April 2026 Newsletter
April's Newsletter is full of zest and fresh fruits, herbs, and spices, perfect for warmer weather now that spring is in full swing. This month, the wines are divided according to geography. We have wines from river valleys, from the mountains, and from the seashore.
Four wines from the River, to be tasted April 11th
Isaac Fernandez Seleccion Rueda Verdejo Egeo 2023 $18
Isaac Fernández Montaña is a busy man, producing wine in half a dozen regions throughout Spain. His aim, wherever he works, is to help revive the fortunes of some of Spain’s less heralded wine regions left behind when Rioja and Cava and Priorat first came to overwhelming prominence in the early 20th century. Rueda, the historical wine region where Verdejo has become the signature variety, is his second such project, and still one of the most important.. The Egeo was first bottled in 2011, a classic example of the grape combining zesty fresh fruit and rich nutty essences. One of the keys to quality here is the 50 year old bush vines, digging deep into the sandy soil to find mineral cut and complexity. Aromas include peach and marzipan, orange and almond butter, clean cut notes preserved by fermentation in stainless steel. The palate is medium bodied, with peaches and pears and almond blossoms, before the finish offers up a touch of salt.
Cameron Dundee Hills Pinot Blanc Giovanni 2025 $21
“2024 was probably the best vintage I’ve made. I think I might like 2025 better.” -John Paul
Cameron’s Giovanni is a rite of spring, a sunshine burst of delicious Pinot Blanc that arrives each year in time for the first decent stretch of weather. The 2024 batch was a marvel, just like most Willamette Valley wines of that vintage, but this new edition might somehow be even better! Cameron’s dry-farmed vines always manage to capture more flavor intensity in their grapes, so the Pinot Blanc in here is bursting at the seams with white strawberry, roasted peaches, and cara cara, all buzzing with stainless-steel minerality, and that’s all before you take a sip. The palate is like peaches and cara cara oranges so ripe they make your hands sticky, with gardenia and orange blossoms and peach sundae, all of it dancing with crackling bright acidity before a flinty sharp finish. Serve with tacos, white pizza, grilled cheese, and other handheld foods on a warm spring day.
Domaine de la Chapelle des Bois Chiroubles 2024 $22
Often when it comes to making wine, less is more. This is the philosophy Chantal and Eric Coudert-Appert used when they built their Beaujolais domaine into one of the most important properties in Fleurie. Though they sold their domaine in 2017 to Frederic Montangeron, the new guy bought the philosophy as well, and continues to make wine without yeast additions, does his fermentation in concrete vats and aging in large, old oak barrels that don’t get in the way of Gamay’s bright fruit flavors. The domaine’s vines in the sky-scraping Cru of Chiroubles produce the most vibrant wine of all, with a nose of red cherry cordial, lavender and lilac with orange peel and a baseline of dusty granite and underbrush. The palate is just as bright cherry red, with notes of sage and tarragon and oodles of zesty acidity that make this medium bodied and lightly tannic wine feel buoyant and lively. At meal time, bring on all those summer salads, pork tenderloins, and charcuterie boards with pate on them.
Viña Jaraba Vino de Pago Crianza 2019 $18
If you look at La Mancha from space, you see a lot of flat farmland and an unusual number of windmills, but if you zoom out, you begin to notice several smears of white soil traced across the otherwise Martian-red landscape. In the middle of these streaks are rivers like the tiny Zancara, which hardly flows in the dry season but has gently worn away the landscape to expose a layer of limestone-rich soil, together with sand and alluvial deposits perfect for growing grape vines. Vina Jaraba was established here in 1997 and quickly earned Vino de Pago designation – essentially a winery specific appellation – in 2018. This Crianza is their flagship wine, made from 80% Tempranillo and 10% each Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Thanks to meticulous farming, the wine shows rare balance and tension for such a hot and dry climate. Aromas include dried strawberry, smoked meat (slathered with texas style barbecue sauce), leather and black pepper, with sandy soil notes below. On the palate, pepper and strawberry and black cherry and earth show with a hint of new oak baking spice and vanilla. For this wine, order up grilled meats, hearty stews, and spicy potato dishes.
Four wines from the Seaside, open to try on April 18th
Celler Piñol Terra Alta Garnatxa Blanca Raig de Raïm 2024 $19
Juan and Terasina Piñol inherited a vineyard in Terra Alta in the 1940s, and over the decades their vineyard became a fixture in the region and in an era when cooperatives demanded ever more volumes of ever blander wine, Piñol’s grapes were prized for their quality. Now in the hands of their children and grandchildren, the Piñol family make their own wine to the highest standards. They were early adopters of organic practices, and work only with native Catalan varieties. Terra Alta – as the name implies – is a windswept, high elevation region outside Tarragona and the birthplace of Garnatxa Blanca. The wine is aged in steel and made to combine the grape’s rich texture with the razor sharp acidity nurtured by limestone soils. Aromas start with peach and pear butter, orange peel and limestone minerality. The palate is full bodied and filled from wall to wall with Cara Cara orange notes, flaky salt crystals, and gardenia blossoms. The finish features orange zest and snappy acidity. This is a mouthful of white wine perfect for roasted birds, crabs, and halibut.
Barbadillo Vino de la Tierra de Cadiz Palomino Sabalo 2023 $19
Palomino from the countryside surrounding Cadiz is a curious case. It is a style of wine that has existed for centuries, was once among the most popular wines in the world and offers a unique combination of salt and spice. Very few people have heard of it these days because almost all Palomino from Cadiz is made into Sherry, a style that has defined Andalucian wine since the 1860s. Bodegas Barbadillo makes some of the very best Sherry available, but at just over 200 years old, the winery is old enough to remember what Palomino was like before the age of Sherry. This wine comes from two organic vineyards outside Sanlucar de Barrameda, and ages on stainless steel with lees stirring for extra textural heft. Wildly complex aromas jump out of the glass: sea salt, beachgrass, cinnamon and apple sauce; cedar, pineapple, cara cara orange, and the pure white chalky albariza soil of the region. The palate offers poached pears and roasted peaches with floral accents and a final touch of sea salt on the finish. The wine is named Sabalo after the local fish that plays a central part on most local menus.
La Patience Vin de France Rouge 2023 $18
Garrigue sounds like a fanciful term – shorthand for a collection of aromatic shrubs and underbrush – but in the vineyards of France’s Mediterranean shore where Christophe Aguilar’s vines are planted it is a quite literal phenomenon. On warm summer evenings, the air of the countryside smells strong and specifically of lavender, sage, rosemary and thyme. One of the less well-travelled ingredients of the garrigue palette is la patience, an herb that grows abundantly in Cristophe’s vineyards and lends its name and likeness to his wine. It must also lend something of its aroma, because in this cheerfully savory red, each note of juicy red cherry comes in equal proportion with garrigue, plus a touch of toasted orange peel. The palate is a little lighter than medium bodied, with fresh acids and gentle but everpresent tannins wrapped around flavors of bing cherry, pepper, lavender, sage and rosemary. A blend of Carignan, Grenache, and Syrah, organically farmed and aged in steel tanks, this is wine for everyday meals and outdoor menus: burgers, pizzas, and picnic fare.
Vignalta Colli Euganei Rosso Riserva 2019 $21
There is a curious range of volcanic hills that rise out of the Po River basin a little way south of Verona where Bordeaux varieties were planted in the 18th century to satisfy the taste of Venetian nobles. The Colli Euganei remains an island of Francophile vines, but that’s where the similarity to Bordeaux ends, because the wines of Vignalta are pure Italian charm. The Rosso Riserva is a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon that spends three years resting in oak barrels before bottling. The aromas are rich and effusive: tobacco and tomato leaf, blackcurrant and raspberry, rosemary and sage and potting soil. The tannins frame a hearty palate gently, they’re smooth yet substantial, giving plenty of room for blackberries and currants and orange oil, baking spices and roasted coffee and notes of dried fruit that emerge on the finish. This is wine for cold, rainy days with stew, or serious barbecue spreads. Among meats, steak is the obvious choice.
Four wines from the Mountains, to be sampled at L&E on April 25th
Asnella Vinho Verde 2024 $22
Vinho Verde’s rise as a wine region has come faster than anyone was ready for, but the wines coming out of Portugal’s northern district lately have been delightful. Forget the simple, fizzy cooperative wines of yesteryear, this is a single vineyard edition from the Basto subregion, the inland southern quarter of Vinho Verde closest to the border with the Douro valley. The land is high in elevation as it rises into the Serra do Marão mountains, a mixture of granite and schist soils, each with their own addition of mineral notes to the wine. Asnella is a blend of Arinto and Loureiro, two favorite white grapes of the region that compete with each other to shine brighter and bring more acid to the blend. Aromas of lime and lemon, white flowers, granite and salt, with a waft of wintergreen. The palate is clean and crisp, with waves of acidity that bring ever more lemon and lime, tarragon and white pepper, salt and beachgrass and seabreeze. Pair with crusty seafood like shrimp, oysters, and clams, or fresh and not-too-spicy east Asian cuisine.
Weingut Am Berg Kamptal Grüner Veltliner 2022 1000ml $22
Michael Gruber’s great-grandparents lived on a self-sufficient farm, with vineyards, orchards, wheat, cattle and chickens. Most everyone in Kamptal made their own wine for their own table, and while Michael’s father Ludwig built a tavern and transformed the farm into a wine-only operation, the tradition remains for everyday Gruner Veltliner that’s far better than it needs to be. The winery’s name Am Berg means From the Mountain, and the granite hills of the Gruber’s 13 hectares impart classic mineral character into this bottle. The wine smells strongly of lemon, apple and key lime with notes of snap pea and white pepper – seemingly lifted straight from the dictionary entry on Gruner Veltliner. The palate is brightly flavored with lemon, pepper and green apple, while flinty minerality positively hums throughout, before the delicately creamy finish lands with lemon curd and a dash of salt. This is the sort of endlessly versatile Gruner that can handle nearly any kind of meal short of red meat, but it is at its best with difficult dishes like asparagus, fish sauce flavored stir fries, and curry.
Reverdito Langhe Nebbiolo Simane 2023 $21
The most famous and expensive Nebbiolos are generally celebrated for their complexity, but Nebbiolo’s best quality might be something else—clarity. This is something the Reverdito family has understood since the 1960s, when Silvano Reverdito began buying up parcels of vines in Barolo. When brother and sister Michele and Sabina began making wine in 2000, it was from the perspective of farmers, and their approach to making wine stood on two non-negotiable precepts. Great wine can only come from great grapes, and wine is something for regular people to enjoy, even if it comes from famous places. Their farming is impeccable, and the winemaking is unadorned, straightforward, and aims to preserve that clear bell-ring of fruit at the core of any great Nebbiolo. There’s strawberry and raspberry here, a little orange and fennel seed, before the palate offers more red and orange notes with anise and tannins that build slowly towards the finish, firm but never in the way of the fruit. This isn’t a razzle-dazzle type wine, this is Bach’s Cello Suite: simple, insistent, and satisfying.
Gota Prunus Dao Tinto Private Selection 2022 $16
Natalia Jessa’s prior job title was head wine buyer for Tesco, England’s largest grocery chain. In that job, she met a number of small organic farmers throughout Portugal who had trouble getting their wines to market, since they didn’t conform to the bulk standards demanded by large Portuguese wineries. Natalia founded Gota to give those small organic outfits a better option. This appealing Dão Tinto is one result of her efforts, a remarkable wine for a very fair price. Farmed organically towards the bottom of the wide and warm Dão valley, this vineyard would be too hot to produce compelling wines without the daily Atlantic winds that filter through the region to restrain the summertime heat. A blend of Jaen (Mencia ) with small proportions of Tinta Roriz, Alfrocheiro, and other obscure grapes. Aged in a mix of cement and neutral oak, this is a sumptuously rich, fruit forward, and surprisingly complex wine. Aromas start with blackberry pie, blueberries, currants, vanilla bean, burnt orange peel, and cracked pepper. The palate is full and juicy, again with black fruits, blueberries, black pepper and cinnamon, before the finish comes with a burst of blackberries and granite soil. Serve with smoked meats fresh off the barbecue and dirty rice dishes of Portuguese origin.
The Winemaker's Barrel will feature wines by Cristina Gonzales of Gonzales Wine Co. Cristina has been working in the wine since a chance encounter with a particularly good steak and a glass of Malbec in Argentina in 2001. She started her own label in 2010, and makes a range of fresh-flavored wines from Riesling to Malbec, and as a board member at AHIVOY, she is an advocate for Latina and Latino vignerons throughout Oregon. Meet Cristina at L&E Saturday, April 4th
Gonzales Wine Company Martinez Rojas Vineyard Riesling 2024
Gonzales Wine Company ALAD Vineyard Gewurztraminer 2024
Gonzales Wine Company Quail Run Vineyard Malbec 2023
Gonzales Wine Company Oasis Vineyard Petit Verdot The Revolutionary 2021