| OCTOBER 2023 NEWS Fall is here! We’re ready for red wine to take center stage, and we’ve been tasting and buying more wines for the shop as we gear up for the holiday season. October will include two classes and a free (yes, free!) Burgundy tasting. Read on for details… TASTING EVENTS & WINE CLASSES We will continue to have the more larger, more open tastings as well, but expect us to keep classes in the mix going forward. We love every chance we get to nerd out on spectacular wines! Here’s what’s on the schedule for this month: Wine Class: The Villages of Barolo Wednesday, October 11th 6-7pm – $55 Aside from Burgundy, Barolo may well be the world’s most specifically delineated wine region, with distinct villages and vineyards mapped out. These are also among our favorite wines out of Italy, so we thought a tour of these terroirs would make a wonderful theme for our next class! AJ will be opening 9 wines from the 5 most well-known of Barolo’s 11 comuni. We’ll have the opportunity to compare not only the same vintage Barolo from 4 different producers, but also some of those same producers’ entry-level offerings in the form of Langhe Nebbiolo (and in one case a Pinot Noir)! As these wines are mostly fairly young by Barolo standards, we’ll also talk through what it is that makes these such ageable bottles. By the end of the evening you’ll have a greater understanding of how terroir comes into play in Barolo, and be able to better appreciate one of Italy’s most respected appellations.  These are the wines we’ll be opening for the Villages of Barolo class:-Diego Conterno Barbera d’Alba ‘Ferrione’ 2020 $26 -Fratelli Revello Langhe Nebbiolo 2016 $18 -Fratelli Revello Barolo 2018 $37 -GD Vajra Langhe Pinot Nero 2021 $27 -GD Vajra Barolo ‘Bricco delle Viole’ 2018 $95 -Roccheviberti Langhe Nebbiolo 2021 $36 -Roccheviberti Barolo ‘Vecchie Viti’ 2018 $60 -Guido Porro Langhe Nebbiolo ‘Camilu’ 2021 $31 -Guido Porro Barolo ‘Gianetto’ 2018 $55 Please note that some of these wines are in very short supply and may be sold out apart from the tasting itself. Wine Class: Super Seconds Wednesday, October 25th – $65 Although the history of second labels in Bordeaux goes back to at least the early 20th century, it is only in the last few decades that we have seen a significant increase in the sheer number available and in the quality of the offerings. Most of the labels started as a place to put wine not up to snuff for the Grands Vins, and so were often not representative of the style of the château. Now, more and more producers are making their second label in the image of the flagship wine, a sort of introduction to the château that might entice someone to splurge for the fancier wine if they enjoy the second label.This class will cover a wonderful assortment of nine second label wines (including one white wine!), mostly from the Left Bank. With the exception of the white wine, the youngest vintage is 2016. Not all the wines are pictured but they are all listed below.  These are the wines we’ll be opening for the Super Seconds class:-L’Enclos de Carbonnieux Pessac-Léognan Blanc 2020 $32 -Sarget de Gruaud Larose Saint-Julien 2014 $54 -La Croix de Beaucaillou Saint-Julien 2015 $85 -Fleur de Pédesclaux Pauillac 2016 $39 -La Dame de Malescot Margaux 2016 $40 -Sirene de Giscours Margaux 2015 $49 -Blason d’Issan Margaux 2015 $48 -Croix Canon Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2016 $85 -Pagodes de Cos Saint-Estèphe 2009 $105 Please note that some of these wines are in very short supply and may be sold out apart from the tasting itself. Wine Tasting: Maison Joseph Drouhin Wednesday, October 18th 4-6:30pm – Free! We are thrilled to be able to offer a free event featuring wines from Joseph Drouhin. Steve Paley, our regional representative for importer Dreyfus, Ashby and Co., will be in town and will guide you through a tasting of seven wines. Founded in 1880 when Joseph Drouhin moved from Chablis to Beaune to form a négociant house, the family business has evolved tremendously since then. His son Maurice helped found the organization that created the appellation system. Maurice also began purchasing vineyards for domaine production. Today, there is a happy balance of both domaine wines and négociant at Joseph Drouhin! We will focus on some value-driven wines for this event. Some are familiar, some are less well known, but all are well worth trying!  These are the wines we’ll have open for the Joseph Drouhin tasting:-Vaudon Chablis 2021 $35 -Macon-Bussières ‘Les Clos’ 2020 $22 -Saint-Véran 2021 $21.50 -Bourgogne Rouge 2020 $24 -Santenay 2020 $36 -Côte de Beaune-Villages 2020 $36 -Côte de Beaune-Villages 2021 $53 HOW WE CONDUCT OUR UPCOMING WINE CLASSES These events will be seated, and limited to 10 people per class. Please arrive at the shop by 6 in order to allow us time to fully explore the wines. Appropriate pairings of cheese and/or charcuterie will be offered as well. Call 504-227-3888 or stop by the store to purchase your ticket! Private Wine Tastings! Can’t make our tastings? Why not schedule your own? Whether you’re putting together a birthday event, getting together with some fellow wine lovers, or just entertaining some friends, we’d be happy to host a tasting all for you! We’ll gladly work with you to pick out the perfect wines, and then guide you through the selection on the night of your event in our tasting room. What better way to kick off a special occasion than with a private, guided wine tasting? Give us a call or send an email and we’ll help work out all the details!  NEW ARRIVALS Here are a few wines we’ve added recently and want to share with you!  Château Bonnet Entre-Deux-Mers 2022 – $16 With the weather turning cooler, we thought it was time to bring in some richer whites to replace the crisp light ones we’ve been drinking all summer! Lucky us when this came across our radar — this white Bordeaux is 80% Sauvignon Blanc and 20% Semillon, so you get the bright, tropical fruit balanced with a creamy, rounded texture. Even better, like all André Lurton Family estates, Château Bonnet is certified sustainable in the vineyards. Try this wine with roasted chicken or shrimp risotto and see how well a richer white can perform as we swing into fall temperatures!  Michel Briday Rully Blanc – $35 Speaking of rich whites, this is a white Burgundy that will even hold its own against some of the bigger, broader California Chardonnays! Domaine Michel Briday is a second-generation family estate in the Côte Chalonnaise, which has farmed sustainably as long as they’ve owned vines. The more southerly region leads to much riper, more opulent fruit, but only about a quarter of the wine sees time in oak, just to accentuate that big fruit. According to winemaker Stéphane Briday: “The goal is not to drink one glass, but to want to drink another.” We certainly think he achieved his goal; pick up a bottle and let us know if you agree!  Fratelli Revello Langhe Nebbiolo 2016 – $19 2016 was a terrific vintage in Barolo — cool enough to feel like a more classic, old-school expression of the terroir. So we were absolutely thrilled to find a Langhe Nebbiolo from this excellent year, especially one that we could get to you for less than $20! Revello is based in La Morra, known to be the most light and aromatic of the main Barolo villages, and the fruit for this Langhe Nebbiolo comes from the prestigious Annunziata vineyard. We’d recommend letting this wine breathe a little for maximum enjoyment — it will unfurl itself into an elegant, floral, silky glass of red perfect at the table or on its own. This will also be a part of our Barolo class!  Remelluri Rioja Reserva 2015 – $48 This has been one of AJ’s desert island wines for a few years now, and the 2015 might be the best vintage yet! Remelluri is run by brother and sister Telmo and Amaia Rodriguez, and is the birthplace of Futuro Viñador, a collective of Spanish winemakers devoted to preserving the country’s winemaking traditions. The Reserva is 80% Tempranillo, with Garnacha and Graciano, aged 21 months in oak and and 5 years in bottle before release; this lets the wine integrate perfectly so it’s ready to drink on release, though it will age further. Dark fruits, baking spices, minerals, leather, vanilla, tobacco, and more — a benchmark Rioja Reserva if you ask us! |
| When you visit the store in the early fall and don’t see the usual faces, it’s likely we are at an industry show and tasting through portfolios to find new inventory. We would never complain about this — it’s one of the perks of being a wine professional — but it certainly makes October a busy month! Always feel free to reach out to any one of us at nolawinemerchant@gmail.com if you miss us at the store and want to chat about wine! |
