Wednesday, June 29, 2022

Wine Country Texas - Pedernales Cellars Grenache

We've been on an extended run of Texas wines lately, and here is another winner for some Texan cork-popping, from Pedernales Cellars.

Pedernales Cellars is run by a family of sixth-generation Texans who specialize in making wine from Spanish grapes varieties and those from the Rhône Valley. Tempranillo and Viognier are their red and white flagship wines, and they do a nice job with Grenache as well.

The 2020 Pedernales Texas High Plains Grenache carries alcohol at a lofty 15.3% abv, but the color is only medium-dark and the mouthfeel is surprisingly light. The nose brings strawberry, raspberry and blackberry aromas, while the palate is rich in red fruit. The tannins are firm, yet the wine has a silky feel in the mouth. Not exactly what I was expecting, but delightful nonetheless. 


Monday, June 27, 2022

Wine Country Texas - Duchman Progression 3 Red Blend

Duchman Family Winery is in the central Texas town of Driftwood, just west of Austin. Stan and Lisa Duchman proudly display that their wines are made from 100% Texas grapes. Winemaker Dave Reilly dedicates his wines to staff and friends, who make and enjoy the fruit of his effort.

Duchman's Progression 3 is a red wine blend made with 100% Texas grapes, as are all the Duchman offerings. In keeping with the winery's fascination with Italian varieties, Progression 3 is a blend of Aglianico and Montepulciano grapes. The non-vintage wine was aged for more than 30 months in American, Hungarian and French oak barrels. Alcohol tips in at 14.5% abv and the wine retails for $48.

This is a dark wine, with a nose to match. Blackberry, black plum, black pepper, leather - it is a fairly brawny aroma package. The palate follows suit, with dark fruit and a savory angle to beat all savory angles. Tannins are quite firm and the wine could probably benefit from an hour or two to breathe. The finish is lengthy and savory. 


Friday, June 24, 2022

Blood Of The Vines - Screwballs

Pairing‌‌‌ ‌‌‌wine‌‌‌ ‌‌‌with‌‌‌ ‌‌‌movies!‌‌‌ ‌‌‌See‌‌‌ ‌‌‌the‌‌‌ ‌‌‌trailers‌‌‌ ‌‌‌and‌‌‌ ‌‌‌hear‌‌‌ ‌‌‌the‌‌‌ ‌‌‌fascinating‌‌‌ ‌‌‌commentary‌‌‌ ‌‌‌for‌‌‌ ‌‌‌these‌‌‌ ‌‌‌‌‌movies‌,‌‌ ‌‌‌and‌‌‌ ‌‌‌many‌‌‌ ‌‌‌more‌,‌‌ ‌‌‌at‌‌‌ ‌‌‌Trailers‌‌‌ ‌‌‌From‌‌‌ ‌‌‌Hell.‌‌‌ This week, we find some wines that pair well with screwball comedies - wines that taste good going down as well as coming out our noses when we laugh.

This nation needed a laugh in the 1930s, and Hollywood provided. The year 1936 was brightened by Theodora Goes Wild, a pairing of Melvyn Douglas and Irene Dunne. This was the movie, in fact, which spun Dunne's career from dramatic roles to comedic ones. 

Dunne plays a small-town Sunday school teacher who has secretly written a bestselling book, full of scandalously sexy scenes. Her nom de plume keeps her secret, but in a screwball comedy, someone always overhears. What will the ladies of the town think? Don’t worry, Theodora - everybody loves a celebrity.

Let's get the obvious pairing out of the way quickly - Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey, gluten-free and available at your local Target. More on point, the Austrian winery Oggau makes a white wine called Theodora, a blend of Grüner Veltliner and Welschriesling grapes.

My Man Godfrey was also released in 1936, a great year for the screwball comedy. William Powell plays alongside Carole Lombard - interesting in that the pair had been married for a couple of years earlier in the '30s. She's a wealthy socialite, which is what we called "one-percenters" in the FDR years. He's a "forgotten man," which is what we called bums in the FDR years. She ropes him into a scavenger hunt, then falls for him and hires him to be her family's butler. Screwball comedy ensues.

During the Great Depression, laughs didn't come cheap. However, a lot of people plunked down their hard-earned money for tickets to Godfrey, hoping for smiles that had grown too few and far between in the hard times. The film delivered. The critics liked it quite a bit, too.

Godfrey Winery makes a nice Shiraz in South Australia's Barossa Valley, so why not? Name-dropping is not only permitted, it is expected.

Skipping along about six decades, 1998's There's Something About Mary is called a romantic comedy by some, screwball comedy by others. The Farrelly brothers' film certainly has elements of the balle de screw in it, so let's call it what it seems to be. 

Cameron Diaz stars as Mary, who contends with four guys all vying for her love. There is a boatload of childish and silly humor, but we laugh all the way anyway. The laughs are a little more needed today than they were in the late '90s, so let your inner junior high school student fly freely for a couple of hours.

Searching for Mary Wine yields a raft of romance novels featuring bare chested studs on the covers, so keep digging. Hale Mary Wine gets you to the Russian River Valley, where I hear they make some pretty tasty Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Mary, by the way, is one of the winemakers. She is said to be hale and hearty, and also a part-time rock and jazz drummer.


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Wednesday, June 22, 2022

Texas Wine - Pet Nat Sparkler

Spicewood Vineyards is named for its home, Spicewood, Texas, a little northwest of Austin. Owner Ron Yates and winemaker Todd Crowell are both native Texans, and both traveled other wine regions before realizing that their destiny was Texas wine. Their estate vineyard is one of the largest in the Texas Hill Country.

The 2021 Spicewood Vineyards Grenache Rosé was made with grapes from the Texas High Plains AVA, not their estate vineyard. Alcohol tips 14.3% abv.

This pink wine is quite rich in color. Its hue is a cross between salmon orange and copper, looking very much like roses. The nose is a blast of strawberries, green parts and all, with an earthy herbal streak and a line of black pepper. On the palate, the brash rosé comes on like a red wine, with tons of flavor and a refreshing acidity. This wine's pairing ability can reach from salads'n'seafood territory into pork chops, burgers and cheese plates. 


Monday, June 20, 2022

Wine Country Texas - Pedernales Cellars

Pedernales Cellars is run by a family of sixth-generation Texans who specialize in making wine from Spanish grapes varieties and those from the Rhône Valley. Tempranillo and Viognier are their red and white flagship wines, but I got the chance to taste a really wonderful - and a bit unusual - sparkling rosé.

Pedernales Cellars Kyla Texas Hill Country Sparkling Wine is actually a Petillant Naturel - carbonated during primary fermentation - which opens up quite fizzy from under its bottle cap closure. The folks at Pedernales say Kyla is pronounced "shoola" by their Swedish relatives. It means "chill," and it offers the perfect opportunity to do so this summer. "Pedernales," by the way, was pronounced "Perdnales" by Lady Bird Johnson, so there are some linguistic tricks to learn in order to appreciate this Hill Country wine from Stonewall, Texas. It has an alcohol mark at a very reasonable 11.5% abv and it retails for $35.

This 2020 Tempranillo sparkler shows a beautiful salmon orange color, along with a nose of strawberries, an herbal quality and tangerine peel. The palate lays out red cherry flavors laced with citrus minerality and a razor-sharp acidity which really refreshes. It is bold and even brawny, in a way - unusual for a sparkling rosé but entirely welcome.


Friday, June 17, 2022

Blood Of The Vines - Tortured Artists

Pairing‌‌‌ ‌‌‌wine‌‌‌ ‌‌‌with‌‌‌ ‌‌‌movies!‌‌‌ ‌‌‌See‌‌‌ ‌‌‌the‌‌‌ ‌‌‌trailers‌‌‌ ‌‌‌and‌‌‌ ‌‌‌hear‌‌‌ ‌‌‌the‌‌‌ ‌‌‌fascinating‌‌‌ ‌‌‌commentary‌‌‌ ‌‌‌for‌‌‌ ‌‌‌these‌‌‌ ‌‌‌‌‌movies‌,‌‌ ‌‌‌and‌‌‌ ‌‌‌many‌‌‌ ‌‌‌more‌,‌‌ ‌‌‌at‌‌‌ ‌‌‌Trailers‌‌‌ ‌‌‌From‌‌‌ ‌‌‌Hell.‌‌‌ This week, pour up wine pairings for three movies concerning the lives of fine artistes who had it rough.

Isadora is the 1968 biopic of dancer Isadora Duncan. She gained worldwide fame as a dancer, someone who created beauty yet suffered unimaginable pain during her life and died tragically at only 50 years old.

We all know what happens to free-spirited artists who seem to have things going along too nicely. That's right, torture. This film covers Duncan's too-short life in all the detail that fits in nearly three hours. Over the years the running time has been trimmed - even the director's cut is 24 minutes shorter - and the current feature spans just over two hours. So you miss a few highlights, save your tears for the right times. And do not cut any of Vanessa Redgrave's lines!

Duncan lost her two children when the car they were in drove into the Seine river. An automobile figures prominently in her own death, too. She took a ride in someone’s Bugatti convertible in Nice. Her long scarf - flapping in the breeze behind her - got tangled in the car's wheel and strangled her. I must admit, that is a bit more tortured than I want my own demise to play out.

The Wine Collective, out of Baltimore, has a rosé named after Isadora Duncan. Isadora is made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Petit Manseng and Merlot grapes that were grown in Virginia. Having had good experiences with Virginia wines, I can venture that sipping this one will be no torture.

1973's Payday features Rip Torn as a country music singer who is living life just a little too large. You can actually stop right there - you had me at Rip Torn. He has a certain amount of fame which he keeps in his Cadillac, right next to the Wild Turkey he uses to bribe deejays. He also uses the Caddy as a rolling motel room in which he beds women, usually to no great pleasure for either party. Touring, too many angry women, a knife fight gone wrong - this guy's torture is all self-inflicted. The car plays a role in his own inevitable end, by the way, even though he is not wearing a scarf at the time. 

Here's a site which pairs wine with candy bars. Really. They recommend a Ruby Port with the candy bar called Payday, so let's do that, if your local deejay has run out of Wild Turkey.

The Music Lovers hails from 1970. That was a great year for a lot of things - pop music, TV, bell-bottom pants - but it was not a good year for Ken Russell's movie about Tchaikovsky. This film was so abused by the critics you'd have thought they were all relatives of the composer. "Tedious," "grotesque," “perverse” and "wretched excesses" were just a few of the epithets hurled at Russell's film, and those were from the critics who liked it.

Tchaikovsky's torture started at an early age, when he watched his mother die a violent and painful death. His marriage to a bizarre woman - described variously as a "crazed half-wit" and a nymphomaniac - didn't last long. That could have been because Tchaikovsy preferred men, but the topic apparently never came up between him and his bride-to-be. Oops! Eventually he drinks poisoned water and dies of cholera, the same illness that plagued his mother. The film sees it as a suicide, and who could blame him? 

For a complicated guy like Tchaikovsky, who made some pretty complicated music - how about a nice, complicated Pinot Noir? Melville's Estate Pinot comes from the Sta. Rita Hills part of Santa Barbara County. It is a rich, complex and elegant Pinot which will pair perfectly with Tchaikovsky's music - and hopefully with Russell's vision of it.


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Wednesday, June 15, 2022

Wine Country Texas - Bending Branch

Bending Branch Winery is as close as it gets to being a beloved Texas institution - and Texans don't toss about their institutions lightly. The winery is so loaded down with awards and accolades that work should be underway for a new trophy room. Perennial favorites in newspaper and online reader polls, Bending Branch makes their wine in the aptly-named town of Comfort.

The outfit is headed up by winemaker Robert W. Young, MD, MPH. That last set of letters means he has a masters in public health. He says that Bending Branch introduced Texas to the Picpoul (PEEK-pool) grape in 2009, and made their first estate Picpoul two years later.

The Bending Branch Winery Picpoul Blanc is their signature white wine - their flagship red is Tannat - and the 2021 Picpoul carries with it the quality that is ever elusive for white wines - complexity.

This Picpoul was fermented in stainless steel and aged in those tanks for seven months, so there is no influence of oak to be found. The Picpoul grape has a naturally high acidity, making it a versatile wine for food pairing. This one was made from grapes taken from the Texas High Plains AVA. Alcohol hits a reasonable 13.1% abv and the wine retails for $26.

The wine has a nice golden hue and a nose which sports apricots, Meyer lemons, wet-sidewalk minerality, salinity and a touch of lanolin. The palate is just as wonderful, with stone fruit, minerals, spices and herbs. The acidity is as great as advertised. This wine should pair well with seafood, salads or sandwiches - I had mine with a salami and cheese creation on rosemary sourdough and it was fabulous.


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Friday, June 10, 2022

Blood Of The Vines - George Sanders, A Cad's Cad

Pairing‌‌‌ ‌‌‌wine‌‌‌ ‌‌‌with‌‌‌ ‌‌‌movies!‌‌‌ ‌‌‌See‌‌‌ ‌‌‌the‌‌‌ ‌‌‌trailers‌‌‌ ‌‌‌and‌‌‌ ‌‌‌hear‌‌‌ ‌‌‌the‌‌‌ ‌‌‌fascinating‌‌‌ ‌‌‌commentary‌‌‌ ‌‌‌for‌‌‌ ‌‌‌these‌‌‌ ‌‌‌‌‌movies‌,‌‌ ‌‌‌and‌‌‌ ‌‌‌many‌‌‌ ‌‌‌more‌,‌‌ ‌‌‌at‌‌‌ ‌‌‌Trailers‌‌‌ ‌‌‌From‌‌‌ ‌‌‌Hell.‌‌‌ This week, three movies which show in stark detail how to be a cad, courtesy of George Sanders. We have wine pairings for each, of course.

Cads don't really come much caddier than in the 1956 film, Death of a Scoundrel. The story was based on the life of financial criminal Serge Rubinstein - who was killed in 1955. One glance at the list of his transgressions and it's a wonder someone didn't knock him off sooner.  Stock manipulation and embezzlement are the least caddiest parts of his personality. His dalliances with women were just as shady.

Death of a Scoundrel was one of a pair of films in which Sanders got to work with his real-life brother Tom Conway, who was a dead ringer in the familial resemblance department. He also got to work with Yvonne De Carlo and Zsa Zsa Gabor, with whom he shares no lookalike qualities. He was, however, divorced in real life from Zsa Zsa just a couple years before.

Bell Wine Cellars of Yountville, California offers a wine which seems tailor-made for this film - The Scoundrel. It's a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah, with splashes of Cab Franc and Merlot. There is no explanation on why the name was chosen, but there it is on the label, in a wine-colored script font. The company says they cannot ship to Louisiana. Maybe they figure they have enough scoundrels there.

Green Hell was set in the jungle, at least it was Universal's idea of a jungle in 1940. They built it on a sound stage at great expense, then used it again in The Mummy's Hand. Sanders plays alongside a great cast - Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Vincent Price, Joan Bennett, Alan Hale and others. Many of those in the cast couldn't talk about Green Hell in later years without laughing. Price said it was five bad movies rolled into one.

A band of treasure hunters are joined in the jungle by a beautiful woman. How'd she get there? She took a left at Albakoyky. It turns out that her husband was in the group of explorers, but he was killed by angry natives just before she got there. She becomes the new treasure, as it were, sort of. 

If there were a wine named Jungle Jungle, it would be perfect for this film. There is. It comes from the wilds of South Australia, a multi-national blend of Dolcetto and Nero d'Avola from Clare Valley and Touriga Nacional grapes from Langhorne Creek. The wine should take the edge off of the movie's shortcomings.

1960's Village of the Damned issued posters warning theater patrons to "beware the stare," and woe came to those who didn’t heed that advice. A town full of kids are all born on the same day, telepathic kids with evil eyes, after the whole town falls asleep and the women wake up pregnant. Sanders is one of the lucky fathers, although how the women all got pregnant is a mystery. He is left with one of the hardest decisions a dad has to make - whether to raise your demon spawn as your own or set off a homicidal and suicidal bomb to destroy him and all his so-called friends.

Damned Mountain wine hails from New Zealand's Marlborough region, one of the great places for Sauvignon Blanc. Will it protect you from "the stare?" Probably not, but it's worth a try. 


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Wednesday, June 8, 2022

Two Sonoma-Cutrer Chardonnays

The folks at Sonoma-Cutrer are celebrating 40 years of passion, imagination and pride in 2022.  They say their approach to winemaking "marries Burgundian traditions and California ingenuity."  Head winemaker Mick Schroeter puts his signature on the label, showing the pride that leads to the boast that their Chardonnay is one of America's favorites. They are even putting it in cans, all the better for summertime sipping on the go.

Sonoma-Cutrer Sonoma Coast Chardonnay 2020

The 2020 vintage brought with it all the usual challenges that winemakers find - drought, hot weather, wildfires - plus the additional problem of COVID to work around. They did work around it and managed to produce a wine which is another in a long line of California classics. This wine was split between oak and tank aging - 85% oak for eight months. Alcohol sits at a moderate 13.9% abv and the bottle retails for $23.

The nose is bursting with the aroma of apricots and peaches, lemons, vanilla and butter. The palate is as rich as Chardonnay gets, with sweet stone fruit flavors and a zippy acidity. You will be able to pair this wine not only with salads'n'seafood, but chicken and pork as well. The finish leaves a buttery reminder of the wine's opulence.

Sonoma-Cutrer Les Pierres Chardonnay 2019

The Les Pierres estate vineyard features volcanic soil, loaded with minerality, baked in sunshine and cooled by the Pacific Ocean. Only six percent of their Sonoma Coast Chardonnay came from Les Pierres. 

The winemaker says the 2019 vintage was one for the ages - double the amount of rain that usually averages all year. Other than that, it was perfect California weather all season long. The wine was fermented in oak and aged there, too, for a full year with another six months in the bottle. Full malolactic fermentation was reached, lending a full and creamy mouthfeel to the sip. Alcohol clocks in at 14.2% abv and the wine retails for $46.

The wine is quite pale, mostly a very faint yellow with a hint of green at times. Its nose offers up more citrus than stone fruit, but both are well-represented. The fruit steals the show on the palate, too, although the acidity is quite racy and makes a case for itself as the lead. There are wonderful spice notes that come through in aromas and flavors. Oak is handled tastefully and the finish is long and supple.


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Monday, June 6, 2022

Chianti Comes To Los Angeles

The Chianti Lovers U.S. Tour 2022 hit SoCal in May, setting up shop for the afternoon at The London West Hollywood. The presentation was an immersive exploration of the Chianti wine region of Tuscany, with a sit-down guided tasting of wines and a walk-around tasting which left the trade and media types bumping from table to table, glasses in hands. Here are a few favorites from a handful of producers, most of which are seeking representation in America.

Cantina Sorelli

Their 2021 Chianti D.O.C.G. has a beautiful nose full of roses, lavender and red fruit. Amazing.

Chianti Trambusti 

Their 2019 Toscana Rosso "Sentimento" has lovely, savory notes of cherry and herbs.

Montecchio 

Their 2019 Chianti Classico D.O.C.G. is heavy on the Sangiovese, light on the Merlot. Savory red fruit and 12 months in Slovenian oak.

The 2016 Chianti Classico D.O.C.G. Gran Selezione "Pasquino" is all Sangiovese, aged in terra cotta vessels. So fresh still, six years later.

Piandaccoli 

Their 2019 I.G.T. Toscana Bianco is half Chardonnay and half Malvasia. Savory, seashore.

The 2020 Vino Spumante Rosato Brut "Vivendi" is the only sparkling wine in the world made from the Mammolo grape, I am told. It's a very nice step up from Prosecco.

The 2016 I.G.T. Toscana Rosso was the star of the show. It's an extremely savory red wine, while the 2015 Chianti D.O.C.G. Riserva "Cosmus" ran a close second.

Tentuta di Sticciano

Their 2021 I.G.T. Tosacono Rosato "Canto Delle Rose" shows fabulous strawberry and a wonderful salinity, in addition to some great acidity.

The 2018 I.G.T. Toscana Rosso "Indomito" has roses on the nose and a palate that's fruity and savory at once.


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Friday, June 3, 2022

Blood Of The Vines - Ray Liotta R.I.P.

Pairing‌‌‌ ‌‌‌wine‌‌‌ ‌‌‌with‌‌‌ ‌‌‌movies!‌‌‌ ‌‌‌See‌‌‌ ‌‌‌the‌‌‌ ‌‌‌trailers‌‌‌ ‌‌‌and‌‌‌ ‌‌‌hear‌‌‌ ‌‌‌the‌‌‌ ‌‌‌fascinating‌‌‌ ‌‌‌commentary‌‌‌ ‌‌‌for‌‌‌ ‌‌‌these‌‌‌ ‌‌‌‌‌movies‌,‌‌ ‌‌‌and‌‌‌ ‌‌‌many‌‌‌ ‌‌‌more‌,‌‌ ‌‌‌at‌‌‌ ‌‌‌Trailers‌‌‌ ‌‌‌From‌‌‌ ‌‌‌Hell.‌‌‌ This week, we tip our hats to the recently passed actor Ray Liotta with wine pairings for three of his films.

In 1990's Goodfellas, Liotta turned in a career performance as mobster-turned-witness Henry Hill. From a fresh-faced recruit to a coke-crazed veteran of the neighborhood wars, we follow him through crime, punishment and humiliation as he careens through his criminal life. He lived his life with every comfort he could steal. In the end, he was just a schnook who couldn't even get a decent marinara sauce.


Martin Scorsese directed the film to six Oscar nominations, but the Academy gave the supporting actor nod to Joe Pesci, which he won. Liotta’s narration, for me, makes the movie. His description of how to make a sauce while watching federal helicopters hover above him defines the crazy cool feeling of living on the edge with no safe place to fall.


There’s a liquor store in Brooklyn called Goodfellas, where presumably anything you purchase would pair well with the movie. It might even help them pay their weekly tribute to whoever lets them stay open. But for a classic movie serving up heaping helpings of pasta and sauce, make it a Chianti Classico, straight from the heart of Tuscany.


Something Wild came from 1986, a few years prior to Liotta's big role as a gangster. He's a tough guy in this one, too, an angry husband with parole problems who is not amused by his wife taking up with a banker. It's a freewheeling comedy, the one that brought Liotta to Scorsese’s attention. "Note to self: hire this guy for that wise guy movie."


South Australia’s Wild and Wilder Wines has a blend of Grenache, Shiraz and Mataro which is named The Unforgettable, a good enough nickname for Something Wild as well as for Liotta.


1997's Cop Land has Liotta on the other side of the badge, although as a dirty officer. The incredibly convoluted story ends up, as in Goodfellas, with his character copping a plea to keep his ass out of a crack.


Liotta lends support to the lead actors, Sylvester Stallone and Harvey Keitel, and gets to work again with Goodfellas cohort Robert De Niro. For a guy who worked as much as Liotta did - and who was as memorable in his roles - it's sad that he toiled for more than thirty years after Goodfellas in films that were nowhere near that mountaintop.


For Cop Land, let's look to a Paso Robles winery that was co-founded by a retired police officer - Thin Blue Wine Cellars. Even if he tries to get dirty, his ex-Marine wife is there to keep him on the straight and narrow.


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Wednesday, June 1, 2022

Three Terrific White Wines From Campania

Irpinia is the historical name of the province of Avellino, inland in the Campania Apennines. That is the place that the Feudi di San Gregorio winery calls home. They are quick to note that they identify with Irpinia, not Campania. The winery was established by two families in 1986.

At Feudi di San Gregorio, they believe that a bottle of wine and a work of art arrive through the same creative process. They try to show the artistic side of the wine biz, with their labels all designed by Massimo Vignelli and a winery design from Hikaru Mori.

The 2020 Feudi di San Gregorio Falanghina carries the Sannio appellation and is made from 100% Falanghina grapes, aged in stainless steel tanks for five months, on the lees. Alcohol is quite restrained at only 13% abv and wine sells for around $23.

Despite the inland origin of the grapes, this wine smells like the seashore, with some nectarines, apricots and citrus thrown into the mix. The palate offers a showcase of minerality, with Meyer lemon and stone fruit trailing behind. Acidity is fresh and racy, perfect for pairing with a seafood dish, oysters in particular.


The 2020 Feudi di San Gregorio Greco di Tufo comes, naturally, from the Greco di Tufo appellation. The grapes are 100% Greco variety and the wine clocks in at 12.5% abv.  It retails for $28.

This beautiful white wine also carries with it a whiff of the sea, much like its cousin, Feudi di San Gregorio's Falanghina. The stone fruit comes across a little stronger on the nose, but the minerality and salinity fall right in line. This wine shows a less sharp acidity and would seem to be better suited to salad than seafood. It is, however, a delicious sipper.


The 2019 Feudi di San Gregorio Fiano di Avellino carries the Fiano di Avellino appellation. It is made from 100% Fiano grapes and has alcohol at 13% abv. Retail is $28.

The straw yellow wine shows stone fruit and salinity on the nose. The palate is savory, with a ton of minerals and a hint of apricot and lemon. The acidity is racy and the long finish is all minerality.


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