Bodegas Frontonio co-owner and winemaker, Fernando Mora MW, stopped by for an interview and tasting recently. Hear how he first got stared on this project with his friend and grape growing partner, the importance of starting a new winery in his historic hometown of Alpartir Spain, and how he's still improving his winemaking style after 14 vintages. Salud!
In the quest to find representative wines from New Zealand, it was interesting to discover just how many were owned by ‘outsiders’ who were there in the pursuit of greatness. Instead of pushing back on this topic, I leaned into it, because there are few regions with so much potential and relatively new investment in wine. Hopefully this box helps a little in your own quest for discovery when the next great opportunity to fill your wine glass presents itself. Cheers as always!
G'Day! Our tour of the Southern Hemisphere begins in Australia, an incredible winemaking country with quality wines from hip new wineries as well as storied family wineries. We will feature three reds from the south of the continent in South Australia and Victoria. Watch to learn more about the regions of McLaren Vale, Mornington Peninsula, and Barossa Valley, as well as get a full wine tasting and exploration of the wines.
We conclude our Tour of France with Bordeaux, a region and style of wines perfect for winter weather, big feasts, and curling up by the fire or under your favorite blanket. In this month's featured collection, you’ll discover three distinct wines from different regions within Bordeaux, all estate grown by small-ish family owned Chateaux. Just how we like it! Thanks for being along for the discovery this year. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to you and yours.
As our tour of France continues, we attempted to align the stars so Burgundy would be featured in November and everyone would be happy drinking Pinot at Thanksgiving. A challenge we have proudly accomplished for you!
Getting three great wines for an $85 club was no easy feat, but the trendiest region on the planet still has value when you look in the right places. So we tasted and tasted and called new wine sources and tasted some more until finally the club trio was complete.
This is an exciting achievement for our still new wine shop, but really it means you get a fantastic selection of ready-to-drink Burgundy (hooray!) this November to share with loved ones.
The October Club lined up perfectly with our Loire Valley wine tastings, and the Cab Franc theme in April was one of our most popular club months. We also strive to make seasonal connections for weather, food, and wine, and I posit the Loire Valley Cabernet Franc (Franc) and Pinot Noir (Pinot) in this release will have you wishing it was Fall all year long.
The overwhelmingly drinkable, albeit a bit spicy, Franc and Pinot featured here are indispensable when the weather turns cool and the savory flavors of Fall exude from ovens, stoves, and grills. Exploring the Loire River and its namesake valley opens up a world of flavor and history unlike any other region. Grab your corkscrew and let’s dive in.
Several of my most impactful wine events took place in the early days of an underage winemaking career in Paso Robles. Starting as a harvest hand, it was picking grapes and driving tractors in the morning, then winery work ‘crushing’ grapes all afternoon and evening. After harvest, we switched to ‘barrel work’ (topping, racking, blending) on the previous vintage wines. I was still new to wine, but I was intrigued and curious, and one grape continued to blow me away. In September's club release, we go back to the roots of the charming Grenache grape, and explore three fabulous expressions from around the Mediterranean.
This month we are taking an indepth look at Old Vine Zinfandel, which is the historic wine to explore during 4th of July weekend. Each of these wines comes from storied vineyards across northern California and I'm excited to taste through them with you. Old Vine Zin honors much of the history of grapegrowing in Calfornia, but it's certainly not concusilve. In future videos we will continnue to taste the past. Cheers, and Happy 4th!
Let's travel to dreamy Tuscany, Italy, specifically Montalcino, for a deep dive into the extravagent sangioveses in Brunello di Montalcino and Supertuscans. We also explore a fascinating zero-sulfite wine from the Chianti region and discuss the merits of zero-sulfite wines.
Our next desination is Rioja, Spain, home to the great Tempranillos from Rioja Alta and Rioja Alavesa. A region being reborn, channeling hundreds of years of history to start anew with modern winemakers using incredible vineyards and ancient methods.
Let's start the wine tastings with our first wine club 'journey' of Cabernet Franc. A quick introduction to the club is followed by a tasting of each of the wines included in April 2023's selections.