April 25, 2024
Dutraive
Who/where are they?
— Jean Dutraive purchased Domaine de la Grand’Cour in 1969 and his son, Jean-Louis joined the team in 1977, taking over in 1989. The estate, the oldest in Fleurie, is comprised of around 22 acres divided between 3 contiguous terroirs: Grand’Cour, Chapelle des Bois, and Champagne. They also have about 4 acres in Brouilly that has been in their family for 5 generations.What are they making?— The Dutraive lineup includes some of the most aromatically and texturally unique wines in all of Beaujolais. Jean-Louis is a true master of Gamay and has been fondly referred by his peers as the “heart of Beaujolais”. His son Justin and daughter Ophélie have joined him in continuing the family passion, with Ophélie at the helm in recent years.— The estate became certified organic in 2009, but they’d been practicing organic for decades prior.Why do we love them?
— The family are regarded as trailblazers in natural viticulture and they continue to serve as a shining example of farmers who work in tandem with nature. Harvest is done by hand, fermented with indigenous yeast, gravity fed into used Burgundy barrels and cement tanks for aging, SO2 is rarely added and no fining or filtration is used. In the words of Jean-Louis, they practice "low intervention, high surveillance" winemaking.
— We’re always honored to have these highly allocated wines grace the shelves at Stanley’s. They’re a convergence of wild and free personality with a seriousness of purpose, oozing with charm and genuine character. We have a very small amount of each so get them while you can!-Michelle-
April 08, 2024
Barrigón
In 2020, after 10 years of making Mezal in Oaxaca, Barrigón founder Xaime Niembo decided to explore the diverse soils of Mexico and create a different delicious beverage…wine! Most grapes are sourced from the organically farmed vineyards on their 14 acre estate in Querétaro with a small supplement from friends in Guanajuato that share the same farming ethos. They make only natural wines, using indigenous yeasts with nothing added, and are bottled without fining, filtering, or adding any sulfur. They call it “Sin Chingaderas” or “wine without any sh*t!”.
Without a dedicated winemaker, the Barrigón team works together to perfect these special offerings. Unfortunately for all of us, they make a very small amount of wine with just over 100 cases of each of the 7 different wines being produced every vintage. You’ll notice the lovable drawings on the labels which represents the “Barrigónes” that are part of the team that make this wine possible, all represented with “big bellies and fun attitudes”. They chose the name Barrigón because it translates to “big belly” and they firmly believe everything that ends up in there should be enjoyable and make you happy. We couldn’t agree more and these wines do just that! In their own words: “We don’t just make wine because we love it, we make it because we love to eat, we love to drink, we love to enjoy ourselves, we love to share and we are endlessly marveling at what each vintage brings to us”.
A lemony, edgy and delicious white, an ultra-fresh crushed pineapple and stone fruited orange, and a light-bodied rosado full of ruby red grapefruit and white pepper spice are now in the shop, just in time for summer. ¡Salud!
-Michelle-
April 01, 2024
Decideret
High school friends Cornelius, Martin and Jakob came up with the idea to make delicious juice in the late summer of 2015. They were at Jakob’s college graduation party gathered around beers at a park, with the topic of discussion being the lack of a local wine tradition and culture in their country of Denmark. An estimated 5,000 tons of apples rot in orchards there every year and this just didn’t sit well with them. With the ethos and vision of natural wine, the three broke into the nearly untapped market making cider and fruit pet-nats, giving this previously forgotten fruit a new purpose.
Their operation grew from gathering apples at nearby parks and in the backyards of friends, making the juice in their parents garages, to a full production facility in Nordhavn, sourcing from some of the best organically farmed fruit in Denmark. Using native yeasts, method ancestrale to achieve natural bubbles, and as little intervention as possible, they’re proving that fruit wines can be as complex as grape wines - and fun too! We’re seeing more and more of these co-ferments of apples, pears, and others with grapes in the market and we’re all for it. They’re vibrant, alive and some are even low ABV so they’re perfect for drinking all afternoon! Skål!-Michelle-
March 09, 2024
Wandering Barman
Ever wait too long for a fussy cocktail at a bar on a busy Saturday night, wishing you had ordered a beer instead? Enter: the kegged cocktail. This methodology means that you can get a drink with the same level of complexity, in the time it takes to pull a lever. Brooklyn hospitality veterans Roxane Mollichi, Darren Grenia, and Julian Mohamed opened their Bushwick bar, Wandering Barman, with the intention of bringing the taproom experience to the cocktail world. The team uses their deep botanical knowledge, as well as cutting edge bartending techniques, to create cocktails that can maintain their freshness and vibrancy in the keg — and now, in the bottle.
What are they making?Some of you may be fans of the Wandering Barman bottled cocktails we’ve had in the shop for a while now: Iron Lady, a rose gin drink with grapefruit and a backbone of hoppy bitterness; Socialite, a gin old-fashioned with elderflower and cucumber; and FOMO, a spicy pineapple vodka sling with hatch chile.We’ve just brought in two new stunners from the team that we’re thrilled about. First, Ghosted, a white Negroni with a hint of juniper that is just screaming to be your spring staple. Second (and my current personal favorite), Boomerang, a hickory smoked old fashioned. Drool!Why do we love them?
Wandering Barman makes some of the best canned (or in their case, bottled) cocktails in the game. Making a great ready-to-drink cocktail is tough. Citrus juice, which provides the make-or-break acidity in most cocktails, loses its freshness about twenty minutes after being squeezed. It takes both creative ingredient use, as well as strong scientific acumen, to be able to create a shelf-stable drink that tastes as good as the day it was bottled. Wandering Barman excels on both these fronts.-Sara-
February 22, 2024
Heater Allen
In this month’s beer club, we’re highlighting some of the country’s cultiest breweries. One of them is McMinnville, Oregon’s Heater Allen, which makes one of the world’s most awarded, sought-after pilsners. In the late 90s, Rick Allen started home brewing as a way to decompress from his stressful job as an investment banker. Turns out, he had quite a knack for it. In 2007, Rick finally went for it, and opened a truly tiny microbrewery. Accolades started to roll in, culminating in the brewery’s 2022 Gold Medal at the World Beer Cup for the pilsner.
Who are they?
Heater Allen remains a family business. The “Heater” refers to his wife’s maiden name (Rick thinks his wife “should always get first billing”). His daughter Lisa also joined the brewery in 2009, working her way up until she finally became the head brewer in 2017. In November of 2022, Lisa and her partner Kevin Davey (the founder of Portland’s Wayfinder Beer) took over Heater Allen as its new owners and head brewers.
Heater Allen focuses on traditional, Czech-style beers. We have their pilsner and their schwarzbeir (black lager) in the shop right now, and both are incredibly vivid expressions of the style. The hops taste fresh, the malt creamy. Each sip is super satisfying.
-Sara-
