| APRIL 2023 NEWS Festival season is here and it is a big time for new releases, so expect lots of new additions and new vintages in the next month or so. We’ve got three tastings to tell you about and a few very limited offers in this email as well. Questions? 504-227-3888 or nolawinemerchant@gmail.com Let’s talk tastings first. We are happy to announce three upcoming events (one free and two ticketed) to put on your calendar. Don’t forget to check our Instagram for posts about what’s open to taste on any given day. MARK YOUR CALENDAR! SPRING WINE TASTING APRIL 21-22 10am-7pm staff picks under $25 FREE EVENT JADOT RED BURGUNDIES 2011 & 2012 Thursday, May 11th 4:30-6:30 Tickets $90 each TERRIOR TASTING Bordeaux and Rhône Valley Friday, May 19th, 3:30- 6:00 Tickets $28 each SPRING WINE TASTING – FREE! staff picks under $25 We will have a free event on April 21st and 22nd (the Friday and Saturday between French Quarter Fest and Jazz Fest) which will last from open to close on both days. We will feature wines perfect for the backyard, porch concerts and general quaffing. Everyone on the NOLA Wine team will pick three bottles that they selected and we will publish the list on Instagram and in the store a few days before the event along with who picked each wine. All of the wines will be priced at $25 or less and we will open about half of them on Friday and the rest on Saturday. This will be a great opportunity to choose some favorites for your drinking pleasure and also offer a little insight into what each of us are loving right now. This will be a perfect chance to restock after French Quarter Fest or stock up before Jazz Fest!  RED BURGUNDIES 2011 & 2012 direct from the Jadot cellars! TICKETED TASTING EVENT On Thursday, May 11th, from 4:30-6:30, we will feature Jadot red Burgundies from 2011 and 2012 that came directly from their cellars! Quantities are very limited but we can’t resist opening (and sharing) some Burgundy with age that has been impeccably stored. Tickets are $90 each and there are 20 available. We will have cheese and meats to accompany the wines. We will be pouring: -Jadot Duc du Magenta Chassagne-Montrachet Blanc 1er Cru Morgeot Monopole Clos de la Chapelle 2020 -Jadot Savigny-Lès-Beaune 1er Cru Lavières 2011 -Jadot Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Les Cazetiers 2011 -Jadot Volnay 1er Cru Carelle Sous La Chapelle 2012 -Jadot Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Les Damodes 2011 -Jadot Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Les Boudots 2011 -Jadot Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Les Perrières 2012 HOW WE ARE CONDUCTING OUR UPCOMING TICKETED TASTINGS Neither ticketed event mentioned is seated. Buy your ticket and come any time during the appointed times, including up to 30 minutes before the event ends, you will get to taste all the wines. Call 504-227-3888 or stop by the store to purchase your ticket. TERRIOR TASTING EVENT – Bordeaux and Rhône Valley On Friday, May 19th, from 3:30 until 6:00pm, we will pour wines that provide an excellent opportunity to learn about the terroir of Bordeaux and part of the Rhône Valley as well. We will feature two producers with three wines each that are the exact same mix of grapes but from different appellations! With the same winemaker and the same blend, you will really be able to taste the different aspects of the soil and climate.  |
The Bordeaux is Domaines Barons de Rothschild’s (Lafite) Les Légendes. The Rothschild family history in Bordeaux stretches back more than 150 years. They added this line of wines about thirty years ago to keep some proper and affordable options available under their name. Diane Flamand has been the winemaker for these wines since 2004. She came to visit us recently and impressed us – with her knowledge, passion and, most importantly, her wines. Three of them, in particular, sparked a desire to put this tasting together. We will taste those three wines, all made from a 50/50 blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and coming from the appellations of Entre-deux-Mers, Médoc and Pauillac. As a bonus, we will add another wine from the Right Bank with a different blend but the same winemaker.  About a week after Diane visited us, we had another visitor who pointed out that Guillaume Gonnet has a number of wines with an identical blend of grapes, in this case 80% Grenache and 20% Syrah from the southern Rhône. We will pour Côtes-du-Rhône, Côtes-du-Rhône Villages and Lirac (across the river from Avignon) and we’ll add his Châteauneuf-du-Pape for a different blend but a similar approach from the same winemaker. All of this will be available with some cheese and meats for only $28/ticket. 20 tickets will be available. MALESCOT VERTICAL PACK – only 5 available.  1 bottle each of the 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 vintages – all direct from a negociant cellar in Bordeaux. This is a big wine, featuring about 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, about 30% Merlot with the rest Cabernet Franc and a little Petit Verdot. Michel Rolland consults here, so if you know that name, you know what you’ll get – density, purity of fruit and a fair amount of new oak. The 2014 and 2012 are “better” vintages (and could age for another decade or more) but the 2011 and 2013 vintages show a bit more maturity and are in very good places for drinking. Open them all with some friends and explore a third growth wine from Bordeaux or age them longer and enjoy the bottles one at a time. Be sure to consider this vertical pack as a spectacular gift for a red wine lover in your world. LARGE FORMAT BOTTLES! We have two three liter bottles and even a nine liter in stock at the moment. Perfect for any larger gatherings you may have planned. They are never bargains on a volume basis but they make quite an impression and instantly turn any gathering into a party.  -Domaine Tempier Bandol Rosé 2021 3LT -Henriot Brut 1989 3LT (Disgorged in 2020) One of only two bottles that came to Louisiana! -Frog’s Leap Merlot, Napa Valley 2015 9LT (That’s an entire case of wine in one bottle!) We always have a good variety of magnums on hand also. Presently 17 different selections, from sparkling wine to older Bordeaux and even some Burgundy, are available and more are coming! |
