Boise Coop Wine Shop

Upcoming Tasting: Mannina Cellars

• June 17, 2009
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Mannina Cellars is a small, family run winery specializing in producing small lots of premium wine. Named after the maternal grandmother of the winemaker, they are situated in the heart of the spectacular Walla Walla Valley, one of Washington’s best terroirs. When Don Redman moved to Walla Walla to work as an Environmental Engineer for Boise Cascade, he wasn’t planning on entering the wine business. But after being introduced to the region’s wines, he took his background in chemistry and applied it to the hobby of winemaking. After discovering he had an aptitude for creating wines that he liked, he decided to take the next step and created Mannina Cellars. Don’s goal is to create a pristine winemaking environment where the fruit can make its journey from grapes to wine with as little outside impact as possible. His background in chemistry drives him to strive for purity in every phase of the winemaking process.

2006 Cali, Walla Walla, $16.50
Named after the winemaker’s grandmother, Cali is a Bordeaux style blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and a splash of Syrah (three percent). It spends 14 months in a mix of oak, 30 percent of which is new, which adds structure more than flavor. The nose shows loads of black currant fruit, olive tapenade and hints of cedar. This wine has a nice backbone with medium acidity and a long finish. A great buy for a wine from Walla Walla.

2007 Sangiovese, Walla Walla, $20.00
A supple blend of 83 percent Sangiovese and 17 percent Merlot, both from Seven Hills Vineyard in Walla Walla, aged in 100% used French oak. It is a true Chianti style blend, medium bodied, with hints of strawberry, raspberry and spice, marked by good acidity and a smooth texture. A very food friendly wine that will pair well bruschetta, pastas with tomato sauce or grilled meats.

2006 Merlot Walla Walla, $22.50
This is a dense and beautifully concentrated wine, containing 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. The aromas explode from the glass with loads of plum and dark stone fruits, complemented by touches of caramel and vanilla. Full and fleshy with complex layers of flavor, it’s a rich and toasty wine with excellent depth.

Join us on Friday, June 26 from 4:30 to 6:30 pm, or Saturday, June 27 from 2:00 to 4:00 pm for a free taste of these exceptional Walla Walla wines.

Renwood Winery

• June 11, 2009
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Surrounded by some of America’s oldest Zinfandel vineyards, Renwood Winery is located in the picturesque California foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Winemaking in the Sierra foothills dates back to the early 1850’s during which time many European immigrants traveled west in search of “California Gold.” People settled in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and soon found that the land-not gold-would be their means to survive. Both table and wine grapes were planted throughout the hillsides and quickly Amador County became the home to more wineries than any other region in California. Boston native Robert Smerling founded Renwood in 1993. Mr. Smerling fell in love with Amador County’s rich history and magnificent vineyards. This weekend we will be pouring three selections from this award winning winery.

2006 Renwood Viognier, $9.49
This floral white displays aromas of grapefruit, mineral scents and jasmine. On the palate the wine is crisp, with a medium texture and flavors of melon, lemon zest, and apricot. A steely finish makes it very food friendly and the lingering tartness helps balance the wine. While primarily from the Lodi Appellation and the Mohr-Fry Ranch, a small amount of Sierra Foothill grapes were included in the final blend. It has an attractive pale green color and is great with food or on its own.

2006 Renwood Zinfandel, $9.49
The grapes selected for this wine are usually from younger vines that are lighter in body and structure. Each vineyard lot was fermented individually at moderate temperatures. Pressed at dryness, some wines remained in tank and some were racked directly into barrels for aging. The barrel lots were aged in combination French and American oak barrels for 10 months. The wines from our rigorous tasting selection were carefully blended together to produce a wine of exceptional value. Fresh and fruity it is filled with flavors and aromas of cherry and plum with a spicy finish.

2005 Renwood Zinfandel, Old Vine, $14.99
This wine is comprised of the best selection of Old Vine vineyard lots in the Shenandoah Valley, each adding its own nuance and complexity to the final blend. The result is a Zin that is brick red in color, with aromas reminiscent of holiday spice, berry pie and cedar. The palate offers ripe fruit with a background of nutmeg and mace, along with tannins that are moderate and ripe. Aging in American oak lends a note of vanilla and a hint of coffee bean to the mélange of flavors.

Domaine Carneros

• June 10, 2009
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The Domaine Carneros château is a landmark of the Carneros region. Completed in 1989, this classic 18th century château-style building was architecturally inspired by the historic Taittinger-owned Château de la Marquetterie in Champagne. The Pinot Noir facility sits just behind the main château and was styled after a French carriage house. Completed in 2003, this state-of-the-art facility housed the largest solar collection system of any winery in the world at that time.

Domaine Carneros farms organic vineyards in four separate Carneros sites. Clones are selected for subtle differences of flavor and intensity. TJ Evans recently joined the Domaine Carneros winemaking team to head up the still wine production, with emphasis on Pinot Noir. He has just returned from Chile where he spent the last 3 years developing a Chardonnay and Pinot Noir ranch at the southern end of that country’s winegrowing region. Pinot Noir has been the common theme throughout his career. After completing his MS at Davis in 1997 he began his career at La Crema winery in the Russian river. The next stop was Dry Creek where he continued to work with Pinot Noir and also crafted vineyard designate Zinfandels for Alderbrook winery.

“Domaine Carneros was an easy choice because I knew I could apply my 10 years of Pinot experience to the still wines while also integrating the use of Pinot Noir in a way new to me – the production of sparkling wine”, comments TJ.

2005 Domaine Carneros Brut, $28.00
The vast majority of sparkling wine and champagne in the world is made in the Brut style. Brut refers to the dryness or level of sugar of the wine. The sugar content of a Brut-style sparkling wine is 0-15 grams per liter. Vintage dated each year, the Domaine Carneros Brut Cuvée represents the best of Carneros pinot noir and chardonnay made into a classic sparkling wine. The appellation is 100% Carneros. The Brut was aged in the bottle for three years before release. It will continue to develop further depth and complexity as it ages.

Domaine Carneros Rosé, $37.00
Domaine Carneros Brut Rosé is a wine of great balance, emphasizing fruity and floral characteristics to a greater extent than evident in the Brut. It is made strictly with artisan attention to quality, with sourcing exclusively from Carneros and the use of time-honored Champenoise methods of production. A blend of 58% Pinot Noir, 42% Chardonnay, the Brut Rosé is meant to be enjoyed at a fairly young age, when the fruity character is still predominant yet there is enough age to make the wine round and balanced. The wine’s aroma has hints of wild strawberries and roses with notes of peach Although a pale pink in color, Brut Rosé is not sweeter than our other wines. It is a true Brut.

2006 Domaine Carneros Pinot Noir, $32.00
Sensitive Pinot Noir can be a challenge for winemakers. The delicate, thin-skinned grapes grow best in cool, consistent climates where the fruit can ripen slowly. Domaine Carneros is fortunate—the long growing season and cooling maritime breezes of the Carneros Region are ideal, producing wines of distinction virtually ever year. Their classic Estate Pinot Noir, made to show off the superb qualities their organic vineyard, is rich with fruit tones of black cherry, raspberry and black current overlaid with notes of chocolate, toast, clove and exotic spices. Luscious flavors end in a very long and silky finish.

Two from Spain

• May 13, 2009
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Quality Wines of Spain has been cited by Jay Miller from The Wine Advocate as one of a smalll number of importers that are “heading off the beaten track and discovering some wonderful wines that we would otherwise never see.” They taste thousands of wines every year and strive to find unique wines made by passionate winemakers. Those winemakers keep yields low and they believe the most important step of winemaking takes place on the vines. They seek to enhance the best attributes of the varieties and the land. Only native yeasts are used and, where possible, the wines are bottled with only minimum or no fining or filtration.

2008 Legado Munoz Tempranillo, $9.99

The Munoz family owns 200 acres of top quality vineyards around Noblejas. Careful selection of the vines, crop thinning and the poor calcareous soils combine to produce concentrated and structured wines. Yields are kept low, significantly lower than what is usual in the region. The average age of the vines is 30 years and only native yeasts are used. The family recently acauired a former Seventeeth century subterranean cellar that had been excavated into the rock. The installations are being painstakingly restored and are already being used to age the top wines of the Estate in perfect conditions of temperature and humidity. Bottling takes place after a very light filtration.  This 100% Telmpranillo comes from a single vineyard, Las Canteras. It offers aromas of cherry and plum, with hints of espresso and bitter chocolate. Juicy and exuberant, theres a bracing acid streak that perks up the red and black fruit flavors. Vibrant, fresh and brisk through the finish, with the cherry flavor that remains focused and bright.

2006 Vinedos Vina Alarba Red, $9.99

The vineyards of Bodegas y Vinedos del Jalon are located south of Calatayud, mostly in the Santa Cruz Sierra and the mountains and valleys along the Jiloca and Perejiles rivers. The vineyards are step and range in altitude from 2000 to 3000 feet. The soils are poor and well drained, with abundant granite, black slate and quartz depending on the slopes. More than half of the Grenache corresponds to old vines (at least 40 years old). While the older vines form the base of the bodegas best wines, even this entry level 2006 red, which is 100% Grenache, contains a substantial core of that juice. This bright red offers straightforward flavors of cherry, dark plum, strawberry  and light herb, with soft tannins and a fresh finish punctuated by a spicy hit of black pepper.

Weekend Tasting: Focus on Idaho

• May 7, 2009
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This weekend we are featuring two different wineries from our own Snake River AVA. First upon Friday, Bill Murray, the winemaker from Sawtooth, will be in the shop pouring a number of different wines including their recent Idaho Wine Competition Double Gold award winning Pinot Gris. Next up, on Saturday it’s 3 Horse Ranch. Their Viognier was the only other white to garner a Double Gold.

Sawtooth Winery

Formerly known as Pintler Cellars, Sawtooth started out as a fifteen-acre vineyard in the heart of Canyon County. The vineyards were once rich pasture land owned by Charles Pintler. The family saw a greater potential in the steep, south sloping hills, and set out to grow wine grapes. European vinifera vines were planted in 1982, including Chenin Blanc, Riesling, Semillon, Chardonny and Cabernet. In 1988, Pintler Cellars became bonded and produced some 2000 cases at their new facility. In the years that followed Syrah, Pinot Gris, Cabernet Franc, and Voignier along with a few other varieties were planted. Pintler Cellars joined Corus Estates & Vineyards in 1998, chnaging their name to Sawtooth Winery at the time.

Winemaker Bill Murray has had a passion for wine for many years. Inspired from his travels to Europe, Bill started working in the industry in Napa, California. He worked for Buena Vista Winery while studying viticulture in the evenings at a local community college. A year later, he went to work for Acacia. Bill worked there for 13 years, first as cellar master, and later as vineyard manager. After Acacia Winery, he moved to Bouchaine Vineyards as an oenologist and associate winemaker. He came on board at Sawtooth just last year and is excited to be working in the new Snake River AVA.

2008 Pinot Gris, $12.49

2008 Rosé, $12.49

2006 Syrah, $12.49

2006 Merlot, $12.49

2006 Cabernet, $12.99

3 Horse Ranch Vineyards

Part of the recently formed Snake River Valley American Viticultural Area, 3 Horse Ranch brings together a unique blend of soil, climate and care to produce fruit of exceptional quality. Their vineyard in the foothills above Eagle is planted with the finest Rhône varietal rootstock available, vines brought to the U.S. by Tablas Creek from their famous French parent, Chateau de Beaucastel. Their estate wines are grown utilizing environmentally sustainable farming practices, employing hand pruning, training and harvesting, and those vineyards just received organic certification. With talented winemaker Greg Koenig on board, 3 Horse Ranch has already crafted a number of exceptional wines.

2008 3 Viognier, $18.99
Offers nicely intense aromas of honeysuckle, clover and bright peach and apricot. Rich but well balanced the palate is filled with unctuous melon backed by crisp citrus. An excellent example of the potential this variety has in Idaho.

2008 Roussanne, Estate Grown, $24.00
Opens with aromas of apricot, dried pear and peach. Bright and savory in the mouth with a nice array of ripe fruit flavors that are perfectly matched by a good, palate cleansing hit of acidity. Like the Viognier, the grapes for this wine were organically grown.

2008 Rosé, $15.99
A unusual blend of 82% Merlot and 18% Grenache with lovely raspberry and citrus aromas and a soft and fruity palate. A great spring and summer sipper.

2007 Syrah, Reserve, $17.99
This delicious blend of two of Idaho’s premier Syrah vineyards, Williamson and Albers, creates a great red wine displaying a hint of raspberry and black berry fruit on the nose. It leads to a true purity of fruit mid-palate, lingering for a rich, nicely balanced finish.