The month of June was the Trifecta for wine club selections as I also picked up from my local club The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan.  I always enjoy the curated selection from my shop, and a chance to catch up with them; if they are busy, I never interrupt a sale, which is one of the first lessons that one learns in retailing, but seems to be lost on the new crop of clerks and not salespeople.  Normally, the club selection offers a wine from the Old World and one from the New World.  The color of the wines will always be a surprise, as well as the actual wines.

Chateau Mourgues du Gres “Fleur d’Eglantine” Rosé Costieres de Nimes 2020 represents the Old World.  A former agricultural estate of the Ursulines de Beaucaire since the Sixteenth Century.  “Mourgues” is the word for nuns in the Provencal dialect and “Gres” refers to the round rocks that is part of the defining part of the soil of the Costieres de Nimes.  Francois Collard returned to his family estate in 1990, confident of the terroir and the newborn Costieres de Nimes AOP and his first bottling was 1993.  Costieres de Nimes is the southern-most region of the Rhone appellations and the entire region is based on the round rocks. The wine is a blend of sixty percent Grenache Noir, thirty percent Mourvedre and ten percent Syrah.  After the crush, the varietals are blended prior to fermentation.  The wine stays on the fine lees for a month and then is aged for two months in Stainless Steel, and there was no Malolactic Fermentation involved. A description from the winery describes the wine as a rose-petal colored wine with notes of red fruit and florals.  On the palate tones of cherry, strawberry and raspberry, finishing with subtle spices and terroir.

Kenwood Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma County/Mendocino County 2018 from their “Discovery” series represents the New World this month.   Kenwood Vineyards was established in 1970 in Sonoma.  It was founded by the Lee family when they purchased the estate and winery of the Pagani Brothers that began in 1906 and were successful until Prohibition.  In 1999 the winery was bought by F. Korbel and Bros. and in 2014 Kenwood was bought by the international beverage concern of Pernod Ricard.  Kenwood Vineyards has twenty-two acres of estate vineyards and also sources fruit from dozens of other growers in Sonoma.  The winery has been known for years for some of their Single-Vineyard wines, as well as some of their other collections.  The wine is Cabernet Sauvignon with a little assistance of Merlot and Cabernet Franc.  The wine is fifty-one percent Sonoma County and forty-nine percent Mendocino County.  A deep dark wine that offers notes of cassis, plum, black cherry and spices.  On the palate this full-bodied wine offers bright fruit and dried herbs and a nice long finish of terroir.