New Year’s Week Wine Tasting Schedule ’11
Year of the Dragon
As we approach the start/end of another calendar year, I am moved again to mention that I have fallen into the habit of reading the above heading as: “New Year’s Week Wine Tasting Schedule ‘aught-eleven.'” That may just be a figure of speech, or it may be that so far this year/decade/century/millenium (that’s a lot of beginnings!) I haven’t been all that impressed with our collective prospects for the future. While individual human beings have risen to various challenges and prevailed for the Greater Good in many noble ways, the collective karmic scales which measure the merits of our kind as stewards of our One Tiny Planet over the last few years look to be tipping precariously against us.
Sale
That is probably all the more reason our $99 per case offer has been so popular it will continue through Friday, Dec 30. Our stock was starting to look a little picked over, so we just brought in even more “Best Buy” wines that have been popular with many of you during the past year. You can see tasting notes for the sale wines here. See tasting schedule for this week below. And do your part to take these great buys off our hands!
Solstice
From the wine shop, this is where the sun sets on the winter solstice, just at the south end of the ridge line on Orcas Island…it is somehow comforting to know that for the next six months sunset will move continually north till the Summer solstice, and that the cycle just keeps repeating…no matter what we do.
Hours this week
We will be open Thursday and Friday nights (December 29-30) this week from 4:30 -6:30. On Thursday we will be pouring four interesting malbecs for your comparison. On Friday we will be open the same hours, wines as yet to be determined.
Sixth Annual “East Coast” New Year’s Eve Gala Extravaganza
From 7-9pm on New Year’s Eve! We provide the wine, you bring something delicious to share, and when the ball drops in Times Square we hoist our glasses and toast the Year of the Dragon! You young folks can move on to your next party, and we old timers can get to bed at a decent hour! It’s our chance to thank you for your support this past year, and to look ahead to more fun in aught-twelve. Mark your calendars and start planning your finger food. And please–RSVP if you are coming! (758-2959)
Wine Tasting Christmas Eve ’11
This week has been an interesting experiment, being open almost every night, and continuing Friday, December 23, 4-7pm. We haven’t had a lot of visitors, only a select few, but we have had fun sharing some wines we rarely get to drink, and can’t afford to pour for our Saturday $5 tasting. Quite a treat!
On Monday and Tuesday evenings we offered Betz syrah La Serenne ’04 and the Betz cabernet Pere de Famille ’06 (see previous posts), and they were delightful. In case you haven’t had the experience, a really nice bottle of wine can take the edge off just about any kind of blues, angst, or general ennui. A little luxury goes a long way toward alleviating frustration. So even though we don’t have them out on the shelves, we do have a stash of, um, therapeutic wines in the cellar for restoring a positive outlook. Or making a great gift. Just ask; we have something to please everyone, even the most discriminating connoisseur.
Our $99 per case offer continues till Dec 30. This is a great chance to stock up for the holidays and for January (when we will be mostly closed). We’ve had many takers, and the shelves are starting to look a little leaner, but there is still a LOT left, and this is the biggest sale we have had in our six years with the wine shop. It’s an experiment to see if volume really can make up for idiotically low pricing. (The jury is still out, so I suggest you take advantage while you can…)
Friday night we will continue the “Week Before Christmas” evening tasting, offering two exceptional wines from our cellar for tasting, $5 for one, $8 for both. One we opened tonight, the 2006 Pedestal Merlot ($55) from Long Shadows. The Long Shadows family are wines made in Washington with Washington grapes, by some of the world’s best winemakers. Here’s Parker’s review: 94 pts; The 2006 Pedestal features Michel Rolland who was at Long Shadows on the day of my tasting to do some blending. His wine is 86% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Petit Verdot and 2% Malbec aged for 22 months in 85% new French oak. Purple-colored, it offers an alluring bouquet of sandalwood, pencil lead, spice box, incense, black currants, and black cherry. Seamless on the palate, this plush wine has layers of ripe, savory flavors, well-concealed tannin, excellent aging potential, and a 60-second finish. It will provide much pleasure between 2013 and 2026.”
As for the second wine…who knows? Ryan will be here as usual on Friday night (think festive!), and I think he has some ideas about that. Just know that it will be good, so please drop by.
TRUFFLES
I can tell you that Pat has been working all week to fill the huge number of orders that have come in for Christmas truffles. All you need to know is that they are done, they are delicious, and they are now available for pickup. Regular hours before Christmas are Friday from 4-7 and Saturday from 2-6. If those times don’t work, please call (758.2959) to make other arrangements.
Who goes wine tasting on Christmas Eve? Even when it’s on a Saturday when their favorite wine shop is open? Well, we hope YOU do! We would love to see you and wish you good cheer and a warm hearth on this Deep Winter observance, which our ancestors have been celebrating for tens of thousands of years, the time when the sun stops going away and starts coming back. Yes, Winter has its comforts, and high among them are warm fires, warm food, and the fruit of the vine!
Sixth Annual “East Coast” New Year’s Eve Gala Extravaganza
From 7-9pm on New Year’s Eve! We provide the wine, you bring something delicious to share, and when the ball drops in Times Square we hoist our glasses and toast the Year of the Dragon. You young folks can move on to your next party, and we old timers can get to bed at a decent hour! It’s our chance to thank you for your support this past year, and to look ahead to more fun in aught-twelve. Mark your calendars and start planning your finger food. And please–RSVP if you are coming! (758-2959)
Christmas Eve wines:
Nera ‘La Novella’ nebbiolo ’10 Italy $15
White wines (like riesling) can pair magnificently with traditional holiday dinners. This unusual white (nebbiolo is typically a red wine) offers surprising complexity: zesty lemon cream, yellow apple, and white grapes, with a touch of nut skin, white pepper, and dusty earth.
Terre Margaratelli Mirantico ’09 Italy $17
This delightful blend of sangiovese, canaiolo, merlot, and cab sauv is fresh, dynamic, organic, and delicious; a beautiful wine in search of a rich meal to pair with!
La Rocaliere Lirac Rouge ’09 France $18
This little winery in Lirac, just across the river from Chateauneuf du Pape, was among our favorites on our visit to France in October. Aged in cement tanks with no oak at all, this lovely grenache blend shows a profusion of ripe raspberry and black cherry, with notes of violet, spices, wild rosemary, thyme (i.e. “garrigue”); velvety and brightly focused, finishing with a clean minerality.
Lost River Merlot 06 Washington $20
Notes of black currant and cassis, cherry, and licorice. 2006 represents a near perfect vintage for Washington Merlot…you’re gonna like it!
Winter Solstice ’11 Xmas sale continues…!
Holiday sale continues at $99/case. Had a few more visitors tonight to partake of two lovely Betz wines.
NOTE we will NOT be open Wednesday evening (December 21), mostly because we will be enjoying a lovely Incognito dinner at Ciao Thyme, a special holiday treat. But this year Winter Solstice is on Thursday, December 22, and we will be here to help you celebrate. We will continue the week’s theme of pouring two exceptionally good wines for tasting, and invite you to come by!
I just missed the last bit of the solar disk setting behind Orcas tonight…on the Solstice it sets into the curve below the end of the broken tree limb…as far south as the sun goes before heading back north…! No wonder our ancestors have celebrated it for time out of mind…!
Xmas Sale & Wine Tasting Tuesday, December 20 ’11
Tonight opened our Christmas week experiment, opening from 4:30-6:30 each evening for tasting chitchat and our Holiday Wine Sale. The Betz wines were a hit, so we will continue with them tomorrow (see notes below).
Our $99 per case offer (see previous post) continues till Dec 30. This is a great chance to stock up for the holidays and for January (when we will be mostly closed). Help us clear the $12-and-under shelves before the dreaded January inventory by taking home a case of great wines at a great price!
THE GOOD STUFF THE GOOD STUFF THE GOOD STUFF THE GOOD STUFF
Tuesday tasting: generous pours of two highly rated wines, $10.
Betz La Serenne Syrah 04 Washington WS 93pts $39
WineSpectator: Polished, elegant and refined, but packing a punch of intensity to the spicy, peppery blackberry and dark plum flavors, lingering on the sharply focused finish. This has pizzazz and depth. Best from 2008 through 2014.
Winemaker: As in the past the 2004 La Serenne is 100% Boushey Syrah, with its characteristic, abundant silky tannins. For me the overriding impression with this wine is its seamlessness on the palate. Sure, there are the dense black fruits, roasted coffee, earthy aromas and the black berry, smoky flavors, but the overall palate impact, huge and yet supple, is what lingers in my mind.
Betz Family Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Pere de Famille 2006 WA 95pts $65
Parker: 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot, and the balance Petit Verdot and Malbec. Opaque purple, the wine has a brooding nose of wood smoke, earth notes, mineral, spice box, black cherry, and blackberry. This is followed by a layered, opulent wine with superb depth and concentration and 6-8 years of aging potential. This promising effort should be at its best from 2015 to 2030.
Winemaker: The blend yielded a wine of serious proportion, lush and silky structure, and a complex tangle of fruit, spice and wood notes. There’s a deep core of black currant, with plum and black cherry beneath, then the sweet pipe tobacco, black olive and sandalwood set in. It’s full bodied, with a fundamental grip of tannin for longevity (79% of the fruit comes from Red Mountain), but a lifted and plush texture (composed of equal parts from the Horse Heaven Hills and Yakima Valley)
These wines were showing really well tonight. should be even better Tuesday! Come on by, taste and visit!
2072 Granger Way