This week we added four new wines, two new spirits, and one existing spirit in a new size.
The Tamarack Cellars “Firehouse Red” from the Columbia Valley of Washington state is an exciting blend of seven grapes — 31% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Syrah, 16% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Franc, 7% Malbec, 5% Sangiovese, 1% Carmenere and 1% Petit Verdot. Ordinarily, we’d feel some of these grapes tend to conflict with each other in blends, but this particular bottling really works, and tastes delicious among “alternative” red blends. Moreover, the grapes themselves come from some of the best sub-appellations within the Columbia Valley, notably Horse Heaven Hills, Red Mountain and Rattlesnake Hills.
We tasted and added the Leese-Fitch Cabernet Sauvignon, another side project of the Sebastiani family. Retailing in the $10 dollar range, it offers excellent value for the price. In the same price range and also from California, the Sweetwater Cabernet Sauvignon is also an excellent everyday Cabernet, and actually carries a Chalk Hill (Sonoma) appellation.
Heading down to Chile, we added Valdivieso Merlot (Central Valley) and the Casas Patronales Sauvignon Blanc (Maule Valley).
In spirits, as we love the unflavored Cold River potato vodka so much, we added their blueberry infused offering. The blueberry version is still the same excellent, gluten-free potato vodka, and while we normally avoid most flavored spirits, this one tastes wonderful and natural, and could easily be sipped on its own or mixed into cocktails. The blueberry aroma is powerful and can be detected several feet from an open bottle!
We also added John Barr blended Scotch in the Black Label version, 1.75L size, as well as adding the 100ml size to our Hennessy VS lineup. The 100ml is a curious little bottle occupying the void (?) between mini-bottles (50ml) and “half-pint” (200ml) bottles.
