Next Tastings

May 30

Tenuta Ca’ Bolani Pinot Grigio, Friuli, 2024 ($15.95) – With its cooler climate, Friuli is one of the northern districts of Italy that makes the best Pinot Grigios. The warmer Veneto makes the bulk of the less expensive ones that are pleasant enough but generally lack acidity. This pretty wine comes from the Aquileia DOC, where the Alps meet the Adriatic Sea. Owned by the Zonin family, the beautiful Ca’Bolani estate spans 2200 acres, 1400 of which are vineyards, making it the largest in Northern Italy. With attention to detail, this ‘boutique giant’ cultivates 90 diverse sub-plots. After a gentle crushing the juice was inoculated with selected and fermented at a controlled temperature of 64-68° in order to retain the wine’s fruitiness and superior organoleptic qualities. It shows notes of crunchy green pear, peach, candied lemon zest, and stony mineral in a bright and juicy version. It’s a well-balanced crowd-pleaser. Best serve around 50°.

Comando G “La Bruja,” Cebreros-Spain, 2023 ($44.99) – How can you not be impressed with a winery called Comando G? It sounds like an action movie! A short distance from Madrid, the rugged and weathered peaks of the Sierra de Gredos contain ancient hilltop towns and cottages in a tortured landscape of alpine meadows, tumbled boulders, and thick scrub brush. Three local wine DOs (Cebreros, Mentrida, and Viños de Madrid) were once known for inexpensive, straightforward wines to slake the capital’s thirst, but the rediscovery and revitalization of vineyards high up in the Sierra de Gredos has revolutionized and redefined winemaking in this region. These once obscure, nearly abandoned, and seemingly inauspicious vines possessed a hidden expression of Garnacha (Grenache) where the pale color belies the depth and intensity of the fruit and terruño expression. Rather than an explosive and expansive character, they revealed wines that turned this energy inward, creating a thrilling weightlessness and energy that crackles with red fruit and minerality.

Friends since childhood, Dani Landi and Fernando (Fer) Garcia returned home to the Sierra de Gredos after completing their educations in enology. Drawn to the mountains and rumors of small, nearly inaccessible vineyard plots located at high elevations, they began purchasing and leasing the best sites they could find before going out on their own in 2008 with the founding of Comando G. The vineyards they have assembled for Comando G are farmed manually and biodynamically and are in conversion to organic with vines ranging from 50 to 80 years old planted on sandy soils weathered from granite, slate, and quartz. A combination of high altitude, freely draining soils, and a mild and relatively humid micro-climate – for central Spain – guarantees a long growing season and a modest alcohol level in the finished wines. They are startlingly pale, extraordinarily aromatic, and intensely flavorful. La Bruja comes from 60-year old vines grown at 1000 meters in the village of Rozas. The grapes were hand-harvested. Fermentations were separated by plots in open oak vats with indigenous yeast and a 30-day average soft maceration. The wine was then aged for 8 months in various sizes of oak foudre (large casks). The 2023 vintage will be the last release of La Bruja, a cuvée that has gone through changing iterations, names, and sourcing since it was first made in 2008. Some of the vines have been sold off; the most distinctive will go into a village-named wine. The 2023 vintage was the first vintage vinified in their new winery.

Wine Advocate (Luis Gutiérrez): 95 “The regional red 2023 La Bruja is now 100% from Cebreros, no more from Madrid; so, they produced fewer bottles. It’s like a meatier, juicier version of the 2021, less reductive but still stony and fine-boned. It has good ripeness and development of aromas and flavors and is floral, clean, red fruited and herbal, with 14% alcohol and very good freshness and acidity, coming through as balanced and elegant. Drink 2024-2032. I tasted wines from 2022 (a more Mediterranean and intense year) and 2023 (a cooler year of elegance, freshness, and precision), with a perfect cool September and also rain that improved the quality of the year after a very warm August.”



Recent Tastings
May 23
Matanzas Creek Sauvignon Blanc, Sonoma County, 2024 ($19.99)
Tenuta dei Sette Cieli Toscana Yantra, 2023 ($26.99)

May 16 
BŌKEN Japanese Sake “Nana” Junmai Gingo ($22.99/300ml)
Rockburn Pinot Noir, Central Otago – New Zealand, 2020 ($34.99)
Odyssée, Vin de France, 2020 ($49.99) 

May 9
Domaine de la Tonnellerie Sancerre, 2025 ($25.59)
Mollydooker Shiraz “The Boxer,” South Australia, 2021 ($32.99)

May 2
Château Sainte-Roseline “Prestige” Rosé, Côtes du Provence, 2025 ($18.99)
López de Heredia Cubillo, Rioja, 2011 ($32.99)

April 25
Château des Demoiselles Rosé, Côtes de Provence, 2025 ($17.99)
L’Esprit de Chevalier Rouge, Pessac-Léognan, 2015 ($35.99)

April 18
Cameron Hughes CAM X Chardonnay Lot 11, Russian River Valley, 2023 ($19.99)
Fulcrum Dry Creek Cabernet Sauvignon, Sonoma, 2023 ($34.99)

April 11
Rapaura Springs Sauvignon Blanc Reserve, Marlborough-New Zealand, 2023 ($17.99)
Domaine de Fidélité Menetou Salon Rouge, 2023 ($26.99)

April 4
Izadi Larrosa Rosé, Rioja, 2024 ($18.99)
Château Beauchêne Châteauneuf du Pape Grande Réserve, 2015 ($37.99)

March 28
Murgo Etna Bianco, 2024 ($22.99)
Argiano Non Confunditur, Toscana Rosso IGT, 2023 ($21.99)

March 21
Domaine de Villargeau Côteaux du Giennois Blanc, 2023 ($19.99)
Bodegas Muga Rioja Riserva, 2021 ($34.99)

March 14
Izadi Rioja Riserva, 2020 ($19.99)
Pietrantonj Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, 2022 ($19.99)

March 7
Man Family Chenin Blanc, Cape Coast-South Africa, 2025 ($14.99)
Chateau Pont de Pierre, Lussac St. Emilion, 2018 ($16.89)

February 28
Terres Dorees Morgon, 2018 ($25.99)
Department 66 Côtes Catalanes “Others,” 2015 ($29.99)

February 21
Francis Berwyn Chardonnay, Willamette Valley-OR, 2023 ($24.99)
Paul Jaboulet Aine Gigondas Pierre Aiguille, 2017 ($25.99)

February 14
Höpler Grüner Veltliner, Burgenland-Austria, 2024
Petit Bécot, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru, 2019 ($36.49)

February 7
Jermann Pinot Grigio, Friuli, 2024 ($24.99)
Sojourn Cellars Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, 2023 ($39.99)

January 3 1
Familia Torres Clos Ancestral Forcada, Penèdes-Spain, 2024 ($26.59)
Catena Malbec “Lunlunta,” Old Vines, 2023 Mendoza-Argentina ($26.99)

January 24
Ken Forrester Vineyards Old Vine Reserve Chenin Blanc, Stellenbosch-South Africa, 2024 ($19.99) 
Robert Foley Red Blend “The Griffin,” California, 2016 ($49.99)

January 17
Levendi Estate Chardonnay, Napa Valley, 2023 ($39.99)
Barrel Bomb Red Table Wine, 2017 ($19.99)

January 10
Levendi Sauvignon Blanc, Oakville-Napa, 2024 ($29.99)
Château d’Issan Moulin d’Issan, Bordeaux Supérieur, 2022 ($23.99)

January 3
Lobster Reef Sauv Blanc, Marlborough-New Zealand, 2024 ($15.95)
Le Ragnaie Troncone, 2023 ($23.99)

December 27
Madame Veuve Point Bourgogne Rouge, 2023 ($29.99)
The Messenger Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon, 2023 ($49.99
Paul Goerg Blanc de Blancs Brut Premier Cru À Vertus, NV ($56.99)

December 20
Château Graville Lacoste Graves Blanc, 2024 ($22.49)
Shelter Winery Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir), Baden-Germany, 2023 ($29.99)
Champagne Pierre Boëver Des Dames de France GRAND CRU, Non-Vintage ($54.99)

December 13
Shelter Winery Lovely Lilly Chardonnay, Baden-Germany, 2024 ($19.99)
La Granja Nuestra Señora de Remelluri Rioja Reserva, 2016 ($45.99)

December 6
Shelter Winery Lovely Lilly “Psychedelic” Pinot Noir, Baden-Germany, 2023 ($20.99)
Trefethen Eshcol Red, Napa Valley, 2022 ($22.99)

November 29
Niepoort Douro Redoma Branco, Portugal, 2024 ($25.99)
Bodegas Teso La Monja Almirez, Toro-Spain, 2020 ($36.99)

November 22
Ponzi Pinot Gris, Willamette Valley-Oregon, 2023 ($19.99)
Colene Clemens Pinot Noir Chehalem Mountains Dopp Creek, Willamette-Oregon, 2022 ($37.49)
Lionel Osmin & Cie Chambre d’Amour ($16.99)

November 15
Cloisonne Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, 2023 ($20.99)
Cloisonne Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, 2022 ($24.99)
Fulcrum Pinot Noir Brousseau Vineyard, Chalone Appellation-Monterey, 2021 ($59.99)
Fulcrum Petite Verdot, Alexander Valley-Sonoma, 2022 ($29.99

November 8
Karl Fritsch Grüner Veltliner Ried Steinberg, 2023 ($27.75) 
Domaine Lafage Narassa IGP, Cotes Catalanes-France, 2020 ($23.99) 

November 1
Damilano Barolo Lecinquevigne, 2021 ($44.99)
Legras & Haas Blanc de Blanc Grand Cru Chouilly ($62.99)

October 25
Costers del Priorat Blanc de Pissarres, 2021 ($36.99) 
Chateau Prieuré Jehanne, St.-Estephe, 2017 ($29.99

October 18
Tenuta Ca’ Bolani Pinot Grigio, Friuli, 2024 ($15.95)
Château Teyssier, St.-Emilion Grand Cru, 2015 ($29.99)

October 11
Fess Parker Winery Chardonnay, Santa Barbara County, 2023 ($19.99)
Château Pierre 1er, St.- Emilion Grand Cru, 2018 ($27.99)

Oct 4
Drouhin Oregon Roserock Chardonnay, Eola-Amity Hills-Oregon, 2022 ($39.99
Château Pierre 1er, St.- Emilion Grand Cru, 2016 ($27.99)