Tonight's Lineup: 
2016 Chan de Rosas Cuvée Especial Rías Baixas Albariño $18.99  
About the Winery Located in Galicia, Valle de Salnés, is the Chan de Rosas vineyard. Their microclimate is matched by the season of Atlantic storms, with its warm fronts and frequently tropical air. This not only brings heavy rainfall to the area but it is also part of the reason for the mild temperature changes between day and night as well as the overall warm temperatures. The granite and sand-driven soils help to retain the moisture during the dry season, when the temperatures remain mild because of the fresh air. This combination of weather and terroir is what gives the wine a characteristic note of salinity and minerality. 
About the Wine Harvested by hand, after destemming the grapes are cold macerated at approximately 45°F for 12 hours. The must then goes though at static racking for the next 24 hours. The clean must undergoes alcoholic fermentation at low temperatures while a portion of the wine receives alcoholic fermentation in new French oak barrels. Then, just part of the wine experiences malolactic fermentation. Every week, the wines is stirred to keep the lees suspended in order to bring more complexity in aromas and flavors to the wine. Hues of pale yellow with greenish highlights are matched by aromas of white flowers, citrus, white fruit and apple sauce. On the palate, one can expect to find crisp, fresh flavors of white peaches and white cherries followed by minerality on the mid-palate. The finish is round and persistent. 2016 Château de Pibarnon Bandol Provence Rosé $32.99  
About the Winery Since purchasing the estate in 1975, Comte Henri de Saint-Victor and family have been producing some of the most seductively aromatic and nobly structured wines in all of Southern France. Perched atop La Colline du Télégraphe in the northernmost part of the appellation, the château commands sweeping vistas of the amphitheater of vines known as the Théatre d’Epidaure, and beyond, the Mediterranean Sea. The vineyard overlooks the sea, covering terraces upon terraces up to 1,000 feet in altitude, the highest in Bandol. The vines are planted on a very old, and highly calcareous, Triassic ground. This very special location, complemented by a bold blend of grapes gives this Rosé its personality, its complexity and elegance. 
About the Wine Hand-picked Cinsault and Mourvèdre grapes from vines that average 40 years in age, the Cinsault is then pressed directly, allowing the fat and fruit into the flavor profile of the wine. The Mourvédre undergoes the saignée method along with pressing. This give the wine good structure, freshness and complexity. The two varieties are blended before experiencing a long fermentation of 25-30 days in stainless steel vats. With controlled temperatures, the juice is then aged in vats for 6 months, to preserve the freshness of the aromas. 65% Mourvèdre, 35% Cinsault. Some notes of citrus, but also ripe fruits explode before revealing licorice, ever-present thanks to Mourvèdre. A mouth full of freshness and body, amplified by the sap and fruit, viscosity and spices. Beautifully balanced, one might say: a great table Rosé wine. It accompanies Mediterranean cuisine, colorful, inventive with sweet and rare spices. A Rosé for all seasons, airy, refreshing and fruity the first months; then more mineral, complex, then longer and structured. A true gourmet wine. 2011 Shelter The Butcher Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon $49.99  
About the Winery Shelter Wine Company is the brainchild of David Stevens. David also owns 750 Wines in Napa with his wife Monica (specializing in high end, limited production boutique wineries) located in St. Helena. All of Shelter’s wines are sourced from high-end Napa area vineyards. His longstanding relationships with area vintners made it possible for him to become a vintner himself. Stevens buys up professionally fermented grapes from various (secret) places around Napa and blends them to perfection. Robert Foley is a winemaker who has always had a plan going way back to 1977 when he first started making the wines at Pride Mountain. From Pride, he went on to build Parker darlings like Switchback Ridge, Hourglass and Paloma. Not possible without the best of plans. So, with that kind of resume, doors open pretty easily when it comes to finding some of the best Cabernet grapes possible in the Napa Valley. Shelter is Foley’s latest venture and the 2011 is a terrific bottle of wine. The wine is powerfully built, with layers of black fruit, touched with just the right amount of graphite, cedar and mocha. Six years of bottle age has smoothed out the edges, the wine is drinking beautifully. 
About the Wine Named in honor of the famous butcher who has provided the sustenance for many of the famous gatherings of musicians and winemakers around Napa. The nose is quite expressive with dark red berry fruit a bit of vanilla intermixed with cassis. The color is an opaque inky purple with an almost electric hue to it. The taste of this wine is very sophisticated as it mirrors the nose leading with deep red fruits on the front palate leading to a structured mid showcasing the cedar and spice box along with the integrated tannins…finishing juicy and long albeit graceful. 700 cases produced. * * * | 
