Free Market Wine Group and Summer Travel Plans

It's Spring Time!
It's been 6 month's since the merger of Vinture Wine Group and Free Market Wine Group. After a view bumps in the road we are now ready to roll. A lot of new items and brands have been added to the portfolio of Free Market Wine Group:
Brandborg Wines from Oregon
Chateau Laubade Armagnac
Lamplighter and Alias Wines from California,
Michel-Schlumberger from Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma
Axios and Worthy from Napa,
Michael Pozzan Wines (Dante, Annabella)
look forward to some craft Boubons coming soon

Follow us on Facebook for updates on different wine tastings that are upcoming now.

More new for the summer: Patty and I will fly to Madrid in June. There we will pick up a rental car and drive up to Rueda, Ribera del Duero, Rioja - visit at Heredad Ugarte - to San Sebastian. Crossing over to France we arrange a visit to Chateau Peyros - our Producer of Tanat Wines in Madiran - then an over-nighter at Chateau Laubade - producer of wonderful Bas Armagnac's. Up to Bordeaux to visit Chateau Haut-Selve in Graves and Chateau Leoville Poyferre (2nd Growth in St. Julien) There will still be time to look up some places in Pomerol where we hope to meet our Friend Marcello Pelleriti from Argentina - who recently received 100 Points from Parker for his LaViolet (Pomerol) wine. Unfortunately, Catherine Vere-Perge, owner of Monteviejo and Chat La Violet and Chat. LeGay passed away earlier this week. This great Lady of many good wines will be missed by many friends.

A quick trip in the Fall to Italy

My wife Patty and I were fortunate enough to have received an invitation from very good friends to join them for a week in Lake Como. they had rented a beautiful villa directly on the lake a stone throw away from the famous Villa d' Este Hotel in Cernobbio. (We went to the Hotel one night for cocktails and our bill for 10 cocktails was Euro 275 - without tip).
We had fantastic weather and the accommodation (the villa) was superb and the company could not have been any better. Day trips to the town of Como or Bellagio were easy....all we had to do was jump on a water taxi (ferry).
We did visit an Olive Oil producer in Lenno (Vanini Oswaldo) tasted and of course bought many bottles of delicious olive oil. After that we drove up the hillside in Tremezzo and had a fantastic Lunch at Al Veluu Ristorante. This is one of these places that have a million dollar view.

The 1927 Alfa Romeo

 On a Tuesday morning we got our group together, rented a small Mercedes bus and drove from Lake Como down to Alba in Piedmont. There our good friend Giacomo Vico gave us a royal reception and showed us their improvements to their winery - a new building as well as a new tasting room where delicious Vitello Tonnato was served for Lunch. We toured the Winery, checked out Giacomo old family Alfa Romeo's drank plenty of Favorita, roero Arneis and Roero Superiore. I took home some of his 2008 Barolo which I am now patiently waiting for it to get ready to drink.

Giacomo explaining wine making

   

Later that afternoon we dove a few miles from Canale over to Negro Angelo Winery. I had seen Giuseppe Negro at the Gambero Rosso Tasting in Chicago earlier in the year. Again, after touring their wonderful winery and their cellars we got together in their beautiful tasting room and tasted Roero Arneis including an oak aged 2004 that was superb, then moved on to Barbera"s, Nebbiolo's and ended up with delicious Barbaresco Basarin.
Needless to say, it was very quiet on the way from from Piedmont to Lake Como

Cellar at Negro

Tasting Room at Negro

Our wonderful travel and wine tasting group at Negro's

Look forward to Negro wines in Indianapolis soon available through Free Market Wine Group