In 2020 just about everyone has spent some time on Zoom Calls. If you’re involved in the Wine Business in one fashion or another then you’ve definitely been on a lot of Zooms. There are so many Zoom invites it’s impossible to accept them all and do them justice. But there are those it’s wise never to turn down an invite from, if you can help it. My PR friends Tim McDonald, Rusty Eddy (Wine & Spirits Spoken Here), and Robert Larsen (The Larsen Projekt) are certainly on that list. Early on in the Pandemic they started hosting Zoom Tastings about once a month and as much as anything they proved to be a great hang. Of course we also taste some good Wines and from time to time Spirits too.
During the November Edition of this regular get together we made the Paper Plane two different ways. One using Straight Edge Bourbon and the other using Distillery No 209 Gin. Both were really tasty. Though I surprised my preconceived notions be preferring the one made with Gin a bit more. Recipes below. Before we got to those though we tasted some wine. One in particular stood out for me.
Girard 2018 Mixed Blacks ($35)
The fruit for this wine was sourced in Calistoga and it’s a true old school Napa Valley Field Blend with the varieties interplanted. The traditional way to approach these vineyards is to pick, ferment and age the grapes together regardless of variety. There was a time when wines of this nature were commonplace in Napa Valley; today they’re few and far between. So for me the existence of this wine, and it’s tip of the cap to a bygone part of Napa’s history is exciting on it’s face.
Sticking my nose in the glass and then sipping Mixed Blacks reveals a lot more reason than sheer nostalgia to get excited about. This is a wine of heady aromatics, black and red fruits and savory herbs. Oodles of spice and intermingling wisps of citrus peel are evident as well. Racy acid ties it all together. Girard Mixed Blacks will work well with all but the most delicate or heaviest of foods. A great choice for a Holiday Meal loaded with a cornucopia of flavors.
Along with the wine & spirits we tasted on this Zoom there was a 4-pack of “repour wine saver” stoppers. Sometime early in calls Tim started testifying about how well repour works. He was speaking with such fervor about repour I assumed (and asked) how many shares of the company he had in his portfolio. It turns out he neither owns stock, nor are they a client, he just likes things that work. That shouldn’t have surprised me, they often send out bottles or products for their Happy Hour Zooms that they don’t represent. Tim suggested using repour on one of the wines we were tasting and going back to it 8 days later, on Thanksgiving.
I decided to take that challenge and used repour on Girard Mixed Blacks. But not only did I re-taste it on Thanksgiving, I’ve been re-tasting it about once a week since. In fact I’m sipping the last of it as I write this. In short repour works fabulously. After you open a bottle of wine you stick the repour stopper in the bottle whenever you’re not pouring wine. repour removes oxygen from your botte. When you finish the bottle, throw out the stopper and use a new one for the next botte. Purchased in packs of 4 they come to about $2.50 each. But if you buy packages of 10 or more, they’re less than $2 per stopper. The last sips of Girard Mixed Blacks I’m drinking taste exactly like the first sips I took on November 19th. It’s truly a fantastic and well priced product that I plan to purchase a nicely supply of. The moral of the story here is, always listen to Tim McDonald.
Paper Plane Two Ways
The Straight Edge Bourbon Paper Plane
.75 oz Straight Edge Bourbon
.75 oz Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice
.76 oz Aperol
.75 oz Amaro Nonino
Combine all ingredients in a shaker and add ice. Shake until cold. Strain into a chilled couple glass. Enjoy.
The No. 209 Gin Paper Plane
.75 0z No. 209 Gin
75 oz Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice
.76 oz Aperol
.75 oz Amaro Nonino
Combine all ingredients in a shaker and add ice. Shake until cold. Strain into a chilled couple glass. Enjoy.