Lambrusco: Sparkling Red Wine

What: Lambrusco tasting
Where: Murray Hill Wines, 516 3rd Ave., b/w 34th and 35th St.
When: Friday, May 27, 6-9pm

For red wine lovers seeking something lighter or more effervescent for summer, Murray Hill Wines is here to bring you three of the best sparkling Italian red wines you’ll ever taste. Straight from Emilia-Romagna, our wine importer’s homeland and where he sources his lambrusco, we will taste you on Roberto Balugani Lambrusco di Castalvetro, Il Maglio Lambrusco, and Vezzeli Lambrusco di Sorbara.

Lambrusco greatly varies in taste and body. Some lambrusco offer dark berry fruit flavors, similar to a full-bodied cabernet with added carbonation. Others are reminiscent of coca-cola, bubblegum or strawberry. Others provide a deep oak-y or smoky component. Decide for yourself what memories our three lambrusco wines bubble up for you.

From Germany to France and Spain in one tasting

Tonight, Thursday, May 27 from 6 to 9, we’ll taste a German Riesling, Bordeaux blend and Spanish Macabeo—all three unique and impressive.

Winninger Bruckstuck Riesling 2007
In this semi-sweet Riesling, stony fruit and minerals overpower the palate followed by a touch of ripe melon. This German Rieslings offers the best of both worlds: mineral with hints of sweet fruit.

Pago de San Gabriel Pradomayor de Zubiola Navarra 2007
This Bordeaux blend—from Navarra, specifically—mixes flavors of raspberry, cherry and spices from the oak. Gentle in body, it builds to a slightly spicy, long, sappy finish.

Lo Brujo Macabeo 2009
The most commonly planted white grape in northern Spain, Macabeo grows in the middle of the Sistema Ibérico mountain range by the river Jalón. Crisp and playful, it offers a tropical fruit and citrus medley.

Croatian Craze

Join us tonight from 5:30 to 8:30 at Murray Hill Wines to taste three Croatian wines and native varietals.

Zdjelarevic Grasevina 2008

This Graševina--a type of Riesling planted more than any other white grape throughout Croatia--comes from Slavonia in the Croatian mainland. Perfected by master vintner Davor Zdjelarević, the golden wine exhibits flavors of apricot, peach, honey and apple.

Toreta Posip 2007

The great-grandson of the founder of the Toreta winery, Frano Banicević, age 25, has relaunched the family-run winery, which began at the turn of the 20th Century and stopped producing wine during Communism. He ages his Posip in Slavonian oak to create a sweet nose of honey, appale and pear with an unusually full body and a lemon finish.

Bibich Riserva 2007

From North Dalmatia, this blend of native grapes Babich, Plavina, Lasin--all related to Zinfandel--is aged one year in American oak. While light and smooth, the flavor is intense with strong dark fruits and berries, spices and black pepper.

živili!

French Friday

Pick up your weekend fix and taste three French wines perfect for this much-welcomed warm weather—tonight at MHW, 6-9 pm.

Domaine de la Grenaudiére, Muscadet 'La Grenouille', Loire, France 2009

The Grenaudiere vineyard has been passed down father to son since the 17th Century. On 10 to 50-year-old vines, the Muscadet gets its distinct mineral taste from the clay and gravel-rich soil. You can also taste ripe nectar and citrus, and a fun mandarin-orange finish.

Saint Lion, Mâcon-Villages, Burgundy, France 2006

This golden chardonnay is citric and nutty with a little sweet pear. The nose is incredible. The palate is more clean and refreshing with a long finish. Drink it alone or with grilled fish or chicken.

Domaine de Chantegut, Vacqueyras, Rhône, France 2007

Vacqueyras is between Gigondas to the east and Beaumes-de-Venise to the south. The wines from here tend to the rustic, concentrated and distinctive.

Domaine de Chantegut is a blend of 75% Grenache and 25% Syrah. Grenache brings the aromas of dried orange peel, crushed plum, powerful licorice, tobacco and truffle. The Syrah delivers the black pepper, smokiness and leather.

Tasting: Sonoma, Argentina and France

Tonight’s tasting covers the bases: Sonoma pinot noir, Argentine malbec and a Sancerre from the Loire Valley. All three wines will suit your Thursday and weekend night needs, whether you’re in search of something crisp and fresh (Sancerre), something toasty (pinot noir) or something inexpensive yet delicious (malbec). See you tonight, 6-9, for your free tastes at MHW.

Laguna Ridge Pinot Noir 2006, $23.99
This ruby, garnet pinot noir with a violet rim packs more body than your typical pinot with the perfect touch of French oak (aged 16 months in French oak barrels). Sourced from the best vineyards in Sonoma and the Russian River Valley, the wine delivers juicy red and black fruit with spicy cinnamon notes. The toasty oak lingers on the finish.

Alma Mora Malbec 2008, $9.99
Grown in the 10-year-old Alma Mora vineyard in Tulum Valley - San Juan, Argentina, the Malbec grapes thrive in the rocky, mountainous area and its warm, dry climate. The vineyards are drip irrigated with meltwater from the Andes. The grapes are aged in American and French oak barrels for 8 months.

The result: a soft, full-bodied wine with ripe red berries and fleshy plum flavor and an elegant touch of smoke and vanilla from its contact with wood. Great served with roasted red meats and pasta with tomato sauce.

Florian Mollet Sancerre 2008, $18.99
Planted on the southwest hillsides of the Loire River, these sauvignon blanc grapes grow on vines between 30 and 35 years old. Aged in stainless steel vats, the wine results in a crisp and citric Sancerre, ideal for sipping in summer. Pair with oysters, seafood, asparagus or any light antipasti for a delicious combination.

Greek Goddess and South African Beauty

From Santorini, a small group of volcanic Greek islands in the Aegean Sea, come two dry white wines you’ll be craving all summer. Next, a South African red blend will shock your taste buds.

Nykteri
The white-blend Nykteri means "stay up all night,” because the winemaker practices the ancient vinification process of harvesting during the early part of the day and staying up all night to make the wine. It combines 75 percent assyrtico, 15 percent athiri and 10 percent aidani. After the all-night winemaking marathon, it is aged 3 months in oak. Only 400 cases of Nykteri were produced.

Ageri
Ageri, meaning "light wind,” contains the same exact grape-make-up (all indigenous to Greece and all hand-harvested), yet it goes through stainless steel fermentation. It’s fashioned in more of a semi-dry style. Similarly, just 400 cases were produced.

Audacia Coeur de Rouge
Moving on to South Africa, Coeur de Rouge, meaning "red heart," combines hand-harvested cabernet sauvignon (90 percent) with a touch of malbec (10 percent) on vines that have been growing since

Toreta Posip tastes like the Adriatic Sea

Toreta Posip 2007 is a teaser. It smells like your typical sauvignon blanc: a little grassy with some green apple, pear and lychee. Yummy... but typical. Take a sip and you can taste what you smell. Then suddenly, the wine evolves into something salty, mineral and dry. It's like you're swimming in the Adriatic Sea off the island of Korcula in Croatia, basking in the sun and tasting the salty water on your lips. A little olives mix with this undeniable ocean flavor. Every sip repeats the same experience: sweet fruits, leading to fresh seawater and a final sun-parched dryness.

The experience creates a craving for more and more of this chameleon wine.

Now available at Murray Hill Wines. Inquire within.