Drew's Wine List

2019 Alfredo Maestro "El Rey del Glam"  Vintage:  2019 Region:  V.T. Castilla y León, Spain Winery:  Alfredo Maestro Varieties:  Garnacha (aka Grenache) Price:  $23.99 My Rating:  94 Points The Review: This week's wine is a little bit of a splurge, but it doesn't fall too high above my $20 threshold, so I'm gonna allow it. I also just quite frankly think it's good enough to warrant the extra 4 bucks! I picked up Alfredo Maestro's "El Rey del Glam" at the suggestion of a friend and after scouring the Earth in search of it, I finally found it at Ellwood Thompson (in Richmond). I'm hoping that y'all will be able to find it at a specialty store (either wine or grocery), but these sorts of small production wines that overproduce oftentimes get snatched up very very quickly. So to be upfront, there is a non-zero chance that you won't be able to find this. Nevertheless, I hope you'll still keep your eyes peeled for it, and it's made ...

  2017 Biggio Hamina Biha Andreas Vineyard Gewürztraminer Vintage:  2017 Region:  Willamette Valley AVA, Oregon Winery:  Biggio Hamina Cellars Varietal:  Gewürztraminer Price:  $20.00 from a local wine shop My Rating:  91 Points The Review:  As I was looking through my notes trying to figure out a wine to write about, I stumbled upon this one that I drank a little ways back. Remember how in the last blog post I said that color comes from the skins of the grapes? Well, today's example is what happens when you ferment a white grape with the skins. Normally, white wine isn't ever in contact with the skins, but when it is ("skin contact"), it produces an orange color- thus the wine is known as "orange wine." This skin contact provides some interesting depth in the way of tannins while still presenting classic white wine taste. This method of white winemaking is actually ancient, but disappeared for a while and is just now starting to make a comeback i...

2017 Cantina Furlani Negrik Rosso Alpino  Vintage: 2017 Region: Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy Winemaker: Matteo Furlani & Danilo Marcucci Varietal:  Blend of native Dolomite grapes Price: $22.00 Expert Rating: Not rated My Rating: 90 Points Things to note: Unfiltered. Grapes from a biodynamic farm at around 700 m altitude. The Review: HAPPY QUARINTEENING! Hopefully all of you are staying indoors like you should be. Because of the movement of all of my classes to conference calls, I am at home with my parents and we've been living it up I must say. I've had some great opportunities while I've been back to try some really good wines (also some really bad ones, but those will never see the light of day because I'm scared to roast a wine in the instance that I have a career in this lol). I'm excited to share some of them with you all, just as I've been sharing some of my collection with my parents! Here we go! Today is a special day beca...