November 15th Wine Festival. Due to such a fantastic response, we are now sold out of tickets for this year's Savory Grape Charity Wine Festival, on Saturday, November 15th from 6-9 PM, at the Varnum Memorial Armory, 6 Main Street in EG. We are accepting reservations on the wait list so please call the shop (886-9463) for a wait list reservation. If you will be joining us this evening, we look forward to a wonderful night of great wines from prominent and boutique vineyards, live music, and cuisine donated by the Pinelli Marra Restaurant Group. We also will hold a silent auction of rare wines as well as various items and packages, such as Napa vineyard visits, in-home wine tastings from importer Frederick Wildman, Italy's Mionetto and California's Moniz Vineyard, and dinner packages from some of the state's best restaurants. Profits will be donated to the RI Community Action Association.

October 3rd Wine Tasting. Friday evening at The Savory Grape we will welcome special guest David Aiello of Rhode Island Distributing Company. David will share with us various great selections from Italy and California. We will take a close look into the wines of Sella & Mosca in Sardegna as well as the Candor Winery of California. Please join us for a great evening.

Compare and Contrast Tasting. Please save the date of Monday, October 20th and join us at Main Street Coffee (MSC) as we compare and contrast Chardonnays and Cabernet Sauvignons from around the world with Slocum & Sons Distribution's Steve Wynn. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at The Savory Grape (886-9463) or MSC (885-8787). As always seating is limited for this event.

The Savory Grape has Gone Green! Plenty of recyclable wine totes remain, so don't forget to get yours the next time you are in the shop. The totes can be purchased for $1.99. Once you have your tote, you will receive a $0.25 discount each time you reuse the bag to purchase at least two bottles.

So you love wine. You are constantly learning new information about wine, and by now you already may have chosen your favorite varietals, regions, and even producers. So you wonder, what is the next step - creating a collection or cellar. Depending on your budget, there are many different options for beginning your collection.

The obvious choice, budget permitting, is to hire a specialist to come into your home to design and create your dream cellar. With a temperature and humidity-controlled area you can stock up and have plenty of your favorite wines on hand, stored safely and properly at all times, to lie down and enjoy for many years to come. Although very nice to have, a custom built cellar is not always the best or practical option. So, aside from building a new structure in your home specifically for cellaring and storing wine, you can purchase a refrigerated wine cabinet, which comes complete with a cooling and humidity control system, and is quiet, featured in different styles and sizes and durable. This is, perhaps, an easier and more affordable solution to your wine storage needs. However if you stray from these aforementioned options and store your wine in an area within your basement, please remember a few important guidelines.

• Keep the wine at a constant temperature (between 50°-59°F) and humidity level (over 50%, preferably between 60%-65%). Extreme changes in temperature can negatively affect wine. (Wine should never be stored in a kitchen which is usually the warmest room in the house with extreme temperature changes from all the appliances.)

• Make sure the wine is stored in a dark place, away from vibrations and in a well-ventilated and clean environment. A clean corner of your basement could be a good place to start.

Now that you have determined how you are going to store your wine, you need to decide what wines you want to cellar. Most wines today are made to be drunk young, so you need to know which wines are best for aging and which ones are best to drink now or within a few years. Generally speaking, wines in the $10-$20 range are not made to be stored for long periods of time. As wines increase in price, typically, they have more structure and complexity and can hold up to aging better than their less expensive counterparts. Of course the type of grape plays a huge part in a wine's cellaring capability. For instance, Cabernet Sauvignon has great aging potential and depending on the producer and region may age from 10-40+ years. In general, wines that are great for the cellar, but with different lifespans, are Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines (Bordeaux), Merlot, Shiraz/Syrah, Brunello, Barolo, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Riesling.

So what specifically should you buy and how much of each bottle? Well, that is where we come in. We recommend buying a few bottles of each wine. This option allows you to taste them as they age and see how the wine has changed year after year. However buying one bottle of each selection is fine too. As lovers of wine, we are here to help guide you in your wine decisions and to recommend different selections suitable for your collection. If you have been collecting wine already, we are also available to determine the status and aging ability of your current collection, no matter how small or large. But whether you are just starting or are adding to an existing collection, following are some wines (at different price points) we recommend for the cellar:

• 2005 Chateau Gravat, Medoc, Bordeaux. $15.49
• 2005 Chateau de Casenove, Bordeaux. $17.99
• 2005 Talisman "Adastra Vineyard" Pinot Noir, California. $43.99
• 2005 Domaine Monpertuis Chateauneauf du Pape, France. $48.99
• 2004 Vina Von Siebenthal Montelig, Chile. $52.99
• 2005 Rock and Vine Cabernet Sauvignon, California. $13.99
• 2005 Chateau Certan de May, Bordeaux, France. $142.99
• 2005 Bennett Family Cabernet Sauvignon California. $29.99
• 2006 Baron "k" Kabinett Riesling, Germany. $16.99
• 2004 J.J. Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese Riesling, Germany. $46.99
• 2004 Louis Latour Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru Bourgogne, France. $110.49

2005 de Trafford Shiraz, South Africa. This Shiraz has an impressive deep red color. The nose shows intense blackberry fruit with mocha chocolate, hints of cocoa, minerals, pepper, licorice and toast. The palate is big and rich with complex fruit and plenty of fine tannins dragging the fruit along to an elegant long finish. This wine is best between 2009 & 2020 and will pair well with strong flavored red meat, especially venison and ostrich. Wine Spectator: 94 points. ($68.99)

2005 de Trafford Blue Print Shiraz, South Africa. An attractive deep red color and quite aromatic the Blue Print Shiraz has aromas of dark cherry and plum fruit complimented with white pepper, floral, nutty and herbal notes. The full, elegant palate is packed with complex fruit and soft, ripe tannins and is finely textured with a long, dry finish. The wine is best between mid 2007 & 2015 and is ideal with a variety of herb or spice infused meat dishes. Wine Spectator: 92 points. ($37.99)

Oak Knoll Winery, Willamette Valley, Oregon. Oak Knoll is a new winery to us but not new to the national wine scene. With a history dating back to 1970, Oak Knoll is the oldest winery in Washington County that obtains its fruit from several local, quality- oriented grape growers in the Willamette Valley, an area that has become renowned for wine production. This Saturday, during our in-store tastings, we are thrilled to share with you some of these selections, which recently have received nice press by national wine publications. (See Saturday's tasting schedule for the list of wines.)

Friday, October 3rd (5 to 8 PM)
Join us to welcome Special Guest David Aiello to taste new selections from California and Italy.

Saturday, October 4th (3 to 7 PM)
Celebrating New Selections from Oak Knoll Winery.

• Oak Knoll Riesling, Semi Dry. ($13.99)

• Oak Knoll Unoaked Chardonnay. ($13.99)

• Oak Knoll Pinot Noir. ($21.99)

email: jessica@thesavorygrape.com

phone: 401.886.9463

web: http://www.thesavorygrape.com