Main Street Wine Bar...coming soon!

Over a month ago, I was hired as a freelance marketing consultant and social media manager at a little wine shop in Tiburon [Marin County, Ca]. They also needed someone to work in the shop two days a week, so you can find me there, mulling over the many Italian wines and posting images of their labels to Facebook, on Sundays and Mondays.

The previous owner had traveled all over Italy and trained as a sommelier at A16 in San Francisco; she called the shop, Prima Palate, and sold only Italian wines.

When Nancy Larson purchased the shop earlier this year (including all of the wine inventory), she decided to diversify and re-brand. The name of the shop is changing to Main Street Wine Bar and Bottle Shop; the new signs should be up next week! We're still hammering out the design of the new website, but in the mean time, please follow on Facebook and Twitter.

Other improvements include adding more seating, outdoor heat lamps, an espresso machine, and new wines. The selection is still predominantly Italian, but we’re making room for more California and French producers. And in the mean time, it has provided me with the opportunity to taste many new wines.

The Magnificat Pinot Nero ($18/bottle) is a terrific Spumante Brut from the Lombardia region. It’s light and lean with a whisper of pear and orange creamsicle on the palate as well as faint yeasty notes. Finishes clean with lingering flavors of tropical fruit.

I am also a big fan of the Ca’Vittoria Brut Rosé ($17/bottle). It’s made with Prosecco grapes and a small amount of Raboso, a native red Veneto varietal that contributes both color and aroma. Bone-dry but very full in the mouth, this sparkler shows good, lively acidity and a broad sweep of strawberry and citrus fruit.

We carry the 2011 Enkidu Chardonnay, Tin Cross Vineyard, which I blogged about after attending the Family Winemakers of Californiaevent. It’s $30/bottle with good acidity, pleasant fruit components, and no malolactic fermentation [my style of Chardonnay!]. As is the 2011 Foxen Chardonnay, Bien Nacido Vineyard from Santa Barbara ($34/bottle). As the owner/winemaker of Foxen told me, this wine is “Burgundian in style with California sunshine blended in.” Delicious!

The 2010 Winzerkeller Andau Blaufrankisch is an Austrian red that is quite tasty ($17/bottle). This elegant, juicy wine offers impressions of lavender, tobacco, pepper, plum, red cherry, cedar, toffee, and cassis. It’s similar to Sonoma Pinot Noir in weight.

I’ve also enjoyed a few of the Italian reds. The 2011 Alois Lageder Kalterersee Shiava from Alto Adige ($23/bottle) has the weight of a Chardonnay and similar food-pairing flexibility (pastas, risotto, chicken). It’s matured in large Slovenion oak casks but not for more than a few months. Transparent in the glass, it is light-bodied and fresh. Aromas of red currant, cherry, and violets are complemented by attractive nuances of red fruit and a slightly spicy finish.

The 2009 Pietradolce Archineri from Etna Rosso (Sicily; $26/bottle) is available by the glass right now. It’s complex but balanced; the perfume of this wine smells like sweet blackberry, plum, tar and spice. The palate delivers a wonderful harmony of bright raspberry and Bing cherry flavors, dried herbs, violet, and acidity.

I am also excited about the wines we carry from Fisher Vineyards (Napa) and the wines delivered this week—including Saintsbury Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and the Chappellet 2010 Cervantes Mountain Cuvee (red blend). 

The shop is open every day with special Happy Hour pricing on Fridays and Saturdays from 4-7 pm and on Sunday from 3-5 pm. Come say hello and stay for a glass of vino!