My Prima/IlConsorzio shipment arrived last week, so tried two:
1. Quinta de Linhares Avesso Dd'OC: VinhoVerde (12.5%) Domingos Riberio/Agri-Roncao/Antonio Sousa/Penafiel/Portugal 2016: Pale yellow color w/ strange bubbles; rather fragrant pear/floral rather saline/mineral/stony/savory attractive nose; bit prickly quite savory/saline/mineral/steely/metallic light apple/pear flavor; med.short bit prickly strong saline/savory/metallic/steely light apple/quince very tangy finish; lots of tangy/saline character but just a bit vapid on the palate and the typical dissolved CO2 fall-off in the finish; $14.38 (Prima/IlC)
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2. Claiborne&Churchill PinotNoir EdnaVlly (13.8%; www.ClaiborneChurchill.com) SanLuisObispo 2016: Med.light color; quite attractive spicy/cherry/PN somewhat herbal/thyme light pencilly/oak bit earthy/dusty nose; quite tart/tangy some pencilly/oak rather spicy/cherry/PN/herbal/thyme/pungent brisk/lithe slight earthy/dusty flavor w/ light tangy tannins; very long quite tart/tangy some pencilly/oak rather cherry/PN/earthy/dusty light herbal/thyme finish w/ light brisk tannins; quite a pretty but atypical Calif PN that reminds a lot of AltoAdige PinotNero but w/o their earthy/loamy character. $19.18 (Prima/IlC)
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Strange bubbles: Visually, this was a kinda strange wine. Clearly, there was dissolved CO2, as you'd expect in a VinhoVerde. When you'd pour the wine into the glass, some big bubbles would appear on the surface and immediately dissapate. When you'd swirl the wine in the glass, there would appear these microscopic/tiny bubbles, almost like a flocculant material, almost like a stream of little spermies swimming around. They would eventually agglomerate into a mass of larger bubbles that would rise to the surface and eventually burst. It was almost mesmerizing to watch these bubbles in the glass as I swirled the wine. But...then...doesn't take much to entertain me on a slow Saturday night.
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2. C&C: I've only had their Alsatian-style whites, Riesling & GWT, and generally liked them quite a bit. This was the first red I can recall. Nothing profound, but interesting and filled the bill for a lighter red.
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3. Prima: The Prima wine shop & restaurant in WalnutCreek has an IlConsorzio wine club. Ships 3 interesting btls that FrankRothstein has picked out that he's negociated a good price on. Occasionally, they're not very good, but, in general, they're pretty decent wines, well-priced, interesting. This is one of the few wine clubs I've stuck with over the yrs but I'm always interested in what Frank has picked out this month for me to try.
Tom