I am almost late getting this article about the wine club selections from The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan; or as my Bride calls it, my home away from home, of course I thinks she tends to exaggerate.

The monthly club selection always features a wine from the Old World and from the New World.  The Old-World selection is Azienda Agricole Colognole Rosso “Le Lastre” Toscana IGT 2015.  The Conti Spalletti family has been growing grapes for over five generations, particularly with Sangiovese, as well as having winery research projects in both red and white wines. Originally from Switzerland, then Reggio Emilia and finally in Tuscany.  They have six hundred-fifty hectares, and all of their wines are from their estate.  They also produce Extra Virgin Olive Oil from the estate. Colognole is one of the historic wine producers in the Chianti Rufina zone; the oldest and smallest of the Chianti denominations.  This wine is a blend of thirty percent Sangiovese, thirty-five percent Syrah and thirty-five percent Merlot.  “Le Lastre” wine is described as offering notes of spicy ripe fruit, especially with lively notes of raspberry.  On the palate this well-balanced wine displays tones of plums, cherries and raspberries blending with full tannins.  This wine is strongly suggested to be paired with tomato-sauce dishes.

The wine representing the New World is Turley Zinfandel Rosé 2025.  Turley Wine Cellars was found in Napa Valley by former emergency room physician Larry Turley in 1993. During a moment of serendipity, Larry Turley met John Williams, the soon to become winemaker at Spring Mountain. They soon became good friend, and then partners in Frog’s Leap Winery in 1981, with Larry on the tractor during the day and doing suturing in the evening. Eventually Larry’s focus was on Zinfandel and Petite Syrah, especially from old vine vineyards.  He eventually sold half of his winery to John and began Turley Wine Cellars in 1993.  Most of his Zinfandel vines are from single vineyard designations that are not big enough to be a single estate, and the young vines are planted and designated in plots where there are old vines as well.  These “juvenile” vines are from six to twenty-five years of age from across the span of California.  This wine is pure Zinfandel and is made in a Provence style and aged for seven months in used French Oak.  The first vintage was in 2011.  The wine undergoes fermentation in Stainless Steel tanks and then aged for seven months in used French Oak from early picked fruit to ensure a dry wine.  The wine is described as a bright pinkish-orange color and offers notes of rose petals, wild strawberries and petrichor (a poetic term for fresh rain).  This medium-bodied wine has a soft-texture, well-structured with low alcohol and high in acidity displays tones of strawberries and cream, cherries, cranberries, rose petals and vanilla bean with a medium finish of fruit.  It has been suggested as being a perfect complement to garlicky or spicy-Asian dishes.

I know that you might find it hard to believe, but while I was picking up my August Wine Club selections at The Fine Wine Source, they poured me a couple of tastings.  One of the wines I will discuss is Sequoia Grove Cabernet Sauvignon Tonella Ranch Vineyard Rutherford Napa Valley 2021.  The winery was founded in 1979 and has been owned by the Kopf family since 2002.  The estate is twenty-four acres located on the Rutherford bench, while they also own the fifty-acre Tonella Ranch Vineyard in Rutherford as well.  The Tonella Ranch Vineyard goes back to 1922 when it was originally planted next to Georges de Latour’s property, now the legendary Beckstoffer Georges III vineyard.  The wine offered notes notes of dark fruit, sous-bois, toasted vanilla and graham crackers.  On the palate the full-bodied, well-balanced wine displayed tones of dark fruit, red fruit, dark cherry, plum, hibiscus, anise and sweet tobacco, and ending with a long finish of black raspberry, dark chocolate, umami, espresso and a touch of clay (terroir).