Over the years, my Bride and I have joined several local wine clubs and we now just maintain our membership at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan and for thirty dollars a month, it is well worth the investment, not to mention the camaraderie that we experience and enjoy.  Besides the great perks, we also receive two wines, one representing the Old World and one from the New World.

The Old World is represented this month by Decugnano dei Barbi “Villa Barbi” Umbria Rosso IGT 2019.  Decugnano dei Barbi dates to 1212, two clerics were entrusted to maintain the lands and Santa Maria di Decugnano was owned by the Cathedral of Orvieto.  In 1973 Claudio Barbi discovered the property in abandonment and in 1978 the first wines were born.  Claudio’s son Enzo continues his father’s work and dedication,  Umbria is considered the middle of Italy and is the only Italian region with neither a coastline or an international border. The property is one-hundred-fifty acres and a little over half has been planted.  This wine is a blend of Sangiovese, Montepulciano and Cabernet Sauvignon.  The wine begins with Stainless Steel tanks and finishes with some brief oak aging.  The garnet wine is described as having notes of red and black fruits, spice, saddle wood, tobacco and sous-bois.  On the palate there are tones of blackberry, cherry and currants blended with soft and supple tannins ending with a nice medium to long finish of fruit, sous-bois and tobacco.      

Representing the New World for wines  this month is Forlorn Hope Queen of the Sierra Red -Rorick Heritage Vineyards Calaveras County 2020.  When I saw Calaveras County I immediately thought of the short story by Mark Twain written in 1865 called “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” that I probably read in Elementary School when literature and reading were promoted and is probably all but forgotten except perhaps for the named county.  Calaveras County is on of California’s original counties from the time of the Gold Rush of the 1850s and for wine is part of the Sierra Foothills AVA.  The original property was ranched by the Shaw family in 1844, and eventually acquired by Barden Stevenot in the Sixties, and he is deemed the “godfather” of modern Calaveras County winegrowers, when he planted original heritage Wente Chardonnay roots in the Seventies.  Barden eventually grew the property to seventy-five acres and in 2013 Matthew Rorick purchased the property and converted it to organic farming practices.  The estate is at 2000 feet in elevation on limestone soil beneath a top layer of schist. The Queen of the Sierra wines is a celebration of the soils, the elevation and the vineyard.  The wines are pure estate grown fruit, hand-harvested, indigenous yeasts, unfiltered and unfined.  The wine is a blend of Zinfandel, Barbera, Tempranillo, Trousseau Noir and Mondeuse.  Trousseau Noir is native to the Jura, but is known in the Douro region in Portugal as Bastardo.   Mondeuse is an ancient red grape from the Savoie region and with DNA testing and is related to Syrah. The fruits are pressed at dryness and allow two to three weeks total time on the skins and then placed in neutral barrique, after racking the wine remains in a combination of neutral oak and Stainless-Steel until bottling.  The wine is considered an honest and pure representation of this region.  This red wine offers notes of ripe strawberry, cherry and bright florals.  On the palate, a fruit forward wine, very juicy with smooth tannins, and high acidity.    

The other thing that I am happy to mention is that not only has the expanded retail space doubled, The Fine Wine Source has been discovered by a local  morning television show, where the owner has been featured pouring some outstanding wines like Chateau d’Yquem “Y” Ygrec,  Chateau Cheval-Blanc and Chateau Petrus. Watching morning television like this, sure beats a cup of coffee to start the day off.  I know that from the patrons at his Vertical Restaurant and this morning show, I will be encountering many new and happy customers.