May Wine (and pairings)

A peek into my wine club!

Hellooo readers, ok I lied, here is one more edition of my newsletter before continuing my little break, but really this is my bonus edition of the newsletter where I fill you in on my current wine club offerings, which I think you will enjoy even if you have no interest in signing up for the club and/or don’t live in Charleston. And since Mother’s Day is TOMORROW I thought I might suggest wine club as being a GREAT IDEA, especially if you are a last minute gifter! I know that I personally love a more experiential gift, and with my wine club you can sign up for just a few months (it’s not endless LOL). If you want to join: sign up is easy and secure by clicking here!

Regardless, my wine club notes are a nice little look into wines that I think pair well with this time of the year and the stories behind them AND pairing ideas. Perhaps you can even find these wines at your own local wine shop! I will include the brass tacks about my wine club below in case you are interested in signing up (I do appreciate the support). But feel free to scroll down to my May wine picks if you are just here for the reading!

Wine Club Brass Tacks:

I am honored to host my wine club out of Wine & Company (a bottle shop and wine bar) at 441 Meeting Street, corner of Meeting and Spring, in downtown Charleston, SC. That’s where you will pick up your wine if you sign up. As noted, wine club makes a great gift for friends/family :) It’s easy for me to set it up for you to just be billed for 2 or 3 or however many months if you want to gift it. And I have a cute certificate for you to give the recipient. Just email me if interested – sarah@grapetotable.com :)

About the wine… this is a wine club that celebrates the magic of wine and food through an exploration of small, family-run wineries and detailed pairing suggestions! I definitely draw heavily from the old world (Europe!) with an occasional new world gem thrown into the mix. All of the wines are sustainably farmed with some producers going the extra mile with organic and biodynamic practices.

The GTT wine club is $70/month for 3 bottles that are available for pick-up on the first of each month. You can choose between my seasonal mix, all white, or all red. But the seasonal mix is the MOST popular option for good reason!!

Most importantly – wine club is a great way to learn about new grape varieties and styles that you might not reach for yourself! Once again, if you want to join: sign up is easy and secure by clicking here!

Cheers!

Now about May’s seasonal mix offerings…

Viallet Savoie Blanc
Grapes: Jacquère (majority), Chasselas, Chardonnay, Altesse
Region: Savoie, France
Story: If you are not familiar with Savoie, have no fear, I am sure you are not alone. It’s a small, lesser known corner of France located in the picturesque Alp mountains. And for years the wines mostly catered to the ski crowd – quaffable but supposedly nothing too noteworthy and not often exported. Well, times have changed! These days we are seeing so much deliciousness imported from Savoie – from high end to more approachable, introductory wines like this white blend from the Viallet family. The Viallet family have been working the vineyards of Savoie since 1966, when Marcel and Yvonne purchased their first estate, Domaine Clos Réservé. Their second son Philippe joined the business in 1984, after having studied winemaking in Beaune (Burgundy), and in 1985, he created Maison Philippe Viallet. This blend features three native grapes with a bit of Chardonnay to balance things out. It is mineral driven and perfect for early summer.
Pairing: You could certainly enjoy this wine on the beach, boat, or porch, but it shines even more with food! I immediately thought of a dish I just made featuring my first ever homegrown artichokes. To be candid, I only got 2 artichokes from my garden so I had to supplement with a couple from the grocery. I cleaned them down to the hearts (which is admittedly a pain!) and then simmered them in a white wine-herb-water mixture. I also happened to have on hand a jar of an artichoke and anchovy pasta sauce (really just a puree) from Zingerman’s to give even more artichoke goodness. So next, I sauteed some local shrimp, added the chopped artichoke hearts, and tossed all of this and the jarred sauce with pasta! Voila – Braised Artichokes with Shrimp! (That sauce is Carciuga Artichoke & Anchovy Pasta Sauce if you want to source it!)

Quinta das Arcas Brisa Suave Vinho Verde Rosé
Grapes: 50% Espadeiro, 50% Touriga Nacional (native Portuguese red grapes)
Region: Vinho Verde, Portugal
Story: In the 1980s, Esteves Monteiro founded Quinta das Arcas, building on his previous decade of experience in reorganizing family farms with a focus on land consolidation and modern viticulture techniques. Quinta das Arcas has consistently aimed to reduce its environmental impact and introduced its first organic wine in 2012! (My white/rosé wine club members will know this producer as last month I featured the Brisa white in their club. Let me know if you want to special order more of this rosé or their white for your summertime hangs – these liters are so perfect for that vibe!)
Pairing: Y’all know how obsessed I am with food writer Hetty Lui McKinnon. Her veggie focused cuisine is what I strive for (as I really do try to only eat meat once or twice a week these days). In one of her recent newsletters she wrote about spring comfort food, and gave a recipe for Biryani Inspired Spring Vegetable Rice. OMG this is all I want in life. Of course you could just once again enjoy this on the beach, boat, or porch, but if you have a solid haul from the farmers market then consider this dish! Simply cook Basmati rice (stovetop or rice cooker). Then saute your choice of spring veggies (she used leeks and fennel) in a large pot, add yogurt and paneer (Indian cheese), and stir to combine, top with a layer of rice, sprinkle chopped coriander and mint leaves on top, and cook on low uncovered to allow rice to warm and all flavors to meld. Of course, these are very basic instructions, and if you subscribe to her Substack you can see the full recipe!

Friend and Farmer Red Wine
Grape: Tempranillo
Region: La Mancha, (southeastern) Spain
Story: Friend and Farmer is the dream of three brothers, Francisco, Javier and Luis Parra. The hope was to celebrate their home of La Mancha by raising organically and biodynamically grown grapes. When it comes to the winemaking behind Friend and Farmer, they partnered with the exceptional Juan Antonio Ponce of Bodegas Ponce, who longtime wine club members might remember from long ago wine club selections – might need to revisit him :)
Pairing: This is such a perfect burger or casual steak wine. By casual steak (lol), I mean nothing as serious as a ribeye or filet but rather a cut like hanger. I have been daydreaming about that anchovy butter I made last year to go with a hanger steak so please consider that as well. I borrowed the idea from Lulu’s Provencal Table (cookbook from Domaine Tempier in the south of France, which I have written about before). Here’s the basic idea: For the butter, the cookbook recommends mashing 4 salted anchovies with 8 tablespoons of butter for a 2 pound hanger steak. I went ahead and used this ratio for a smaller steak and just saved the rest for other uses. I also used a slightly different method where I cooked the anchovies in the butter for a few minutes in a small skillet and then mashed them up in that skillet before using the melted butter as a light garnish on the steak. (I emphasize light garnish as a little bit goes a long way since it’s a super umami bomb!) (And I found my potato masher worked great on the anchovies!) (Even though this is not a light red per se – I would still serve with a slight chill!)

P.S. If you are just picking up the Grape to Table newsletter, thanks so much for joining to learn more about wine, food, and life. There’s lots to read – from my origin story (click here to read) to fun content focused on meaningful time at the table with delicious wine and food. For now, my newsletter is free and you can find all the content by clicking here – basically a little Grape to Table website created by the great folks at Substack. I did realize recently that you only see the various categories of past newsletters if you open this link in a browser (rather than the Substack app). It’s a shame because the categories make it easy to find content you might be interested in…so here are some more embedded links! Click here for Wine Tips. Click here for Recipes. Click here for Q & As. As always I really appreciate when you hit the like button as it helps get the content in front of more people :) and spread the joy of wine and food! And as noted in last week’s newsletter, I am taking a few weeks off for a vacation but also to reimagine what this newsletter can bring to you so feel free to message me with any ideas you might have :)

P.P.S. Please save the date if you live here in Charleston, South Carolina…on Saturday, May 31, from 2 to 5, I will be co-hosting a ROSÉ SHOWDOWN with my good friend Josh Walker, owner of Wine & Company (wine bar/bottle shop, corner of Meeting and Spring in downtown Charleston). This is going to be SUPER fun! We are still working out the details, but you can expect tasting time with Josh and myself, delicious rosé by-the-glass, and special rosé snacks curated by us.