June 2026 Newsletter
Welcome to the June 2026 Newsletter! Now that it's summertime, and we don't have to worry anymore about rain or cold, we can fill up the newsletter with wines ready for the patio, deck, or picnic blanket.
Domaine de l'Idylle Vin de Savoie Cruet 2024 $20
Cruet is one of Savoie’s several workaday winemaking villages, and home to the Domaine de l’Idylle, one of L&E’s favorite sources of crisp, satisfying wines from indigenous Savoie varieties, most prominent among them the breezy Jacquerre grape. The Tiollier family has made these wines for six generations, in vineyards looking up at snow-capped alps and bright blue skies. Since 2020 they’ve done their work organically, but the character of the Cruet remains as it has always been, fermented and aged in stainless steel, a crisp, light, frank wine that gives aromas of white peach and yellow plum and green apple, yellow roses, wintergreen, with lightly salty mineral panache. The palate has great acidity and clean, bright lemon and apple fruit before a snappy finish. Perfect for light summer dishes and freshwater fish.
Domaine de la Graveirette Cotes du Rhone 2023 $18
When Julian Mus returned to his family Domaine after studying winemaking in Burgundy, he came with a passion to make wine of his own. Up to that point, the family were strictly growers selling their fruit to the local cooperative, but in 2005 he began making his own wines from vineyards in Chateauneuf-du-Pape and the Cotes du Rhone surrounding. From the beginning, Julian intended to make wine using organic methods, a certification he achieved in 2012, and all his wines are meant to be approachable, neatly balanced, and pure. He uses no oak for any of his cuvees, from the highfalutin’ Chateauneuf to this humble Cotes du Rhone. Made of 100% Grenache, it shows a nose of wild strawberry cooked into a pie, huckleberries, and tarragon. The palate is fleshy but gentle, filled from end to end with red fruit with touches of pepper and orange peel. Just a hint of black soil on finish. This is easy to love Cotes du Rhone ideal for a picnic spread.
Christina Weinland Rose 2025 $21
Christina Netzel knew she wanted to be a winemaker at the tender age of five. Growing up on her family’s farm in Carnuntum, a little way east of Vienna, she was surrounded by vines, wheat fields, orchards, and animals throughout her childhood, but it was grape vines that captured her attention the most. During her viticulture studies she was exposed to wines of all sorts from all over the world. In particular, organically farmed wines repeatedly proved to be more complex and compelling, so when she returned home to take over the family business in 2007, she began the work of converting to organic farming, and with the cheerfully-branded Christina label, she aims to capture Carnuntum’s native varieties in their freshest possible form. The Rose is all Zweigelt vinified and aged in steel, and it smells of lime and watermelon, white strawberry and granite. On the palate, it’s got some weight for a rose, big, juicy strawberry flavors with loads of orange and lime zest and spring blossoms. Crisp and refreshing through the finish, Perfect for caprese salad, or Christina’s own trout dish, if you can get the recipe.
Mesa Willamette Valley Pinot Gris 2024 $16
Matt Kinne’s McKinley label is one of the surest bets in the Willamette Valley. Whether you’re looking at his Willamette Valley Pinot Noir or one of the single vineyard cuvees he makes, you’re not going to find better value for a classic Oregon wine. Unless of course, you pick up a bottle of Matt Kinne’s other wine label, Mesa. This is the name he uses for his off-grid wines, like Gamay or this entrancing Pinot Gris. This massively overdelivers because Matt treats it like Chardonnay, giving the grapes enough time on the vine to develop complex flavors and plenty of lees stirring in the winery for more texture. The result is an action packed Gris, with huge floral aromas, peach sundae, flinty reduction and a margarita salt rim. The palate is creamy and tastes of a spring garden’s worth of flowers with fruit notes of guava, tangerine, and orange sorbet. Excellent for roasted chickens or anything you put honey-dijon mustard on.
Stift Goettweig Kremstal Gruner Veltliner Furth 2023 $22
Keeping vines in central and northern Europe is hard. In contrast to Mediterranean climates where vines seem to spring out from the rocks all by themselves, it takes patience, backbreaking labor, and long-term dedication to convince them to grow in places like Germany and Austria. This is why monasteries are a recurring viticultural motif in this part of Europe. Monks had the time, the land, and the resources to invest in vineyards. The grand monastery of Stift Goetweig is one of the prime examples. One of the largest wineries in Austria for almost 1000 years, Stift Goettweig makes this iconic peppery Gruner Veltliner from the best vineyards of Furth, one of the most prestigious villages in Kremstal Aromas of white pepper and green apple and yellow peach. The palate has surprising weight but no lack of energy to go with flavors of white strawberry, apple sauce, acacia flower and pepper. Like all the best Gruner Veltliner, serve with almost anything other than red meats.
Goodfellow Cellars Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2023 $22
Marcus Goodfellow may be among the best makers of sparkling wine in the Willamette Valley, but his first claim to fame was with Pinot Noir. He has not forgotten how to make the regular stuff, with a shape shifting style in the cellar that gives the vineyards he works with a chance to shine. Those vineyards are all family owned and operated, and never irrigated. Marcus and his partner Megan Joy have found that grapes that get personal attention from people who live on site tend to be better grapes at harvest time. For this Willamette Valley Pinot, he uses fruit from three sites: Whistling Ridge, Tsai, and Fir Crest. The nose is fresh and filled with dewy berry notes, strawberry and cherry, with pink rose and orange zest and a touch of underbrush thanks to whole cluster fermentation. The palate is pure silk, with cranberry and red cherry fruit, a little brick dust earth, and tannins that emerge gently on the finish. A perfect wine for classic French inspired meals in a Farm to Table style cookbook.
Renzo Castella Dolcetto di Diano d’Alba Sori della Rivolia 2024 $21
Diano d’Alba is one of a handful of places where Dolcetto gets top billing among Piedmont’s pantheon of grapes. In the village, Renzo Castella is generally considered the best winemaker in town, and his vineyards are some of the most prominent in the appellation. It is perhaps a coincidence that his Dolcetto vineyards are also right on the border with Barolo, where he makes some pretty good Nebbiolo too. For a Dolcetto to be great, it has to be treated very carefully. It’s a grape that’s happy to build brick-wall style tannins, but unless it’s grown at high elevation it lacks balancing acidity. Renzo grows his grapes at high elevation, and he makes this beautifully balanced Dolcetto with a pungent nose of cherry, rosehip jam, pepper and dusty clay. The palate is medium weight, with flavors of black cherry and raspberry, orange oil and inky black soil. Tannins are present and demanding, so be ready with a pork loin or chop, a tender cut of steak, or a rich mushroom pasta.
Isenhower Cellars Yakima Valley Cabernet Franc 2022 $22
When Brett and Denise Isenhower moved to Walla Walla to make a winery in 1998, they came for the innovative and adventurous spirit in the local wine community, for the wide open skyline reminiscent of their youth in Indiana, and the chance to grow together with a relatively new wine region. Now almost 30 years on, Isenhower Cellars remains one of the gems of the valley. Brett and Denise never went chasing scores, never hired a flashy enologist or an even flashier winery architect. They just made good wine, vintage after vintage. They buy grapes by the acre rather than the ton, an important distinction that encourages their farmers to produce the highest quality grapes rather than hitting an artificial yield mark. They work with limited inputs to make balanced wines that change from vintage to vintage and show off the character of the grapes. For their Cabernet Franc, that means an earth-forward nose with clay and pepper, violets, blueberries and baker’s chocolate. The palate is medium bodied and powerfully fresh, with ripe blackberry pudding and black cherry wrapped around tight grained tannins, with finishing notes of earth, vanilla and chocolate. This one is ready for ribeye, burgers, or potatoes.
Castaldi Vino Rosso Pianazzi 2024 $21
Briona is a small and unassuming town in the Colline Novaresi region of northern Piedmont. Just north of town, a bank of hills begins to rise out of the Po River Valley. These hills eventually turn into Swiss Alps, but here, they are gentle slopes covered in forest and the occasional vineyard. Francesca Castaldi’s ancestors came here in the 1700s and have been making wine ever since. When she took over the family vineyards in 1997, she revitalized the vineyards to take better care of the oldest vines, and introduced modern equipment for gentler handling of the grapes. This cheerful and bright red Nebbiolo is the gentlest wine she makes. The clear shade of ruby is a strong hint of things to come; A nose of wild strawberry, lemon pepper, fennel and mareschino cherry. The palate is cherry flavored, bright and crisp, zesty orange peel and pepper lingering on finish. A crunchy wine perfect for drinking in the sun with pizza or light, zesty pastas.
Tenuta di Tavignano Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico Superiore Villa Torre 2024 $21
The eastern slope of the Apennines is cut at regular intervals by river valleys that create natural channels for air from the mountains to the Adriatic sea, a natural flow of fresh wind that creates ideal conditions for growing grapes. In the middle ages the most prominent of these valleys were peppered with castles to protect the city of Ancona from invasion. Today those castles are known mostly for a little green grape that became nearly synonymous with the area, Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi. Tenuta di Tavignano occupies one of the best quarters of the region, a high elevation site called “The balcony of the Marche” with great views across the landscape, and their entire estate is devoted to organic, regenerative farming. The Villa Torre bottling is a perfect example of this refreshing green tinted wine. The impressively complex nose starts with apple and pear and meyer lemon, with white pepper and fresh sage, rosemary, and sea salt. The palate is pleasantly medium bodied, creamy and fresh lemon and white strawberry, plenty of red delicious apple before a salty finish. Zesty, strong, and refreshing stuff, and just like Gruner Veltliner it goes with most any sort of food, but it’s at its best with saltwater fish dishes.
Pala Cannonau di Sardegna Centosere 2023 $20
Salvatore Pala’s first harvest was in 1950, when he made a little bit of the white Nuraghi grape native to Cagliari in southern Sardinia. Over the years, he added Monica, Vermentino, and Cannonau to the list, and over decades the Pala family built an impressive portfolio of vineyards, some of the oldest in Sardinia in the deeply rural hinterland full of prickly pear cactus and olive orchards. Pala’s house style, for their entry tier wines, is a focus on freshness, so these Cannonau grapes are picked early before fermenting and maturing in steel tanks. The grape’s close genetic link to Grenache shows forth on the nose, with notes of raspberry fruit leather, fig, and rich soil. On the palate, more raspberry, with baking spices and vanilla and a dash of orange oil. Serve this one with Kansas City style barbecue, charcuterie boards, and aged cheese.
Lungarotti Torgiano Bianco Torre di Giano 62 2024 $19
Lungarotti is most famous for essentially founding the Torgiano Denomination with their unique take on high-altitude Umbrian Sangiovese, but sometimes in central Italy it’s just too hot to drink red wine, so in 1962, Giorgio Torgiano began making this white wine, a blend of three quarters Trebbiano with one quarter Grecanico, as a thirst quencher. Succeeding generations were more or less attentive to the white wine, while the red stuff slowly became one of Umbria’s most famous wines, but today, under the direction of sisters Chiara and Theresa Lungarotti, it’s back in focus. The Torre di Giano 62 label is an effort to get back as close as possible to the original formula. Aromas of white peach and lemon, flint and oregano. The palate is substantial, with a creamy element thanks to lees stirring during fermentation, and flavors of white fruits, flowers, citrus zest and salty minerality. An excellent choice for sea bass or scallops.
Redolent Wines at the Winemaker's Barrel
Back in 2015, Jon and Boyd had just fallen into the business of making wine quite by accident, and they followed up with the curious idea to make Nebbiolo in the Columbia Gorge. While they’ve by now proven that this is indeed possible in the Columbia Gorge, they discovered along the way that it’s useful to make money while making wine, so they added a few other varieties to their cellar, grapes that take a little less explanation: Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Come to L&E for a taste of their latest releases, and to hear stories from the cellar.
Redolent Rose of Nebbiolo 2025 $19
Redolent Chardonnay This Must Be The Place 2022 $25
Redolent Brother From Another Mother 2024 $25
Redolent Pinot Noir This Must Be The Place 2024 $31