Only good can come from a visit when you ask the store manager, “When does your wine sale end?” and the response is, “Oh, this isn’t our Spring Wine Sale, this is normal”. What?!? Sometimes you forget about the places in your own backyard. Such was the case with Sorella Wines & Spirits http://www.sorellawines.com/Sorella . I stopped in last Friday due to a Tweet that mentioned a good looking line up for tasting and a couple specials. I walked out with four bottles and a little more understanding about the place.

Chris, the general manager, is a swell dude who told me Sorella (Italian for sister) is the name, as his mom and two aunts are the owners. These are the same folks who owned Liquor Depot [RIP], but this place is a bit more diverse than the old keg & case stop before the Twins game.

At any given time, Chris claims they have 400+ bottles on sale. He also cryptically said there is no set date for their Spring Wine Sale (just to keep us on our seats? Well, I guess we’ll have to wait and see). Prior to talking with Chris, I scoped out the prices and their wines were right on. So “right”, that I thought this _was_ the wine sale! If you live or work in or around the downtown Mpls area, this is a great go-to. Right off 35W, there’s free parking behind the store, located underneath yet another mildly successful condo development.

If you’re following me at all on Twitter of Facebook(and if you’re not, you’re sorely missing out on other great wines on special plus you get to know more about me and my drink-capades!), you’d know that I’m all about the Tincho right now, especially since we’ve been catapulted into this warmer than usual weather.

What is a Tincho? http://www.valentinbianchi.com/Valentinbianchi http://www.valentinbianchi.com Warning: when you go to this website, some kind of cross between Latin jazz [Argentinian?] and easy-listening music will play if your sound is on. But I digress.

In the early nineteen hundreds, an Italian man immigrated to Argentina. His name was Valentin Eduardo Bianchi (sounds dreamy already, doesn’t he?), and he created the Bodegas Valentin Bianchi winery. Flash forward decades later: his grandson enters the world, and was nicknamed “Tincho” which means “young Valentin”. Valentin Jr., poured the New Age wine over ice, added a little lime and voila – the drink is now called a “Tincho”. Tincho is hyped as Argentina’s number one drink of choice, and I can definitely see why. It is sparkly, citrusy and thirst-quenchingly delicious, much like a margarita but without all that icky sweetness. New Age has a pale golden-greenish tint to it. It’s lightly acidic, fruity and ever so slightly effervescent.

I tried New Age for the first time when I was out for Sushi. Our waitress forgot to bring ice and lime over and I couldn’t wait to take a sip. Um, yeah, no- not so great on it’s own (I’m not crazy about sweet wines). That said, if you like Vinho Verde or Riesling, you may like this on it’s own. Or, do as I and millions of Argentinans do and pour this baby over ice with lime (extra lime for me, please) and the bubbles, lime and ice are all doing the Tango in your mouth.

What’s great is this wine is only between 9-10% alcohol, much lower than other wines, so you can have one of these little Tinchos any time, throughout the day (shhh, co-workers may actually be reading this). You can find New Age at several stores; I’m highlighting it at Sorella’s because it’s going for about $8.

Stop in, check out their “non-sale, sale” and wait to see what more goodies go on sale during their actual Spring Wine Sale! PS – you won’t find a clusterf*ck of carts in aisles at this store!