ESP Hi-Fi

Welcome to Three Blind Wines. My name is Ayanna Toma. I'm the wine director at ESP Highi and I also sell wine for Yes Wines, which is a local distribution company here in Denver, Colorado.

Today we're going to be blinding um Justin Freeman, chef at Somebody People, and Samar, owner of Somebody People at ESP Hi-Fi, which is the bar where I am the wine director. It is inspired by Japanese jazz kas, and I get to play around with a really fun experimental wine list there. So, I'm super excited to see what they think today.

I'd like to thank ASP for hosting us. I think it's really fun to have a bit of a different surroundings. Arguably the best bar in Denver and best wine bar in Denmark.

Let's do it. First wine. Let's just go for it.

Pretty yellow. I smell a lot of minerality. There's little bubbles on top.

I don't know. Maybe some sort of sparkling champagne from Spain would be my guess. Cava.

Super tasty. minerality throughout the whole entire palette. High acidity, pretty juicy though. Definitely makes you want to have another glass.

And I would want something super salty with this. This is interesting. I would say it's straw color.

Got a slight fizz on the outside. It's got a hint of cloud. So maybe one of those natural wines that you will find at ASB High.

Really pretty on the nose. Perplexing. Like I don't think it's straight champagne.

I think it's got this other edge to it, but it definitely feels like it's had Lee's aging based on there's a little bit of creaminess. Got a little like kind of fatness to it, which is kind of kind of sexy. Super dry on the palette.

Little bit of funky palette to it. Little James Brownie. Definitely not from the champagne region.

So, I'm going to throw that out. I think maybe Spain. So funny.

You think it'd be like from the nose being so kind of brown and a little bit vanilla and kind of toastier. It's got this great kind of buttery brios palette, but it's super dry, so it really cleans up nicely. Region, Spain.

Grape varietal, I don't know, but I'm going to say Cava from L Valley, The Garden of Paris. Uh, sparkling Vuv Shannon Blanc. Uh, $18 a bottle.

Probably about $42 a bottle in your local bottle shop. Wine number one is Costa 330 SLM. It is a 100% gallera done in a slightly fzante style from the Venetto which is a classic region for procco but it's done in a much more rustic style and there's also a little bit of skin contact which adds a lot of character really fun just playful kind of party bottle.

The reason I wanted to pick this wine is because it is technically testable because it is glara from the region where procco is traditionally made, but with a lot of natural wines, uh, it's made in just like a slightly different stylistic way. So, I thought that'd be fun. It's definitely like the biggest curveball wine of the lineup.

Wine number two, I'm going to say there's a green hue to this wine. I'm color blind, so I can't tell, but I'm going to say it anyway. Definitely get a little bit of like green tart fruit.

There's definitely a funk to it. Mediumbodied, light acidity, pretty round. Hits the palette with nice like saltiness on the back end.

I'm going to say this is an Italian wine. Grape varietal ver. How do you pronounce that one?

Wine number two. Little straw yellowy color. It's pretty reductive on the nose.

With reductive wine making, what they're making wine is for longevity. So trying to retain acidity and ret trying to retain structure in the wines. Um that can blow off in the glass for a little bit, but there is a little hint of uh sulfur on the nose.

Seems super dry, but on the palette, it's pretty juicy. The fruit's kind of neutral. Nothing really sticks out.

Definitely orchardy. Again, that kind of yellow apple, white flowers, blossoms. It's pretty fun, but it's not [ __ ] The texture of it is really, really delicious.

What could this be? What could this be? Like I'm kind of getting hints of like either Faniano or from Campa or Alberinho from Spain or those kind of coastally little grape varieties.

But I'm I'm going to settle on Alberinho. I'm going to say this is an Alberinho. I I think for Ry in Spain probably a youngish wine maybe 22 23.

Italiano Verdikio is the grape. Galissio region rice in Spain. Alberno from a reputed producer.

And I'm going to say this is $20, $38. Wine number two is the character cuet from domain lizrio in Janier which is uh in Lir Valley in France. The wife of the original wine maker Natalie gochet took it over and I love highlighting female wine makers and Christian Chosard who was her late husband was a phenomenal legendary vineyardon in War Valley.

I just think these wines have so much intrigue. The wine is a 100% shin and blanc from 80-year-old vines which is very old. The wine is made on really like flinty soils.

Domain lizo is a reference to the French word brie which means to break and they named the domain that because um all of the tools that they use to work that soil have broken typically. So just some of my favorite wines out of that that small region which is very overlooked in general in France. So super cool spine any gloss wine number three really sweet pretty dark yellow bronzy.

I smell a lot of like muddled cooked down fruit like raspberries and blueberries and stuff. I would say this is going to be some sort of dessert wine or finishing wine. Definitely lighter on the palette than I thought.

It has a nice little um evercence in it when you uh hits your pallet. This wine is a Portuguese wine. The grape would [Music] be This is something that you want to drink at the end of your meal.

On the palette, it's pretty sweet, pretty light, and then you have that nice bubbly bite to the ends. Okay, next wine number three is more of a golden color. Clean and clear in the glass.

I don't know. Let me taste it and I'll find out more details before I just start making stuff up. Hint of orange tang on the nose, ripe pineapple.

You know when you you you grill a lemon kind of caramelized lemon kind of characteristic out of the wine. Cooking notes like cinnamon and stuff in the wine. Maybe that's my brain telling me that.

Dessert quality. Not dessert quality. That's the wrong way to say it.

Um has a more of a fuller body quality to the wine. probably been put in neutral oak or amphora to try and get this quality cuz there is like this slightly oxidative characteristic about it, but there doesn't seem to be any pronounced wood or anything like that. So, uh I'm a bit perplexed. I would say this is probably from a warmer climate.

So, I'm leaning towards Sicily, could be even grease. So, let's say Mediterranean climate. I'm going to say it's a Sicilian wine.

Katarato cuz it's so spicy and stuff. I'd say volcanic soils. Portuguese trexiadora.

That's pronounced by an American from New York. I would say that this bottle is $38. Karado from Sicily.

Uh $52 a bottle. The most expensive one cuz Portugal delicious wine number three is Laurent Bar's Rezling. It's his Origin L Rezling um out of Alzas in France.

Really beautiful wine. It was a 2019. Has some great age on it.

A little bit darker golden color. Um might might confuse some people. Might think it's skin contact, but it's just from the age.

Little oxidative. Really beautiful kind of silky texture. Great acid.

Kind of a limey citrusy fruit quality. A little bit of stone fruit, which also kind of tricks people into thinking it's skin contact, but it's not. Great wine.

He's out of I I believe it's pronounced benwir in Alzas. What did y'all think of wine number one? I loved it.

It was great. Really super interesting as far as like what you smell in the nose and what you get on the palette. Bubbles on it were really texturally sexy.

I thought they were all really hard. I liked wine number one. I would be really happy if I walked into somebody's house and they poured this for me immediately.

Kind of reminds me of tache. It is kind of cider adjacent. This is sparkling gallera from Venetto.

So technically this is a skin contact procco done in a more rustic style. Yeah 100% gallera. This is Costa Raa which means the hill over there does have le aging.

You clocked that. Um just slightly fante. This wine is called 330 SLM which is just the meters above sea level that the wine is where the wine is produced.

Just a lot going on. I just I love this wine. Super fun.

That's cool. Yeah. That's really cool.

Yeah, I didn't pick prosecco at all. Yeah, it's I mean, yeah, they they're doing it KF fondo, so it's ancestral, so it's a little bit different. It's definitely like the more traditional way that they would make prosecco long long time ago.

Procco and Cabba are like the same. So, I was right. Right.

Masaminos. I totally see where you're both coming from with this. I'm still laughing at champagne from Spain.

Champagne from Spain. Glara from Benetto. It used to be called Procco.

Yeah. And then they changed it to Glara. It was probably the Australians that was Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I forgot to mention that the first one is non vintage.

What did y'all think of wine number two? Bit of a reductive monster on the nose, but then on the palette it was nice and juicy. You still getting a lot of reduction.

You think some of it is blown off? Some of it's blown off. When it settles down and you get to know it romantically in the mouth, it's actually really good.

It's definitely like Gwennneth Poutro kind of has a lot of kind of decent let's save the earth mentality behind her. Silky elegant wine so I was thinking more like Anne Hathway from the Prada movie but this was honestly my favorite one of all the wines. I liked the salinity to it.

Yeah. Um I definitely liked how it was tight lips as well as was first thing that came to my mind. Yeah.

I just thought this was like really drinkable, which like I think you could easily pair this with honestly anything from a starter to a nice salad in the middle of summer to a pasta dish or like you know a roasted eggplant with miso and umame. I was a little bit stumped cuz it has this it does have a kind of umami moshi perry kind of savory edge to it. Yeah.

And so I was like I was like what could it be from South France or could it be those kind of neutraly wines that you might get a little salinity in the soils but then I what I go for ab just for fun. I totally see that. I could totally clock this as a coastal Spanish or Catalonian wine 100%.

It be crazy if this was like the coastal Mexican uh style ones that you can start tasting. Yeah. The Baja which is not.

It's quite far. You know that would be cool. We got to try sometimes.

Yeah, this is Shannon Blancc from Jier in the Lir Valley. Um, this is domain lizo 80-year-old Shannon Blanc vines. Um, that's where you get the Anne Hathaway from.

Yeah. Yeah. It is aged in barrel.

Um, I think there's like a light sulfuring at bottling. But yeah, love this project. I'm a huge fan of Shannon Blanc.

There's usually like at least two or three on my list and they make really cool uh pino don as well, but this is one of my favorite whites from them. This is a 2023. So yeah, definitely like younger style.

Great wine. I think it would be about 35 on our shelves. Shannon always stumps me like every time I buy it.

Totally. I'm like, is it a Rezling? Is it a Yeah, it's I never think Shannon.

I got to drink this. It is a very I think it's an atypical Shannon from the ones that I typically drink because it it it does have a touch of reduction. But friend of mine gave me a shin the other day and I said Alberino as well.

All right, wine number three. I'm actually a little surprised you didn't clock this. Oh, really?

Yeah, a little bit. I was like, "Oh, Sam will get it." Is it Australian? No.

Damn it. I thought it was port, honestly. I got straight port on the nose.

I think I was stumped by the color. Maybe it's got a bit of age to it. Um, it does.

This is a 2019. Okay. Yeah, does remind me of like Sicilian whites for some reason.

Um, and I just think it's uh it's it's like super fun. Now the wood's kind of coming out a little bit more. So it's you get this hint of cedar to it.

Really lovely. It cleans up nicely. It's good to see something with a bit of age cuz rarely do we have stuff with age in this show.

Maybe next week. Yeah, I liked it. I I honestly thought it was going to be a lot heavier on the palette.

I thought it was going to taste like a lot more sugar. When you drink it, it's super light, really juicy. Um, the acidity is like nice and light.

You can kind of tell that like it's been sitting for a second, but All right. This is 100% Rezling from Alzos. Oh, wow.

Yeah. 2019 Rezling from Alzas. This is Laurent Bar or L Reisling. Another Oldvine wine.

I get a little bit of like lime peel and and a little stone fruit. Keep spilling it. Still you're going crazy.

Uh I think about 56 on the show. All these lines were incredible. Thank you so much.

Of course, they're really really good. much like, you know, I love to uh be stumped by wines. I was the closest. So, I think I I think I won this episode.

So, all three wines are from Louis Dresnner Selections, which is one of my all-time favorite importers. I work with them super heavily at ESP. Do a lot of special orders and they just represent fantastic wine makers that I'm super excited about.

The dish that I'm pairing the wines with is prepared by My name is Eric Balano, private chef here in Denver. Holy, look at those chips. I made a marinated eggplant over edamame puree with a little bit of crispy onion and cilantro, puffed rice crackers.

Wow. Oh, amazing. It's a fun dish.

It's got influence from a lot of my career. Uh there's some cane vinegar in there, cane syrup in there, a little bit of sambal, mushroom. Show you.

Lots of sweet, herbaceious, umami flavors, a lot of cool textures that I got to play with. These are beautiful. Wow.

I just went straight in. No, please. Yum.

M. That's delicious, dude. Wow.

M. That's good. M.

M. That was all really good. Super tasty.

Kind of like the first one cuz there's so much like fat and roundness going on with the dish itself that the mousse and the sparkling really help like kind of bring it all together, but I haven't tried it with the last one yet. The last one is really nice with it as well. Oh yeah, that's a great pairing.

I like the I like the first two. I don't think the Shannon is necessarily a bad pairing. I don't think there's anything um conflicting.

It's just not as interesting. Feel like it's not like accentuating the flavors as much as the other two are. It also has I think the lowest amount of acid.

And I think this dish needs a little bit more acidity to cut through some of the the fat and the creaminess and all that. Yeah, I think the la the first and the last last one are the best ones for with it for sure. I like the way that the last one uh compliments everything.

The fat, the acidity kind of all comes through and then you still really get to taste the eggplant and all all the the the rest of the dish which is really nice. I must have been hungry. I might go with the reasoning for my favorite.

Yeah, it plays off the little bit of sweetness and the marinade really nicely, the eggplant. Yeah, I think the reasoning for sure wins on the on the taste. It's really delicious.

Thanks, Eric. food's life. Thank you, chef. Super fun.

Mhm. I'm going to stick although I don't think it was my favorite of the liner, but I think a little bit of bubbles really cleans up the palette. And I think there's a lot going on in the dish.

You might need a little bit of clarity. And I just felt that the reasoning left a little lag on my palette, but um I think that the the sparkling cleans up your palette really nicely. So you just like I found myself eating quicker when I was eating this drink and sparkling.

No, that's not necessarily a good thing. But if you're a glutton, it's sexy. I prefer the flavor compliments of the Rezling with the dish.

And I prefer the stylus or the style and the the bubbles uh the frizzante nature of the first ones first one more. So if I can combine that is what you want though. that lag of fly bump. Yeah, because you like unless you're like at uh like you're sitting at like an orders party then I'd want like if that was your one bite and you were just kind of like talking hanging around then yes for sure I'd want the champagne.

But if you're sitting down you want something like the Reisling from Elsass because you want the lag. If you keep on taking more bites and more sips it kind of starts developing over and over again and I think that's what really makes the reasoning a little bit nicer. I'm going with wine number three.

I have to agree. My favorite pairing was the Laurent Bar Rezling. I thought it just complimented all the flavors super well.

Really cool age on it. Um I wish that it was sparkling because I do think the fzante helps cut through a lot of the fat. But overall, the reasoning would be my favorite.

Me being a party monster, just love a cocktail party. I'm going to say one number one just to get some more free canopes in your mouth. One, two, three.

Yeah, I guess I know the the darkest one is the third and the sparkling is What's the name? What's the name of the third one? [Laughter] Well, on camera that can feel your anxiety. I might have to do two different takes cuz my brain is a little spicy.

That was my best take. Welcome to three blind wines. I've been working on my traps so I can definitely hold this up for a long time.

You got a little fuzz on your face. Oh, thanks. Yeah, you got it.

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