Wine Club June 2025: Wines to Grill With

• Varietal: Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier
Region: Lombardy, Italy
• Taste: Red berries, sweet green apple and tart plum
• Elevage: Aged between 18 and 24 months on the lees
• Serve: Chilled
• Pairings: Grilled prawns, scallops, grilled sausages

The Arnaboldi, Brichetto and Moratti families are very attached to this ancestral residence, where they have celebrated and celebrate their anniversaries and convivial occasions. A lineage that through successive generations maintains a special relationship with this house with remote roots, full of beauty, emotions and affections.
Wine, wine production, is the ideal thread that connects this entire story that crosses eras, legacies and suggestions to reach us. Today Gabriele Moratti runs the Castello di Cigognola winery, to which he has given a decisive turn.
High on a hill in the Oltrepò Pavese and dominating a network of splendid vineyards, the Cigognola castle opens onto the panorama of the Scuropasso valley, which it originally controlled as a defensive bastion. The foundation certainly dates back to more remote periods, but the first documented news dates back to the mid-13th century.
During the Middle Ages, the fortress, thanks to its strategic position towards Emilia, was contested by feudal families such as the Sannazaro and the Visconti, and then transformed into a humanist court in the Renaissance.
In the 19th century, Don Carlo Arnaboldi-Gazzaniga, a patriot of the Risorgimento and philanthropist, following the fashion of the time, remodeled what remained of the medieval structure in a neo-Gothic style, adding Ghibelline battlements, decorations in the portals, coats of arms and various ogival decorative elements.

• Varietal: 100% Albariño
• Region: Rias Baixas, Spain
• Taste: Citrus, green apple, sea spray
• Elevage: Aged 3 months with fine lees in stainless steel tank
• Serve: Chilled
• Pairings: Grilled shrimp, oysters and vegetables

Adegas Gran Vinum is a family owned winery that started working in 2002. They planted new vineyards on steep, sandy, south-facing slopes, near the ocean which minimizes temperature swings and extends maturation times giving more spice, saline and fruity varietal character to the finished wines. Soils in the vineyards are enriched in the traditional manner by digging in shells of local mollusks.

They exclusively grow Albariño, this internationally recognized, high quality grapes of Galicia. It is an intensely aromatic grape with thick skins uniquely suited to the cool, damp growing conditions typical of the area. In addition, it maintains excellent natural acidity leading to fresh, balanced wines.

• Varietal: 80% Cinsault, 20% Syrah
• Region: Languedoc-Roussillon, France
• Taste: Blood orange, red berries, sweet herbs
• Elevage: The wine rests in stainless steel in a cellar that is half-buried into the earth so that the temperature of the winery is naturally regulated
• Serve: Chilled
• Pairings: Grilled chicken, grilled beef & lamb kebabs, BBQ pork

Jean-Marie Rimbert, a native of Provence, arrived in the Languedoc nearly 25 years ago & managed the vineyards at Château de Flaugergues for five years until he saved up enough to purchase his first parcels of gnarled ancient Carignan vines that had been nurtured in schist-laden soils for the better part of the last century.

• Varietal: 100% Nebbiolo
• Region: Langhe DOC, Italy
• Taste: Red cherry, cranberry, licorice, earth
• Elevage: Aged for 8 months in second hand 225L barrels
• Serve: Cellar Temperature
• Pairings: Grilled pork tenderloin, red meats

These wines are the convergence of three important and historic Piedmont wine growing families- Sartirano, Levis, and Arnulfo. The Sartirano family have farmed their seven ha of sustainably farmed vineyards in Novello for four generations, or since 1871. In 1988 Paolo Sartirano purchased the historic estate, Costa di Bussia-Tenuta Arnulfo, a 27 ha sustainably farmed estate on the famous Bussia hill in Monforte d’Alba that dates back to 1760. Always expanding, Paolo purchased another winery from the Levis family, long-time friends and colleagues of the Sartirano’s in 2002. The wine is named after the brothers or fratelli, Antonio and Raimondo Levis as a tribute. Paolo staunchly believes that great wine can only be produced in the vineyard and his winemaking style is traditional. He holds the utmost respect for his family’s long and rich history of production in this classic region. Paolo is a force to be reckoned with.

• Varietal: 100% Syrah
• Region: Costieres de Nimes, France
• Taste: Red and black fruits, blueberry, blackcurrant, white pepper
• Elevage: Vinified and aged in concrete tanks for six months
• Serve: Cellar Temperature
• Pairings: Beef burgers, grilled vegetables

Château Beaubois covers a total of 60 hectares in the Costieres de Nimes region of the Southern Rhone Valley. Bordering the marshy Camargue plane and influenced by the nearby Cevennes mountain range, nature plays a key role in wine production and style. The southern temperatures create a Mediterranean climate, but the strong Mistral wind cools at the hottest hours. The cold, dry and fierce Mistral wind blows down from the north along the lower Rhône River valley toward the Mediterranean Sea. This hot climate sucks in the crisp air of the sea and brings freshness and humidity throughout the day. A marshy plain called the Petite Camargue provides direct exposure of the vineyards to the sea, creating a unique microclimate for these Biodynamic Rhone wines.

The terroir is composed of Villafranchian pebbles which are detached from the Haut Brianconnais in the Alpes during the Quaternary. The combination of the rocks maintaining heat, then being cooled by the Mistral winds from the north creates an oven effect, causing warm air to rise and bring the cool sea breeze into the vineyards.

• Varietal: 80% Grenache, 20% Mouvedre
• Region: Gigondas, Rhone Valley, France
• Taste: Dark fruits, licorice, roasted herbs   
• Elevage: Fermentation in concrete, aged in large oak foudres
• Serve: Cellar Temperature
• Pairings: Grilled tri-tip, duck breast, mushrooms

St. Damien was an early Christian saint martyred in the year 287 A.D.. Later he was considered the patron saint of doctors. There was a chapel dedicated to his honor in the tiny hamlet of La Baumette, just outside the village of Gigondas, where Joel Saurel lives. M. Saurel’s predecessors took the name Saint Damien for the domaine. Domaine St. Damien’s cuvées of Gigondas have become the reference for classic full-bodied yet fine Gigondas, with consistent and high scores for every vintage. Almost as popular as their high-scoring Gigondas cuvées, are the Côtes-du-Rhône bottlings, considered for their intense concentration and tremendous value. Harvests are later and yields are low. Joel’s son, Romain, is becoming more and more involved in the winemaking. Their goal is to produce Gigondas expressive of terroir, tradition, length and balance-in short, the best of Gigondas.

• Varietal: 66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 2% Carménère
• Region: Horse Heaven Hills, Washington
• Taste: Ripe black cherries, currants, savory herbs
• Elevage: 25% New French oak for 16 months
• Serve: Cellar Temperature
• Pairings: Grilled beef or lamb

We are fifth generation Yakima Valley fruit growers. Gilbert Cellars is our way to both honor our family’s legacy and put our own stamp on the Valley we call home. We believe that what we’re doing matters—creating wines that celebrate the terroir we love. And through hosting tastings, dinners and special events, we’re not just creating wine, but fostering a community. At day’s end, our joy comes from a meal at home on the patio, candles lit and conversation flowing (perhaps enhanced by a lovely Riesling or Cabernet Sauvignon). We share stories of our day, the world around us, and often about where we come from. Did you know we even have our own geological landmark? The 8,200-foot Gilbert Peak, part of the Cascade mountain range, is named for Curtiss R. Gilbert, grandfather of our winery co-founder, Curtiss M., and great grandfather to some of the rest of us.