holly jolly holiday wines vol 2

we love alsatian wines. alsace makes some of the world’s best quality white wine but is a relatively undiscovered region to many wine drinkers. sophie schaal is making her mark in alsace and beyond. a burgundian and dijon university grad, schaal makes wine with husband julien in saint-hippolyte. the schaals work with négociant olivier bliecker to source grapes from some of the top sites in the region, and the labels are color coded to reflect the different soil types. their wines are a transatlantic hit winning praise from top wine critics for their mouth-watering freshness, purity and balance, and lovely breadth and length. this is 100% pinot gris organically grown, fermented with indigenous yeasts in neutral tanks. this wine is round in texture with orchard fruit, floral, honey and mineral notes. this wine will bring out the juice in turkey while emphasizing the nutty, spice, and vanilla flavors of sweet potato pie (and the marshmallow topping of course).

lieu dit is a partnership between longtime friends eric railsback (master somm) and justin willet (of tyler winery), unified by a common interest in wine and all its mysteries. after countless shared bottles and many trips to france together, they decided to found lieu dit in 2011 and work only with loire valley grape varietals but in santa barbara, whose various micro climates and marine based soils are ideally suited for these grapes. a combination of tank and barrel fermentation was used to produce this wine followed by aging in neutral french oak for the winter. this mineral driven round but lean chenin blanc showcases orchard fruit, herbal, almond and wet stone flavors. this is a versitile white thats perfect from the cheese course to desert and a crowd-pleaser for chard and sauvignon blanc drinkers alike!

stefan steinmetz is a 5th generation winemaker at this estate, which started as a butcher, inn, guest house and farm in addition to a winery. back in 2000, he took over from his father at just 22 years old, and now runs the estate with his wife, sammie steinmetz, an american who, to her knowledge, is the sole black woman working in wine in the mosel. they practice ‘natural viticulture’ using no fertilizers, herbicides, or insecticides and controlling yields and carefully harvesting and sorting by hand. same in the cellar – spontaneous fermentation and no additives of any kind. as stefan explains, his wines ‘should reflect the location, the soil, the microclimate and the characteristics of the vines, i.e. all the peculiarities of the environment in which they are grown’.  this charming pinot noir is light with vibrant acidity, crushed red fruit, cranberry and some forest floor and herbal notes. sounds a bit like a turkey, cranberry sauce, and gravy right?

domaine arnaud lambert was established through the merger of two labels in 2017: domaine de saint-just, arnaud’s family domaine within the saumur-champigny appellation, started by his father yves lambert in 1996, and château de brézé, a historic saumur estate whose enviable collection of vineyards for which the lamberts signed a twenty-five-year contract starting with the 2009 vintage. château de breze is not only a unesco world heritage site, but also a historically important reference in french fine wine: royals used to exchange these wines annually for château d’yquem sauternes. yves and arnaud converted all of their vineyards to organic and were officially certified in 2012.  brézé is a unique site due to its relatively high elevation and nuanced geological profile. the high composition of tuffeau, a porous, chalky limestone also used in the construction of much of the loire’s renaissance architecture, results in finely mineral chenin blanc and cabernet franc. clay and sand also lend themselves to the diversity of the terroirs, giving body to the reds and richness to the whites. with five historic and clearly delimited clos to work with, arnaud lambert has the incredible opportunity to truly understand and reveal the distinctions within this extraordinary appellation. this 100% cabernet franc from 40-year-old vines is medium bodied with ripe dark fruit, floral notes and a touch of earthly spice. this will make that cab lover happy without bogging them down too much. the holidays are a marathon, not a sprint!