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Saturday, 08 June 2024 12:59

Bastille Day 2024

bastille monet
                                   By Claude Monet

SOLD OUT!

News Release: Saturday, June 8th, 2024
About: Bastille Day with Asheville Sister Cities & MetroWines

   The Asheville Sister Cities Saumur Committee will host its annual Bastille Day Celebration and Fundraiser from 2 to 4 pm on Sunday July 14, 2024 at Metro Wines latest venture, Quench! located in Reynolds Village in Woodfin. 
 
"This year is special for us @MetroWines in celebrating "a revolution in thinking" on Bastille Day. The Saumur Committee for the Asheville Sister Cities was our first partner, showing their faith in a small wine store, when we opened on Charlotte Street in 2013 and we have been amis since then," says Gina Trippi, co-owner of MetroWines. "And now, we open Quench! in Reynolds Village in Woodfin. So many said not to open a restaurant there. They said no one knows where it is! They said no one will come! We say if we build it, and we did! you will come. So, in the spirit of "a revolution in thinking" and friendship, join us on Bastille Day at Quench!
 
   And this year, the Saumur Committee says you will not want to miss a special art auction with original ceramics and other objets d'art. There will also be an exciting Saumur-themed raffle prize, generously donated by recent UNCA graduate in French and local artist Adrien Meierovitch.  

   There will be hors d’oeuvres (Charcuterie, fromage, crudités, fruits de mer) provided by Quench! Chef Sam Etheridge, paired by MetroWines with wines from Saumur, France in the Loire Valley. 
 
   Tickets are $46 for ASCI members and $55 for non-members plus NC sales tax. tickets are Limited. Act NOW! All proceeds will support ASCI programming and Saumur Committee projects, including the upcoming educational career-development exchange. To kick off the program, Saumur student Camille Hudon, recent graduate of the tourism program in Saumur, will be our guest of honor.  
 
Go HERE for tickets:
https://ashevillesistercities.org/event/2024-bastille-day/
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Contact for MetroWines - Gina Trippi 
cell (8280 273-5348
Contact for Quench! - John Kerr
cell: (828) 200-6504
Charlotte Street! It's the Next BIG Thing!
"Big Shop Selection. Small Shop Service"
(828) 575-9525
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Saturday, 08 June 2024 12:35

Andy's Journal Entry #7

Andy's Journal Entry #7
BAROLO!
 
In the morning, we left the lovely Hotel Calissano, which incidentally, I couldn’t stop singing the name to the tune of Hotel California, and would continue to do so for the entire day and the next morning, and left for Barolo. So, I should mention, Nebbiolo, the grape of Barolo and Barbaresco, is probably my favorite grape varietal, and the wines grown here are my favorite expression of it. It has the delicacy of Pinot Noir, the power of Cabernet Sauvignon and is one of the most versatile food pairing wines in the world in my opinion. 
 
I have read so much about Barolo and Barbaresco, studied maps of single vineyards, read about the culture, the unique language they have there, the climate, the food. Basically I have been a huge Piemontese nerd for over 20 years and the idea of actually getting to go there has got to be up there with, I don’t know, a literature dork getting to go visit Narnia or Lothlorien or a movie geek getting to visit the Mos Eisley Cantina on Tatooine or something. In other words, the idea of setting foot in the actual vineyards that I have read about for decades seemed so exciting and surreal.
 
We started our day at the urban winery of Enrico Serafino, which was located in the Alte Langhe, to the North East of Barolo proper. To make Barolo, you have to have a winery located within the DOCG area, although Enrico Serafino has been making Barolo for over a hundred years and they are grandfathered in. The manager of Enrico Serafino, Nico, greeted us at the entrance. He was sharply dressed in a wine-colored paisley suit, a suit that only an upper-class Italian could pull off, smoking the end of a small cigar. He escorted us through his winery, showing us the old tunnels under the building.
 
Afterwards we gathered in his office for the wine tasting, a recent Wine Spectator magazine was opened to a photo of him sniffing a glass of sparkling wine. 
As we drove through the hilly landscape of Barolo, I was surprised when our tour guide Kristen, announced that we weren’t going to the Vietti winery initially, we were going to meet the winemaker and export manager in the hilltop town of Diano D’Alba. We departed our bus and walked up, up, up, eventually getting to a small park at the very highest point of the town, we were literally eye level with the belltower which rose above the huge cathedral in the town.
 
The winemaker Eugenio and Urs, the export manager greeted us with wine glasses and began to explain the landscape of the Barolo region that spanned around us. They pointed out each of the small cru’s of Barolo while we tasted wine from those small vineyard areas. They pointed out the terroir differences of each area; the closeness to the river, the sandy soil here, the wind from the Alps flowing unobstructed through this area, while we tasted the wines which were made from the grapes in each tiny vineyard. It was an absolutely incredible thing to see the small little square patch of green, sometimes they were about a dozen rows of grapes or so, and to try the wine made from it. It was hard to believe that such a small patch of grape vines could even produce a bottle of wine at all! This was hands down the best wine tasting I have ever had in my life, and I think I’ve probably already said that in my previous journal entries.
 
After this unbelievable tasting, we went to tour the winery of Vietti in the Medieval town of Castiglione Falletto. We walked through the ancient tunnels and cellars under the building and tasted the rest of the wines that they make. Their Barolo’s were excellent, of course, but they make serious, ageable Barbera as well! After the tasting we had another multi course meal, accompanied by Vietti’s wines. The Timorasso was very good, but extremely difficult to get, and we had the opportunity to taste some extremely old Barbera and Barolo’s that evening. The meal was excellent and the wines, outstanding.
 
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Friday, 07 June 2024 14:43

Miquel Torres Wine Tasting

torres
 
News Release: June 7th, 2024
About: Tasting with Torres Winery, Chile
 
Join us on Monday, June 24th from 4 to 6pm @MetroWines to taste 4 wines from Miguel Torres, Chile, "at the bar" and "on the house." Daniel Marquez, the US Sales Manager will host the event "at the bar" and "on the house." Daniel Marquez will pour and discuss a Sparkling Brut Rosé, a Carignan, a Carmenere and a Sauvignon Blanc.
 
With a presence in over 100 countries, the Miguel Torres family winery has established itself over the past 30 years as one of the main producers of high-quality wines, through its products’ identity, respect for the environment, and social responsibility. And more often one of the bottles has received over 90 points from Robert Parker!
 
About the Winery: 
Miguel Torres, Chile, was founded in 1979 by Familia Torres, who has produced wine in Spain for over 150 years. Being the first foreign winery to establish itself in Chile, Miguel Torres introduced in the country the use of stainless-steel tanks in fermentation and French oak barrels for aging, technologies that opened a new horizon for the Chilean wine industry. 
 
The pioneering spirit of Miguel Torres Chile is more alive than ever guiding projects such as Estelado, the first sparkling wine made with Pais grape which led the rescue of traditional but forgotten varieties, or ¨Empedrado¨, first Pinot Noir from slate soil in Chile and one of the most challenging projects of the winery. From the North down to Patagonia, Miguel Torres Chile seeks for the best terroirs where every growing region has its own stamp on the wines. Miguel Torres Chile is actively committed to the environment and to the people; all its vineyards are certified organic, and it is one of the biggest wineries certified with Fair Trade. Today, Miguel Torres is leading the recovery of ancestral varieties from the South of Chile, rescuing a unique heritage of the traditional winemaking. 
 
Meet Daniel Marquez here:

*******************************************************************************************
Contact for MetroWines: Gina Trippi
Charlotte Street! It's the Next BIG Thing!
"Big Shop Selection. Small Shop Service"
(828) 575-9525
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Friday, 07 June 2024 09:39

Andy's Journal Entry #6

Andy's Journal Entry #6 
Lambrusco!
 
        The next morning, after a few hours of sleep, we rose and went down into the lobby for breakfast. We consumed a reckless amount of espresso and cappuccino, along with delicious pastries, fruit, eggs and bacon. Our driver Dominico, explained to us that Cappuccino is fine for breakfast, but you shouldn’t order it after 11:00, or everyone will think you are German. Only espresso after 11:00. I find these little cultural details so interesting.

        We drove to Emilia Romagna from Tuscany, it took about 3 hours, leaving the land of Sangiovese behind and heading into the land of Balsamic Vinegar, Parma ham and Lambrusco. I’ve never been the biggest fan of Lambrusco, so I wasn’t overly excited about this visit. Don’t get me wrong, I have tremendous respect for Lambrusco, but it just has never really been my thing. The rolling hills of Tuscany eventually gave way to the flat, sun drenched vineyards of Emilia Romagna, our bus eventually stopping at Cleto Chiarli, the oldest winery in Lambrusco. 
       
       After meeting Tomasso, the export manager and member of the current generation of owners of Cleto Chiarli, he took us on a tour of the winery. It is located in an old Villa, and one of Italy’s most famous generals lived on the property. He showed us the vineyards, which were so hot, and the fermentation tanks. I got to see a Charmat Method tank, which I have explained to my students in my classes, but have never actually seen. We asked him so many questions about winemaking and he patiently answered them all for us.

        Next, we went upstairs in the Villa for a tasting of his wines. They were actually very good and not really what I expected Lambrusco to be. There are two kinds of Lambrusco grapes, technically there are more but without getting exhaustingly technical, let’s just focus on two; Lambrusco Sorbara and Lambrusco Grasparossa. The wines made from Sorbarra were delicate and light, almost rosé in color, with high acidity and flavors of strawberries, sour cherries and an almost Muscadine-like spiciness in the finish. The Grasparossa wines were darker in color and more muscular, with more tannin, and more of a cooked blackberry flavor. 

        Only one in the tasting had any residual sugar, the rest being Brut. The Amabile, a medium dry style, was lovely. The little bit of residual sugar seemed like a shock to my taste buds after so much scorchingly dry, high acid Lambrusco. It was nice, emphasizing the fruit and balancing out the acid a bit. Instead of a bitterly acidic blackberry, it was more like a blackberry pie that you forgot to add enough sugar to. 

        After our tasting, we were treated to a fantastic lunch, full of Parma ham, balsamic vinegar and homemade cheese ravioli. The rumor is true, in Italy they will keep filling up your plate, and you are expected to eat it. I was painfully full when I left Cleto Chiarli. After lunch, we left for Piemonte, probably my favorite wine region in the world. I have read about this place for so long, studied maps, read about soil types and climate, but I haven’t never been there. It was a magical feeling driving towards it, the promise of Nebbiolo, Barbera, and Gavi di Gavi exciting me. 

        That night we had a free night in Asti, we walked around, shopped and had a wonderful dinner outside in the city. It was nice to cut loose again after so much intense, studious wine tasting. When I arrived at the hotel, I resisted the urge to go out partying in the city of Alba. Tomorrow we visit Barolo, and I want to be at my best for that!
 
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