Wine Series with Kate Green of Lucky Somm and Harpers Club Featuring Three Female Winemakers and Benefiting Off Their Plate
NTSIKI BIYELA OF ASLINA WINES
ASLINA 2019 SAUVIGNON BLANC
South Africa’s first black woman winemaker, Ntsiki Biyela. Started in 2016, the Aslina brand is named after Ntsiki’s grandmother. Ntsiki has overcome numerous obstacles and challenges in the process of advancing her career. From learning a new language overnight, to racism, to stereotypes, and in this quest, she has undoubtedly become a South African winemaking legend.
Farming is sustainable for this wine. A full rounded tropical character Sauvignon Blanc from the Stellenbosch region. A complex bright fruit wine with lots of citrus characters and lemon zest. It has beautiful complexity and depth and a unique lingering silky finish. Perfect Sauvignon Blanc that mixes the tension and acidity of the Loire with the bold fruit and citrus character of New Zealand.
SAMANTHA SHEEHAN OF POE WINES
POE 2017 PINOT MEUNIER VAN DER KAMP VINEYARD
Winemaker Samantha Sheehan founded POE in 2009 after being inspired by the wines she tasted in Burgundy and Champagne. Her goal is to create alluring, vineyard-specific, age-worthy wines revealing the beautiful terroir of California.
The Van der Kamp Vineyard lies at the very top of Sonoma Mountain, at a 1,400-foot elevation looking down on the town of Glen Ellen to the east and Bennett Valley to the northwest. Pinot Meunier planted in the early 1990s and is farmed organically. Fermented into two vessels, one 100% whole clusters and one entirely destemmed. Both fermented with native yeasts. Aged 12 months on lees in 10% new French oak, and 90% neutral French oak. Not filtered or fined. Only sulfur used is a tiny bit at bottling. This wine is all about bitter cherry, cassis, woodsmoke, espresso, and lovely spice notes—superb intensity and complexity. Only 180 cases made.
ELIZABETH FORADORI OF AGRICOLE FORADORI
FORADORI 2018 TEROLDEGO VIGNETI DELLE DOLOMITI IGT
The Queen of Teroldego. The early death of her father unexpectedly hurtled her to the management of the family estate in the 1990s. Over the years, she has implanted biodynamics, massale selection, and the use of amphorae in her winery. Elisabetta is still very much a daily presence and "the face" for most of the winery's fans. But if you've been following the estate over the last decade it's likely you've met and interacted with her three children Emilio, Theo, and Myrtha. All three are lovely and very much evolving the winery into its next phase of existence.
This is the entry-level red wine for Foradori. Coming from 15 small plots, average age of vines is 35 years old, soil is sand and limestone, and it’s all farmed biodynamically. Fermented with native yeasts and aged in cement tanks and used foudres where it spends a year maturing. Not filtered or fined and only a tiny bit of sulfur used at bottling. As Syrah’s genetic uncle, this Teroldego has notes of plums, red berries, and freshly baked bread on the nose, with a quenching and vivid display on the palate. The most versatile of Foradori’s wines.