The Emancipated Tasting

In the spirit of Inauguration Week and the country’s renewed commitment to personal responsibility, we are presenting you with a tasting unfettered by the traditional constraints of wine tasting. This is all about you and your palate. This is not a Blind Tasting! That pesky label implies that your senses are being restricted. Let’s call it an Emancipated Tasting. A goal of a traditional blind tasting is to identify the varietal, region, producer and vintage of the wine. All too often that format feels like a test and takes away from the enjoyment of the wine. Our goal with this evening’s tasting is to remove all the indicators that might prod you to think of what you are "supposed" to think about the wine, so that you can focus entirely on your response to the wine itself. No preconceived notions, just your impression. Celebrate the diversity of wines out there and exercise your right to drink what you love!

Wines from Valle D’Aosta (Italy)

As you turn North from Torino you leave behind the rolling foothills of the Langhe and start to climb towards Europe’s highest peak and border with France: Monte Bianco. Once a colony of Piedmont, the Valle D’Aosta was ruled by the House of Savoy for over a century. The heights of Gran Paradiso Nature Reserve collide with the often swollen banks of the Dora Baltea River where vines, grasping to the steep mountain pistes, thrive. The soils are predominantly glacial moraine so grape choices and wine styles are primarily determined by altitude (300 - 800m). This is Italy’s smallest wine region and many of the wines never make it outside the Valle D’Aosta, never mind overseas. These wines are fresh and bright and would be perfect for a summer picnic, but they are also beautiful with rich game and charcuterie, fitting for the cold New England winter. 

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Zap! Bam! Pow!

Tonight we’ve got a line-up of superheroes- wines that come from humble beginnings and save the day with their uncanny abilities. Big bang for the buck, great to drink on their own or with food, and there’s even some X-ray vision- these wines are windows to their terroir. And since they’re here at the Wine Bottega you know they’re fighting for truth and justice, vanquishing the minions of evil (those wines spewed from the factories at the behest of masked marketing departments and shady multinational conglomerates). In times like these, we need some wines to take a stand. And like a good comic book, we can take comfort that you can still find something for a just a little bit of change that makes the troubles of the day fade away.

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