Catalunya – Elie Wine Company

Posted on July 22, 2020 by Elie Wine — Leave a comment

Summer-Aid: $235 “Homage to Catalonia” — Taste the Terroir of Northeastern Spain with 12 Bottles (All Included and Delivered)

From breezy Mediterranean shores to Barcelona cafés to the towering peaks of the Pyrenees, the autonomous community of Catalonia is a land of diversity. These places and cultures have inspired poets, artists, and winemakers.

This week’s Wine-Aid package starts in the ancient wine country of the Penedès Plain, then into Priorat, one of the most progressive winemaking regions in all of Spain with its special reddish and black slate soils (called llicorella in Catalan), and finally to the slopes of the multi-peaked Montserrat range. A glassful of any one of these wines brings the region to life at your dinner table.

Included in Homage to Catalonia Wine-Aid Package is four bottles of each:

The price includes tax and delivery, as well as a 10% discount. We will also honor a 10% discount on any bottles you might wish to add to the Wine-Aid package.

Alemany i Corrio Principia Mathematica (Penedès 2018) Regular Price: $26

Passionate wife-and-husband winemakers Irene Alemany and Laurent Corrio’s “Principia Mathematica” is crafted from 100% Xarel·lo (shah-REHL-loh), a grape indigenous to the region that most sparkling wine drinkers will recognize as the principal variety that makes up Cava. 55 year old Xarel·lo vines see fermentation in new French oak barrels of 228 and 700 liters. A third of the wine is then aged for nine months in stainless steel on the yeast (sur lie) with the remaining two thirds aged in oak barrels with occasional stirring (battonage). The result is a wine of freshness and depth that fully expresses a Burgundian style of winemaking alongside high coastal Mediterranean terroir.

Blai Ferré “Ona” (Priorat 2016) Regular Price $22

Blai Ferré’s Ona is Priorat in the raw, a wine of intensity and balance with little elaboration. It is a classic Mediterranean blend of 40% Garnatxa, 40% Syrah, and 20% Carinyena. Cultivation is organic and the harvest is hand-picked and hand-sorted. Half of the wine is aged in stainless steel vats and the other half in French oak for eight months. We’ve found that it’s a wine that always outperforms its price level and it’s versatile enough to be paired with a simple cheese plate to roast lamb and everything in-between. Blai produces a scant 500 cases of Ona, bottling the rest of the harvest in other cuvées.

Ca N’Estruc Negre (Catalunya 2016) Regular Price $14

Francisco Martí is co-owner of perhaps the finest wine shop in Spain, Vila Viniteca, located in the El Born district of old Barcelona. Yet he has spent much of his life in the vineyards of the Ca n’Estruc estate that lies on the slopes of Montserrat at over 500 feet in elevation. The Vineyards are ideally orientated to optimize sunshine and hold some vines that are close to 80 years old. Ca N’Estruc Negre is a blend of Garnatxa, Samsó (Carinyena), and Ull de Llebre (Tempranillo) grown in alluvial soils. Ripe raspberries and cherries underneath a hint of rosemary make this one of the more interesting everyday value wines that you’ll find.

We are committed to providing you with your wine needs in the safest way possible. We do encourage you to take advantage of our back door pick-up or free delivery. We can easily process the payment of your purchase over the phone and load you up without you needing to get out of the car. Or we can deliver it to your doorstep for free (within a reasonable distance of our shop) and leave it there for you to bring in at your convenience.

Posted on May 10, 2020 by Elie Wine — Leave a comment

$195 “The Sergio Leone” Wine-Aid Package – 12 Bottles of Spanish Wine (8 Red + 4 White, All Included and Delivered)

“I’ve always believed that true cinema is cinema of the imagination.” — Sergio Leone

Introducing The Sergio Leone, a $195 Wine-Aid package that includes 12 Bottles of Spanish Wine showcasing the quality and value of Spanish wines from the slopes of Montserrat near the Mediterranean Sea to the Val do Salnés on the Atlantic coast. The price includes tax and delivery, as well as a 20% discount. We will also honor a 10% discount on any bottles you might wish to add to the Wine-Aid package.

While Sergio Leone is an Italian director most of his films are inextricably tied to the landscape of Spain. The Tabernas Desert in the southeastern province of Almería is probably the most famous setting, but he filmed all over the country. Indeed, the first film of the “Man With No Name Trilogy” that made both Leone and Clint Eastwood famous, and is considered the birth of the spaghetti western genre, was principally filmed in the municipality of Hoyo De Manzanares, a short drive from the vineyards of our first featured winemaker Uva de Vida.

It’s easy to imagine that those many years ago the cast and crew might have been drinking very similar wines as are featured in this Wine Aid package. And it is this idea of geography, and its connection to the history of humanity, that can make the simple act of drinking a good bottle of wine something more profound.

Included in The Sergio Leone Wine-Aid box are four bottles of each:

1) Uva de Vida “Latitud 40” (Vino de la Tierra de Castilla 2015) Regular Price $23

The wife-and-husband team of Carmen López and Luis Ruiz have harnessed the soul of the land to produce wines of purity, brilliance and energy. Biodiversity of plant and animal life is promoted in their 33 acres of vines planted at 1,600 feet of altitude in the clay-based soils near the tiny village of Santa Olalla just up the road from the city of Toledo. Uva de Vida employs minimal intervention techniques from start to finish. 100% Graciano and nearly opaque deep red, a glass of “Latitud 40” radiates aromas of cherry fruit leather, dark chocolate, herbs, and salty, sun-baked earth. These heady scents merge seamlessly into a mid-weight sip of blackcurrant fruit with a long and juicy finish.

2) Ca N’Estruc Negre (Catalunya 2016) Regular Price $14

3) Fento “Bico da Ran” (Rías Baixas 2018) Regular Price $17

Bico da Ran is 100% Albariño made from fruit grown in the sub-zone of Val do Salnés. Considered the birthplace of the Albariño grape this is the original and oldest sub-region in Rías Baixas. With an altitude below 1,000 feet and vineyards that reach the Atlantic Ocean, this is the coolest winemaking zone in the region. Some of the best vineyards in Salnés produce the Bico da Ran fruit. The vines are 15 to 25 years old. Grapes are harvested in early morning to preserve aroma and freshness. Vinification and aging is done in stainless steel. All of this results in a wine that is aromatic with citrus and a delicate herbality. On the palate it is refreshing and crisp, with layers of crunchy orchard fruit.

Still from A Fistful of Dollars (1964) compared to a recent photograph in Hoyo De Manzanares

Posted on April 21, 2020 by Elie Wine — Leave a comment

$210 “The Antoni Gaudí” Wine-Aid Package – 12 Bottles Spanish Wine (9 Bottles Red, 3 Bottles White, All Included and Delivered)

“Anything created by human beings is already in the great book of nature.” — Antoni Gaudí

Introducing The Antoni Gaudí, a $215 Wine-Aid package that includes 12 bottles of Spanish wine illustrating the diverse range of wines available from Catalunya on the Mediterranean Sea all the way to “Green Spain” and the Atlantic coast. The price includes tax and delivery, as well as a 10% discount. We will also honor the 10% discount on any bottles you might wish to add to the Wine-Aid package.

Antoni Gaudí was a Catalan architect who has become internationally known as one of the top exponents of modernism. His incomparable architectural language defies classification. Of particular note for us lovers of wine is Gaudí’s design for Celler Güell near Barcelona — A wine cellar totally integrated into the rocky landscape wedged between the Mediterranean Sea and the Garraf Massif mountain range, perfectly in tune with its arid location.

This selection of Spanish wine pays homage to Antoni Gaudí’s pioneering work with organic forms. He took his inspiration from nature, in a way somewhat similar to the winemaker that must craft a wine with the fruit that a growing season provides.

Included in The Antoni Gaudí” Wine-Aid box is three bottles of each:

1) Coto de Gomariz “Abadía” (Ribeiro 2012) Regular Price $28

One of the vanguard producers in the northwestern Spanish wine production zone of Ribeiro is the Bodega of Coto de Gomariz. Located in the Avia valley near the Atlantic coast, they enjoy a unique microclimate created by the Avia river. “Abadía” is a blend of local red grapes that consists of 50% Sousón complemented with Brancellao, Ferrol, and Mencía from the village of Gomariz where soils are granitic with schist and clay. Though fermented in stainless steel, the wine is aged for one year in 300-liter used oak barrels, mostly of French origin, to tame some of the hairy tannins that Sousón can exhibit. With a few years of age, the wine is presently drinking at its peak. A sip is juicy little forest berries with a long and winding cherry pit finish. On the nose, the berry fruit is sweeter with hints of licorice and cream.

2) Artuke “Artuke” (Rioja 2018) Regular Price $16

One of the most exciting producers in Rioja right now, Artuke is brothers Arturo and Kike de Miguel Blanco, third generation viticulturalists. These two young men have completely refocused the family winery to cultivate small vineyard plots in and around their village of Ábalos in the high elevation foothills of the Cantabrian Mountains. “Artuke” is made with the carbonic maceration method, a wine-making technique used to enhance aromatics and produce luscious, fresh, fruity wines preferred by Basques in the northern sub-zone of Alavesa. It is a blend of mainly Tempranillo grapes with about 5% of the white grape, Viura. This mouth-watering red wine takes a relatively deep chill which makes it a versatile pairing with all types of food: tuna, pretty much anything made with zucchini, fried chicken, gooey cheese sandwiches, pizza, etc…

3) Bodegas Cesar Príncipe “13 Cantaros Nicolas” (Cigales 2016) Regular Price $16

The red wines of star producer Ignacio Príncipe are emerging as superb wines that rival or exceed Cigales’ well-known neighbors of Ribera del Duero and Toro. The soil of Cigales is unique by virtue of its large pudding stones which litter the vineyards and the region’s winemakers insist that this soil is most ideal for the Tempranillo variety. “13 Cántaros Nicolás” is 100% Tempranillo from 20-year-old vines in and around the Valladolid municipality of Fuensaldaña. The vines are organically cultivated and hand-harvested. It is fleshy with intense aromas of red fruits, plum, jam, and spices. Ripe but balanced, it’s an excellent wine to pair with everything from roast vegetables to burgers.

4) Ca N’Estruc Blanc (Catalunya 2017) Regular Price $14

Francisco Martí is co-owner of perhaps the finest wine shop in Spain, Vila Viniteca, located in the El Born district of old Barcelona. Yet he has spent much of his life in the vineyards of the Ca n’Estruc estate that lies on the slopes of Montserrat at over 500 feet in elevation. The Vineyards are ideally orientated to optimize sunshine and hold some vines that are close to 80 years old. A blend of Xarel•lo, Macabeo, Muscat, Garnatxa Blanca, and Chardonnay, “Ca N’Estruc Blanc” is organically cultivated and manually harvested. Pale yellow with a greenish hue in the glass, a sip is crisp and dry with aromas of ripe peaches and pears and a subtle note of herbs. Drink it with grilled zucchini, shrimp, or just drink it while you’re grilling.

Celler Güell