We’ve created our own list again this winter, though it is a 22 under $22. Sixteen of the wines on our list are organic or biodynamic. Though we have several of the Asimov wines, we have only two overlapping wines that appears both on both our lists this time—the Ultreia and the Bonny Doon. Our regular customers will recognize the Ultreia. We recommended it to all who came in looking for a red during the first several months after which it was again available in Vermont.
Category: California
April 2018 Wine Club sample
We have a lot of regions and styles to cover in our wine journey together. As I was considering where to head after the February clubs, I was discouraged by some industry articles that pointed to trends in California that are recurring in other wine regions as well, namely, wineries being purchased by nouveau-wealthy people for whom a vineyard is a hobby-investment and the tension between wine industry interests and environmental concerns in developing wine regions. In a somewhat circuitous route, these led me to pay attention to and want to celebrate some really interesting producers from California’s Central Coast region whose fingernails are dirty from work in the vineyards and who are engaging in environmentally sensitive practices in both the vineyard and the cellar.
Summer Wines–Windham Wines 20 Under $20, 2016
Tablas Creek, Patelin de Tablas, Rosé, 2015– written by Bob Haas
Bob Haas, along with the Perrin family of Chateau de Beaucastel in Chateauneuf, are the founders of Tablas Creek Winery, in Paso Robles, California. I have been smitten by the Patelin, rosé this year. That love led me to ask Bob if he might write about the Patelin, rosé for our website. He graciously agreed. […]
Thanksgiving Wine Recommendations– Reds
Folk Machine, Pinot Noir, Central Coast, 2013–$19.99 Another wine selected as a customer favorite, from the California garagistes tasting on October 21st. Beautiful dark cherry fruit aromas are complemented by clean, woodsy smells of dried leaves and piney resin. This was one of the first of the new wave of California wines with which we […]
Thanksgiving Wine Recommendations– Rosés
Birichino, Vin Gris, Central Coast, 2013– $15.99 Admittedly, we love rosé. Historically, we have tried to squirrel away a few bottles of rosé at home to enjoy on those evenings when we crave the memories of the warmth of the sun on our skin and light after 5:30 p.m. Mercifully, it has finally become acceptable […]
Thanksgiving Wine Recommendations– Whites
Castelfeder, Muller Thurgau, “Gessner,” Alto Adige, 2013–$19.99 We have written about this wine as one of last week’s “picks.” For more on Castelfeder and the Alto Adige region, we invite you to look there. Below is a picture of the beautiful Castelfeder vineyards against the backdrop of the impressive Dolomites. Muller Thurgau is German hybrid […]
Thanksgiving Wine Recommendations– Sparkling
The “tasting team” at Windham Wines recommends the following wines to welcome companions to your Thanksgiving table. We offer suggestions of sparkling, white, rosé and red, providing you with some color surrounding each wine. As the quintessential “American” holiday, we were particularly attentive to including at least one US wine within each category. Some of […]
California and Oregon Red Wine Arrivals
In the past 1-2 years, we have been getting some terrific new US wines available to us in Vermont—California producers Arnot-Roberts, Bedrock, Birichino, Broc Cellars, Copain, Dashe Cellars, Donkey and Goat, Forlorn Hope, Porter Creek, and Salinia and, from Oregon, Montebruno. Here, we focus on two new California red wines and one from Oregon. 2012, Birichino, […]
United States White Wine Arrivals at Windham Wines
2012 Birichino, Malvasia Bianca, Monterey– $15.99 Though Birichino is a new producer, the winemakers, Alex Krause and John Locke, have been making wine with others for years. Most notably, they spent years with Randall Grahm at Bonny Doon which has strongly influenced their approach to producing wine. According to Alex, we “make wines that we […]