Club Little House - October

Elemental Sparkling – Vinyes Singulars (2015)

Grape Varieties: Macabeu, Xarello

Style: Petlliant Natural

Region: Penedes, Spain

Winemaker: Ignasi Segui

Soil: Clay

Age of Vines: 45-65 yrs

Ignasi Segui is the grower, producer, sales, delivery of Vinyes Singulars, a small project born in 2012, but its roots go back to the year 1405,  the first documented harvesting by his family in the Penedes. The wines are the result of a selection of the oldest vineyards on the property (the younger going to the Organic Cava houses in the area). Employing both Traditional and Ancestral methods in his winemaking, Ignasi produces small lot, tiny vineyard labels like the “Elemental” in addition to the more widely distributed and approachable Cava Brut Nature (carried on the shelf at Little House).
This is a great little sparkling made the original or “ancestral” way of making sparkling wine. That is, the primary fermentation of alcohol finishes in the bottle after it is closed, resulting in the release of CO2 and the creation of bubbles in the wine! Generally, with wines made like this, there’s a tad bit of residual sweetness as well as sediment.
I love the personality of this wine and find it to have a lot of elegance and interesting notes to explore while enjoying this bottle. No sulfur was added, allowing it to maintain optimal freshness and expressiveness along with being straight-up delicious!

Rouge – Les Tetes (2015)

Grape Variety(s): Grolleau, Cabernet Franc

Style: Dry Red

Region: Loire Valley, France

Winemaker: Grower Collective

Soil: Clay and Limestone

Age of Vines: 25 yrs

This is the result of a little project started by 4 people in Azay-le-Rideau, a cool little appellation that’s having something of a renaissance mostly thanks to Quintin Bourse, the guy from Sot de l’Ange. Now there is more than one winery available from A-L-R, which is cool. Les Tetes is a partnership between a handful of different winemakers that have primary wine projects, but are doing this on the side to sell at a really competitive price.. The result of their input is a wine that is really well made.
Les Tetes is mainly Cabernet Franc with a bit of Grolleau (a grape mostly just seen in this area of the world) aged in steel tanks. Red fruit on the nose with some spice, a full juicy palate with a slight acidity and a very beautiful bouquet. Best drinking right now while it’s young. We love the purity and freshness of this wine.