Hello Friends and Wine Lovers!

Happy Thanksgiving Eve to you all! And Happy Thanksgiving Eve Eve to our friends named Eve, just to be clear. Welcome to the Carpe Vinum Newsletter of Truth and Justice to Eonophiles, Emo-Styles, and Xenophobes and the Tasting Announcement for Not Tomorrow, Not the Day After Tomorrow, but the Day After That, Which Is Friday! We’re tasting the wines of Italy’s Tuscany! Oh, deliciousness! It’s the perfect match to all that food you won’t be eating tomorrow. (See? Because if you eat it tomorrow, then you can’t enjoy it with the wine that we have here the day after tomorrow. Ugh. Being two days early on this thing just confuses me.)

Let’s discuss Friday. It’s the day after Thanksgiving, the most hedonistic holiday this side of the Superbowl (which is, indeed, a holiday). So for people who aren’t me, Friday is also the biggest shopping day of the year. Followed by the day before Christmas which is the second biggest shopping day of the year . . . or the biggest shopping day for people who are me. But for a small selection of people, this Friday is Black Friday, or Buy Nothing Day. I would just like to propose a compromise and call it “Red Friday” or Buy-Nothing-BUT-Wine, day. Or for the sake of tasting on Friday, how about Screw-Shopping-and-Let’s-Get-To-Drinking-Wine Day?

So what are we serving for my new favorite holiday, the Screw-Shopping-and-Let’s-Get-To-Drinking-Wine Day? (Red Friday). Italy’s Tuscany! The predominantly Sangiovese-based reds from the region are probably the best known in the world. And this region of Italy owes it to one simple word: Chianti. This doesn’t mean it’s synonymous with the region, but it is the most familiar wine of all of Italy, for better or worse. Okay. For worse. I’ve had more bad Chianti than I’d like to admit. Or maybe it’s that I’ve had more bad Chianti than I can count. (But hey, those bottles wrapped in reeds and raffia sure do look good as candleholders, right?) So with this in mind, even though there are a lot of good Chiantis out there, I prefer to take it slowly when trying new ones. So I am only featuring one Chianti in this lineup. But Tuscany has so much more to choose from, considering Italy is a veritable wine empire.

So, Chianti aside, I grabbed a selection of some of the other best regions of Tuscany. But I’m doing something kinda wacky this time around. One of Italy’s heavy-hitters hails from this region. It’s the burly and long-lived and legendary Brunello di Montalcino. I’ve had few, if any of these that I can remember, as the retail prices start at about $45, with most hovering well above that mark. So for fun and for the educational experience, I thought I might feature 3 Brunellos in a separate tasting off to the side. Considering the price of these bottles, the tasting for the three will be $10. It might be confusing things for myself, but it’s all in the name of science! (Okay, not really science, per se.)

So Friday, November 24th, between 4:30 and 9:00 PM it’s:

Tuscany!!!
Corte alla Flora 2004 Rosso di Montepulciano
Agricola Centolani 2003 “Poggiotondo” Rosso di Montalcino
Gualdo del Re 2003 Val di Cornia
Mannucci-Droandi 2003 “Cepetto” Chianti-Classico
La Parrina 2002 Parrina Rosso

Tuscany Two!!!
Potentino 2003 “Sacramonte” Montecucco Rosso
Avignonesi 2003 Vino Nobile di Montepulciano

Tuscany Take Three: Brunello!!!
La Gerla 1999 Brunello di Montalcino
Poggio San Polo 2000 Brunello di Montalcino
Mocali 2001 “Vigne della Raunate” Brunello di Montalcino

A stellar deal at $10 for the First 5, $6 for the Extra 2 Premium Pours. And $10 for the Bunello Sampler.
Hope to see you here!

Seize the Wine!

Next Friday tasting is Syrah/Shiraz!

And just so’s ya know, we will be closed Thanksgiving Day. And I might be a bit late to the shop on Friday, but the tasting still starts at 4:30. Happy Thanksgiving!

M