Rosès for Summer Sipping

The other day I saw a bumper sticker that made me laugh, it read "Yes you can be a bad a** and still drink Rosé." I couldn't agree more, rosé wines are perhaps the most versatile, food-friendly and complex wines around. Many consumers mistake Rosé wines to be sweet (we can thank white Zin for this) and in the category of "starter wine." These pink wines fall into the definitively "dry" category, not sugary sweet, and they offer excellent value for the money. Not only are these great summer sippers they can also be enjoyed year round.



Etude 2009 Carneros Estate Pinot Noir Rosé
$17.99
Flavors of strawberry rhubarb and cherry persist on the palate and combine with a pleasing note of minerality.

Henry Natter 2009 Sancerre Rosé
$26.99
Crisp and bright this rosé shows lots of melon and yellow cherry fruit. Great acidity with minerals and white pepper round off the finish.

Le Rocher Des Violettes 2009 Rosé de Touraine
$14.99
Medium bodied in style this unique rosè shows off rose petals, melons, vanilla and has great chewy intensity.

Mas-Des-Dames 2009 Coteaux Du Languedoc Rosé
$15.99
Lots of citrus Mas-Des-Dames 2009 Coteaux Du Languedoc Roséfruit, grapefruit and lime. A touch of cinnamon and minerals adds to the complexity of this lovely wine.

June's American Whiskey Club

For our June American Whiskey club selection we chose
RoughStock from Montana. Here's our tasting notes:
Distilled on 23 May 2009 and bottled 17 May 2010, this
RoughStock single barrel is 51 weeks old. The nose offers
up vanilla beans, fresh cooked barley sweetness and cinnamon
candy. The palate shows barley, salt water taffy, cinnamon
and pepper. Real spicy and rich. It doesn't show it, but it
is a strong dram at 124 proof. Enjoy!

Champagne Society June 2010

It's official our champagne club members are getting
two bottles this month.The spectacular Laurent Perrier
Cuvee Brut Rose and Eric Rodez Brut Cuvee des Crayeres
all for a paltry sum of $106.99 what a bargain!
The Eric Rodez Brut, Cuvee des Crayère is 50% Chadonnay
and 50% Pinot Noir all Grand Cru grapes.
It is silvery straw in color with peachy fruit on the nose.
The mousse is lovely, with a creamy and juicy mouthfeel,
there is plenty of ripe citrus and notes of vanilla blossom
in the finish. The Laurent Perrier Cuvee Rose is orange-rose
in color the nose shows dried cherries with a touch of earth.
Medium bodied with lots of juicy strawberry fruit, toast, smoke
and white pepper on the finish.

Laurent Perrier Champagne is back!

It has been two years since we've carried the full bottles of Laurent Perrier champagne, the reason for this is that their pricing dramatically increased. We believe that the consumer shouldn't have to suffer because of corporate greed so we refused to carry their products. It took some negotiating and now they're finally ready to play ball and have adjusted their pricing. So as of last week we now have these terrific bubblies back on the shelf and at these prices one of these bubblies just might show up on our upcoming Champagne Club. We revisited these bottles recently and they're as fantastic as we remember, the Laurent Perrier Rose is still just as beautiful as the first time we tried it.

Celebrating NYE D&M Style

Every year we look forward to a line up of amazing champagnes that we get to open on New Years Eve. Our boss usually treats us to a spectacular rare bottle and then the staff dusts off something from their wine cellar to share.
Here's a list of what we tried:

Pierre Gimonnet & Fils 1982 Collection Les Cuvees de l'An 2000 1.5 Liters - Magnum
This is one of our favorite producers so we were ecstatic when our boss gave this to us, unfortunately this was corked- (not a good way to start our night)

Pierre Peters 2000 Les Chetillons Cuvee Speciale Brut Champagne
Such a decadent treat, this bubbly is is floral on the nose with lemon chiffon aromas. Creamy and biscuity with hazelnuts and a key lime pie note towards the finish.

Moet et Chandon Cuvee Dom Perignon 1980 Vintage Brut Champagne
This was made we think in a sweeter style, ripe citrus with a minerally finish.
Not as complex as the 1978 Vintage that we tried a week ago but it was still nice to try a Dom at this vintage.

Delamotte 1985 Blanc de Blanc Brut Champagne
Starts off with morel and white truffle aromas and showing strong minerality. The acidity is impressive. After a while orange zest, honeyed-pear and apricot display endless layers with brioche aromas and mineral notes. Towards the end, if patience is present, the wine grows to a subtle expression of lemon creme patissiere, voluptuous and refined.

New Faces for Fall

We just brought in a ton of new champagne to get everyone in
gear for the holidays. Most of these bottles we're from the
Terry Theise Grower's tasting that we attended last week.
What a fantastic event!

Andre Clouet Grande Reserve Brut Champagne
Score:90 Points, The Wine Spectator, October 2008.

Aubry Premier Cru Brut Champagne
This champagne shows off tightly focused, steely fruit with a
little bit of pepper. It's citrusy and bright on the palate,
with a leafy, fresh herb character to it. Very nice and quite complex.

Chartogne - Taillet Sainte Anne Brut Champagne
Score: 89 Points, Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar

H. Billiot Fils Brut Reserve Champagne
Big bold flavors, lots of richness with great red berry intensity
that lasts till the finish.

Pierre Gimonnet & Fils 1er Cru Blanc de Blanc Brut Champagne
Score: 92 Points Stephen Tanzer's, International Wine Cellar.

Pierre Peters Blanc de Blancs Cuvee de Reserve Champagne
Creamy and toasty with berries and melons on the palate.
Very pretty and delicate champagne.

Vintage Goodies

A.Margaine 2002 Blanc de Blanc Special Club Champagne
A mouth full of berries riding on a medium toasty and yeasty body.

Pierre Gimonnet & Fils 2000 Special Club Brut Champagne
Score:92 Points Stephen Tanzer, International Wine Cellar.

Pierre Gimonnet 2004 Fleuron Brut Champagne
Score: 91 Points Stephen Tanzer, The International Wine Cellar.

Pierre Peters 2000 Les Chetillons Cuvee Speciale Brut Champagne
Creamy and biscuity with hazelnuts and a key lime pie note towards the finish.

Vilmart et Cie 1997 Coeur de Cuvee Brut, 1.5 Liter (Magnum)
The nose is welcomed with scents of flowers, fresh herbs and a touch
of earth and yeast. In the mouth the wine is creamy and oppulent,
there is juicy citrus with hazelnuts throughout.
A real treat especially from a magnum.

Visiting Kentucky

Kyle's visiting Kentucky right now, here's some pics from Maker's Mark Distillery:
Stay tuned we have more infos to come, I think he might have found a new barrel for the American Whiskey Club!!!