Between The Wines May Edition

Between The Wines Between The Wines

May May 2023 2023

Hidden Hidden Treasures Treasures

Sometimes ‘it’s the latest, it’s the greatest’ means we overlook some tried and true brands. We use this feature to remind our customers of some hidden gems in our book. ‘Tried and true’ probably applies to Noilly Prat vermouth: Produced from a secret recipe near Marseille in southern France since 1813. Using up to 30 different ingredients, Noilly Prat is subtly impressive.

Vermouth is an ‘aromatized wine’ which basically means a wine that has been ‘flavored’ by infusing it with herbs, spices and botanicals Note that these are aromatized wines, meaning they will spoil once open (they’re good in the fridge for several weeks).

hidden Treasures

Though most vermouth producers today produce both white (dry) and red (sweet) versions, France is most renowned for the dry/white vermouth from southern or eastern France; for Italy, it is their red/sweet vermouth that they are famous for. Indeed, some French white vermouth even has its own AOC (ditto certain red vermouths from Piedmont).

The reason we are declaring that Noilly Prat is a hidden treasure is we also happen to sell virtually all of the other leading brands (Martini & Rossi, Cinzano, Carpano, Dolin, Cocchi) so poor Noilly frequently gets overlooked. But if you are a martini drinker, first: use a bit of vermouth in your cocktail, and second, switch them up a bit The author is a Negroni drinker and he uses different sweet vermouths based on the season: Carpano in the winter, Cocchi in the fall and M & R in the summer. Expand your horizons and your cocktail bona fides!

Loved & Found (new)

What's New

quotation of the Month:

"

I only drink wine when I am alone or with someone " --unknow

Loved & Found Loved & Found

Arneis

Most of us who deal in wine spend 90% of our time & effort selling wines made from the same couple-of-dozen grapes---we all know what they are. However, there are thousands of grape varieties used to produce wine (over 2,000 varieties are catalogued in Italy alone), many of which are--or were near extinction

Arneis is one such almost extinct grape. In the 70’s thee was allegedly only one hectare (2.5 acres) on Arneis plantings left in the world, but two well-known Piedmont vintners resurrected and propagated it. Long a staple in the Roero section of Piedmont’s Langhe zone, in days gone by it was even referred to by some vintners as ‘Barolo bianco’. We’re not sure why its fortunes faded, but we are willing to bet that Chardonnay had something to do with it. The 80’s was ‘Mondovino’ time when many of the old world vineyards of autochthonous grape varieties were being ripped up and replaced with Chardonnay and Cabernet… frequently with disastrous results. Happily, cooler heads likely realized that Chardonnay can grow almost anywhere, whereas Arneis only thrives in Piedmont; why would a vintner want to give that up?

We have several lovely examples of Arneis in our building, but if our readers want a great place to start, the Ceretto Arneis ‘Blange’ is awesome.

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Between The Wines Between The Wines

May May 22023 023

What's What's New New

Nick Goldschmidt

Since we bring on many, many new products each month, we have to consider numerous factors when deciding which to focus on for this ‘What’s New?’ feature, announcing new brands. But for this month, there was no question which we would focus on: A new group of win brands from Nick Goldschmidt

Nick is an old friend (very old actually) and a legendary winemaker Nick was one of the original ‘flying winemakers’ that were altering the global wine scene in the 1980’s, jetting around the planet making exciting wines in emerging regions and modernizing practices in established areas. Names like Paul Hobbs and Michel Rolland might be more well known for this, but we’re betting Nick touched more properties than either of them: he was Constellation’s Global Director of Wine at one point.

Though most of Nick’s brands are sold in Michigan by other distributors, we’ve always wanted to work with him, so he created a few things for us:

Fog’s Edge Russian River Embankment Alexander Valley The Conspirator--Oakville

Nick’s style of winemaking leans toward round, suave wines, though always balanced with bright acidity, and ALWAYS offering great value even the Oakville wines. He is truly a supertalented winemaker and his worldwide experience gives him a unique take on wine and it shows in these