Celebrate being social again — now we can open sparkling wines because we can share a bottle with friends!
Cerro la Barca, Ancestral, Extramadura, 2018: $17, organic — We’ve recommended this before and we still find it consistently delicious. Made from a blend of red (Cabernet Sauvignon) and white (Xarel-lo, Macabeu) grapes, hand-harvested, fermented with wild yeasts, a single fermentation that finishes in the bottle (Methode Ancestrale aka Petillant Naturale
Here are a few more wine recommendations to get you through Vermont mud season. Check out our recent 25 for under $25 article for even more selections (see link below).
The snow has mostly melted, the sap is flowing and our roads are erupting or imploding. Spring is imminent. Just to underscore that eventuality, a quintet of red-winged black birds came by the feeders earlier this week. Welcome back harbingers of spring! But all of you humans who migrated somewhere south, you know better than to return during mud season.
February is Black History Month. We’ve included two wines among our recommendations that are made by black winemakers. The McBride Sisters genesis includes a wild story about two half-sisters, one raised in California, the other in New Zealand, who did not know the other existed. Finally at ages 16 and 25, they met. It’s worth a listen. Mouton Noir is a winery started by André Mack, who began his career at Citicorp Investment Services, then followed his wine passion to become a sommelier, including at Thomas Keller’s French Laundry before being tapped to be head sommelier at Per Se.
We will be partnering with Agricola Vermont for our virtual tasting with Alto Piemonte producer Gilberto Boniperti. Alessandra Rellini and Stefano Pinna, natives of Lombardy and Piemonte respectively, farm privileging soil health and animal welfare to produce traditional, authentic Italian products. They champion “intensive rotational grazing” that they maintain “favors the consumption of grass and legumes at their sweetest point, and the constant movement of muscles allows for healthier animals and more flavorful and healthy meat.”
In honor of Black History Month, we’ve included two wines from black winemakers: the McBride Sisters’ Sauvignon Blanc and Andre Mack’s Mouton Noir (“Horseshoes and Handgrenades”). Enjoy!
Here are 25 wines under $25 to keep you warm and convivial in Winter 2021, starting with white wines.
Durigutti, Cara Sucia, “Legitimo, Blanco, Mendoza, 2019: $15, organic
Palomino, Pedro Ximenez, Ugniblanc, Chenin, Moscatel Amarillo, Sauvignonasse from an 80-year-old vineyard, organically farmed.
As we retreat indoors by late afternoons this winter, Windham Wines continues its virtual tasting series as one way of maintaining our relationships with you, our customer-friends, and with the small, independent, family-owned wine producers that we champion. For those of you new to the tastings, we open two bottles together– available for purchase at Windham Wines– and talk with the winemaker about terroir, grapes, farming practices and wine. Click to read the full schedule through March 2021.
White Wine Recommendations L & C Poitout, Bourgogne Blanc, 2018: $20 100% Chardonnay from a vineyard in Tonnerre, a region of Burgundy to the east and just north of Chablis. […]
What a year 2020 was. I think we’ll be talking about it with our kids and our grandchildren for years to come. I certainly hope that it remains one of the most unusual years of our lifetime. Fortunately, our kitchens give us the opportunity to recreate the flavors of our favorite food destinations and the Windham Wines virtual tastings have taken us on satisfying group travel adventures as we visit and taste with winemakers in Italy, France, Austria, Spain and the United States. We’ve actually traveled quite a bit in this past year, and we have many more trips planned as you’ll discover in our tasting calendar.