Dedalus Wine Shop

Chateau Fonguillon - Killer Bordeaux for under 20 bucks!

Jason — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:08:58 +0000

2005 Château Fonguillon L’Enclos.   Here is a straight-from-the-shoulder Bordeaux at a reasonable price. It is a merlot-based wine, frank and unadorned. It is made in AOC Montagne St-Emilion which is the largest satellite of the august St. Emilion region.
L’Enclos smells of leather and brass. The taste is dark and not sweet with a tannic undertow. The wine is pleasantly rough around the edges.   There is a little bitter chocolate at the end as the wine becomes more dilute in your mouth. Because it is a merlot, it is less angular and forceful than a cabernet. This one is still close to the earth — more jacquerie than premier cru.
This is a wine made to serve with dinner on a week night.   I tried it with ribs, grilled chicken, and barbecued beef — all fine. Drinking it with chicken was a bit shameless, but who was watching? I liked it best perhaps with pizza because it stood up so well to sausage and onion.
Dedalus offers this sturdy child of the French soil for $14.75
Tuta 6/26/09

The Brunier Brothers’ Well Kept Secret: Les Pallières Rosé - One sip and you’ll be hooked!

Jason — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:32:09 +0000

2008 Les Pallières au petit bonheur rosé. This is a very beautiful rosé from the Gigondas region in the southern Rhone valley. I do not say it lightly. I never turn down a glass of rosé, especially at lunch, but it is not a wine I would seek out. Usually bright, acidic, very pink, very easy to forget — but this one is different.

First, the color is softer. It is more dawn than sunset. The taste is clementine and small strawberries. This wine is a little riper than many of the Grenache rosés. The touch of the acid is light, and it is buffered with fruit and wood. At the end, the taste resolves into a moment of warm vanilla. Very briefly, like a memory of oak. If you look back, it’s gone.

Gigondas is famous for its large-scale herbaceous reds. The rosé has a little of that sauvage style, but it is very restrained. This is a wine to be drunk in the middle of the day. You could keep your tie on. You might do something useful later.

This small revelation is at Dedalus for $18.95

Tuta 6/16/09

Wine Dinner - Dedalus Presents: Grilling @ The Green Room

Jason — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:05:16 +0000

The Menu:

Reception:
Epiphany Grenache Blanc, Santa Barbara
House Smoked Tazmanian Salmon on Grilled Crostini.

1st Course
Chiaretto Rosé, Italy
Pepepr-Grilled Jumbo Sea Scallop
Thin Sliced White Balsamic Strawberry, Grilled fennel slaw.

2nd Course
Carignan Rouge, France
Grill-smoked duck breast, with grilled figs.

3rd Course
Rolf Binder Heinrich, GSM, Australia
Slow-Grilled Pork Loin, Plum Chutney.

4th Course
Easton Zinfandel, California
Beef Tenderloin & Foie Gras Sliders
truffled mayo, roasted sweet potatoes.

5th Course
Perrone Moscato d’Asti, Italy
Uber-Cheese Course
Baked almond brie over grilled pineapple in puff pastry.

A complete Vegetarian pairing menu is available. If you would prefer the veggie menu, please be certain to notify the Green Room when you make your reservations.

Turley Juvenile - That’s right, We’ve Got It

Jason — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:00:38 +0000

2007 Turley Juvenile. Let’s start at the back. “Juvenile” refers to the age of the Zinfandel vines — for this wine, 25 years or younger. Turley is a Zinfandel specialist, gathering old vine grapes planted in California before Prohibition. “Juvenile” is made from the occasional replacements since even the life of a vine is not without measure.

The first impression is a deep purple and the smell of an oak barrel. The taste is bold and composed of primary colors. This is a wine like a late Gauguin — bare breasts and deep jungle greens and blacks. “Spicy” or “peppery” does not really cover the ground. The taste is vivid and fruity in a dark, overweening style. Despite a bias against Zinfandel, I liked it.

The question is how to serve it. Not many meals would stand up to such a young monster. It went beautifully with a gamey, soft cheese, especially after the second glass. It could hold its own, I suppose, beside a hunter’s stew with garlic, tomatoes, and the shoulder of a beast. But really, it ought to be drunk before dinner, with some bread, and admired for the sheer horsepower of the thing.

These wines are genuinely hard to find. Dedalus will let you try this one for a (very reasonable) $21.50

Tuta 6/8/09

Strauss Welschriesling - A bone-dry summer thirst quencher!

Jason — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:49:14 +0000

2008 Strauss Welschriesling is an Austrian white wine — very light and dry, low alcohol (11.5 %) and bright and clear. The taste is stony, clean, and mildly acidic. In your glass, it will be as clear as water. It has a light floral nose. It is highly refreshing and a pleasure to drink in an unreflective, thirsty sort of way.

Welschriesling is a variety of grapes grown throughout Central Europe - as far south as northern Italy and east to the Czech Republic. It has quenched the summer thirst of mitteleuropa since the days of the Hapsburgs. The origin of the grape is unknown except that it has no connection with German Riesling. The name could be rendered as “Romanic Riesling” which suggests an origin east of the Balkans.

We drank two bottles over two nights in great comfort. It is an easy wine to like –uncomplicated and with enough history to give it interest. Dedalus offers this summer bottle for an uncomplicated $14.75.

Tuta 5/27/09

The Big Move

Jason — Wed, 27 May 2009 19:11:01 +0000

That’s right folks, after almost 2 years at our little backroom shop at 95 College Street, we were bursting at the seams. So we’ve packed the whole operation up, and moved it to a shiny new space at 209 Battery Street.

We’re not completley set up yet, but we’re open and all the wine is out on the floor, waiting for that special someone to come along and give it a good home… Stop on down, check out the new digs, and pick up a bottle of vino!

Blanco Nieva Verdejo 2007 - Spain’s Challenge to Sauvignon Blanc

Tim — Thu, 21 May 2009 14:13:30 +0000

The Blanco Nieva 2007. Here is another Spanish wine with good manners — a white made from the verdejo grape in the high plain of Rueda, northwest of Madrid. The summer is long and hot; grapes are harvested at night for freshness. Verdejo has grown into one of Spain’s leading white wine varieties. Blanco Nieva arrives with a rush of botanical flavors — lime, especially, and green apple. This is a rich, forward taste, a little heady and a little tart, enthusiastically young.

Until a few decades ago, verdejo was used to produce inexpensive sherry-like wines — oxidized and a bit grim. These were a hard sell for export. In the 1970’s winemakers in Rueda developed verdejo in a style which was softer, sometimes floral and sometimes citric. Blanco Nieva is a beautiful food wine — fresh, direct, and with a taste strong enough to stand up to saffron, shellfish and chopped garlic.

Blanco Nieva has another advantage. It is inexpensive. Dedalus will let you carry this bottle home for $14.75.

Tuta 5/20/09

Free Tasting! The Austrian Assault - 5 Under-the-Radar Wines You’ll Want to Drink All Summer Long

Jason — Wed, 13 May 2009 17:25:57 +0000

You’ll want to drink these wines by the bucket!

Austria’s wine scene has been slowly coming in to focus here in the USA. After years of greedily snapping up their own wines (they’re just that good), the Austrians are finally willing to share a few of these sleek, compelling beauties with us.

Reds, whites sparklers and rosé - there’s a distinct Austrian character that’s sure to please and most certainly excite. After this tasting, odds are you’ll be drinking Zweigelt and Gruner Veltliner all summer long!

Join us this Friday, May 15th at the shop anytime between 5:00 and 9:00. We’ll being pouring five for your enjoyment.

Rentas de Fincas Reserva - Rioja Heats Up The Grill

Jason — Wed, 13 May 2009 16:51:59 +0000

Rentas de Fincas Reserva 2002 is a warm Rioja. This wine is soft and earthy — very agreeable. Like so many Riojas, it has waited a long time for you. In this case, 7 years, more than a few in wood. The result is rich and smooth with a light crackle of tannin and cigar smoke at the finish.

Rioja is a remote district in northern Spain – 60 miles south of the Atlantic coast and 1,500 feet above the sea. It lies along the upper reaches of the Ebro River. Spanish monks were producing wine in the region as early as the year 873. Rioja suffered terribly during the years of the phylloxera outbreak at the turn of the last century. Wine production dwindled further after World War II. Only since 1970 has the region regained its productive vitality.

Rioja is known for long — often very long — aging in oak. All this patience results in flavors of toast, smoke, earth and vanilla. Rentas de Fincas is no exception. The wine has an aromatic quality like an old cedar chest. But underneath there is a powerful heartbeat of fruit and sun.

You can find this fine seven year old at Dedalus for $17.75.

Tuta 5/12/09

From Race Cars to Rocket Ships - Artisan Sauvignon Blanc Should Be On Your List

Jason — Tue, 05 May 2009 04:10:37 +0000

Once you start drinking crisp, juicy, super-focused wines from the Loire or powerful, intensely flavored wines from New Zealand, I bet you’ll forget about Chardonnay for a few weeks. I’m also pretty confident that your going to become a missionary for these wines. Before you know it, you’ll be converting friends with every marvelous bottle you pull out of your secret stash.

Sancerre is a little hilltop town that pops out of the Loire like a button. In the 70’s, the wines from the area were all the rage around Europe. Streaked with mineral and honey aromatics, the best of them are so vibrant that they leave a trail of amazement in their wake as the bottle makes its way around the room. The wines are refreshing and terroir driven. They should be your go-to wine for salads and goat cheese (especially of the ash-aged creamy variety). If you want to lay down some sophistication at a dinner party this summer, the Hyppolite Reverdy Sancerre is the wine to set the night off right.

SB from New Zealand is a different animal. A big, lovable, tropical-tasting animal. The country’s best artisan wines come from Marlborough, on the northeast tip of the South Island. These Lemon-zest dusted bananna, kiwi and gooseberry bombs are intensely aromatic and deeply enjoyable. Serious crowd pleasers with the power to match bold food, this is the stuff for backyard entertaining and people-watching from the porch. For everyday grilling, chilling, and relaxing, serve up a few bottles of Sacred Hill. For an epic, next-level grill event, roll out the Mahi.