Tag: Andrew Bishop

  • We Toast May 1, 2024 with a Bottle of Dibon Cava from Oz Wines.

    This is our year of toasts saluting our wine heroes. Andrew Bishop, Founder and CEO of Oz Wine Company, certainly deserves recognition. This month, we'll raise a glass of one of their great-value wines, Dibon Cava. In addition to providing us with a great selection of wines as both an importer and distributor, Oz Wines is located in Methuen, MA, so we are supporting a local business.

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    We have our usual details about the Dibon Cava below. However, we also want to tell you a bit about Oz wines and how we use experts like Andrew Bishop to select more interesting wines. We know we are likely to enjoy his selections.

    When we're in a great wine shop looking for a new wine, we always turn the bottle over to see the name of the importer. If the wine was imported by a trusted resource like Oz Wines, it makes our short list. Then, we will ask the shop assistants for a bit more information and their opinion on this selection. We might mention other Oz Wines imports and distributes to give a clue to our taste. 

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    Occasionally, we go to the Oz website to find more information. Once, when we bought our first Portuguese Sparkling wine, Filipa Pato's 3B Rosé, we contacted the importer to improve our wine education. This post from 2012 is an example of an Andrew Bishop educational chat.

     


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    Now back to Dibon Cava! Here's what we said back in 2012

    Except for the price, which is still reasonable in today's dollars, it still holds true today.

    "Dibon Cava Brut Reserve ($9.99) is so impressive, you’ll want to share this find with every wine-lover you know. If “balance” is a fault, then it’s this wine’s only fault! It will please a wide range of tastes– not too dry or too fruity. A light nose that reminded us of citrus? lemon curd? No, dried apricot.

    It's light, refreshing, and inviting. Very food-friendly (spicy chicken wings, potatoes, roasted root vegetables worked for us). This cava also shines all on it’s own! And, it was still very good as it warmed."

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    We purchase our current bottle at Urban Grape for $14.00.

    Trying wines from different places, made with different grapes and produced by different methods, adds spice to our monthly ritual. Since 2007, we have raised a glass of sparkling wine to greet each new month!

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    Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
    Photos: ©2020 Penny & Ed Cherubino 

  • Filipa Pato’s 3B Sparkling Rosé is Our August Sparkler

    DSC_6393 - Version 22012-06-27-3b-sparkler-rose- OZ-wines-© 2011 Penny Cherubino

    We're saying "Happy New Month" to August with a bottle of 3B Sparkling Rosé created by winemaker Filipa Pato and imported and distributed by Andrew Bishop, owner of Oz Wine Company in Haverhill, MA. We begin each month by popping the cork on a sparkling wine and will be very happy to have you join our sparkling resolution!

    It's our first sparkler from Portugal, but it won't be the last. We intend to enjoy more vinho from this famous family of winemakers. (Thanks to Howie Rubin from Bauer Wine & Spirits for recommending another winner!)

    DSC_6379 - Version 22012-06-27-3b-sparkler-rose- OZ-wines-© 2011 Penny Cherubino

    Andrew told us a bit about this wine and how it fits into his collection of Oz wines. 

    "Filipa Pato comes from a very long line of winemakers in her family, and her father Luis Pato is probably the most famous sparkling producer in Portugal. So, she has grown up making sparkling wine with her father on a grand scale. But, what makes her "Oz" material is that she isn't making huge quantities, and she is using all natural yeasts and farming 100% organically from smaller vineyard plots."

    He went on to explain, "This is not necessary to make it into our portfolio, but we tend to taste the difference in smaller production wines that you simply cannot in more industrialized. The result is 100% baga sparkling that has personality."

    Like most rosés, this in NOT a sweet wine.

    "There is no residual sugar (or very little) in Filipa's sparkling Baga, so what you taste is fresh, clean, pure fruit with racy acidity," Andrew said. "This is what makes her wine compatible with everything from shellfish to pork."

    DSC_6397 - Version 32012-06-27-3b-sparkler-rose- OZ-wines-© 2011 Penny Cherubino

    Winemaker's Tasting Notes

    Filipa Pato describes this wine as, "Raspberries and strawberries on the nose, the palate has the freshness and body of the Baga grape and the creaminess of Bical." She says, "I believe that Baga and Bical in Bairrada are like the Chardonnay and the Pinot in Champagne. They need each other to make a balance…"

    What makes this Portuguese wine special?

    Andrew detailed what distinguishes these wines from this Portuguese winemaker. "It's pretty rare when you find someone like Filipa who does everything from watching her buds break to putting the labels on her finished bottles. I think this wine shows the "New Portugal," or at least, a new wine movement that is going more 'old school traditional (meaning less technology and more hands off methods)' in that she is using grapes that she tends to rather than purchasing, and the winemaking is letting the fruit from the vineyards come through more than masking."

    Here's a look at the Wines We’ve Been Tasting

    And, more about Our Sparkling Resolution   

    Thanks to everyone who begins their Amazon shopping from one of the links or products on our site. It doesn't cost you any more but Amazon puts some coins in our tip jar for everything you buy.


    Details:
    Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
    Photography: © 2012 Penny Cherubino  


  • Filipa Pato’s 3B Sparkling Rosé is Our August Sparkler

    DSC_6393 - Version 22012-06-27-3b-sparkler-rose- OZ-wines-© 2011 Penny Cherubino

    We're saying "Happy New Month" to August with a bottle of 3B Sparkling Rosé created by winemaker Filipa Pato and imported and distributed by Andrew Bishop, owner of Oz Wine Company in Haverhill, MA. We begin each month by popping the cork on a sparkling wine and will be very happy to have you join our sparkling resolution!

    It's our first sparkler from Portugal, but it won't be the last. We intend to enjoy more vinho from this famous family of winemakers. (Thanks to Howie Rubin from Bauer Wine & Spirits for recommending another winner!)

    DSC_6379 - Version 22012-06-27-3b-sparkler-rose- OZ-wines-© 2011 Penny Cherubino

    Andrew told us a bit about this wine and how it fits into his collection of Oz wines. 

    "Filipa Pato comes from a very long line of winemakers in her family, and her father Luis Pato is probably the most famous sparkling producer in Portugal. So, she has grown up making sparkling wine with her father on a grand scale. But, what makes her "Oz" material is that she isn't making huge quantities, and she is using all natural yeasts and farming 100% organically from smaller vineyard plots."

    He went on to explain, "This is not necessary to make it into our portfolio, but we tend to taste the difference in smaller production wines that you simply cannot in more industrialized. The result is 100% baga sparkling that has personality."

    Like most rosés, this in NOT a sweet wine.

    "There is no residual sugar (or very little) in Filipa's sparkling Baga, so what you taste is fresh, clean, pure fruit with racy acidity," Andrew said. "This is what makes her wine compatible with everything from shellfish to pork."

    DSC_6397 - Version 32012-06-27-3b-sparkler-rose- OZ-wines-© 2011 Penny Cherubino

    Winemaker's Tasting Notes

    Filipa Pato describes this wine as, "Raspberries and strawberries on the nose, the palate has the freshness and body of the Baga grape and the creaminess of Bical." She says, "I believe that Baga and Bical in Bairrada are like the Chardonnay and the Pinot in Champagne. They need each other to make a balance…"

    What makes this Portuguese wine special?

    Andrew detailed what distinguishes these wines from this Portuguese winemaker. "It's pretty rare when you find someone like Filipa who does everything from watching her buds break to putting the labels on her finished bottles. I think this wine shows the "New Portugal," or at least, a new wine movement that is going more 'old school traditional (meaning less technology and more hands off methods)' in that she is using grapes that she tends to rather than purchasing, and the winemaking is letting the fruit from the vineyards come through more than masking."

    Here's a look at the Wines We’ve Been Tasting

    And, more about Our Sparkling Resolution   

    Thanks to everyone who begins their Amazon shopping from one of the links or products on our site. It doesn't cost you any more but Amazon puts some coins in our tip jar for everything you buy.


    Details:
    Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
    Photography: © 2012 Penny Cherubino