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Feb 22

Vinisud 2012

Vinisud 2012. One of the most comprehensive and well organized wine expos.

We’ve just received a few photos from JP, who attended Vinisud 2012 this past week with Patrick (our French Portfolio Director) and our visionary leader, TEB.  Hosted in Montpellier, France, Vinisud is a Mediterranean wines trade fair that features French producers from Lanquedoc, Roussillon, Provence, the Rhone Valley, Corsica and South-West, alongside wineries from Spain, Italy, Portugal, Tunisia, Turkey, Morocco and Algeria.  As noted in the images below, Vinisud is also well attended by a number of our producers…

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Feb 21

Domaine Roger Belland

As the sixth generation vintner at Domaine Roger Belland, Julie Belland has full responsibility at her father’s winery and vineyard; 2009 was her first solo vintage.  ”Julie runs the Domaine and makes the wines…she’s a young dynamic woman in a male-dominated scene,” says Patrick Burke, our French Portfolio Director.

With 23 hectares to cultivate, Domaine Belland has avoided herbicides by using ploughing to control weed growth for the past 20 years.  This practice, used in conjunction with grass sown between the rows of vines, has enabled the Bellands to fight erosion and control yields, to produce complex, concentrated wines.

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Feb 17

Martel Bistro & Bar

My travels on the Metro North, via the New Haven line, brought me to Martel Bistro & Bar, in Fairfield, Connecticut.  Owned and run by Francophile Marty Levine, the restaurant is a French-American Bistro that caters to a local audience.  ”In Paris, normal everyday eating is informal and lively,” says Marty, as he sips coffee at the bar on a cloudy winter day.  ”Yet, Americans think of French dining as formal and stuffy.  I wanted to bring that style to this restaurant.  I wanted to be aware of where we are–in America, in the suburbs–to know my customers…they’re not going to eat rabbit tripe.  [Martel is] an interpretation, not a copy, which would have been disastrous.”

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Feb 15

TEW Goes Mediterranean at Medi Wine Bar

The other week, Georgia and I dropped by to see Dorian, the Albanian proprietor at Medi Wine Bar, an intimate Mediterranean spot on 9th Avenue, between 53rd and 54th.  Cozy and rustic upstairs and down, with stone washed walls, countryside tables, and hanging glass lamps, Medi offers a regional menu with small plates and entrees, and over 50 wines by the glass.  Showcasing the expected alongside the up and coming (and ancient!), Medi offers wines from Italy, Spain and France, with representation from Turkey, Croatia, Montenegro, Israel and Lebanon. Having passed by Medi a number of times, I was glad to have finally entered; it’s a warm reprieve from the soulless establishments that line the bulk of 9th Avenue.

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Feb 14

Staff Pick–Pascal Pibaleau “La Perlette”

Georgia’s Staff Pick–An Alternative Pink for Valentine’s Day

Rose Champagne? Provence Rose? It’s been done before…but here’s something a little more interesting for today’s holiday:

Pascal Pibaleau “La Perlette” Sparkling Grolleau NV

Pascal farms organically, biodynamically and has the largest holdings of Grolleau – a nearly extinct, traditional Loire red grape. This is a method ancestral, frizzante style with native yeasts and no sulfites. Bone dry with hints of raspberry, strawberry and a nutty almond finish.

I love the whimsical, romantic label (both a vine and a woman blowing bubbles) … and everyone likes an attractive price!

Feb 14

Cascina Ca’ Rossa & Slow Wine

The other week, Angelo Ferrio of Cascina Ca’ Rossa was in town from Roero, Piemonte for the Slow Wine Guide Publication Party, a tasting event that showcased 60+ of the 1,800 wineries that are included in the current guide.  Following on the heels of the snail, the Slow Wine movement is an extension of Slow Food, with origins that lie with Gambero Rosso, with whom Slow Wine published Italian Wines for 20+ years, before parting ways in 2010.  ”When it first started, many years ago,” says Angelo, “it generated possibilities for people to learn about small wineries…it put small producers on the forefront, the guide, the tasting…but over time things change, and as a consequence the guide has changed.”

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Feb 9

TEW About Town–Wine Tastings & Events

 

 

Getting into the spirit of LOVE, we’ve got lots going on around town.  Looking for a bottle or two to share with your Valentine? Drop by and let us taste you through these titillating  selections…

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Feb 9

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Love in a Bottle–Clos Cibonne Rosé

She picked a round stone from the river

And carved his name

In a heart

On a rock.

A strand of strawberry slipped from her ear

The sun-kissed dry on her cheek

Yesterday’s perfume on pale freckled skin

And forest stains on the knees of his jeans.

–Clos Cibonne Rosé 2009

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Feb 8

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The Boathouse at Saugatuck

Chef John Holzwarth

From oysters to wine, Chef John Holzwarth seeks local, sustainably produced products for his Boathouse at Saugatuck, in Westport, Connecticut. Situated inside the Saugatuck Rowing Club, but open to the public, the menu here is comprised of local ingredients to which Holzwarth applies ”Mediterranean and Italian methods, through a New England looking glass.”

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Feb 7

New to Our Portfolio: Teutonic Wine Company

Great news from Brian Pilliod and Juerie Park, our Domestic Portfolio Managers: Teutonic Wine Company has joined our book!

What follows are a few words from Brian:

I met Barnaby and Olga when I was out in Oregon in December.  It’s really a great honor to introduce their wines to you and to begin our relationship with them.  

When we found out that the Tuttle’s had planted a vineyard 20 miles from the Pacific Ocean, which is the only coast range vineyard in Oregon, and that they naturally vinify their wines (anywhere from 9 – 12% alchl), we were hooked. When we tasted these wines, they made us question the potential and the limits of American Wines; immediately, we felt that this was an opportunity we should share.

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