One Year Anniversary

Greetings from all of us at Thames River Wine & Spirits - 860-443-9463

A sincere note of thanks to all of our customers and friends that have supported us and our programs
over the past year - can you believe it? - It has been a year this week.
Your enthusiasm and support has allowed us to try things and attract special guests that simply do not happen at other stores. I can honestly tell you that the best is yet to come - keep an eye on the website and right here in our weekly newsletter for upcoming guests and events.

We are running a bit late this week - so I will keep it short -

WHAT A WEEK IT HAS BEEN -

Congratulations to all of the graduates at Connecticut College.
and thanks for introducing so many of your friends and family to all three of our stores.

Spring Food Stroll was a tremendous success - all of the hard work that Penny Parsekian
and everyone at NL Main Street put into the project paid off.
We had hundreds of people visit our stores - great job. Food - music - people - lots of fun.

Friday's visit from Fiddleheads Natural and Organic cooperative was great -
Thanks to everyone for giving them such a warm welcome - they felt right at home.
Organic wines, cheese, and food were featured in our stores and the response was terrific.

WINE TASTING -

Friday May 27th - 6-9 p.m. - No Charge
This Friday we are featuring the wines of Bonny Doon - you need to take a look at their website -
This company has been turning the wine business on its head for 20 years.

VIVE LE SCREW-CAP! : http://www.bonnydoonvineyard.com/doontoons/view/6

These are the wines we are pouring on Friday night and a few words by Randall Graham
The company founder -
1 - Bonny Doon 2002 Madiran Heart of Darkness - $20
"There is something utterly delicious about being lucky and good, or at any
rate, working with individuals upon whom such fortune has been granted. ’02
was something of a crap shoot throughout Europa. In Madiran, it was very
successful, though the harvest chez Bortolussi concluded roughly two hours
before the onset of a solid month of rain. Not all growers completed their
harvest before the tempests.
There is a school of thought which postulates that the very best wines are
made by the great producers in what are according to conventional wisdom,
very good—but not great—years, like 2004. By this logic, is not maximum
ripeness which is synonymous with greatness, but balance and completeness.
Frequently, however, wines from the so-called ostensibly “great” years are
merely monolithic caricatures of great wine—distended and lacking definition,
attempting to make up with mere scale what they lack in complexity and detail". RG

2 - Bonnt Doon - Pacific Rim Riesling-$11
"We are fortunate to be unencumbered by an inflexible interpretation of the Pacific Rim, happily willing to encounter it in the most landlocked and/or Atlantic of neighborhoods. Thus, whereas the previous four or five iterations of Pac Rim have been rendered with increasing finesse and refinement, the 2003 is a richer and more tropical number resembling nothing so much as a very sappy Austrian riesling. The 2003 vintage in Germany was the most torrid in memory, so we do not quite see the achingly delicate tilleul notes that bring tears to the eyes of the most steel-spined Herr Doktor. Despite lacking the bristling, high-voltage crackle of the 2002, this wine nonetheless throbs with flavor and promise. Where the 2002 is brisk and the slightest bit twee, the 2003 is rich and a tad carnal. If the 2002 is white flower, the 2003 is ripe, juicy white peach. Happily we are still speaking of riesling and the 2003 is still tart enough not to be completely tarted up. It is a very stylish wine that would make the most pacifist-as it were-resident of the Pacific Rim nostalgic for the reign of the Hapsburgs".RG

3 - Bonny Doon - 2001 Old Telegram - $35
"This wine is 100 percent old-vine [100-plus years old which fits the definition of “old” in most books] mourvèdre from the singular sandscape of Oakley, CA in Contra Costa County. We have made OT roughly every other year since 1986 when the Bonny ship Le Cigare Volant® did not commandeer the entire ration of mourvèdre. We think this is perhaps the paradigmatic Bonny Doon wine – it is not hellaciously tannic, jet black, or syrupy in the Antipodean paradigm. It is very rich, fragrant, earthy, fruitful [blackberries, stewed plums], persistent, immensely complex and perfectly balanced. There is some debate about what allows a wine to age and improve with extended, quiet repose in someone’s cellar or mudroom closet. Some would suggest it is high acidity, or low pH or robust tannin levels or pure concentration. We tend to think it is balance or harmony and a good dose of minerality. It is not clear from whence the minerality derives in grapes grown in pure sand, but there you have it. Perhaps the answer to the perennial poser one considers while meditating on this appellation – What’s in the water? – can reveal more about the potential for vinous immortality than the sui generis nature of its great grape growers. We would suspect that this wine, if stored properly will continue to improve for 10 to 15 years".RG

4 - 2004 Vin Gris de Cigar - $12
"When we last spoke, spice and perfume merchants were haggling over lavender oil, rose petals and sandalwood while sipping
dry rosé at a sidewalk café in Grasse, deep in the heart of Provence. And why would they not sip rosé, a potation which
so strongly evokes the invigorating fragrance of wild aromatic herbs and botanicals common to the south of France?
The 2004 Vin Gris is not the pudgy, alcoholic endomorph one might expect from such a hot, early year. In fact, the acid is a bit more
pronounced compared to the previous vintage, perhaps because the wine is once again bone dry, unlike the ever so confected 2003. This
2004 is indeed one of the more classically styled editions of Vin Gris to date. All the signifiers we have come to associate with classic
Provençal style rosé are there—a definite suggestion of aromatic herbs, citrus rind, rosehips and hibiscus along with a very pleasing,
mild astringency on the back palate. This makes for a delicious apéritif, and allows the wine to pair much more elegantly with a wide
variety of foods. Here one might imagine poached salmon, assorted birds or, if one fancies oneself a true Provençal, a bowl of
bouillabaisse or a generous portion of ratatouille". RG


Please Join Us - it's fun, informal and a great way to start your weekend.
Visit our web site: www.thamesriver.com
for updates, wine dinners, special events, and other items of interest.

Thanks for all of the calls and emails - we appreciate each and every one of them.
TRW&S