At Vinos Unico we have fallen in love with the 5 gallon keg as a way to get Urbanite Cellars’ Solindo Pinot Noir to market. As wine-on-tap grows in popularity we plan to add more choices to this, our first foray into the keg format. Meanwhile we are experiencing first hand what it takes to keep the kegs-a-flowing. Much like the milk man and milk bottles of days gone by, we recuperate an empty keg for each full keg we deliver. The empties must in turn be taken back to the winery where they are cleaned and refilled. It is such a tidy, self sustaining process that I can’t imagine why we in the wine trade have not been doing this all along.
This week it’s my turn to swap out a batch of empty kegs for fresh, new, full ones. With the empties secured in the truck I head north to Healdsburg. The drive is always gorgeous and conveniently gives me another opportunity to visit with Vinos Unico customers along the way. Stopping briefly for one of my favorite Sonoma County snacks is just a side benefit (thank you Tortilleria Jalisco in Sonoma, for doing what you do so simply and well). Leaving the winery,loaded with full kegs, I head back south to fill the needs of our wine-on-tap customers in San Francisco and Berkeley.

2010 Solindo Pinot Noir can be found on-tap at these locations:

Fat Angel 1740 Ofarrell St  San Francisco, CA 94115, (415) 525-3013 www.fatangelsf.com

Presidio Cafe 300 Finley Road  San Francisco, CA 94129, (415) 561-4661 www.presidiocafe.com

Revival Bar + Kitchen 2102 Shattuck Avenue  Berkeley, CA 94704, (510) 549-9950  www.revivalbarandkitchen.com

Tacolicious 741 Valencia St San Francisco, CA 94110, (415) 626-1344 www.tacolicioussf.com

First, a big thank you to all of our great customers (and their great customers) for making 2011 another banner year for Vinos Unico. This past year saw a lot of growth and change for Vinos Unico and we appreciate your commitment to helping us bring some of the world’s best, most unique wines to California.

Perhaps the biggest change in 2011 was our extensive foray into the wonderful world of traditional Rioja wine and we’re happy to say that it proved fruitful. The wines from Bodegas Riojanas and Bodegas Corral have been runaway hits in their first year in California. The 2001 Monte Real Gran Reserva from Bodegas Riojanas sold out quickly, but more is arriving in February. All the other Gran Reservas as well as the Crianza, Reserva, Blanco and Rosado wines from both producers are still in stock.

Arriving with the Rioja wines will be more Cava from Bodegas Raventos i Blanc. It has been a long drought but we’re pleased to say that both the “L’Hereu” Reserva and “De Nit” Reserva Rosado vintage Cavas as well as more “Silencis” Xarel-lo still white wine will be back in our warehouse in early February.

Rounding out our container from Spain are Josep Puig and his daughter Sylvia’s Vinedos de Ithaca wines from Priorat, including more of the wildly popular 2008 “Akyles” red blend.

Another returning favorite is the Trajarinho Vinho Verde, more of which is hitting our warehouse in a a few weeks. I wish it was sooner since today it was over 80 degrees in Downtown Los Angeles!

As we move further into the new year, look for more of your favorites including wines from Adega Granadeiro (Tapada Do Barao), Adega de Moncao (Muralhas), and Luis Pato as well as new producers from Spain, Portugal and maybe even Latin America. There will also be new releases from our Calfornia winery, Urbanite Cellars, including new vintages of Caliberico White and Red.

We look forward to sharing these and many more wines with you in the year ahead. Happy New Year!

As the year wraps up, we thought it would be fun to look back on our best selling wines of 2011.
Leading the way was perennial favorite Trajarinho Vinho Verde ($11). Although we’re out of stock right now, we’ll have more in our warehouse at the beginning of 2012.

Our second-best seller will also come as no surprise, the Urbanite Cellars Redart red blend ($11) has been a hit with restaurants and retailers alike. Another Urbanite Cellars wine, Amplio Cabernet Sauvignon ($13), came in at number three on the list and we just got the delicious 2010 vintage in stock last month.

Rounding out our top five are two Cavas: the Barcino ($15) from Luis Moya Selections and Bodegas Raventos i Blanc L’Hereu Reserva ($19). We’ve got Barcino to get you through New Year’s Day and, although we won’t have more L’Hereu until early 2012, we have a pair of great sparkling wines from Portugal’s Luis Pato available as well (Espumante Branco, $16, Espumante Tinto, $18).

All five of these wines are also some of our personal favorites for reasons far beyond their attractive price tags. Unique, well-balanced and food-friendly, they’re crowd pleasers that can compliment any meal and be a welcome addition to any holiday party.

For information on availability in your area, contact us below. Happy holidays!

Come savor the flavors of Spain as we taste mature Rioja wines paired with traditional Spanish tapas.

The stalwart traditionalist winemakers at Bodegas Riojanas make wines for the long term and these special bottles, made only in the best vintages, are prime examples of top quality Rioja. Wines from the celebrated 2004 and 2001 vintages will precede several 20th Century Gran Reserva wines from 1998 as well as a small taste of the 1978 and 1964 Gran Reservas (we have only a few bottles, not for sale, and share them just to prove the point of how well these traditionally styled wines can age).

In Spain the tradition is to always have something to eat alongside a glass of wine. In this spirit, several classic Spanish tapas will be served. Raquel Hermosilla from Spain At Home Catering will bring her famous Tortilla Espanola as well as Chorizo sausage braised in Spanish apple cider, Pan con Tomate and plates of assorted Spanish cheeses.
Come for a bit of Spanish immersion therapy and get inspired by these truly remarkable wines. The wines of Bodegas Riojanas are just making a comeback on the West Coast after years of absence and will make unique and distinctive gifts as well as solid additions to a home wine cellar.
For further details, contact K&L Wines at (650) 364-8544.

This week you’re going to be bombarded with articles recommending wines for the Thanksgiving dinner table. Just this past weekend in fact, Jon Bonné of the San Francisco Chronicle published his own recommendations, including our Raventos i Blanc “de Nit” Cava Rosado ($24). And while we agree with Bonné that, in the end, you should always drink what you like, we figured we’d offer a few of recommendations of our own.

We’ll steer clear of some of the typical choices like rosé (although the Don Jacobo Rioja Rosado would be a great fit for $12) and Beaujolais (we don’t import that) and offer up some uniquely perfect alternatives as our way of saying thanks to you for choosing our wines.

For a domestic white wine, both the Robledo Family Vineyards Carneros Chardonnay ($18) and the Caliberico White Blend ($18) are crisp whites with enough full-bodied richness to stand up to Thanksgiving’s stronger flavors.

For domestic red wines, Pinot Noir and Zinfandel always work well with turkey and we have two new releases from Urbanite Cellars to offer. The Solindo Carneros Pinot Noir ($22) is our newest wine, made by Kenny Likitprakong with the deft assistance of our own Luis Moya. Made from 97% Pinot Noir and 3% Chardonnay, Solindo is naturally fermented with native yeast and aged for 11 months in second and third fill French oak barrels. The 2009 vintage of Urbanite Cellars’ Clos de Cal Zinfandel ($15), also just released, is a classic cool-climate Zinfandel. Bright, tangy  fruit with earthy foundation will compliment  a range of autumn produce. Moderate 13.5% ABV won’t overwhelm the meal.

For white wines from Spain and Portugal, the Soalheiro Alvarinho ($24), Quinta Do Cardo Siria ($15) and the Vina Valoria Crianza Blanco 2004 ($19) are all excellent choices for a festive Thanksgiving meal. Red wines with just the right balance of fruit, earth and tannin for every holiday dish include the Puerta Vieja Rioja Crianza 2008 ($15), Vina Albina Rioja Reserva 2004 ($20) and Quinta Da Fronteira Tinto 2007 ($13) from Portugal’s Douro Valley. If you want to splurge, we’ve already written enough about our Gran Reserva Riojas, so check out these past posts for more information on these special treats for the Thanksgiving table.

Contact us any time to find out which retailers in your area carry these wines. Happy Thanksgiving!

We also will have inventory of the 2008 Puerta Vieja Crianza, 2004 Viña Albina Reserva and new 2010 Viña Albina Semidulce Blanco as well as the Bodegas Corral/Don Jacobo wines well into the fall which includes their classic 1995 Don Jacobo Gran Reserva, but don’t wait too long as these wines tend to disappear quickly.

Over the last few months we have been waiting impatiently for our latest wine, 2010 Solindo Pinot Noir, to mature.  Pacing back and forth in the winery, drumming our fingers on the barrels and asking childish questions to no one in particular (Are we there yet?) has not helped. The wine is going to do what it does on a schedule we cannot control.

Happily, the waiting is nearly over and soon 2010 Solindo Pinot Noir will be available for those with a taste for authentic, small production, hand-made wines.

The grapes for Solindo come from the Carneros region just North of San Francisco Bay. The vineyard is owned by the Robledo family. They have grown grapes here for over thirty years (they make fabulous wines too).

For Solindo we intentionally pick the grapes early to maintain a leaner focus, with less ripeness and alcohol in the finished wine as a result. Our winemaker, Kenny Likitprakong (he also makes his own wines under the Hobo, Banyan and Folk Machine labels) uses a mix of whole cluster as well as destemmed fruit, incorporating a small addition (3%) of Chardonnay at the outset.  Spontaneous fermentation with native yeasts completes the transformation of grapes into wine. The young wine ages in 1st and 2nd year used French oak barrels for 10 months prior to bottling.

We have just 300 cases of 2010 Solindo Pinot Noir in bottles and, to satisfy a growing need, we will also be filling a limited number of 5-gallon kegs for our wine-on-tap customers.

Luis Moya, the man who turned his winemaking dreams into reality, personally attends to the needs of Solindo Pinot Noir. Manual punchdown during primary fermentation extracts color and flavor from the grape skins.

 

 

Solindo Pinot Noir in kegs: the low impact alternative wine delivery system.

Ah, Rioja! Spain’s best known and oldest official wine region is a patchwork quilt of small family vineyards and wineries, quaint hilltop villages, bustling towns, historic sites and beautiful scenery. Let Enoteca La Storia and Vinos Unico take you on a unique tasting excursion through some of the best, most traditional wines that this jewel of Spain has to offer – including TWO wines that are OVER 35 years old! This is your chance to experience the essence of Spanish tradition in the form of an elegant white Rioja, a gulpable Rosado and several classic red wines from a group of historic bodegas – Bodegas Riojanas, Bodegas Corral and Bodegas Viña Valoria – each of which were founded over 100 years ago! We’ll take advantage of our recently opened patio and soak up some sun as we drink, laugh and feast on roast pig and other specialty Spanish-inspired dishes, all washed down with a “copa” de Rioja! Luis and his passionate team will make sure this is THE fiesta of ALL fiestas! It will be like a mini trip to Spain minus the airfare! Tentative list of wines includes:

2004 Bodegas Viña Valoria Crianza Blanco
2010 Bodegas Corral “Don Jacobo” Rosado
2008 Bodegas Riojanas “Puerta Vieja” Crianza
2006 Bodegas Corral “Don Jacobo” Crianza
2004 Bodegas Riojanas “Viña Albina” Reserva
1998 Bodegas Riojanas “Monte Real” Gran Reserva

Plus, guests will receive a choice of one of the following Premium Pours:
1968 Bodegas Viña Valoria Gran Reserva*
1973 Bodegas Viña Valoria Gran Reserva*
1992 Bodegas Viña Valoria Gran Reserva*

http://www.enotecalastoria.com/store/featured-events/viva-rioja-rioja-tasting-and-wild-pig-roast-with-vinos-unico-with-guest-co-hosts-proprietor-luis-moya-and-his-vinos-unico-team.html

She also mentioned the 100% Alvarinho Deu La Deu cuvée from Adega de Monção. It’s delicious now but can also evolve with age in a way that is similar to a good Riesling. The article also didn’t leave out the humble Trajarinho, our exclusive bottling from Adega de Monção made from 60% Alvarinho and 40% Trajadura. A container of freshly-bottled wine just arrived from Portugal and its the perfect daily drinking white for a summer that, although wrapping up, shows no signs of cooling off.

(Missing from the list was the Muralhas de Monção Vinho Verde Rosé, but that’s okay. It’s moving fast and won’t be around for long. Get it while you can.)

Also from Vinho Verde we have the Soalheiro Alvarinho available. Quinta de Soalheiro in the village of Melgaço, only a few miles from Monção, it’s a wine we consider among the best white wines in the world. Organically farmed from unique terroir and hand-made from start to finish, it’s truly distinctive.

We’re also lucky each year to get a small amount of the Vinho Verde from Quinta do Ameal. Made entirely from the Loureiro grape (mentioned in Ms. Daniel’s article) from wine maker Pedro Araujo’s small 30 acre estate vineyard, this organic wine is a different face of Vinho Verde. We visited Quinta do Ameal during our trip to Portugal last year and were impressed by Pedro’s small, hands-on operation. Staffed solely by Pedro and his office manager, Quinta do Ameal is literally a two-person operation. The attention to the vineyard management is impressive, when you consider the constant need for pruning back the foliage due to the vigorous nature of the vines in this region. Low yielding Loureiro vines are important to getting the quality Pedro is looking for in his wines, his vines yield on average just a tiny 4-5 tons per hectare whereas the average producer in the region is about 15 tons per hectare. Essentially he looses 2/3′s of his production each year to reach the quality he wants which for a long time in his region hasn’t always been the case. Loureiro is the most aromatic of the grapes found in the Vinho Verde and Pedro’s version is a textbook example of the varietal which he vinifies dry without the spritz most people associate with the regions wines. Just over 100 cases of the Quinta do Ameal Loureiro make it into California each year, so it’s another rare gem.

There’s clearly lots to love about Vinho Verde of every sort. Keep enjoying them as the summer winds to a close and keep drinking them into the Fall and Winter. I know quite a few bottles of Portuguese Alvarinho and Loureiro will find spots at our Thanksgiving dinner table.

Cheers.

by David Duman

This corner of northwestern Spain, hilly, green and temperate, was once the location of Roman gold mines and, for centuries has been the land Christian pilgrims must traverse in order to reach the holy shrine at Santiago de Compostela.

Grape growing and wine making have a long history in El Bierzo but the area had languished for generations as a semi-forgotten wine region. Renewed interest in the indigenous grape of the region, Mencía for reds and Godello for whites, has reinvigorated the winemaking in Bierzo, exemplified by the work being done at Bodegas del Abad.

Founded in 2000 Bodegas de Abad has played a major role in the Bierzo Renaissance.  Bodegas del Abad instituted strict vineyard practices, prohibiting irrigation while also banning pesticides and chemical fertilizers. They reduced yields in their 86 acres of estate vineyards as well as in contract vineyards that they control.  In the bodega the wines ferment naturally with wild yeasts (and without any added sulfites), with the white Godello kept at low temperature in stainless steel for several months prior to bottling. The red Mencía ferments in tank then ages for five months in mixed French and American oak barrels prior to bottling. The final results are pure, unmessed-with wines that express the soil, climate and wine making skill of the Bierzo region and Bodegas del Abad.

2010 Abad Dom Bueno Godello is a gentle, well-rounded white that pairs bright green apple freshness with plump aromas of white peach and melon. A lightly mineral foundation adds complexity and structure to this varietal Godello wine. If you interested in what the wine critics think the Wine Advocate, wine guru Robert Parker’s Magazine awarded the Abad Godello 91 Points in their June 2011 issue and theirs no hurry to drink it as they said, “This lengthy effort will provide enjoyment for another 3 years.”

2008 Abad Dom Bueno Roble uses the indigenous Bierzo region Mencía grape to good advantage, emphasizing the slatey minerality and twiggy, grape seed tannins without neglecting the opaque mulberry-like fruit character. This classic cool climate red expresses herbal wildness and cool river rock firmness all at once. If you like you reds with a bit more age the recent October 2011 issue of Wine & Spirits Magazine scored the Abad Roble 92 Points and said, “A sure bet to lay down for at least five years”.