December 10th
Belgian Beer Tasting w/Industry Guest
Thurs. 4 - 7PM
December 12th
‘Private Invitation' Sale & Wine Tasting
Fri. & Sat. FREE In-Store Tastings
Learn from Guest Industry Experts
Spend a few minutes to sample one red and one white wine paired with wonderful cheeses.
Look for e-mails inviting you to 'private' wine sales with Caroline. The 'gems' come out of our climate-controlled storage!
100 New Wines and Lower Prices!
OVER 500 wines under $20! Reduced prices 'RED Tag Sale' (on over 100 wines, liquors, and beers). We added over 100 new wines in recent months!
Our '2 - for' section ($12, $15, $20 and $25) is filled with 'current’ vintage year wines - NOT 'old' closeouts typically found in most stores.
December 'Wines of the Month'
Case discounts on each btl!
White: Santa Margarita Pinot Grigio (Italy)
Red: Lodge Hill Shiraz (Australia)
HOLIDAY GIFTS
One Case Wine Cellar!
Give the gift that keeps giving all year long! Twelve bottles plus winemaker ‘Tasting notes’ will ‘guide’ you and explain what the winemaker thought about aromas and tastes. $99 – Enthusiast; 8 grape varietals, 5 blends, 9 countries $150 - Connoisseur 10 grape varietals, 2 blends, 8 countries.
SHOWCASE SYRAH/SHIRAZ
Host your own wine party & compare the many 'faces' of Syrah - all you need is included!
Pick 6 or 12 bottles & be amazed at the various aromas and flavors which vary with climate & soils of growing regions around the globe! Flexible pricing fits every budget - each is ‘customized’
Holiday Gift Ideas
Non-wine Gift Ideas
Vinturi Aerator: A high tech device equals to 2 hours of decanting - immediate gratification! Bacchus Wine Club (Dinners) Membership - enjoy 'Private' Wine Dinners, Winery Tours, and Discounts. The
Wine Wheel Pairing Guide $10 & $20 easy to produce ideal pairings. Wine Funnel & strainer $30. Lolita wine, martini & pilsner glasses (hand-painted) $25, Wine
Label Savers $10,
Appetizer Wine Plates - stemware cut-out holds wine glass ($8), and Wine Game ($10).
Dessert Wines By Anna
The holidays are the perfect time to indulge in a little something sweet! Our large selection includes many different styles-- ageable vintage ports, ice wines, Sherries, Sauternes...the list goes on. Here’s information which will help you determine which you'd like to sip this holiday season and how the. wines become sweet...
In the fermentation of most table wines, yeast converts all the sugars from the grape juice into alcohol. In the making of sweet wines however, the goal is to create a product with residual sugar. This can be done in a number of ways:
In wines like Muscat or Port fermentation is interrupted. The juice is fortified by adding a non-grape spirit which kills off the yeast allowing sugar to remain in the finished wine. A few wines (German & Spanish) a sweet component is added. While adding sugar to wines is not permitted, winemakers will add unfermented grape juice or concentrated grape juice to the mix to increase the sugar levels.
In some exceptional wines, the sugar levels in the grape juice are already so high that sugar naturally remains in the wine after fermentation. Grapes with concentrated levels of sugar create the greatest sweet wines! To concentrate sugar, wineries will allow the grapes to stay on the vine longer, dry or freeze the grapes, or even allow a "noble" rot to grow on the fruit.
Pedro Ximenez Sherry and Recioto wines from Italy allow the grapes to shrivel, either sun-dried on the vine or in a climate controlled room. These raisin-like grapes get crushed to make wines high in sugar and flavors.
Sauternes, Tokaji, Loire Valley sweet wines and some sweet wines from Germany and Austria are made from grapes infested with botrytis, or, noble rot. Botrytis mold attacks the grapes and weakens the skin, allowing water inside the grape to evaporate quickly. The grapes shrivel, the sugars are concentrated and the result is a sweet, dessert wine with some unique flavors that are attributed to the rot (apricot, rye bread, sweet biscuits, and orange marmalade).
In Canada, Germany, and Austria grapes are sometimes left on the vine and harvested in the winter when the water inside the grape has been frozen. The ice is removed when the grapes are crushed leaving an intensely concentrated sugary grape syrup with full body, high acidity, and fruity flavors.
Dessert wines can pair nicely with desserts or sipped on their own. Because of their richness and intensity, they are usually served in 2-3oz pours and sold in half bottles. We recommend they be served slightly chilled and always be sure that your wine is sweeter than your dessert to ensure the best pairing!
Fortified wines: Offley 2000 Port; Moscatel de Setubar 2007 (Portugal); Lustau East India Solera Sherry (Portugal)
Ice Wines include: Inniskillin 2006 (Canada); Newport Ice Wine 2007 (RI); and Las Perdices MALBEC (Argentina).
Late harvest or Sauternes include: Chateau de Arche 1998 (France); Quady Electra Orange Muscat (Calif).
Straw ‘mat dried’ grapes include: Pedro Ximenez Alvear 2003.
Wine Pairing
Holiday Meals & Parties
Don’t be ‘beige’; Jump out of that comfort zone and try some fantastic wines! Continuously tasting ‘new’ wines allows our staff to identify wines which can make your holiday meal really ‘special’.
Winter meals demand ‘heavier’ bodied wines so I’m focusing on reds. For domestic wines I’d try Syrah/Shiraz (same grape), Zinfandel or blends. Fabulous 'light to medium bodied' imports include blends or single grapes of Sangiovese (Tuscany) or Tempranillo (Spain). Great with heavier foods (meats) and delivering ‘big’ fruit and body are Malbec (Argentina; good with or without food) Syrah/Shiraz, and Cabernet Sauvignon (Calif. & Chile are best). I love red blends (Cabernet based) which introduce complexity. Chefs in upscale, trendy restaurants are recommending Carmenére (Chile) because it enhances herb flavors in their dishes. Wine writers (Wall St. Journal are favorites of mine) keep drawing attention to Carmenére.
Colonial’s 'EXPERT STAFF' share their favorites wines:
Anna: Viña Von Siebenthal Carmenére with beef, lasagna, chicken with herbs. Las Perdices
‘Malbec’ Ice Wine for dessert.
Carol: J Lohr Hilltop Cab. (Paso Robles) @ beef; light dessert (pie) with Quady Electra (orange muscat).
Caroline: Rudd Jerico Canyon Cab. (Calif.) or Torbreck Struie Shiraz (Australia) with BEEF; La Spinetta Sassotino Sangiovese (Tuscany, Italy) with VEAL or Italian dishes. Offley 2000 vintage port (Portugal) with dessert, Stilton cheese or Chocolate.
Claude: Viña Von Siebenthal Carrabantes Syrah with LAMB; Conundrum (Calif.) white blend with white meat or seafood.
Fred: Far Niente Cab. (Calif) with Beef or Veal; Ornellaia Le Serre Nuevo Super Tuscan red blend (Tuscany, Italy) with veal.
Peter: Frescobaldi Lucente with PORK or VEAL; Taylor Lustau sherry (Portugal) with dessert, Stilton cheese, or by itself.