Winter Wine Club 2025

Winter Wine Club 2025

Welcome back to another episode of David’s continued quest to explore some of the oddest but most delicious corners of the wine world! This winter release marks the third year of my labor of love and seven years of working at the shop, and I’ve really been reflecting on my time lately. When I started, my most recent employer was the US Forest service where I was a ranger at the Newberry National Volcanic Monument (AKA Lava Lands, Lava River Cave, and Paulina/East Lakes). Before that, I spent 4 ½ years in restaurants while moonlighting at the National Aquarium in Baltimore. Even while I’ve worked here I’ve dabbled in other industries, working as a barista at Spoken Moto and Lone Pine & representing a winery selling wine to other retailers. But through all of these changes, I’ve remained steadfast in one thing: my captivation and enchantment with wine, which has led me to my uniquely amazing position today.

I’ve made my way into the wine industry very unconventionally: I managed an Italian restaurant straight out of college, worked at a Michelin star restaurant in DC, worked a harvest at a small natural winery and have made a living focusing on sourcing wines that are generally quite obscure and unique (for lack of a better word). It should come as no surprise that this winter’s bottlings are sure to fascinate, refresh, and comfort you and I couldn’t be more excited. This is always a culmination of so much work and preparation and since we met last, I’ve received such amazing feedback from everyone. Thanks so much for your continued support of my fun little program here at West Coast Provisions, happy holidays to you and yours!

Foreau – Vouvray Methode Traditionelle Brut 2019

Among the club wines earlier this fall was a truly brilliant Chenin Blanc by Thomas Puechavy. I briefly mentioned a couple of esteemed neighbors whose vineyards sandwich his, their wines reference points for the entire appellation… Philippe Foreau is one of them. He has been at the helm of his estate since his father’s retirement in 1983, organically working 27 acres of Chenin Blanc vines his grandfather purchased in 1923, and since 2015 has been joined by his son, Vincent. Their cellar was dug (by hand) out of the zone's classic tuffeau limestone during Philippe's grandfather's time. Its raw walls, lit sparingly by hanging bulbs and lined by 20–30 year old barrels, speak viscerally of the local terroir. Their entire operation is a powerful reminder that technology is not required to make great wine. This is their sparkling wine which spent 48 months aging in bottle with the spent yeast cells which carried out secondary fermentation, imparting complexity to a concentrated and bright bubbly. Full-stop, one of my all time favorites. Bring it to a party and wow your friends!

Bernhard Ott – Grüner Veltliner “Am Berg” 2024

Now the fourth generation to take the helm of this estate which began in 1889, Bernhard took over for his father in 1993. His mission was to prove that elegant and ageworthy wines could be made from Grüner, and so he made many transformations. Initially he changed the cellar, moving from old barrels to stainless steel, and finally to larger foeders (giant oak barrels). He also began investing in organic and biodynamic viticulture; one year he used so much manure (100,000 euros-worth) to reinvigorate his soils that he was contacted by the EU who thought he must’ve made an accounting mistake. His winemaking is complex: he utilizes stems and briefly macerates his wines in the press, often taking the better part of a day, and aging is done at very cold temperatures, inhibiting malolactic fermentation. “Am Berg,” or “on the mountain” is their entry-level bottling sourced from vineyards in Feuersbrunn, Austria. Grown in wind-blown Loess soils and made using only stainless steel, it’s atypically textural (which makes it special to me). But the flavors? Spot-on. This is a bottle to bring to the mountain, tailgating on a bluebird day with some bratwursts sizzled over a camp stove.

Bricco Ernesto – Arneis “Vino Bianco” 2021

If you’ve been in wine club for a while, you’ll recall my fiancée and I went to Italy’s Piedmont region in May of 2023. I have since featured a few of the wines I discovered and tasted during that trip in wine club releases. My experience at Bricco Ernesto was one I thought for sure I’d never get to share, due to both the exclusivity and cost of the wines. However, due to a snafu in logistics, I now get to tell you an amazing story of one of my favorite experiences in the wine world and you get to try this incredible wine.

The last 48 hours of our trip to Italy were spent in the area around Alba, our Airbnb with arched brick ceilings acting as home base while we drove around the countryside in an Alfa Romeo that would shut off randomly, often in the many traffic circles of the region. We arrived by train from Lake Como, collected our rental and drove to our first appointment in La Morra of Barolo at the immitable Oddero, where (due to their French importer having been there the day prior) we tasted through a dozen wines and toured their cellar; an experience I’ll never forget. We then drove north to the Roero region, where we had coordinated a visit with Renato and Elisa of Bricco Ernesto.

His importer had supplied me with an address as well as a phone number to get in touch. Using Google Maps, we wound our way up a narrow country road and pulled into the driveway, but quickly discovered there was no one home. I got on the phone and called the number supplied to us, but it was answered by someone who didn’t speak a word of English; dead end. Thunder rolled in the distance. We looked around and after about 5 minutes of panic, we noticed a group of people farming a plot of vines up the hill using hand tools. I made the decision to see if these folks knew where we could find Renato, but as it turned out, one of them was Renato! He and his friends were tilling the soil around these young vines by hand to capture the incoming rain, their first in a very long time. We had obviously caught him off-guard, but as the rain began to fall and thunder got louder, he told us to collect our car and follow him up to his house about a mile away.

This was when we turned and realized that the driveway we had parked in wasn’t his, and returned to our car having been blocked in by a Toyota truck, quite aggressively if I’m honest. As we walked up, rain really coming down now, we were greeted (accosted) by an older man who also spoke no English. We did our best in very broken Italian to explain what had happened: Google had taken us to the wrong address and we were there to visit his noisy neighbor up the street. He accepted our apology and let us leave as the skies fully opened up. We followed Renato in his 1980’s VW Vanagon, winding through narrow streets and eventually arriving at his family’s L-shaped farmhouse where he and his partner Elisa occupied one of the apartments. Renato frantically moved barrels under downspouts, collecting precious rainwater. We moved inside the tiny cellar and had one of the most fulfilling conversations I’ve ever had about wine. They were so incredibly warm and inviting, opening a magnum of the wine you’re about to enjoy, and sharing some toasted hazelnuts from Renato’s family farm.

Bricco Ernesto translates to “the hill of Ernesto,” who was Renato’s grandfather. He passed in 1993, and the land became his father’s who, for twenty years, farmed and sold the grapes to a winery in Barolo while Renato followed wanderlust, becoming a Somm in London and sushi chef in Canada. As his father grew tired of farming the hill, he passed it to Renato with an edict: “If you don’t want to use it, sell it.” This stirred an emotion in Renato, wanting to bring pride to his humble and little-known home region. Elisa soon followed; they had met while working in restaurants in London. They are now the sole farmers of their wines and craft expressive Nebbiolo and Arneis from both their hill with 360 degrees of exposition and their other younger plots around their hamlet near Priocca. This, an Arneis from their sixth vintage, is made in a more full-bodied style, incorporating a few days of skin maceration and a long period of lees aging in clay amphorae. Only 5,000 bottles of their wine are exported annually, with the rest of their wines selling out instantly to be featured in the wine lists of the finest restaurants across Europe. His philosophy is unfettered by tradition, relentlessly seeking quality through precision in his vineyards. Enjoy this now with hazelnut-crusted veal (popular in Piedmont) or halibut with agnolotti on the side.

Alessandro and Gian Natale Fantino – Rosso dei Dardi 2023

Two brothers run this family estate in Monforte d’Alba, one of the more famous hamlets in Italy’s Piedmont region. Alessandro managed the vineyards and served as the enologist at Cantina Bartolo Mascarello for 20 years, from 1978 to 1997. Since 1998, he has dedicated himself to running this estate alongside his brother full-time. Together they farm 20 acres of vines in a well-known Barolo vineyard with perfect sun exposition called Bussia. Their holdings lie specifically in the Dardi section of this larger vineyard, and this wine is sourced from their younger vines of Nebbiolo planted on west-facing slopes within their holdings. Fermented and aged in tank without any oak, it’s a food wine through and through with little structure, a juicy disposition and bright acidity. Rumor has it that the brothers are retiring, so this may be the one and only time we see their wines. Bring this to a dinner party to celebrate someone’s achievements, even if that someone is secretly you and your achievement was making it to the party. Socializing is hard sometimes, ya know?!

Weingut Nusserhof – Teroldego 2019

Urban wineries have become a bit of a fad recently, with hip Portlandians choosing to make their wine and remain close to their clientele in the city where they live. There aren’t many who can say they are an urban estate winery, meaning they grow the grapes there too. Nusserhof is one of these rare examples, farming 6 acres of vines inside of the city of Bolzano in Northern Italy’s Alto Adige region, among the Dolomites. It is owned by Heinrich and Elda Mayr, their family having worked the same land since at least 1788. Bolzano has grown explosively since WWII and has enveloped their property, which has certainly impacted but not deterred them. The winery’s name means “nut farm,” for the old walnut trees which used to line the path by the Mayrs’ house (until being cleared for a bikeway). Their wines exclusively feature indigenous local varieties, with this bottling crafted from 100% Teroldego, of which their vineyards contain just eleven rows. Aged two years in old oak barrels and two years in bottle before release, this is a deeply complex and earthy red. Turn your house into a chalet and enjoy this after your favorite snow activity (if we ever get any) with Raclette and pickles.

Hermanos Peciña – Rioja Crianza 2018

The story of the Peciña winery is one of contradicting truths. Founded in 1992 by Pedro Peciña, former vineyard manager of La Rioja Alta, they have only existed for the past 33 years, however they’re one of only a handful of wineries crafting truly classic Rioja. This means they age longer than is required by law (four years for this bottling) and remain a fully handcrafted product. The wine is moved from one barrel to another only by gravity (no pumps) twice a year to gently incorporate oxygen, with American Oak barrels 5–6 years old on average and no longer imparting oaky flavors, only textural richness. Barrels are stacked four and five high, filled with wines of many different vintages, a sight common in Rioja 40 years ago but has all but vanished. His old vineyards promote diversity, keeping ancient varietals others would have long since ripped out and eschewing synthetic products. A “crianza” level of Rioja simply means that it has gone through a minimum two year aging period, with at least one year in barrel, before release. This crianza is a bit different, having spent 24 months in barrel and 18 months in bottle prior to release from the winery. The result is silky and gorgeously aromatic with a beautiful evolution of flavors. Drink this fireside on a cold night, with some Chorizo and Manchego or Idiazabal cheese.