Italian White Wine Weekend

Most wine consumers are familiar with Pinot Grigio, the Italian white wine that has consistently been at or near the top of U.S. import lists for the past 15 years. As with other wine trends, however, the popularity of Pinot Grigio has cast something of a shadow over many other excellent Italian white wines – Soave, Vernaccia, Verdicchio, Orvieto, Vermentino, and Gavi, to name a few.

This coming weekend, the Colonial Spirits wine team plans to cast some light on the “other white wines of Italy” with a sale and tasting event. Starting at 9:00 am on Saturday and ending at 6:00 pm on Sunday, we will be offering a 20% discount on six or more bottles of every Italian white in the store. In addition, we have organized a Sunday tasting from 1:00 to 4:00 pm so customers can sample and learn about the refreshingly flavorful, food-friendly white wines from some of the Italy’s leading producers.

7th Annual Spring Grand Wine Tasting – Part 1

Spring Grand Wine Tasting

Welcome, to our 7th Annual Spring Grand Wine Tasting.

For those that are new to the area and haven’t been to one of our Grand tastings before, you are in for a real treat. For the regulars out there, you know what you are getting yourself into.

The Spring Grand Wine Tasting is the first of three Grand Wine Tastings that we have each year. Like the Fall Grand and Winter Big Red, the Spring Grand Tasting is a two-part event that takes place over two consecutive weekends from 2-5 PM. Each weekend is unique so coming to both is highly advised, but not necessary. Over the course of the event, we will have opened and sampled around 100 bottles of different wines, which averages to around 50 unique bottles per weekend.

The Spring Grand Wine Tasting, like the season, is our transition from the heavier winter reds to the lighter wines, i.e. Rosés, whites and sparklers. The Spring Grand Wine Tasting is not only a perfect opportunity to sample our newest offerings, but also a means of having questions you may have answered. And with Rosé season being in full swing and an abundance of them to choose from, there is no way of picking the wrong one if you sampled it first.

In addition to a stellar selection, we will be offering our 25% discount on 12+ bottles of wines. The 12+ bottles can be mix-n-matched and can be from either weekend. However, in order to qualify for the discount, the 12+ bottles have to be from the event. All other wines will adhere to our regular discount policy.

Mark your calendar (paper or electronic), hire a babysitter or bring the kids along, don’t chew gum or suck on mints, and join us for our Spring Grand Wine Tasting, an event not to be missed.

Carpe Vinum!

Here is a sample of what we will be pouring:

Chateau Routas Rose Coteaux Varios en Provence
Cline Pinot Noir Sonoma County
Grgich Hills Fumé Blanc Napa Valley
Marcel Martin Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine Les Vieilles Vignes
Domaine Celestin Blondeau Sancerre Cuvee de Moulins Bales
Domaine de Fondrèche Côtes du Ventoux Rosé

Ca’ Del Monte Valpolicella Classico
375mL Poquito Moscato
Lamoreaux Landing Dry Riesling Finger Lakes
Dom Diogo ‘Vinhao’ Tinto Vinho Verde
Clos Cibonne Tibouren Rosé Cotes de Provence Cru Classe
Valdibella ‘Isolano’ Sicilia

90+ Cellars:
Lot 120 Pinot Gris California
Lot 65 French Fusion White Languedoc
Lot 42 Pinot Grigio Trentino
Lot 122 Chardonnay Mendocino
Lot 125 Pinot Noir Monterey
Lot 118 Sauvignon Blanc Coteaux de Gennois
Lot 50 Prosecco Brut

(Get more info here: Spring Grand Wine Tasting.)

Premium European Wines Wine Tasting

Premium European Wines

This is as fresh as they come – for distributors, I mean. Premium European Wines is a small operation based out of our hometown, Acton, MA. Paul and Oxana are the husband and wife team that founded the business, represent the wines, deliver and promote the wines. When it comes to boutique, family oriented, environmentally conscious wineries look no further. With only a handful of brands in their portfolio, you can say that they are starting small. Regardless of their size, these wines are just as serious, if not more than the rest. With fewer hands to feed – Prem Euro Wines is the importer and distributor – and no marketing to pay for, these wines offer up an exceptional value but are still well-made. We will be stocking these wines for the foreseeable future so might as well get not only acquainted with them but also the people behind them. See you all here.

Carpe Vinum!

Blends : A wine norm?

I’ve really been getting into blends.’ A phrase I often hear, and I wonder why? Blending of various varietals has been a norm in winemaking since before the Greeks! 99.9% of Bordeaux wines are blends, and how about the Southern Rhone with its holy trinity of grenache, syrah and mourvèdre?! Yet why is it that I keep hearing this phrase. Why does the concept seem novel? Let’s take a quick look.

Continue reading Blends : A wine norm?

Where do Red Blends Come From?

Don’t you wish this was what your child would ask instead of the baby question?!

You may have seen a surge of so-called “red blends” at liquor stores… if you shop here often then probably not, since I nit pick through the masses looking for what I believe are the very best.  But if you don’t happen to shop here regularly, maybe you’ve noticed.  Which begs the question: what does it all mean and where does it all come from?  The short answer is extra juice.  Fortunately, I’m not a believer in short answers, so here’s the low-down. Continue reading Where do Red Blends Come From?

Transformation of the Central Coast – Part II

Right now the Central Coast is demanding headlines. There are many reasons for this, but at the top of the list has to be their successful production of Pinot Noir.  While wine snobs may want to dismiss the influence of the movie “Sideways”, they certainly can’t deny the tremendous increase in the demand for Pinot Noir over the past two years as well as the increased number of tourists who are visiting the wineries of Santa Barbara County.  “Sideways” brought this up and coming wine region into the spotlight and today more people are trying wines from this region than ever before.  Last year more than two million people visited Central Coast wineries, drawn there by the breathtaking beauty of the landscape, the unique wines, and the warm hospitality that is not always present in the two more famous California wine regions. Continue reading Transformation of the Central Coast – Part II