DECEMBER CASE OF THE MONTH - $135

Territorial Pinot Noir Silver Willamette Valley 2021
Ho ho ho, December pricing on this tasty local Pinot is low low low thanks to a label redesign closeout deal. Territorial is based in Eugene and winemaker Ray Walsh spent 10 years at King Estate honing his craft. This delivers an appealing balance of elegance and richness with pretty aromatics of rose, strawberry and cherry. The palate is silky yet generous with red fruit mixing with deeper blue notes all propelled by a steady yet gentle current of acidity. Wisps of black pepper, cedar and dried herb float on the soft finish. 
Normally $21, now $14.99.

Saint Cosme Côtes du Rhône 2022
Year 3 of offering our best-selling Côtes du Rhône with a “Happy Holidays” discounted price, this time from the great 2022 vintage. 100% Syrah (a rarity for this appellation), this is bold and mouthfilling and way over-delivers. It offers saturated flavors of blackberry and marionberry shot through with zesty notes of licorice, marjoram and baking spice. The texture is broad and plush with an almost milk chocolate creaminess until the finish where gentle tannins emerge, flecked with black pepper.
Regularly $17, $13.99 for December

Los Vascos Cabernet Sauvignon Colchagua Valley Cromas Gran Reserva 2019
This is Part 2 of a Los Vascos deal (the Carmenère was super popular in November). Owned by Bordeaux’s Rothschild family since 1988, Los Vascos helped bring the wines of Chile to the world stage. Their Cromas Gran Reserva line is a big step up in quality from their basic bottlings, and thanks to a year-end deal we can offer them for close to the same price. Like the Carmenère this boasts a velvety, creamy texture and lush red currant and black plum fruit. The perfumed background aromatics tip their hat to Bordeaux with minty herb and black tea fading into notes of vanilla bean and toasted nut on the finish. A much nicer wine than the discounted price suggests, this kept getting better and better in the glass…until, oops, it was gone. 
Normally $21, now just $12.99  

Terlato Pinot Grigio Friuli Colli Orietali 2022
From estate vineyards nestled in the foothills of the Alps, this is a nice jump up in quality compared to the ocean of mass-produced Italian Grigio. "Fresh and balanced, with a citrusy overtone of grapefruit pith and citronella, this shows flavors of crunchy white peach, chive blossoms and minerally saline and stone, followed by a creamy finish." 90 pts, Wine Spectator. A distributor deal on the end of the '22 vintage, normally $22+, now just $14.99

La Quercia Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 2022
A Dorian Gray of wines (minus the cursed part), this uber-popular Italian red is rock solid good vintage after vintage and the price has gone up one single dollar over the past twenty years. From a warm growing season, this 2022 is luscious with a velvety texture and rich dark fruit. As always, the flavors are deep and saturated yet buoyant and friendly, a mix of chocolate covered cherries and black plum sauce with an exotic Chinese Five Spice pepperiness.
Amazingly still just $10.99

L’Heravi Negre Montsant 2021
The appellation Montsant sits in the rugged mountainous landscape a couple hours southwest of Barcelona. Less famous than its neighbor Priorat, its wines can offer similar flavors and are often great values, like this one. Strictly organic and biodynamic, this winery claims to have been organic since its founding 150 years ago. There’s a purity to the flavors here, a mix of clearly defined fruit and more muddled pastoral notes that add up to something special. Aromatically you’re on the edge of the vineyard with briary bramble, violet, green tea and cola spice shading the wild red and blue berry fruit. Medium bodied and bright, the smooth clean freshness above is balanced by darker minerally slate notes below, a contrasting back and forth that keeps the palate humming. 
$12.99 

Carrel Jongieux 2021
Jacquère is one of those varietals that you maybe never heard of but after drinking one you want to know  more. Grown almost exclusively in the small Savoie region in the foothills of the Alps, it produces charming whites that boast refreshing acidity and spring-like green notes. This longtime favorite offers aromatics like a breath of bracing mountain air, floral and clean with a spicy juniper-like edge. Light melon and white peach flavors are shadowed by a tickle of spearmint and although the vineyards are nowhere near a salty body of water, there’s a limey saline bite on the finish. $12.99

Mastroberardino Mastro Aglianico Campania 2019
A textbook example from one of southern Italy’s leading estates, this highlights Aglianico’s symbiotic relationship with the volcanic soils of the Campania region, offering a dual personality of elegance and countryside rusticity. Engaging aromatics of licorice, tobacco, tangy red plum and damp earth lead to high-toned cherry and raspberry, while the finish brings a crescendo of peppery minerality. Thanks to a few years of bottle age, Aglianico’s typical firmness has turned pleasantly supple, with gently ripe fruit encasing a taut frame. 
Originally $22, end of vintage deal makes it just $11.99.

Hecht & Bannier Languedoc Rouge 2019
This Grenache/Syrah/Carignan blend is a little wild and wooly to start aromatically, but with a few minutes airtime it transforms into a polished smooth, almost pretty countryside red. A mash-up of red, black and boysen- berry flavors are accented by nuggets of black olive, pepper and lavender with a hint of distant barnyard trailing on the finish. 
$12.99

Tre Monti Sangiovese Romagna 2022
Offering a different personality than Tuscan Sangiovese, this one from a winery just southeast of Bologna in Emilia-Romagna is round and succulent, with an electric current of acidity giving lift to the dark plum and amarena cherry flavors. Foundational notes of wet earth, briar and clove add depth while prettier aromas of strawberry mix with fine-grained tannins on the finish.
$13.99

Cune Cava Brut NV
Champagne & Sparkling Sale Price $11 (Dec. 5-11 only)
Our value pick last year and a good one at that, we weren’t surprised when it came in first in this year’s blind tasting. Cune is a legendary Rioja winery founded in 1879 with well over a hundred years of awards, innovation and history. One little-known storyline is that Cune produced sparkling wine in Rioja for many years early on. With Champagne’s vineyards ravaged by phylloxera, someone had to keep the bubbles flowing! Fast forward to a few years ago and a resurrection of Cune sparkling, this time from Penedés, Spain’s bubbly heartland. A classic blend of Xarel-lo, Macabeo and Parellada, this once again stood out for its clean fresh profile and happy-go-lucky flavors. Light baking spice and yeasty toasty aromas lead to baked apple and pear on the palate, while crisp flinty notes linger on the lemony finish. 
$13.99

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