Coffaro 2006 Fresco @ $99/case

Dave and Pat have put their 2006 Fresco on sale for $99/case. I stumbled upon this when making my 2009 futures purchases today. The sale ends on May 31, 2009.

The 2006 Fresco is a great summer quaffer. It's a red wine, but very light-bodied and packed with fruit. This is not a sweet wine by any stretch, and it is very refreshing. It reminds me a little bit of the J Lohr Valdiguie in terms of weight and suitability for summer drinking.

Sign me up!

What do you get when you add up great wines, great prices, great convenience, and some of the nicest people in the wine business? The Cofarro Wine Club.

David and Pat have launched a wine club. While we've been avid buyers since at least their 1997 vintage (that's the oldest we have in the cellar) we joined their new wine club recently. It's a very nice deal - one shipment of three bottles every four months for $60. The first shipment, which is coming soon, will be either a trio of their wonderful Bordeaux blend, Aca Modot, or their equally wonderful Estate Zinfandel. The vintage is 2005, 2006, and 2007. (We're just now getting into the 2005s.)

This is a great way to have some wonderful wines show up at your door for very little money.

A nice surprise

Stopped by the Produce Station yesterday to pick up a few things for dinner (broccoli, chicken), and saw that they had a nice cache of white northern Rhone wines available at deep discounts. Since the vintages are a little on the older side, running the gamut from 2001 to 2005, I picked up a couple to see if they were still in good shape.

They are!

We opened a 2004 Guigal Crozes-Hermitage (pictured at the left) which was just fabulous. There's something about the white northern Rhones that really stands out once the bottle has a little big of age on it. Spicy aromas, clean fruit, and a lasting finish all come together.

Many of the wines are from E. Guigal, and we have often found this producer to be a reliable source for interesting wines. In addition to the 2004 Crozes-Hermitage (I bought the last five, sorry) there are also a dozen or more 2005 Condrieu (which are still nearly $30) and several 2001 St. Joseph. We'll try this latter wine tonight, and if it has held up as well as the 2004, we'll pick up a few more of those too.

Vida Organica II

Time to sing the praises of Vida Organica again.

I've been buying two main types of wine this month. It seems like most of the big wine merchants in Ann Arbor are having a big sale on wines imported by Kermit Lynch this month. I picked up a handful at Morgan & York a week or so ago. These were "value" wines in the $10 to $20 per bottle range; one from Alsace (a blend of several varietals), one from the Loire (a Muscadet), and generic wine "Unique," a sauvignon blanc. None of the wines were awful, but none were great either. I left with the sense that these were poor values, showing and tasting more like $10 wines than the average $15 price tag.

I've also been stocking up on more Vida Organica from Whole Foods. These are wonderful, fresh, fruit-filled wines from Argentina. $9 normally, on sale for $7, and close to $6.30 if you buy six or more at a time (and you should). The white - a Torrentes - will be our "house white" for most of the coming summer, and the rose - a Malbec - will be a fun wine to share with friends in the spring and early summer. The red - also a Malbec - is also a wonderful wine: low tannin, ripe fruit, great with food or all by itself while one is cooking.

Because they are from Argentina and sport "weird" grape types on the label, no doubt many will pass over these wines. For the value shopper who is looking for something well south of $10/bottle for an "everyday" wine, these are just perfect. So much better, so much more interesting than the inoffensive, but insipid, bottles of "lake wine" one can find so easily, but which are so unsatifying, so uninteresting.

Vida Organica

Wow.

I came across these at Whole Foods when I was waiting my turn at the meat counter. They had a Malbec, Malbec Rose, and a (white) Torrentes. I bought two bottles of each to get the six-bottle discount, and WF also has them on sale for $2 off apiece. It isn't prominently displayed on the bottle, but these are all from the 2008 harvest.

We opened the Torrentes last night. Crisp, refreshing, clean, not at all like anything coming out of a California Chardonnay. What a nice surprise, and what a bargain for a wine made from organic grapes!

The Malbec rose come out this afternoon. Also a winner. Soft, fruity, buttery nose with a smooth finish. A very different experience than the inexpensive French and Spanish roses.

I wouldn't want to lose any of these in the cellar, but I think I'll pick up a half dozen of each to drink between now and late 2009.

Domaine Chandon

Just picked up a mixed case of Domain Chandon from Plum Market. Their current sale price is $12.97 per bottle, which is pretty good, but Chandon is also offering a $25 rebate on a full case, so the effective price is even lower.

We think this is a pretty nice sparkler for the price; usually we find it for somewhere around $15, and so to get it at about $11 per bottle is just great.

The little tag on the bottle with the rebate details says that the offer is good until early in January 2009.

Concannon Vineyard 'Limited Release' 2005 Petite Sirah

It was one of those lucky times. All the pieces came together.

Ali woke up extra early for school. That meant there was time to fetch the WSJ from the curb, open it, read the Tastings column, and see what they had to say.

Petite Sirah this week, one of our favorites.

They rated one Delicious!. This is rare. And the Delicious! one was only $14.

A $14 Delicious! wine featuring a varietal we love, and time to place an order?

A quick check at the Village Corner web site showed that they had the wine in stock, and the price was the same as in the WSJ. A few clicks later we had six bottles ordered, and the next day (Saturday) we had the wine at home.

We already happened to have a 2004 David Coffaro Petite Sirah open, and so we had a nice tasting. The Concannon was indeed a nice wine: big, rich, dark purple, and went very well with food. It wasn't nearly as big, though, as the Coffaro. David's wines are always rich with fruit, almost sweet, and a bit on the high-alcohol side. I like the Coffaro better for drinking by itself or with cheese; both the Coffaro and the Concannon were nice with a meal.