Wine Club

La Reserve Saint Dominique 2020 Ventoux

Grape Varietal: 100% Grenache
Origin: Ventoux, Southern Rhone, France

This bottle hails from the southeastern Rhône appellation of Ventoux, in the south of France. Our wine buyers tasted numerous potential candidates for this honor and immediately knew this was the one. And what pleasure this wine gives! This 100% Grenache is loaded with fresh, forward fruits and cascades across the palate with perfectly ripened, lush fruit flavors.

A prior vintage of Reserve Saint Dominique was also selected as Wine of the Month a couple of years ago, which attests to the consistently delicious juice being produced here! The bounty includes juicy red and dark fruits (think plum, raspberry and boysenberry) augmented by a gentle spice and hints of garrigue. The mouthfeel is viscous and rich yet buoyant, nimble and fresh resulting in sheer pleasure for the palate.

Eric Bonnet, winemaker in the Courthézon commune (for La Bastide Saint Dominique, Châteauneuf du Pape, Côtes du Rhône, Cairanne) decided to create La Réserve Saint Dominique in order to offer his clients a selection of Rhône Valley Crus and wines to complement the current range he produces. The secret to the success of this cuvée of La Reserve Saint Dominique is sourcing high-quality grapes, which one can taste in every sip.

The vines for La Réserve Saint Dominique are 20-35 years old on a plot of land at the foot of Mont Ventoux at an elevation of 1500 feet. The higher altitude coupled with superb sun exposure produces grapes of exceptional quality rarely found at this price-point. And the commune is somewhat protected from the famous Mistral winds due to the Ventoux-Vaucluse-Luberon mountain range particularly Mont Ventoux, which looks down over the Rhône Valley to the west and Provence to the south and east.

With spring in the air, this wine will work as we move from cooler weather to the approaching warmer months and the foods that go with each.

La Reserve Saint Dominique is a delicious, crowd-pleasing wine available at a great price. This is one to grab by the case to enjoy with family and close friends.

Santa Julia 2022 La Vaquita Clarete

Grape Varietal: 80% Malbec, 20% Torrontes
Origin: Maipu, Mendoza, Argentina

WINE ADVOCATE 92 POINTS

"A new "clarete" light red from the "natural" range, the 2022 La Vaquita Natural is the first vintage for this unusual blend of 80% Malbec and 20% Torrontés that fermented together; the Malbec was with full clusters, and they do a semi-carbonic maceration. It has a pale color, with notes from the two varieties, with violets and orange blossom, and it is fine-boned, light and fresh but with clout, with 13.8% alcohol and fine tannins. This is a very gastronomical light red with tasty, clean flavors and aromas and a velvety mouthfeel. Very easy to drink. This is the first vintage from organic grapes and fermented with indigenous yeasts. 20,000 bottles were filled in August 2022 after three months in stainless steel."

Santa Julia's 'La Vaquita' from the high-altitude vineyards of Argentina - is a lively "natural" wine, made with a pared-down approach: nothing added, nothing removed! It's made with a couple of traditional techniques from the Old World. It's a "clarete," a traditional Spanish style of wine made by fermenting red and white grapes together; in this case, whole clusters of Malbec are added with some whole berries of Torrontes (part of the aromatic Malvasia family). This style of fermenting leads to juicy, soft textures and a distinctive accent of vibrant candied fruit. By not adding extra sulfites, natural fermentations can take place, creating another savory dimension and extra aromatic lift to the wine in the glass.

'La Vaquita' lies somewhere between a rose and a youthful, 'natural' Beaujolais. It's refreshing, with an ebullient mix of tangy cranberry, black cherry and soft strawberry, fragrant orange zest, orange blossom, and violet, along with a subtle spicy-herbaceous pop from the whole clusters. The finish is tangy-fruitedand mouthwatering, leaving you with lingering citrus and red fruits. There's a tension between juicy and vinous, crunchy and velvety, fruity and savory that keeps you going back for another taste! "La Vaquita" can be enjoyed on its own, but really shines with appetizers or lighter dishes such as fresher sheep or goat cheeses, grilled veggies, and roasted/grilled chicken. Serve cool, or even with a little chill, preferably poured into a carafe or decanter; it opens up the wine and shows off that beautiful ruby hue!

Santa Julia puts 'natural' on the label, so you might wonder what that means! For them it means: it's organically farmed; fermented with native yeasts, with no addition of sulfites (which is normally used to help protect wines from spoilage); made using only stainless-steel containers for purity of fruit; and it's unfiltered and unclarified (vegan friendly).

ThistleDown 2021 Thorny Devil Grenache

Grape Varietal: 100% Grenache
Origin: McLaren Vale, Australia

WINE ADVOCATE 95 POINTS

"Aromas of savory spice, hung deli meat and blood fill the senses, but it is in the mouth where the purity and succulence of the fruit is revealed. This 2021 Thorny Devil Grenache is long and savory, sweet and fine, built into a framework of pliable tannin and exotic spice. Balanced and exciting."

Thistledown is among the "new guard" for Australian wine, out to show how they can bring delicious ripeness without sacrificing balance in their features and clarity in their aromas. These wines are bold and expressive, like the labels that adorn them!

Founders Giles Cooke, MW and Fergal Tynan, MW started Thistledown in 2010, having met years earlier in their Master of Wine (MW) program. With their deep understanding of wine, they sought to make the "pure and precise" Grenache and Shiraz they knew to be possible in the famous McLaren Vale and the Barossa wine regions. The vineyards they source are older, and their fermentations occur spontaneously; they include some whole clusters, which contribute to some of the savor and spice, as well as that boost in aromatic expressiveness we love. To preserve the integrity of the wines, they don't undergo fining (so they're also vegan).

This has the vibrancy and relative firmness typical of McLaren Vale, which balances out Grenache's tendency toward soft, high-alcohol wines. It comes from classic Grenache farming: old vines that are bush-trained and without irrigation. Aged 10 months in French oak hogsheads.

Georges Descombes 2021 Regnie Beaujolais

Grape Varietal: 100% Gamay
Origin: Regnie, Beaujolais, France

Located in Vermont, a tiny hamlet in Villié-Morgon, Georges Descombes is the unofficial fifth member of the iconic "Gang of Four": Marcel Lapierre, Jean Foillard, Jean-Paul Thévenet and Guy Breton. In his teens, Georges worked with his vigneron father in the vines as well as a local bottling company. Hopping around from cellar to cellar gave him a chance to try a large amount of different estates, and the first time he tasted a Lapierre wine, young Georges was blown away by its purity and elegance. Then and there, he decided he would try to make wines like Marcel's.

Georges took over the estate in 1988 and immediately started shifting viticultural and oenological practices forward. Though his father had always worked traditionally in the vineyards and cellar, Georges decided to push things further by practicing organic viticulture (certified by Ecocert for many years, but now practicing without certification) and eliminating all entrants or manipulation during vinification. A minuscule dose of sulfur, less than a hundredth of what an organically certified vigneron is legally allowed to use, is added at bottling to help preserve the wines.

Wine Tip

“Love at first sip”. This is how I felt when I got the chance to try this gorgeous Regnie. Purity is the first word that comes to my mind. Even though the wine is delicately austere, there is an amazing feeling of purity that crosses your palate when you drink it. This is an absolute treat now and will only get better for a decade or more.

De Wetshof 2022 Limestone Chardonnay

Grape Varietal: 100% Chardonnay
Origin: South Africa

WINE SPECTATOR 91 POINTS

"Creamy and finely knit, with vibrant acidity buoying flavors of ripe melon, pink grapefruit granita, grated ginger and blanched almond. The salty underpinning and a pretty floral note echo on the finish"

The name De Wetshof has been synonymous with the production of fine wines in South Africa since the 1970’s. As the first registered wine estate in the Robertson Wine Valley, De Wetshof has become known internationally as South Africa’s eminent Chardonnay House due to the pioneering role it played in introducing this noble Burgundian grape to the country.

Today, De Wetshof is one of the few third generation wine estates in South Africa. Here Johann de Wet has taken-up the role of CEO and is also responsible for De Wetshof’s vineyards, while brother Peter runs finances and logistics. Both are also actively involved in winemaking and strategy along with their father Danie.

Danie is a pioneer of noble white wines in South Africa and has also introduced superior red cultivars to the Robertson Wine Valley. A graduate of the Geisenheim Institute in Germany, one of the world’s leading centres for the study of viticulture and cellar technology, De Wet’s wines express the uniqueness of the soils of De Wetshof and meticulous attention to detail, while state-of-the-art technology ensures that the work in the cellar complements the gifts of nature’s vineyards.

With its crisp white buildings, rose bushes and jacaranda trees, the Estate has become a well-known landmark in the Robertson wine valley. The cellar façade is based on the renowned and historic First Customs House in Cape Town, while the tasting room/administration offices is a replica of the Koopmans/De Wet House in Strand Street, Cape Town, dating back to 1791. Both buildings were designed by Louis Michel Thibault one of the most renowned architects of early Cape architecture.

Thousands of local and foreign tourists visit the De Wetshof winery each year for a taste of history and a glimpse into the future of South African wine.

Kabaj 2017 Ravan

Grape Varietal: 100% Ravan
Origin: Slovenia

Winery Notes - "Our wines represent our home and mostly ourselves. The followed philoposophy is very simple, producing wines based on our taste in order to even present them to others, mostly focusing the attention on nature, vineyards and soil. All types of wine age in French barrels for at least a year, followed by months of ageing in bottles, where the wine elaborate its taste. The specialty of our estate and for those searching for something unique is Amfora, wine made in Qvevri. It originates in Georgia, the cradle of viticulture. The winery was four times selected among top 100 wineries in the world by the elite American Magazine, Wine & Spirits, confirming our passion to winemaking."

Wine Tip

We have been following this winery for many years and if you have been a member of our Wine Club for a long time (thank you for that), you probably already know about this fantastic winery owned by a passionate French man named Jean-Michel Morel. His signature winemaking technique is definitely skin contact which brings a unique character to all of his wines.