Asheville’s Best Free Wine Tasting – Saturday, August 29th from 2-5 p.m. – Small Vineyards Imports works with the types of producers and wine farms that we love to support. These family owned and operated wineries make wines like your favorite chef cooks your food………low and slow and with great attention to detail. This careful and conscious approach to their craft results in wines full of heart and soul, and many of our top finds ever have come from the Small Vineyards portolio. Join us and special guest Aldo Morales, brand ambassador for Small Vineyards, as we take you a tour of Italy through her wines. Taste, learn, and save up to 20% off on all of the featured tasting wines.
The Wines
1. 2014 San Rocco Soave (Veneto, Italy) – This is the entry level wine from famed Soave producer Monte Tondo, and it’s one of the best values of its type we’ve ever found. 100% Garganega, the grape responsible for making great Soave, it is fresh, bright, and absolutely delightful.
2. 2014 Raphael Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico (Marche, Italy) – Verdicchio is the most important grape of Central Italy’s Marche region, along and inland from the Adriatic Sea. This one is a great introduction to the grape with a nice core of ripe peach and citrus supported by a beam of refreshing acidity.
3. 2014 Marchetti Verdicchio “Tenuta del Cavaliere” (Marche, Italy) – This is Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico Superiore, and it’s one of the best Verdicchio’s we’ve ever tasted. Harvested later and aged on its fine lees for four months, this is full bodied, complex, layered, and delicious. We can’t imagine that a producer could get much more out of Verdicchio than the Marchetti’s do.
4. 2014 Lovo Cabernet Sauvignon (Veneto, Italy) – For those expecting a big, rich, and chewy Cab, think again! This stainless steel fermented, carbonic Cabernet Sauvignon is light, fresh, and super juicy. Styled a bit like a Beaujolais, but with more dark fruit and peppery notes, it’s a perfect all seasons quaffer.
5. 2013 Antonio Sanguineti Cannonau (Sardinia, Italy) – This is our current Case of the Month Selection, and it’s selling at a very rapid pace. 100% Cannonau (aka Grenache) from the island of Sardinia, it’s rich, supple, and packed with flavors of ripe berries, spices, and just a hint of damp earth.
6. 2011 La Quercia Montepulciano Riserva (Abruzzo, Italy) – Talk about a massive Montepulciano! Antonia Lamona doesn’t mess around when it comes to one of Central Italy’s most important red grapes. From old vines and low yields, this is wildly delicious with notes of smoke meat, leather, dark plum, and spiced berries. Full bodied and structured, it could stand to be served alongside you favorite beef stew.
7. Lovo Moscato Giallo “Fior d’Arancio” (Veneto, Italy) – This is a great way to end the tasting and send you home happy! This is absolutely one of the best Moscatos we’ver ever stocked and it’s laced with aromas and flavors of ripe peach, orange, nectarine, and white flowers. Sweet, but perfectly balanced with refreshing acidity, this begs for a sunny day picnic.