Enoteca News: Have you met Gordy Venneri, winemaker?
What’s Fresh At Enoteca?
- Walla Walla Vintners Wine Tasting this Weekend
with Winemaker Gordon Venneri - February Wine Dinner: Chateau St. Martin – French wine with French food
- Fresh Beers at Enoteca – Fine Wine and Beer
- Upcoming Tasting Events
- Prepare for Valentines Day
- Tell me more about the Wine & Beer Club…
- Can you tell me what Wine Tasting is like?
A Note from Russell
This weekend we have a fantastic treat for our Friday tasting. Gordy Venneri from Walla Walla Vintners will be
on hand from 4-7 to share his wines, autograph bottles, and make jokes. He may be the funniest wine maker
in the Walla Walla Valley. Pick up a bottle while you’re here and ask Gordy for an autograph!
The super bowl is Sunday! Whether you’re in tears of joy or tears of sorrow for your team, consider drowning the tears in high quality wine or beer of your preference. No matter how the game turns out, if you have a tasty beverage in your hands it will be a good day!
It’s not too early to Prepare for Valentines Day. You can wow him or her with an incredible wine or beer, and add the extra touch with valentine’s appropriate labels!
– Russell Mann
Walla Walla Vintners Wine Tasting this Weekend
Start the weekend out right at Enoteca – Fine Wine & Beer!
This Friday from 4-7 Enoteca will be hosting wine maker Gordy Venneri from Walla Walla Vintners as he shares a line up of his top shelf wines.
We want to give you the opportunity to “try before you buy” so we offer a flight of wine for a low cost. Taste a flight (2 oz. each of 4 wines) for $10 per flight, and follow up with a glass. We will be tasting Saturday from 12-7 as well, which is a great time to beat the rush.
Walla Walla Cellars Merlot
(Columbia Valley, Washington)
This is incredible! Smooth, delicious. Blackberry jam flavors, vanilla notes, mocha espresso notes, and a smooth mouthfeel that is unbeatable.
[Member: $19.79 / Retail: $21.99]
Walla Walla Vintners Sangiovese 2006
(Columbia Valley, Washington)
Sangiovese has become the Vintners’ acclaimed house wine. It is a standard of excellence for the Portland Chianti Society who thinks our Sangiovese is one the country’s best and the ’06 is no exception. This wine contains 83% Sangiovese from Desert View, Dwelley, Kiona and Kara Vineyards. The 12% Goose Ridge Vineyard Syrah and the 5% Malbec from Dwelley and Pepper Bridge Vineyards completes this Super Chianti-like blend. Just one glass can take your palate to the taste of Tuscany and the flavors of Siena, Assisi, and San Gimignano — Picholine ripe olives, caper sprouts, grilled meat with garlic and olive oil. This wine cries out for veal scaloppini with tomatoes, garlic, oregano, capers, warm Cerignola olives and fresh olive oil drizzled on the serving plate.
83% Sangiovese, 12% Syrah, 5% Malbec
This is Sarah’s favorite of Gordy’s wines, don’t miss it!
[Member: $23.39 / Retail: $25.99]
Walla Walla Vintners Bello Rosso 2006
(Yakima Valley, Washington)
Bello Rosso, a blend of 50% Sangiovese and 50% of Cabernet Sauvignon is simply Italian magic with a whiff of black olive in the nose and a mid-palate of fresh wild mushrooms — mostly chanterelle and porcini— and an elegant, smooth grilled eggplant finish that elicits a grin. It is a stylist quaff! This wine is like a great Italian — always having a good joke and smile. The Bello Rosso has a sense of humor and is great with friends and food — thin crust pizza topped with a layer of San Marzano tomatoes, fresh basil, sliced fresh mozzarella, a touch of red pepper flakes, a dusting of grated Pecorino cheese, finished with a drizzle of first-pressed extra-virgin olive oil. This wine will take you to Naples without having to buy Euros. Serve it with Pavarotti!
50% Sangiovese, 50% Cabernet Sauvignon
[Member: $33.29 / Retail: $36.99]
Walla Walla Vintners Washington State Cuvee 2006
(Washington State)
Oh my! We have done it again! The 06 WA State Cuvee is a standout wine that gets your attention right from the get go. This incredible blend contains 38% Merlot, 24% Cabernet Franc, 13% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Petit Verdot, 7% Carmenere and 5% each of Malbec and Syrah. Eight vineyards from four AVAs that make up this glorious blend — Cordon Grove, Dwelley, Frazier Bluff, Killian, Sagemoor, Spring Creek and Weinbau vineyards. The wine is smooth and seductive, calling you back for another taste, so you can experience different facets and discover nuances that are deeply hidden in this pleasurable composition — dark berry nose, mid-palate of dark chocolate, toasted marshmallows and Häagen-Dazs Banana Split ice cream! Heaven!
Yummy! This is one smoothe customer, rich, fruity, and showing off what Washington has to offer.
38% Merlot, 24% Cabernet Franc, 13% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Petit Verdot, 7% Carmenere, 5% Malbec, 5% Syrah
[Member: $26.99 / Retail: $29.99]
Pricing disclaimer.
February Wine Dinner: French Wine with Chateau St. Martin
and culinary arts by Laurent Zirotti at Fleur de Sel
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French Wine Dinner Tuesday, Feb. 24th Begins at 6:30 p.m. Price TBA 
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Tuesday February 24th, 2008 at 6:30, Enoteca – Fine Wine and Beer
will be holding a French wine dinner in partnership with Fleur de Sel and Chateau St. Martin Importers.
This promises to be a fun and delicious evening of French food and French wine!
Make a date of it! The restaurant seats 35, so that is the maximum number of people we can book, so make your booking early. To make reservations, call Fleur de Sel at 208-777-7600. |
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We will send out the menu as soon as we have it!
Hans Giner, the importer, will be on hand at the dinner. Hans and Catherine Giner founded Chateau St. Martin with the mission to find and import quality wine from France at reasonable prices. Hans brings a wealth of wine knowledge to the Pacific Northwest. In 1992 he was invited to join the prestigious Jurade de Saint-Emilion, founded in 1199, and has over the years built an extensive network of wine producers, negociants and courtiers. Building on his in-depth knowledge of the Bordeaux wines and the ways of doing business in the wine trade, he is now in a position to offer the ever growing population of wine consumers some outstanding wines at moderate prices. To make reservations, call Fleur de Sel at 208-777-7600. Email us at service@corkjoy.com with any questions, or call 208-457-9885. To be made aware of future events, join the email list at www.corkjoy.com |
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Fresh Beers at Enoteca Fine Wine and Beer
Sours. What? Sour Beer? On purpose? Oh yes. Ooooh yes. Check out these bad boys.
Lambic style beers were a dying breed. One brand changed all of that. Lindeman’s Raspberry Framboise Lambic. Maligned for its fruity departure from the traditional style, Lindeman’s Framboise is a sweet raspberry infused beer with a slight hint of a tart back note, just crisp enough.
While Lindeman’s Framboise is uber popular, even with the cheerleader crowd, the other lambics, Flanders Reds and Flanders Browns, and assorted sours are not. For the easy drinking palate, they come across as an abomination. For the developed, adventurous, wine-like palate, they are incredibly complex, interesting, and fun!
– Russell Mann
Pannil Barriquée 2006 (Parma, Italy)
Here is the trade information from the importer, and apparently they have an opinion:
Save the wild yeasts! From senseless abuse and pasteurization.Well, there you have it. This just came in so I haven’t had time to open a bottle yet. When I do I’ll write a review, but I figured I’d be remiss in having it on the shelf and not letting you know it’s here!
Suddenly beer-lovers here in the States are all a-titter over dark, sour, wood-aged ales. These complex, fruity-tasting beers, native to the Netherlands and Belgian Flanders, represent one of the oldest beer styles in the world. In their traditional form, these Sour Reds – also known as ‘Flemish Red’ or ‘Oud Bruin’ beers – are related to real lambic beers: a touch of wild yeast and bacteria coming from the wood give acidity, both lactic (sour) and acetic (vinegar).
Trouble is, it’s become nearly impossible to find a true, traditional Sour Red, even in the place where the style was born. The spate of Sour Reds turning up here now leaves most drinkers crying in their beer. They’re too damned sweet! Crass commercialization has brought even the generally recognized ‘classics’ of the style to their knees. They’re pasteurized, and sometimes laced with sugar or artificial sweeteners to make them appealing to the less-discerning beer drinker. The traditional complexity, character, and dryness are missing in action.
But now comes Panil Barriquée, and not a minute too soon.
Barriquée is the only all-natural, traditionally-made example you will find today, and it comes from, of all places, Italy. This masterpiece is ‘triple-fermented.’ Primary fermentation is in stainless steel. The deep earthy, sour character results from three months of maturation in cognac barrels from Bordeaux, followed by re-fermentation and further aging in the bottle. Barriquée is not pasteurized or filtered, and no sweeteners are added, so it is uncompromisingly dry and complex, and endlessly interesting.
[Member: $20.46 / Retail: $22.99 / Member Case: $19.54 ea.] 8% ABV. 750 ml.
Boon Oude Gueuze (Lembeek, Belgium)
This beer hails from the town that gives Lambic it’s name! The official website is in dutch or something so I don’t know what they have to say for themselves. This is reported to have aromas of barnyard, brettomyaces, horse blanket, and more, but keep sniffing around for the light fruit flavors, apple crisp, pears, and such.
Taste for an interesting sour patch which can develop into some cheese flavors with a crisp dry finish.
[Member: $6.29 / Retail: $6.99 / Member Case: $5.94 ea.] 22 oz.
Duchesse de Burgogne (Belgium)
Duchesse de Burgogne from Brouwerij Verhaeghe is the traditional Flemish red ale. This refreshing ale is matured in oak casks; smooth with a rich texture and interplay of passion fruit, and chocolate, and a long, dry and acidic finish. After the first and secondary fermentation, the beer goes for maturation into the oak barrels for 18 months. The final product is a blend of younger 8 months old beer with 18 months old beer. The average age of the Duchesse de Bourgogne before being bottled is 12 months.
Duchesse is the queen of sour beers! Her fruity tart flavor profile will suprise and delight even the most well versed beer taster/drinker. Suprisingly, women tend to like this beer, because they don’t expect it to be like “beer” but more like wine flavors. Give it a try, if you’re brave enough.
[Member: $5.39 / Retail: $5.99 / Member Case: $5.09] 6% ABV. 12 oz. (4 packs avail.)
Liefmans Kriekbier (Belgium)
This kriek is made with a completely different method from Kriek Lambic. It starts with old brown beer which i macerated with fresh whole cherries in shallow, horizontal tanks (every 100 liter brown beer holds 13 kg cherries). Then it matures for about 1 year, afterwards it is blended with both Oud Bruin and Goudenband of different ages. The result is a well balanced sour and swee Kriek of great complexity.
Tasting Notes:
Hazy, cloudy red brown color with pale rosé head. Aroma of cherries, wood, almond, cherry ice cream. The taste carries a good “fruit skin” attack, evolving rather than lingering perfume flavors. Pair with meat loaf and cherries!
The Liefman’s Kriek is based on a sour brown ale, and adds a delicious dose of cherry. Blend with Chocolate Stout for a chocolate covered cherry!
[Member: $8.09 / Retail: $8.99 / Member Case: $7.64] 6% ABV. 12 oz.
Looking For Your Favorite Wine & Beer:
People have learned that finding a specific wine or beer can be very easy, you can simply ask the folks at Enoteca, and we are happy to track them down for you. Especially hard to find and specialty products!
Simply fill out this form and we will do the hunting.
People have learned that finding a specific wine or beer can be very easy, you can simply ask the folks at Enoteca, and we are happy to track them down for you. Especially hard to find and specialty products!
Simply fill out this form and we will do the hunting.
Tasting Events Coming Soon
Mark your calendars, Enoteca has a great lineup for the next few weeks. Join us for these excellent tasting events! More details will be available in this newsletter, as well as any changes that might come up.
Friday, January 30th – 4-7 pm
Walla Walla Vintners Wine Tasting with wine maker Gordy Venneri. Come try the line up with the wine maker, get your bottle autographed! We will taste these wines on Saturday, January 31st as well, from 12-7.
Friday, February 6th – 4-7 pm
Taste of Club! February Wine & Beer of the Month Club! Club tasting event, taste all the wine club wines! This is a great opportunity to see what the Club is all about, and to see what others are getting in their bins. We will taste these wines on Saturday, February 7th as well, from 12-7.
Tuesday, February 24th – 6:30 pm
Wine Dinner with Hans Giner of Chateau St. Martin French wine importers and culinary arts by Laurent Zirotti at Fleur de Sel. For details, keep an eye on upcoming Enoteca Newsletters!
Wednesday, February 25th – 7 pm
Missed out on the dinner? Hans Giner of Chateau St. Martin French wine importers will be at Enoteca on Wednesday, February 25th to pour some excellent wine. For details, keep an eye on upcoming Enoteca Newsletters!
You can keep yourself in the loop on Enoteca events! Subscribe to the Enoteca
Google Calendar to keep up-to-date on the latest happenings!Thank you for your support of our local family business.
Salute’
Russell and Sarah
Enoteca – Fine Wine & Beer
208-457-9885
service@corkjoy.com
Enoteca is open:
Tuesday-Saturday: 11-7
Directions, hours, and more about Enoteca: www.corkjoy.com
We’re always looking for feedback! If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to let us know. Did you like a certain wine or beer? We’re here to serve you so let us know how we can help: service@corkjoy.com
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