March 2010
Tres Bon Club $64.00 Tax and shipping not included.
Our Tres Bon Wine Club brings you 3 outstanding, premium wines from around the world. And the wines are exclusive to you, our valued Club member. Each month we send you an international selection of hard to find wines we feel are of exceptional quality and value. And, during the period of your monthly selection, you can purchase your favorites at the discounted Club member price, while supplies last. We look forward to sharing these wonderful, delicious and fun wines with you.
Wine club wines are available only for club members. They are not available in our regular inventory.
Weingut Wittmann Riesling Trocken Rheinhessen, Germany 2007 The Wittmanns and their ancestors have been winegrowers in the old market town of Westhofen, in the southern Rheinhessen. Documentation of the family’s viticulture dates from 1663. Presently, Gunter and Elisabeth Wittmann and their son Philipp divide the work of running the 25-hectare estate. Two decades ago in 1990 the Wittmann Family converted from conventional agriculture to controlled ecological viticulture. They have been members of the organic farmers’ association Naturland since 1990. Philipp oversaw the estate’s conversion to organics; he is happily convinced that the switch has helped the overall quality of the wine as well as preserving the health of the vineyards and soil for future generations. The finest vineyard sites of the estate, classified Grosses Gewächs ("great growths") according to the VDP Rheinhessen and equivalent to Grand Cru vineyards in Burgundy. There are three different vineyards from which the Wittmanns make a Grosses Gewächs and by law these wines must be dry. Aside from this wine they produce other wines as well. This Riesling Trocken, or dry riesling, is a very good example of the style that Germany consumes. With a solid core of minerality and acidity, the flavors of green apple and pineapple work in harmony. This is a vibrant and fresh aromatic white that would suit a variety of lighter faire from salads with fruit to delicate white fish. list price$28.00 | arlequin regular price$22.00 | club member re-order price$19.00
Mas des Chimeres Cotes du Languedoc, France 2005 With smoky spicy red fruits, dried herbs, spices, leather and earth this is an excellent find from Southern France. This wine would be well suited to drink with grilled meats. Great for the weather ahead! For over 20 years, Guilhem Dardé meticulously tended his family vineyards and brought his grapes to the local coop to be blended with the overproduction of his neighbors. Finally, he bought winemaking equipment, scandalized the village and struck out on his own. With the 1993 vintage, he tasted his own wine for the first time. In this remote part of the Languedoc the vines grow in strips of granite, schist, and clay. Dardé makes a selection of other wines but unfortunately none of them make it to the US. With future vintages hopefully we’ll see more of his wines for our enjoyment. list price$27.00 | arlequin regular price$20.00 | club member re-order price $15.00
Evening Lands Vineyards Pinot Noir Willamette Valley Oregon 2008 The Willamette Valley, just south of Portland, is widely known as an ideal home for Pinot Noir. This fickle grape is the region’s most planted. Producers and growers here tend to follow Burgundy, which is suitable for the especially cool and cloudy appellation. Evening Lands Vineyards is producing wine from their estate grown Pinot Noir in three distinct terroirs: Sonoma Coast, Santa Rita Hills, and the Eola Hills of the Willamette Valley. For our wine this month, we have their Oregon Pinot offering produced by a stellar team. Dominque Lafon is the consulting Burgundian winemaker has a talent for beautiful fruit flavors, acid balance and soft mouthfeel. He has managed his family’s estate, Domaine des Comtes Lafon, in Meursault since 1987. Isabelle Meunier is Evening Land’s winemaker. She is a Quebec native who met Lafon while training in Burgundy before moving to Niagara to work in the Canadian wine industry. Together they have created a wine showing mixed berries, hints at orange zest and baking spices that compliment a silky texture. As the name implies, it hopes to inspire the irresistible lure of Homer’s ideal garden, his wedding gift to Zeus. The Gardens of the Evening Land bears witness to the eternal magic of the perfect orchard. And, as Pinot often does, it will be a perfect accompaniment to many meals. list price$30.00 | arlequin regular price$28.00 | club member re-order price $25.00
