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The Savory Grape Wine Shop Newsletter |
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Greetings!
As you know, your feedback is of
the utmost importance to us. Therefore, we
are kindly asking for your input on a brief
survey that should take about five
minutes to complete. We know your time is
valuable, so we have created a gesture of
goodwill in exchange for your participation.
If you complete the survey by February 15, we
will enter you into a drawing for a
$50 gift certificate to the shop (a total of
three (3) certificates will be awarded).
However, if you complete the survey by this
Saturday, January 26, we will enter you into
a drawing for a $100 gift certificate to the
shop (a total of
two (2) certificates will be awarded.) You
may also answer the survey
anonymously without being entered into the
drawing. Please access the survey by
clicking here. (If you have
trouble accessing the survey please let us
know.)
Cheers! Jessica and Nino Granatiero
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The Savory Grape Upcoming Events |
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January 28th Burgundy Wine Tasting. On Monday, January 28th, you
will have a chance to taste some famed red
and white wines of France's Burgundy region
by various renowned
producers, a tasting that will give you an
upperhand
when in wine circles with your friends or
business colleagues. You will also learn
about cellaring and storing these wines. For
a list of the wines for the evening click
here.
The Savory Grape will
hold the
tasting at 7 PM at Main Street Coffee.
Tickets are $25
and can
be purchased at The Savory Grape (886-9463) or
Main Street Coffee (885-8787). If
interested in attending, please
purchase your tickets this week; seating
is already limited. Payment is due upon making a
reservation.
February 2nd Artist Reception and Wine
Tasting. We are pleased to announce that the
exquisite works of North Kingstown Resident
and Artist Stephen Mancini are now on display
at The Savory Grape. Vibrant and colorful,
his works leave a
lasting impression. Mancini is an artist,
photographer and filmmaker of national
recognition and his works have been included
in galleries and corporate and private
collections. After painting in oils on canvas
throughout his twenties, Mancini shifted to
collage-acrylic media in 1970 in order to
accommodate the nature, speed, and energy of
his work. Many of his works incorporate
artifacts collected from the site at which he
has painted. His paintings offer memorable,
emotional impression of his New England
surrounds and his travels to Italy, the
Caribbean and Southwest Florida. Please
join us on Saturday, February 2nd from 5-9 PM
for an
opening reception and wine
tasting for Mancini.
February 12th Tuscan Wine Dinner. (SOLD OUT) Due to overwhelming popularity,
unfortunately, both East Greenwich's Siena
and The
Savory Grape have sold out of tickets
for the
Tuscan Wine Dinner on Tuesday, February 12th.
We hope to share details with you about
another upcoming dinner. Stay tuned and check
your email and our web site regularly.
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True Varietal Story: The King of Red Grapes |
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Cabernet Sauvignon, the wild child of
Cabernet Franc
and Sauvignon Blanc, is actually less than six
hundred years old which makes it relatively
new to the world of wine grapes. The oldest
recorded reference (that we know of) to Cabernet
Sauvignon comes from the 18th century and
Chateau
Mouton. It is said that Baron De Brane ripped
up his
white wine grape varieties and instead planted a
red wine grape called Vidure. Vidure
comes
from the French words Vigne Dure meaning "hardy
vine," which describes the Cabernet Sauvignon
vine
perfectly.
Adaptable and hearty, Cabernet Sauvignon can be
grown in almost any climate that is not too
cold. The grape itself is small,
thick
skinned, and packed with tannins. It is its
tannins,
natural preservatives, which give the
resulting wine its
ability to go the distance, regarding
ageability, and then some.
Cabernet
Sauvignon is definitely among the
longest-lived. (Just look at red
Bordeaux, which is often mainly Cabernet
Sauvignon.)
Being a
rather big and bold grape, Cabernet is often
blended
with softer, more fruity grapes, such as
Merlot. Getting its
start with blends
in Bordeaux, Cabernet is now blended across the
globe, with Sangiovese in Italy to make Super
Tuscans, with Merlot and Cabernet Franc in
California as a Meritage (pronounced
like "heritage") and with Shiraz as well as
Merlot in
Australia.
Although Cabernet Sauvignon is known and grown
around the world, some of the best Cabs are
found right here in the US,
California in
particular. Napa Valley is world renowned
for its
Cabernet's whether from the Stag's Leap,
Rutherford or Oakville Districts, just to
name a few. Cabernet is often referred to as
the "King of
Red
Grapes." For a relatively young grape to hold
such
popularity around the globe speaks highly of
this
varietal. So come in on Friday for our Cabernet
Tasting and see what some of the fuss is about!
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This Week's Savory Selections |
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2005 Peachy Canyon Westside Zinfandel.
Located in beautiful Paso Robles, Peachy
Canyon is a small family owned winery on the
Central Coast of California. The 2005 vintage
of this flagship wine has all the
components of an elegant and exotic
Zinfandel. (You may know its little brother
the Incredible Red Zin.) The Westside Zin
shows nice earth tones with
black pepper and spice along with deep notes
of cherries, strawberries and blueberries.
This wine has a velvet texture on the palate
of sweet plums, and lingers incessantly.
($23.99)
2005 Ray's Station Cabernet Sauvignon.
The new vintage of this wine
just arrived and we are excited to share it
with you during this weekend's wine tasting.
When describing this wine, words like
rich, textured and hearty come to mind. A
splash of Merlot, Syrah and Cabernet Franc
have been introduced, adding spicy aromatics
and a plumper mid-palate. Ray's Station
Cabernet
Sauvignon has layers of
concentrated wild mountain blackberry, black
cherry
and ripe raspberry flavors. It's
well-balanced with
coffee notes and a sturdy tannic backbone.
Truly a
delicious California Cabernet. ($17.99)
2006 Cartlidge & Browne Sauvignon Blanc. Invitingly fresh aromas of
sweet
citrus, pineapple and kiwi set the keynote
for this
wine. On the palate, it offers a nicely balanced
mouthfeel, with soft, juicy textures and a
crisp bit of
citrus at its core. The wine finishes
refreshingly, with a
nice touch of grapefruit and lime. This is
the perfect
wine for sipping, or for practically any
casual affair. ($14.49)
2005 Chateau de Parenchere, Raphael Cuvee.
This
2005 Bordeaux is mild, with smooth tannins
and no
sharpness. A high degree of dark berry
fruitiness and
subtleness are what make this wine great.
This wine
is a blend of mostly Cabernet with the
addition of
Merlot. Together they make a wine that is very
enjoyable and easy to drink. Although this
wine will
benefit laying down for a few years, it will
drink just fine. ($18.99)
1998 and 1999 Chateau d'Yquem,
Sauternes - We
are pleased to share that we just received a
very limited allocation of the 1998 and 1999
vintage of Chateau d'Yquem Sauternes. Both
are wines that will evolve for the next 25-45
years. Following are their ratings:
1998
Chateau d'Yquem - 91 points Robert
Parker.($229.99)
1999 Chateau d'Yquem - 92
points
Robert Parker. ($229.99)
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Weekend Wine Tastings |
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Friday, January 25th (5 to 8
PM) California Cabs and Its Relative
Sauvignon Blanc.
- 2005 Ray's Station Cabernet
Sauvignon.
Please
see
tasting notes above in this
week's Savory Selections. ($17.99)
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2004 Doolittle Farms Cabernet Sauvignon,
California. A recent wine club selection
that we wanted to now share with others, this
Cabernet consists of 100% Napa fruit (some
valley grown and some mountain grown). The wine
opens with a sweet perfume of licorice and
currant,
and weaves together a complex array of ripe
black fruit
flavors, smoky oak and dark cherry. Dense and
concentrated, it possesses great depth with an
amazingly long and richly flavored finish.
From a
fantastic vintage, the wine is young and will be
enjoyed best if you allow to rest in bottle
for another
year or two. However if you can't heed this
advice, then
decant and allow to breathe for an hour or more.
($26.99)
- 2006 Cartlidge & Browne Sauvignon Blanc,
California. Please
see
tasting
notes above in this.
week's Savory Selections ($14.49)
Saturday, January 26th (3 to 7
PM) A Brief Trip to France.
- 2005 Chateau de Parenchere, Raphael
Cuvee,
Bordeaux.
Please see tasting notes above in this week's
Savory
Selections. ($18.99)
- Domaine de la Solitude Côtes Du Rhone,
France.
Domaine De La Solitude Côtes du Rhône is made
from a blend of Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre and
Cinsault. This blend produces intense fruit
aromas of
blackberry, raspberry and plum. This wine is
medium-
to-full bodied and fat, like its big brother
Chateauneuf
du Pape, with big smooth tannins providing
structure.
The finish is long and round with just a
touch of
smoke at the ending, quite characteristic of
this wine.
($13.99)
- 2006 Saint Peyre Picpoul, France.
Made from the Picpoul varietal,
this wine
is a greenish yellow in color, with a most
appealing
fresh bouquet of floral aromas and citrus.
On the
palate, it is light-to-medium in body
with notes
of lemon and grapefruit and a well balanced
acidity
and finish. This is a perfect seafood wine
and has an
affinity for oysters, other shellfish and
grilled fish. Great as an aperitif as well!
($10.99)
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