SPIRITS OF THE GAME By AZ Golf Insider Staff
< Start the new year right If your New Year resolution includes drinking better, more sustainable wines, consider Miner Family Winery’s beautiful 2012 Wild Yeast Chardonnay. The venerable Napa Valley producer located in the Oakville district uses only indigenous wild yeast cultures found on the grapes and vineyard to ferment this buttery, rich and glorious white ripe with pear, melon, butterscotch and hazelnut notes. Dazzle your foursome and start with hors d’oeuvres and this bottle. $50.
> Great white Wine production began at Chateau de Sancerre in the heart of France’s Loire Valley about 1,000 years ago, and all those generations of terroir and wine-making perfection come through at first swirl, sniff and sip of its 2014 Sancerre, the winery’s flagship Sauvignon Blanc-based white wine. Rich and well-balanced — not exactly what you expect of typical Sauv Blancs — this luscious fruit-forward wine is best served chilled on its own, or perhaps with a Caesar salad or soft cheeses. $32.
< Italian stallion For those partial to red wines from Italy, why not journey to Umbria for a bottle of seductive Arnaldo Caprai Collepiano Montefalco Sagrantino. This sexy, full-bodied red offers a velvety mouth feel, mature red fruit impressions and vanilla bakery spice — perfect with grilled burgers or sausages after a long day at the golf course. Better still, go for regional authenticity and grill steaks with a drizzle of olive oil, juniper berries and a bit of fennel. $55.
14 | AZ GOLF Insider | PREVIEW 2017
> For Francophiles You will deem Chateau La Nerthe Rouge 2012 from France’s Chateauneuf-du- Pape region fit to serve at your next weekend soiree. It’s one of the best wines that the AZ Golf Insider staff has sampled all year. With the structure and aging potential of a Bordeaux and complexity of a great Burgundy, this Rhone showstopper exhibits heaps of fresh, bright red fruit in an easy-to-sip package. Made primarily of Grenache and Syrah, smaller amounts of Mourvedre and Cinsault add depth and intrigue with each nip. $65.
< Progressive sipping And once you’ve polished off the delicious Chardonnay, wow your guests with rib eyes and Miner Family Vineyard’s 2013 Stagecoach Cabernet Sauvignon. This impressive, elegant wine sourced from the rugged mountaintop Stagecoach Vineyard on the eastern slopes of Napa Valley bursts with black cherry and licorice flavors. Smaller amounts of Merlot and Cabernet Franc round out the lush tannins of this exceptional big red. $75.
Where to buy These selections and others are available at fine wine and spirits retailers like Total Wine & More, BevMo and AJ’s Fine Foods Valley-wide.
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