2014 Luigi Tacchino Barbera del Monferrato

2014 Luigi Tacchino Barbera del Monferrato

Who: Alessio and Romina Tacchino
What: 100% Barbera
Where: Monferrato, Piedmont, Italy
Tastes Like: Earthy, floral nose.  Lush, velvet texture; dried, purply red fruits with a soft, long finish.
Pairs With:  Conchiglie with rabbit; anything gamey.

The What: Barbera is a dark skinned grape planted across the Italian peninsula, from Piedmont and Lombardy, to Emilia-Romagna, to Sicily.  At one point it was the 3rd most widely planted grape behind Sangiovese and Montepulciano, largely due to its presence in local blends.  Traditionalists favor long maceration times and very little oak to produce bright, sour-cherry wines with soft tannin and a certain roundess.

The Where:  Monferrato is a village in the south of the Langhe, a sub-appellation in Piedmont that encompasses the Barolo and Barbaresco zones, just to the north of the Ligurian border. Piedmont itself has a rich history of wine production.  For almost 400 years it was a part of the Duchy of Savoy, a small independently ruled area in the east of France, whose aristocracy found it prudent to marry members of the French aristocracy to help stave off invasion.  These historical ties are the reason wine making traditions in the Piedmont more resemble those of France than elsewhere in Italy: their focus on single-varietal bottlings and organization of production areas into something resembling the Burgundy cru system being a distinct departure from the traditions of blending and elsewhere in the peninsula. 



The Who:  The Tacchino family have been producing quality wines on their 25-hectare plot since the middle of the last century.  Alessio and Romina are the third generation of the family to have control of the vineyards, inheriting from their father and grandfather before them.  About half of the vineyards are planted in a natural amphitheater facing toward the south and southeast, which protects the vines from the cold winds from the Alps in the north.  All harvesting is done by hand through September and October, depending on the grapes needs (the producer grows Gavi, Dolcetto, and Barbera, all indigenous grapes to the Piedmont).

The Barbera del Monferrato DOC is grown on those south-east facing slopes and harvested in mid-October.  It spends 2 weeks in fermentation, then another 7 months in stainless steel tanks to rest prior to bottling. 

NV Cavas Hill

NV Cavas Hill Cuvee 1887 Brut

Who: The Hill Family
What: 50% Xarel-lo, 35% Macabeo, 15% Parellada
Where: Penedes, Spain
Tastes Like: Fresh, clean, and dry, with lots of small bubbles.
Pairs With:  Literally everything.

The Where:
Penedès is a Spanish Denominación de Origen (DO) for wines in Catalonia, southeast Spain. Penedès DO includes all Penedès region and municipalities of four other counties: Anoia, Alt Camp, Baix Llobregat, and Tarragonès. The area is framed by the coastal hills of the Garraf Massif and the higher inland mountains which skirt the Central Depression.

Long considered one of the country's best wine-producing regions after the Rioja, it is also one of the most ancient viticultural areas in Europe. According to archaeological evidence, wine production in the Penedès has ancient origins, certainly dating back to the Phoenician introduction of Chardonnay vines during the 6th century BC. A large export market is known to have existed even through Moorish occupation in the Middle Ages. Eighteenth century Spanish expansion into South America generated an unprecedented demand for Penedès wines which has barely abated since.  The region did not escape the pan-European devastation of the phylloxera plague, one effect of which was a large-scale change in the predominant grape types from red to almost exclusively white, which in turn led to the first Cava production in the 1870s. Since then, red varietals have regained some ground but remain a relatively minor part of regional production.

The Who: The land owned by Cavas Hill was purchased by Jonas Hill in 1761, with the winery dating back to 1877. Construction of the unique, underground wine cellars began in 1924, consisting of 5 galleries hewn from the local “tapassot” bedrock.  In 1926 the family laid down the first bottle of Cava, made in the Methode Champenoise but using native grapes such as macabeo, xarel-lo, and parellada.  The family maintains a meticulous, hands-on, traditional wine making practice to this day.

Cavas Hill produces 2 lines of cava: he Cuvee Panot and the Cuvee 1887, with the latter being in line with the traditional fruity, round style of sparkling wine preferred prior to WWII.  We carry the 1887, which uses only the native grapes.  It is aged for 12 months on the lees before disgorgement, giving it a lovely hint of age overlying the the fresh, green aromatics.

2015 Domaine des Gandines

2015 Domaine des Gandines



Where: Macon-Peronne, Burgundy, France
Who: Ben and Robert Dananchet (Son and Father)
What: 100% Chardonnay
Tastes like: Subtle white fruits, with a toasted almond note.  Clean and round.
What to pair with: Seafood, poultry, light apps.

The What: 
All white Burgundy is Chardonnay, but different villages across the region produce very different styles of wine despite all using the same grape.  Burgundy is, for this reason, a great region to really begin to explore the impact terroir and winemaking technique has a on wine.  Chardonnay can be a great chameleon, but most will have some tropical or white fruit notes to the nose and a natural weight to the body independent of the length of time spent in oak.

The Where:
Burgundy produces wines that are some of the most acclaimed, sought after, and expensive in the world.  It is a region that most strictly adheres to the idea that the single most important thing to a wine is the terroir.  Over hundreds of years the Burgundians have determined that their soils are particularly suited to growing Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and to plant anything else there is a waste of expensive real estate.  The region itself has some of the most highly organized AOC laws, dividing wine into 4 “tiers” depending on how specific the source for the grapes is.



The Who:
Domaine des Gandines was created by Joseph Dananchet in 1925. The first vineyard planted was the exceptional single vineyard called “Les Gandines”. The domain spread over only one hectare and a half acres. In 1979, Robert Dananchet continued the work of his father Marc Dananchet, respecting tradition and terroir by not using herbicides or chemical fertilizers. He increased the vineyard’s size to eight hectares. Benjamin Dananchet took over from his father in 2005, increasing the domaine to 10 hectares and transitioning to all organic farming, becoming certified organic in 2009 and extended that tradition to all biodynamic farming in 2011.  Soil and vine maintenance use all natural methods and follow the natural lunar and seasonal cycles in the plants.  Now Benjamin and Robert are working together with the same passion, and with a simple philosophy: to produce great wines of Chardonnay, by respecting the Terroir, the wild life, and their health.  Winemaking is very hands off, with long fermentation times in a variety of vessels, with or without lees contact depending on the vintage.  Aging can range from 12 to 24 months.

The Wine:
The Macon-Peronne is an elegant white wine of 100% Chardonnay.  The grapes come from different small vineyards located in the village of Peronne.  The wine is made and aged on lees for 6 months only to get a fresh and fruity wine typical of Macon. 

It is a lovely pale yellow color.  The nose is citrus and lime with lightly salted iodine notes.  The palate is balanced with nice acidity, and has a traditional expression of white fruits and should be enjoyed within 3 years of bottling. 

2015 Michel Delhommeau St. Vincent

2015 Michel Delhommeau St. Vincent

Who: Michel Delhommeau

What: Melon du Bourgogne

Where: Muscadet-Sevre et Maine, Loire, France

Tastes Like: Flint, white flowers, with a lush, creamy texture.
Pairs With: Classic oyster pairing, but Frutti di Mare or the Marinated Artichoke is its new best friend.

The Where and The What: Muscadet is the largest white wine appellation of France. Several smaller

appellations make up the general area of Muscadet including Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Sur Lie, Muscadet

Coteaux de la Loire, and Muscadet Coteaux des Grands Lieux. The most famous is Muscadet Sèvre et Maine

Sur Lie. One of the only appellations to require ageing on the lees and to name this requirement in the name

of the appellation, Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Sur Lie only comes from the best parcels of the region and must

follow strict guidelines. The Melon de Bourgogne grape, also called Muscadet, was brought to the region

centuries ago from Burgundy. It flourished in this new environment and became famous in France for its

ability to complement the saltiest of oysters and shellfish of the region.  It is rarely planted elsewhere, and the

region and the grape are so closely associated that they are often erroneously considered to be synonymous.

The Who:

Brittany, parts of Normandy, and the western part of the Loire Valley are essentially built on a foundation of cooled lava and magma. Over millions of years this lava has metamorphosed into many kinds of geological structures. The most common in the Loire is granite, and in Muscadet it is everywhere. Vineyards are carved out of its hard surface and the hallmark minerality that it helps to produce makes Muscadet one of the great white wines of the world. In one village in the Muscadet region, Monnières, this cooled lava didn't change into granite. Instead it stayed relatively unchanged and today is called gabbro. It is one of the purest forms of molten magma, as it forms underground and turns crystalline without access to air.

Michel and Nathalie Delhommeau own 27 hectares of vines planted on this gabbro. Some of their holdings are old vines planted before World War II. The property, which is in conversion to organic certification, is one of the few in the region to vinify by parcel and use indigenous yeast. The wines are simply made but not simple. There is no wood aging. there is very little stirring of the lees. There are no fancy techniques. The grapes are harvested, they are gently crushed, they ferment naturally, and then they take a long winter's nap until March. It is above all the gabbro that is is the loudest voice in this conversation. Michel deliberately separates the juices from vines of different ages and keeps yields low, lending his wines a complex and elegant minerality more commonly associated with Chablis than Muscadet. The St. Vincent vines are 25 years old, and the wine spends 5 months on the lees before bottling.

New Lunch/Dinner Salads: Marinated Artichokes, Misticanza

Marinated Artichokes, $9

Shallots, Radicchio, Mint, Parmesan, Pangrattato

This dish is of Sicilian derivation, where lunch is the larger meal of the day.  Pasta would be the lead singer, but also most people would start with vegetables marinated with local olive oil, herbs, and acid.  Commonly known as antipasti (anti = before).

Baby artichokes have their peak season March through May.

Artichokes blanched in water, salt, lemon, herbs.  Shocked cold to preserve texture.

Vinaigrette: Grilled scallions, cider apple vinegar, dijon, whole grain mustard, grapeseed oil

Cooked artichokes and radicchio are tossed with fennel pollen, espelette, lemon juice, shaved shallot, mint, parm, olive oil, and the vinaigrette.  Topped with pangrattato (= sour dough fried bread crumbs).

ALLERGIES: Gluten*, Allium* (we’d rather not), Dairy*

Misticanza Salad $11

Mixed greens, Seasonal Vegetables, Alpha Tolman Cheese, Grilled Scallion Vinaigrette.

This salad is a traditional dish that consists of bitter greens and herbs.  This will be our all day salad, and is designed to change with the vegetables that will be coming in season throughout the spring and summer.  

Unchanging: our bitter greens mix, the scallion vinaigrette, and some shaved Alpha Tolman.  

Rotating: Other fruits and veggies that will be delicious.  We’re starting with shaved fennel, radish, and zucchini.

ALLERGIES: Dairy*, Allium*