Walter's World, Edition No. 11 (June 2025)

Summer has arrived, and with the longest day of the year approaching, we’ve got refreshing whites and grill-friendly reds in mind. This month, Chris sought out a lineup of unique summer wines!

Highlights include braided-vine Listán Blanco from some of the oldest vineyards in the Canary Islands, a viticultural tradition as fascinating as the wine itself, and the last few bottles of a remarkable Gamay grown in the heart of Pinot Noir country.

Thoughtful, expressive, and built for the season, we’re excited for you to discover these alongside us.

Cheers,
the Walter's team

I | Suertes del Marques ‘Trenzado’ 
2022 | Valle de la Orotava, Canary Islands, Spain | Listan Blanco

The variety is Listan Blanco, the place is the island of Tenerife, and the history spans more than 150 years for these vineyards that contribute fruit to this wine. The name “Trenzado” refers to the traditional vine training method used in the Valle de Orotava which is to braid shoots around the extended arm of the trunk, or cordon, in order to provide space for other crops to grow underneath. This is all done by hand, and can only be maintained by hand, making these wines most definitely labors of love. Listan is a very old variety that made its way from Spain to the Americas with Missionaries as early as the 15th century, jumping ship from one expedition or another to plant roots in the Canary Islands to become one of the primary grapes of the region. Back on the mainland it is generally referred to as Palomino and is the main grape of Sherry, centered around the city of Jerez, and is usually picked early to provide a blank canvas for the imprint of flor for biological styles or extended time in barrel for oxidative styles. Here in the Orotava it reaches full flavor ripeness on the lower slopes of the world’s third largest active volcano Mt. Teide, but still maintains lower alcohol levels so you can enjoy another glass. Lauren and I recently drank a bottle of this while in London at the Basque restaurant Brat (highly recommend!) with a smoked mussel toast and English peas that had been grilled in their pods and served like edamame and it was pure perfection. Chef’s kiss as the kids say. 

II | Cowhorn
2021 | Applegate Valley, Oregon | Grenache

We’re having a bit of an Oregon love fest with the reds this month and I’m so happy about it. As the longtime members of this club know, I’m a Grenache fanatic and am always looking for my next fix, and this one really surprised me. This is coming from the Applegate Valley in southern Oregon, just a stone’s throw from the California border, and is an estate that is doing all the right things – growing biodynamically, no additions other than a drop of sulphur, raising chickens in the vineyard to enrich the soil and then harvesting said chickens which are rumored to be hella delicious. What really impressed me about this wine was the sheer amount of structure it possesses, not an easy feat with Grenache as its thin skins and big berries make it a challenge. It has the right balance of gobs of ripe fruit, easily achieved by the variety, and tactile savory elements from the right amount of stems & maceration. I just had the pleasure of eating the incredible food at Pancita in Ravenna and would have loved a bottle of this with the chicken mole.

III | Albert Boxler 
2021 | Alsace, France | Sylvaner

The Boxler family are originally from Switzerland and moved to Alsace in 1673. The current steward’s grandfather Albert emigrated to Montana but returned to the family estate after World War II to carry on the family wine business. They have holdings in the prized Grand Crus of Sommerberg and Brand that make incredible dry Riesling, unctuous Pinot Gris, and heady Gewurztraminer but we’ve decided to feature their Sylvaner for this month’s club. This variety is better known from the region of Franken in neighboring Germany where it produces a crystalline drink of jicama, melon, & mineral water that is the perfect foil to lean styles of sushi like fluke, Hamachi, and bream. Here in Alsace the wines tend to be a bit richer, dense, and powerful due to the extended growing season that the Vosges mountains provide. The vineyards lie on the eastern slopes of the range which are protected from the weather than usually comes in from the west, so growers have more flexibility in letting the fruit hang on the vine to develop more complexity. Alsace is the place to go to taste wines that have what we nerds “phenolic density” which just means it has massive amounts of “flavor.” This example still has focus like its Franken sibling, but has a bit more flesh on the bone with yellow plum, lychee, and golden delicious apple.

IV | Brick House Wines
2023 | Ribbon Ridge, Willamette Valley, Oregon | Gamay

Doug Tunnell is the human equivalent of one of those giant teddy bears that you win at the county fair. He’s one of the kindest vintners out there, with the smoothest baritone voice that gives Barry White a run for his money, but I give the win to Doug for making some of the most thoughtfully delicious wine in the Willamette Valley. Doug and his wife Melissa worked as broadcast journalists for CBS & ABC respectively, and had grown up with the Oregon wilds playing a big role in their childhoods, so the goal of their retirement was to get back to nature and wine had enchanted Doug during his time overseas as a foreign correspondent. They purchased their property in 1990 and set to work to establish a fully organic farm, bucking the normal practices of the time. They continued to improve their craft and became Demeter certified biodynamic in 2005, far before it was trendy to do so in the wine world, especially in the US. They planted Gamay early on too as Doug has been a fan of Beaujolais since he can remember and wanted to recreate the perfume of Fleurie. The Willamette at his point was proven Pinot Noir country and he saw the potential for the red headed stepchild variety of Burgundy long before most. To me, this is one of the best examples of the Gamay in the US with Concinittas Farm that we also carry coming in a close second. Prawns in a mild red curry would crush with this wine!