Wines
95 Items Found
- Bodega Noemia Malbec J Alberto Patagonia 2010 Product #26053 (In Stock)
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One of the best young Malbecs we've tasted in a while, this has all the ripe, rich, fruit you want from Argentine Malbec with a good deal more precision, focus, and minerality than you'd expect. Terrific wine.
"Bright medium ruby-red. Precise aromas of blackberry, cocoa powder, licorice and violet, plus a whiff of leather. Sappy, saline and deep, with complex soil tones complicating the blackberry, boysenberry and violet flavors. Really urgent, sappy crushed-fruit character here. This very young, minerally wine finishes with broad, dusty tannins, excellent energy and length, and lovely aromatic perfume. Lovely malbec with a light touch."International Wine Cellar 91 points
"This is ripe and rich, but vibrant, with invigorating acidity that pulls the violet, crushed plum, boysenberry and blackberry notes along, while a graphite edge adds length and definition on the finish. Malbec and Merlot. Drink now through 2012."Wine Spectator 91 points
- Vinedos De Ithaca Tinto Odysseus Priorat 2003 Product #21015 (In Stock)
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"Vinified in 400 litre open barrels, the grapes come also from very old vines with a very low production (0,250 Kgs.Per vine). Careful battonage is done during fermentation to get the best color extraction of the grapes. Varieties are: Caiñena, Garnacha, Cabernet Sauvignon…there is also a tiny 10% composed by Touriga National, Petit Verdot, Syrah and Caladoc. It is a genuine original, medium bodied, good quality tannins with correct alcohol levels. It’s not an aggressive wine, instead a very versatile and good companion to all sorts of food." Importer Notes
- Broadbent Colheita Madeira 1996 Product #21462 (In Stock)
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A magnificent, nutty and lightly sweet, Madeira with a classic bite and salty tang at the end. Beautiful with cheese or nuts or caramel desserts. Because Madeira is already oxidized and "cooked," it's more or less indestructible. Open a bottle, leave it on the counter, and enjoy over months (or longer!).
"The 1996 Colheita was aged in oak casks for five years and then bottled. It has a very well-defined bouquet of dried figs, lemon rind, dried herbs and a touch of dates that soar from first opening and continue to bloom over several hours. The palate is fresh and lively. This is a more feminine Colheita with a crisp thread of acidity: lovely touches of marmalade and orange rind counterbalancing its viscous texture. It exhibits impressive cohesion and linearity to create a Colheita that has intent and purpose, full of energy and race."Wine Advocate 93 points
- Quinta Dona Matilde Vintage Port 2007 Product #26547 (In Stock)
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The Barros family has been famous for it's vintage Port since the 1920s, but they sold their estates in 2006. Now, the family has bought back their formal home estate and is making classic vintage Port once again. From the outstanding 2007 vintage, this elegant Vintage Port is loaded with dark fruit, chocolate, and spice notes. Sweet in the mid-palate, dry and clean on the finish, and loaded with minerality and fine tannins. Age it for 20 years or drink it tonight after a brief decant.
- Taylor Fladgate Vintage Port 2009 375 Ml Product #24683 (In Stock)
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Usually my personal favorite of the line-up (although 2007 Fonseca is pretty impressive!), the 2009 Taylor Fladgate delivers the Bordeaux-like elegance and class it's known for. On the nose black fruit with notes of raspberry and plum and hints of graphite and cedar. The flavors stay black with currant and cherry appearing plus dark licorice root, apple skin, and more graphite. The deep flavors stay over top of the firm, grippy, mouth-coating tannins that keep everything focused and almost elegant (if such a big wine can be elegant). Love it.
"Going back and forth, the Taylor's 2009 has a lighter nose than the 2007 with precise dark cherry, Seville orange, fresh fig and a hint of scorched soil. The palate is full-bodied packed with ripe black cherries, fresh fig and white pepper; very harmonious and focused although I feel that the 2007 has a little more depth and persistency. Very pretty and very pure, this Taylor's may well put on weight with a couple of years in bottle and merit a higher mark."Wine Advocate 95 points
- Pol Roger Brut N/V Product #6039 (In Stock)
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Pol Roger, one of a few luxury Champagne firms still family-owned, was established in Epernay in 1849.
"Rich notes of pear pastry, toasted almond, smoke and honey are well-meshed with and balanced by fresh notes of lemon peel, quince and grated ginger, all knit with the finely tuned acidity and creamy mousse. Drink now through 2017."Wine Spectator 91 points
- Relic Scarpa Syrah 2010 Product #26635 (In Stock)
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Case price applies to orders for 12 or more bottles of any Relic wines (mix/match). Note that your mix/match Case savings will NOT show on your web site receipt. Don’t worry – we’ll adjust the prices when we pull the wines in the store and before your card is charged.
As far as we can tell, these are the last few cases of 2010 Scarpa Syrah available anywhere in the USA! A big wine that’s been garnering big ratings for the past two vintages, but stays honest and even pure within its size and power. Mike gets his fruit for the Scarpa Syrah from the Prichard Hill section of Napa’s famous Stagecoach Vineyard. The ripe, mineral-laced, fruit was fermented Northern Rhone-style, with 20% whole clusters to add structure and perfume. Aging in new and used French oak allowed the wine to unwind a bit and find its center before release.
This was still tight and trim when we showed it in November, but is opening nicely now. Deep, dense, complex, and focused, the 2010 Scarpa Syrah is a terrific marriage of New- and Old-World styles. Layered aromas and flavors of wild berries, licorice, raspberry confit, and roasted meat swirl around in this full-bodied red, but everything is in perfect proportion and the finish is elegant and clean. Just 270 cases made and not much left. - Fonseca Vintage Port 2011 375 Ml Product #27178 (In Stock)
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Half-Bottle. Just like Napa Cabernet often overshadows Bordeaux in blind tastings, so Fonseca’s extroverted, generous, and opulent character can make even Taylor’s seem shy. In a cooler, more restrained, vintage like 2011, Fonseca’s extravagance gets just a touch more class and polish than usual. The winemaker’s notes: “he nose opens onto a dense brooding mass of dark blackberry and blackcurrant fruit. Compact and concentrated, it also displays exceptional purity - one of the hallmarks of the 2011 vintage. The nose gradually opens to reveal an array of heady herbal scents, discreet notes of exotic wood, marzipan and plum as well as an attractive graphite minerality. Solid well integrated tannins give both volume and firmness to the palate with its reserves of dense black fruit infused with dark chocolate and liquorice. A vigourous, concentrated fruit-driven Vintage Port, showing the classic opulence of Fonseca.”
"Very grapy and leafy with hints of spices on the nose. Full body, medium sweet with fine, chewy tannins. Powerful, long finish with nuts and shaved chocolate. This young Fonseca has grip. 6,000 cases produced of this foot-trodden wine. Try in 2022." James Suckling 95 points
“Heady, opulent nose. Completely enveloping, Smells as though there is going to be the most fabulous texture. Wow! All stops pulled out for this one. It's all absolutely gorgeous intensity of sweet fruit on the front palate and then gradually the schist and structure reveal themselves. This is really wonderful stuff. So tempting to sip it decades before it is ready.” Jancis Robinson 19.5/20 points
Pre-sale orders due May 31, 2013 and wines arrive Sept/Oct 2013. Order 6 half-bottles or more for sale prices or 12 half-bottles or more for case price. - Taylor Fladgate Vintage Port 2011 375 Ml Product #27179 (In Stock)
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Half-Bottle! I haven’t had the chance to try 2011 Taylor Fladgate, but it’s always one of the very top wines in Vintage Port (and, as Jancis Robinson indicates, that’s true again in 2011!). Taylor’s is always the most trim, elegant, and firm Port – a “Bordeaux” to Fonseca’s “Napa Cabernet” as the makers describe it. Here are their notes: “Impenetrable blue-black colour with narrow purple rim. Intricate and finely constituted, the nose displays classic Taylor elegance and poise. A dense core of pure complex fruit, redolent of blackberry and cassis, is enveloped in a fragrant aura of violets. Resiny garrigue scents and subtle notes of of liquorice and black coffee emerge as the nose develops. On the palate, taut, linear tannins provide a solid framework. Fine berry fruit flavours linger into the finish where the tannins re-emerge.”
"Very pretty pure fruit on the nose: crushed berries and minerals with a licorice and graphite undertone. Full body, medium sweet with chewy tannins that are polished and firm. This shows balance and harmony, but remains powerful, muscular and toned. 11,000 cases produced of this foot-trodden wine. Try in 2021." James Suckling 96 points
“This is restrained. well mannered, discreet, keeps its powder very dry. But on the palate it opens out in the most superb, burgundian peacock's tail sort of way. Another wonderful wine from The Fladgate Partnership. Utterly different from the Fonseca. Upright and straight backed. But irreproachable. My gums are virtually impervious to sugar and acid but this wine set them vibrating a bit. Dried prunes ground up with rocks.” Jancis Robinson 19.5/20 points
Pre-sale orders due May 31, 2013 and wines arrive Sept/Oct 2013. Order 6 or more half-bottles or sale prices or 12 half-bottles or more for case price. - Ch Malmaison Moulis En Medoc Magnum 2005 Product #27191 (In Stock)
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The 2006 of this terrific value Bordeaux made Wine Spectator's Top 100, but the 2005 is even better - especially in bigger bottles! Just entering prime drinking time now, this will continue to improve for 6-8 years.
"Very dark purple in color, showing aromas of mineral, dark chocolate and licorice. Full-bodied, with silky tannins and a fresh, clean finish. Layered and pretty. Very, very balanced. Close to the excellent 2000. Best after 2012."Wine Spectator 91 points
- Ch Montelena Chardonnay Napa 2009 Product #24739 (In Stock)
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The Chardonnay that won 1976's "Judgement of Paris" and made famous in Bottle Shock shows very well indeed in 2009. With just 10% new oak and no malolactic fermentation, this is bright and crisp with notes of apple, citrus, mint and licorice. A bit tight and crisp now, this will develop well over the next 5-8 years.
"(just 10% new oak used; the winery cherry-picked the fruit for this bottling and sold off the rest in bulk): Bright yellow. Lively aromas of apple, citrus fruit, mint and licorice. Juicy and vibrant, with almost painful mid-palate cut. Still youthfully tight, but this no-malo chardonnay displays good underlying density. The persistent finish shows good cut. Clearly the product of a moderately cool growing season. Montelena's chardonnay is vinified to dryness in tank, then ages for several months in 10% new oak, on the fine lees but without stirring. I suspect this will evolve slowly."International Wine Cellar 90 points
- La Formica Amarone 2008 Product #26135 (In Stock)
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We can't believe the quality and concentration in this classic Amarone at this price!
"This shows good grip, derived from the burly tannins and snappy sun-dried fruitlike acidity, layering dark, ripe berry and black cherry fruit with hints of tobacco and cigar box. Drink now through 2023. 800 cases made."
Wine Spectator 90 points
- Dauvissat Chablis Village 2011 Product #26722 (In Stock)
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Very limited, really delicious.
"A more reserved and cooler nose reflects aromas of rose petal, lavender, iodine and green fruit. Here too the medium-bodied flavors display excellent volume with fine concentration before terminating in a focused, dry, balanced and clean finish. I especially like the persistence and this offers outstanding potential quality for a villages."Allen Meadows 89-91 points
- Dom Regis Forey Morey St. Denis 2009 Product #26795 (In Stock)
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Fantastic value in this elegant, pure, MSD.
"The 2009 Morey St. Denis is soft and spiced at the outset, then turns quite a bit more pointed on the mid-palate and finish. This attractive, mid-weight wine comes across as quite open and ready to go. Layers of expressive red fruit frame the finish. Half of the wine was aged in new 500-liter barrels, the rest was aged in used oak. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2019."Wine Advocate 89 points
- Ch Montelena Cabernet Napa 2010 Product #26918 (In Stock)
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As Wine Advocate says, ""It’s great to see this historic property making wines that live up to its reputation." Wait if you can...or just decant it a while now.
"Chateau Montelena’s 2010 Cabernets are among the highlights in this set of new releases, although the 2011 Chardonnay is pretty terrific as well. Bo Barrett credits his experiences in 1987 and 1988 as a big reason he was able to handle the stresses of the 2010 vintage, in particular the late season heat spikes that gave growers fits. A big, mouth filling wine, the 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon, shows the personality of the vintage in its intense fruit. There is plenty of underlying structure in this deep, resonant Cabernet Sauvignon. Mint, flowers and sweet red berries are some of the nuances that are woven into the finish. This is far from an easygoing Napa Cabernet. Although delicious today, it should drink well for a number of years. Another year or so in bottle should help the elements come together even more fully. The 2010 is 93% Cabernet Sauvignon and 7% Merlot. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2024."Wine Advocate 92 points
- Ch Montelena Chardonnay Napa 2010 Product #27185 (In Stock)
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One of Napa's most Burgundian Chardonnays, and perhaps even more evocative of Puligny-Montrachet in the cool 2010 vintage than usual. Lovely stuff.
"Complex, brisk aromas of musky pineapple, medicinal herbs, white pepper and licorice; hardly your typical California chardonnay! At once dense and penetrating, with a strong spine of acidity and some unabsorbed SO2 currently hardening the middle palate. This rather uncompromising no-malolactic chardonnay displays a serious structure for aging, and will probably need five to seven years to soften up and come into harmony. Assistant winemaker Matthew Crafton noted that in the cool growing season of 2010 it was a challenge to ripen chardonnay in cooler sites in Napa Valley."International Wine Cellar 91+? points
"Montelena’s 2010 Chardonnay is gorgeous. Lemon and white flowers are some of the nuances that take shape in the glass. Even with the blocked malo and low amount of new oak, the 2010 has an attractive oiliness that adds body and depth but without excess weight. This is a lovely showing. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2020."Wine Advocate 92 points
- Guillon Gevrey-Chambertin Vielles Vignes 2008 Product #23793 (In Stock)
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Burghound “Outstanding Top Value”
A great vintage for this excellent Village level red made from Jean-Michel’s oldest vines – all 50 years old or older. As always, this delivers plenty of power and structure, but there is an extra level of ripeness and grace here as well. This will drink nicely with decanting now and really hit its stride in another 5 years.“From 50+ year-old vines raised in 100% new wood. This is extremely primary, in fact so much so that residual fermentation aromas are still evident though the red berry fruit appears clean and pure and is followed by impressively rich and full-bodied flavors blessed with ample dry extract that confers a beguiling texture to the mouth feel and renders the firm tannins almost invisible on the impeccably balanced finish. Recommended as villages level wines typically do not have this kind of completeness. Outstanding Top Value.”Allen Meadows 89-91 points
- Bzikot Puligny Montrachet Cuvee De La Maison 2010 Product #24384 (In Stock)
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"Cuvee de la Maison" - the blend of the House - is two barrels of Puligny Montrachet Doug selected from 9 Sylvain Bzikot made in 2010 from the fine Les Petites Nosroyes vineyard. From first opening, generous aromas of lemon curd, grilled pineapple, apricot, fresh butter, toasted nut, crushed mint, and a light touch of toasted oak. In the mouth, the perfect balance of richness, minerality, and cut that we love in top white Burgundy. The palate has the wonderful transparency critics are raving about in 2010, with pure flavors of lemon, golden apple, tangy pineapple, chervil and mint, and wet stones. The aromas and flavors are all about purity and balance, but there’s a sneaky richness here and the weight of a top 1er Cru. I love everything about the wine, but I’m most excited about the finish, which is just fantastically long and pure and mouthwatering as the lemon curd, pineapple, grilled nut, butter, and mineral flavors go on and on and on.
This is a baby today, and if you decant it (or wait a few years in cellar), you’ll find greater depths of flavor, more richness, and a growing sense of power to go with the precise, almost translucent, flavors and palate sense. What you won’t find is a heavy sense of oak, because even though this wine was raised in two brand new (if lightly toasted) French oak barrels, the concentrated fruit Sylvain farmed in the Les Petites Nosroyes vineyard has gobbled up the wood and shines through with freshness, precision, and verve. I love this stuff, and hope you will too. - Ciacci Piccolomini Brunello Di Montalcino 2007 Product #25458 (In Stock)
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#9 Wine Spectator Wine of the Year!
The fourth vintage of Ciacci's "normale" is once again a vibrant, juicy, Brunello from the estate's younger vines. It's a pretty wine at first with generous aromas and bright red fruits, but there's also good tannic support for aging in cellar. Give this a year and then decant to serve with rich meats or let it soften on its own in cellar.
“Brother and sister Paolo and Lucia Bianchini are the team behind this impressive Brunello. The family’s vines are located in the prized southwest-facing vineyards of the region, which at their highest point reach an elevation of nearly 1,200 feet. A traditional style, the wine was fermented in stainless steel and concrete vats and then aged two years in Slavonian oak. Ciacci also makes Brunello from the Pianrosso vineyard, including a riserva in top years, but this label represents the best value.
Though dense and rich, this red is also sleekly proportioned and harmonious. The cherry, raspberry, licorice, earth and tobacco flavors meld with the solid structure. Offers fine length and complexity that increases with aeration. Best from 2014 through 2025."Wine Spectator 94 points
- Andre Brunel Les Cailloux Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2010 Product #26359 (In Stock)
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Excellent vintage here, on par with 2001 or 1998.
“Assertive, exotically perfumed scents of black raspberry, wild herbs and incense, with a note of lavender in the background. Sweet, ripe, silky and expansive, with a nervy spine of acidity providing focus to the sweet red and dark berry preserve and floral flavors. The seamless finish shows strong spice and floral character.” International Wine Cellar 92 points
“The Les Cailloux 2010 Chateauneuf du Pape possesses a dense ruby/purple color as well as lots of gamy, meaty notes intermixed with bouquet garni, licorice, black currants and kirsch, Spicy, fat, fleshy and evolved and forward for a 2010, this full-throttle, hedonistic and intellectually pleasing Chateauneuf du Pape should drink well for 10-14 years.” Wine Advocate 93 points
