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A longtime veteran of the food, wine, and hospitality industries with stints at The French Laundry and The Restaurant at Meadowood in Napa Valley, Jay Janney is an expert on California Wines. He has worked for local, family owned distributor, Constantine Wines, for over ten years now and will be bringing five wines from some of the best, small California wineries to taste and talk about.
2022 Andis Sierra Foothills Sauvignon Blanc
The soils in the Sierra Foothills are special. As an avid wine enthusiast and Napa frequenter, to discover such a secretive wine region inspired founder, Janis Akuna. It gave her a vision to share a different kind of experience with other wine enthusiasts. But even more than that, it was the rural wine region of Amador County that struck her the most; reminiscent of the early days of Napa she so dearly missed. In 2009, Janis and her husband, Andy Friedlander, found their own stretch of land to replant portions of the vineyard originally planted in the 1970s, while seeking out the highest quality vineyards to buy additional fruit. Working closely with Sage Architecture and Sunseri in construction, they built a state of the art winemaking facility with two tenets; design a sustainable winery to produce world class wines that is attractive, but different than all others. The microclimates and varying elevations hide unique opportunities. Andis Sauvignon Blanc shows lemon blossom aromas, tangy but ripe citrus flavors, and a hint of fresh-cut green apples backed by a refreshing acidity to make this medium-bodied wine extremely appealing. The mouthfeel is lively and vibrant, with lovely acidity that cleanses the palate. Napa Stars, Philippe Melka and Maayan Koschitzky are the consulting winemakers
| Sale $19.99 | SKU 95378 |
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2021 Favia Carbone Coombsville Chardonnay
Andy Erickson previously of Screaming Eagle and Bryant Family to name a few and Annie Favia, viticulturist, are partners, a family, a team. And there is our home — a house and cellar, gardens and fruit trees: a collaboration that has meandered across generations, its stone first laid by Napa Valley's earliest Italian immigrants. Our collaboration then wends outward and into the neighboring hills, visiting familiar vines and their tending hands. In these vineyards, curiosity and humility assemble to listen closely to the history of ancient soils, the natural currents of the everyday, and the myriad voices of those who foster the patient growth and harvest of our grapes. Favia is a celebration of a place and its people. Time, too, is our partner, immense and inexorable. We encounter millennia in the volcanic upheaval of our surrounds. Our vines enunciate the intricacies of the four seasons. Our stone cellar echoes with memory of vintages a century past. And finally, our work rests in barrel, quietly finding its voice over years. At its center, our work is a partnership with Nature. With reverence, we usher our bounty toward a new expression; we seek to bottle a glimpse of a time and place. Favia is the ever-resonant telling of a story still being written. being written. The 2021 Favia 'Carbone' Chardonnay has a fresh, salty edge to the subtle lime and pineapple aromas. Full and very linear, with brightness and wonderful length. Steely and minerally. Firm phenolics give it a tannin texture and great length. Goes on for minutes. Drink or hold.
97 Points James Suckling
| Sale $38.99 | SKU 95402 |
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2020 Peay Sonoma Pinot Noir
Husband and wife, Nick Peay & Vanessa Wong, grow and make the wine and brother Andy Peay sells the wine and runs the business. With minor exceptions, all wines are made from grapes grown on our 53-acre hilltop vineyard located above a river in the far northwestern corner of the West Sonoma Coast, 4 miles from the Pacific Ocean at Sea Ranch. We grow 34 acres of Pinot noir (4 Pinots: Scallop Shelf, Pomarium, Ama, Sonoma Coast), 8 acres of Syrah (2 Syrah: Les Titans, La Bruma), 7 acres of Chardonnay (2 Chardonnay: Estate, Sonoma Coast), 1.8 acres of Viognier (Estate), 0.4 acres of Roussanne and 0.2 acres of Marsanne (Estate blend). We also make a Pinot noir from the famed Savoy Vineyard in Anderson Valley. We are certified organic farmers with a respect for Mother Nature's ability to create an intricately complex and balanced natural environment. We do not till our soils but seek to encourage soil and root health. We maintain our certifications for fish-friendly farming and integrated pest management. We also run on bio-diesel at the vineyard and solar power at both the vineyard and winery. The long-term health of our vineyard dictates these approaches to farming and making wine. The 2020 Pinot Noir from the Sonoma Coast is a lovely appellation-level wine. Crushed red berries, spice, floral top notes and a touch of blood orange give this tasty, ethereal Pinot a good bit of brightness and enough complexity to support fine drinking over the next few years. The red fruit oriented mid-palate is framed by savory sage notes with some cocoa powder on the finish. We did not use any new oak barrels—or whole cluster—in the 2020 red wines and, as a result, the wine is approachable upon release and will be for at least the next 5+ years.
| Sale $45.99 | SKU 95901 |
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2021 RAEN Royal St Robert Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir
Rain only becomes wine in our vineyards after being filtered by the rocks taken back up by the vines and sweetened by the sun. The unique spelling is our society and ethos, which is translated to Research in Agriculture and Enology NaturallyToday, Carlo and Dante (Mondavi) and their small team continue to dedicate themselves to the founding ethos of RAEN in 2013 – farming prized, coastal sites with the utmost respect for Nature to produce limited bottlings that are expressive of site and can sit alongside the world's finest. Our Royal St. Robert bottling is dedicated to our grandfather, who has been our greatest teacher in our journey in wine. This special cuvée is a selection from our coastal vineyards, giving a window to the rugged hills of the westerly Sonoma Coast. Vibrant aromas of black and red cherry, rose petal, and black tea fill the bowl. Wild raspberry and just-ripe red plum notes give way to coastal moss, wet gravel and forest underbrush. Western spice box notes complement the brooding, powerful fruit core, giving way to a vibrant and lasting finish.
98 points James Suckling
| Sale $69.99 | SKU 94049 |
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2018 Purlieu Le Pich Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
Made by famed winemaker Julian Fayard, Purlieu's sister label, Le Pich, gets its name from a Wappo Indian term meaning "golden eagle." They are hunting birds, and you can often spot them above our vineyards as they soar, glide, circle and arc. They are beautiful birds — stately and impressive, but not haughty or boasting, with a nimbleness that's inspiring. We hope that our Le Pich wines live up to the character of their namesake. The 2018 Le Pich Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon delivers brilliant fruit and graceful aromatics wrapped in a seamless satin package. The nose opens with aromas of black cherry, pencil lead and stone. The palate broadens to a lustrous core of ripe boysenberries and blackberries, whose vibrancy gains dimension from the fresh minerality beneath. Full and soft in the mouth, this wine already offers wonderfully silky, mature tannins. Juicy plum and milk chocolate notes develop on the mid-palate and continue through the long finish of black raspberries and mint tea.
| Sale $47.98 | SKU 92414 |
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