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#TryJanuary Lesser Known Varietals - Special Offer Ending Soon
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Hello Everyone,
:Nota Bene is a part of Seattle Urban Wineries (SUW) and we are a part of a concerted #TryJanuary effort to expand our range of Washington State wine varietals. So as you peruse the matrix above you can see that :Nota Bene has seven of those varietals in bottle and one in barrel. One might think we at :Nota Bene are a bit on the edge with our winemaking choices. We can't argue with that perspective. Exploring the possibilities of wine flavors has always been our prime directive. The more uncommon our flavor search, the better. We have put together seven wines/three varietals for you to taste and select your favorites.
We are breaking new ground with monthly specials this time by offering seven wines at significant discounts with volume purchases of 3 + bottles.This includes two verticals of Mourvèdre and Petit Verdot. How can you pass this up?
Remember that we will deliver 3 + bottles free of charge to the Seattle Metro Area. Let us know if you are missing our wines and would like delivery. We wish everyone a wonderful 2023 enjoying our wines with friends and family. Hope we see you soon.
NB: Tim Narby and Carol Bryant
206-459-2785
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In alphabetical order let's briefly discuss these wines by starting with our 2015 Malbec. Red Mountain is producing Malbec wines with flavor profiles very much like those of Argentina. We attribute this soft round black fruit profile to the warmer slopes of Red Mountain. We enjoyed a bottle last night for dinner to arouse our memory of the vintage, which has been a favorite for some time and is retaining that position. It's 92% Red Mountain fruit from Heart of the Hill Vineyard and 8% Arianses Vineyard Merlot. It's tough to speculate where the decision to blend happened all those many years ago, but I'd say the Merlot needed a partner and the Malbec was inviting it to sleep over. After that, they were married. Done. Thus we ended up with a Columbia Valley AVA designation even though this wine has such a deep dark red fruit Red Mountain pedigree.
Ah, the Mourvèdre is next. How do you even pronounce such a monster word? But, then, that's part of its mystic. It's just plain mysterious on its own. Of course we really love it as a minor component of our GSM, Una Notte, but in brief, Mourvèdre is a very close cousin of Syrah with many of Syrah's spicy attributes. If you love Syrah, how can you not appreciate this grape? It pours dark into your glass, especially with the 2015 and 2016 vintages, which are deeper in color and lush with black fruit. The thick round 2015 mouthfeel is present in both of the Malbec and the Mourvèdre. We love this feature in both of these wines. Anthony Mueller from Wine Advocate says the following; "the 2016 Mourvèdre Heart of the Hill displays enticing and succulent dark red fruit tones of spiced black cherry, red and black peppercorn, dusty dried herbs and elements of cinnamon-spiced licorice."
We were surprised to see so much Petit Verdot in Bordeaux during our trip in May 2022. It seemed like every vineyard we visited had planted Petit Verdot as a minor component on both the Left and Right banks. It was everywhere and could be identified by its lush and vibrant canopy. I remember years ago hearing Jim Holmes from Ciel du Cheval rail at the grapes propensity to grow vines instead of fruit. The managers of Stone Tree Vineyard were the perfect stewards of our Petit Verdot, blessed for their ability to suppress growth of vegetation by deficit irrigation and judicious composting. The vineyard on the whole was managed to minimize vine growth and produce low crop yields of most varietals of fruit. We think this feature of Stone Tree gave us the opportunity to make 100% Petit Verdot in very intense forms for all three vintages. This varietal can have deep dark color and significant structure in the tannins with nice dark fruit flavors brushed with floral finishes. A nice wine for the cellar with time to soften or for pairing with a big red steak tomorrow.
This offer works when you order 3 + of each of the following wines and use the discount codes. Mix and match as you please, but you must buy at least 3 bottles of any of the 7 wines in any combination you prefer to achieve the discount rate.
Wine Club use Discount Code 40percent
Non-members use Discount Code 20percent
(Regular Prices and Discount Prices will vary)
(Offer ends January 31, 11:59 pm PST)
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:Nota Bene History from Dan Radil at Great Northwest Wine
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Sean Sullivan's Year of Cab Franc at Northwest Wine Report
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We have enjoyed Sean Sullivan's wine reviews in Wine Enthusiast and now in his Northwest Wine Report. Sean recently proposed that we all sign up to try a new Northwest Cabernet Franc for every month of the year. I'm all in for this. I must admit we've had several this month already, but alas they were all our own 2017 :Nota Bene Cabernet Franc. 75% Dineen Vineyard and 25% Ciel du Cheval Vineyard. Sign up for Sean's Cabernet Franc Challenge here.
Let's also note we have some acclaim for this wine:
Gold Medal at 2022 Bellingham Northwest
Gold Medal at 2022 Washington Wine Awards
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2023 Enumclaw Wine and Chocolate Festival
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Hello Everyone,
It's time to join us in wintry weekend tasting at the Enumclaw Expo Center. This is the perfect after ski event for Friday and Saturday night. Two fun nights of wine tasting and chocolate nibbling, and vendor shopping. Taste three wines from each of the 20+ wineries including these:
- Burley Mountain Winery
- Contrivance Wine & Mead Co.
- Convergence Zone Cellars
- Dahlman Cellars
- Hard Row to Hoe
- Leony's Cellars
- Marrowstone Winery
- Michael Florentino
- NHV (Naches Heights Vineyard)
- :Nota Bene
- Patterson Cellars
- Wildridge Winery
Friday, February 4th, 4:00 - 10:00 pm
Saturday, February 5th, 2:00 - 10:00 pm
$40 admission per adult (21+event ~ ID required ~ NO REFUNDS)
Enumclaw EXPO Center
45224 284th Ave SE
Enumclaw, WA 98022, USA
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February Tasting at :Nota Bene
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Join us for a tasting of our current favorite wines at :Nota Bene.
Saturday, February 11, 1:00 - 5:00 pm
$15 tasting fee - $5 returned for each bottle purchased
Tasting fee included with Wine Club Membership
:Nota Bene Cellars
9320 15th Ave. S., Unit CC
Seattle, WA 98108
Cell: 206-459-2785
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