It is a bit heady to start feeling good again, after three months of lockdown to be looking finally at my April wine club selections from the Fine Wine Source of Livonia.  I had mentioned that the wine shop was closed, because they were not deemed “essential” by those that like to pick and choose who will live and who will die.  We are slowly getting in dribs and drabs’ listings of businesses that could not survive the forced closure.  I guess our local media, thinks that if only a couple of businesses are listed at a time, that it won’t seem as terrible.  I have to tell you, that this wine shop is not your local neighborhood corner store.  There are no bulk wines, and none of the highly advertised brands that one sees in every grocery and convenience store; and yes there is a place for all of those wines and I drink them as well, but when one wants to find something unique or special, then one must search out places like the Fine Wine Source. 

At the moment, there is no wine tasting in the shop, which is one of the hallmarks of visiting the store.  There is usually two old wine barrels set up with an array of assorted wine bottles, the only difference is geography, one barrel features the Old World or shall we say Europe and the other barrel features the New World. Which would include North, Central and South America, Australasia and Africa.  When they have special tastings with the manufacturer and or the wine maker, it is extremely interesting and very crowded.  I guess this is one of the problems the government minions must figure out and they are still working on the wineries and their tastings and how to proceed.  When the creative minds of bureaucrats attempt to cure something, it is just more regulations and an attempt to stifle business.   Eventually and soon, I pray, there will be some one with brains that will help the wine industry. 

Agricola San Felice is a Tuscan wine producer with estates in Chianti Classico and Montalcino.  It is most famed for its Sangiovese wines and blends under the Campogiovanni and Il Grigio labels, as well as its Vigorello Cuvee, which some call the first commercial example of a “Super Tuscan.”  Sangiovese is the most planted varietal in Italy and thought to have originated in Tuscany and the name translates to “Blood of Jove,” which some would like to claim shows that it goes back to the Etruscan period, but historians can only date it to the 1700’s.  The terroir of Campogiovanni is sandy and mineral-rich which allows the vines to grow slowly and steadily, to create balanced wines. So the imported wine for the month of April was San Felice Campogiovanni Rosso di Montalcino 2013.  The rules for Montalcino wines, both Brunello and Rosso must be entirely Sangiovese.  Rosso di Montalcino was sanctioned as a way to generate money for the wineries as their Brunello wines age according to the rules, as the Rosso only needs to be aged in wood for six months and then an additional six months in the bottle before being released.  This wine is touted as offering a more unique and complex bouquet than normally found, as it features the classic cherry and blackberry notes, but also licorice, cola and balsam and a taste that offers ripe fruit including raspberry and blackberry.   Another wine that I can open for parties as they slowly start to emerge.