Walter's World, Edition No.8 (March 2025)

Throughout his tastings, Chris is always on the hunt for standout wines for the club. This month, whether by design or sheer coincidence, his picks mirrored March’s moody weather.

Kicking things off, a surprising Sémillon from the Sierra Foothills matched those cold, sunny days early in the month. As the skies darkened, he stumbled upon a red blend from newcomer Julie Batard in Southwest France—crafted with Tannat, a powerhouse grape known for its firm tannins and antioxidant-rich qualities. Next up, an elegant Trebbiano d’Abruzzo from one of his favorite producers, and finally, a deep, complex Priorat—just in time for those inevitable rainy days.

While we celebrate great wines made by great people year-round, it was a fun bonus that two of this month’s selections come from women-led projects. So, here’s to delicious wines, Women in Wine, and Women’s History Month.

Cheers,
the Walter's team

OSA Major ‘Gold in the Hills’
2022 | Sierra Foothills, California | 100% Sémillon

Emily Fernwood started her own label in 2020 after traveling the world post-college, working harvests in New Zealand, Australia, Oregon, and California. While she makes her wines in bucolic Sebastopol, she sources fruit from several regions across California. This Semillon comes from the Chatom Vineyard in the Sierra Foothills, where vines grow in decomposed granite strewn with massive chunks of quartz. To me, the Sierra Foothills are one of the most underrated and exciting wine regions in the state, producing incredible expressions of cooler-climate varieties. Originally from Bordeaux, Semillon has found success in specialized pockets around the world, from Australia’s Hunter Valley to Mendoza’s Andean foothills and even Lodi, California. It can produce a fat, waxy, and rich wine, but in the right hands, it becomes intensely crystalline, with notes of yellow plums, lemongrass, lime candy, and a quartz-like minerality—akin to drinking water from a glacier. I drank mine with a banh mi from the hidden gem Voi Cà Phê in Georgetown, and I can’t wait to do it again. 

Julie Batard La Closerie du Loup ‘Racines’
2022 | Madiran, France | 50% Tannat, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Cabernet Franc

Julie took the reins of her family’s small vineyard in 2020—just in time to spend plenty of one-on-one time with her vines. Since then, she has focused heavily on farming, using inputs only when absolutely necessary and in the smallest amounts. She has encouraged biodiversity, relied on sheep to fertilize the land and control overgrowth, and minimized diesel use from tractor passes. Madiran is traditionally built around the Tannat variety, known for its intense tannins—so much so that specialized winemaking techniques, like micro-oxygenation, were developed to make it more approachable. To reduce intervention, Julie blends in a higher percentage of other varieties to soften Tannat’s structure, using Cabernet Sauvignon for its rich black fruit and Cabernet Franc for its delicate, ephemeral quality. This wine has a wild streak, tasting of bramble, fern gullies, and venison steak, with a river rock finish. I’d drink it with a table full of roasted mushrooms, braised white beans, and roast chicken.

Pasanau Finca La Planeta Priorat
2016 | Catalunya, Spain | 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Garnacha

Jess and I tasted this together, and we immediately wanted to punch out for the day to just sit and finish the bottle with a bit of cheese and jamón ibérico. It’s that good! It’s also kind of a curiosity because it is Cabernet Sauvignon dominant – not common in this region of Spain. We’ve featured a wine from Priorat in the club before, but that one [Terroir al Limit] was Garnacha (Grenache) based with a bit of Cariñena (Carignan). This particular vineyard has been farmed by the same family for centuries and sits at one of the highest elevations in the region. That’s the magic of this wine—growing at 2,400 feet creates a huge shift in temperature from day to night. During the day, it’s hot, which Cabernet & Garnacha both love, but at night it gets quite chilly, which lets the vines rest from ripening and the acids rise again to bring verve and freshness to the finished wine. I want meat with this – sorry, vegetarians. There’s this recipe out of the Canal House cookbooks that involves rubbing a pork shoulder with a purée of anchovies, garlic, marjoram, and parsley, letting it marinate overnight, then cooking it low and slow in a dutch oven until it falls off the bone. It’s supremely comforting, and this wine would perfectly envelop that umami richness. Now I’m definitely going to make all this happen come Sunday!

Tiberio Trebbiano d’Abruzzo
2023 | Abruzzo, Italy | Trebbiano Abruzzese

While we often think of European wineries as centuries old, some have emerged more recently and quickly gained recognition among the wine cognoscenti. This winery has only been around since 2000, but the vines you’re tasting now are over 60 years old and truly special. They are a very particular and rare clone of Trebbiano called Abruzzese, which gives the wines an amazing texture along with complex notes of ripe and desiccated tree fruit. It also has an inherent nuttiness and a salty finish that just makes me want to drink more. The founder’s daughter, Cristiana, has been making the wines since 2011 and is hella talented. I love literally every wine in the lineup, which I rarely say. We just received one of only three cases in the state of her Cerasuolo, a wine that identifies as a dark rosé or a light red, depending on the lighting. It’s made from Montepulciano vines almost as old as the Trebbiano and grown on limestone, which adds so much verve to a variety that can often be kind of chunky and unfocused on the palate. Think bone-dry and minerally grenadine with bay laurel and black pepper… grab one of the few bottles we have left of this awesome Cerasuolo when you’re in next – so good.