This Week's Offering:
Price Includes the Four Bottles & All Taxes
($150+10%GST+5%PST)
Pick Up at Burdock & Co
Friday August 05.22 5-7 PM
Notes Below by Peter Van de Reep...
Bow and Arrow Time Machine White
Oregon 2020
Our Cascadian neighbours grow some pretty awesome grapes for wine. Known more for Pinot Noir of course, aspiring Oregonian vignerons also planted Loire Valley varieties like Chenin Blanc and Melon de Bourgogne in its early days of viticulture. Not as much of that is seen since Chardonnay and Pinot Gris became more dominant in their market, but little traces of it remain and those who know can often find a lot of joy in these bottlings.
Bow and Arrow is a small project from husband and wife team, Scott and Dana Frank, focused on making high drinkability low intervention wines from growers who share their ideals in sustainable farming and championing lesser known varieties.
This year’s Time Machine White is a blend of mostly Chenin Blanc with a touch Chardonnay and Melon de Bourgogne, the grape responsible for Muscadet (and a big favourite around Burdock and Bar Gobo). It has a slight fizz to it and is bright, fresh and citrusy with a nice hit of green herbs. It almost reminds me of Sour Patch Kids in all their tart, citric glory.
Bodegas Gaintza Getariako Txakolina Roses
Spain 2020
Last month we tried the Aitako Txakoli from Gaintza, a delicious crisp and serious example from a great estate. This wine is from the same estate, but it is their rosé offering. If that doesn’t get you excited, let me tell you why this is cool. The bottle is 50% Hondarrabi Beltza and 50% Hondarrabi Zuri. The Beltza grape is almost extinct. Before this bottle, I had never come across one before in the wild. To be fair, anything Basque is pretty rare this side of the Atlantic. For those who didn’t get wine last month, Gaintza is a 99 year old estate overlooking the Cantabrian Sea currently run by the fourth generation, brothers Josepa and Urtzi Lazkano. Known for their dedication to tradition and high quality, this is a bottle considered to be a standard bearer for the style with a slight effervescence and lower alcohol. There is a beautiful rosehip and cranberry quality to this rosé that I really find compelling. A fair bit of sour cherry yogurt, delicate green herbs, hibiscus limeade and the smell of summer rain on a rocky mountainside.
Coralie & Damien Delecheneau Tournage Riant
France 2020
I was trying to make sense of this wine, as I knew this label to be from a winery called La Grange Tiphaine, but that name was nowhere to be found on this bottle. Turns out, owners of Coralie & Damien Delecheneau started a négociant business alongside their family estate and this is from the négoce side of things, which means that these grapes are from fruit that the Delecheneaus purchase and do not own the land themselves. Their mission for the negociant is to help local growers convert over to organics themselves and improve their land.
La Grange Tiphaine is a very highly regarded estate in beautiful Amboise in the Loire Valley in France, they are Biodynamic certified since 2014 and Organic since 2007 when Damien took over the family business fully. This wine is a very different rosé from the Gaintza Txakoli above. This one is pure red plum, apple, raspberry and vibrant floral lilac, honeysuckle and rose petal. Broad and powerful, the wine carries its higher alcohol well (it was a really warm vintage for the Loire Valley in 2020).
Elios Glou Glou Rosso
Italy 2020
Elios is a young company of two young Sicilians, one an engineer and one an oenologist. They started up to take advantage of the organic grapes that their families grew that normally would be sold off in bulk to larger growers. Focusing on native Sicilian varieties, they have done a good job making wines more true to their place. This is their ‘Glou Glou’, a natural Nerello Mascalese from grapes grown in Monreale, just outside of Palermo. Nerello Mascalese is normally found on Mount Etna a little further to the east, but is growing in popularity as people discover how good it can be. This example is a bit more of a fruit forward Nerello with firm tannins and elegant structure. Lots of aromatic Amarena cherry syrup here, licorice and bramble. Put this one in the fridge for 15-30 minutes before you open it, the wine is fresh and will taste even better with the slight chill.