Sabelli-Frisch Spring Release

Discuss…




Good morning wine friends!

It is with great pleasure (and some minor need for sleep) I present 6 exciting new wines for this spring release: 3x new whites, 2x rosées and 1x red.
All are bottled, but the white/rosées are still waiting on their labels, so I won’t be able to ship those until May, just so you know. For those of you just ordering the red, it will ship immediately (as I was smart enough to order those labels in good time;) For those ordering a mixed case, I will send them all together in May to combine and save on shipping.

You will also notice that I’ve shifted to a much lighter series of bottles for this and future releases. This will help save the environment, on transport and our backs.

So without further ado, here is a brief intro to the wonderful newcomers - and some musings about the idea and philosophies behind each new release (for those who want more in-depth technical info, there’s more on each wines in link further down):

REDS:

2020 Zinfandel “Faun” - A lighter, fresher style that was inspired by how Zinfandels used to be made in California, before so much emphasis was put on extraction. A slightly woodsy nose, despite having very little oak influence (only about 15% new oak) gives way to a lightness and slightly disguised fruit palate that evolves with opening time and concludes in a feminine, warm, inviting end. $29

WHITES:

2021 Chardonnay “Agnes” - Those of you who know me, know that I’ve had a problem with many New World Chardonnays being too tropical, oaky and heavy-handed for my palate. I convinced myself it wasn’t the right grape for my winemaking. But with time came a desire to see if I could make my own expression of it. So here is my attempt at making a leaner, more linear and paired down Chardonnay with great acid. I hope you’ll let me know if I succeeded or not. $29

2021 Riesling “Bund” - A new Riesling from the famed Mokelumne Glen vineyard in Lodi, who only specialize in Germanic and Austrian varieties. This is my leanest and most steely bone-dry Riesling to date. Very different from the barrel fermented “Obie” in expression. Full of pear notes and green-fruited notes. And because I took over another winery’s allocation of this fruit at a fair price, I can pass on a bit of that saving to you. $25

2021 PicPoul “Glimra” - You all heard the story of the previous PicPoul - the special edition Milk Fed 3 - and how most of the wine ended up on the floor from a cracked vessel. That wine in barrel had such great and lovely flowery bouquet - I thought I’d really like to make that into a regular cuveé. But this time not barrel fermented, in tank, to kind of make it a bit more linear and devoid of oxidative notes. So here it is, the first of many to come, hopefully. Fruity and acid-driven wine that pairs very well with food. $29

ROSÉE:

2021 White Zinfandel “Eserra” - This is not your grandparents mass-market, sweet and cloying White Zinfandel of the past - this is something completely different! A very dry rosé wine, slightly reductive gunflint notes, full of fruit vigor, acid that dances on your tongue, yet multi-layered in that Zinfandel way. I see a great future for White Zinfandel here in California again, aromatic and dry in style. Again, Steve Lauchland who farms this must like me or something, because he keeps offering me his old vine fruit for a very competitive price, so I can pass that saving on to you. This is a great summer drinker. $21

2021 Flame Tokay “Lanterna” - The highly anticipated and long sold out Flame Tokay is finally available again! The 2020 vintage was supposed to be released for this, but unfortunately developed a fault last year, so after much soul-searching and tasting, I decided that the 2021 vintage was indeed ready for release, despite being young. And what’s noteworthy about this vintage, is that this is the first from the Blodgett Vineyard (that we took over in 2021 and farm ourselves) with plantings from 1926. Still has the same wonderful apple and tapenade notes, but now perhaps with a hint of blood orange, too. $29

Also, don’t forget any of the other wines in the regular lineup if you liked them. Some are getting pretty low in inventory:

2018 Angelica “El Aliso”
2020 Riesling “Obie”
2020 Syrah “Harris”
2019 Petit Manseng “Milk Fed 2”
2018 Tinta Cao “Luciades”
2020 Zweigelt “Milk Fed 4”
2018 Marsanne “Milk Fed” - less than 10 cases left.
2019 Mission “Hernan” - less than 9 cases left.
2018 Alicante Bouschet “Gordon W.” - SOLD OUT
2018 Flame Tokay “Lanterna” - SOLD OUT
2019 Flame Tokay “Lanterna” - SOLD OUT
2020 PicPoul “Milk Fed 3” - SOLD OUT
2019 Riesling “Obie” - SOLD OUT
ACCESS PRESALE WINES HERE!

Finally, thank you all for your continued support!

I SHIP TO:
CA, NY, OR, WA, CO, NV, AZ, TX, DC, FL, IL, PA, NC, MI, VA, NH, OK, MN, CT, GA, AK (shipping not included to AK, please contact me for shipping quote). I can arrange shipping to other states not on list on case by case, just email me.

CASE DISCOUNTS?
Yes, 15% discount gets applied automatically to all full case orders.

WHAT’S THE SHIPPING COST?
It’s included on any order above 6 bottles. And below that it’s still only $25, so pretty good deal.

SALES TAXES?
Yes, unfortunately I do have to collect taxes for almost all states on their behalf. It’s very annoying.

CAN I PAY WITHOUT HAVING PAYPAL?:
Yes, you can. Just email me and I’ll send you an invoice link where you can just use your CC without having to have an account. Or Venmo. Or a check. We’ll figure it out.

Best,

Adam Sabelli Frisch

Steve Lauchland on his ancient Michigan loader loading up some of his Zinfandel fruit for this 2020 vintage release of “Faun”.





Sabelli-Frisch Wines Inc, 2079 E. 15th St, Los Angeles, USA

1 Like

If you’re looking to round out a shipment, I’ve had the 2020 Zweigelt “Milk Fed 4” twice and found it very enjoyable. Also a big fan of the La Malinche (both the '18 & '19), which I opened just this Friday.

https://www.sabelli-frisch.com/wines

1 Like

Hoping Adam will drop in and add some more insight into the new wines.

1 Like

Hernan, Zweigelt, and Angelica are all great.

1 Like

Ordered a mixed 6. If I love any of the new cuvées I could see ordering more. If there are any still left [cheers.gif]

1 Like

Mixed six for me too, looking forward to it!

1 Like

Thanks Michael for starting this thread! Humbled to have a dedicated thread about a release like the big boys! champagne.gif

A little about the evolving thoughts for the winery; after 2020’s taxing harvest, 2021 was a year to consolidate and go back to basics. Moving forward I curbed a little bit of my scattershot red varietal approach and focused on the OG’s; Mission, Zinfandel and those varieties with a long American history and tradition that interest me. My little postage stamp sized Syrah vineyard, of course (which doesn’t quite fit the narrative of a California variety with a long history here, but whaddya gonna do?). I will still do the left field/experimentals/limited stuff through my special Milk Fed editions as one-offs here and there and satisfy my curiosity.

In 2021 I also focused a lot more on my whites, and this is something that will most likely continue to grow moving forward. I drink more whites, I think the world drinks more whites, climate is getting hotter and they’re easier for a small winery to manage, i.e. quicker to market and demand less cellar work during harvest. My Riesling focus has now also expanded to 4 vineyards (just signed a contract last week), so the commitment is growing. I’ll probably die on that new world Riesling hill;)

Most of the wines were covered in OP’s post, but the White Zinfandel is perhaps the most left field one in this release. And in the context of focusing on the OG American varieties, it makes total sense. I even have a second White Zin in amphora for next years release, from a great old vine vineyard that I’m super-excited about - it’s tasting amazing already. I hope people will come on this journey with White Zin, but we’ll see. I heard Bedrock is making one, so that makes me feel I’m not totally insane:)

Thanks to all who ordered so far! grouphug

3 Likes

These are right in the middle of the Affordable/Interesting venn diagram. I only ordered a sixer but can’t think of wines I’ve ordered this spring I’m more excited to actually receive and open.

1 Like

Berserker Day find from a few years ago. Has all the elements you desire: small/artesian, different, geeky, quality, good price point, smaller order quantities for free shipping, good wines from someone who participates here.

1 Like

For myself, participating in this thread, and the cellar inventory reduction thread are diametrically opposing to each other. But if anyone can pull me off my self imposed buying hiatus, it might be Adam. He makes some really good juice.

2 Likes

Thanks for everyone’s patience with the whites from the spring release. The labels finally arrived last week and they will start to go out tomorrow (and all this week) in bigger numbers. Looks like we have a colder spell here in the west as well, which will help them get beyond the hot spots.

I emailed everyone about a replacement of one wine, but thought I’d mention it here as well, in case somebody didn’t get it:

I will be replacing the 2021 “Eserra” White Zinfandel with the 2021 “Mariedam” White Zinfandel.

Background: The 2021 “Eserra” White Zinfandel, from the Lauchland Vineyard, was bottled in mid-March. It was always a pretty reductive wine all through elevage, with some significant gunflint notes. After bottling, I’ve been sampling the wine continuously in bottle and I wasn’t liking the evolution it took. The funkier brimstone notes got more pronounced and I realized that this wine will need another year at least in bottle to integrate a bit better and blow some of that off. Thankfully, I had another White Zinfandel, the 2021 “Mariedam” in amphora/barrels that I had planned on releasing for the fall release. Late April I decided to bottle that early to replace the “Eserra”.

It’s a beautiful wine, from the famous old vine Stampede Vineyard in Clements Hill. So, in many ways a much more elegant White Zin. I’m very confident that you guys will enjoy this replacement. Due to Stampede Vineyard being more allocated and hard to get into as a producer, this fruit is much more expensive for me and I won’t be able to sell this at the same price as “Eserra” moving forward, but I will of course replace it at no cost and even keep the lower price until it goes into wide release. “Mariedam” will eventually be priced at $27 at the webshop.

I’m sorry for this late replacement and news, but it’s for the better all around. And I do think it’s a win-win for all: you get a higher pedigree wine from a great vineyard, and we give the time needed to “Eserra” to integrate and be able to be the best it can be for a future release.

Also have some new scores in from John Gilman and View From The Cellar and some drinking windows:

2020 “Obie” Riesling. 2022-2035. 93pts.
2018 Angelica 95pts. 2022-2100. 95pts.
2020 “Milk Fed 3” PicPoul. 2022-2030. 91pts.
2020 “Harris” Syrah. 2030-2075. 90pts.
2020 “Milk Fed 4” Zweigelt. 2022-2045. 91+pts.

2 Likes

Such good and interesting wines at super prices!

1 Like

Should be shipping soon.

1 Like

Quite the window.

1 Like

I put this in the commerce corner but there was a little shipping mix-up and Adam Frisch accidentally sent me 6x extra La Malinche 2019. I’m hoping to farm these out to WBs in Chicago and remit the proceeds to him rather than wasting on shipping costs.

Let me know!

1 Like

My bottles arrived today. I still think the labels/bottles are some of the coolest, cleanest designs.
6B8228BE-1255-4C54-9FBC-7C42F150234E.jpeg

1 Like

I agree! 10/10 in the looks department, and the contents aren’t half bad either!

I dare you to post this in the wax capsule thread. [stirthepothal.gif]

Lovely bottles and beautiful website.

1 Like

Wax capsules…stick it in, pull it out. [snort.gif]

1 Like

Bugs the hell outta me that the labels are at different height, haha - but that’s what you get when you label them manually on an old labeler and have to jump between rolls. Lo-fi is only charming up to a point. [head-bang.gif]