It’s Winter—Time For a Huge-Flavored Natural Red That’ll Knock You on Your Butt

It's winter now, which means it's time to drink some red wine—and not the chilled-down glou-glou summer-chugging kind, either. I'm talking about real red wine with big flavors, lots of zip and rude health. Oregon cult natural winemaker Joe Swick has a couple of new releases out, none better than his new "Sec Sièmèfe" red wine, made using the Portuguese Touriga Nacional grape. The name is a Prince pun—say it phonetically to reveal one of the great late-period singles for the "Artist Formally Known As." Swick made just 77 cases of the stuff, sourced from a lonely vineyard near Zillah, Wash. This is 100-percent whole-cluster, unfined, unfiltered, no-added-sulfur, real-deal "natural" wine. What the French call "zero zero," meaning nothing added, nothing taken away. Just grapes. It tastes like red currants, autumn sunshine, Meyer lemon rind and allspice. I wouldn't suggest you pour this into your holiday baked goods, but I strongly recommend drinking it while measuring out the pie spice. It's available locally at Liner & Elsen, Vino and Avalon Wines for about $35 per bottle. Recommended.