We joined the wine club at The Fine Wine Source many years ago, basically two wines every month for just under thirty dollars, which is a bargain.  The other bargains is that every wine I purchase is at case discount, even if I only buy a single bottle.  Then there are the invitations for special wine tasting events, not to mention spur of the moment wine tastings as well.

The first wine selection of each month represents the Old World and this month it is a bottle of Domaine Pascal Aufranc Chenas En Remont 2022, which formerly was labeled as “Domaine Pascal Aufranc Chenas Vignes de 1939.” Pascal Aufranc began his estate with about two hectares of vines in Chenas, located on the En Remont hill which is 350 meters high.  Chenas came from the “Chene” oak trees that were planted prior to the vines in the area.  The vineyard is isolated from neighboring estates and Pascal has made his stewardship unique and to his liking. Chenas is one of the smaller Cru appellations of Beaujolais.  The estate is an old farm; hand planted on steep slopes lost in the woods of Chenas.  He has since acquired one hectare in Fleurie and seven hectares in Julienas.  The soil found in En Remont hill is a mixture of sand and granite.  The wine is pure Gamay, and the fruit is manually harvested to take advantage of the perfect moment of maturity.  The traditional winemaking that he uses requires a minimum of ten days of maceration with full grapes in concrete vats.  Then after pressing, the wine is aged for nine months in concrete vats on fine lees.  The wine is described as being deep ruby-red in color and offering notes of black cherry, plum, blackberries, cassis, huckleberry, thyme and dried violets.  On the palate this medium-bodied, well-balanced wine displays tones of blueberries, cherries and cranberries along with some black tea blending with “grippy” tannins and ending with medium-count finish of fruit, spices and florals.

The second club selection represents the New World and is Séance Pinot Noir California 2022.  Christophe “Chris” Legrandjacques is the Director of Winemaking; born in Champagne, raised in Africa and trained in winemaking in Burgundy and Bordeaux, he now calls California his home.  He has named his wines Séance with the traditional French meaning of “to sit for a theatrical performance.”  The fruit is selected from various vineyards across California.  The fruit is harvested at night, destemmed and gently pressed.  A twenty-four-hour cold soak, followed by warm fermentations with limited punch-downs, to extract rich fruit flavors.  The wine is then racked and undergoes aging and Malolactic Fermentation in French Oak for ten months.  A deep red colored wine that offers notes of pomegranate, red cherries, and strawberry pie with baking spices.  On the palate this medium-bodied, well-balanced wine displays tones of cherry, rhubarb, strawberry and pomegranate followed by some cumin, dark-bittersweet chocolate and espresso blending with soft tannins and ending with a long-count finish of fruit.

I also had the good fortune while I was at the shop to taste Brand No. 95 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2018.  Christine O’Sullivan and Jim Bean originally met and worked for Apple in Silicon Valley and were making visits to Napa Valley,  They bought their first vineyard of sixty-five acres in the Oak Knoll District, and a few years later they sold this property to buy their new estate on Pritchard Hill in 2019 and kept the name Brand created by Doug Long and then the Fitts family, they also continued with the original winemaker, Philippe Melka.  Organically farmed and using biodynamic practices, the fruit is planted on diverse shallow volcanic soils with fractured andesite rock and two distinct types of loamy soil.  The wine is a blend of seventy-six percent Cabernet Sauvignon and twenty-four percent Cabernet Franc.  The wine undergoes Initial Fermentation in barrels and small Stainless- Steel tanks, and then aged for twenty months in French Oak, of which sixty percent is new; the wine is bottled unfined and unfiltered.  This deep garnet colored wine offered notes of black cherry, blackberry, rhubarb, coffee bean, menthol, sage, baking spices and graphite.  On the palate this full-bodied, well-balanced wine displayed tones of black cherry, blackberry, plum, dark chocolate, licorice, and spices blending with fine tannins and ending with long-count finish of velvety smooth black fruits and terroir.