DAYDREAMER 2020 RIESLING

OKANAGAN VALLEY, B.C.

Rachel and Marcus (an Australian born, second-generation winemaker with over 30 vintages around the world under his belt) have both been “daydreaming” about their own little wine company for forever-and-a-day. They wanted to create a unique and memorable winery where a focus on fine wine is the ultimate goal. Grapes grown without systemic fungicides, herbicides and pesticides, small batch processing, with a sustainable approach is the mandate. They make limited production wines from the best sites in the Okanagan Valley with a special focus on the wines of the Naramata Bench.

Daydreamer is also the home to Jarrah, Maple and Mugga who are some of the cutest babydoll sheep you’ll ever see and their guardian Leo, a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog!

This crisp focused Riesling comes from a single vineyard in Naramata. It was slowly cold fermented in stainless steel to retain the delicate aromatics and a punchy tropical crispness. Flavours of Granny Smith apple and passionfruit are met with brisk minerality and a long finish.

FIELD RECORDINGS 2020 DOMO ARIGATO (MR. RAMATO)

CENTRAL COAST, CALIFORNIA

Field Recordings is winemaker Andrew Jones’ personal catalog of the people and places he values most. Spending his days as a vine nursery fieldman planning and planting vineyards for farmers all over California, Andrew has stood in just about every vineyard on the Central Coast. Due to his day job, Andrew often gets first dibs on small lots of premium fruit to use for this project.

We’re pretty big FR fans here at Bricks; in fact we’ve featured them in the BRICKS 6 a few times now. This is only the second time we’ve featured an orange wine though! Orange wine, also called “skin contact” wine, is basically white wine made like red. Once the grapes are crushed the juice stays in contact with the grape skins for a varying amount of time, resulting in an orange hued wine.

This wine is made with Pinot Grigio to create a “Ramato” style wine. The term Ramato comes from the word ‘rame’ which is Italian for ‘copper’ - a reference to the colour!

While not actually made with oranges, there is no denying the notes of citrus on nose and palate. You’ll also find notes of Earl Grey tea, dried apricot and white pepper.

M. & C. LAPIERRE 2020 RAISINS GAULOIS

BEAUJOLAIS, FRANCE

The M. & C. here refer to Mathieu and Camille Lapierre, the children of the late, great Marcel Lapierre. Marcel, along with Jean Foillard, Jean-Paul Thévenet, & Guy Breton were dubbed “The Gang of Four” by Kermit Lynch (a hugely influential American wine importer and author). The Gang of Four called for a “back-to-nature” approach to their craft and Marcel himself was mentored by Jules Chauvet aka The Godfather of Natural Wine.

The Raisins Gaulois or “Gallic Grapes” in English, is made from young vines and was borne out of the desire to produce an accessible wine both in terms of taste and price. The Gamay goes through partial Carbonic Maceration for 4 to 6 days before being transferred to stainless steel tanks for two months. It's bottled too early to call it Morgon, but too late to be Nouveau, so it's vin de France!

The resulting wine is juicy with notes of tart cranberry, ripe raspberry, damson plum, a kiss of smoke and surprisingly grippy tannin.

MONASTERO SUORE CISTERCENSI 2019 BENEDIC

LAZIO, ITALY

30 miles north of Rome, in the town of Vitiorchiano, there is an order of Cistercian nuns who produce natural wine under the guidance of one of Italy’s most prominent low-intervention producers, Giampiero Bea. They are a self-sustaining community, producing not only wine but also cheese, beer, spirits and sweets to make their living while striving to improve viticulture and to preserve the land.
 The sisters are best known for their white wines but they also make this stunning red from equal parts Sangiovese and Ciliegiolo, with a tiny splash of Merlot. In 2020 we only got access to 24 bottles and I loved it so much I bought nearly half of it! This year we were fortunate to get our hands on enough to share!

Notes of tart red cherries are prominent on the nose and palate (Ciliegiolo gets its name from the Italian word for cherry). You’ll also find subtle notes of blood orange, balsamic, clove and tomato leaf.

Serve chilled!

 GALLINA DE PIEL 2019 MIMETIC

CATALONIA, SPAIN

First and foremost, how perfect is this label for a Thanksgiving wine?! Dino-turkey to the rescue!!! Or would it be Turk-o-saurus?

Gallina de Piel is an exciting winemaking project from David Seijas, the former Head Sommelier at now defunct, Michelin-starred restaurant El Bulli. David’s aim is to create versatile wines from Spain’s gastronomic northern regions: Catalonia, Aragon and Galicia. He works with local growers, selecting the best vineyards and indigenous grape varieties to create wines with an emphasis on elegance and freshness.

The Mimetic is made with 98% Garnacha Tinta with the remaining 2% being a blend of Monastrell and Provechón (aka Bobal). The vines range from 35 to 80 years old.

The nose is bursting with aromas of dark fruit; you’ll find notes of black plums, blueberries and blackberries. These notes translate beautifully to palate where you’ll find flavours of thyme and a faint hint of mint on the long, lingering finish.

CLOS BELLANE 2019 LA PETITE BELLANE

RHÔNE VALLEY, FRANCE

Clos Bellane is located in the northeastern-most part of the Southern Rhône, where pure limestone slopes are found among the rolling hills, peaking at over 400m of altitude. The estate was purchased by talented vigneron Stéphane Vedeau in the mid-aughts, with the dream of creating a fresher style of Côtes du Rhône with balance and purity.

This wine is quite unique due to the fact that most red wines labelled as “Côtes du Rhône” tend to be blends based on Grenache; the Southern Rhône is the original home of GSM blends after all! (GSM = Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre.) But this little number is 100% Syrah!!! And like most of the wines we offer at Bricks, the grapes are grown organically and the wines is fermented with indigenous yeast. The grapes are partially destemmed and then fermented and aged in concrete.

The nose and palate are in sync with notes of raspberry, açai, dried figs, black olives, tobacco leaf, fresh espresso and rich dark chocolate!

-Erin Loader