At Rogue Vine, they make wines from the Nipas and Guarilihue subregions of the Itata Valley. All the vineyards are composed of hillside, dry-farmed bush-vines that are a minimum of 60 years old, with some over 100 years old. The soils are primarily comprised of decomposed granite with a mix of clay and quartz. The winemaking is simple and employs native yeast, concrete globes, old barrels, no corrections, with minimal or no sulfur prior to bottling. Itata Valley’s viticulture is primarily practiced through horse plowing and hand farming. Part of Rogue Vine’s focus is to promote the rich culture and history of this long neglected and rural farming community. Leo is also the winemaker for Altos Las Hormigas in Mendoza, Argentina and Justin is an expat from Indiana who got bit by the wine bug and started a family in Chile.
Bottle: $23 | Glass: $10
Domaine Lafage La Retro
Grapes: Carignan, Lladoner, Grenache Noir, and Grenache Gris
Place: Roussillon, France
Process: The grapes are picked at the beginning of October from our different terroirs in Roussillon. No de-stemming, light crushing. Short maceration and light extraction.
Family: In the Lafage family, we have been winegrowers from father to son for more than 2 centuries.
In the 80s, Jean-Marc, as a young boy, actively participated in the work in the vineyards. But the revelation that he was to be a winemaker came to him one day when his father gave him the sole charge of a batch of some of his finest Maury grapes. From the gene to the passion, this work will draw his path: Domaine Lafage is born and will forever be Catalan.
Bottle: $27 | Glass: $12
Vera de Estenas Bobal
Grapes: 100% Bobal
Place: Utiel-Requena, Spain
Process: Crafted from en vaso trained Bobal vines averaging 50 years of age (some of them up to 100 years) located in the heart of Utiel-Requena on clay-calcareous soils. The wine is fermented in concrete tanks and raised in a mix of concrete and old American oak barrels.
Family: With 90,000 hectares under vine, Bobal is the third most planted grape variety in all of Spain. The high-yielding vine was historically regarded as only useful for simple, acidic red & rosé wines destined for the local Co-Op. Recently, a handful of quality-minded growers, using artisanal farming and vinification, are producing highly individual wines with true complexity. Bobal is fulfilling its true Mediterranean potential – certainly “wines of the sun”, but with remarkable freshness, moderate alcohol, and lovely notes of bright plum fruit, spice, and earthy, calcareous soil-inflected tension. One of the torchbearers of Bobal is Vera de Estenas, possibly the most traditional producer in Utiel-Requena, with some of the oldest Bobal holdings in Spain.
Founded in 1945 by Francisco Martinez Bermell, Vera de Estenas has been crafting wines from their 47 hectares of estate fruit since their inception. Situated at 800m elevation near the mouth of the Estenas river near the foot of the Sierra del Remedio mountains, their en vaso trained vineyards run northwest to southeast along a broad swath of calcareous clay soils. Summer brings scorching heat, but a cooling wind called the Solano brings relief, and nighttime temperatures can drop substantially due to the high elevation, helping to preserve acidity in the grapes. Under the current leadership of Felix Martinez, Vera de Estenas is producing some of the region’s most compelling wines, from Bobal vines as old as 100 years.
Bottle: $20 | Glass: $9
Big Basin Homestead
Grapes: 33% Carignan, 25% Syrah, 21% Grenache, 19% Mourvèdre and 2% Cabernet Sauvignon
Place: Mountains of California
Process: Homestead represents the extraordinary granitic and limestone terroir of the Gabilan Mountains where they sourced the majority of the fruit. Grenache from Brosseau, Coastview and their estate vineyard provides the backbone of this wine. Additional components include: 90+ year old, dry farmed Carignane from the Cienega Valley located below Calera's Mount Harlan AVA and Syrah from the Coastview Vineyard located just miles South of Mt. Harlan at 2400 ft as well as Brosseau vineyard in Chalone. Whole berry, cold soak, indigenous yeast, hand punched. Barrel Aged for 11 months in neutral French oak barrels. Bottled unfined and unfiltered
Family: Located in the heart of the Santa Cruz Mountains, Big Basin Vineyards is terraced into a steep hillside first planted to grape vines by French immigrants over 100 years ago. Their winery and the vineyards they work with are located at sites in the Santa Cruz and Gabilan Mountains that are as beautiful as they are exceptional for grape growing. They farm organically and practice minimal-intervention winemaking with the goal of producing wines that transparently and authentically express site and variety.
Big Basin believes that their choice of vineyards, picking at the right time to retain intensity and elegance, and minimalistic winemaking practices are the keys to producing more aromatic and ethereal wines - new world wines with old world soul. Owner and winemaker Bradley Brown has been on a 20 year quest to produce beautiful and soulful wines. Winemaker Blake Yarger joined the team in 2017 and together they are always fine tuning practices to more transparently express the vineyards.
Bottle: $35 | Glass: $15