 We are pleased to invite everyone from the casual wine lover to the serious wine aficionado to come and enjoy our relaxed and casual wine tastings and dinners.  Wine Tasting: Parés Baltà... Parés Baltà is a family owned winery in the Penedès region of Spain with a history dating back to 1790. Pares Balta produces wines and cavas that are farmed organically on their estate vineyards - five unique vineyards, each situated in proximity to the winery and in the mountains of Penedés. The vineyards are situated from 550 to 2400 feet above sea level and each expression of terroir offers a diverse mixture of soils and micro-climates that give a unique character to the wines. The wines produced at Parés Baltà display character and concentration yet with elegance and balance. Parés Baltà have been cultivating their vineyards in an ecological way since 1790, and since the 2004 harvest the vineyards have been certified as organic.  Vodka Tasting: Etalon Russian Vodka... Etalon Vodka embodies all values of this native Russian product — its recipe, composed of natural ingredients, includes premium quality grain Lux spirit and the purest specially prepared and softened artesian water that altogether gives smooth, gentle and live taste.  In-Store Winemaker Tasting: Xavier Milhade of Bordeaux's Chateau Boutisse and Chateau Lyonnat... The Milhade family has been landowners in Bordeaux for three generations and currently owns six properties in the right bank regions of Saint-Emilion, Lussac-Saint-Emilion, Lalande-de-Pomerol, and Bordeaux Supérieur. Their wines represent both amazing value in Bordeaux and the beautiful results that can be achieved by small family estates focused on producing high quality wines. The wines are marked by wonderful, expressive fruit yet they retain an authenticity and soulfulness. They range from truly direct fruit expressions - fermented in concrete tanks and aged in concrete - to complex yet beautifully pure wines that come from vineyards pruned for very low yields and see extended ageing in oak. The last several years has seen the Milhades push their properties to greater heights through significant vineyard and cellar investments. The results have been a new level of recognition for their wines in the most important publications in the US, UK and France.  Beer Tasting: Sierra Nevada...  Beer Tasting: Oskar Blues...  In-Store Winemaker Tasting: Catherine Faller - principal of Domaine Weinbach (Alsace)... Domaine Weinbach’s wine-making process carefully respects the grape’s qualities; a minimum of interference combined with an extreme vigilance allows their development. The main conditions are: grape picking scheduled on optimal maturity; rigorous selection; gentle and gradual pressings; a long fermentation in ancient oak barrels, under the action of the indigenous yeast for authenticity and complexity. The mineral richness and variety of the soil, the personality of each grape variety, its balance with the surroundings and the soil, the individuality of each plot of vines and the choice and conditions of the wine harvest lead to a large selection of “cuvées”. Each one has its own personality, its own color, but always with the same quest for purity and elegance combined with richness and harmony. The results of this quest are wonderful gastronomic wines.  Beer Tasting: Baltimore's Own Heavy Seas... Brewed by Baltimore’s Clipper City Brewing Co., Heavy Seas is produced by Baltimore craft beer pioneer Hugh Sisson – the brewery’s founder and managing partner – and Brewmaster Ernesto Igot, formerly brewmaster at San Miguel Brewery in the Philippines. After successfully lobbying the Maryland Legislature to legalize brewpubs, Hugh began brewing professionally in 1989 at his family’s Baltimore pub – Sisson’s – which was coincidentally Maryland’s first brewpub. In 1994 he left Sisson’s to found Clipper City and has been involved in all aspects of the business – brewing, finance, marketing, and sales. |
 Weekend Wine Tasting: New 2010 German Arrivals... The 2010 vintage has yielded a crop of most unusual and intriguing Rieslings from the famous zones of Germany. The wines are blessed with enormous concentration, complete ripeness and outrageously prevalent acids. While this could have been a recipe for disjointed, aggressively heavy wines, the best producers have created wines of tremendous pleasure and age worthiness. Often the term “palate-staining” is employed when describing wine, however, I do not think there is a more appropriate time to use this phrase than when attempting to comment on the 2010 Rieslings from Germany. In sum, this is a vintage for those who admire structure and complexity in their Riesling’s but also a vintage where a certain amount of patience will reward the consumer with a whole other level of complexity and joy.  In-Store Producer Tasting: Marcos Fernandez: Winemaker for Argentina's Finca Decero... Decero, meaning “from scratch”, was born of a bare patch of land and a family´s love affair with wine. Winemaking in Thomas Schmidheiny´s family went back to his grandparents in Switzerland and, just as Napa had inspired his mother, Adda, in the 1970s, so too did Agrelo capture the heart and mind of Thomas, when travelling over the Andes into Argentina, 20 years later. Starting “decero” was exactly how Thomas Schmidheiny dreamt of beginning a world-class vineyard, free from constraint of tradition and full of passion. Here in Agrelo, the source of some of Argentina’s finest red wines, Thomas instinctively knew that he had found the place to continue the family legacy and to handcraft wines whose allure would lie in being true to their origin. Winemaker Marcos Fernandez has worked extensively making wines in Argentina and California over the past 10 years. During this time he garnered valuable experience working with Paul Hobbs in Napa and in Argentina. In early 2006, Marcos found the temptation of making the first Decero wines irresistible. The inaugural vintage of Decero wines testify to Marcos’ restraint. In recognising the special qualities of the Remolinos Vineyard he nurtures the grapes parcel by parcel. Never allowing an imprint of winemaking to dominate, he seeks balance, finesse and above all elegance. A meticulous attention to quality has earned Marcos Fernandez the reputation as a leading young winemaker of Argentina.  Port Tasting: Robert Bower, Export and Sales Manager, Taylor Fladgate... Robert Bower’s passion for Port wine first emerged as a child following his father through the steep vineyards of the Douro during harvest, learning all the nuances of viticulture. Robert represents a long and distinguished line of port producers and represents the 8th generation of the Yeatman line through his grandmother to be involved in the Port industry. For many, Taylor’s is the archetypal Port house and its wines the quintessential Ports. Established over three centuries ago in 1692, Taylor’s is one of the oldest of the founding Port houses. It is dedicated entirely to the production of Port wine and in particular to its finest styles. Above all, Taylor’s is regarded as the benchmark for Vintage Port. Noted for their elegance and poise as well as for their restrained power and longevity, Taylor’s Vintage Ports are blended from the finest wines of the firm’s own quintas or estates, Vargellas, Terra Feita and Junco. These three iconic properties, each occupying a distinct geographic location and with their own unique character, are the cornerstone of the company’s success and the main source of its unique and inimitable house style.  Beer Tasting: Peak Organic... Peak is a small craft brewing company dedicated to making delicious, handcrafted ales using only the finest artisanal ingredients. With roots in home brewing back in the 90s, brewer Jon Cadoux set about combining his love for beer with an ethic for sustainability. Whenever possible, he would go out and find ingredients from local organic farmers for his homebrews. It was a defining day when Jon discovered that you don’t need to sacrifice flavor for sustainability, but that better ingredients actually made the beer more delicious.  In-Store Producer Tasting: Greg Hay, Winemaker/Visionary from Peregrine Vineyards in Central Otago, New Zealand... Set majestically in the rugged mountainous beauty of Central Otago in the South Island of New Zealand, this privately owned producer is committed to enhancing the environment with both their organically certified estates and winery and their ‘hands on‘ involvement in the conservation of New Zealand’s native birds, the Saddleback and Mohua. Passionate wine producers and estate owners, Lindsay McLachlan and Greg Hay, have a philosophy of producing wine that is truly representative of the Central Otago region, drawing only the very best hand-picked fruit from 11 sites around the Lowburn, Bendigo and Gibbston sub regions. In its short history it has been an impressive high achiever, with its wines winning numerous prestigious awards and trophies around the world. Peregrine produced its first vintage in 1998, and although known as a specialist Pinot Noir house, it also produces excellent Riesling, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Gewürztraminer. |