Arik, our favorite Padawan, Wine Tasting

Everyone's Favorite Padawan, Arik!

Friday July 18th
Everyone’s favorite padawan, Arik!
Regular$/Tasting$

2023, Benoit Daridan, Cheverny Blanc, Loire, France
$23.99/$20.39
Benoit Daridan comes from a long line of vignerons, being the seventh generation in his family to make wine in
Cheverny, and he works with the utmost respect for the land and the vines. His Cheverny Blanc is a blend of 80%
Sauvignon Blanc and 20% Chardonnay that’s produced entirely in stainless steel to preserve the inherent fresh
character of the wine. The nose is fresh with notes of citrus fruits such as grapefruit and white flesh fruits. The mouth is
lively, round and well-balanced with distinct mineral notes on the finish.
2023, Unico Zelo, “Jade & Jasper” Fiano, Riverland, Australia $26.99/$22.94
Full of white peach blossoms, honeydew, and lemon, all covered in a generous splash of Granny smith Apple. This
continues onto an electric palate, lifted by a rich fruit-sweetness, and sparked to life with a crispy acidity. A pleasure to
drink at any time of the day. While this immediately bewitches with its light, fresh, crisp refreshingness, there’s real
substance here, a broadness that fans out and fills every corner of the mouth and works its way into your head, where
it lingers, teasingly, tempting you to revisit it with another sip.
2024, Day Wines, “Lemonade” Rose, Willamette Valley, Oregon
$25.99/$22.09
Those intimately acquainted with Italian wines have probably heard of the Ciliegiolo grape, but are probably most
familiar with it as a blending grape sometimes used in the making of Chianti. In Umbria however, Leonardo Bussoletti
and others have been working hard to re-establish the varietal to its former level of prestige. The wine shows a pink
color with delicate but intense aromas, to the nose citrus notes of pink grapefruit, slightly spicy, with a very pleasing
minerality.
2024, Torre dei Beati, “Rosa-ae” Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo, Abruzzo, Italy
$24.99/$21.24
In true Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo form, the “Rosa-ae” leans into the denser, darker, and more full-bodied end of the pink
wine spectrum, combining equal parts saignée method, direct press, and cold maceration on the skins, resulting in a
deceptively complex and dangerously delicious wine that oscillates between ripe, textural, and brooding, and high-
toned, fresh, and laser-focused. This pours a lustrous fuchsia, practically catapulting fistfuls of fresh-cut strawberries
and all kinds of red fruit elements from the glass. Strawberry, rhubarb, pomegranate, fresh florals, clove, and of course
oodles of red and black cherry, rounding things out with a dash of perfectly lingering alpine amaro spice.
2024, Emme Wines, “Violet Sky” Valdiguie, Redwood Valley, California
$32.99/$28.04
There are few producers we’re more excited about than Rosalind Reynolds’ Emme Wines. Rosalind focuses on "old
school" California varietals, like Carignan, Colombard, Merlot and Zinfandel, as well as uncommon grapes like Abouriou,

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Valdiguie and Muscat Vert, all farmed organically and sustainably, and she makes wine without additives and minimal
intervention. Her Violet Sky Valdiguie is the latest wine that has us beguiled. This patio-ready champion is a tart,
chillable red with cranberry and pomegranate fruit, mineral smoke, and chalky tannins.