Staff Picks: What to Drink This Week
Things our staff thinks you should drink.
2018 Domaine Pierre Guillemot, Savigny-les-Beaune, Vieilles Vignes - $46.99
Always a great go to producer for modestly priced Burgundy from the Cote d'Or, this 2018 Pinot has great finesse and balance. It shows aromas of dried sage, white pepper, pomegranate, and cassis on the nose. The palate is fruit driven with flavors of kirsch and pomegranate. Try this delicious Burgundy with some classics like duck confit or escargot, or go for the Fall dish sure shot, pairing it with wild mushroom risotto.
-Rob B.
2018 Jean Bourdy Cotes de Jura Rouge - $35.99
It's hard to know where to start with this one. The wine's of Jura have a distinct outsider quality to them. They are also quite elegant and full of alpine brightness across styles and varietals making them thrilling to drink and remarkably food friendly. This particular domaine has been operated by the Bourdy family since 1475, making it one of the oldest family run wineries in the world. The grape blend includes the regal Pinot Noir as well as the eminently intriguing red grapes Poulsard and Trousseau Noir. As fantastic and under-the-radar- as this wine is, it just seems particularly at home in the early fall. The subtle melange of ripe wild berries, tart cranberries, damp earth and scrubbie wild thyme make it seem like coming home when the first chill creeps into the evening air. This is one to dive into and linger for a while.
-David
2020 Division-Villages, 'Méthode Carbonique' Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley - $24.99
After working in France's Loire Valley, Beaujolais, Burgundy, and Northern Rhône Valley, Kate Norris and Thomas Monroe founded their urban Portland winery, Division, in 2010. Their mission has been to make, as natural as possible, wines featuring the classic varietals from those French regions they came to love so well.They focus on harvests from vineyards dedicated to Organic and Biodynamic farming practices. At the winery, they employ the fermentation process called Carbonic Maceration to make the wine I presently have in my glass. Although used as a fermentation process to soften tannins and lift up fruitiness from a number of different grape varietals, Carbonic Maceration is probably most famously employed to make Beaujolais Nouveau, the young Gamay released every year to celebrate the end of that year's harvest. Here, Division's special label, Division-Villages uses that fermentation process on Pinot Noir. The fruit comes from two cool climate organically farmed vineyards in Willamette Valley. A small amount of the harvest is first fermented with native yeasts. The bulk is then saturated with carbon dioxide in sealed vats. This method ferments from inside the grape, muting tannic impact from the skins. After this they age the wine in concrete and old French oak barrels. The result is a beautiful tension of the natural acidity of Pinot Noir and juicy fruit, with tannins tamed. Aromas of rose petals lead to a palate of strawberries and tart cherry combined with notes of mineral-driven flint and earth. The bright fruit and acid lift this wine to a long and pleasing finish. I enjoyed it equally at room temperature and with a slight chill. A winner either way!
-Patrick
