Let the Winter Holiday Season Begin!
I love the winter holidays. I celebrate the lights, the festive feels, the food and drink, and even the cold. It is a wonderful reason to make the 12-hour drive to Indiana, with the hope of sledding and winter hiking in the snow. Plus, Evan has been game to try making all sorts of Christmas cakes (stollen, panetone) and savory pies! My contribution, as usual, is in the drinks. I pour Five Farms Irish Cream in our morning espresso, make sure our Happy Hour is early and well-garnished, and keep the bubbles chilled. By this point, y’all know my penchant for Franciacorta. It does remain my favorite for its delicious flavor and great price, relative to Champagne. But I also love to experiment. Bubbles are wonderful wines with which to experiment; the depth of “bad” isn’t so deep. Bubbles, themselves, cover a lot of flaws, as does the chill at which the bottles are kept. So, experiment away! And, you know that you have excellent bottles from this month’s wine club 😊 Let me know what you find!
If you simply need more, great, traditional-method sparkling wine, we have a great perk for you:
In addition to the bottles in your bag, all Wine Club members receive Buy One Get One Free bottles of Sojourn Cava all December long! It’s a BOGO!!
December Wines
Söellner Wagram Marie Pet Nat, Austria NV
Weingut Söellner is found in northeast Austria, a short distance from Vienna. There, Toni Soellner makes beautiful, handcrafted wines from his estate, which was certified Demeter (biodynamic) way back in 1995. The land features vineyards, woodlands, orchards, and fields. They cultivate grapes, grasses, and grains, as well as wild flowers. They support bees and other wildlife, and generally enhance the biodiversity of their lands. The vines themselves share space with wild herbs and flowers.
The love extends to the wines, which are produced with minimal intervention. This bubbly is made with 50% Roter Veltliner, 25% Riesling, 20% Chardonnay, and 5% Muskateller. They use the méthode ancestrale to produce the bubbles, in which the primary fermentation is deliberately stopped before finishing. The wine is then bottled, and secondary fermentation is allowed to occur naturally.
The resulting wine is beautiful, clean, and fresh, with great acid and mineral feel. The aromatics are strong and redolent of oranges and wild flowers. The mouth has orchard fruits – apples, pears, oranges – and chamomile, clover, and fennel. The finish is all about the fine bubbles. It is a gift to your taste buds!
Castel d’Or Flama Roja Rosat Cava Brut, Spain NV
Castel d’Or is a cooperative of cellars in Catalonia. The Flama Roja producer is located in Vila-Rodona, whose vineyards are near Tarragona. It is a quite small production, with only 3000 bottles made.
The grapes are the white Parellada and native-to-Tarragona red Trepat, which are produced sustainably and hand-harvested. Like all Cava, secondary fermentation occurs in the bottle after the méthode champenoise. The wine spends 14 months on lees.
The Flama Roja has such a beautiful color! Open it up, and the bubbles on this are very, very fine. It is juicy and tart with rose, strawberry, rhubarb, and pomegranate, and herbal notes of rue. Just lovely.
Both of these wines are great with- or without- food. May I recommend a bottle during gift wrapping? And speaking of gift wrapping, here is a mini gift guide for wine lovers like you!
Wine makes a great gift, and Jet has plenty of great bottles to please family, friends, AND YOU! Here are some other wonderful, wine-related gifts for the “nice” peeps on your list. The “naughty”, of course, get coal.
Corkscrew
If you use a corkscrew a lot, why not splurge on a nice one? Laguiole waiters’ corkscrews are among the best, and also the prettiest! They are splurges, but also beautiful, robust, and efficient.
Wine glasses
In order to fund that Laquiole corkscrew, here is a tip: TJ Maxx and Marshalls are great sources for discount, high-end stems. I’ve gotten Spiegelau and Reidel. This way you can spend more on the wine, too!
Ice Bucket/Sparkling Cooler
A few years back, I realized I didn’t own an ice bucket or a sparkling-wine chiller. But, I discovered that Etsy has some amazing vintage ice buckets that work for both! Clearly, I found my owl-shaped cooler at the right time, because it only cost about $40. But I love this one because it reminds me of Athena’s animatronic owl, Bubo, in Clash of the Titans
T-shirts
André Hueston Mack is the man behind Maison Noir Wines, which will soon grace the menu and shelves at Rex at the Royal! In addition to being a sommelier and micro-negotiant winemaker, André is a designer. In my opinion, he makes some of the best wine t-shirts around. Take a look here.
Portable Chiller
I didn’t know I needed a portable chiller until I bought one! They are perfect for keeping a wine chilled while on your way to a BYO or a friend’s house. Keep wine cool if outside on the porch, and they are perfect for the beach! I have one like this. Ooh, look, more colors here!
Pick up your December Wine Club wines, pop a bottle, and click above for my Bubble and Sparkle playlist with songs for your sparkling wines.
Happy Holidays, everyone!
- Jill Weber
