The Last Bits of Summer Are:
Pink Gold.
Léon Gold
"Pink Gold"
Trollinger Pet Nat
Our price: $30. Buy here.
TL;DR: Biodynamically farmed wonder-juice from Germany's Baden region, this 'pet nat' sets the gold standard (seewhatwedidthere?) for exactly the sort of mouth-watering refresher you want right now!
"How do you guys find your wines?"
It's one of the questions we're asked most often. Some imagine us as vinous road warriors, striking up conversations with be-overall'ed vignerons and kellermeisters all over Europe, in a perpetually golden hour'ed countryside.
Leon Gold and two people we wish were us
Our job is dreamy... but it's not quite that dreamy! While we do travel for, um, research purposes (yes, our tax professionals are on this mailing list), we rely on a trusted network of importers and trained delight-mavens to alert us to greatness, whenever and wherever it rings out.
One of the legends? A man we call the Scanman — a friend and vinous visionary who sends us reports from the front lines... and who recently lost his mind over a new bottle he'd discovered from Germany's Swabia region:
"Yes: I'll admit that sparkling Trollinger is probably not your most-requested wine category. But if VB drinkers aren't walking out with a bottle of Pink Gold in each hand, it's an injustice to wine drinkers everywhere. Watch: your people will soon be all but demanding grapefruit-hued Trollinger pet nats. And they'll figure out how great this is at the very moment it runs out of stock, I assure you. (Plus, it helps clear the smoke and reduce the air quality index!)"
Leon, in his cellar in Baden
Well, we'll make no claims for that last bit — ol' Scanman's an excitable boy — but having tried it on his recommendation? We can assure you that this tart & zippy sparkling "pet nat" is verily just the kind of wine we want for summer's last hurrah.
Trollinger (often called "the Swabian national drink," and known elsewhere as Schiava) is always a refreshing, vivacious red wine. Its snappy acidity, subdued tannins, and bright red fruits often remind us of our favorite Jura reds (Trousseau! Poulsard! Pinot Noir!). Here, though Leon Gold (his real name, yes) has taken all of its usual wonder and made something, well, un-usual out of it.
It starts with impeccable fruit: Leon sources entirely from his own 45 year-old-vine, sandstone-soiled, biodynamically farmed Trollinger vineyards. While he makes "serious" wine as well, destined for some of the best dining tables in Europe, he also reserves some for this bottling: a sparkling 'pet nat' style wine, wherein the wine is spontaneously fermented, with carbonation occurring naturally in bottle.
Yes: it tastes this good, too
The results are — can we say it? Nothing short of golden. It bursts forth with notes of pink grapefruit, underripe strawberries, tart Bing cherries, and hints of wild rose. Zippy and mineral with a bit of fruity, bubblicious fun and a hint of sour tang on its long and lingering finish. (Maybe the golden hour is perpetual!)
Léon Gold
"Pink Gold"
Trollinger Pet Nat
Our price: $30. Buy here.
Get it while we've got it!