Free Wine Tasting Thurs. April 3rd, 2025

---

  Want some free wine? TAG a friend and come get your fix!!! FREE Wine Tasting this Thursday, April 3rd! Featured will be our Matchbook Malbec & Insolia from Italy. 

 Join us for our FIRST TRIVIA NIGHT!!! Thursday, April 24th, 2025 from 7PM-8:30PM, Father Matt Garrison will be hosting Trivia Night. There will be prizes/gift certificates presented to the winners!!! 

  Importer Wine Tasting

Saturday April 5th, 2025

1pm to 3pm

@Vinous Wine Bar

Sophie Barrett - Haw River Wine Imports

$30 Per Person – 

Charcuterie Boards & Snacks Provided

Come spend your Saturday afternoon with me (Jake) and Italian & French Wine Expert extraordinaire Sophie Barrett of Haw River Wine Imports as we take you on an educational tour of the fascinating wines of Italy, France & Spain.

We will dive deep into each individual wine with the history, terroir , wine growing methods, winemaking techniques and proper way to taste and evaluate.

It’s going to be a fun, educational day of wine tasting!

  1. Ostatu Rioja Blanco 2024

Ostatu consistently makes one of the best white wine values in the world, and their 2024 Rioja Blanco is better than ever. What if you could find a white wine that possessed the brightness and freshness of a Sauvignon Blanc, the lushness and texture of a Chardonnay, and the mineral complexity of a great Loire Valley white? 

Their white wine is made up of 90% Viura and 10% Malvasia from vineyards in the 60 to 70-year age range.

2. Comte Leloup Muscadet 2018 

  The first terroir and family home is Chasseloir, a vineyard with schist soils in the heart of the Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine appellation, right between Saint-Fiacre-sur-Maine and Château-Thébaud, on the hillsides above the river Maine. These are the family's oldest Melon vines, with vine age averaging 100+ years old! The resulting wine is dramatically delicious with deep notes of fresh lime and lemon, oyster shell and salt spray, and a Chenin-like meld of quince and pear.

3. Garofoli Piancarda Rosso Conero Montpulcino 2020 

Vinous 90+

“The 2020 Rosso Conero Piancarda, a varietal Montepulciano, lifts from the glass with a dusty mix of dried roses, red currants and hints of nectarine that form a truly inviting bouquet. This is silky and elegant, nearly creamy in feel, yet elevated and cool-toned, with mineral-laced wild berries and a salty flourish that adds a savory sensation toward the close. The 2020 leaves a coating of fine tannins, as inner florals arch across the palate, and a caking of minerality slowly fades away. The warm vintage has imparted an extra suave character here, yet the Piancarda’s structure and acidity are nicely balanced and should promote medium-term cellaring. Lose a few bottles in the cellar; you’ll thank me later.”

4. Thevenet Bourgogne Rouge Les Clos 2023

  This is gorgeous single-vineyard Pinot Noir from the southern reaches of Burgundy. This is Thévenet’s sole red wine, sourced from a superbly situated single vineyard called Les Clos, in the village of Bussières. Sporting a lovely translucent garnet color in the glass, Thévenet’s Les Clos presents dusty, soil-inflected, authentically Burgundian aromas of cranberries, red raspberries, chalky earth, and rose petals. The wine’s palate impression alternates notes of sour cherries and tangy raspberries framed by weight-lifting tannins and a persistent dusty limestone soil signature. Bright minerals, balancing acidity, and appetizing savory herbs carry the wine to its long finish.

Come join us at Vinous Wine Bar/Carolina Wine Merchants on Saturday May 18th as we welcome Jay Raffaldini to Sanford as we taste his amazing lineup of Italian wines. We will have food, wine, and Jay to speak about the wines.

Tickets for the event are just $35 and must be purchased in advance. Contact me, Jake Jacobs either by email or by phone. 

carolinawinemerchants@gmail.com/ 919-349-2080

https://carolinawinemerchants.com/

Vinous Wine Bar

112 S. Steele Street in beautiful historic downtown Sanford, NC.

For those of you who don’t know Raffaldini specializes in Italian grape varietals. One visit to Raffaldini vineyards you will feel like you’ve been transported to the beautiful countryside of the rolling hills of Tuscany.

Raffaldini Vineyards

450 Groce Road

Ronda, North Carolina 28670

Email: info@raffaldini.com

T: 336.835.9463

https://www.raffaldini.com/Visit/About-Us

The Raffaldini Wines

Vermentino Superiore 2021

“Our largest white planting this is our signature grape which we use to make a wine similar to the wine commonly found in the Italian island of Sardinia. With its beautiful minerality and saline features, this wine reminds drinkers of Mediterranean summers. Vermentino grows effortlessly on our property and when it arrives at the winery there is little winemaker intervention that takes place. It is simply a lovely wine, smooth and refreshing white with juicy notes of pineapple, sweet lemon and peach.”

Montepulciano Riserva 2020

Our largest planting on the property this grapes hails from the Province of Abruzzo which lies east of Rome. The Montepulciano grape tends to make wine that are most similar in profile to Merlot – juicy with ripe and rich fruit framed by lively acidity and soft tannins. Tending to prefer a more complex style made near the city of Chieti, we also put some of these grapes through the Appassimento drying process while also co fermenting these grapes with some Sagrantino and Petit Verdot.

Sagrantino 2020

Sagrantino is one of the rarest grapes in the world with almost 95% of the 2000 acres planted being located in the Province of Umbria and around the town of Montefalco, Sagrantino flourishes on our property and when the grapes arrive to the winery they are brimming with mouth drying tannins. We further accentuate the bigness of the wine by also utilizing the Appassimento drying process to create a savory, drying and earthy full bodied wine in the traditional Umbrian style. This wine is not for the faint of heart.

Grand Riserva 2019

The flight of the Bumble Bee defies physics- their wings are too small and don't flap fast enough to support their weight. Yet somehow, through the sheer force of their will and determination, they fly. Given the nearly impossible climate conditions we have here, we should not make a wine this wonderful, yet we do. Raffaldini Grande Riserva, our Flagship, is our Bumble Bee wine. Montepulciano, Petit Verdot, and Sagrantino grapes, harvested at optimal ripeness are triple-sorted and then dried heavily using the Appassimento drying process to further concentrate the grapes natural flavors and aromas.

La Dolce Vita 2021

La Dolce Vita (translated from Italian as The Sweet Life) is our version of the widely popular Italian sweet wine called Moscato D'asti. What makes La Dolce Vita so lovely is the aromatic profile of flowers is supported by acidity and sparkling bubbles to balance the sweetness of the wine while retaining freshness. Best served chilled it is a delightful wine designed to pair with dry cheeses and fruit or as a standalone when simply having relaxing moments.