Martha visits Mills Fine Wines in Annapolis
March 21, 2010
Charlie & Martha Barra spent a week in Washington D.C., Annapolis, MD and many parts of Delaware this past week. Read the blog posting from Martha's in-store tasting at Mills Wine & Spirits!
http://blog.millswine.com/?p=246
On Tuesday, I had the great pleasure of meeting Martha Barra of Girasole and Barra Wines. Martha is married to Charlie Barra (Legendary Veteran Vintner and Grape grower) and is the female driving force behind Barra and Girasole. She is quite focused on promoting the brands and spends lots of time on the road to do so. She generously offered to pour her Girasole wines for our, Women and Wine Tuesday”, wine tasting in our store. She was a grand hostess and was eager to explain the Barra’s wine making philosophy.
Barra of Medocino wines including Girasole is a family estate owned operation entrenched in a long history of wine making. When Martha and Charlie wed in 1980, Martha began working with him to farm 200 acres of certified organic vineyards on the rolling benchlands of the Mendocino appelation in Northern California. This is Charlie’s 64th harvest! Wow! Interestingly enough he admits there were 20 years in the beginning when he didn’t even know they were growing organic as if there were not any other way to do it!
Girasole means, Sunflower in Italian. Girosole wines can easily be recognized by the bright sunflower on the label. I had the opportunity to try the entire line of Girasole wines with Martha. I was quite impressed! These wines are all certified organic and vegan. For those of you who are allergic or sensitive to sulfites, these wines have a very low count. The grapes are grown on the estate organically without the use of pesticides, herbicides, sewage, sludge or radiation. This allows the fruit to really shine through in the wines. The juice is fermented in stainless steel tanks producing crisp and clean wines that are never over oaked. These wines are great everyday drinking wines and are meant to enjoy now.
Two of the favorites during the wine tasting were the Girasole 2007 Zinfandel and the 2008 Pinot Blanc. The Zinfandel was light to medium bodied, delicate and fresh. This is not the over the top jammy and spicy zin. It’s the perfect balance of crushed fresh cherries and berries with spice. The Girasole Pinot Blanc will be the perfect sipping white for a long awaited summer! It’s beautiful with flavors of apple and vanilla and a creamy mouth feel. The Girasole Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are also available in our store. The Chardonnay has a touch of Pinot Grigio, giving it a fresh zippiness. I appreciated its balance and un-oakiness. The Pinot was pretty on the nose with flavors of cherry, vanilla and cranberry. All of these wines are also reasonably priced under $20.oo!
A big thanks to Martha for visiting our store and sharing her wines with our customers!
If you would like more information about Girasole Wines or Women and Wine Tuesday please call me at Mills! Keep in mind men are always welcome to our Tuesday tastings. Women and Wine Tuesdays strive to showcase women leaders in the wine business and local Annapolis businesses. If you are interested in being involved in a future tasting contact me!