Que Pasa Free Rangers,
Everybody okay? The energy seems particularly volatile out there, even by current standards. The calendar induced quickening is officially upon us, yet the air is still swampy and dog day(s) heat still roasts the pavement, between apocalyptic downpours. It’s an emotional rollercoaster out there and in here.
We have to thank you all (and your legged friends!) for keeping us just this side of CrayTown during these especially uncertain days. Besides the climate based tumult, it’s become profoundly difficult holding in secrets and plans (and secret plans), but I fear so many of the things about which I’d like to sing today would only serve to undermine their eventual glory. Strange and beautiful things are afoot, but best not to spin tales just yet.
So, funny story: You know that barrel of Elijah Craig 9yr Bourbon we picked up? Well it had a birthday in the months between our selection and bottling. So not only is it a proper 10yr age statement on the bottle, but the juice inside benefitted greatly from its extra barrel time, bringing its fruit forward and balancing the finish. We are pleased as punch with this one. While we will be raising the shelf price to $59 (still fairly reasonable for an exclusive 10 year), we thought it only fair to extend the current e-mail sale price for one more week. There are also a very small number of vertical sets left! The 4-pack contains one bottle each of our new Elijah Craig Free Range Single Barrel 10yr Bourbon, one of our previous Elijah Craig FR 10yr (2021), and a pair of our Elijah Craig FR 8yr barrels from warehouse N and warehouse X (2020). The 6-pack contains the previous four exclusive plus one bottle each of Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Bourbon Lot A123 and Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel Bourbon. Click below to secure yours now:
(!) Elijah Craig Free Range Bourbon Sale (!)
Now, it has always amazed me how many people think about their wine consumption by what they DON’T like, and I can’t even count the number of times I’ve heard, “I hate Chardonnay!” First of all, settle down, it’s a grape that never did anything to you or your loved ones. Save your hatred for truly evil things like genocide, Dick Cheney, and Auto-Tune. Second, you don’t hate Chardonnay, you just had one major market, factory-made, over-oaked CA Chard and wrote the whole thing off. If you turn the radio on and hear some insufferable mumble core nonsense, do you turn it off and say, “I hate music!”? No, you change the station. Same thing here. Chardonnay is a wonderful grape that can lead to a wide variety of expressions, most of the very finest employ some oak aging without the goal of completely buttering over the fruit and acid. These are my jam as the kids say (in 1999), but don’t call them jammy. So, behold another installation in our You Don’t Hate Chardonnay 6-pack series! This one contains 3 old world and 3 new world Chards, spanning quite a spectrum of what this noble varietal can become. Fornerot Bourgogne Blanc 2021 is a classic white Burgundy with bold acidity over lovely subtle fruit and clean minerality. Christophe et Fils Petite Chablis 2022 has the acid structure of universal food-friendliness, steely, limestone-y, clean. Dorbon Arbois Chardonnay 2010 is from an era and locale whose techniques lean toward hands off, this one is medium bodied, showing the palate smacking oxidative texture that is quite typical. Foxglove Chardonnay 2018 hails from the CA’s central coast is the most “California” of the bunch, and still leans far more toward zippy acidity than yellow Hostess frosting. Our old friend Oregon’s Brittan Chardonnay 2019 and Russian River CA classic Wallter Hansel Chard Cahill Lane 2020 both grow gorgeous new world fruit and employ Burgundian techniques, and tempered use of oak to create gloriously balanced Chards of world class character and reasonable price per quality.
* also a couple of Cellar Finds Pinot 6-Packs remain on the same sale page!
(!) You Don’t Hate Chardonnay Sale (!)
sale: retail:
You Don’t Hate Chard 6-pack: $135 $193
*** Online exclusive! ***
*** This week only! ***
Cheers,
Jack
Proprietor
Free Range Wine & Spirits
P.S. Free Range E-mail Archive
