This is a tasty little French blend from Mas Carlot, a producer we’ve seen before in the club (in 2010 their Les Enfants Terribles showed up in February and the rosé made an appearance in May).  Nathalie Blanc-Mares is the winemaker; she has four children (whom the Les Enfants Terribles was named after) and has [...read more]

The hillsides of Umbria are rolling expanses of vineyards and olive groves with glistening rivers and brooks that dot the valleys, plains, and highlands. It’s rather idyllic. This lovely landscape is dominated by the Apennines, a mountain range that runs down the center of Italy. Umbria is one of the smallest Italian regions and the [...read more]

Several weeks ago we sat down to a wine tasting here at Dedalus, yes the ever tiresome and woeful job of tasting wine to make sure it’s delicious enough to go onto our shelves, you pity me I’m sure! We were a bit pressed for time and only wanted to taste a handful of wines [...read more]

The 6-acre Mondianese farm is located in the hilly area of Montemagno, which means “big hill”, and Castagnole Monferrato in the province of Asti, located in Piedmont in northwestern Italy.  Many of our customers have had the great opportunity to travel to Piedmont and are already big fans of the wines from this region. Asti [...read more]

I have to be honest here. After a fabulous, and full, holiday weekend I’m kinda drained. And as I sit here typing this, looking out the window onto a beautiful sunny summer day, I can’t help but think about things non-work related, like sitting in my back yard, glass of something tasty and cold in [...read more]

This wine is a bit mysterious; efforts to dig up information about the winery and the wine, yielded fruitless results. There is almost zero information about this wine on the web, which nowadays, is quite amazing! Do we let that deter us from sharing it with you? Heck no! Because what we do know about [...read more]

What do bread and wine have in common besides being totally delicious together? Well if you are wine maker Jose Casajus, making them both is part of your daily routine. Jose is one of the only workers in his small winery and he spends his mornings baking bread in his bakery before heading to his [...read more]

Illahe (ILL-uh-HEE) is a local word that has been used to describe “land” for centuries in Oregon and the Northwest. The Chinook Jargon word appears from Canada to California, sometimes meaning “earth” or “place” or “soil.” It is comparable to the French word terroir. In fact, Illahe Winery’s goal is to make wine as naturally [...read more]

Svelte, balanced and fleshy… I’m a sucker for Pinot Noir. I greedily horde the best bottlings. Sometimes I hang out in my cellar, in the dark, with my Pinot Noir. My preciousssss… But mostly I drink them. No other single variety speaks of its birthplace the way Pinot does – a vinous umbilical chord stretching [...read more]

Barbaresco’s a different kind of player. The kind that starts out all unassuming, with a few simple warm-up chords over in the corner.  Then it sneaks onto the stage, hammers out something amazing on that beat-up old guitar, and leaves the party with your girl. Watch out Barolo.  That’s exactly the kind of thing a [...read more]

I covet wines that encourage almost unhealthy fantasies about tables full of cured meats; powerful cheeses, artisan bread and fresh pasta sauced with lots of braised anything. Northern-Italian wines are always on my mind. Especially wines from those svelte kings of Nebbiolo: Barolo and Barbaresco. These communes – the giants of Piedmont – produce wines [...read more]

This wine comes from producer Pablo Almonacid De La Sierra.  The family owned estate was founded in 1760 and emphasizes the use of indigenous varietals and bio-dynamic farming.  Fermentation and aging in 100% stainless steel assures that the subtle fruit flavors are preserved. All of the clean ripe fruit shines through easily. The estate is located [...read more]

Oh Chardonnay, how misunderstood you are. It must be a constant let down to hear those cries of “I don’t like Chardonnay”.  I’ll admit, I myself have uttered those words. Fortunately, there are high quality well-balanced wines that save face for Chardonnay.  This is one of them.  The small Chateau of Guiot is located near the [...read more]