Fresh & Wild wines

Fresh & Wild’s Tarantas Macabeo and Sauvignon blanc

Fresh & Wild’s Cabernet Sauvignon and Tempranillo

These were brought for dinner by friends and I cannot remember the vintages - bottles were thrown out. Served with dinner at home: pumpkin and pine nut ravioli in a chestnut and cream sauce, spaghetti with pesto sauce, and bruschetta with caponata. This is my first foray into the Wholefoods wine list. I have heard good things about it, although I find their wine info on their web-site seriously dumbed-down in that condescending American way: “let’s use slang, idiomatic expressions and act cool – that will make the big wine words understandable for everyone”. I appreciate the desire to educate, but not the method. Wines are a bit expensive for what they are. That said, these two Spanish own-brands were perfect examples of the new move towards blending the indigenous and the European classic varieties – something that I normally do not condone (stay Spanish, please!). But here, it worked. The wines were clean, crisp, refreshing, bright, well-made, straight forward and agreeable.