My apologies all around as I am in June, as I write this article, but I had so many articles that I wanted to write about our unexpected trip to Las Vegas, and then I came down with pneumonia, which grounded me in more ways than I expected, I mean my Bride had to go and pick up the Club Wines for May at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan.

The first wine representing the Old World is CVA Canicatti “Alico” Inzolia – Chardonnay Terre Siciliane IGP 2021.  CVA Canicatti was founded in 1969 in the wake of the Sicilian peasant movement.  From its beginnings, the project was supported by the local farmers and their regards to the cultural value of viticulture and wine.  Since the turn of the century the winery has been focused on enological excellence and the production aspects, with an investment in new technology and organization.  The wine is a blend of seventy-five percent Inzolia and twenty-five percent Chardonnay.  Inzolia for those attempting the Century Club (I know I should) is an old Sicilian variety, genetically related to Grillo, Frappato and Nerello Mascalese; and is also known in other parts of Italy as Ansonia, Ansonia Bianca, Anzulu, Insolia, Nsolia, Soria and Zolia Bianca.  Traditionally grown in Sicily for Marsala, but is now being used for white table wines, either as a varietal or blended.  This wine is grownN in south-west Sicily on sandy-silt soils, with an alkaline reaction due to the presence of limestone.  The wine is fermented for fifteen days in temperature-controlled Stainless-Steel tanks with no Malolactic fermentation and then aged for six months in concrete tanks, bottled and held for one month prior to release.  This straw-yellow colored wine offers notes of ripe white and yellow fruits, and white florals.  On the palate this light-to-medium bodied, well-balanced wine displays tones of stone fruit, citrus and tropical fruits blending with natural acidity and ends with a medium-count finish of fruit and wet rocks.   

The second wine representing the New World is Silver Palm Cabernet Sauvignon California 2023.  The Silver Palm Wines was created in 1982 when Jess Jackson founded the Jackson Family Wines group.  The winery is part of a broader family-owned, small-batch, artisanal approach to winemaking.  The wine is a blend of eighty-nine percent Cabernet Sauvignon, ten percent Merlot and one percent Petite Sirah.  Most of the fruit comes from Mendocino County, but also from the Coastal AVA of California.  It has been aged for five months in a mix of French and American Oak.  The wine is described as a dark ruby color that offers notes of black cherries, anise, tobacco and dark chocolate.  On the palate the medium-bodied, well-balanced wine displays tones of blackberries and cherries, with cocoa blending with soft tannins and ending with a medium-count finish of fruit and toasted oak.

My Bride did a quick tasting while she was at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan.  She brought home some wines for the house and one she claimed was for my birthday in September.   I now have a bottle of Domaine de Riveyrac Rivesaltes Vin Doux Naturel 1976 in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France.  Domaine de Riveyrac was founded in January 1909, by an association of eight local vignerons, working in the cellars of Chateau de Salses; Salses-le-Chateau cooperative cellar, and one of the oldest in the Pyrenees-Orientales department.  The wines have been lauded by Voltaire and Rostand.  Vin Doux Naturel is an naturally sweet, lightly fortified French wine made by stopping fermentation early with Brandy (referred to as Mutage), preserving residual sugar and aromatic complexity.  The popularity of this wine slowed down in the 1950s, but because the cellars are so huge, they have been able to maintain inventories of many vintages in huge wooden casks, which can be undisturbed for many decades, and the wine is resistant to oxidation; because of that, I have had the good fortune of having wines older than myself.  The wine is a blend of forty percent Grenache Noir, thirty percent Grenache Blanc, ten percent Grenache Gris and twenty percent Macabeo; and has rested for forty-eight years.  The wine is mahogany in color and offers notes of yuzu, ginger and citrus, followed by burnt toffee and honey.  On the palate this well-balanced, full-bodied wine displays tones of yuzu, ginger, toffee and honey blending perfectly and ending with an elegant long-count finish of dried fruit, honey and toffee; without being cloying.