Behind the Cork™ Wine of the Week

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2014 Robledo Family Winery - The Seven Brothers Sauvignon Blanc ($7)

This Sauvignon Blanc from Lake County is really nice.  Thinking that this was so much better than a $7 bottle of wine, I headed out to the Robledo Family Winery website (www.robledofamilywinery.com) to investigate. Much to my surprise they are offering this bottle of 2014 Sauvignon Blanc for $22 ($15.40 for Club Members). It's such a steal at $7 that I went back for more.  It's aged in Stainless Steel tanks for eight months which yields bright aromas of honeysuckle and mango with citrus and lemongrass flavors.

If you too are so lucky to find this wine, get more than a bottle. You'll enjoy it!

Source: https://EverWonderWine.com

Consider a Cava for the Holidays

Looking for a good, affordable bottle of bubbly for the holidays? Consider Cava.

Cava is a sparkling wine from Spain with a lot of similarity to French Champagne. In fact, the Spanish bubbly was called Champaña in Spain until the 1970s when French regulations were put into place to limit the use of the word Champagne to only those wines produced in the Champagne region of France.  So, the Spanish re-named their sparkling wine for the caves or cellars where the sparkling wine was kept for aging. Thus came the name Cava.

Like Champagne, Cava is produced in the 'Traditional Method' where secondary fermentation is done in the bottle. This is how the bubbles are naturally formed since this second fermentation also converts sugar to alcohol using yeast, but the resulting CO2 is trapped in the bottle, producing the carbonation.

Unlike French Champagne, Cava is produced with the Macabeu, Xarello and Paralleda grapes.  But Cava surprisingly has a very similar taste to Champagne, much more so than the highly popular Prosecco.  But the best thing about Cava is its price. You can find a nice bottle for under $20.

Like Champagne, Cava is produced in various levels of sweetness:

  • Brut Nature -- Up to 3 grams of sugar/liter

  • Extra Brut -- Up to 6 grams/liter

  • Brut -- Up to 15 grams/liter

  • Extra Seco -- Between 12 - 20 grams/liter

  • Seco -- Between 17-35 grams/liter

  • Semi-Seco -- Between 33-50 grams/liter

  • Dulce -- More than 50 grams/liter

You can also find Cava Reserva which is aged an additional 6 months (for a total of 15 months) over the standard Cava (9 months of aging) and Cava Gran Reserva which is aged a total of 30 months.

Cava is a great alternative to Champagne and a wonderful sparkling wine to enjoy during the holidays (and year-round!).  Chill a bottle and enjoy. Cheers!

Source: https://EverWonderWine.com

Behind the Cork™ Wine of the Week

2014 Chateau Ste Michelle Columbia Valley Riesling ($7)

This Riesling out of Columbia Valley is refreshing with flavors of peach and lime. This is considered somewhere between a medium-dry and medium-sweet wine and the 12% alcohol level confirms that there is some residual sugar in this one.  This makes a great pairing with spicy foods, while working well with any poultry dish and can be simply be enjoyed with some flavorful white cheeses.

Source: https://EverWonderWine.com