Wines
125 Items Found
- Agricola Punica Montessu Isola Dei Nuraghi IGT 2009 Product #25117 (In Stock)
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Having first invented the “super Tuscan” at Sassacaia and then demonstrated the top variations on the theme at Tignanello, Solaia, and Solengo, Giacomo Tachis began looking for new challenges. Somehow, Tachis came across a wine from Sardinia made mainly from Carignano (Carignan). The man who showed the world that Cabernet, Merlot and Petit Verdot could thrive in Tuscany now had a new mission – to prove that Sardinian Carignano could rival the best of Priorat or France’s Languedoc.
Tachis recruited the owners of Tenuta San Guido (Sassicaia) and Sardinia’s top winery, Cantina di Santadi, to create Agricola Puncia in Sardinia’s Isola dei Nuraghi region. Montessu is the estate’s more accessible wine, a blend of 60% Carignano and 10% each Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. It needs a big swirl to unlock the aromas now, but shows blue/black fruit, smoke, tar and licorice aromas and flavor that will just expand with air or time. Balanced and silky smooth at first before the firm mineral and smoke elements well up from underneath. Tasty on its own and sure to please with reach braises and grilled lamb! - Muller Catoir Muskateller Kabinett Trocken 2011 Product #26579 (In Stock)
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A stunning dry Muscat; fragrant and intense. From Terry Theise: "Among the world’s greatest Muscats, and among those it’s certainly the most singular, showing opal basil and spearmint aromas I’ve scarcely seen from other Muscats, which tend more to either cats or elderflowers. This also dips into white and especially green teas, and the ‘11 has all its feral beauty and also saltiness, and with a starchiness like pasta-water. It’s erotic, hitting erogenous zones you didn’t know you had. I love it, the cool keen fever and the ceaseless jabbing intensity."
- Bodegas Valduero Ribera Del Duero Crianza 2009 Product #26345 (In Stock)
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Needs air or a little time in cellar now; for roasted meat.
"Opaque ruby. Smoky, oak-accented aromas of cherry, blackberry and violet, with an exotic note of Indian spices in the background. Fleshy and broad on entry, then tighter in the mid-palate, offering lively red and dark berry flavors and a hint of candied licorice. Finishes with youthful tannic grip and good spicy persistence. Give this wine at least another couple years in the cellar to allow it to stretch out."International Wine Cellar 90 points
- Baer Winery Star Blend 2009 Product #26355 (In Stock)
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A Merlot of unusual interest and class from one of Washington State's best up-and-comers. Just 273 cases made of this rich blend of nearly 80% Merlot with dashes of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon. It's dark and elegant with generous aromas of black fruits, olive, herb and licorice. Mouthfilling and creamy, with deep chocolate cherry, fresh herb, and spice notes. Enough tannin to stand up to food, but soft and generous. Great wine for lamb or a beef tenderloin!
"Full, bright medium ruby. Pretty but restrained aromas of plum, redcurrant, pomegranate, iron and milk chocolate struck me as Pomerol-like. Suave and sweet, showing a chocolatey ripeness without going over the top. Distinctly fine-grained in texture. Finishes with broad, serious, sweet tannins that coat the front teeth. An excellent merlot-based wine."International Wine Cellar 92 points
- Ladera Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2009 Product #26775 (In Stock)
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Ladera is best known as a Howell Mountain Cab specialists, but we prefer the Napa Valley designate which includes a dash of Petit Verdot and Syrah. As the Advocate suggests, the 2009 is for drinking now - but how is that bad?!
"Ladera’s 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon is a relatively simple, straightforward offering in this vintage. Plums, sweet spices, crushed flowers and menthol are woven together nicely. The wine’s mid-weight structure suggests it is best enjoyed upon release and for a handful of years thereafter. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2019."Wine Advocate 89 points
- Guicciardini La Historia Di Italia Toscana 2009 Product #26908 (In Stock)
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A 70/30 Merlot/Sangiovese blend from the hills around Florence made by Ferdinando Guicciardini of Castello di Poppiano. The style and overall impression is what I'd call "restrained modern" - plenty of power and ripeness but still definitely an Italian wine. Aromas of blackcurrant, smoke and spice lead to a rich, ripe, mouthfull of currant, coffee, black raspberry, and smoke flavors. The texture is pure velvet in the middle but with juicy acidity front and back and fine, powerful, tannins. Smoke, currant, licorice, and mocha flavors linger nicely.
The mouthful of a name - Guicciardini La Historia Di Italia - is a nod to the winemaker's ancestor, Francesco Guicciardini, whose Historia di Italia covering 1490 - 1534 is considered a pioneering work of modern methodology and one of the great works of the Rennaisance. The book transformed ideas about how history should be done, much as Ferdinando Guicciardini hopes this wine will shake up winemaking around Florence!
"This ripe red is centered around a black cherry core, with herb and oak spice accents. Surrounded by lively acidity and well-mannered tannins, ending with fruit and spice notes. Drink now through 2020. 500 cases made."Wine Spectator 90 points
- Dom La Bouissiere Gigondas Classique 2010 Product #26538 (In Stock)
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Our best-selling Gigondas every year; a classic.
“72% Grenache, 25% Syrah and 3% Mourvedre, raised in a combination of tanks and barriques. Bright violet color. Intense, highly perfumed aromas of black raspberry, spicecake and lavender, with a bright mineral quality adding vibrancy. Rich and expansive but fresh, offering vibrant red and dark berry flavors that show a seamless texture and impressive focus. Finishes spicy, floral and long.”International Wine Cellar 91 points
“The 2010 Gigondas is a blend of 70% Grenache and 30% Syrah, with 30% aged in tank and the rest in 1- to 4-year-old small oak barrels. It exhibits a lot of earth, mineral, kirsch and raspberry fruit in a medium to full-bodied, cool climate style.” Wine Advocate 90 points
- Veuve Clicquot Yellow Nv Brut 375ml Product #6203 (In Stock)
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Fresh lemony flavors together with dark berry grapes bring out great tasting champagne. It is a classic, dry and elegant style with medium body. In a half bottle, this is the perfect amount for a glass for two before dinner. Wine News 92 Pts
- Zenato Ripassa Valpolicella 2008 Product #24963 (In Stock)
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The benchmark in big, rich, Valpolicella Ripasso - a wine where Valpolicella juice has been soaked and undergone a second fermentation with the dried grape lees used for Amarone. Zenato's version ages in oak barrels to gain a little more depth, perfume, and softness. You'll find rich, layered, flavors of black cherry and dried cherry, plum, and raisin plus notes of dark chocolate and fresh espresso, all supported by bright acidity and ripe tannins. A big wine for big food and a fine value for the quality.
- David Noyes Pinot Noir Russian River 2008 Product #25869 (In Stock)
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David Noyes has been around the wine business for years, starting at Ridge then working overseas before returning to the US to help launch Kunde Estate in 1989. He's been making his own wines since 2001, but sells most everything at the winery to long-time fans. It's a treat to get our hands on a little of his Russian River Pinot Noir, a blend of fruit from three vineyards that delivers loads of classic Russian River candied cherry fruit and spice. There's a little more heft and weight here than in some RR Pinots, but everything's nicely balanced and in sync. This would be outstanding with duck, salmon, or anything with mushrooms!
- Les Gartieux De Pichon Lalande Pauillac 2004 Product #26385 (In Stock)
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Made only in larger cope years from younger vines at this "Super Second" Pauillac estate. The 2004 edition opens with classic Pauillac aromas of blackcurrant, tobacco and cedar that get stronger with air. Still young and powerful in the mouth, but mellows with air to show ripe, almost lush, fruit with accents of cigar, cedar and spice box. Rock solid and very good now and for another 5 or so years.
- Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2012 Product #26508 (In Stock)
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After a bit of a lull, quality-wise, Cloudy Bay has stormed back to the top of the New Zealand Sauv Blanc ranks with a second consecutive outstanding vintage. The new release is focused and pure, with tangy lemon, peach, tangerine, passion fruit, melon and green tea notes. Powerful and mouthfilling, but balanced and refreshing. Bravo!
- Luca Chardonnay G Lot Mendoza 2010 Product #26522 (In Stock)
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Not sure how Wine Advocate missed this vintage, but this earned 92/93 points every vintage from 2006-2009 and in the upcoming 2011 vintage, too! As WA has said in the past, this "has always over-delivered, offering competition to the likes of Kistler, Peter Michael, and Aubert at less than half the price." Rich, creamy, and bursting with orchard and citrus fruit and just the right touch of butter and oak.
- Heidi Schrock Furmint Burgenland 2011 Product #26578 (In Stock)
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We'll let importer Terry Theise tell you about this beauty: "I sometimes think if I had to select just one wine from my entire portfolio that would express why I do this and what I believe in, it would be this one. 8.82 hectares in all of Austria — Heidi has 10% of them — reintroduced after having vanished by a small coterie of loyal idealists, difficult to grow, late-ripening and high acidity, and a subtle searching flavor that so perfectly expresses the sad sweetness of late Autumn. The stubborn fragrant quince, the little divinity-crystals in the pear, the low honey-sun, all there in these wines. And this usually bashful wine is like a 21-gun salute in ‘11. A swoon of fragrance, dizzy whirling galaxies of complex sweetness; linden blossom concentrate; the palate is mint and salt and pepper, steel and stones and the vapor-echo of that sweet aroma; serpentine and somewhere beyond “expressive,” out in its graceful orbit in the smooth warm ether of beauty.
- J. Christopher Pinot Noir Willamette Valley 2010 Product #27029 (In Stock)
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One of our very favorite Oregon Pinot producers had a break-out year with his 2009s - 94 point ratings all over the place - and is continuing without breaking stride in 2010. Jay Somers wants to offer a Burgundian take on Oregon Pinot, and this lithe (just 13% abv) but ripe multi-vineyard cuvee is just that. Broad, rich, and velvety and with generous black-tinged fruit (Oregon), but also juicy, mineral, and smoky (Burgundy). Delicious now and better still in 2014-2016.
- Duval Leroy Champagne Brut NV Product #16319 (In Stock)
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Since its formation in 1848, Duval-Leroy has grown to top-tier levels in Champagne, but remains family-owned and managed. The house style emphasizes elegance and grace over power and pure force, with Chardonnay usually accounting for 80-90% of this wine’s blend. For the past 10 years or so, Duval-Leroy has moved from strength-to-strength, with two appearances in the Wine Spectator Top 100 in the past 5 years.
The newest release of Duval-Leroy’s main wine – the Brut Champagne – is easily the best of the past 3-4 years. There’s plenty of concentration and depth to the wine, but the main theme here is elegance. Mouthfilling, but bright, accessible but complex, immediately appealing but worthy of attention, at this price it’s hard to imagine a better value in “real” Champagne for New Year’s!“An elegant wine, with a delicate grain and subtle, citrusy acidity. Offers flavors of yellow apple, clementine and licorice snap, with hints of marzipan and coconut and a fresh, creamy finish. Drink now through 2018.”Wine Spectator 92 points
- Maillard Pommard La Chaniere 2008 Product #25183 (In Stock)
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Pascal Maillard turned out a classic, muscular, Pommard in 2008. At this young age, the acidity is bright and ripe tannins firm, making the layers of black cherry, fresh earth, spice, and chamomile flavors very vibrant and fresh. Everything smooths out and integrates now with rich foods (duck or even lamb) and will gain more layered complexity over the next 3-4 years in cellar.
- Guillon Marsannay Clos Des Portes 2010 Product #26486 (In Stock)
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If you don’t consider yourself a Burgundy buyer, then just think of this as one of the best Russian River or Willamette Valley Pinot Noirs you’ll find anywhere for the money. But, if you are a Burgundy fan, then get ready to marvel that a wine that’s so captivating right now could also be so well suited for the cellar and from lowly Marsannay!
Jean Michel Guillon purchased this small vineyard about 5 years ago and his hard work has transformed its 30-40 year-old vines into something very special indeed. In 2010, he harvested just 22 hectoliters per hectare of perfectly ripe fruit here – about 40% lower yields than are allowed in Grand Cru vineyards! As always, the wine was aged for about 16 months in 100% new French oak, but the intensity of the fruit and quality of the barrels means that the wood is completely integrated already.
Even this young, the aromas are luscious with generous scents of red currant, cranberry, coffee and spice jumping from the glass. While the aromas will get better and better with air or time, the palate is stunning from the get-go. Beautiful sweet cherry, currant, and red berry fruit take center stage today with accents of smoke, coffee, and fresh flowers providing accents. The fruit is so sweet and texture of the wine so silky smooth that you might miss the iron ore minerality and fine tannins that bode so well for future improvement. A pretty cranberry note wells up on the velvety finish – and what’s better with Thanksgiving than a little cranberry! A beautiful wine to drink right now and sure to be better and better over the next decade."Deep ruby. A ripe and distinctly earthy nose of mostly cassis and red currant aromas leads to rich and seductively textured medium-bodied flavors that possess good mid-palate concentration, all wrapped in a sappy finish that delivers fine length. Solid quality here."Allen Meadows 87-89 points
- Clos Du Mont Olivet Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2010 Product #26676 (In Stock)
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Surprisingly open and easy to enjoy already, the Sabon family's Chateauneuf-du-Pape has a fine track-record for developing beautifully with time in cellar. A screaming value at this price.
“Deep ruby-red. Ripe red and dark berry scents are complicated by notes of garrigue and licorice. Lush, sappy black raspberry and mulberry flavors are lifted by a zesty mineral note and a hint of cracked pepper. Shows good heft and finishes with sweet, clinging red fruit character. Lots of power here but this wine is carrying no excess poundage.”International Wine Cellar 91 points
“One of the first properties to estate bottle their wines (over 80 years ago), Clos du Mont Olivet is owned by a branch of the Sabon family, a name that is well-known throughout the village of Chateauneuf du Pape. The 2010 Chateauneuf du Pape Tradition offers abundant aromas of Christmas fruitcake, cassis, kirsch, spice box, smoked game and charcuterie. The wine hits the palate with a thunderous display of sweet glycerin, rich, ripe fruit, some structure and a moderately tannic, long finish. It will be even better with 2-3 years of cellaring, and should last for 12-15+ years.”Wine Advocate 91 points
- Guigal Saint Joseph Rouge 2009 Product #26387 (In Stock)
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As always, one of the very best values in the Guigal line-up.
"Inky purple. Sexy aromas of candied dark berries, violet and Moroccan spices, with a bright mineral overtone. Lively and precise on the palate, which offers sweet dark berry flavors and gently chewy texture. Shows very good intensity on the finish, which clings with lingering minerality and spiciness. These vines are mostly in Mauves, according to Philippe Guigal."International Wine Cellar 91 points
"As I have written many times before, no one in the wine world is better at ‘raising’ a wine (or as the French call it elevage) than Marcel Guigal, who learned the skills from his father, Etienne. Because everyone tends to focus on vintage conditions and terroir, the importance of a wine’s elevage is often overlooked, but Guigal’s unusually long tank, foudre and small barrel aging regime for all his red wines as well as several of his whites results in an array of remarkable wines time and time again. The dense purple-colored 2009 St.-Joseph was scheduled to be bottled soon after my visit. It reveals lots of crushed rock, black raspberry, licorice and floral notes in its medium to full-bodied, attractive personality. It should offer plenty of charm over the next 7-8 years." Wine Advocate 90 points
"This has lovely notes of apple wood, incense and espresso up front, followed by a solid core of crushed plum and steeped blackberry fruit. A smoldering tobacco edge hangs on the lightly firm finish. Best from 2013 through 2018."Wine Spectator 91 points
