SOMM SELECTED HOLIDAY PAIRING WINE PICKS

Hello fellow wine lovers! My name is Stephanie and I’m a Certified Sommelier who has had the pleasure of being on The Rollers Wine and Spirits team for over 8 years now. I have thoughtfully hand picked some of my favorite holiday wines to share with you, the same wines that I’ll be sharing with my own family at the dinner table this year.

OYSTERMAN MUSCADET, LOIRE VALLEY FRANCE

• 

• 

This wine is a collaboration between Casey Davidson who owns Toadfish outfitters, a business dedicated to repairing and conserving coastal waterways, and Frederick Corriher, wine importer from Charleston South Carolina. Fredrick found that he and Casey shared the passion for the ocean, so he used his strengths and sought out winemakers Guy and JeanLuc Olivier to make a wine to help the cause. Thus, a beautiful partnership was born.

Every bottle sold funds the planting of 10 square feet of oyster beds. But why are oysters important? Excess nitrogen in water can cause overstimulation of growth of aquatic plants and algae. Excessive growth of these organisms, in turn, can clog water intakes, use up dissolved oxygen as they decompose and block light to deeper waters. The respiration efficiency of fish and aquatic invertebrates can be affected, leading to a decrease in animal and plant diversity, therefore, affecting our use of the water for fishing, swimming, and boating. Oysters, clams, and other shellfish are efficient filter feeders that help remove excess nitrogen and other toxins from waters by incorporating it into their shells and tissue as they grow. Adult oysters reportedly can filter up to 50 gallons a day, creating a habitat where hundreds of species of fish, crabs, and shrimp can thrive.

This wine is meant to pair with the holiday tradition “The Feast of Seven Dishes” as it pairs phenomenally with all things seafood; but it’s also a lovely aperitif if your dinner plans bring you elsewhere.

MARY TAYLOR SAINT POURCAIN LOIRE VALLEY, FRANCE

Our support and enthusiasm for the wines that Mary Taylor imports radiates directly from her after meeting her via Zoom this past August. It is hard not to be attracted to her wines which reflect her passion, intelligence, and levelheadedness.

She has worked with European wine for over two decades and loves the nuance and diversity of Europe’s extraordinary wine regions, from the tiny villages of France and Italy, to the countryside vineyards of Portugal and Spain. Endlessly fascinated by the way each village’s expression reflects its own unique “terroir,” or sense of place she developed a label based on the “place name” or “appellation” which designated the geographical origin of the wine. The Loire Valley appellation of Saint-Pourçain is nestled in Auvergne, one of France’s oldest wine regions.

Winemaker Sylvain Miniot harnesses this history, taking advantage of oceanic climate and siliceous granitic terroir to produce this rosé from 100% Gamay. Aged 5 months on its lees in stainless steel tanks, it shows a light salmon-pink hue and reveals on the nose aromas of peach and apricot along with hints of raspberries and rose petals. Pair with a spicy or salty dish, holiday ham for example.

JOLIE-LAIDE GAMAY NOIR SEBASTOPOL, CALIFNORNIA

Jolie-Laide is a one-man operation based in a Sebastopol winery. Winemaker Scott Schultz makes only 500 cases of wine a year under his own label. The name Jolie-Laide translates loosely to “Pretty-Ugly”, a French term of endearment to describe something that is unconventionally beautiful. Scott makes some of the most unique and highly sought-after wines in California that are true to their name.

As beautiful on your table as in your glass, the Jolie Laide wine labels feature a different artist every vintage. This year’s collection comes from Kate Scott. Born in 1970, Kate grew up with a passion for music, art and dance. Encouraged by her parents who made sure she was never far away from a box of crayons. She steadily became fascinated and inspired by the world of nature, particularly flowers. In 2007 Kate started experimenting with photography. The real revelation came one day when Kate placed a flower on her flatbed scanner and was mesmerized by the quality of light, reminiscent of the old Dutch Masters. She then developed a unique process where the raw scans were then digitally painted pixel by pixel, capturing and magnifying detail often invisible to the naked eye.

This is a red I could drink all day, any day of the year, with or without food. I am personally excited to pair this Gamay with my turkey this holiday season!

CARNEROS SPRINGS CABERNET SAUVIGNON

NAPA VALLEY, CALIFORNIA

• 

• 

Well, if there is a silver lining for the COVID pandemic here it is…
Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is consistently excellent wine, but it takes a special skill bordering on art to source and blend these wines to make them truly exceptional. Quite often the top producers are caught with an excess of stock. This has recently occurred due to overabundant harvests, and now exacerbated by the COVID-19 induced recession.

These top name wineries will discreetly offer these fine wines to an insider market through agents and brokers who are trusted for their discreetness. We have found such a wine with Carneros Springs Cabernet which was made for a Steakhouse chain in Texas, but since the pandemic hit they have not been able to move through the inventory they expected. With a plethora of extra wine to sell and no storage for it, a broker approached a South Carolina distributor to help, and he just happens to be a close friend of ours! This winery works closely with one of these most trusted and active intermediaries who is also a master wine blender, giving them the opportunity and resources to source the best bulk and components in the perfect proportions, resulting in the highest quality Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon that you can put in a bottle. Because they receive fantastic pricing on fruit, they can pass the savings on to us and we can share these remarkably affordable prices with our consumer. Of course, brokers are sworn to secrecy as these renowned vineyards would not want the public to know of our offerings being sold at a 1/3 to a 1/4 of their prices.

So, enjoy and drink up these fantastic, best of Napa Valley wines, while the opportunity is here. Pairs amazingly with beef, but it would also be fantastic with lamb, venison, and hearty tomato sauce.