Well, Nice People Who Eat and Drink at Feast,
Since everyone’s all in a lather about Black Friday, and since we at Feast were very lucky, we’ve jumped on the bandwagon.
Every now and again, our distributors will notice that they have a bunch of wine and spirits in their warehouse that simply haven’t moved. Sometimes it’s wine that’s well past its prime; others, it’s an undiscovered gem. I’d classify this month’s wines in the latter category, but to find out for yourself, you’ll have to come join us at this month’s tasting. This month we’re featuring wines that we got a deal on, and if you come to the tasting, we’ll pass on the savings to you, Black Friday style. You’ll note two prices on the wines (and a whiskey) this month, one that’s the regular retail price and one that we’re offering up at the tasting. If you want to come to the tasting, give us a call at 326-9363 and we’ll hold a spot for you.
The Deep Deal
2007 Hans Wirsching Dry Silvaner, Franken usually $22, $12 for tasters
Vinted in the dry style of Franconia, this wine has all the crisp brightness you need to pair with spicy or salty foods, but without the residual sugar. The Silvaner dry is an excellent place to start if you want to appreciate that Silvaner in Franken is a wine of greater quality in Franken than it is anywhere else in the world (at least so far). This wine is a super bargain with a medium-light body (11.5% alcohol), crispness, and intriguing raspberry liqueur flavors and aromas.
2007 Dr. F. Weins-Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese, Mosel usually$25, $12 for tasters
Rich and bright, offering a nice backdrop for its peach, nectarine and slate flavors. Though juicy and defined, this lingers on the finish, with a citrus and mineral aftertaste.
2001 Maculan Crosara Merlot, Breganze usually$145, $50 for tasters
Named after the crossroad (crosara in the local dialect) that separates the two vineyards from which the Merlot grapes are sourced, Crosara is another successful result of Fausto Maculan’s talent for crafting unmistakably Italian reds from Bordeaux’s varietals. Extremely rich and deep purple in color, Crosara offers intense aromas of spice, coffee, chocolate and ripe black and red berries. In the mouth, the supple taste of ripe berries is followed by chewy, sweet and well-balanced tannins framing a juicy and lingering finish. An austere and elegant wine.
2007 Martorana Nero d’Avola, Sicilia usually$14, $9 for tasters
From the volcanic soils of Agrigento on the West coast of Sicily comes one of the great grape varietals of the world. Nero d’Avola is an early-ripening, full-bodied varietal with generous aromas of ripe plums, dark chocolate, berry cobbler, and almonds. The Martorana family has been making wine for three generations, and still hand-harvests in wicker baskets. The vines are from 30 – 90 years old, and Giuseppe Martorana harvests extremely low-yields, one of the lowest in the South of Italy. Thus, the wine has great mineral complexity and elegance. It has an appealing gentle cream to its mouth-feel. Ageworthy for 10 years-plus.
2002 John’s Blend Margarete’s Shiraz No. 8, South Australia usually$45, $23 for tasters
Deep red with some purple hues. This is a rich, intense Shiraz displaying spice/pepper and complex vanillin oak nose. The combination of subtle Langhorne Creek and rich McLaren Vale fruit has resulted in a red of excellent palate-weight and structure. With eight years in the bottle and room to continue aging, it shows the softness and intense flavor resulting from abundant new oak maturation.
Cooly Connemara 12 year Peated Irish Whiskey usually $48, $25 for tasters
There was a time when there were only two distilleries in Ireland; they were, for a while, owned by the same company. Then this small distillery opens up, staunchly independent, and starts doing things unheard of in Ireland. Instead of making traditional Irish whiskey (triple-distilled, non-smoky, and with a pot still whiskey component), they started making very scotch-like whiskey (double distilled, single malt, and sometimes very smoky). Nearly twenty years later, Cooly is still making Irish whiskey, and they’re still doing it their way. They won the 2010 Malt Advocate Distilleryof the Year (beating out all the Scottish and American ones) and the Connemara 12 year is a smoky, Islay-styled malt that holds up to any of its Scottish neighbors.