Eric Solomon Asheville Wine Tasting

Friday Winedown - Selections From Eric Solomon

Friday, September 30 at Table Wine from 4-7pm – South Asheville’s Best Wine Shop – $5 per person……..free for Grape Nuts – Table Wine will be the best place in Asheville to taste wine on Friday, September 30. Mike Kolker of Freedom Beverage will join us to pour wines from importer Eric Solomon’s portfolio. Eric is based in Charlotte, and his company European Cellars is one of the premiere importers of wines from Spain and France. In fact, in 2007 Eric was named U.S. importer of the year by Food and Wine magazine.

If you like 90+ point rated Robert Parker wines, you won’t want to miss this one! I can think of no other importer whose Spanish and French wines receive as many high marks as Eric’s across all price points. You’ll get to sample 8 wines from both Spain and France along with light palate cleansers. Here is the lineup:

Eric Solomon Asheville Wine Tasting

1. 2009 Domaine Lafage “Cote Est” Roussillon, France – This blend of stainless steel fermented Chardonnay, Grenache Blanc and Marsanne is always one of the top white wine values in the world. It is crisp and refreshing and the 80 year old Grenache Blanc really stands out – delightful honeysuckle, peach, apple and citrus notes abound in this easy-to-drink white from the south of France.

2. 2009 Rafael Palacios “Louro do Bolo” Valdeorras, Spain – Rafael Palacios is the brother of Alvaro Palacios, one of Spain’s top producers………let’s just say good wine runs in their blood. He started this project a few years back to expose the world to the virtues of old, low yielding Godello from Spain’s northeastern region. If you like good white Burgundy, but don’t like to pay the price, you will very much like this wine – white peach, spring flowers, liquid minerality and baking spices all come together in this medium to full bodied white wine. Delicious! 91 points – The Wine Advocate

3. 2009 Altovinum Evodia Garnacha Calatayud, Spain – Eric Solomon knows how to pick good Grenache/Garnacha, whether it be from Spain or France, and Evodia is his personal project. Grapes are sourced from vineyards averaging 80 to 100 years of age and the wine is plump, juicy and loaded with ripe black cherry and raspberry fruit. 90 points – Josh Raynolds

4. 2009 Casa Castillo Monastrell Jumilla, Spain – Monastrell is the grape variety and Jumilla is the dry, hot and rugged region in southeastern Spain. Known as Mourvedre in France and used primarily as a blending grape (the great wines of Bandol being the exception), the grape takes center stage here yielding a wine with tons of ripe and rounded blueberry and black raspberry fruit and subtle spice and chocolate notes. 90 points – The Wine Advocate

5. 2009 Chateau Pesquie Cotes du Ventoux “Cuvée des Terrasses”, France – This might be one of Solomon’s top red wine values in his entire portfolio. Composed of 70% Grenache (from 60-year-old vines) and 30% Syrah (from 30-year-old vines), aged in neutral oak, and bottled unfined and unfiltered, it tastes “more like a Chateauneuf du Pape than an inexpensive Cotes du Ventoux” according to Robert Parker. Full bodied and meaty, it is lush and textured with flavors of black cherry, pepper, meat juices and lavender. 90 points – Robert Parker

6. 2007 Creta Ribera del Duero “Roble”, Spain – Creta wines are made by the young and talented Isaac Fernández Montaña, nephew of Mariano Garcia who is one of Spain’s most legendary winemakers. The wine is 100% Tempranillo from a 40 year old vineyard in the dry and barren region of Ribera del Duero. It is full bodied and tastes like a wine that costs a lot more money – black fruits, violet, spice box and mineral bring to mind a $30 bottle of Ribera, not a $17 one!
90 points – The Wine Advocate

7. 2008 La Peira en Damaisela Orbriers de la Peira, France – This is the kind of freakish wine I sometimes buy more with my heart than my head, but I don’t regret it one bit. The wine is made up of old, low yielding, organically farmed Carignan and Cinsault – let’s just say these aren’t two of the “hippest” varietals at the moment. It is aged for 24 months in French oak, and the resulting wine is stunning but a bit funky, offering up a wild bouquet of perfectly ripe cherry and berry fruit, cocoa powder, walnut and pungent herbs. Only 500 cases made. 91 points – The Wine Advocate

8. Mystery Wine – What will Mr. Kolker bring us? You’ll have to stop by to find out.

10% off on mixed 6 packs and 15% off on mixed cases