Free on Fridays Wine Tasting this Friday, April 29th from 4 to 7 p.m. featuring some delicious new arrivals from Chile! Start your weekend right with the best free wine tasting in Asheville! This is drop-in style tasting so come and go as you please. This week, we’ll pour a terrific batch of Chilean wines, including versions of some of the country’s most recognized and heralded grape varieties. We’ll start with a certified organic Sauvignon Blanc from Chile’s coastal Lolol Valley — both the grape and the region have been getting a lot of good press recently, and we’re certain that this will appeal to many palates. Next up, we’ll pour your a stunning, 93 point rated Pinot Noir made by legendary winemaker Paul Hobbs — again, Chilean Pinot Noir has gotten so much better over the past 5 to 7 years, and you won’t believe the great price on this one. We’ll finish up with a classic Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon from a small family estate discovered by Paul Hobbs — from high elevation vineyards in Chile’s historic Maipo Valley, this shows that classic Chilean mint, earth, and pepper quality along with notions of bright red fruit. Sound good? We think so and we invite you to stop by, taste, learn, and save big on all of the featured tasting wines.
All of the featured tasting wines are on sale the day of the tasting: take 10% off if you mix any 3, 15% off if you mix any 6, or 20% off if you mix any 12.
The Wines
1. 2015 Araucano Sauvignon Blanc Reserva (Lolol Valley) – Bordeaux-born Francois Lurton has a really good touch with Sauvignon Blanc, and this wine definitely shows his skill with the varietal. His vineyards are certified organic, and he chooses to harvest his grapes a touch later to accentuate richer fruit and less herbal character. Showing more orchard fruit notes (think peach, pear and apple) with mild citrus and spice notes, this is really lovely and distinctive Sauvignon Blanc from a master of the grape.
2. 2014 Ritual Pinot Noir (Casablanca Valley) – The Ritual wines are a joint venture between Chilean vintner Agustin Huneeus and American winemaker Paul Hobbs. From the cool, Pacific influenced vineyards of Chile’s Casablanca Valley, this is a region that gets some of the same weather patterns as California’s Russian River Valley, and there is a likeness to high quality Sonoma County Pinot Noir in this wine. Made with 100% hand harvested fruit from a dry, low yielding vintage, the wine is fermented with wild yeasts and aged for 12 months in 30% new French oak. Well known wine writer James Suckling (formerly of Wine Spectator) scored this one at 93 points and we agree with him. Full of ripe red fruit, brown spice, and orange peel, this softly textured, easy to drink Pinot Noir is a steal at this price.
3. 2012 Perez Cruz Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva (Maipo Valley) – This is a wine that we predict will be very divisive — some will love it and some will hate it. We love it! This small family estate was discovered by Paul Hobbs and he started importing their wines into the United States about 2 years ago. Their Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva comes from higher elevation vineyards of the Maipo Andes region, and the rocky soils and cooler temperatures of this region contribute to this wine’s personality. Aged for 12 months in French oak, the wine shows a lot of spice and herbal notes of mint, cracked black pepper, and paprika up front, but with time, the fruit comes out to play. Enjoy this lovely, Old World styled Cab over the next 10 years or so.
Josh Spurling
Owner/Operator/Wine Buyer
Table Wine Asheville
828.505.8588 or josh@tablewineasheville.com