Wine & Beer of the Week

Here is the first installment of what will become a weekly series. Each week I'll pick a wine and a beer that has caught my eye, and tell you all about it.

Wine of the Week for March 1st

Clua-Doménech Terra Alta Tinto –

This husband and wife team have combined 3 generations worth of winemaking and vineyards into one winery. Xavier Clua and Rosa Doménech both learned winemaking from their grandfathers, and inherited the estates in time. When the two married it combined two amazing winemakers and enologists with loads of fruit grown from old vine vineyards. Red wines from the Terra Alta are almost always Garnacha (Grenache) based and this wine is no exception. With 50% of the blend being Garnacha and the balance filled in with 20% Syrah and 15% each Cab and Merlot. The result is a deep rich wine with plenty of dark fruit, smoke and minerality. This wine does not spend any time in oak, which really allows the fruit to shine. At an average yield of one bottle per plant this is as small and boutique as you can get without paying an arm and a leg.

Snap up some of this Spanish gem at $13 a bottle!!!

Beer of the Week for March 1st

Allagash Confluence





This is one of the most under-rated breweries available in our market. They are a small production brewery located in Portland, Maine and make some of the best beer out there. The Confluence is a mixed fermentation beer that uses both a house Belgian style yeast in combination with Brettanomyces yeast, giving the beer all sorts of cool funk. Loads of tropical fruit and spice explode on to the palate with this beer, but the extensive ageing adds another dimension of stone fruits and a slight earthy tartness. This brew may be a little pricey, but trust me it is worth every penny!