October Wine Club - Sapphire

When I go through my mid-life crisis and feel the need to sell my worldly belongings and travel to Italy I'll probably start my visit at this winery. I've featured them in the past in wine club and on the list at Bluebird. Since I have a very very very long time until I hit mid life 😉 I'll just keep learning about all the goodness this winery has to offer. This month we are featuring the G. D. Vajra 'Kyè' Freisa. Freisa being the grape varietal, Kyè:, according to Milena & Aldo Vaira, "the sun or the moon? To us, this is the seduction of Freisa, a wild, untamed grape." Whoa, how am I supposed to follow that up? Remember I'm just trying to introduce you to all the awesomeness of the wine world, everyone's pallet is subjective and different. This is made more clear upon researching this little grape. Industry leaders have said of Freisa wines as being "immensely appetizing" to "totally repugnant wines."😳😳🥺🥺 Please know I try not to sell things that are repugnant.

On the contrary, this literally woke up pallet. (Most of my trade tastings take place on Wednesday mornings). This week was a little harsh with single vineyard Sauvignon blancs. The wines were geeky and I'm pretty sure melted the remaining toothpaste flavor out of my mouth. Back to tasting the Fresia in an early morning tasting-I'm sure I've mentioned it before but I think about food all-the-time. Naturally my mind wanders when I'm tasting a wine what I would pair it with, pizza was my first choice. In no particular after that; Fried Chicken, Duck, Veal, and the wine would cut through the richness of our Cuban sandwich.

The color is a standout translucent garnet red. Red raisiny-fruit were the first round of aromatics. The same fruit hit my pallet combined with spicy leather, still a juicy mouth feel but be prepared for the hefty tannins and a lovely finish. #foodwine

We were in the Northwestern part of the boot with the Fresia grape we somewhat travel to the northeastern part of the boot to Friuli, to discover a grape we have in our backyard in the Columbia Gorge AVA. The white wine feature this month is the 2022 Ago Tocai Friulano.

Tocai Friulano is also known as Sauvignonasse or Sauvignon Vert, which leads to erroneously associated with Sauvignon Blanc. Friulano grapes are known for the white wines in Friuli Italy-usually imparting lively citrus notes, hints of floral and minerality. Let's head back in time, 2015, to Washington state where the masterminds at Cor Cellars planted one and half acres of Tocai Friulano "due to our love of Northen Italy," in their vineyards in Lyle, Washington. 2018 yielded their first vintage of the wine. I defer to the winemaker notes because I truly could not say it any better:

"The 2022 AGO Tocai Friulano moves like a Balanchine ballerina: poised, lithe and elegant with an undercurrent of energy and power. This unexpected and unique varietal blooms with white blossoms, soft petals as it pirouettes across the palate."

Dream Dinner @ 🐦 with this bottle of wine: Small Plate Menu- Cauliflower and Brussels. Salad-Radicchio(Pea Shoots, pork belly, seasonal fruit, Parmesan, honey miso dressing) with Parmesan Halibut. At this point I'd look like the guy in Money Python being offered a "wafer thin mint." but If I still had room for an Entree-Shrimp and Grits (currently with green curry and mango salsa). "But sir it's wafer thin".

October Wine Club - Peacock

I like doing a deep dive on our monthly selections. It is neither a spooky or scary varietal but I will find a connection. Until then a sneak peek....

The one connection I have to tie it into the spooky/scary varietal wine club....

If you were/are members of the J. Bookwalter wine club you would/could receive-in the Writers Club Selection level- the wines;Protagonist, Suspense, Conflict and Antagonist....

elements of spooky and scary stories...

October Wine Club - Indigo

It makes me sleep better knowing I was today's years old when I learn something new about wine. I just took the level 1 test thru the Guild of Sommeliers, so I know some things, but There. Is. So. Much. To. Know. For instance, I didn't know there is a German Wine Road, a tourist route that was established in 1935. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Wine_Route

Don't get me started on wine maps...seriously rabbit hole🕳️ I did include a German wine regions map to give you an idea where we are at in the world. The Pfeffingen estates are located in the Palatinate region. (SW of Frankfurt-the brown region). The climate of the region is one of the warmest, sunniest and driest of the German wine regions. Speaking of maps, the Pfeffingen website (https;//www.pfeffingen.de/en/lagen) has a map 🥰 and pictures of the vineyard dirt...somehow this is fascinating and makes me love this wine even more. Lets talk about the actual grape.

Scheurbe. (Shoy-ray-bah).

This varietal was created in 1916 when Dr. Georg Scheu wanted to create superior version of Silvaner. It was widely thought he crossed the Silvaner and Riesling grape, because science is awesome, and DNA ruled out Silvaner as a parent. Official Austrian sources peg the cross between Riesling and Bouquet Blanc. So with that said, let's dive into the 2022 Pfeffingen Dry Scheurebe. For me this wine has all the great aromatics. I got huge hits of lime and other citrus. A few notes mentioned Black Currant, unique flavor profile for a white wine. The fruit on the pallet is lush, indicative of the winemaker waiting to pick to maximize ripeness. This wine would be money with the Octopus.

I have been writing about the wine club wine for almost a year. I do love that I am constantly learning new information about the wide world of wine. Maybe it's The Matrix or just how I planned it but the other scary/spooky varietal this month hails from Germany. The actually wine is produced closer to home. Little back story on the Lemberger grape. It is also known as "Blauer Limberger" or "Blaufränkisch." Lemberger is the speciality of Württemberg (dark blue) on the map 👆🏻. This varietal is a "coat of many colors", depending on vilification techniques the wine can be light and fruity to rich and tannic. This month we are featuring the 2020 Two Mountain Lemberger.

The first time I had Lemberger I liked it. It was at least 10 years ago and it was the Thurston Wolfe Lemberger. It made an impression on me because it is different than usual varieties we are all used to. The Two Mt. Lemberger is intoxicating just in the glass swirling around. Dark fruit and hints of pepper leap out of the glass but once it hit my pallet-game on. Spicy white pepper, and hints of the vanilla from a humidor with the dark sexy fruit all over your palette. There is 9% Merlot blended with the 2020 vintage. I revisited this wine with a quick Wednesday night dinner, spaghetti and meatballs. I probably shouldn't admit this but it was jar sauce and frozen meatballs....if only I lived with a 👨🏻‍🍳...

You'all are probably going to be enjoying this freshly opened bottle at the restaurant, it would be fun with the Cheese/Charcuterie Plate. #girldinner After a quick refresher of our menu I would hands down pop open the bottle of Lemberger with our BadDad Burger. #notadadjoke. It sounds cheesy #noteventrying but "this wine is the friend you can call any time, day, or night, even if you haven't seen each other in years."