I hope that everyone that reads my little articles, actually belong to a local wine club, and if so, I hope that it is like my local club, The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan.  I believe in local independent merchants, who truly appreciate your patronage, but unfortunately one periodically encounters a third generation run business, where the management is arrogant and has forgotten that the customer is king.  If you find a well run local wine shop, it is a blessing and thank them, because the wine is not an SKU item, where it could easily be a box of nails or nuts and bolts.

Chateau Auguste Bordeaux 2017 represented the Old World for this month’s selection.  Bordeaux is the big picture of the region and maybe along with Burgundy, the two main regions of wine making that even non-wine drinking individuals can identify as wine names  Bordeaux covers the gamut of wine making from red, white, rosé and from still to sparkling, and from dry to dessert wines.  From the famous Communes of the Medoc, to the affordable wines of the Cotes and Entre-deux-Mers, Bordeaux is for every taste and wallet; as there are twenty-two sub-regions of Bordeaux.  Chateau Auguste is a seventy-four-acre Bordeaux Superieur estate on the right bank region, within the Entre-Deux-Mers appellation or between the two seas e.g. the Garonne and Dordogne rivers.  For centuries the two rivers have deposited sand and gravel, creating layers of limestone and a very fertile region for grapes.  The Romans began planting the grapes, followed by the Monks in the Middle Ages.  The estate is organically farmed.  The wine is eighty percent Merlot, ten percent Cabernet Sauvignon and ten percent Cabernet Franc.  The tasting notes accompanying the wine says that the wine offers notes of black and red fruits and soft florals.  On the palate tones of dark fruit, with a medium body, balanced acidity, dry tannins and a nice medium count finish with terroir.    

Broadway Vineyards Keanu Chardonnay Los Carneros Sonoma 2019 is representing the New World. In 2002 a prime property was found just 2 miles south from the Historic Square in downtown Sonoma and purchased by Jim and Marilyn Hybiske. Six of their wine loving friends joined forces to develop a small vineyard and produce exceptional Sonoma County wines exclusively for their family and friends. Work was begun on the vineyard in the spring of 2004 and in 2006 the first harvest produced very promising fruit and Broadway Vineyards began to thrive. An experienced winemaker was hired to craft three wines that express the terroir of the Carneros Appellation. As the reputation of the vineyard and wines grew the Broadway partners decided to make their wines available to the public. The six friends celebrate the harvest every year. They are now sharing their bounty with a limited amount of wine lovers who are lucky enough to have access to the Broadway cellar.  The wine is pure Chardonnay, using Dijon clones.  The tasting notes say that the wine is made in the French Burgundian style.  The wine offers note of hay, pine, jasmine, lily, plum and licorice and then opens up to ocean air and oysters and a touch of coconuts.  On the palate tones of pear, vanilla, apricot and pineapple with bracing acidity and a long finish of ripe pear and a hint of banana.