The Peyrassol has come and gone. The Tra La La is just a memory. Although some of our favorite rosés are but a distant memory, we have plenty more new labels to choose from. Here are a few recent favorites. Pick them up next time you’re at UG!

2011 Ehlers Estate “Sylviane” (St. Helena, CA)  $32

Aromas of watermelon, raspberry and cotton candy mingle with orange sorbet and fresh red cherries. But what sounds sickly sweet is actually crisp and bone-dry with bracing acidity and low alcohol. Slightly more robust (and a truly stunning raspberry color), this is the type of rosé that stands up well to being served in a rocks glass with a few ice cubes. 

2011 Domaine du Poujol (Pays de L’Herault, FR) $15

A fruity, well-balanced blend of Cinsault, Carignan, Grenache and Mourvedre (which sound like relatives of Uncle Fester, if you ask me!), this rosé is meant to be enjoyed now. Right now! It’s a perfect food wine for summer. Light and refreshing, but with enough body to stand up to food. To me, this calls for assorted bruschetta and a few good friends. 

2011 Domaine Saint Aix (Coteaux d’Aix en Provence, FR) $25 (750 ml)/$50 (magnums)

Award-winning and hard to find at retail, the winemaker’s hope for this wine was that after having a glass, the you would immediately find yourself saying, “Yes, I’ll have another!” This wine is also a bit scandalous, as it is made by a Dutch newcomer to Provence, who almost immediately found himself being crowned the best rosé wine maker in the region. A stunning wine that will become an instant favorite!

This Saturday, after family lunch at B Good, we took the boys to see the new store space. We drive by it every day and say hello, but they haven’t been inside yet, so they were excited to see it. Our contractors, Acella Construction, had gotten their toes wet with a little light work the week before and we wanted see what had transpired, so off we went. 

The first thing we notice every time we go in is how big the raw space is. We’ve never seen it without the window covers but it’s still light and airy inside. We can’t wait to rip those blinds down and get a true sense for the space. 

Here is our building permit. Can a piece of paper make you feel all giddy inside? Yes, yes it can. 

Rough plumbing installed! I realize this doesn’t seem like much, but you’ve got to start somewhere, right? The bathroom and kitchen will be tucked behind the wall of wine, so they need to be built before we can install the shelving. 

Jason was one and Noah was three when we open UGCH. Noah has always understood, at least vaguely, the concept of the family business, but this is Jason’s first time seeing and conceptualizing a project from the beginning. Here they’re looking at plans for the space on TJ’s phone. Their expressions kind of say it all, don’t you think? 

Tomorrow our weekly construction meetings begin. Giddy, giddy, giddy. If you’re in the area on Tuesday afternoons and want a quick sneak preview, just let us know. We’ll be happy to show you around! 

Father’s Day is just around the corner! Here are UG’s picks for some good Daddy spoiling…(and don’t forget to join us on Saturday from 3-6 for our special Father’s Day tasting!)

Give Dad a “Cab Around the World” $155 (regularly $198)

2008 Reininger Cabernet Sauvignon (Walla Walla, WA) $33 

2009 La Jota Vineyards Co “Howell Mountain” Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley, CA) $65

2006 Felsina “Maestro Raro” Cabernet Sauvignon di Toscana (Tuscany, IT) $50

2009 Penfolds “Bin 407″ Cabernet Sauvignon (South Australia) $50

This is an exceptional four-pack of Cabernet that will make any Dad happy. Starting in Washington State, this Cabernet has sensational overtones of chocolate. Moving down to Napa, the La Jota is a traditional Howell Mountain Cab. A very small production wine that will be perfect on this Father’s Day or Father’s Days to come. Then, an Italian Cabernet? Bet Dad’s never gotten one of those before! This is a rare, special treat. Lastly, travel to Australia for a big, juicy, and powerful yet elegant Cab from this Aussie superstar. This is $198 worth of Cabernet, on sale this weekend for just $155!

The MacPhail’s Collection 30 Year Single Malt from Glenrothes Distillery (Speyside, Scotland) $190

TJ describes this Scotch as a “ridiculous” scotch that is about $800 cheaper than the MacCallen 30 Year Scotch. Incredible quality for the price. Dad will think you’ve really broken the bank on him this year! 

1982 Francis Darroze Bas-Armagnac $160

Treat the young dad on your list to this spectacular 1982 Armagnac (especially if it matches his birth year!). This is a special bottle of Brandy from the Armagnac region of France. It’s a little sweeter and easier drinking than Cognac. Cool packaging adds up to a funky gift for the hipster dad in all of us. 

Come in and treat Dad to what he really wants – a little something to sip on while he spends time with his favorite people in the world. Happy Father’s Day to all! 

In the world of getting your point across in 140 characters, acronyms have become a way of life. When Joanne Chang started expanding her Flour locations, she dubbed them F1, F2 and F3. Extremely helpful and the perfect length for Twitter. With the need for brevity in mind, you may start seeing The Urban Grape referred to as UGCH (Chestnut Hill) and the new store referred to as UGSE (South End). 

Our architects at Oudens Ello Architecture (right here in the South End!) have been working non-stop on the plans for the new space and we couldn’t be more excited about them. We thought we had the plans finalized last week when Grub Street released the rendering, but a last minute meeting brought about a flurry of creative ideas and tweaks. What’s so amazing to me is that all of the tweaks were a result of trying to trim our construction budget. These pictures show that when you have a creative team at the helm, big budget cuts can end up feeling like you’ve won the lottery. 

You can’t see all the elements of the store, but these renderings should give you a great sense of space as we are presently imagining it. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do. Please leave a comment and let us know what you think!

A view from the entrance of 303 Columbus Avenue, looking toward the wall of wine. Note the new round tasting machine!

To the right, our expanded beer and sake sections.

An enormous tasting table toward the back of the store. This is the hub of UGSE. All of our interactive pieces from meetings to tastings to chef nights to private parties will happen right here.  The dropped chandelier makes this feel like a room within a room. 

A view back toward the POS and entrance from the street. Spirits will again be located behind the POS as they are in Chestnut Hill. 

Things you can’t see – the beer cooler and shelving for the Samplers and some merchandising. 

Last night was all about three things – tasting great wine, saying thank you to our clients and having FUN! 

Several hundred people did all three of those things by the BOKX Pool at Hotel Indigo in Newton. The weather was perfect, the crowd was gorgeous and decked out, and the wine was flowing. We are still waiting for our official pictures of the evening, but in the meantime, here are a couple of shots to tide you over (one is a screen shot, hence the weird text in the middle…I’m too tired to figure out how to make it go away!), as well as the complete list of all of the wine, beer and spirits that were being poured. 

Thank you to everyone that came out and to our amazing distributors and partners for making this all happen. And thank you to BOKX 109 and the Hotel Indigo. This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship!

(Working counter-clockwise around the pool)

Chas from Arborway

Spritz Aperitivo Veneziano di Glera (Verona, IT)
2009 Remoissenet Bourgogne Blanc (Burgundy)
2011 Chateau Roubine Rosé (Cotes de Provence, FR)
2009 Remoissenet “Reserve” Bourgogne Rouge (Burgundy)

Deb from Classic Wine Imports

Carpene Malvolti Kerner Non-Vintage Brut (Veneto, IT)
2009 Grgich Hills Fume Blanc (Napa Valley, CA)
2011 Domaine de la Petite Cassagne Rosé (Costieres de Nimes, FR)
2010 Ridge Three Valleys Zinfandel Blend (Sonoma, CA)

Matt from Martignetti

Slane Castle Irish Whiskey 

Cody from Ruby Wines

Gosset Brut Excellence (Champagne, FR)
2009 Maison Champy Pernand-Vergelesses Blanc (Burgundy, FR)
2011 Bieler Pere et Fils Rosé (Provence, FR)
2009 K Vintners “Milbrandt” Syrah (Wahluke Slope, WA)

Andrew from High & Mighty Beer

Beer of the Gods
Pas de Dieux
Fumata Bianca
XPA

Frank and Chris from Carolina Wine and Spirits

2008 Argyle Brut Sparkling Wine (Williamette Valley, OR)
2007 Ojai “Bien Nacido” Chardonnay (Santa Barbara, CA)
2011 Belle Glos “Brugioni Vineyard” Rosé (Sonoma, CA)
2009 Luigi Bosca “De Sangre” Blend (Mendoza, Argentina)

Dave and Will Willis from Bully Boy Distillery

Bully Boy Lemonade:
1.5 oz white rum
4 oz. lemonade (good quality)
angostura bitters, enough added to turn the mix slightly pink color

Shirlee from United Liquors

Scharffenberger Non-Vintage Brut (Mendocino County, CA) – also being poured as you entered the pool area
2011 Chapoutier “Bila-Haut” Rosé (Languedoc-Roussillon, FR)
2009 CC: Chardonnay (Napa Valley, CA)
2010 Uppercut Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley, CA)

These are The Urban Grape’s picks for summer wine/beer/spirits and as such, all are available at the store throughout the coming months. 

 Thanks again to everyone for coming out last night! Let’s do it again soon!

The past few weeks TJ and I have been frantically gathering paperwork as we get ready to close on our bank loan for The Urban Grape South End. When bankers sit around a table and comment on how they will liquidate your assets should you go out of business, it really makes you pause and re-analyze your business plan. We try not to lay in bed at night and go down every scary path of “what if,” but we of course we do. In each scenario, we feel confident that we will be okay. Except for one. 

There really is no way that The Urban Grape, LLC can survive a Zombie Apocalypse. I’m sure at this point you’re wondering why we are even concerned about a zombie apocalypse, but the fact of the matter is that in the last ten days I’ve read EIGHT articles about people eating other people. Mostly their brains, hands, feet and faces. I mean. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?! As good business people on the precipice of expansion, this all really begs the question – what do zombie’s drink?

After much thought and dinner table conversation, we have decided that zombies would focus on saignée-style rosé wine. 

There are two main ways to make rosé. The first is through basic skin contact. It starts the same as red wine, but the juice from the grapes is only allowed skin contact for a very truncated amount of time. Sometimes it is a few hours, maybe just a day, sometimes several days. Regardless, the juice itself ferments without the presence of the skin, meaning the wine does not have time to deepen in color or impart any of the skin’s characteristics, particularly tannins. 

The second method is Saignée. Saignée means “to bleed,” hence why we think the zombies would be particularly interested in this process. During the red wine fermentation process, some wine gets caught above the skins. In order to concentrate the wine below the skins so it can get deeper in color, the wine above the skins is drained off, or “bled.” This wine is then fermented on it’s own and produces rosé. According to some (though not in our minds), saignée method is the only real method for producing rosé wine. In this method, rosé is seen as a by-product of its big sister red wine, as opposed to the prior method which is seen as a way to produce rosé wine only. We’re not as picky about our rosé, but some people feel there is a real difference. 

If Zombies come knocking on our door, here are our current favorite saignée method rosé wines:

2011 Couly-Dutheil Rosé of Cabernet Franc (Chinon, Loire Valley) $18
This wine was bled of the vat after four hours of maceration. It’s a pale rosé with a fresh and fruity noise and subtle floral notes. This is easy drinking wine – which is good when you have a world of non-Zombies to destroy. It goes well with chicken, which is what I imagine we all taste like, so that’s perfect as well. 

2011 Lucia “Lucy” Rosé of Pinot Noir  (Santa Lucia Highland, CA) $26
Lucia Vineyards refers to their Lucy Rosé as the little sister of their fantastic Pinot Noir. This is a perfect summer wine (don’t you imagine that it’s very hot during the zombie apocalypse? They are never wearing all their clothing…) with fresh acidity that makes it a perfect food wine. An added bonus is that a dollar of every bottle sold is donated to breast cancer research (for now, at least…I can’t imagine the zombies will care much about that).

2011 Familia Castaño Rosé of Monastrell (Yecia, Spain) $11
I like to believe the clean design and raspberry pink color of this wine would appeal to even the most manly zombie. And no one can resist strawberries, even zombies, so they’ll love the strawberry and sweet licorice notes to this wine. This rosé had ten hours of maceration, hence it’s darker color and more vibrant flavors.

Zombie or not, we’ve all felt like chewing someone’s head off at the end of a long day. Nothing like a chilled glass of rosé to take the edge off. On second thought, should a zombie acopalyse come about, maybe it’s the saignée  method rosés that will save humanity. Either way, we’re prepared.