The Wine Knows

Traditionally, the third Thursday of November is Beaujolais Nouveau day, when the new wines of Beaujolais are released.

My friend and colleague Ken Robertson is a pretty smart guy, but I don't know that he realized this when he left seven bottles of the 2008 Domaine Perdue on my desk yesterday.

This is a red sparkling wine Ken made from Sangiovese grapes from my little backyard vineyard. It's Ken's second vintage from these grapes, and Ken believes it's even better than last year's fruit-driven version (also his first effort to make a red bubbly).

I'll likely let the wine continue to settle for a few weeks and will open the first bottle around Christmas.

Ken has been making sparkling wines for years. He started with fruit wines, usually buying bags of frozen raspberries or blackberries. In recent years, he acquired some wine grape juice from a local producer and has made several delicious sparklers from Pinot Gris and Riesling. Last year, he got grape juice from me. It's a fun hobby for Ken, who is a Wine Press Northwest columnist.