Domaine Meunier ‘Peyo’
Grapes Merlot - Cab Franc
Place Bordeaux - France
Process Whole cluster native yeast fermentation. Hand Harvested. Classic blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc.
FamilyThe Château Haut-Ségottes is owned and operated by Danielle Meunier. Mme. Meunier, “vigneronne extraordinaire”, is the fourth generation of her family to oversee this nine hectare estate situated in the heart of the Saint Emilion appellation. Mme. Meunier’s great-grandfather purchased the estate around 1860 and had earned gold medals for his wine as early as 1912 at the Concours Agricole in Paris. In 1959, the estate began to bottle its wine in earnest. In 1972 Madame Meunier took the reins of production and we can proudly stake our claim as one of her first and most loyal clients: we have been purchasing her wines since the 1977 vintage. The 9 hectares Château Haut-Segottes are all planted within the St. Emilion Grand Cru appellation. The vineyards are planted 60% to Merlot, 35% to Cabernet Franc, and 5% to Cabernet Sauvignon. The position of the vineyards within the appellation is outstanding. Parcels are found within the “lieu-dits” of Fortin (across from La Dominique and 300 meters from Cheval Blanc); Chauvin; and the highly regarded “Plateau de Corbin”. Production levels average 45 hectoliters per hectare. Haut-Segottes bottles between 30,000 to 40,000 bottles per year.
Bottle: $35 | Glass: $15
Vinos de Finca ‘Losado’
Grapes Mencia
Place Bierzo - Spain
Process 40-60 Year Old Vines. 12 Months Oak Barrels. Destemmed & lightly crushed. Native Yeast Fermentation
Family Aiming to make elegant wine in Bierzo, Losada Vinos de Finca sought out old Bierzo vineyards traditionally planted on clay soils. Losada was established on the outskirts of the village of Pieros, on the St James pilgrimage route, midway between Cacabelos and Villafranca del Bierzo. The company also owns vineyard plots, planted mainly on clay soils round Valtuille de Arriba, where grapes for Altos de Losada are produced. The philosophy is to extract to maximum expression from the region’s terroir via the painstaking selection of estates and vineyards. Complexity and elegance are the grassroots of the Losada Vinos de Finca project.
Bottle: $35 | Glass: $15
El Porvenir ‘Amauta’
Grapes 100% Tannat
Place Finca El Retiro Vineyared - Cafayate Valley - Salta - Argentina
Process This sustainably farmed, single vineyard estate wine is composed of 100% hand harvested Tannat from the Calchaqui Valley, Salta. This fruit driven wine shows raspberry and plum with notes of rose petal and white pepper on the nose. Extremely soft and smooth tannins for Tannat lead the fruit to a soft and velvety finish. Vintage: 2021
Sustainable Farming Practices, Altitude: 5740, Sandy Soils, Parral Trellis System, Stainless steel ageing.
Family El Porvenir was founded within the Calchaqui Valley in the town of Cafayate by the Romero-Marcuzzi family in 2000. The family’s first winery was established in the late 1970’s in Tolombón, just a few miles from the town of Cafayate. They have been an integral part of the Cafayate community ever since and we believe that El Porvenir de Cafayate is one of the benchmark wineries of the Salta. They strive to maintain the legacy of their ancestors while incorporating current winemaking and viticulture. They own and farm four different vineyards within the Calchaqui Valley all of which are located close to the town of Cafayate. The oldest vineyard was planted approximately 65 years ago and each parcel is primarily comprised of sandy soils with elevations ranging from 5400 to 6200 feet above sea level. All grapes are hand harvested and they farm Tannat, Torrontes, Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah along with some small plots of additional varietals. The gravity fed winery and cellar is housed within a hand made adobe structure in downtown Cafayate. The winery is currently run by Lucia Romero-Marcuzzi, the granddaughter of Roberto, the founder of El Porvenir de Cafayate.
Bottle: $25 | Glass: $11
Cutter Cascadia ‘Ashes to Ashes’
Grapes 100% Dolcetto
Place Columbia Valley - Washington
Process “From the standpoint of where the Gorge is currently, it remains, I think, one of the varietals that is really well suited to the climate here, although it remains a difficult grape to manage. It’s very sensitive, in short, to literally everything. The block I farm at von Flowtow [the site], at nearly 1000 feet, was my first vineyard out of my viticulture classes. I think I have a pretty deep understanding of that place, at least my vines (there only like 477 of them at last count). To be fair, this parcel is the rug rat of the vineyard, always looking a little like hell, especially late summer on, but I always liked the fruit and the wines despite how gnarly it is. It’s the ugly mutt that has a lot of personality. I’ve often conjectured that it’s the problems (like trunk disease) that give it character (and I even ran an experiment in 2017 that gives this some credence to this theory, but that’s for another day).”
Family “I'm originally from Indiana and the Midwest and have been a wine buyer and/or in the restaurant business through out my adult life in Portland, OR, Santa Fe, NM and even way back in Phoenix, AZ and beyond. The interest in the vineyard and wine making has come to me after years of tasting and focusing on the wines of the world both traditionally made and everything but that. All in all, I have been in love with wines that are possessed with energy and purpose. But when I took some classes some in viticulture everything changed, everything had to be re-calibrated, and I've gotten after it with a similar enthusiasm as when I set out to study wine back so long ago. I source fruit from what I would call micro-leases, where I am present from pruning to harvest and manage each block in accordance to the rhythm of the season and how I feel the best way to express the vintage through the medium of wine. At this moment in my evolution I don’t own any land or machines, but I offer time and ideas.
While I govern myself with the feeling that wine's most poignant expression is as a narrative that should recall a place and time through one's effort, I would also be a fool to abandon the notion that wine is something to enjoy once in a moment and leave behind forever. It's just wine. In fact, all of the wines from the vineyard will be made for the simple pleasure to drink them and nothing else. Whether or not you derive the sense of place and time from a glass I can't control that nor does that really matter, but all I can do is make the wine through this lens . . . of one who values the simplicity of nature and yet the often confounding and beautiful way that that happens. There will be some experiments along the way. It could be an epic failure but it will be true and if it all lines up ok, it might make you feel something. Cheers.”
Michael Garofola
Bottle: $35 | Glass: $15