Vino Picks for May - A few wines that we love and will be featuring through the month of May.
Championship Bottle You me and the Moon 2023, Willamette Valley $23Saul Mutchnick of Championship Bottle, inspired by the Italian wines of Fruili, is making some of my favorite wines in the shop. He recently stopped by with the new vintage of You Me & the Moon and it's dynamite! Even Saul admitted this was is favorite vintage. A harmonious blend of Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris and Chardonnay resulting honeydew, stone fruits and sweet lemon.
Landmass "Heavy Glow" Sparkling Rose Columbia Gorge $26Melany and Malia, the duo behind Landmass, have an infectious quality that have made them darlings of the Oregon wine scene. I've been carrying their rose, Chenin Blanc and sparking rose for a few weeks and I can't keep them on the shelves. The sparkling rose is a blend of high elevation Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from the Gorge. It shows off notes of honeydew melon, vanilla biscuits, pears, bright minerality and tastes like sunshine in a bottle.
Cameron Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2023 V2 $27Ian from Cameron said they were bottling more Willamette Valley Pinot Noir but it would be a different wine. I was intrigued and asked him to please stop by with a bottle when it was ready. The 2nd bottling, I think, is juice that usually goes into the Dundee Hills bottling. The fruit was a little darker and more generous than the 1st bottling that came out in March.
Pithon "Mon P'Tit Pithon" Côtes Catalanes Rouge 2023 $20 We poured this at a recent tasting and it was the hit of the night. Equal parts Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre from Southwest France's Côtes Catalanes. The wine is crunchy, chillable, thirst-quenching red. Fresh cherry and blueberry, tart cranberry, and a lemon zest acidity on the finish. It's one of those wines you think about for a couple of days and it has a Monty Python reference on the label!
Orlegi de Luberri Rioja Cosecha 2023 $17This wine was a huge surprise the first time I tasted it. We are all used to dark and muscular Temprañillo from Rioja, but Luberri puts this through partial carbonic maceration and adds a touch of Viura to lighten it up. The resulting wine is bright, fresh, youthful and and bursting with energy. Think pretty blue fruits with a crunchy texture that you could served slightly chilled. Perfect BBQ wine.