Everyday we are thankful to live in this state whose identity is associated with preserving both non-human nature and small communities. Just as non-human nature needs protection by humans (mostly from humans) to survive, small communities need the support of local residents to prosper. If we want to continue to celebrate Vermont’s small towns, to those volunteer efforts noted above we need to add mindfully shifting our shopping to support local merchants.
Eladio Piñeiro La Ola, Albarino, 2017 Rias Baixas Biodynamic– $23 We’ve been loving Albarino this summer and fall. Over the summer, we featured a lighter-bodied, uber-minerally style from Arcan. When we tried the La Ola in September, we knew that this was an Albarino that would carry over to fall and even winter, not to […]
La Foulée des ZinZins – A great wine for cool evenings, but not quite conceding to cold. The Foulée des ZinZins is an energetic, elegant, fun expression of 100% Grenache from 30-70 year old vines in the Cote du Rhone region. Because it is 100% Grenache, it does not qualify for the Cotes du Rhone AOC. Husband and wife team, Agnes and Philippe Badea, farm their four hectares of vines organically, with biodynamic practices. After years of working for other wineries, they started this project in 2010, despite family and friends calling them “zinzin” (goofy, crazy, crackpot).
What a glorious summer this has been. I hope that you were able to enjoy it. We’ve not sent an email out since May, when we noted that the hummers had returned and things were starting to bloom. We are now on the back end of that, with hummers getting ready to migrate to their winter homes, and days short enough that blooms are fewer and leaves are yellowing. That means that tasting season 2019-2020 is about to begin, and that we are shifting the wine portfolio back to more reds than whites, and a very few rosés.
The hummers are back, rhododendrons and azaleas are in bloom, Walker Farm has opened and the Brattleboro Farmers’ Market is underway. Perhaps most importantly to those of us here for it, mud season 2019 has ended. Spring has reluctantly, but finally, arrived in southern Vermont.At Windham Wines, that means that our collection of wines is shifting to more whites and rosés than reds. The rosé rack offers many choices, at least twenty at last count, from France, Austria, the US, Italy and Argentina so far. New rosés arrive regularly. This week, we expect another few from France, the US and one from Lebanon. Please come in to begin exploring for your favorite rosé for summer 2019.
New native wines featured now at Windham Wines. Learn how native wines are important. Romeo del Castello, Allegracore Etna Rosso, 2016– organic $26.99 This is consistently our favorite Etna Rosso, a blend of Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio from the northern slopes of Etna. The property is buccolic, beautiful, humbling and organically farmed. A 1981 […]
Did you know that no more than fifteen wine grape varieties “account for 90 percent of the wine grapes grown in the United States and France” (Ian d’Agata, Native Grapes of Italy, 4)? “Shop locally, taste globally” embraces not just supporting a local shop like Windham Wines, but because of our selection of small, family-owned […]
There is always something new to try at Windham Wines. For each bottle we bring in, the tasting team and others have tried 2-4 that did not make the cut. Below is a list of those wines that “made it in” since our last post.
In January, Dave McIntyre, who writes the wine column for the Washington Post, observed that though the range of places where we can buy and enjoy wine has expanded, our buying habits may be having the “ironic effect of narrowing our choices” (McIntyre, 25 January 2019). From movie theaters and Starbucks, to some Taco Bells and even Burger Kings, every place wants a piece of the wine and beer market.
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.