Amazing Deal Alert: 2011 Alto Moncayo for $29.99

Update: This offer has sold out

Cinderella Wine has the 2011 Alto Moncayo for $29.99 with free shipping on 3+ bottles. With a release price of $45 and 100-point pedigree this is an amazing deal.

I haven't tried the 2011 yet but I thought the 2010 was amazing. CellarTracker scores for the 2011 are trending very favorably (93.1 points as of now which is 2 points higher than the 2010 and 2009). And Parker scored the 2009 100 points. If you like the style of this wine (bold, fruit forward, high alcohol) it seems they can't make a bad wine lately.

Go here to check out the offer

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Jorge Ordoñez Wine Dinner at Legal Sea Foods Framingham, MA

Spanish wine legend Jorge Ordóñez will be on hand for an upcoming paired wine dinner at Legal Sea Foods' Framingham, MA location.

Ordóñez is the creative force behind an amazing number of Spanish wines enjoy here in the US. He's part of the group that brought us Alto Moncayo. He helped form El Nido. And most recently he gave us Triga. Tremendous values each of them and at this wine dinner priced at $75 a head (plus gratuity) he is associated with another nice value.

Legal Sea Foods is also offering a Kistler wine dinner at their Legal Harborside location in Boston.

To the press release...

WHAT: On June 4, Legal Sea Foods in Framingham will host a wine dinner with Fine Estates from Spain. Importer and merchant, Jorge Ordoñez, imports Spain's largest wine portfolio to America and provides a balanced spectrum of what he believes to be the best Spanish wines available in America. Ordóñez takes great pride in discovering, reintroducing and developing a wide array of varietals. Legal Sea Foods will team up with Ordóñez to host an exclusive four-plus-course dinner featuring signature cuisine paired with his selections from the Fine Estates from Spain vine.

The menu will be presented as follows:

HORS D’OEUVRES

Scallop Ceviche

Apple, Pomegranate Seeds, Sweet Basil

La Cana Albariño, Rias Baixas, 2012

FIRST COURSE

Sole & Lobster Mousse

Baby Pea Shoots, Saffron-Vanilla Vinaigrette

Nisia “Old Vines” Verdejo, Rueda, 2012

Avancia “Cuvée de O” Godello, Valdeorras, 2012

SECOND COURSE

Grilled Swordfish

Dried Chorizo, Wild Mushrooms, Pine Nuts,

Smoked Tomato Vinaigrette

Borsao “Tres Picos” Garnacha, Campo de Borja, 2012

Volver “Single Vineyard” Tempranillo, La Mancha, 2011

THIRD COURSE

Pepper Crusted Salmon

Grilled Clams, Ibérico Ham, Spinach,

Garlic-Cilantro Chimichurri Sauce

Zerran, Montsant, 2011

Muga Reserva, Rioja, 2009

DESSERT COURSE

Baked Citrus Custard

Salted Almond Praline, Orange-Mint Glaze

Jorge Ordóñez “Victoria No. 2,” Málaga

WHERE: Legal Sea Foods
50 Worcester Road, Framingham

WHEN: Wednesday, June 4, at 6:30pm

COST: $75 per person (excludes tax & gratuity)

MORE INFO: Reservation required by calling 617.530.9397 or visiting www.legalseafoods.com.

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Fells Market Approved, Who Else is Going for a Wine Retailer License in Wellesley?

Fells Market will be Wellesley's first wine retailer
Located at the intersection of Route 9 and Weston Rd

The first retail sale of wine in Wellesley's history is set to take place later this year. Fells Market's application was approved by the town making them the first of up to 6 food stores that will be able to sell wine and beer for off-premisis consumption.

See also: Wellesley votes "Yes" on wine at grocery - what's next?

I stopped in at Fells to pick up some groceries over the weekend and chatted with Peter and Paul Katsikaris about their plans. Last year they expanded into the space formerly occupied by a salon to make way for beer and wine sales. The new area is looking good!

Sneak Peak: Fells expanded future wine space

As usual The Swellesley Report has the scoop - including interesting insight on which other purveyors are applying for licenses:

Roche Bros., the Cheese Shop and Tuttu Italiano have all filed applications (here’s a look at what they need to fill out), and a newcomer — a specialty shop called The Bee’s Knees coming to the 576 Washington St. development at the former Wellesley Inn site — has filed a preliminary application.

Roche Bros and the Cheese Shop were expected but Tutto Italiano and The Bee's Knees are news to me.

Tutto Italiano is a real-deal old school Italian deli that sells mostly made to order sandwiches, cold-cuts and some grocery items. I could see them having some success selling Italian wines I guess, but finding significant space in their current location could be challenging.

If I had to guess, based only on some Google searching, The Bee's Knees would be a second location of this Boston-based market and deli. The Wellesley Inn location is far off though so we'll keep an eye out for more information on that front.

So these are some interesting developments. I'm looking forward to having some new stores to check out and hopefully they'll offer some compelling wines at attractive price points. We shall see!

Question of the Day: What will Wellesley's new beer and wine retailers need to do to earn your business?

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One Weird Trick Might Enable Direct Shipment of Wine to Massachusetts

Massachusetts shenanigans headquarters:
Scene of the crime

In Massachusetts, we've been waiting for years for the direct shipment of wine to become a reality. It's been a roller coaster. Every couple years a new bill would be introduced only to linger in committee and never see the light of day.

See: A brief history of wine shipment into Massachusetts

But seemingly out of nowhere hopeful news has arrived. Rather than relying on one of several bills to make it out of committee, legislators used "one weird trick" to bring the issue forward. They included an amendment to this year's budget that would enable the direct shipment of wine. Brilliant! See this story for more information.

The Passionate Foodie does a great job breaking down the high points of the amendment.

There are two revisions of the wine-specific amendment:

• The Original
• Revised

If we look back at this post from Ship Compliant there are three key issues that need to be resolved to enable the direct shipment of wine to Massachusetts:

1. How shipments should legally occur
   The fees, the administration, taxation - that kind of stuff. That's adequately addressed in both the original and revised versions of the bills. In fact, there are some improvements to key issues in the revised version: The original version of the amendment required wineries to be bonded specifically for shipping to Massachusetts and also required monthly reporting of shipments. Both are rather onerous and were changed in the revised amendment. No bond is required and reporting will be annual.
2. Per-consumer limits on how much wine could be shipped
   That's addressed as well. Rather than saying any one person can receive a certain amount of wine each year, each winery is limited to how much 
3. FedEx/UPS permitting requirements
   Currently Massachusetts law requires that each and every truck a parcel delivery service uses to transport wine has a permit. With thousands of trucks in operation it would be costly for FedEx/UPS to obtain permits for each and every truck. Most states offer a fleet-wide permit. The original amendment had a provision for fleet-wide permitting. Unfortunately the revised bill struck that wording. It's unclear what percentage of FedEx/UPS trucks are currently licensed to transport wine (for in-state shipments from wineries and retailers that already occur) and whether the upside associated with broader allowance of legal shipment would encourage them to pony up and pay for per-truck permits.

So other than the FedEx/UPS permitting sticking point the amendment looks good to me. And I love the idea of attaching this to the state budget.

But there's one big thing missing from the amendment. And that's inclusion of out of state retailers. That means we'll only be able to gain access to domestic wines as part of this direct shipment bill since out of state retailers - the only purveyors of imported wines in the US - would still be barred from shipping to Massachusetts. And we all know the best deals come from wine retailers. Tom Wark has covered this subject succinctly and effectively.

See also: Massachusetts missing out on $3M annually due to restrictive shipping laws

Oh and one other thing: Massachusetts retailers still can't ship out of state. Massachusetts is the only state I'm aware of that outlaws this. That needs to be changed.

But we'll take progress where we can get it. File this one under: Developing.

I'd love it if you subscribed to The Wellesley Wine Press to keep up to date on future updates on this.

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