| The heat, it fucks you up. You can’t think straight; simple tasks feel insurmountable. Inertia takes the place of ambition, and you feel hollowed out, empty. But there’s a solution: a glass of cold, light red wine, outdoors, under a tree, or on your porch or balcony as the sun finally sets, with a friend or two. Nothing heavy, dark, or broodily swimming in tannin, but also something that doesn’t come off as an adult juice box, something that helps you lose that empty feeling and begin to be happy and to make plans. Stop by this Wednesday to see what we’re talking about.
Domaine Plaisance Penavayre “Le Rouge” Fronton 2020
We’re suckers for a well-wrought Fronton, and appreciate the wilder, untamed side of the traditional red grape grown there, negrette. The appellation is near Toulouse, and what works there paired with the region’s fatty, savory cuisine (trust me, bring your Plavix) can also work wonderfully well with further fat-fests far afield, e.g., Los Angeles, where rather than confit, you might eat a birria taco or two, or good backyard BBQ. Negrette is an idiosyncratic old variety, typically with refreshing acidity and a ferric, wild berry, rustic, herbal character that tastes off-kilter, pre-modern, hewing more, perhaps, towards the Medieval palette of the Cathars, who in nearby strongholds held allegiance to no one other than themselves and the lord. We’re going to start with a Fronton, served cool, mostly negrette, blended with a bit of syrah and cab franc.
Loop de Loop “Romeo” Red
Cab franc/pinot blend, styled as a “bistro” red, by which the winemaker means a consummately gastronomic wine, to be enjoyed with food. By our lights, though, this fresh, juicy red from Oregon can be consumed all by itself. We really enjoyed meeting Julia Gulstine a few months ago and plan to stock additional selections from her and her husband, Scott, in the coming months.
Michel Guignier Beajolais 2025
Sorry to bore you with Beaujolais again. It is one of our obsessions here in the shop, and while we cannot stock every Beaujolais we love, we compensate by rotating and churning our stock. In addition, we receive new vintages of wines we know and love, and with Beaujolais, particularly once you move away from the industrial side of things, differences between vintages can be profound. So, we’re pouring the new vintage of this simple, fresh, organically farmed Beaujolais that we work with every year until there is none left in stock.
Soldavini “Merenxiao” Ribeira Sacra 2022
No one knows exactly how the old Jurassien variety, trousseau, ended up in Galicia, where it is named merenzao—perhaps it was brought by medieval religious pilgrims traveling east to west on the Camino de Santiago — is one explanation. However it managed to make its way from hundreds of miles to the east, in the Jura, to northwest Spain; merenzao/trousseau has been grown in the region for centuries. My guess is there’s been significant genetic drift between these grapes and their ancestors over that time. Certainly, and for whatever reason, merenzao wines taste nothing like trousseau from the Jura. High-altitude, steep-sloped vineyards, farmed organically, only 11.5% ABV, light and floral, but also a little sanguineous.
COS Frappato Terre Siciliane 2024
Sicily is its own cosmos of red wine varieties and red wine styles. In the northwest, on Mt Etna, nerello mascalese is THE grape; nero d’avola, seemingly grown everywhere today, is truly at its best in its homeland, near Pachino in the southeast. As you travel westwards in the southeast of the island, towards Vittoria, you begin to see nero d’avola blended with unique, lighter-bodied frappato in the classic blend, Cerasuolo di Vittoria, but also, increasingly, frappato vinified on its own. And we’re here for it. We’re pouring a light (only 11% ABV), brambly, perfumed frappato, seemingly meant for days like this, from one of the living masters of the variety, Giusto Occhipinti. |
