Paul's Wine Club

Hello wine lovers:
Of course February is Valentine’s month. May I suggest that you try some of the different sparkling wines we have on hand including Cava from Spain, Prosecco from Italy, Cremant from France and other versions of sparkling wine/champagne. You won’t be disappointed. To help you out in this area (the romantic) we will be tasting some of these sparkling wines on Friday, 12th at 8th Street. No charge, just drop by after 4pm. I will send out a reminder on about the 7th or 8th of February.

Vintage Room
We have been moving things around at 8th Street again, in the Vintage Room. The window is clear again so you can see into the room and through our stained glass. Rather pretty at night. The wines have been re-arranged, as well as having a new wine cellar. See below.

Cavavin Wine Cellar
I recently purchased a Cavavin wine cellar for my higher end wines at 8th Street. If you have a nice selection of good wines these are good alternatives to building a complete cellar in your home (or garden). They hold up to 160 bottles and maintain a constant temperature and humidity level. Pricing is about $2500 plus shipping. I have notes on all the wines in my Cavavin. Prices per bottle range from about $80 and up. All of the wines in the Cavavin are suitable for stocking a proper wine cellar for long term storage.

Formal Wine Tasting February 11th, 2010
I have managed to convince Jocelyn from Purple Valley Wines in Calgary to visit us in February as she will not be able to attend the Grapes and Gourmet this year. We will host a formal  wine tasting on Thursday February 11th, starting at 7pm (note the time) at the Cypress Club on 6th Avenue SE downtown. The cost for this one will be $20 but will include some appetizers prepared by Chef Brian. There will be up to nine items tasted,  a good cross section of Purple Valley wines including a cremant, a chardonnay, a malbec, and a single malt whiskey from India called Amrut Fusion, which is winning prizes world-wide.

Tyee Boathouse Chardonnay.
There is still some available so if you want a case you need to order it by e-mail or phoning. It is normally about $13 per bottle but it’s being cleared at $9.95 and only $7.95 if you take a case of 12 or more. This is a great wine for day to day sipping so I recommend you grab one while they last.

Some Great Wine Cellar Wines
In line with my recommendation last month of starting a wine cellar with wines between $20 and $40 I would like to offer you a chance to try some outstanding Italian wines that I recently tasted in Calgary at the Vendemmia Italian tasting this past week, when I had the opportunity to try wines from some of Italy's top wine makers. The best wine i tasted was about $130 per bottle, a super Tuscan merlot (WS 96 pts), but as good as it was I think our market here in the Hat is limited for this type of wine. The best white was about $50 per bottle. It was also superb.
In any case I would like to offer you an opportunity to try a case of special wines that fit in this $20-40 range, In fact, I left out anything over $30. Here is a list of 12 wines that average about $25 per bottle. There are three whites, 8 reds and one sparkling dry rose. So have a look and try one or all of these. If you buy all 12 I will give you a Riedel wine glass. Once you have tried these and have found some that you particularly enjoy, these are wines you should order for your cellar. You can look up these wines by googling the names I have indicated or check the Vendemmia website. They will be on hand starting next week (Feb 11th) at 8th Street.

All of these wines have big brothers and sisters which are outstanding, albeit higher priced. You can check the Vendemmia website to see what other wines they have (hundreds). I will also be bringing in a few of the higher priced Vendemmia wines that I thought were the best I have ever had in their category (Maculan Acininobili, Feudi di San Gregorio Campanaro, and Pieropan La Rocca.  If you are interested e-mail me separately.

Developing a wine cellar – Part 2
Last month I outlined how you could get a decent wine cellar started with about 100 bottles ranging in price up to about $40 per bottle. I have prepared a second part this month which I will email separately.

This has been a longer than normal newsletter. Thanks for your patience.

Cheers
Paul

8th St. Crescent Heights Wine and Liquor Store often hosts special occasions and events, to be notified, please join our email newsletter by signing up here.

I will send out a monthly e-mail full of information on things like wine bargains available, details of our monthly wine tasting and finally, information on different aspects of wine in general - like a newsletter.

If you are interested in any of the wines being offered simply e-mail or phone to book a case or more. I will normally need to order these in for you.  I get these wine buying opportunities quite often but I think a monthly note should suffice. I will not re-send information on these wines until perhaps the next newsletter.

About a week before any tasting I will send you a reminder to book your space (since we know no one wants to commit too early) or to cancel the event if there is insufficient interest. As this has happened on more than one occasion it is unfortunately sometimes necessary to take that step. None of my tasting's are just "show up" events so if you plan to attend you must let me know by phone or e-mail. 

Send me any questions you may have about wine.

Paul Howe
8th Street Crescent Heights
Wine & Liquor Store and
Track Side Liquor Store
Medicine Hat, Alberta
(403) 528-2269