Because I'm on their mailing list, we were lucky to secure a seat at the Littorai tasting at Vino. I say lucky because it wasn't advertised by Chuck or Vino on their weekly newsletter. And the only way to purchase a seat was through EventBrite. Why the secrecy? Chuck explained that the 5 wines to be sampled were not sold in Hawaii and that if he arranged the tasting, he would have to go through the distributor (JMD) to have them bring it in specially for him. Which would probably require some bargaining as JMD would also want an allocation to sell locally. Because Littorai is a small production winery, they can't offer all of their wines for sale through distributors. Hence Regional Sales Manager of Littorai, Rachel Dixon arranged the tasting which also included several appetizers from Chef Endo.
Why do I like Littorai? Wines made the way they are supposed to be made. Primarily made through cultivation in the vineyard versus created in the winery. And their Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays have Burgundianesque about them. The only negative is they don't ship to Hawaii. Which is about to change.
The tasting looked like this:
2012 Charles Heintz Vineyard Chardonnay
With a Chablisesque nose with mineral notes and refined citrus and a seamless palate flow with a long finish, this was perfect with Vino's Calamari.
2012 Thieriot Vineyard Chardonnay
If the Heintz was like Chablis, the Thieriot was like a Mersault with a richer mid-palate and longer finish though a lot different than your traditional CA Chardonnay.
2011 Savoy Vineyard Pinot Noir
The nose on this beauty reminded me of a Nahe or Ahr Spatburgunder. So feminine and classy with a seamless palate flow.
2012 The Pivot Vineyard Pinot Noir
A little richer than the Savoy but still more Old World than New World Pinot. Would have been nice with duck confit...
2012 The Haven Vineyard Pinot Noir
The biggest of the Pinots though still very refined - almost like an aged Brewer-Clifton with a great palate flow and a long finish.
And once the tasting was done, Rachel let us fill out order forms including every wine sampled - she said that the paperwork for direct shipping to Hawaii was almost complete and that our wines would ship in a couple of weeks - I asked that she wait until the two hurricanes were long gone. We also signed up for one of Littorai's wine clubs - 6 bottles of mixed Pinot and Chard mailed 3 times a year. I can't wait to receive our first order...
Comments