Dear Feastlings,
Somewhere along the line, the wine people stopped being the guy with the navy blue blazer with the lapel pin that indicated his status as a sommelier and started being the guy with the skinny jeans, or the hipster girl with the tattoo of a bear on her forearm and her hair tucked into her newsboy cap so it didn’t get in her eyes while she was looking for a wine or picking a record out as she did DJ duty alongside her sommelier gig at the restaurant of the moment.
The same thing has happened in the vineyard and the winery- the wines people are talking about are no longer the familiar labels we recognize from decades past. Instead, we want to know all about the thing we’ve never heard of, and more so, the thing our friends have never heard of. And it can go either way: on the one hand, it can be the Emperor’s New Clothes, a lack up substance underneath a veneer of buzz. Big hat, no cattle. On the other, it can be the reason the buzz began in the first place: wine that’s made in the new way (which, ironically, is usually the old way- minimal intervention, minimal manipulation, back to what wine is at its core: fermented juice.)
This Saturday, our friend Megan Nelson, longtime Feast wine director and now wholesaler of some really exceptional wines, joins us with four wines that tell the story of vineyards and wineries that used to be considered “fringe,” but which now are gaining traction in the wine world. They’re clean, they’re straightforward, and they’re a very tasty value. The tasting happens here at Feast this Saturday at 2:00 pm, and we’d love to have you join us. It’s only $15 plus tax and tip, and you’ll taste four really cool wines that teach you that Natural Wine doesn’t have to be that stuff that smells like nail polish remover and tastes like it’s been forgotten in the back of the fridge for too long. These are fresh and delicious and downright inspirational. Call us at (520) 326-9363 and we’ll save you a seat.
Fringe Benefits
The tasting order and pricing of the wines can be found here.
2019 Maître de Chai “Rorick Heritage Vineyard” Chardonnay, Sierra Foothills
2021 Birichino Vin Gris Rosé, California
2021 Lo-Fi Cabernet Franc, Santa Barbara County
2021 Ovum “EzyTgr” Red Table Wine, Oregon