Thursday, July 29, 2010

How HOT Is It?

It has been so hot this summer that red wine drinkers are drinking white. That is a first for me.  Especially during the brunt of it - when the 90's felt like the 100's - we actually ran out of our wine buckets, there were so many bottles of white out on the tables!
We have recently brought in some new whites that might appeal to these johnny-come-lately  white drinkers (although with the rapid approach of a cooling trend this weekend, there will probably be the larger demand for red, once again).  I am especially looking forward to the Uvaggio Vermentino, from Lodi. The back of the label reads: "Uvaggio - sounds like "Bellagio" - is Italian for 'really great wine made by two incredibly hip wine lovers'".  British wine guru Jancis Robinson loves this wine; she reviews it here.

Starting this evening, we will be offering the Kanu chenin blanc, from South Africa.  We'll be pouring this by the glass as an option for our Pinot Grigio drinkers (who lately have actually been enjoying a PG from Lagaria).  The Kanu Winery is the sister winery to the producer of the first rose we offered this summer, the Mulderbosch; both are owned by Hydro Holdings, a prominent South African corporation. The 2008 Kanu CB got a score of 89 from the Wine Enthusiast, which judged it a "best buy" as well.

Red wine drinkers continue to have their day in the sun - current pours include the very popular Zen of Zin from Ravenswood and a South African Shiraz from Excelsior.  Fruity and soft, the Excelsior offers a perfect summer red to go with the Greek presentation of the lamb on the current dinner menu.  And big reds don't get much bigger than the Jaffurs Syrah, from Santa Barbara County.  With 92 points from the Wine Spectator, the wine was judged "fresh, rich, vibrant, full-bodied and complex, keeping a tight focus on the youthful fruit vitality and ending with a long, persistent finish".  It's on the high-alcohol side, at 15.5%, which seems to add to it's "power" and not detract.

Cheers!

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