It was a lively event at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan.  The shop had taken advantage of some great discounts on several wines from a vendor, if they bought the entire offering, which they did and then gave the savings first to the wine club members, who had signed on at hourly intervals for the tastings.

The first red that I will discuss is Convene by Dan Kosta Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast 2021.  Dan Kosta has over twenty years of quality experience including his namesake Kosta Browne wines, which he founded in 1997.  Convene by Dan Kosta was launched in 2019.  The Pinot Noir fruit comes from the Campbell Ranch and the Umino Vineyard in the Sonoma Coast region.  It is aged for ten months in French Oak of which thirty percent is new.  This deep red wine offered notes of cherry, strawberry and plum along with roses, blood orange, spices and minerals.  On the palate this medium-bodied, well-balanced wine displayed tones of red and black fruit, cola, mocha blending with plush tannins and ending with a medium-count finish of fruit, vanilla and graphite.  

The next red wine that I will discuss is Domaine Julien Cruchandeau Ladoix Les Ranches 2022.   The estate was established in 2003 and currently comprises nine wine appellations from the Burgundy region.  The vigneron Julien Cruchandeau is not from a winemaking family; in fact, he is a successful musician that retired to become a winemaker.   He began first with Bouzeron and built his Domaine in the Hautes Cotes de Nuits and is working towards sustainable viticulture.  Ladoix was originally granted an appellation in 1937, and the vineyards were classified in 1982.  Ladoix is a small village that lies at the bottom of the hill of Corton, in the Cote de Beaune; a large proportion of village’s vineyards are covered by other appellations, which makes Ladoix one of the least prolific communes of the region.  Les Ranches means “spiky thorny bushes” in old French and was planted in 1974 on a soil of clay and limestone and is located where the Cote de Nuits ends and the Cote de Beaune begins on the Corton slopes.  The wine is crushed, using thirty percent whole cluster, and maceration is done using low temperature for the first ten days.   The wine is then fermented in vats for about six weeks with frequent pump overs and then aged for fifteen months on fine lees in French Oak, of which twenty percent is new.  A deep red wine that offered notes of cherry and currants along with roses and kitchen spices.  On the palate this medium-bodied, well-balanced wine displayed tones of cherry, strawberry, currants blending with silky tannins and ending with a medium-count finish of fruit, toasted oak and licorice.

We then had Bodegas Urbina Seleccion Rioja DOCa 2000.  Salvador Urbina moved to Cuzcurrita del Rio Tiron in 1870 and begins making wine in oak barrels and with the first vineyards in his estate, which has since grown to seventy-hectares.  The soil has a healthy mix of clay, iron and alluvial components, giving it a redder color than its northern neighbor’s sandy white soils. When compared with Rioja Alavesa, these wines tend to be lighter in body and lower in acid, with the emphasis on elegance.  Now, the family is in the fourth generation, and in 1986 began employed Stainless-Steel tanks as well.  All the wines that they produce are from their own estate, using traditional practices, limiting the use of pesticides and fungicides, and only using indigenous yeasts.  Cuzcurrita is in the Rioja Alta, and this wine is pure Tempranillo from fifty-year-old vines. The wine is aged in a mixture of American and French Oak, all new, for one year, and then is aged in Stainless-Steel tanks for over fifteen years, before bottling.  This deep purple-red wine offered notes of cherry and plums, with baking spices, leather, tobacco, cedar and sous-bois.  On the palate this medium-to-full bodied, well-balanced wine displayed tones of cherries and plums, with savory herbs and spices, earthiness and a touch of mocha blending with subtle polished tannins and ending with a long-count finish of fruit, spices and the ethereal sous-bois.