Film Festival,Bodega Villar,Pierre Luneau, Joe Dressner,Cazenove Bordeaux, Gaja Sito Moresco

Greetings from all of us in New London, The list of wines for the Friday tasting is just below these words of interest. The tasting this week is fabulous. And it includes a legendary Italian name. I hope you can make it. We are a little late this week, so lets get to it. ***

NEWS & UPCOMING EVENTS

Movies In The Park - The Hygienic Art Park - Across From Our Store This Wednesday night - July 30 @ 8 p.m. - NO CHARGE LAST WEEK WAS RAINED OUT So - 1964 My Fair Lady - Starring Audrey Hepburn & Rex Harrison Will be screened this week Have dinner at Brie & Bleu or order up a beautiful picnic basket, and then stroll across the street to the park and watch the movie. Or just grab your favorite blanket and a bottle of wine from our cellar for a great summer night. NEW MOVIE EVERY WEDNESDAY. Order your basket now. 860.437.2474 Coming up: 'Rebel Without A Cause' (1955). ··· Speaking Of Movies - The Garde Arts Center has just released their schedule of films for the New London Summer Film Festival. Take a look at THE LIST. Start your evening with us, order dinner from our new menu and then stroll up to The Garde. It does not get any better than this. Festival runs: August 6-17. Wine Tasting Please Join Us Friday August 1 - 6-9 p.m. - No Charge Can't Make It To The Tasting? - Order it now - click on the photos It's not easy drinking wine all week long in order to find just the right mix for the Friday night tasting. But week after week, Jim Morrison, Dave Anderson, and the rest of our team - anyone that has an empty glass in their hands - step up and make the sacrifice. Here are the choices for this week: 1 - Bodega Villar Oro de Castilla Verdejo 2006 $12 The unique soil profile of the vineyards of Bodega Villar, make the wines from these vineyards distinct from other vineyards in the region. The soils are deep, with a thick surface of gravel and sand topsoil that provides good water drainage and a dry-healthy environment for ripening grapes. The subsoil is composed of active limestone and water retaining clay, conserving moisture during the dry, active growing season of the vines. Soil poor in organic matter forces lower yields, which in turn, increases the intensity of the flavors of the fruit and the resulting wine. Winemaker and vineyard manager Pablo Villar is so serious about preserving this unique terror that he insists that the fruit be harvested at night to maintain freshness and vibrancy of the grapes. The wine is full of tropical fruit aromas, with notes of mango and grapefruit on the palate. Perfect for lighter fare, such as seafood and shellfish. 2 - Pierre Luneau Papin Clos des Allees Muscadet Sevre & Maine 2006 $16 The much beloved Clos des Briods Muscadet is running out, we have just gotten our last case for the summer. Dave was distraught and inconsolable, but I told him that there was more Muscadet out there, we just had to find it, and then he could learn to love again. I called the distributor to see if they had another great, inexpensive, crisp French white wine, and they tried to sell me a Shiraz with a Monkey on it so I hung up the phone. Then I remembered our old friend and importer Joe Dressner and the Clos des Allees, old vines, aged sur lie AND a gold medal in Paris 2007. This is what Joe had to say about the wine, "Pierre and Monique Luneau-Papin head this 30-hectare estate in Le Landreau, in the heart of Muscadet country, where small hamlets dot a landscape of vineyards on low hills. Their estate, also known as Domaine Pierre de la Grange, has been in existence since the early 18th century when it was already planted with Melon de Bourgogne, the Muscadet varietal. Pierre and Monique are the eighth generation of winemakers in the family. Pierre is a genial, low-key, distracted professor type. Joe Dressner He's the winemaker and vineyard work supervisor. His wife Monique, lively, energetic and equally genial, is the business manager.Muscadet is an area where, unfortunately, a lot of undistinguished bulk wine is produced. Because of the size of their estate, and of the privileged terroir of the villages of Le Landreau, Vallet and La Chapelle Heulin, the Luneau family has opted for producing smaller cuvées from their several plots, which are always vinified separately so as to reflect their terroir's particular character. The soil is mainly micaschist and gneiss, some plots are a mix of silica, volcanic rocks and schist. The estate has a high proportion of old vines, 40 years old on average, up to 65 years of age. The harvest is done by hand, also a rarity in the region, to avoid any oxidation before pressing. There is an immediate light débourbage (separation of juice from gross lees), then a 4-week fermentation at 68 degrees, followed by 6 months of aging in stainless-steel vats on fine lees. This is the classic Muscadet-sur-lie process, where the wine is kept on its lees, with a fair amount of CO2 as protection, until bottling in the spring following the harvest. The only modern technique used here is macération pelliculaire (maceration of lightly crushed berries before pressing), which varies in proportion according to the cuvées." 3 - Ch de Cazenove Bordeaux Superieur 2005 $16 Located in the the heart of the Margaux region of Bordeaux, Ch de Cazenove has always produced great Bordeaux at a surprisingly good price. With the 2005 vintage comes even better wine than last year and still at the very reasonable price of $16 a bottle. The wine is two thirds Merlot to one third Cabernet Sauvignon, and has both intense varietal expression as well as Bordeaux typicity. Structured without being lean, even in it's youth, the wine has a richness that never crosses the line into the fat, ponderous renderings of so many of the "Bordeaux Style" wines of other regions. This is real wine, "Mise en bouteille au Chateau" by the family Cazenove, not just another brand or Pseudo-Estate. 4 - Gaja Sito Moresco 2005 $54 From the Mind of Angelo Gaja, one of the great winemakers of the world. This "Super-Piedmontese" is a blend of Nebbiolo, Merlot and Cabernet and like all Gaja wines paradoxically drinks well in it's youth and yet has the potential to age for years. The three varietals are vinified separately and then woven together into a wine of supreme balance, integration and intensity of fruit. Aged 18 months in oak, 6 months in the bottle, and two months in our cellar, come try a beautiful, well rested wine from the hand of a master. Please Call Us Anytime With Questions - 8 6 0 - 4 4 3 - 9 4 6 3 Thanks for your support and comments, we appreciate it. Please Join us in New London. It's fun, informal, and a great way to start your weekend. AAA.

The Monday Tasting - Dave's Fave

Dave's Fave The Monday Tasting Click on the photo to order it now Domdechant Werner Hochheim Riesling Classic $22 I'm breaking with my self-imposed rule of pouring under-$20 wines on Monday, but it's worth it folks. This little champ is truly one of my personal favorites, I've even been buying it with my own after-tax dollars! This is a dry Riesling from the Hochheim family, who've been making Riesling on the slopes of the Rhine River in Germany since the late 18th Century. The wine displays pure citrus bite balanced with smooth heft and a long finish. Bring a cold bottle to Captain Scott's, grab a picnic table and order steamed lobster and clams quick! Before the summer rushes by! If you are not familiar with Cap't Scott's - you don't know what your missing - it's a local best kept secret - check it out HERE

Our Special Network,My Fair Lady,Jean Manciat,Trapiche Tributo,Chateau La Rame,Torre Dei Beati,Vigneto Cocciapazza,Cascina Ballarin Tre Ciabot Barolo

Greetings from all of us in New London, The list of wines for the Friday tasting is just below these words of interest. We Have A Special Network Too. *** We have a reliable network too - It's made up of you - our customers. All of you that continue to contribute suggestions and comments and support all of the ideas and special events that come from them during the year. Thank you. ***

NEWS & UPCOMING EVENTS

Movies In The Park - The Hygienic Art Park - Across From Our Store This Wednesday night - July 23 @ 8 p.m. - NO CHARGE 1964 My Fair Lady - Starring Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison Have dinner at Brie & Bleu or order up a beautiful picnic basket, and then stroll across the street to the park and watch the movie. Or just grab your favorite blanket and a bottle of wine from our cellar for a great summer night. NEW MOVIE EVERY WEDNESDAY. Order your basket now. 860.437.2474 Coming up: July 30: 'Rebel Without A Cause' (1955). ···

Dave's Fave The Monday Tasting Click on the photo to order it now Jean Manciat Jean Manciat Macon Charnay 2006 $18 My sister Krista just sent me the menu from her friend Randy Goodman's new cafe, "Bar Avignon" in Portland Oregon. What a terrific wine list! Randy has been a high-profile sommelier in Portland for over a decade and it's inspiring to see the many places where our choices intersect: grower Champagne, wines from the Loire, Rioja, Barbaresco, Bourgogne... Here's one wine featured at Bar Avignon which we've been enjoying all summer, a charming white Burgundy from Macon Charnay, bright Chardonnay with a long finish (and organic and biodynamic like all Jo Dressner imports). Cheers and success to Randy and Nancy at Bar Avignon - if you find yourself in Portland, stop in and say hi! Bar Avignon DA.

Wine Tasting Please Join Us Friday July 25 - 6-9 p.m. - No Charge Can't Make It To The Tasting? - Order it now - click on the photos Jim Morrison works especially hard each and every week to make the Friday night line up interesting - here are his selections and comments for this week. This Just In - After a flurry of phone calls and e mails we were able to snag a few cases of Trapiche Tributo this week. Rated 95 points by Robert Parker, I'm going to take it one step further, it's the best Malbec ever produced in Argentina, the quintessential expression of old, high altitude Malbec vines. Trapiche made this wine only once, as a homage to the man who worked the vineyard for so many years, Felipe Villafane. $50 1 - Chateau La Rame Bordeaux blanc 2007 $16 Situated 40 kilometers southeast of the city of Bordeaux, Chateau La Rame is among the oldest and most renowned properties in the Sainte Croix du Mont appellation. The estate was purchased by Claude Armand, the father of the current owner Yves Armand. The 20 hectares of La Rame are set on a clay-limestone soil blessed with the exceptional substratum of a fossilized oyster bed dating from the Tertiary period. The hillside vineyards face south and slope down toward the Garonne river. This cuvee is a dry Sauvignon blanc, aromatic and focused, well suited to accompany a plate of oysters, and thus complete the cycle of life. 2 - Torre Dei Beati Cerasuolo Rose $20 3 - Vigneto Cocciapazza Montepulciano $35 We opened a bottle of the Torre Dei Beati at last week's tasting after we sold out of the Belle Pente Rose ( if you didn't get a chance to try the Belle Pente rose, there are two more cases coming this week, a riot of Rhubarb, Black Pepper and Strawberries, yum!). The wine was a surprise and a pleasure, vigorous and layered with pronounced fruit and structure. So we decided to open it again, with it's father the Cocciapazza Montepulciano. The vineyard yields for these wines are kept extremely low and the selection process at harvest time is nothing short of rigorous: the 2000 vintage (their first) was completed after six passes through the vineyard, in order to only harvest the most perfectly ripened grapes. The grapes are then subjected to the sorting table, tended to by four people, two preside, and who pick out any berries that look anything less than perfect. During the winemaking process the production is further limited in the interest of quality. A drawing off of some of the must during maceration occurs to increase the red wine's concentration. The drawn off juice or exsanguination is not wasted, but used to make one of the most attractive rosés you've ever tasted. 4 - Cascina Ballarin Tre Ciabot Barolo 2000. $35 Cascina Ballarin was founded in1928 and is a small but prestigous producer with a total anual production of about 30,000 bottles. The winery has holdings in the communes of La Morra, Monforte d'Alba and Novello, blending wine from all three to create Tre Ciabot. The 2000 vintage in Barolo was exceptional, and this shows the character of that great vintage and the results of several years of bottle maturation. The wine has ideal Barolo flavors of roasted red cherries, and blackberry fruit beneath a bouquet of lavender, violets and licorice. An ideal pairing for our Slow roasted short ribs or Duck Breast salad at Brie and Bleu. Please Call Us Anytime With Questions - 8 6 0 - 4 4 3 - 9 4 6 3

Thanks so much for all of your support and the regular stream of comments and suggestions - We could not do it with out you - We are enjoying our best Summer ever. Thank you. Please Join us in New London. It's fun, informal, and a great way to start your weekend. AAA.

In The News, Berkshire Brewing, Valdicava Brunello, Esperance, Belle Pente, Barahonda HC, Trapiche Fausto Orellana

Greetings from all of us in New London, The list of wines for the Friday tasting is just below these words of interest. ** New London In The News** *** If you missed it - the Boston Globe mentioned us in their recent story about New London. There are additional photos of our stores in the photo gallery that goes with the story. Check It Out HERE: Boston Globe The Big City papers are discovering what we have known all along - New London is the place to be.

NEWS & UPCOMING EVENTS

Movies In The Park - The Hygienic Art Park - Across From Our Store This Wednesday night - July 16 @ 8 p.m. - NO CHARGE Wednesday night - July 16 @ 8 p.m - 1962 The Manchurian Candidate - Starring Frank Sinatra, Janet Leigh, Lawrence Harvey. Have dinner at Brie & Bleu or order up a beautiful picnic basket, and then stroll across the street to the park and watch the movie. Or just grab your favorite blanket and a bottle of wine from our cellar for a great summer night. NEW MOVIE EVERY WEDNESDAY. Order your basket now. 860.437.2474 ···

Dave's Fave The Monday Tasting Click on the photo to order it now The movie on Wednesday 8pm Hygienic Art Park is "The Manchurian Candidate" 1962 with Frank Sinatra. The perfect movie companion: Berkshire Brewing 22oz Bombers $4 Sailfest is over, the streets are strewn with the ash of a quarter-million dollars of fireworks, the flotsam of one million fried-doughs, and the skewers of one billion kabobs - Whooey! Let's get back to basics and kick it with some great local product - I've poured Berkshire Brewing beers before, and the stuff has just caught on here in New London. Chris and Gary's fresh, unfiltered, unpasteurized brews from Deerfield, Massachusetts now occupy a whole quadrant of our 1957 Peerless fridge. So I'm very proud to announce that Berkshire Brewing is now the number one selling beer brand in our store!! To celebrate I'm pouring a Berkshire spectrum on Monday: original Berkshire Ale, Steel Rail Pale Ale, summery Heffeweizen, Shabadoo Black & Tan, and Coffeehouse Porter. Please stop in after work.

Wine Tasting Please Join Us Friday July 18 - 6-9 p.m. - No Charge Can't Make It To The Tasting? - Order it now - click on the photos This Just In - Valdicava Brunello 1999 $145, Very hard to come by and only a few bottles in stock. This is what Robert Parker's wine Advocate had to say on the subject "The 1999 Brunello di Montalcino is the best regular bottling the house has yet released, a full, blackish ruby-garnet with a lovely tarry, mineral, plummy nose endowed with intriguing notes of leather, solid, dense, and long on the palate with complex flavors of plums, tobacco, and underbrush on its sweet, voluptuous finish. Drink: 2005-2016. Score: 93 1 - Esperance Vin de pays des Landes 2007 $12 This little number from Gascony is 100% Colombard, which is fairly unusual, but true to wines of this region it is fresh and light, with floral notes and low alcohol, making it another perfect summer wine for a picnic at Harkness or Lobster rolls at Captain Scott's. The wine received a Gold Medal at the Concours General Agricole in Paris this year. As I was reminded by Importer Fred Seggerman , "Not everyone gets a Gold Medal in Paris, You Know! " 2 - Belle Pente Cuvee Contraire rose 2006 $23. Belle Pente (bell-pont) means beautiful slope, describing the hillside vineyards in Willamette Valley Oregon where this wine is produced. The Cuvee Contraire is a proprietary blend of Pinot Noir and Gamay Noir that are fermented separately and blended just prior to bottling. Only 109 cases produced, that's like 5 barrels. 3 -Barahonda HC Heradad Candela Monastrell 2006 $26 Barahonda vineyards are composed of limestone and chalk topsoil with clay and gravel subsoil, containing only 1/2% of organic matter. They are deep and well drained and the beneficial water retaining clay subsoil is essential for the health of vine in such an arid climate. Due to poor fertility, yields are naturally low - 4lbs. (2 kg) per vine, producing smaller berries with higher skin to juice ratio. Both limestone and chalk have a high pH content, decreasing acidity mitigated by these older vine root systems that penetrate deeply into the lower pH subsoil hence the wines have a balanced acidity. These are some of the oldest Monastrell vines in all of Spain. The winery produced only 1500 cases of this wine in 2006, all with estate fruit, making this a great example of artisanal old vine Monastrell at a very reasonable price. 4 - Trapiche Vina Fausto Orellana Malbec 2005 $50 From the great Trapiche Single Vineyard Malbec Project. Each year Trapiche makes dozens of single vineyard wines, each representing a specific vineyard and expressing a specific terroir. After what must be round after round of brutal tasting and hairsplitting, they choose and release the three finest Malbecs in the world. The goal of Trapiche and Daniel Pi the wine maker, is to take Malbec to it's logical extreme of quality and varietal expression. The wine more closely resembles Classified Bordeaux (after all Malbec is a Bordeaux Grape), than it does your average Malbec. All the grapes for this wine were harvested from a single vineyard, tended by, you guessed it Fausto Orellano. His vineyard sit at 990 meters in the flats just below the Andes. Constant sun, tempered by cool mountain winds have created a wine of opaque color, massive fruit, and firm tannins. Please Call Us Anytime With Questions - 8 6 0 - 4 4 3 - 9 4 6 3

Thanks so much for all of your support and the regular stream of comments and suggestions - We could not do it with out you. Please Join us in New London. It's fun, informal, and a great way to start your weekend. AAA.

SailFest 2008, The Blob, La-Vis Dipinti,Weingut Groiss,Jonathan Edwards,Columna Rose,Las Rocas

Greetings from all of us in New London, ** SailFest Weekend** *** Last Saturday night was a good one. New London's Art Attack was a big success and everyone was strolling the streets, browsing the galleries and store fronts, and people watching at every stop. We have a great down town - please visit us. This is the big SailFest weekend folks. Friday - Sunday. Fun for the entire family and of course the amazing Grucci Fireworks on Saturday night. Learn more about it HERE

NEWS & UPCOMING EVENTS

Movies In The Park - The Hygienic Art Park - Across From Our Store Beginning this Wednesday night - July 9 @ 8 p.m. - NO CHARGE Wednesday night - July 9 @ 8 p.m - The Blob - Starring Steve McQueen. Have dinner at Brie & Bleu then stroll across the street to the park and watch the movie. Or just grab your favorite blanket and a bottle of wine from our cellar and picnic in the park - NEW MOVIE EVERY WEDNESDAY. Don't Take Our Word For It We say it all of the time - "We drink our red wine too warm and our white wine too cold." If you missed it - The New York Times validates us: The Chiling Truth - HERE ··· BRIE & BLEU WILL CLOSE AT 5 P.M. ON SATURDAY JULY 12. We close the deck every year for fireworks night. ··· July 12: Sailfest The biggest, baddest show of the year! 10,000 calories, fireworks, and much more at New London's 31st annual Sailfest with spectacular spectaculars and much, much more! LEARN MORE HERE

Dave's Fave The Monday Tasting Click on the photo to order it now La-Vis Dipinti Pinot Noir 2006 - $14 Important Update from the Pinot Noirs Under-20-Buck Newsdesk: La-Vis Pinot Noir is here, and strutting around the store - it's delicious! From Trentino in Northern Italy, La-Vis is grown on the high slopes of the Valle dell'Adige. This is a particularly delicate Pinot, owing to the mountain soil and cool breezes of the valley. Quite light, with the characteristic berry flavors, plus a bit of wild pine spiciness like... I dunno, a Tyrolean mountain forest? Come on in Monday and try a drop of this elegant newbie!

** SailFest Weekend** Wine Tasting Please Join Us Friday July 11 - 6-9 p.m. - No Charge Can't Make It To The Tasting? - Order it now - click on the photos Just In Stock - The Dominus 2005 has arrived and winemakerf Christian Moueix feels that it's their best effort since 2001. Wine critic Robert Parker agrees and gave the wine 96pts. While supplies last. 1 - Weingut Groiss 2007 Gruner Veltliner $12 In an effort to replace the sold out big green bottles of Hofer Gruner Veltliner, we stumbled upon another wine in a big green bottle we like even better. Groiss is a young and modern winery situated in the wine district of Wagram in Austria. They practice "intergrated production and natural management" and judging from the photos the place is run by fashion models. With sunny south facing slopes of Loess soil, the vineyards are perfect for producing lush and lively Gruner Veltliner. Another great affordable summer wine. 2 - Jonathan Edwards Connecticut Chardonnay 2007 $23 Located nine miles from the coast, the vineyard site provides the vines with the moderate coastal climate of the Long Island Sound, which extends the fall season for optimal grape maturation. Being perched on the South side of a hill allows for full sun exposure for the grapes and excellent airflow to dry off the vines after summertime showers. Additionally, an extensive drainage system known as "tiling" has been installed throughout the vineyards. Every vineyard row now has a drainage tile to allow excess water to drain down and out of the vineyard, allowing warmer soils in the spring, increased aeration in the soil, and prevention of excess moisture in the winter. With their estate releases Jonathan Edwards winery is defining Connecticut wine and terroir. Very limited. 3 - Columna Rose 2007 $11 From the province of Salamanca, near the Portuguese boarder. The wine is made from 100% Juan Garcia, a native Spanish grape that enjoys the high altitude and dry climate of this region. Like most Spanish roses, the wine is full bodied and spicy. And like most Spanish roses, it's very affordable and food flexible. Juan Garcia (no relation to the grape) 4 - Las Rocas Vinas Viejas Garnacha 2005 $18 The talented Jean-Marc Lafage (of Domaine Lafage in France's Roussillon) is responsible for the majority of the bottlings imported by European Cellars including the Las Rocas cuvees. Working in concert with Eric Solomon, Jean-Marc has helped to convince the directors of the coop to bottle some of the extremely old-vine material separately and has helped enormously with attaining proper maturity levels, extraction, and balance. The wine hails from Calatayud, which benefits from a continental climate with vast temperature differences between night and day. Harvests are much later than in other parts of Aragon (the region in which Calatayud lies) and the acidity/maturity/alcohol ratios tend to be more balanced. As most of the vineyards lie on what was (thousands of years ago) an old river basin, the soil is comprised of brown limestone and loam over slate and gypsum. Please Call Us Anytime With Questions - 8 6 0 - 4 4 3 - 9 4 6 3

Thank you one and all for the comments and suggestions and of course for your wonderful support - it's a great summer. Please Join us in New London. It's fun, informal, and a great way to start your weekend. AAA.