By the time that you read this article about the wine club selections at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan, I will have hit another milestone and another decade as I will now be in my Seventies.  Someone told me that I am aging like a fine wine, but in my entire wine enjoying life, I still have not see a bottle of wine with a vintage of 1954, but hopefully there is still time.

The first wine that I will discuss represents the Old World and is a bottle of Trambusti Badiolo Chianti DOCG 2020.  Chianti Trambusti was founded by Orlando Trambusti in 1934.  Orlando was a wine lover and decided to begin his avocation into a vocation.  His first warehouse was opened in Greve in Chianti, and by 1939 the business moved to Impruneta, in the province of Florence and continued throughout the war years.  In 1956 moved to the Via Pistoiese, where it has remained to the day.  Orlando died in 1982, and his son Giovanni took over the reins, and even improved the quality and the business.  Giovanni was joined by his three children in the Nineties, and modernized the firm with new equipment, while still respecting the traditions of the region.  In the 2000’s, they purchased Tenuta Poggio ai Mandorli in Greve and restored it to its original splendor.  The estate is fifty-two hectares located at an altitude of 350m above sea level running through the heart of Chianti Classico on a pebbly, mineral-rich-southeast facing land enjoying the micro-climate of the region.  There is twenty hectares of Sangiovese, Merlot, and Syrah vineyards, with an average of twelve years on the vines; as well as twenty hectares of olive groves, some of which are over a hundred years in age.  Chianti DOCG by regulation must have seventy percent Sangiovese, and the balance is usually Tuscan varieties like Canaiolo, Colorino, Ciliegiolo, and Mammolo.  The wine undergoes fermentation and maceration in Stainless Steel tanks, and then aged for four months in oak barrels.  The wine is described as a bright ruby red in color and offers notes of cherries, cranberries, cocoa, and earthy topsoil.  On the palate, a medium-bodied wine with tones of dried cherries, raspberries, blending with firm tannins; with a mid-count finish of cherries, chocolate, and salty-metallic terroir. 

The wine representing the New World is Tomebrands “Lip Out” Riesling Ancient Lakes of Columbia Valley, WA 2021.  Robert Tomé is the founder and CEO of Tomebrands. Robert was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; his father was an immigrant from Friuli Venezia Giulia home of some of his favorite vineyards, and his mother is a third-generation Canadian of Scottish descent, from where he learned to love golf. His earliest memories of wine are the wines made in his family’s garage by his father and uncles.  Years later he found himself working at a golf club, where he developed a passion for the game, as well as the hospitality industry, where he eventually received a full scholarship and then a degree in hospitality and tourism.  By the nineties he was working full time in the wine industry, and in 2004 he launched his own wine importing agency in Canada.  In 2017, he sold his interest in the agency and fulfilled his dream and created Tomé Group of Brands, making wines from Washington State and in Italy. “Lip Out” Riesling is from the Ancient Lakes of Columbia Valley AVA, and it received its designation in 2012, though the region first started growing grapes since the eighties.  The wine is described as having notes of peaches, tropical fruits, white florals, citrus, and minerality.  On the palate there are tones of peaches, cream, green apples in a rich, well-balanced wine.  And a “Lip Out” is the bane of duffers, miniature golfers, and professionals, where after the putt, the ball circles the rim of the cup, and follows the circumference instead of sinking in the hole.