Getting back in the swing of things after a vacation and I had jumped the gun, so I had to go back to visit The Fine Wine Source twice in one week. Certainly, one of the better places to visit, especially twice in a week.  It is always a pleasure to pick up the monthly wine selections, and I don’t even look at the wines, until I get home. When I am there, we talk of other wines and subjects.  Somedays and sometimes, they are just so busy, that as a retired merchant, I just smile and appreciate their situation.

When I unpacked my wine bag, I looked at the Old-World selection first, and, it was in one of those impressive heavier bottles, that one doesn’t normally find in popular price wines. The wine was Enrico Marcato “La Giareta” Cabernet Franc Colli Berici 2016, the wine was formerly produced by Marcato Winery, which Enrico’s family still owns.  Enrico Marcato after working with his family in the Veneto region went and studied wine making at the University of Milan.  This was followed with work at Wente Vineyards in Livermore, California and also at Wynns Winery in Coonawarra, Australia.   In 2003 he became the chief wine maker at Marcato Winery, and he also expanded his knowledge working for three years with a winery in Kazakhstan.  In 2014, he began Enrico Marcato Family of Wine.  The wine is pure Cabernet Franc, which is known as the third grape of Bordeaux, and this varietal is planted around the world and has its own legion of fans.  Colli Berici DOC is located in the center of the Veneto region, between Padova and Verona, while south of Vicenza.  The designation allows for red, white and rosé wines, both in still or Spumante.  The juice for this wine does the initial fermentation in Stainless Steel for ten days, and then is aged in oak for twelve months.  There was a production of eight-thousand bottles. The tasting notes for this wine suggest red berries and herbs with soft tannins and a long finish.  This wine won’t stay in the cellar long.

The New-World selection for the month is Classified Vineyards Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast 2018 from American Vintners.  American Vintners was long in creation mode, but finally came to fruition.  The production end is in Monterey, California while the offices and sales are located in Rochester, Michigan.  Today, they now have over forty-five wines, not only in California, but world-wide, and some of their brands have developed their own ideas and concepts.  “Classified Wines” are small batch wines from small vineyards that they have found and kept classified, which makes sense as I have discovered two different Pinot Noir wines produced by them from Sonoma, one from the Russian River and this wine from the Sonoma Coast. The Sonoma Coast AVA is one of the largest regions by area in the Sonoma region, but only a small portion is used for grape production.  Most of the AVAs were created using geological and climatological data, whereas Sonoma Coast was created in 1987 for political and commercial reasons. The problem was the term “estate bottled” was more clearly defined, as being wine from grown and vinified from one AVA, and this new AVA was over-arching of areas to work around the ruling.  The tasting notes for this wine offer a dark-cherry color with a floral nose; black cherry and strawberry notes on the palate with undertones of white pepper and nutmeg.  I am sure that this wine will not stay in the cellar long either.