Explorers' Seasonal Value Pack: Winter Feels - Fireside Toe Warmers

Great Wines Don't Have to be Expensive!

This sampler is focused on fuller and rounder wines, wines that are generally lower in acidity but still vibrant and definitely interesting. These bottles are certainly not only for winter, but they do lend themselves nicely to stews, braises - hearty and earthy fare. And for the all-season grillers, a few of these will feel right at home with fire-cooked morsels any time of year!

There are two white wines, both made from a different single variety. One is from Spain and made from the Macabeo grape (it is called Viura in Rioja) and is one of the best examples I have come across. The second white is a Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc) from Austria. This is rounder than most wines made in Alsace from the same grape. The winemaker uses a low-intervention approach and lets the wine reveal its more wild and funky side.

The four reds are an eclectic bunch. There are two blends and two single variety wines. Regardless of the make-up, these four gems couldn't be more diverse. From Chile, a natural wine made from Pais, the Mission grape, so called because as Spain moved north through South America in the sixteen hundreds, every Catholic mission built included a vineyard for sacramental wine. From the US we have a red blend with Zinfandel as the main attraction. I understand why some folks have come to dislike this grape, but this is not a jammy or one dimensional example. Here we have a fruit-forward wine that finishes dry and offers complexity. The last two reds are both from the 2018 vintage: an Argentine Malbec, and an Umbrian Sangiovese blend that adds that wild and precocious grape Sagrantino to the mix. These two represent how well wines even with a modest price tag can age. The former is in its prime at 5 years old, supple and delicious, and probably won't evolve into something even better; the second shows that even though it drinks very well now with the right food or enough aeration, it will soften and become a different and potentially better wine in a year or two.

This is our 4th Winter pack (oh how the time flies!) and even though it’s skewed toward the red selections, the wines show a wide range of styles and weights to offer diversity for various tastes.

While some folks have had these grapes or wines from these places before, others have not, or maybe these particular bottles are new to you. This is the point of the Explorers' Packs: to try something you haven't had before - whether it is a wine you are completely unfamiliar with or whether the wine is a from a familiar grape or place but perhaps from an unfamiliar wine-maker; these packs aim to offer something different.

This Explorers' Pack is discounted at over 15% off regular prices. No further discounts apply.