The St. Croix Valley’s Premiere Wine Destination
The Wine Shop: Open Tue-Sat 12-10PM
Our Wine Shop holds more than 600 selections including more than 100 chilled whites, rosé and bubbles. We’re known for our extensive collection of Italian Wines, Pinot Noir and beyond.
We’re happy to help you with special orders including tracking down hard to find selections and helping you plan and source your special events and gatherings. Available to consult your wine cellar planning and development too! Currently almost every selection in The Wine Shop is 20% off!
The Wine Club
The Wine Club consists of two monthly tiers, The Enthusiast and The Collector. Pick the size that’s fits your taste and subscribe right here. The wines are generally available for pick-up by the third Thursday of the month.
Scroll down to browse our latest wine deals and details about The Wine Club.
Elegance.
In a word, that’s what the best Mencía (men-THEE-uh) delivers in the glass. The grape has been cultivated for centuries in Spain as well as Portugal (where it is known as Jaen) but it’s only somewhat recently been “on the come.”
The best growers and makers of Mencía, like this example, the 2015 Descendientes De Jose Palacios “Villa de Corullón” craft wines that, as we have been discovering the past two decades, not only yield a deliciously ripe, balanced, and finely tannic red when fresh, but also a wine that deepens with age, revealing an iron-rich, herbal, surprising mouthful after a decade or more in bottle. I’ve had this very example with a decade of age, and it was heady and exotic: meaty, herbal and complex. The highest-quality examples, like this “Villa de Corullón”, blend about 10% other grapes, like Alicante Bouschet and old-vine indigenous white grapes much like great Syrah blends a little Viognier in the Northern Rhône.
Mencía is a fine alternative to medium-bodied Pinot Noir. It’s fuller while never heavy. Ample sour and bitter cherry, raspberry and black licorice when young, layering on slate, graphite and aged steak with age. Mencía is almost exclusive to the Spanish regions of Bierzo, Valdeorras and Ribera Sacra in Spain, and Dão in Portugal. Also, like Pinot, decent examples can be found in the $20’s while the best can run you $50-$100.
Respect your elders!
Seemingly everyone knows Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s grown worldwide to the point of ubiquity and excess. It’s morphed into as many styles as the equally over-done Chardonnay. There’s a “Cab” for almost every palate and many for those that prefer jammy fruit-bombs. But what about Daddy? Cabernet Sauvignon is the result of a Renaissance-era random cross between Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc. Momma Sauvignon Blanc has also greatly overshadowed Cab Franc today. By the way, Cabernet Franc got around, it also crossed with the beautifully named Magdeleine Noire des Charentes to yield another popular red varietal: Merlot!
When was the last time you drank a glass of Cabernet Franc? It has so much versatility that one could argue it’s the better choice in warm weather and for food-pairing in general. The Cab Franc berry has thinner skin. It ripens earlier and likes cooler weather. It yields a lighter texture, body and color with bracing acidity. Generally, it is also less tannic. Mind you, Cab Franc is no Pinot Noir. It can be every bit as full and rich as its progeny while being nuanced, complex and supple. It gives depth to many of the world’s finest Bordeaux blends.
It can smell and taste of fresh red berries, but Cab Franc has a savory side too: dried herbs, tomato, mint, pencil shavings and even gunpowder. It’s a versatile food pairing, tomato-sauced pizzas, lamb, poultry, even goat and sheep’s cheeses.
Give Cabernet Franc a go! We have several single-varietal selections available on the restaurant wine list and in the Wine Shop.
Seems cruel that a grape whose name translates to “Little Sweet One” should be having such a rough go of it lately. Dolcetto’s name is actually a description of the grape; however, the wine it makes is determinedly dry. Juicy, but never cloying. Over the past two decades, plantings of Dolcetto in its native Piedmont, Italy, have declined some 20%. Dolcetto is a bit of a temperamental brat in the vineyards: fussy about weather, humidity… It’s harder to get from vine to bottle than, say, Piedmont’s (and our) beloved Nebbiolo which commands a higher retail value and is displacing Dolcetto vines even where Nebbiolo doesn’t make the best wine. In turn, removal of this early-ripening variety is lessening biodiversity.
Whether you are an Italian wine lover or are new to Italian wines, you should give them a chance. Loads of dark fruits, bordering on raisin-y in older bottles, softer tannins, cacao, black plums and violet. Pretty in the glass and a brilliant pairing against rich meat dishes, roasted tomatoes and dishes like ratatouille.
Good Dolcetto rarely runs more than $20-40 a bottle. We have a few to choose from in the Wine Shop and on our restaurant’s Wine List.