Weekly Wine Bullets (June 27)

Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, African wine, and red flags

Happy Friday friends! Enjoy this week’s Wine Bullets, and hit reply to let me know what you’re drinking this weekend :)

List I’m reading

• Wine Spectator just posted their new Best Restaurants for Wine award list. There are three levels: Award of Excellence, Best of Award of Excellence, and the Grand Award (the highest). Big shoutout to Angus Barn in Durham, NC for retaining the Grand Award and for my favorite local spot L’Ostrica for earning their first Award of Excellence!

Wines I’m pouring

• I hosted a South Africa 101 class this week. Here’s the lineup below, made up of several iconic and historic producers. If you are wanting to delve into South African wines these are a great place to start. Ask your local wine retailer for help sourcing them.

  • Graham Beck Blanc de Blancs

  • Alheit Vineyards Chenin Blanc

  • Hamilton Russell Pinot Noir

  • Kanonkop Pinotage

  • Meerlust Rubicon

  

Cork Beats (wine + music pairings)

• 1940’s Graham’s Port paired with With a Little Help from My Friends by the Beatles. I went to see Ringo Starr in concert this week, and after the show, I met up with some friends and drank this 1940 Graham’s Port, which by total coincidence was also Ringo Starr’s birth year. At 85 years old, both wine and Ringo are still kickin’. Thankful for great friends who open these kinds of bottles.

  

Video I’m watching

• Master Somm Explains Wine Label Red Flags — I send this video to people a lot. No one can know every wine (not even Master Somm’s) so there are a few tips and tricks you can learn to decipher as much as possible from the label.

Best wine I drank this week

• 2012 Marques de Murrieta Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva. This wine was elite. It kept evolving throughout the night as it was exposed to more and more air, so much so that I felt like we drank three different wines in one. In my opinion, entry level Rioja is such a reliable crowd-pleaser, and something I enjoy occasionally, but often lacks the depth and character of other wines. However, there are a few of these Gran Reserva’s, from a handful of top producers, that stand up to any wine in the world — this Murrieta being one of them. They only make this wine in the best vintages, 2012 being the latest release.

  

PS - only 3 more days until my Bordeaux giveaway ends. Check out the details here for how to win a free bottle of dope Bordeaux!