After much anticipation, we have received the long awaited shipment of fantastic white and rose wines from famed Bordeaux producer Denis Dubourdieu. If you’re not familiar with Denis Dubourdieu, he is what some consider the “godfather” of white wine elaboration in Bordeaux. Denis Dubourdieu Domaine’s consists of several different chateau’s and regions, and we selected three estates that we felt catered to the American market. We selected several wines from his offerings: the Chateau Reynon Sauvignon Blanc in the Cadillac region, Clos Floridene Blanc and Rose from the Graves region, and Chateau Cantegril from Sauternes. We feel that these wines will offer amazing quality and for an amazing price, ranging from $13 to $30  at any of the wine stores in Utah. We are currently only selling these wines in Utah and Wyoming, but will hopefully be expanding availability throughout the US in the near future to try and make it possible for everyone to enjoy these incredible wines. To go along with these wines I would highly recommend visiting Freshies Lobster Co. for incredibly fresh Maine lobsters, clams, mussels, and lobster rolls for an amazing meal delivered straight to your door! Freshies was recently featured in Salt Lake Magazine where they wrote a company profile about the company. I have ordered several times from Freshies and have always had the freshest seafood available to us in land locked Utah. I actually wound up chasing a live lobster all over my kitchen because it was so fresh and alive it decided to take a spin throughout my house- don’t worry, no wine was spilled…….

Cheers,

Michael

The fine team at Bodegas Vina Hermosa has been busy the past year and a half developing and creating wines that maximize the healthy qualities of wine. Here is the result of their hard work and effort as quoted from the bodega-

There is never a dull moment at Bodegas Medrano Irazu, where winemaker Amador Medrano Irazu always wears a smile- well, more like a smirk. He is a wiry man in his mid thirties who loves his work and is passionate about it, there is no doubt. So, it comes as no surprise that he owns some of the highest vines in all of DOC Rioja, designed his own trellis system to achieve maximum potential for his vines, and is known all over Rioja Alavesa. Some think he’s crazy, others maybe part genius/part mad scientist, but one thing is clear- he is leading the way for every producer in DOC Rioja.

As Spain continues to produce fantastic white wine from all over the country, it seems like white wines in Rioja have succumbed to the same scrutiny as their red wines- should they be made in a traditional or modern style? While you can find incredible white wines of both styles in Rioja produced mainly with the Viura variety (along with others such as Malvasia and Garnacha Blanca), they are usually overshadowed by Albarino from Galicia and Verdejo in Rueda. In response to other regions and varieties gaining more and more popularity, the Rioja Consejo Regulador has recently allowed the use of chardonnay and other non-native varieties in Rioja as well. While I’m sure this will be quite the controversy within Rioja, I worry more about the response to the addition in the US. As we’re already saturated with California Chardonnay, I just hope that the US consumer doesn’t begin to associate chardonnay with Rioja. Along with Ryan and Gabriella of Catavino.net, I don’t feel there was anything wrong with the white wines being produced in Rioja- I just think they haven’t explored the full potential of what their native white varieties can achieve. In my opinion, the addition has the potential to destroy Rioja’s image, not improve it, and is only an attempt to gain some of the white wine market share being exported from Spain.

Not one to sit back and watch his beloved Rioja become eclipsed by these other regions and varieties, Amador has been experimenting with the Viura variety to determine what kind of potential this grape possesses. With his love of Tokaji, Sauternes, and sweeter Sherries, he set out to see if Viura could make a quality sweet wine. After one successful and one disastrous attempt under his belt, I guess you could say that the “third time’s a charm” as he has been granted the first late harvest, or “Vendimia Tardia” approval from the DOC Rioja. I’ve had the chance to taste both successful vintages and they are absolutely fantastic and intriguing. These wines have wonderful acidity and complexity, as well as incredible floral aromas and honey notes on the nose. While there are some producers in Rioja such as Marques de Caceres producing sweeter wines with native varieties, they have yet to receive an official guarantee from the Consejo Regulador. With Medrano receiving the first official guarantee, I hope many other producers will now realize that they literally have incredible potential growing right at their feet.

I can’t wait to see how Amador will develop and brand this groundbreaking wine in the future. Hopefully it will bring some attention back to Rioja and it’s native varieties and what can be accomplished with a bit of imagination and hard work!

–Michael 

It has been a great start of the week for P.R. Grisley Co. as news has been flying in from Europe on two wineries we import from, Quinta de Gomariz from Portugal and Baron de Montfort from France. Both wineries have received awards for their wine making in their respective countries and we couldn’t be happier for both wineries!!!

 Our good friend Bertrand de Sercey and the team at Baron de Montfort have been awarded two silver medals in recognition for the 2006 vintage of BOTH the Chateau Lagrange Monbadon and the Chateau de Monbadon in an annual competition held in Bordeaux. The “Concours de Bordeaux” is a certified organization that was set up to allow Bordeaux producers to compete with each other and all wines are blind tasted by wine professionals. We currently sell the 2005 Chateau de Monbadon and the 2003 Chateau Lagrange Monbadon in selected markets, but we look forward to receiving the 2006 vintage of these wines in the future. It’s encouraging to know that Baron de Monfort continues to produce award-winning wines and we look forward to enjoying these upcoming vintages.

 Quinta de Gomariz had a VERY big weekend, taking home five awards in two different competions for their fantastic vinho verde wines. The first competition was the annual Vinho Verde Competition and was held in the city of Braga in northern Portugal. Gomariz took home the “best of” award for their 2008 Loureiro in the varietal category, as well as the 2008 Espadeiro (Rose), also for the varietal category. The big winner was their 2008 Colheita Seleccionada, which took home the gold medal in the white wine category. The other competition was the Lisbon National Wine Contest, where the 2008 Loureiro and 2008 Colheita Seleccionada were awarded silver medals. We’ve been working very closely with our good friend Vitor Mendez from Vinixa, who helped make the Gomariz wines available in the US market. As a brand new producer whom we just began working with and recently visited in May, this is very promising and we can’t wait until the Gomariz wines are available in US, which will be in the next month and half.

So, congratulations to both Quinta de Gomariz and Baron de Monfort, keep up the good work and we’ll be sure to raise a glass to you both!!!

– Michael 

With the wonderful world of Google come amazing and extraordinary things that one is able to find. Sometimes I think we all take for granted the power that technology has allowed us to possess, and the massive amount of information at our fingertips. Whether you want to find a recipe for tapas, or where the best skiing on earth is , just type it in and presto- you have an answer!!! Why am I going off on this you might be asking yourself? It’s because  I often type in our business or family name to see what pops up on Google, and just to make sure I don’t have a convicted felon in the family (thankfully not yet!) somewhere out there that might try to contact me for bail money.

Today however, in a strange twist of fate, I stumbled across an interesting little nugget of information in The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. It seems the stars aligned many years ago for my passion and ultimately my career in the wine world, as I discovered one of my ancestors was a wine merchant in Philadelphia in the 1750′s! I was shocked to read about this because the PLCB is one of our main clients, so apparently my relative Samuel planted that seed in Philadelphia many years ago.  I’ll have to do a bit of research on this but I’m almost positive we are Pennsylvania’s oldest “wine merchants.” I’m hoping someone will be able to verify this, but if not, I’ll definitely being raising my wine glass to Mister Samuel Grisley and thanking him for establishing our name in the wine business all those years ago!

Don’t you just love history?

Cheers,

Michael