Staff Picks - What to Drink this Week
Try these special, staff-selected libations!
2020 Redentore Refosco Dal Peduncolo Rosso - $19.99
There's a chill in the air and while it might be a little too early for soup season, I am working more reds into the mix. The Redentore Refosco is new to the shop and is owned by the De Stefani family, who have been producing wine in the Veneto since the late 1800s. They focus on small production natural wines, and the name Redentore is an homage to the culture of Venice. It means redemption, evoking the annual Redentore Festival that celebrates the end of the plague that struck Venice between 1575 and 1577. All of the wines are made using organic grapes and never see the use of chemical pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers. Refosco is a delightful grape to check off your bucket list with tons of brambly wild berries and savory green herbs on the nose, and on the palate, concentrated dark fruit flavors of blackberry, licorice, cocoa, and spices. Fantastic with wild mushroom dishes, duck breast, or roast pork with blackberry glaze.
-Angie
2022 Sainte-Magdeleine Mediterranee Blanc - $37.99
New to the shop, this spectacular white wine hails from Cassis, a small Provencal fishing town in Southern France forty five minutes east of Marseille by car. The vigneron Jonathan Sack who is the president of the Cassis AOC has spearheaded a movement towards organic and sustainable viticulture. The whites are among the best provencal wines I have ever tasted. This wine is a blend of Vermentino and Ugni Blanc. It shows aromas of honey and peach and the medium bodied palate delivers minerality and salinity with notes of creamy melon. This is the quintessential wine for bouillabaisse but it will excel with any number of shellfish dishes.
-Rob
2021 Roland Tissier et Fils ‘Tradition’ Sancerre Rouge - $36.99
With equal turns fruity and spicy. This Pinot Noir provides a savory and elegant wine experience. The chemically ‘basic’ and well draining soils of Sancerre provide the perfect medium for classic Pinot Noir. The wine is made with destemmed, twenty plus year old fruit and displays all the hallmarks of cool climate fruit with red cherry, ripe cranberry, light spice and wild flower notes. The theme continues on the palette adding a bit of five spice and scrubby herb. The ripe red fruit mid palette is just plush enough to balance the long lively finish. Highly enjoyable.
-Dave
2022 Ciello, Catarrato, Terre Siciliane - $17.99
A complex wine born from southeastern facing vines on slopes of sandy soils above Alcamo, on beautiful Sicily. The Vasco family adheres to fully organic viniculture with zero-intervention in their winery. Early season and night harvesting keeps the indigenous Sicilian white grape, Catarrato, bright and fresh. A short 3 days of skin contact maceration in stainless steel adds an amber hue and savory quality to the finished wine. Citrus and floral aromas lead to a palate of quince, apricot, almond, and a light salty spiciness. This is a fantastic value natural wine from Sicily and will pair nicely with soft cheeses and a variety of fresh seafood.
-Patrick
Sunny D Vodka Seltzer; 4-pack cans - $12.99
I normally detest companies that try to make a dollar by appealing to people's sense of nostalgia (looking at you, live action Disney reboots). At the very least, it seems like a very lazy way of rehashing someone else's idea rather than taking the time to make something novel and interesting. Soapboxing aside, Sunny D Vodka Seltzer is actually one product that avoids doing this. It carries that unmistakable not-quite-orange-juice flavor and avoids being overly carbonated or overtly boozy. It's nothing incredible (I never thought original Sunny D was either), but I think it's "faithful to the source material". If you even kind of like Sunny D, this one is worth trying.
-Nick N
