DC Wine Buyers Collective

Over Winter Break I was able to pay a visit to Santa Barbara County wine country.  Such a beautiful place!  If there’s a place that looks like what heaven must look like, it must be Santa Barbara: the coast immediately to the west, holding at bay the crashing sea—the hills to the east, covered in goats and horses and vines and trees—the vineyards themselves, gnarled brown-gray punctuated by flashes of startling green.  The torrential, record-breaking storms cleared the air of dust and Los Olivos of tourists, so my friend and I, very nearly the only people to brave the rain, were treated to VIP service at the tasting rooms.

  
pictures from Los Olivos, CA

One of the tasting rooms we visited was for Stolpman Vineyards, a venerable institution that is renowned for its Syrah and Rhône varietals, as well as its Sangiovese.  

the outside of Stolpman Vineyards’s tasting room in Los Olivos

The tasting room manager was quite liberal with the pours, so it is perhaps not surprising that I ended up joining Stolpman’s wine club that very day.  But, unlike many other drunken decisions, this is one I do not regret: to the contrary, I have access to special wine club prices and, for the month of February, free shipping on orders of 12 or more bottles.  I am very pleased to bring you the DC Wine Buyers Collective’s latest deal on Stolpman Vineyards wine.

 
yes, please—and yes, please again

You probably won’t be able to find any of this out on the East Coast.  These wines may have been vinified in California from California grapes, but they are Old World in character.  (Something about you can take the grape out of France, but you can’t take the France out of the grape?)  I liked the Stolpman wines because, even though they were not shy, they retained an easy elegance.  I am offering only three wines out of their long lineup—these were my three favorites from the trip.

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THE REDS…

2009 Stolpman “La Coppa” Sangiovese | 100% Sangiovese | Santa Ynez Valley, CA | $15.20 (regular price: $18.24 + shipping and tax)The friend you take with you to dinner parties when a date is required and you are, unfortunately, single.

This is a wine profound in its simplicity.  Stolpman offers an estate Sangiovese that is more expensive, but I preferred the La Coppa by far.  This is a light, juicy wine with excellent acidity.  Sangiovese is the grape one finds in Chianti, and like its Italian relatives, the La Coppa is perfect with pastas, pizzas, anything with tomatoes or cheese.  The last DCWBC deal featured “Wines to Cook With,” and the La Coppa fits that bill exactly.  You MUST buy a few bottles, because if you buy only one you will be kicking yourself for not buying more.

2008 Stolpman “Originals” Syrah | 100% Syrah | Santa Ynez Valley, CA | $30.40 (regular price: $38.00 + shipping and tax)The well-proportioned, dark-haired beauty with whom you fall in love at one of said dinner parties.

Picked from Stolpman’s oldest vineyard blocks, this is mouth-filling and luscious (but not in an Australian Shiraz way).  I wrote “graphite, dried fruit; dark and sexy.”  If you like Shiraz you may very well like this—not jammy but still plush and full-bodied.  If you like Côte-Rôtie you might not like this because it doesn’t seem as… well, roasted or austere.  Nonetheless, it’s not all fruit and lovin’—it’s a serious wine.

… AND THE WHITE.

2008 Stolpman “L’Avion” | 100% Roussane | Santa Ynez Valley, CA | $30.40 (regular price: $38.00 + shipping and tax)The ethnically ambiguous yet absolutely stunning blond that catches your eye—and your heart—at one of said dinner parties.

Why did I compare this to an “ethnically ambiguous” blond?  Roussane is a grape quite often grown in the Southern Rhône, to be blended with multitudes of other varietals to create the sublime Châteauneuf-du-Pape blanc.  I’ve had the 2007 vintage, and I was literally blown away.  I didn’t know that a California wine could compete with the charisma of Châteauneuf-du-Pape blanc, but the proof was in my glass.  What does CdP blanc taste like?  I would characterize it as having an intensely aromatic nose, with honeysuckle and flowers and maybe a trace of lanolin, tasting of stone fruit and hazelnut, feeling shimmery and coating the tongue with zingy acidity balanced by wonderful weight in the mouth.  That all sounds like nonsense, sure, but really: buy a bottle and come up with your own words to describe this wine.  I challenge you to come up with something that doesn’t sound like the love poem of a stricken man.

(L’Avion, by the way, means “runway” or “airstrip”—it was named for a small dirt landing strip near the vineyards.)

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This deal closes at 11:59 pm on Monday, February 7.  To qualify for the free shipping we need to order at least 12 wines—I don’t think this will be a problem, given the quality of the wines.  As always, wines are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.  Because this order will be shipped from California it will take 2-3 weeks to fulfill.  I will put together another quick-turnaround, local deal soon. 

Please order through this link:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AodSYzMBprcgdHEtb0VXRy1sRHpxdDY2Z1JzUlRPSWc&hl=en&authkey=CKWmvIcN