The Wines…

1. 2017 Lo-Fi Wines Sparkling Gamay Noir Rosé

   
   Lo-Fi is a partnership between two lifelong friends who believe in hand crafted honest wines that are made for every day drinking. Wines to be enjoyed not to be collected. Easy drinking lower alcohol wines made to pair well with all types of foods, from pizza to paté.

   Believing in neutral barrels, native yeasts, little to no sulfur additions, and no adjustment of pH. They love whole cluster fermentation, adore carbonic maceration and embrace a nothing added, nothing taken away philosophy that gives birth to wines that are young, vibrant and alive.

   Hand harvested and organically grown Gamay from Los Alamos, CA; Whole Cluster pressed to tank. Settled 24 hours then racked off sediment. No sulfur used at harvest. Fermented on the native yeasts, followed by full malolactic by naturally occurring bacteria. The wine was fermented cold in tank to 27 g/L residual sugar and bottled by gravity. After completion of fermentation in bottle the wine wine disgorged to remove sediment. NO dosage or so2 added.

2. Vivanterre “SGU” Orange Contact

   Vivanterre is a natural wine produced in the Auvergne region of France by Patrick Bouju and Justine Loiseau, and founded by Rosie and Max Assoulin, with the support of renowned sommelier Cedric Nicaise. Using organically and biodynamically farmed grapes, vinified using natural processes, and untouched by any fining, filtering, or added sulfites. A blend of Sylvaner, Gewurztraminer, and Ugni Blanc grapes. The Gewurztraminer and Ugni Blanc saw maceration on their skins. All grapes are from farms that use organic practices, and which were specifically selected for the quality of the farmers’ work, terroir, and fruit. Legal organic certification for these farms are expected in 2021. All were vinified separately and blended just before bottling.

   The Sylvaner grapes come from Alsace, from a vineyard located in the village of Rosheim, that is rich in limestone, with 60-year-old vines. Harvested on October 4th, 2019, the grapes were directly pressed, and aged in a combination of amphorae and “foudre” oak barrels.

   The Gewurztraminer grapes also come from Alsace, but this time from the village of Heiligenstein. Picked from 35-year-old vines, planted on clay and blue slate, the grapes were harvested on October 4th, 2019. Whole clusters were placed directly into stainless steel vats for three weeks, foot trodden, then racked into amphorae.

   The Ugni Blanc comes from the Languedoc, near the village of Pinet, Southwest of Montpellier close to the ocean, and grown on 25-year-old vines that were planted on limestone and farmed organically.  Harvested on September 2nd, 2019, whole clusters were macerated for one week, then aged in fiberglass tanks.

   The Orange Contact SGU offers flavors of white peach, lychee and tropical fruits. Beyond the fruits, there are notes of white flowers, black tea and ginger.

3. Benoit Courault “Les Guinechiens” 2018

   Benoit Courault is a young and established vigneron in Faye d’Anjou, a little village south of Angers along the Layon river. Not a son of a winemaker, early on, Ben decided to study wine. He went to Beaune. From 2003 until 2006, he worked with the famous vigneron Eric Pfifferling from Domaine L’Anglore in Tavel. 

   Back to his native Loire, he found 5ha of vineyards and started his estate in 2006. Benoit’s aim is to propose authentic wines of excellent quality produced with a constant concern for the natural balance of life cycles, a statement that you will find on his label “Vignes cultives dans le respect du vivant”. Ben’s practices are simple and traditional, organic farming, use of the horse, natural vinification, very little use of sulfites, no fining and no filtration. 

   Courault farms his Cabernet Franc, Grolleau and Chenin Blanc meticulously and is quick to tell any visitors that it took years for the soil to recover from the use of herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers and regain life and its natural balance. He also keeps an entourage of farm animals, including a draft horse that helps with plowing and transporting harvest bins to the winery. And in another bout of bootstrap ingenuity, he set up a cooperative with Olivier Cousin and other local growers to share the cost and use of expensive farm tools.

   All of Courault’s grapes are hand harvested and pressed using a manual vertical press.

   Perhaps the most intensely mineral of Courault’s Chenin Blanc-based wines, Les Guinechiens comes off a small plot of low-yielding old vines of around 60 years of age, near the town of Montbenault. It undergoes a very long, slow fermentation using only native yeasts and ages 1.5 years in used barriques.

4. Girolamo Russo “San Lorenzo” Etna Rosso 2017

   A potent and elegant organic red wine made primarily from Nerello Mascalese grapes grown high on the northern slopes of Mount Etna.

   Giuseppe Russo is a quiet thoughtful man, formerly a pianist. Since 2005 he has been organically farming his family's old vineyards, many of the vines around 100 years of age, and he is restoring the old cellar under his house. He has 15 hectares of vines on the North side of Etna around the town of Passopisciaro.

   For Pinot Noir and Nebbiolo lovers, Nerello Mascalese is an exciting find — it can produce reds with impressive delicacy as well as those with great structure. From the ‘Fuedo di Mezzo’ single vineyard, this is a red of both impressive delicacy and structure. Of his three single vineyards, San Lorenzo is regarded as the most structured and deep.

   94% Nerello Mascalese, 6% Nerello Cappuccio, 20 days maceration, controlled low temperature fermentation in steel and plastic tanks with indigenous yeasts, Vines being plated between 1920-1940 765M above sea level in the volcanic soils of Mount Etna.  

   Notes of ashy cherries, white pepper, blood orange rind, and smoky wet rocks