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After growing up tending his family’s vineyards, Jonathan Didier Pabiot went to the Languedoc looking for inspiration and ended up under the tutelage of biodynamic evangelist Leon Barral. Upon his return, Jonathan converted 3 hectares of the family’s vines to biodynamic farming and after only 6 months his father was so impressed that that he converted all 17 hectares of his vines to biodynamic. They are one of only three organic growers in Pouilly-Fumé and were the first to be Demeter certified. These wines are lithe and stunning, with an electric current running through them straight to your palette and a mildly smokey.
This small winery is a giant in terms of quality. Featuring over 150 years of winemaking history, their wines have changed with the times from more austere offerings to a more structured and concentrated style, painterly in their precision and built for long-term againg. Their Cru offerings, including Echezaux bottlings, are both a treat and a value. Do not pass up these sumptuous gems!
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Category Archives: Newsletter Archive
Vinopolis Newsletter – Monday 11/6/2023
In This Newsletter:
Best Priced New Arrivals
Joseph Drouhin, Elio Grasso, and more!
Arrivals
JK Carriere, Vincent, Diebolt-Vallois, Suenen, Brovia, Saint Cosme, and more!
Re-Arrival
Evesham Wood Willamette Valley Pinot Noir
Recently Reviewed
Bodegas Muga Torre
Close-out Sales
Spanish steals and California deals
Special Collector’s Arrival
A masterpiece from Murrieta and other Spanish treasures
Newly Arrived
Joseph Drouhin Grèves, Beaune Premier Cru 2018 750ml $109 special, 24 bottles in stock now
Neal Martin-Vinous 91 points “The 2018 Beaune Grèves 1er Cru offers dark berry fruit mixed with autumn leaf and cedar aromas on the nose, veering toward an earthier style of aromatics. The medium-bodied palate delivers supple tannins and fine acidity. Very pure and caressing with a silky-smooth finish. A lovely Beaune Grèves.”
William Kelley-Wine Advocate 90-92 points “Aromas of cassis, plums, sweet soil tones and espresso roast, framed by a deft touch of new oak, introduce the 2018 Beaune 1er Cru Les Grèves, a medium to full-bodied wine with a sweet core of fruit that’s structured around fine but youthfully chewy tannins. This, too, will reward a bit of bottle age.”
This is the lowest listed price in the USA today!
The next best price is $149.99
That’s over $40!
Joseph Drouhin Corton Grand Cru, Cote de Beaune 2018 750ml $219 special, 9 bottles in stock now
James Suckling 94 points “Cherry crushed-strawberry and rose aromas with notes of fresh herbs. It’s medium-to full-bodied with sleek tannins and lively acidity. Round and juicy with a bright core of fruit on the mid-palate. Fresh, with soft power and a flavorful finish. Needs two or three years to soften.”
This is the only listing in the USA today by the bottle!
Castello Banfi Poggio all’Oro Riserva, Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2015 750ml $119 special, 12 bottles in stock now
Monica Larner-Wine Advocate 96 points “The Castello Banfi 2015 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Poggio all’Oro is the top-shelf wine and shows careful integration and well-managed intensity. It opens to tart berry fruit, cassis and sour cherry. As it reveals itself in the glass, it begins to slowly deliver more spice, smoke and tar. All these various elements come together with balance and harmony, although these 2015 Riservas remain plumper and richer compared to their counterparts from 2016. Wait a few more years before opening this bottle; it needs more time. Some 27,000 bottles were made, and this wine will be released in September 2021.”
Kerin O’Keefe-Wine Enthusiast 96 points “Forest-floor, new leather and pipe-tobacco aromas mingle with notes of violet and coffee bean. Elegantly structured, the taut, savory palate doles out ripe black cherry, blackberry jam, licorice and a hint of espresso while polished, fine-grained tannins and tangy acidity provide age-worthy support. It’s still youthfully austere so give it a few more years to come around. Drink 2024–2036.”
Jeb Dunnuck 95 points “The 2015 Poggio all’Oro Brunello di Montalcino Riserva is only produced in exceptional vintages and was aged for 30 months in 70% large French oak casks and 30% in French oak barriques. It reveals smoky aromatics of cedar, dried black cherry, and dark mineral earth and a persistent core of ripe black fruit that is cloaked with ripe, velvety tannins and notes of black tea and clove. A luxurious and contemplative wine from the historic Banfi estate, it will benefit from additional time in the cellar and keep over the next 20 years.”
This is the lowest listed price in the USA today!
The next best price is $139.95
Poderi Luigi Einaudi Cannubi, Barolo DOCG 2015 750ml $99 special, 12 bottles in stock now
Vinous 93 points “The 2015 Barolo Cannubi is super-polished and elegant. Rich and ample, in the style of the year, the 2015 has quite a bit of volume, but the aromatics and silky tannins are very clearly those of Cannubi. Rose petal, sweet red cherry, blood orange, spice and mint add lovely top notes. Today, the 2015 gives the impression it will drink well early and mature at a relatively fast pace.”
Wine Advocate 93 points “In increasing order of intensity and structure, we tasted Poderi Luigi Einaudi’s Baroli from Cannubi, Costa Grimaldi (Terlo) and Bussia. This estate will soon add a new Barolo from the Monvigliero cru in Verduno, and that wine will probably come before Cannubi (at the start of the line) in terms of power when it is ready to be presented. The 2015 Barolo Cannubi is a finessed and light-bodied expression with a light and luminous personality that prizes red berry, cassis, blue flower and white licorice. The tannins are silky and tightly textured.”
Wine Spectator 93 points “Packed with sweet ripe fruit, this remains fluid and graceful, with vibrant acidity streamlining the flavors and guiding the finish. A bit firm in the end, evoking tobacco and mint notes. Best from 2023 through 2043. 1,000 cases made, 500 cases imported.”
This is the lowest listed price on the West Coast today!
Elio Grasso Ginestra Vigna Casa Mate, Barolo DOCG 2018 750ml $69 special, 24 bottles in stock now
Monica Larner-Wine Advocate 95 points “From a vineyard located across from Gavarini Chiniera, this is a slightly more robust and concentrated wine. The 2018 Barolo Ginestra Casa Maté sources its fruit from a position at a slightly lower elevation with a bigger component of clay in the soils. The south and southeast-facing hillside is also more open to the horizon. These conditions give the Ginestra Casa Maté a broad texture and rich flavors of black and purple fruits. The wine is compact with dense texture that will relax over the next 10 years of age.”
Wine Spectator 95 points “A graceful, elegant red, featuring rose, strawberry, currant and cherry aromas and flavors. Reveals an underlying mineral streak and dovetails nicely on the finish, finding harmony and length. An excellent interpretation of the vintage. Best from 2025 through 2043.”
James Suckling 94 points “Aromas of dried and fresh strawberries with some tar and cedar follow through to a medium to full body with chewy tannins that are polished and attractive. Give this three or four years to come more together, but a pretty wine for the vintage. Try after 2025.”
This is the lowest listed price in the USA today!
The average listed price is $91
Elio Grasso Gavarini Vigna Chiniera, Barolo DOCG 2017 750ml $69 special, 12 bottles in stock now
Antonio Galloni 96 points “Grasso’s 2017 Barolo Gavarini Chiniera is fabulous. In fact, the Gavarini is easily one of the wines of the vintage because it retains all of its classic signatures, which is also the sign of a first-class vineyard. Bright and vibrant in the glass, the Gavarini pulses with energy. Crushed red flowers, mint, chalk, white pepper, cinnamon and orange peel give the 2017 a super-classic Nebbiolo profile, as expressed in a relatively high-altitude site. The precision and finesse of the tannins – so hard to find in 2017- elevates the Gavarini into the realm of the sublime.”
Jeb Dunnuck 96 points “The distinctive amphitheater that is Gavarini in Monforte d’Alba is situated just north of Ginestra. The 2017 Barolo Gavarini Chiniera is nuanced with perfectly ripe cherry, cinnamon, cedar, and menthol. It delivers a high level of refinement on the palate, with super-fine tannins, orange peel, pomegranate, and dried roses. Drink 2025-2045.”
Monica Larner-Wine Advocate 95+ points “The Elio Grasso 2017 Barolo Gavarini Chiniera shows us that deft hands are able to shape good results in a challenging vintage. This wine is balanced and polished with an array of smaller and more detailed aromas that we simply don’t see in the majority of Barolo releases from this hot and dry vintage. The bouquet here cautiously unveils tiny berry fruit, underbrush, wild rose, lilac, rusty nail and crushed stone. Nuanced and precise, this is one of a handful of 2017 releases that deserves special praise.”
This is the lowest listed price in the USA today!
The average listed price is $93
Elio Grasso Gavarini Vigna Chiniera, Barolo DOCG 2018 750ml $69 special, 24 bottles in stock now
Monica Larner-Wine Advocate 96 points “The Gavarini Chiniera vineyard is shaped like an amphitheater with thick forests at the back (which protects from cold air currents) and sandy chalk soil at 380 meters in elevation. This is a special site, and the Elio Grasso 2018 Barolo Gavarini Chiniera is always one of Grasso’s most easily recognized wines. This vintage is exceptionally bright and vibrant with lifted tones of cherry, plum, blue flower and sweet blood orange. Those primary notes are framed by sensations of dusty white mineral. This mid-weight wine exhibits the deep elegance that was achieved in this vintage.”
This is the lowest listed price in the USA today!
The average listed price is $93
Oregon
“JK Carriere”
Lowest Listed Price on the Web
Stunning deal for white wine fans!
Want to learn more about J.K. Carriere and their wines?
Check out this interview courtesy of Linfield University
“Bow & Arrow Wines”
“Vincent Wine Company”
Champagne
“Diebolt-Vallois”
This is the lowest listed price on the West Coast!
“Aurelien Suenen”
Suenen ‘La Cocluette’ Oiry Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut, Champagne 2016 750ml $219 special, 6 bottles available
No reviews for the 2016 vintage. 2015 review provided for reference.
William Kelley-Wine Advocate 93 Points “From a parcel planted in 1925, Suenen’s 2015 Extra-Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Oiry La Cocluette unwinds in the glass with aromas of citrus zest, freshly baked bread, dried white flowers and wet stones. Medium to full-bodied, ample and pillowy, with racy acids and a long, precise finish, it has turned out very well.”
California
Italy
“Brovia”
France
“Saint Cosme”
Saint Cosme Crozes Hermitage, Rhône 2021 750ml $33.50 special, 36+ bottles available
Not reviewed yet, 2020 review provided for reference
Jeb Dunnuck 90-92 Points [2020] “Leading off the red Northern Rhônes from barrel, the 2020 Crozes-Hermitage is medium to full-bodied, textured, and seamless, with classic berry, darker fruits, pepper, and violet aromatics. I love its texture.”
Crowley Helen Four Winds Vineyard Chardonnay, Willamette Valley 2021 750ml $49 pre-arrival special
Winery Note “Draper block selection will define Helen. Picked early and pressed green to match this salty and minerally material, Helen’s fermentation is long and spontaneous. To emphasize immediacy, we remove from barrel after 11 months and store in tank for the remaining 7. Color is vibrant straw and green, clarity shimmers. Nose is austere, dominated by citrus, tangerine, and lemon. Brioche richens things up as does hints of cream. Palate is clean and ripe and a mix of savory spice and oak fill out the body on the way to its supple finish. Meursault came to mind with this wine.
“Helen and Phoebe Chardonnays are an homage to my wonderful grandmothers. Each was a rich and lively person – full of kindness, empathy, and grit. They were also uniquely different from one another. So, the idea of the Helen and Phoebe Chardonnays are to both represent the differences that our amazing Four Winds Vineyards offers…blocks and clones…while also pursuing an identity in the winemaking based off the women themselves. Phoebe, classic and timeless. Helen, contemporary and cutting edge. Our creative method with the material in the winery is evolving but the results are so far stellar. -Tyson”
Crowley Sojeau Vineyard Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley 2021 750ml $49 pre-arrival special
Winery Note “This wine opens with bold aromas of dried raspberries and cacao powder. Dusty scents morph into graphite, sage and plum as the wine opens up. On the palate, the wine drinks surprisingly lithe and light with flavors of lingonberry, plum preserve and RC Cola. The finish is long with acidity and fine tannins supporting one another in balanced tension. This wine is young and fun to drink now, but will also benefit from a few years of cellaring.
Vineyard info “Sojeau vineyard sits at 650 feet elevation at the southwest end of the Eola-Amity AVA. The site, previously a cherry orchard, was purchased by Denny and T in 2007. They planted 15 Acres of Pinot Noir vines on the 51 acre property – Pommard, Dijon and Wadenswil. The Pommard makes up 50% of the Pinot vines, while Dijon 115 and Wadenswil make up the other 50%.”
Crowley Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley 2022 750ml $26 pre-arrival special
Winery Note “Eye catching clarity meets garnet edges mixed with crimson. Lucid and fresh, the nose displays crunchy aromatics, cranberry and pomegranate mixed with herb and citrus. Palate is smooth and elegant, showing an intriguing wax component combined with powdered fine grain tannins. Taut edging defines the flavors as sweetly elegant and delicate. Lithe and lively, strawberry, and warm spice carry the sweet spot while forest floor and autumn leaves bring in the earthen complexity. This wine stays upright and coiled as the phenolics are spread perfectly from start to finish.”
The Doyard family traces their winemaking roots in Champagne back to 1677 when a marriage license of Jean-Baptise Doyard showed “winegrower” as the occupation. Maurice Doyard was the first in the family to make wine in Vertus under the Doyard label in 1927, officially signifying the domaine’s foundation. In 1979, Yannick Doyard took over, turning it into a beacon for precise, vinous, mineral-etched Champagne in the Côtes des Blancs.
Doyard Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Extra Brut, Champagne 2015 750ml $149 pre-arrival special
William Kelley-Wine Advocate 94+ Points “The swan song vintage of this cuvée, Doyard’s 2015 Extra-Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru mingles aromas of citrus oil with notions of buttery pastry, dried white flowers and warm biscuits. Medium to full-bodied, layered and structured, with chalky dry extract and lively acids, it’s a taut, compact wine that will require a bit of bottle age to unwind.”
Doyard Oeil de Perdrix Grand Cru Brut Rose, Champagne 2018 750ml $169 pre-arrival special
William Kelley-Wine Advocate 95 Points “The 2018 Extra-Brut Grand Cru Millésimé Œil de Perdrix is lovely, wafting from the glass with scents of orange blossom, mirabelle plum, sweet citrus fruit and red berries. Medium to full-bodied, ample and pillowy, with a fleshy core of fruit and lively acids, it’s an elegant, charming wine that offers demonstrative drinking out of the gates.”
Doyard ‘Revolution’ Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Non-Dose, Champagne NV 750ml $87.50 pre-arrival special
No reviews for the 2023 release. Review for 2022 release provided for reference.
William Kelley-Wine Advocate 94 Points “Based on the 2016 vintage and disgorged early this year, Doyard’s NV Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Non Dosé Révolution offers up aromas of citrus oil, freshly baked bread, honeycomb, almonds and white flowers. Medium to full-bodied, satiny and incisive, it’s a taut, elegantly textural Champagne with a fine mousse and a long, saline finish. It’s another fine rendition of this immensely reliable cuvée.”
Doyard Cuvee Vendemiaire Blanc de Blancs Premier Cru Brut, Champagne NV 750ml $62.50 pre-arrival special
Wine Spectator 93 Points “[Reviewed 2023] A graceful Champagne, with a satiny mousse, revealing ripe apricot, mirabelle plum, preserved lemon, white blossoms and a streak of salty minerality enriched by hints of toasted hazelnut and pastry cream, all framed by well-knit, chiseled acidity on the long finish.”
Gaston Chiquet Premier Cru Brut Rose, Champagne NV 750ml $54.50 pre-arrival special
Antonio Galloni 92 Points “The NV Brut Rosé (2020 base) is stellar. Lifted floral and savory accents meld into a core of punchy red-toned fruit. Cranberry, white pepper, mint, crushed rocks and blood orange build into the nervy, resonant finish. The Rosé is light in color and finessed, but also has tons of richness, much of that coming from the 18% still Pinot in the blend.”
Gaston Chiquet Tradition Brut, Champagne NV 750ml $43.50 pre-arrival special
Wine Spectator 89 Points “[Reviewed 2023] A fresh, firm Champagne, with a crunchy texture as this carries notes of green pear, wet chalk, elderflower and almond biscotti along. Pinot Meunier, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.”
Hebrart Mes Favorites Vielles Vignes Brut, Champagne NV 750ml $69 pre-arrival special
Importer note “75% Pinot Noir / 25% Chardonnay. Old vines.”
Antonio Galloni 92 Points [Review for prior disgorgement.] “The NV Brut Mes Favorites Villes Vignes is a powerful, structured Champagne. There’s plenty of old-vine intensity and bright acid driving a core of Pinot-based fruit. I would prefer to cellar this for at least another year or two, as it is clearly still coming together. It’s a wine for readers who enjoy rich, vinous Champagnes at the dinner table.”
Hebrart Premier Cru Brut Rose, Champagne NV 750ml $59 pre-arrival special
Pre-Arrival ETA November 10th
Importer note “Cépage 50% Chardonnay, 50% Pinot Noir (6% vin rouge). Anticipated assemblage: Chardonnay from 2020, Pinot Noir from 2019-2020. Village/vyd: Mareuil-Sur-Aÿ 1er Cru.”
Wine Spectator 92 Points “[Reviewed in 2023] Well-knit and minerally, with a crisp texture and flavors of ripe raspberry, poached apricot, tangerine peel and biscuit. Chalky finish. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.”
Hebrart Selection Premier Cru Brut NV 750ml $54.50 pre-arrival special
Wine Spectator 92 Points “[Review for previous disgorgement.] A sleek Champagne, mouthwatering and refined in texture, offering a creamy, well-meshed blend of crème de cassis, toast point, crystallized honey and lemon curd.”
Hebrart Special Club Brut Millesime, Champagne 2019 750ml $99 pre-arrival special
No reviews for the 2019. 2018 review provided for reference.
Wine Spectator 93 Points “A fresh, harmonious Champagne, with a lacy texture and a minerally underpinning, revealing ripe cherry and Gala apple fruit layered with candied ginger, toast point, oyster shell and blanched almond notes. This would be a fine aperitif, but there’s a bit more focus and depth to it, recommending it to pairing with food or cellaring. Disgorged April 2022. Drink now through 2033.”
“These are sleek, racy Champagnes, expressing a classic character of Côte des Blancs Chardonnay. They are marked by their fine acidity and prominent minerality, yet while they are always brisk and chalky, they are rarely austere. All of the wines go through malolactic, due to their naturally high acidities: “We have a lot of acidity and a lot of minerality in all our wines,” says Rodolphe Péters. “We want to build the structure of our wines around both acidity and minerality, not acidity alone.”
Pierre Peters Cuvee de Reserve Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Brut, Champagne NV 750ml $59.50 pre-arrival special
Wine Spectator 93 Points “[Reviewed 2023] Firm and minerally up front, with well-honed acidity and notes of smoke, chalk and oyster shell transitioning as they’re integrated with a creamy range of crunchy pear, ripe green apple, pink grapefruit pith and almond skin flavors, which expand through the midpalate and lightly spiced finish. Elegant, but with good complexity and focus throughout.”
Importer Note “Anticipated assemblage: 2020 base with 1988, 1990, 1993 and 1995-2019, except ‘99 and ‘03; village/vyd Le Mesnil-sur-Oger Grand Cru, Cramant Grand Cru, Avize Grand Cru and Oger Grand Cru.”
Aubry Premier Cru Brut, Champagne NV 750ml $39.50 pre-arrival special
Importer Note “Cépage 40% Chardonnay, 35% Pinot Noir, 20% Meunier, 5% Arbanne, Petit Meslier and Fromenteau. Anticipated assemblage 60% 2020, 40% reserve wine back to 1998. Village/vyd: Jouy-lès-Reims 1er Cru, Villedommange 1er Cru, Pargny-lès-Reims 1er Cru, Coulommes-la-Montagne 1er Cru. Elevage: Mostly stainless steel with a portion of the Chardonnay aged in used barrique.”
Chartogne-Taillet Cuvee Sainte Anne Brut, Champagne NV 750ml $54.50 special, 36 bottles available
Wine Spectator 93 Points “[Reviewed 2023] This vibrant Champagne leads with an enticing floral note, opening on the raw silk–textured palate to reveal a finely meshed range of salted Marcona almond, ripe white cherry, blood orange pith and lime blossom flavors that echo through the lingering finish. Classy. Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Meunier.”
Importer Note “Cépage Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Meunier. Anticipated assemblage: 80% 2020, 20% reserve wines. Village/vyd: Merfy, Saint Thierry, Avize Grand Cru.”
Evesham Wood Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley 2022 750ml $24 special, 12 bottles available
Winery Notes “This vintage of the WV blend shows a bright nose with cherry, red apple, fresh flowers, and a touch of loam along with a textural creamy/silkiness component that’s balanced by juicy acid. Showing well now, watch this wine evolve over the next 8-10 years.
Close-out Sales
Spain
Avancia Godello Nobleza VV 2020 750ml WAS $59 NOW $49 special, 9 bottles available
Josh Raynolds – Vinous 94 Points “Pale gold. Intensely perfumed pear nectar and orange zest qualities on the nose; honeysuckle and mineral notes add lift. Juicy, penetrating and sharply focused on the palate, offering concentrated citrus and orchard fruit and floral flavors along with suggestions of salty minerals and bitter quinine. Deftly melds depth and vivacity and finishes extremely long and briny, with outstanding clarity and repeating florality.”
Avancia Mencia VV 2019 750ml WAS $31.90 NOW $29 special, 14 bottles available
James Suckling 92 Points “Dark plums, blackcurrants, grilled herbs, roasted coffee and smoked meat on the nose. Medium-to full-bodied with firm, velvety tannins. Smoky, rich and concentrated. Very smooth-textured. Drink or hold.”
Bodegas Maranones 30,000 Maravedies 2016 750ml WAS $24 NOW $20.90 special, 21 bottles available
Luis Gutierrez – Wine Advocate 91+ Points “The fully developed, aromatic and open 2016 30.000 Maravedíes, with nice aromatics and a very pleasant palate. It’s fragrant and elegant, with pungent flavors and very good persistence. This is a superb showing for this bottling. 39,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in July 2017.”
Bodegas Muga Seleccion Especial Rioja 2018 750ml WAS $44 NOW $39 special, 34 bottles available
Luis Gutierrez – Wine Advocate 94 Points “2018 was a cooler vintage, with a fairly long maturation, which made the wines somewhat fresher and less alcoholic, as showcased by the 2018 Selección Especial, a classical blend of the four red varieties from Rioja, Tempranillo, Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano with contained ripeness (14.05% alcohol) and good freshness. It fermented in oak casks with indigenous yeasts and matured in French oak barrels, 40% of them new, for 26 months. They were not very happy with the vintage and had to sort and discard, but as they didn’t produce Prado Enea, Torre Muga or Haro, those grapes went into this wine. They are reluctant about 2018, but I think it was a vintage capable of the best and the worst, and this 2018 is floral, expressive and elegant. It’s medium to full- bodied, with very fine, chalky tannins, combining power and elegance. Amazing! 187,200 bottles produced. It was bottled in January 2021.”
Hanna Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley 2020 750ml WAS $39 NOW $33 special, 21 bottles available
Wine Enthusiast 93 Points “Black pepper and black olive nuances blend with black cherries and dark chocolate in this medium- to full-bodied wine that includes 24% Malbec. An elegant feel, silky texture and nicely restrained flavors give the wine a charm all its own. Best through 2030.”
Melka Estates CJ Napa Cabernet Sauvignon 2017 WAS $79 NOW $69 special, 9 bottles available
Wine Spectator 91 Points “Open-knit, offering a gush of steeped plum and açaí berry flavors laced with licorice and ganache hints. Lightens up just a bit through the finish, as the structure is on the modest side, but the fruit is a joy to drink.”
Postmark By Duckhorn Paso Robles Cabernet 2019 750ml WAS $18 NOW $16 special, 36+ bottles available
Wine Enthusiast 91 Points “Fresh and fruity aromas of cherry and strawberry meet with notes of French toast and light herbs on the nose of this bottling. Those juicy fruits come through on the palate as well, with a baked red-cherry flavor that is framed by cigar-box and nutmeg accents.”
Ulysses Vineyard Cabernet Oakville Napa 2018 750ml WAS $169 NOW $145 special, 16 bottles available
Jeb Dunnuck 99 Points “Just about pure perfection and the finest wine I’ve tasted from this address, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon is mostly Cabernet Sauvignon yet includes smaller amounts of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, all from a site just north of Dominus. This deep, inky hued beauty offers up a beautiful, full-bodied, richly textured, and incredibly concentrated style that carries ample black and blue fruit as well as notes of crushed stone, scorched earth, graphite, and lead pencil. It has the focused, structured style of the 2018 vintage and is going to benefit from 4-6 years (if not a decade) of bottle age and will be a 30+ year wine.”
Marques de Murrieta Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial, Rioja DOCa 2010 750ml $269 special, 6 bottles available
WINE SPECTATOR #1 OF TOP 100 2020
Falstaff Magazine 100 Points “[Translated] Dark ruby garnet, violet reflections, subtle brightening of the edges. Fine mint, fine black cherries, fine herbs, fresh heart cherries, mineral and inviting, a multi-faceted, young bouquet. Juicy, complex, elegant, extract-sweet texture, fine round tannins, ripe heart cherries, delicate nougat, sticks for minutes, enormous future potential. Simple calculation: buy what is possible.”
James Suckling 99 Points “Marvelous aromas of crushed berries, tobacco, cedar and mushrooms. Some dried cheese. Then turns to flowers. Very complex. Full and intense with fantastic depth and power. It goes on for minutes. It is a wine that exudes tradition but gives a sense of modernity with precise winemaking. Two years in oak, one in concrete and three or four in bottle. Drink on release and age onwards.”
Marques de Murrieta Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial, Rioja DOCa 2011 750ml $189 special, 9 bottles available
James Suckling 98 Points “Extremely well-mannered, traditional character to this, showing layer upon layer of savory complexity on the nose, with iron, dried meat, tobacco, balsamic fruit, dried red berries, orange peel, leather and dried mushrooms. A medium-to full-bodied, linear and zesty Rioja that’s full of nuanced flavors that linger through the very long, savory finish. Floral, too. Yet, it remains bright and precise. Tempranillo with 16% mazuelo.”
Wine Enthusiast 97 Points “Deep violet-red to the eye, this wine has a nose of raspberry, white chocolate and juniper berry. Still youthful on the palate, it offers ever-present tannins supporting flavors of dark plum, black cherry, caramel and violet that slowly fade into a soft cherry-pie finish. Drink through 2042.”
Clos i Terrasses Clos Erasmus, Priorat DOCa 2020 750ml $289 special, 8 bottles available
Wine Advocate 100 Points “The still young and primary 2020 Clos Erasmus feels very floral and ethereal (within Priorat and Clos Erasmus); it’s a fresher and lighter expression but without being weak. It’s still a baby that needs to burn the baby fat (there are still some lactic notes from the malolactic in barrel). The wine is always around 3.2 or 3.3 pH and has some 15% to 15.5% alcohol, but the sensation this year is of a much fresher, more balanced and elegant wine. This should make an elegant bottle of mature Priorat with a decade in bottle, and I guess it will be long lived. Glorian mentioned that a small lot that normally goes to Laurel was added to the blend of Erasmus, resulting in a lot of added freshness and a note of orange blossom, which makes sense to me with the floral character of the wines and the extra freshness I perceived. This is really beautiful. It’s a very special vintage of Erasmus that unfurls incredible complexity and tantalizing aromas with time in the glass—blood orange (talk about freshness!), curry and cassis. It has great purity, complexity, elegance and finesse… A very different Clos Erasmus. Bravo! There are some 3,600 bottles. It was bottled in May 2022.”
Clos Mogador Vi de Finca, Priorat DOCa 2012 1.5L $399 special, just 1 bottle left!
Wine Advocate 98 Points “The 2012 Clos Mogador is nothing short of spectacular. They started in 1999 with some Cariñena, and they gradually increased the Garnacha and reduced the Cabernet. 2012 is possibly the vintage of Mogador with less Cabernet, as it didn’t behave well in such warm year. René Barbier senior tells me it reminds him of the freshness of the 2000 that he generously uncorked for me to compare; they only have a handful of bottles for the old vintages! The nose of this 2012 is still little reticent but not reduced like many vintages in the past, slowly showing a great Mediterranean-Atlantic balance with notes of herbs, wet slate and graphite. The super-elegant palate offers great acidity and freshness with incredibly layered and delineated flavors that have an electric, mineral sensation with tension and really fine tannins. There are no traces of oak and no edges… rugged silk? This is a Mogador for decades. If this is always a bargain for the quality it delivers, it is even more so in 2012!”
Familia Nin-Ortiz ‘Nit de Nin’ La Coma d’en Romeu, Priorat DOCa 2017 750ml $149 special, just 2 bottles left!
Luis Gutierrez-Wine Advocate 98+ Points “The 2017 Nit de Nin La Coma d’en Romeu is from an extremely dry and early harvest that delivered just five hectoliters per hectare! That means they only produced 1,330 bottles from the 1.5 hectares of Garnacha on those slate terraces at 350 meters in altitude. It was bottled in April 2019. It has a beautiful and subtle nose that’s very spicy (cloves and cumin, curry and pink pepper) and floral, with a palate that feels light but has great depth and inner power, with pungent flavors and subtle minerality.”
R. Lopez de Heredia Vina Tondonia Gran Reserva, Rioja DOCa 2001 750ml $199 special, just 4 bottles left
Wine Advocate 98 Points “The 2001 Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva is the follow-up of the 1995. There is a sense of harmony and elegance, of nuance and subtleness that wasn’t quite the same in the Bosconia, as comparing both wines is inevitable. They started picking the red grapes the 15th of October, and the last grapes were picked the 29th of October with good weather. The grapes ripened properly and thoroughly, and the wine has great balance for a long aging in bottle. This is 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacho and 5% each Graciano and Mazuelo that fermented in their 153-year-old oak vats with indigenous yeasts and matured in used barrels for 10 years. It has 13% alcohol, a pH of 3.4 and 6.4 grams of acidity (tartaric). The nose shows young (tasting it blind, you’d guess a 10-year old wine, not a 20-year-old wine!). It has a nose of sweet spices, underbrush and cigar ash, somewhat balsamic, bramble fruit with perfect ripeness, integrated and young but starting to show some tertiary complexity. The palate is velvety and medium-bodied, with fine-grained, chalky tannins denoting a limestone soil that brings finesse and texture and a sapid, tasty, almost salty finish. This is going to make a beautiful bottle of old Rioja in 30 years’ time! 25,000 bottles produced. It was bottled after being fined with egg whites in July 2012.”
Best Priced New Arrivals
Joseph Drouhin, Elio Grasso, and more!
Arrivals
JK Carriere, Vincent, Diebolt-Vallois, Suenen, Brovia, Saint Cosme, and more!
Re-Arrival
Evesham Wood Willamette Valley Pinot Noir
Recently Reviewed
Bodegas Muga Torre
Close-out Sales
Spanish steals and California deals
Special Collector’s Arrival
A masterpiece from Murrieta and other Spanish treasures
Collector’s-Level Wines at Uber-Low Pricing
Newly Arrived
We found some of the best deals in Oregon on beloved producers from Burgundy, Chianti and Piedmont. We’re offering these wines at discounts up to over $40/bottle off the next best price on Wine Searcher!
Burgundy
Joseph Drouhin Grèves, Beaune Premier Cru 2018 750ml $109 special, 24 bottles in stock now
Neal Martin-Vinous 91 points “The 2018 Beaune Grèves 1er Cru offers dark berry fruit mixed with autumn leaf and cedar aromas on the nose, veering toward an earthier style of aromatics. The medium-bodied palate delivers supple tannins and fine acidity. Very pure and caressing with a silky-smooth finish. A lovely Beaune Grèves.”
William Kelley-Wine Advocate 90-92 points “Aromas of cassis, plums, sweet soil tones and espresso roast, framed by a deft touch of new oak, introduce the 2018 Beaune 1er Cru Les Grèves, a medium to full-bodied wine with a sweet core of fruit that’s structured around fine but youthfully chewy tannins. This, too, will reward a bit of bottle age.”
This is the lowest listed price in the USA today!
The next best price is $149.99
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Joseph Drouhin Corton Grand Cru, Cote de Beaune 2018 750ml $219 special, 9 bottles in stock now
James Suckling 94 points “Cherry crushed-strawberry and rose aromas with notes of fresh herbs. It’s medium-to full-bodied with sleek tannins and lively acidity. Round and juicy with a bright core of fruit on the mid-palate. Fresh, with soft power and a flavorful finish. Needs two or three years to soften.”
This is the only listing in the USA today by the bottle!
Italy
Castello Banfi Poggio all’Oro Riserva, Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2015 750ml $119 special, 12 bottles in stock now
Monica Larner-Wine Advocate 96 points “The Castello Banfi 2015 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Poggio all’Oro is the top-shelf wine and shows careful integration and well-managed intensity. It opens to tart berry fruit, cassis and sour cherry. As it reveals itself in the glass, it begins to slowly deliver more spice, smoke and tar. All these various elements come together with balance and harmony, although these 2015 Riservas remain plumper and richer compared to their counterparts from 2016. Wait a few more years before opening this bottle; it needs more time. Some 27,000 bottles were made, and this wine will be released in September 2021.”
Kerin O’Keefe-Wine Enthusiast 96 points “Forest-floor, new leather and pipe-tobacco aromas mingle with notes of violet and coffee bean. Elegantly structured, the taut, savory palate doles out ripe black cherry, blackberry jam, licorice and a hint of espresso while polished, fine-grained tannins and tangy acidity provide age-worthy support. It’s still youthfully austere so give it a few more years to come around. Drink 2024–2036.”
Jeb Dunnuck 95 points “The 2015 Poggio all’Oro Brunello di Montalcino Riserva is only produced in exceptional vintages and was aged for 30 months in 70% large French oak casks and 30% in French oak barriques. It reveals smoky aromatics of cedar, dried black cherry, and dark mineral earth and a persistent core of ripe black fruit that is cloaked with ripe, velvety tannins and notes of black tea and clove. A luxurious and contemplative wine from the historic Banfi estate, it will benefit from additional time in the cellar and keep over the next 20 years.”
This is the lowest listed price in the USA today!
The next best price is $139.95
Poderi Luigi Einaudi Cannubi, Barolo DOCG 2015 750ml $99 special, 12 bottles in stock now
Vinous 93 points “The 2015 Barolo Cannubi is super-polished and elegant. Rich and ample, in the style of the year, the 2015 has quite a bit of volume, but the aromatics and silky tannins are very clearly those of Cannubi. Rose petal, sweet red cherry, blood orange, spice and mint add lovely top notes. Today, the 2015 gives the impression it will drink well early and mature at a relatively fast pace.”
Wine Advocate 93 points “In increasing order of intensity and structure, we tasted Poderi Luigi Einaudi’s Baroli from Cannubi, Costa Grimaldi (Terlo) and Bussia. This estate will soon add a new Barolo from the Monvigliero cru in Verduno, and that wine will probably come before Cannubi (at the start of the line) in terms of power when it is ready to be presented. The 2015 Barolo Cannubi is a finessed and light-bodied expression with a light and luminous personality that prizes red berry, cassis, blue flower and white licorice. The tannins are silky and tightly textured.”
Wine Spectator 93 points “Packed with sweet ripe fruit, this remains fluid and graceful, with vibrant acidity streamlining the flavors and guiding the finish. A bit firm in the end, evoking tobacco and mint notes. Best from 2023 through 2043. 1,000 cases made, 500 cases imported.”
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Elio Grasso Ginestra Vigna Casa Mate, Barolo DOCG 2018 750ml $69 special, 24 bottles in stock now
Monica Larner-Wine Advocate 95 points “From a vineyard located across from Gavarini Chiniera, this is a slightly more robust and concentrated wine. The 2018 Barolo Ginestra Casa Maté sources its fruit from a position at a slightly lower elevation with a bigger component of clay in the soils. The south and southeast-facing hillside is also more open to the horizon. These conditions give the Ginestra Casa Maté a broad texture and rich flavors of black and purple fruits. The wine is compact with dense texture that will relax over the next 10 years of age.”
Wine Spectator 95 points “A graceful, elegant red, featuring rose, strawberry, currant and cherry aromas and flavors. Reveals an underlying mineral streak and dovetails nicely on the finish, finding harmony and length. An excellent interpretation of the vintage. Best from 2025 through 2043.”
James Suckling 94 points “Aromas of dried and fresh strawberries with some tar and cedar follow through to a medium to full body with chewy tannins that are polished and attractive. Give this three or four years to come more together, but a pretty wine for the vintage. Try after 2025.”
This is the lowest listed price in the USA today!
The average listed price is $91
Elio Grasso Gavarini Vigna Chiniera, Barolo DOCG 2017 750ml $69 special, 12 bottles in stock now
Antonio Galloni 96 points “Grasso’s 2017 Barolo Gavarini Chiniera is fabulous. In fact, the Gavarini is easily one of the wines of the vintage because it retains all of its classic signatures, which is also the sign of a first-class vineyard. Bright and vibrant in the glass, the Gavarini pulses with energy. Crushed red flowers, mint, chalk, white pepper, cinnamon and orange peel give the 2017 a super-classic Nebbiolo profile, as expressed in a relatively high-altitude site. The precision and finesse of the tannins – so hard to find in 2017- elevates the Gavarini into the realm of the sublime.”
Jeb Dunnuck 96 points “The distinctive amphitheater that is Gavarini in Monforte d’Alba is situated just north of Ginestra. The 2017 Barolo Gavarini Chiniera is nuanced with perfectly ripe cherry, cinnamon, cedar, and menthol. It delivers a high level of refinement on the palate, with super-fine tannins, orange peel, pomegranate, and dried roses. Drink 2025-2045.”
Monica Larner-Wine Advocate 95+ points “The Elio Grasso 2017 Barolo Gavarini Chiniera shows us that deft hands are able to shape good results in a challenging vintage. This wine is balanced and polished with an array of smaller and more detailed aromas that we simply don’t see in the majority of Barolo releases from this hot and dry vintage. The bouquet here cautiously unveils tiny berry fruit, underbrush, wild rose, lilac, rusty nail and crushed stone. Nuanced and precise, this is one of a handful of 2017 releases that deserves special praise.”
This is the lowest listed price in the USA today!
The average listed price is $93
Elio Grasso Gavarini Vigna Chiniera, Barolo DOCG 2018 750ml $69 special, 24 bottles in stock now
Monica Larner-Wine Advocate 96 points “The Gavarini Chiniera vineyard is shaped like an amphitheater with thick forests at the back (which protects from cold air currents) and sandy chalk soil at 380 meters in elevation. This is a special site, and the Elio Grasso 2018 Barolo Gavarini Chiniera is always one of Grasso’s most easily recognized wines. This vintage is exceptionally bright and vibrant with lifted tones of cherry, plum, blue flower and sweet blood orange. Those primary notes are framed by sensations of dusty white mineral. This mid-weight wine exhibits the deep elegance that was achieved in this vintage.”
This is the lowest listed price in the USA today!
The average listed price is $93
New Arrivals
Oregon
“JK Carriere”
“Early pick/high acid/wild-yeast/minimal sulfur/moderate extraction/targeted kinetics/lees ageing/subterranean cellaring/18 mo/French oak/wild-malo/unfined/unfiltered.”
-Jim Prosser, owner and winemaker, on the “pretty words” that drive their winemaking and business philosophy.
-Jim Prosser, owner and winemaker, on the “pretty words” that drive their winemaking and business philosophy.
J.K. Carriere Lucidite Chardonnay, Willamette Valley 2020 750ml $33 special, 12 bottles available
Jeb Dunnuck 93 Points “The medium golden straw-colored 2020 Chardonnay Lucidite is savory and ripe with notes of chamomile, golden apple, and brothy saline. Medium-bodied, its attractive ripe orchard fruit fills the palate, with a fresh undercurrent of acidity and notes of lemon drops. It’s long on the palate, and although it’s approachable and drinking well now, it will continue to move into a more savory food-friendly realm if given another 5-7 years of aging.”
Jeb Dunnuck 93 Points “The medium golden straw-colored 2020 Chardonnay Lucidite is savory and ripe with notes of chamomile, golden apple, and brothy saline. Medium-bodied, its attractive ripe orchard fruit fills the palate, with a fresh undercurrent of acidity and notes of lemon drops. It’s long on the palate, and although it’s approachable and drinking well now, it will continue to move into a more savory food-friendly realm if given another 5-7 years of aging.”
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Stunning deal for white wine fans!
Want to learn more about J.K. Carriere and their wines?
Check out this interview courtesy of Linfield University
“Bow & Arrow Wines”
When you hear the word “value,” what is the first impression that comes to your mind? Is it positive or negative? Well, think positive about Bow & Arrow. These wines provide amazing quality for the price. We’re not sure how they do it!
Bow & Arrow Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley 2022 750ml $21.90 special, 24 bottles available
Bow & Arrow Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley 2022 750ml $21.90 special, 24 bottles available
“Vincent Wine Company”
Light, bright, but still with excellent fruit concentration, Vincent Wine Company, is certainly one of the most underrated wineries in the Willamette Valley. Winemaker Vincent Fritzsche picks his grapes just under ripe (al dente) and wine spends a good amount of time on the lees, producing a style that is full-bodied without being heavy or dense.
Vincent Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley 2022 750ml $24 special, 12 bottles available
Eolaamityhills.com “Owner and winemaker Vincent Fritzsche started Vincent Wine Company in 2009. Vincent produces approximately 2,000 cases a year of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Gamay, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris at a small facility on Eola Hills Road. The focus is single vineyard wines from Eola-Amity Hills sites including Temperance Hill, Zenith and Royer. All farming is at minimum sustainable certified if not organic… Winemaking is classic with native fermentations, no additions beside sulfur, and no filtering of the wines. The goal is an unimpeded and delicious expression of vintage, vineyard and grape.
Vincent Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley 2022 750ml $24 special, 12 bottles available
Eolaamityhills.com “Owner and winemaker Vincent Fritzsche started Vincent Wine Company in 2009. Vincent produces approximately 2,000 cases a year of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Gamay, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris at a small facility on Eola Hills Road. The focus is single vineyard wines from Eola-Amity Hills sites including Temperance Hill, Zenith and Royer. All farming is at minimum sustainable certified if not organic… Winemaking is classic with native fermentations, no additions beside sulfur, and no filtering of the wines. The goal is an unimpeded and delicious expression of vintage, vineyard and grape.
Champagne
“Diebolt-Vallois”
Diebolt-Vallois Blanc de Blancs Brut, Champagne NV 750ml $41.90 special, 11 bottles available
Wine Spectator 91 points “[Most recent review for a previous disgorgement] Rich aromas and flavors of poached apricot, melon, tangerine and hazelnut are enlivened by vibrant acidity in this well-knit Champagne, with a creamy finish of graphite and spice.”
Winery Note “The Champagne Blanc de Blancs is a non-vintage brut champagne, 100% chardonnay from the Cote des Blancs and the Coteaux d’Epernay.”
Wine Spectator 91 points “[Most recent review for a previous disgorgement] Rich aromas and flavors of poached apricot, melon, tangerine and hazelnut are enlivened by vibrant acidity in this well-knit Champagne, with a creamy finish of graphite and spice.”
Winery Note “The Champagne Blanc de Blancs is a non-vintage brut champagne, 100% chardonnay from the Cote des Blancs and the Coteaux d’Epernay.”
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“Aurelien Suenen”
Suenen ‘Le Mont-Aigu’ Chouilly Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut, Champagne 2016 750ml $249 special, 6 bottles available
No reviews for the 2016 vintage. 2015 review provided for reference.
William Kelley-Wine Advocate 95 Points “The 2015 Extra-Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Chouilly Le Mont-Aigu has turned out brilliantly, unwinding in the glass with scents of citrus oil, white flowers, bread dough and almond paste. Medium to full-bodied, racy and incisive, with a pillowy pinpoint mousse and chalky structuring extract, it’s the result of yields that would be considered low even in the Côte d’Or (a mere 25 hectoliters per hectare), as the vines are infected with leaf roll virus.”
Suenen ‘Les Robarts’ Grand Cru Cramant Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut, Champagne 2016 750ml $269 special, 6 bottles available
No reviews for the 2016 vintage. 2015 review provided for reference.
William Kelley-Wine Advocate 94 Points “The 2015 Extra-Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Cramant Les Robarts is brilliant, delivering complex aromas of orange oil, crisp orchard fruit and peach mingled with freshly baked bread, iodine and dried white flowers. Medium to full-bodied, satiny and layered, it’s ample and seamless, with a deep, multidimensional core of fruit and a long, saline finish.”
No reviews for the 2016 vintage. 2015 review provided for reference.
William Kelley-Wine Advocate 95 Points “The 2015 Extra-Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Chouilly Le Mont-Aigu has turned out brilliantly, unwinding in the glass with scents of citrus oil, white flowers, bread dough and almond paste. Medium to full-bodied, racy and incisive, with a pillowy pinpoint mousse and chalky structuring extract, it’s the result of yields that would be considered low even in the Côte d’Or (a mere 25 hectoliters per hectare), as the vines are infected with leaf roll virus.”
Suenen ‘Les Robarts’ Grand Cru Cramant Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut, Champagne 2016 750ml $269 special, 6 bottles available
No reviews for the 2016 vintage. 2015 review provided for reference.
William Kelley-Wine Advocate 94 Points “The 2015 Extra-Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Cramant Les Robarts is brilliant, delivering complex aromas of orange oil, crisp orchard fruit and peach mingled with freshly baked bread, iodine and dried white flowers. Medium to full-bodied, satiny and layered, it’s ample and seamless, with a deep, multidimensional core of fruit and a long, saline finish.”
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Suenen ‘La Cocluette’ Oiry Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut, Champagne 2016 750ml $219 special, 6 bottles available
No reviews for the 2016 vintage. 2015 review provided for reference.
William Kelley-Wine Advocate 93 Points “From a parcel planted in 1925, Suenen’s 2015 Extra-Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Oiry La Cocluette unwinds in the glass with aromas of citrus zest, freshly baked bread, dried white flowers and wet stones. Medium to full-bodied, ample and pillowy, with racy acids and a long, precise finish, it has turned out very well.”
California
Schramsberg Blanc de Blancs, North Coast 2020 750ml $39 special, 8 bottles available
Producer Notes “100% Chardonnay. County Composition: 56% Napa, 44% Sonoma. 23% barrel fermentation. The 2020 Blanc de Blancs has captivating aromas of Granny Smith apple, tangerine and lemon-lime, complemented with layers of apple custard and apple tart. Flavors of fresh grapefruit, white peach, and golden apple anchor the palate, which follows with hints of ginger and vanilla chiffon. This bottlings finish is crisp, refreshing, and mouthwatering, in the long-established Schramsberg tradition. Alcohol 12.5%.”
Italy
“Brovia”
Brovia ‘Brea Vigna Ca’ Mia’, Barolo DOCG 2019 750ml $145 special, 3 bottles available
Brovia ‘Brea Vigna Ca’ Mia’, Barolo DOCG 1.5L $319 special, just 1 magnum available
Wine Advocate 98 Points “With the cream-colored label, the 2019 Barolo Brea Vigna Ca’ Mia is another standout wine from one of the most collectible producers in the appellation. The wine from vintners Elena Brovia and Alex Sanchez is especially sharp, focused and polished. You get a lot of satisfaction here and sophistication too, with an amazing sense of clarity and depth. Wild berry, cassis, blood orange, iris and campfire ash emerge from the bouquet. There is drying mineral on the silky close. This is one of my favorite wines of the vintage.”
Brovia Rocche di Castiglione, Barolo DOCG 2019 750ml $139 special, 3 bottles available
Brovia Rocche di Castiglione, Barolo DOCG 2019 1.5L $299 special, just 1 magnum available
Wine Advocate 97 Points “Brovia hits it out of the ballpark with this set of wines from the 2019 vintage. The 2019 Barolo Rocche di Castiglione is a darker, broader expression that stands on its own thanks to that special intensity. This expression veers toward dark fruit and black cherry, and there is a lot of iron ore or rusty nail at the back. The wine is almost sanguine in character, but in a manner that enhances all the other beautiful characteristics on hand. The mouthfeel is slightly more open-knit and rich, making this a better pairing partner to hearty meat dishes. Production is 5,000 bottles.”
Brovia Villero, Barolo DOCG 2019 750ml $135 special, 5 bottles available
Brovia Villero, Barolo DOCG 2019 1.5L $289 special, just 1 magnum available
Wine Advocate 96 Points “With fruit from one of the top growing sites in Castiglione Falletto, the 2019 Barolo Villero shows a slightly ripe and soft side with cherry and dried raspberry followed by licorice, tar and rusty metal. This is an elegant expression, with a terrific sense of focus, that delivers complexity and depth, especially in this excellent vintage. Only 5,000 bottles were released.”
Brovia ‘Brea Vigna Ca’ Mia’, Barolo DOCG 1.5L $319 special, just 1 magnum available
Wine Advocate 98 Points “With the cream-colored label, the 2019 Barolo Brea Vigna Ca’ Mia is another standout wine from one of the most collectible producers in the appellation. The wine from vintners Elena Brovia and Alex Sanchez is especially sharp, focused and polished. You get a lot of satisfaction here and sophistication too, with an amazing sense of clarity and depth. Wild berry, cassis, blood orange, iris and campfire ash emerge from the bouquet. There is drying mineral on the silky close. This is one of my favorite wines of the vintage.”
Brovia Rocche di Castiglione, Barolo DOCG 2019 750ml $139 special, 3 bottles available
Brovia Rocche di Castiglione, Barolo DOCG 2019 1.5L $299 special, just 1 magnum available
Wine Advocate 97 Points “Brovia hits it out of the ballpark with this set of wines from the 2019 vintage. The 2019 Barolo Rocche di Castiglione is a darker, broader expression that stands on its own thanks to that special intensity. This expression veers toward dark fruit and black cherry, and there is a lot of iron ore or rusty nail at the back. The wine is almost sanguine in character, but in a manner that enhances all the other beautiful characteristics on hand. The mouthfeel is slightly more open-knit and rich, making this a better pairing partner to hearty meat dishes. Production is 5,000 bottles.”
Brovia Villero, Barolo DOCG 2019 750ml $135 special, 5 bottles available
Brovia Villero, Barolo DOCG 2019 1.5L $289 special, just 1 magnum available
Wine Advocate 96 Points “With fruit from one of the top growing sites in Castiglione Falletto, the 2019 Barolo Villero shows a slightly ripe and soft side with cherry and dried raspberry followed by licorice, tar and rusty metal. This is an elegant expression, with a terrific sense of focus, that delivers complexity and depth, especially in this excellent vintage. Only 5,000 bottles were released.”
France
“Saint Cosme”
Saint Cosme Cotes du Rhone 2022 750ml $14 special, 24 bottles available
Saint Cosme Cotes du Rhone 2022 Case of 12 750ml bottles $149 special, 3 bottles available
Importer Note “Saint Cosme Côtes-du-Rhône is produced from 100% Syrah and is from the stony Villafranchian terraces of the Gard. The vineyards are known for their limestone sand, red clay, and pebbles, which give a freshness and intensity to the Syrah grapes. The wine is partially destemmed, fermented with natural yeasts, and vinified in concrete vats.”
Saint Cosme Condrieu, Rhône 2021 750ml $69 special, 36+ bottles available
Not reviewed yet, 2020 Review provided for reference
Wine Spectator 94 Points [2020 vintage] “Alluring, with creamed yellow apple, mirabelle plum and white peach flavors carried by a caressing hint of elderflower and lemon curd through the finish, where a late flash of white ginger peeks in. Drink now through 2027. —J.M.”
Jeb Dunnuck 93 Points “I’m always able to taste Louis’s Northern Rhône release as well. His 2020 Condrieu is medium to full-bodied, pure, and balanced, with that unique Condrieu ability to blend richness and freshness. Some classic tangerine, white flowers, and honeysuckle notes define the nose, and it’s beautifully done. Drink it over the coming 4-6 years.”
Saint Cosme Cote Rotie, Rhône 2021 750ml $69 special, 35 bottles available
Not reviewed yet, 2020 review provided for reference
Jeb Dunnuck 94-96 Points [2020] “I loved the 2020 Côte Rôtie, which is certainly the standout from the North. Coming from both the southern and northern ends of the appellation, it’s full-bodied, ripe, and textured, yet never loses a sense of Côte Rôtie elegance. Lots of bacon fat, exotic flowers (I wrote liquid violet in my notes), and gamey blue fruits define the nose, and the balance is spot on, it has silky tannins and is just another brilliant wine.”
Joe Czerwinski-Wine Advocate 94-96 Points “Barruol’s 2020 Cote Rotie blends fruit from both ends of the appellation to create an exciting blend of violets and blueberries on the nose. It’s medium to full-bodied, but richly concentrated and silky, with a lingering, elegant finish. Terrific stuff.”
Saint Cosme Cotes du Rhone 2022 Case of 12 750ml bottles $149 special, 3 bottles available
Importer Note “Saint Cosme Côtes-du-Rhône is produced from 100% Syrah and is from the stony Villafranchian terraces of the Gard. The vineyards are known for their limestone sand, red clay, and pebbles, which give a freshness and intensity to the Syrah grapes. The wine is partially destemmed, fermented with natural yeasts, and vinified in concrete vats.”
Saint Cosme Condrieu, Rhône 2021 750ml $69 special, 36+ bottles available
Not reviewed yet, 2020 Review provided for reference
Wine Spectator 94 Points [2020 vintage] “Alluring, with creamed yellow apple, mirabelle plum and white peach flavors carried by a caressing hint of elderflower and lemon curd through the finish, where a late flash of white ginger peeks in. Drink now through 2027. —J.M.”
Jeb Dunnuck 93 Points “I’m always able to taste Louis’s Northern Rhône release as well. His 2020 Condrieu is medium to full-bodied, pure, and balanced, with that unique Condrieu ability to blend richness and freshness. Some classic tangerine, white flowers, and honeysuckle notes define the nose, and it’s beautifully done. Drink it over the coming 4-6 years.”
Saint Cosme Cote Rotie, Rhône 2021 750ml $69 special, 35 bottles available
Not reviewed yet, 2020 review provided for reference
Jeb Dunnuck 94-96 Points [2020] “I loved the 2020 Côte Rôtie, which is certainly the standout from the North. Coming from both the southern and northern ends of the appellation, it’s full-bodied, ripe, and textured, yet never loses a sense of Côte Rôtie elegance. Lots of bacon fat, exotic flowers (I wrote liquid violet in my notes), and gamey blue fruits define the nose, and the balance is spot on, it has silky tannins and is just another brilliant wine.”
Joe Czerwinski-Wine Advocate 94-96 Points “Barruol’s 2020 Cote Rotie blends fruit from both ends of the appellation to create an exciting blend of violets and blueberries on the nose. It’s medium to full-bodied, but richly concentrated and silky, with a lingering, elegant finish. Terrific stuff.”
These are the lowest listed Prices for these wines in the USA today!
Saint Cosme Crozes Hermitage, Rhône 2021 750ml $33.50 special, 36+ bottles available
Not reviewed yet, 2020 review provided for reference
Jeb Dunnuck 90-92 Points [2020] “Leading off the red Northern Rhônes from barrel, the 2020 Crozes-Hermitage is medium to full-bodied, textured, and seamless, with classic berry, darker fruits, pepper, and violet aromatics. I love its texture.”
This is the lowest listed price on the West Coast today!
Arriving Friday
Oregon
“Crowley”
Oregon
“Crowley”
Crowley Helen Four Winds Vineyard Chardonnay, Willamette Valley 2021 750ml $49 pre-arrival special
Winery Note “Draper block selection will define Helen. Picked early and pressed green to match this salty and minerally material, Helen’s fermentation is long and spontaneous. To emphasize immediacy, we remove from barrel after 11 months and store in tank for the remaining 7. Color is vibrant straw and green, clarity shimmers. Nose is austere, dominated by citrus, tangerine, and lemon. Brioche richens things up as does hints of cream. Palate is clean and ripe and a mix of savory spice and oak fill out the body on the way to its supple finish. Meursault came to mind with this wine.
“Helen and Phoebe Chardonnays are an homage to my wonderful grandmothers. Each was a rich and lively person – full of kindness, empathy, and grit. They were also uniquely different from one another. So, the idea of the Helen and Phoebe Chardonnays are to both represent the differences that our amazing Four Winds Vineyards offers…blocks and clones…while also pursuing an identity in the winemaking based off the women themselves. Phoebe, classic and timeless. Helen, contemporary and cutting edge. Our creative method with the material in the winery is evolving but the results are so far stellar. -Tyson”
Crowley Sojeau Vineyard Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley 2021 750ml $49 pre-arrival special
Winery Note “This wine opens with bold aromas of dried raspberries and cacao powder. Dusty scents morph into graphite, sage and plum as the wine opens up. On the palate, the wine drinks surprisingly lithe and light with flavors of lingonberry, plum preserve and RC Cola. The finish is long with acidity and fine tannins supporting one another in balanced tension. This wine is young and fun to drink now, but will also benefit from a few years of cellaring.
Vineyard info “Sojeau vineyard sits at 650 feet elevation at the southwest end of the Eola-Amity AVA. The site, previously a cherry orchard, was purchased by Denny and T in 2007. They planted 15 Acres of Pinot Noir vines on the 51 acre property – Pommard, Dijon and Wadenswil. The Pommard makes up 50% of the Pinot vines, while Dijon 115 and Wadenswil make up the other 50%.”
Crowley Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley 2022 750ml $26 pre-arrival special
Winery Note “Eye catching clarity meets garnet edges mixed with crimson. Lucid and fresh, the nose displays crunchy aromatics, cranberry and pomegranate mixed with herb and citrus. Palate is smooth and elegant, showing an intriguing wax component combined with powdered fine grain tannins. Taut edging defines the flavors as sweetly elegant and delicate. Lithe and lively, strawberry, and warm spice carry the sweet spot while forest floor and autumn leaves bring in the earthen complexity. This wine stays upright and coiled as the phenolics are spread perfectly from start to finish.”
Champagne
“Doyard”
“Doyard”
The Doyard family traces their winemaking roots in Champagne back to 1677 when a marriage license of Jean-Baptise Doyard showed “winegrower” as the occupation. Maurice Doyard was the first in the family to make wine in Vertus under the Doyard label in 1927, officially signifying the domaine’s foundation. In 1979, Yannick Doyard took over, turning it into a beacon for precise, vinous, mineral-etched Champagne in the Côtes des Blancs.
Doyard Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Extra Brut, Champagne 2015 750ml $149 pre-arrival special
William Kelley-Wine Advocate 94+ Points “The swan song vintage of this cuvée, Doyard’s 2015 Extra-Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru mingles aromas of citrus oil with notions of buttery pastry, dried white flowers and warm biscuits. Medium to full-bodied, layered and structured, with chalky dry extract and lively acids, it’s a taut, compact wine that will require a bit of bottle age to unwind.”
Doyard Oeil de Perdrix Grand Cru Brut Rose, Champagne 2018 750ml $169 pre-arrival special
William Kelley-Wine Advocate 95 Points “The 2018 Extra-Brut Grand Cru Millésimé Œil de Perdrix is lovely, wafting from the glass with scents of orange blossom, mirabelle plum, sweet citrus fruit and red berries. Medium to full-bodied, ample and pillowy, with a fleshy core of fruit and lively acids, it’s an elegant, charming wine that offers demonstrative drinking out of the gates.”
Doyard ‘Revolution’ Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Non-Dose, Champagne NV 750ml $87.50 pre-arrival special
No reviews for the 2023 release. Review for 2022 release provided for reference.
William Kelley-Wine Advocate 94 Points “Based on the 2016 vintage and disgorged early this year, Doyard’s NV Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Non Dosé Révolution offers up aromas of citrus oil, freshly baked bread, honeycomb, almonds and white flowers. Medium to full-bodied, satiny and incisive, it’s a taut, elegantly textural Champagne with a fine mousse and a long, saline finish. It’s another fine rendition of this immensely reliable cuvée.”
Doyard Cuvee Vendemiaire Blanc de Blancs Premier Cru Brut, Champagne NV 750ml $62.50 pre-arrival special
Wine Spectator 93 Points “[Reviewed 2023] A graceful Champagne, with a satiny mousse, revealing ripe apricot, mirabelle plum, preserved lemon, white blossoms and a streak of salty minerality enriched by hints of toasted hazelnut and pastry cream, all framed by well-knit, chiseled acidity on the long finish.”
“Gaston Chiquet”
Gaston Chiquet Premier Cru Brut Rose, Champagne NV 750ml $54.50 pre-arrival special
Antonio Galloni 92 Points “The NV Brut Rosé (2020 base) is stellar. Lifted floral and savory accents meld into a core of punchy red-toned fruit. Cranberry, white pepper, mint, crushed rocks and blood orange build into the nervy, resonant finish. The Rosé is light in color and finessed, but also has tons of richness, much of that coming from the 18% still Pinot in the blend.”
Gaston Chiquet Tradition Brut, Champagne NV 750ml $43.50 pre-arrival special
Wine Spectator 89 Points “[Reviewed 2023] A fresh, firm Champagne, with a crunchy texture as this carries notes of green pear, wet chalk, elderflower and almond biscotti along. Pinot Meunier, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.”
“Marc Hebrart”
Hebrart Mes Favorites Vielles Vignes Brut, Champagne NV 750ml $69 pre-arrival special
Importer note “75% Pinot Noir / 25% Chardonnay. Old vines.”
Antonio Galloni 92 Points [Review for prior disgorgement.] “The NV Brut Mes Favorites Villes Vignes is a powerful, structured Champagne. There’s plenty of old-vine intensity and bright acid driving a core of Pinot-based fruit. I would prefer to cellar this for at least another year or two, as it is clearly still coming together. It’s a wine for readers who enjoy rich, vinous Champagnes at the dinner table.”
Hebrart Premier Cru Brut Rose, Champagne NV 750ml $59 pre-arrival special
Pre-Arrival ETA November 10th
Importer note “Cépage 50% Chardonnay, 50% Pinot Noir (6% vin rouge). Anticipated assemblage: Chardonnay from 2020, Pinot Noir from 2019-2020. Village/vyd: Mareuil-Sur-Aÿ 1er Cru.”
Wine Spectator 92 Points “[Reviewed in 2023] Well-knit and minerally, with a crisp texture and flavors of ripe raspberry, poached apricot, tangerine peel and biscuit. Chalky finish. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.”
Hebrart Selection Premier Cru Brut NV 750ml $54.50 pre-arrival special
Wine Spectator 92 Points “[Review for previous disgorgement.] A sleek Champagne, mouthwatering and refined in texture, offering a creamy, well-meshed blend of crème de cassis, toast point, crystallized honey and lemon curd.”
Hebrart Special Club Brut Millesime, Champagne 2019 750ml $99 pre-arrival special
No reviews for the 2019. 2018 review provided for reference.
Wine Spectator 93 Points “A fresh, harmonious Champagne, with a lacy texture and a minerally underpinning, revealing ripe cherry and Gala apple fruit layered with candied ginger, toast point, oyster shell and blanched almond notes. This would be a fine aperitif, but there’s a bit more focus and depth to it, recommending it to pairing with food or cellaring. Disgorged April 2022. Drink now through 2033.”
“Pierre Peters”
“These are sleek, racy Champagnes, expressing a classic character of Côte des Blancs Chardonnay. They are marked by their fine acidity and prominent minerality, yet while they are always brisk and chalky, they are rarely austere. All of the wines go through malolactic, due to their naturally high acidities: “We have a lot of acidity and a lot of minerality in all our wines,” says Rodolphe Péters. “We want to build the structure of our wines around both acidity and minerality, not acidity alone.”
-Peter Liem, Champagneguide.net
Pierre Peters Cuvee de Reserve Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Brut, Champagne NV 750ml $59.50 pre-arrival special
Wine Spectator 93 Points “[Reviewed 2023] Firm and minerally up front, with well-honed acidity and notes of smoke, chalk and oyster shell transitioning as they’re integrated with a creamy range of crunchy pear, ripe green apple, pink grapefruit pith and almond skin flavors, which expand through the midpalate and lightly spiced finish. Elegant, but with good complexity and focus throughout.”
Importer Note “Anticipated assemblage: 2020 base with 1988, 1990, 1993 and 1995-2019, except ‘99 and ‘03; village/vyd Le Mesnil-sur-Oger Grand Cru, Cramant Grand Cru, Avize Grand Cru and Oger Grand Cru.”
“L. Aubry Fils”
Aubry Premier Cru Brut, Champagne NV 750ml $39.50 pre-arrival special
Importer Note “Cépage 40% Chardonnay, 35% Pinot Noir, 20% Meunier, 5% Arbanne, Petit Meslier and Fromenteau. Anticipated assemblage 60% 2020, 40% reserve wine back to 1998. Village/vyd: Jouy-lès-Reims 1er Cru, Villedommange 1er Cru, Pargny-lès-Reims 1er Cru, Coulommes-la-Montagne 1er Cru. Elevage: Mostly stainless steel with a portion of the Chardonnay aged in used barrique.”
“Chartogne-Taillet”
Chartogne-Taillet Cuvee Sainte Anne Brut, Champagne NV 750ml $54.50 special, 36 bottles available
Wine Spectator 93 Points “[Reviewed 2023] This vibrant Champagne leads with an enticing floral note, opening on the raw silk–textured palate to reveal a finely meshed range of salted Marcona almond, ripe white cherry, blood orange pith and lime blossom flavors that echo through the lingering finish. Classy. Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Meunier.”
Importer Note “Cépage Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Meunier. Anticipated assemblage: 80% 2020, 20% reserve wines. Village/vyd: Merfy, Saint Thierry, Avize Grand Cru.”
Re-Arrival
Evesham Wood Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley 2022 750ml $24 special, 12 bottles available
Winery Notes “This vintage of the WV blend shows a bright nose with cherry, red apple, fresh flowers, and a touch of loam along with a textural creamy/silkiness component that’s balanced by juicy acid. Showing well now, watch this wine evolve over the next 8-10 years.
Recently Reviewed
Bodegas Muga Torre Muga, Rioja DOCa 2019 750ml $108.50 special, 22 bottles available
Grape Live 96 Points “The 2019 Muga “Torre Muga” is a powerful and Bordeaux like wine, made from about 75% Tempranillo, 15% Mazuelo and 10% Graciano, offering dense black fruits and structured complexity, revealing opulent layers of blackberry, mulberry, plum, currant and cherry fruits, as well as smoky cedar, vanilla, anise, sweet tobacco leaf, loam and mineral notes that fold in nicely, making for an impressive vintage. As this deeply hued Torre Muga, sourced from high elevation sites within the Rioja Alta zone, including Muga’s El Estepal, La Loma, Baltracones, La Loma Alta, and Sajazarra vineyards that are organic and see a combination of head trained and trellised old vines set on calcareous clay and alluvial soils, opens you begin to see the depth, an incense bouquet and its terroir come through. This area sees some Atlantic cooling influence and the more arid Continental climate allowing for a deep ripening, while maintaining a graceful balance and natural acidity, making for wines that can really age, and while this 2019 Torre Muga will thrill now, it has the potential to go 25 years in bottle, and as a side note I always suggest decanting these Muga Rioja offerings and be sure to take your time and have a hearty meal with them. With a warming planet, these vines planted in high altitude areas of Rioja Alta are incredibly precious sites that provide outstanding fruit to make world class Rioja(s) that have potential and promise for now and the future.”
Grape Live 96 Points “The 2019 Muga “Torre Muga” is a powerful and Bordeaux like wine, made from about 75% Tempranillo, 15% Mazuelo and 10% Graciano, offering dense black fruits and structured complexity, revealing opulent layers of blackberry, mulberry, plum, currant and cherry fruits, as well as smoky cedar, vanilla, anise, sweet tobacco leaf, loam and mineral notes that fold in nicely, making for an impressive vintage. As this deeply hued Torre Muga, sourced from high elevation sites within the Rioja Alta zone, including Muga’s El Estepal, La Loma, Baltracones, La Loma Alta, and Sajazarra vineyards that are organic and see a combination of head trained and trellised old vines set on calcareous clay and alluvial soils, opens you begin to see the depth, an incense bouquet and its terroir come through. This area sees some Atlantic cooling influence and the more arid Continental climate allowing for a deep ripening, while maintaining a graceful balance and natural acidity, making for wines that can really age, and while this 2019 Torre Muga will thrill now, it has the potential to go 25 years in bottle, and as a side note I always suggest decanting these Muga Rioja offerings and be sure to take your time and have a hearty meal with them. With a warming planet, these vines planted in high altitude areas of Rioja Alta are incredibly precious sites that provide outstanding fruit to make world class Rioja(s) that have potential and promise for now and the future.”
Believe the hype! We have this wine at the best price on the West Coast!
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Spain
Avancia Godello Nobleza VV 2020 750ml WAS $59 NOW $49 special, 9 bottles available
Josh Raynolds – Vinous 94 Points “Pale gold. Intensely perfumed pear nectar and orange zest qualities on the nose; honeysuckle and mineral notes add lift. Juicy, penetrating and sharply focused on the palate, offering concentrated citrus and orchard fruit and floral flavors along with suggestions of salty minerals and bitter quinine. Deftly melds depth and vivacity and finishes extremely long and briny, with outstanding clarity and repeating florality.”
Avancia Mencia VV 2019 750ml WAS $31.90 NOW $29 special, 14 bottles available
James Suckling 92 Points “Dark plums, blackcurrants, grilled herbs, roasted coffee and smoked meat on the nose. Medium-to full-bodied with firm, velvety tannins. Smoky, rich and concentrated. Very smooth-textured. Drink or hold.”
Bodegas Maranones 30,000 Maravedies 2016 750ml WAS $24 NOW $20.90 special, 21 bottles available
Luis Gutierrez – Wine Advocate 91+ Points “The fully developed, aromatic and open 2016 30.000 Maravedíes, with nice aromatics and a very pleasant palate. It’s fragrant and elegant, with pungent flavors and very good persistence. This is a superb showing for this bottling. 39,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in July 2017.”
Bodegas Muga Seleccion Especial Rioja 2018 750ml WAS $44 NOW $39 special, 34 bottles available
Luis Gutierrez – Wine Advocate 94 Points “2018 was a cooler vintage, with a fairly long maturation, which made the wines somewhat fresher and less alcoholic, as showcased by the 2018 Selección Especial, a classical blend of the four red varieties from Rioja, Tempranillo, Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano with contained ripeness (14.05% alcohol) and good freshness. It fermented in oak casks with indigenous yeasts and matured in French oak barrels, 40% of them new, for 26 months. They were not very happy with the vintage and had to sort and discard, but as they didn’t produce Prado Enea, Torre Muga or Haro, those grapes went into this wine. They are reluctant about 2018, but I think it was a vintage capable of the best and the worst, and this 2018 is floral, expressive and elegant. It’s medium to full- bodied, with very fine, chalky tannins, combining power and elegance. Amazing! 187,200 bottles produced. It was bottled in January 2021.”
California
Hanna Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley 2020 750ml WAS $39 NOW $33 special, 21 bottles available
Wine Enthusiast 93 Points “Black pepper and black olive nuances blend with black cherries and dark chocolate in this medium- to full-bodied wine that includes 24% Malbec. An elegant feel, silky texture and nicely restrained flavors give the wine a charm all its own. Best through 2030.”
Melka Estates CJ Napa Cabernet Sauvignon 2017 WAS $79 NOW $69 special, 9 bottles available
Wine Spectator 91 Points “Open-knit, offering a gush of steeped plum and açaí berry flavors laced with licorice and ganache hints. Lightens up just a bit through the finish, as the structure is on the modest side, but the fruit is a joy to drink.”
Postmark By Duckhorn Paso Robles Cabernet 2019 750ml WAS $18 NOW $16 special, 36+ bottles available
Wine Enthusiast 91 Points “Fresh and fruity aromas of cherry and strawberry meet with notes of French toast and light herbs on the nose of this bottling. Those juicy fruits come through on the palate as well, with a baked red-cherry flavor that is framed by cigar-box and nutmeg accents.”
Ulysses Vineyard Cabernet Oakville Napa 2018 750ml WAS $169 NOW $145 special, 16 bottles available
Jeb Dunnuck 99 Points “Just about pure perfection and the finest wine I’ve tasted from this address, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon is mostly Cabernet Sauvignon yet includes smaller amounts of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, all from a site just north of Dominus. This deep, inky hued beauty offers up a beautiful, full-bodied, richly textured, and incredibly concentrated style that carries ample black and blue fruit as well as notes of crushed stone, scorched earth, graphite, and lead pencil. It has the focused, structured style of the 2018 vintage and is going to benefit from 4-6 years (if not a decade) of bottle age and will be a 30+ year wine.”
Special Collector’s Corner Arrival
A Masterpiece from Murrieta and other Spanish Treasures
Marques de Murrieta Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial, Rioja DOCa 2010 750ml $269 special, 6 bottles available
WINE SPECTATOR #1 OF TOP 100 2020
Falstaff Magazine 100 Points “[Translated] Dark ruby garnet, violet reflections, subtle brightening of the edges. Fine mint, fine black cherries, fine herbs, fresh heart cherries, mineral and inviting, a multi-faceted, young bouquet. Juicy, complex, elegant, extract-sweet texture, fine round tannins, ripe heart cherries, delicate nougat, sticks for minutes, enormous future potential. Simple calculation: buy what is possible.”
James Suckling 99 Points “Marvelous aromas of crushed berries, tobacco, cedar and mushrooms. Some dried cheese. Then turns to flowers. Very complex. Full and intense with fantastic depth and power. It goes on for minutes. It is a wine that exudes tradition but gives a sense of modernity with precise winemaking. Two years in oak, one in concrete and three or four in bottle. Drink on release and age onwards.”
Also Available:
Marques de Murrieta Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial, Rioja DOCa 2011 750ml $189 special, 9 bottles available
James Suckling 98 Points “Extremely well-mannered, traditional character to this, showing layer upon layer of savory complexity on the nose, with iron, dried meat, tobacco, balsamic fruit, dried red berries, orange peel, leather and dried mushrooms. A medium-to full-bodied, linear and zesty Rioja that’s full of nuanced flavors that linger through the very long, savory finish. Floral, too. Yet, it remains bright and precise. Tempranillo with 16% mazuelo.”
Wine Enthusiast 97 Points “Deep violet-red to the eye, this wine has a nose of raspberry, white chocolate and juniper berry. Still youthful on the palate, it offers ever-present tannins supporting flavors of dark plum, black cherry, caramel and violet that slowly fade into a soft cherry-pie finish. Drink through 2042.”
Clos i Terrasses Clos Erasmus, Priorat DOCa 2020 750ml $289 special, 8 bottles available
Wine Advocate 100 Points “The still young and primary 2020 Clos Erasmus feels very floral and ethereal (within Priorat and Clos Erasmus); it’s a fresher and lighter expression but without being weak. It’s still a baby that needs to burn the baby fat (there are still some lactic notes from the malolactic in barrel). The wine is always around 3.2 or 3.3 pH and has some 15% to 15.5% alcohol, but the sensation this year is of a much fresher, more balanced and elegant wine. This should make an elegant bottle of mature Priorat with a decade in bottle, and I guess it will be long lived. Glorian mentioned that a small lot that normally goes to Laurel was added to the blend of Erasmus, resulting in a lot of added freshness and a note of orange blossom, which makes sense to me with the floral character of the wines and the extra freshness I perceived. This is really beautiful. It’s a very special vintage of Erasmus that unfurls incredible complexity and tantalizing aromas with time in the glass—blood orange (talk about freshness!), curry and cassis. It has great purity, complexity, elegance and finesse… A very different Clos Erasmus. Bravo! There are some 3,600 bottles. It was bottled in May 2022.”
Clos Mogador Vi de Finca, Priorat DOCa 2012 1.5L $399 special, just 1 bottle left!
Wine Advocate 98 Points “The 2012 Clos Mogador is nothing short of spectacular. They started in 1999 with some Cariñena, and they gradually increased the Garnacha and reduced the Cabernet. 2012 is possibly the vintage of Mogador with less Cabernet, as it didn’t behave well in such warm year. René Barbier senior tells me it reminds him of the freshness of the 2000 that he generously uncorked for me to compare; they only have a handful of bottles for the old vintages! The nose of this 2012 is still little reticent but not reduced like many vintages in the past, slowly showing a great Mediterranean-Atlantic balance with notes of herbs, wet slate and graphite. The super-elegant palate offers great acidity and freshness with incredibly layered and delineated flavors that have an electric, mineral sensation with tension and really fine tannins. There are no traces of oak and no edges… rugged silk? This is a Mogador for decades. If this is always a bargain for the quality it delivers, it is even more so in 2012!”
Familia Nin-Ortiz ‘Nit de Nin’ La Coma d’en Romeu, Priorat DOCa 2017 750ml $149 special, just 2 bottles left!
Luis Gutierrez-Wine Advocate 98+ Points “The 2017 Nit de Nin La Coma d’en Romeu is from an extremely dry and early harvest that delivered just five hectoliters per hectare! That means they only produced 1,330 bottles from the 1.5 hectares of Garnacha on those slate terraces at 350 meters in altitude. It was bottled in April 2019. It has a beautiful and subtle nose that’s very spicy (cloves and cumin, curry and pink pepper) and floral, with a palate that feels light but has great depth and inner power, with pungent flavors and subtle minerality.”
Best listed price on the West coast today!
R. Lopez de Heredia Vina Tondonia Gran Reserva, Rioja DOCa 2001 750ml $199 special, just 4 bottles left
Wine Advocate 98 Points “The 2001 Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva is the follow-up of the 1995. There is a sense of harmony and elegance, of nuance and subtleness that wasn’t quite the same in the Bosconia, as comparing both wines is inevitable. They started picking the red grapes the 15th of October, and the last grapes were picked the 29th of October with good weather. The grapes ripened properly and thoroughly, and the wine has great balance for a long aging in bottle. This is 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacho and 5% each Graciano and Mazuelo that fermented in their 153-year-old oak vats with indigenous yeasts and matured in used barrels for 10 years. It has 13% alcohol, a pH of 3.4 and 6.4 grams of acidity (tartaric). The nose shows young (tasting it blind, you’d guess a 10-year old wine, not a 20-year-old wine!). It has a nose of sweet spices, underbrush and cigar ash, somewhat balsamic, bramble fruit with perfect ripeness, integrated and young but starting to show some tertiary complexity. The palate is velvety and medium-bodied, with fine-grained, chalky tannins denoting a limestone soil that brings finesse and texture and a sapid, tasty, almost salty finish. This is going to make a beautiful bottle of old Rioja in 30 years’ time! 25,000 bottles produced. It was bottled after being fined with egg whites in July 2012.”
Special Limited Offer: Bernard Baudry: November 2023
Some producers rarely need introductions, and this is one of them. Bernard Baudry has been producing the highest quality Chinon on the market vintage to vintage for many years now. The wines are wonderfully textured, complex, and a true homage to the varietal character of cabernet franc and the terroir of Chinon. At Vinopolis we regularly have each new vintage release on offer when we receive it, and the wines sell extremely fast to a dedicated set of fans.
Recently we were able to acquire a series of back-vintage Baudry bottlings of the esteemed Croix Boisée bottling. This wine is produced from Baudry’s “Grand Cru” vineyards, two hectares exposed in the perfect middle of a south facing slope on clay and limestone. This is Chinon of serious pedigree that has the legs to go many years in your cellar and evolve continuously into something more and more beautiful. Fortunately though, with this vertical line-up of the wine on offer, you can taste expressions of Croix Boisée that are at various levels of maturity and show the full spectrum of its flavor. Expect delicious aromas of blackberry, savory herbs, cassis, and that characteristic franc spice.
From this highly calcareous soil, la Croix Boissée acquires a firm body with marked and “chalky” tannins. It is complex, fat, with aromas of very ripe fruit, and needs a few years of aging in bottles (2 to 20 years) – Bernard Baudry
I will emphasize that this line-up is very limited and you are unlikely to see the like of it again any time soon. Don’t miss out!
Bernard Baudry Chinon La Croix Boissee 2011 750ml $54.50 special, 8 bottles available
Wine Advocate 93 points “Baudry’s 2011 Chinon La Croix Boissée is a vey spicy, currently slightly reluctant Cabernet Franc from 30-year-old vines on clay and limestone soils that presents itself more on the fresh and greenish site. Aged for 18 months in barrels, the flavors are rather earthy than fruity, reminding me of powdered rocks, a freshly sharpened pencil and green beans, whereas the aromatic fruit flavors are as discreet as delicate. On the palate this neither fined nor filtered red is a pure, mineral-structured, slightly Pinot-like wine of great finesse, freshness and elegance, quite young and still tart, but powerful and intense, with a beautifully astringent (refreshing!) yet long finish. This is the purest and most firmly structured – and obviously most potential – Chinon I tasted for this report. It calls for patience – which is not too bad for a great wine.”
Bernard Baudry Chinon La Croix Boissee 2014 750ml $54.50 special, 8 bottles available
Bernard Baudry Chinon La Croix Boissee 2016 750ml $54.50 special, 9 bottles available
Vinous 93 points “Grown on very chalky soils, and aged 24 months in 1- to 3-year-old barrels. Vivid ruby. Expressive, even flamboyant, nose of ripe cherry and berry, kirsch and cassis, and even a touch of chocolate. Open and rather hedonistic for Cabernet Franc, with lots of red and black fruit, and it wows the palate with freshness and swirling acidity. But it’s balanced by dancing notes of chalk, talc and graphite, and great finesse on the finish.”
Bernard Baudry Chinon La Croix Boissee 2017 750ml $54.50 special, 12 bottles available
Vinous 95 points “La Croix Boissée is a vineyard that slopes up from the valley floor to the Chinon plateau close to Baudry’s domaine. The result in the 2017 Chinon is a mid-weight, elegant style offering dried herbs and smoked bacon – it’s a hint reduction that needs air. The finish is much more powerful than anticipated; there’s no shortage of tannins here, but they have the finest of powdery textures, making you lick the inside of your mouth (that’s the limestone of Croix Boissée that you see year after year). The lengthy finish is infused with spices – expect a hint of herbs, tea leaf and smoke.”
Bernard Baudry Chinon La Croix Boissee 2018 750ml $54.50 special, 12 bottles available
Vinous 96 points “The ripeness of the 2018 vintage gives an almost Syrah/Viognier character to the Chinon La Croix Boissée, which offers sweet black fruit and a creamy apricot note. Sumptuous yet never ever opulent, it’s almost as if the wine’s just done a yoga class. Plentiful tannins give the inside of your cheeks a chalky rub, while there’s surprising freshness considering the ripeness, leading to a lengthy finish. This is a baby that will turn out to be a great adult.”
Wine Advocate 93 points “The 2018 Chinon La Croix Boissée displays a deep, intense and elegant bouquet of dark fruits intertwined with black tea aromas. Silky, crystalline and elegant on the palate, this is a full-bodied, fresh and refined Chinon that is slightly leathery toward the finish, which is long, intense and vivacious and has lingering salinity. The tannins are fine, elegant and well integrated yet still palatable. The 2018 might have some volatile acidity, but this makes it a true classic of the appellation and an authentic Baudry. Great aging capacity. Tasted in June 2021.”
Bernard Baudry Chinon La Croix Boissee 2019 750ml $54.50 special, 6 bottles available
Chris Kissack (Winedoctor) 96-98 points “A cuvée that needs little introduction, from a famed terroir of limestone slopes which rise up above the valley floor. The fermentation was particularly slow says Matthieu, so this went into barrel late, and it was still carrying 2.5 g/l residual sugar. As a consequence there was a little refermentation during the summer months of 2020. By the time of my tasting there was still a little carbon dioxide gas in the wine, signifying that. The colour is a gorgeous black violet hue, and the nose is filled with aromatic black and curranty fruits, with hints of liquorice and rose garden. Trying to look past the residual gas on the palate (easier said than done) this feels fresh and vigorous, with a silky composition, and notes of liquorice, toast, currant and white chalk. A brilliant wine. The alcohol is about 14%, says Matthieu. (Oct 2020)”
Interested in other Baudry wines? Several gems below.
Bernard Baudry Chinon La Croix Boissee Blanc 2019 750ml $44 special, 5 bottles available
Winery note “The very chalky soil imparts La Croix Boissée with minerality and a dense body. This is a nice wine for gastronomy with notes of white fruits and a fine salinity. Quantity is limited.”
Bernard Baudry Chinon Domaine 2019 750ml $21.90 special, 36 bottles available
Vinous 90 points “The 2019 Chinon Le Domaine provides excellent concentration of fruit while remaining light on its feet. As well as bright primary fruit, it offers smoky bacon, spice and medicinal characters. There’s lovely sappy texture on the finish, which Baudry puts down to the limestone soils of the Chinon plateau that typically grip the side of the mouth. You can enjoy this in its youth, but it has an additional element of seriousness that means its future will stretch out to the medium term.”
Bernard Baudry Chinon Clos Guillot 2020 750ml $33 special,26 bottles available
Vinous 93 points “Hailing from the limestone-clay slopes on the outskirts of Chinon town, home to other famous vineyards like Clos de l’Olive and Chêne Vert, Le Clos Guillot 2020 offers a cloud of Cabernet Franc fruit with fine refreshing acidity. Savory, silken and seductive, the wine is flooded with a stream of acidity. It is a calm wine with a mass of chalky tannins that coat the palate reassuringly. The finish is long, quiet and scented with dark raspberries and spice. There is a minor complaint of a touch of dryness at the very end of this wine.”
All Bernard Baudry Wines Available
| BERNARD BAUDRY WINES | VWS PRICE | AVAILABLE | LINK |
| BAUDRY CHINON BOISSEE BLANC 2019 | 44.00 | 5 | Link |
| BAUDRY CHINON BOISSEE ROUGE 2011 | 54.50 | 8 | Link |
| BAUDRY CHINON BOISSEE ROUGE 2014 | 54.50 | 8 | Link |
| BAUDRY CHINON BOISSEE ROUGE 2016 | 54.50 | 9 | Link |
| BAUDRY CHINON BOISSEE ROUGE 2017 | 54.50 | 12 | Link |
| BAUDRY CHINON BOISSEE ROUGE 2018 | 54.50 | 12 | Link |
| BAUDRY CHINON BOISSEE ROUGE 2019 | 54.50 | 6 | Link |
| BAUDRY CHINON DOMAINE 2019 | 21.90 | 36 | Link |
| BAUDRY CHINON GUILLOT 2020 750ML | 33.00 | 26 | Link |
Vinopolis Newsletter – Friday 11/3/2023
| In This Newsletter: Special Arrivals Hot Spanish deals! New Arrivals Altovinum, Luigi Einaudi, Bereche, E. Guigal, Bott-Geyl, and Dusted Valley Champagne Pre-Arrivals Pierre Peters, Doyard, Gaston Chiquet, Aubry, Chartogne-Taillet, and Marc Hebrart Staff Pick Elise Dechanne Tradition Close-out Sales Rieslings from the “Good Doctor” and more! Collector’s Special Arrival- Arriving November 10th Crystal clear visions of luxury with Roederer and Leflaive Special Arrivals! Spain “Hot deals to take the chill off of Autumn!” Altovinum Evodia Old Vines Garnacha, Calatayud 2021 750ml $13.50 special, 36 bottles available Altovinum Evodia Old Vines Garnacha, Calatayud 2021 Case of 12 bottles $145 special, 6 cases available [That’s $12.08 per bottle!] Wine Advocate 91 Points “The 2021 Evodia comes from a cold year with snow, frost and some extreme temperatures (-18 degrees Celsius!) but an average rest of the season, some hail in July(!) and quite a lot of rain in early October, so not a year without challenges. They estimate a 25% decrease in yields, but the grapes picked before the rain delivered fresh wines with good aging potential. This finished at 14.6% alcohol and with good freshness and acidity. It fermented with some 15% full clusters in concrete, and 60% of the volume remained in concrete while the rest was equal parts in used 225-liter barrels and large oak vats for five months.”Lowest Listed Price in the USA! Comando G ‘La Bruja de Rozas’ Sierra de Gredos, Spain 2021 750ml $31.90 special, 36 bottles available 95 Points Wine Advocate “The 2021 La Bruja de Rozas is their edgiest and most austere mineral and soil-driven version of their entry-level red. It’s herbal, with no concession for fruit, and it has electricity and grip. It’s a good preview of what’s to come from 2021. It has a lot of 2018 and 2016 characteristics, a cool summer, a year with rain and even some during harvest that complicated matters and made them lose some grapes, but there’s more grip, more minerality, more depth, layers and subtleness. It needs time in the glass, and my guess is that at age eight it’s going to reach an outstanding level. A grown-up Bruja, it’s more for soil fanatics than the general public, and it’s one to lay down in your cellar (by the case) while you drink your 2020s. There were 55,184 bottles produced. It was bottled in August 2022.” New Arrivals Italy “Poderi Luigi Einaudi” Luigi Einaudi Langhe Nebbiolo, Piedmont 2020 750ml $21.90 special, 36+ bottles available Vinous 90 Points “The 2019 Langhe Nebbiolo is absolutely delicate, aromatic, light on its feet and yet full of energy. The 2019 delivers in every way. Crushed flowers, sweet red berry fruit, chalk, mint and blood orange give this high-toned, perfumed Langhe Nebbiolo tons of vibrancy.”Lowest listed price in the USA! Luigi Einaudi Nei Cannubi, Barolo DOCG 2015 750ml $99 special, 12 bottles available Vinous 93 Points “The 2015 Barolo Cannubi is super-polished and elegant. Rich and ample, in the style of the year, the 2015 has quite a bit of volume, but the aromatics and silky tannins are very clearly those of Cannubi. Rose petal, sweet red cherry, blood orange, spice and mint add lovely top notes. Today, the 2015 gives the impression it will drink well early and mature at a relatively fast pace.” Wine Advocate 93 Points “In increasing order of intensity and structure, we tasted Poderi Luigi Einaudi’s Baroli from Cannubi, Costa Grimaldi (Terlo) and Bussia. This estate will soon add a new Barolo from the Monvigliero cru in Verduno, and that wine will probably come before Cannubi (at the start of the line) in terms of power when it is ready to be presented. The 2015 Barolo Cannubi is a finessed and light-bodied expression with a light and luminous personality that prizes red berry, cassis, blue flower and white licorice. The tannins are silky and tightly textured.”Lowest listed price on the West coast! Luigi Einaudi Nei Cannubi, Barolo DOCG 2018 750ml $99 special, 12 bottles available Vinous 93 Points “The 2018 Barolo Cannubi is another terrific wine in this range from Einaudi. There is an effortless, gracious quality to the Cannubi that is impossible to miss. Expressive aromatics meld into a core of creamy, exquisitely layered Cannubi red-toned fruit. Sweet red cherry, red plum, rose petal, mint and blood orange emerge, but only with great reluctance. The 2018 is pretty closed right now, but that won’t be an issue in another few years’ time.”Lowest listed price per bottle in the USA… if you want it cheaper you’ll need import it from… The Netherlands?! Luigi Einaudi Ludo, Barolo DOCG 2017 750ml $41.90 special, 12 bottles available Wine Spectator 93 Points “This is fresh, harmonious and expressive, featuring rose, strawberry, cherry, and eucalyptus flavors. Firms up nicely, lending support for future potential, yet finds its equilibrium on the finish. On the elegant side, with fine length. Best from 2024 through 2042.” Luigi Einaudi Terlo Vigna Costa Grimaldi, Barolo DOCG 2017 750ml $79 special, 6 bottles available Wine Advocate 95 Points “With fruit from old, southeast-facing vines, the Poderi Luigi Einaudi 2017 Barolo Terlo Vigna Costa Grimaldi shows very nicely in this hot vintage. The positioning of the vines and the age of the deeply furrowed roots surely play a big role toward achieving the balance and pretty intensity offered here. The wine is streamlined and tight, with no loose ends, held firmly together by fresh Nebbiolo acidity and well-managed tannins. There is a lot of power built up in this Terlo fruit, but the wine also reveals austerity and sharp lines.” Luigi Einaudi Terlo Vigna Costa Grimaldi, Barolo DOCG 2016 750ml $79 special, 6 bottles available Wine Spectator 94 Points “Macerated cherry, black currant and tar flavors predominate, with accents of eucalyptus, tobacco and rose hip tea. Toned and graceful like an athlete, with plenty of innate power, showing terrific balance and length. Best from 2024 through 2050. 200 cases imported.”These Grimaldi Barolos are not to be missed! And we have the lowest prices on the West Coast! France “Bereche- It’s back!” Bereche Brut Reserve, Champagne NV (2020 Base) 750ml $65 special, 36+ bottles available Antonio Galloni 92 Points “The NV Brut Réserve is bright and finely sculpted right out of the glass. There’s terrific purity and energy running through the Brut Réserve. Crushed red berry fruit, white pepper, crushed rocks and mint all race out of the glass. This release is based on 2020, with a good bit of reserve wine (35%) that serves to create terrific balance. The 5.5 grams of dosage is not at all felt.” “E. Guigal”Produced from seven of the most exceptional plots of the domain, Château d’Ampuis is a classy wine with toasty aromas of black fruit. Its tannic structure and elegance contribute to its ageing potential. E. Guigal Chateau d’Ampuis Cote Rotie, Rhône 2012 750ml $119 special, 24 bottles available Robert Parker 95 Points “The 2012 Côte Rôtie Château d’Ampuis is a bigger, richer wine that offers full-bodied richness and a broad, expansive style on the palate. Black raspberries, toasted spices, cured meats and licorice all emerge from this incredibly sexy, complex and nuanced Côte Rôtie, and my notes finish with “wish I could drink a glass.” Enjoy bottles anytime over the coming 15 or more years.”Best price by far! Next lowest is $159 per bottle! “Domaine Bott-Geyl” Jean-Christophe, the current proprietor of this 300+ year-old domaine has taken the winery back to its traditions in order to preserve its future. With 15 hectares of biodynamically and sustainably farmed vines plus a non-interventionist winemaking style, these wines are natural and authentic, plus refined and delicious. The wines of Alsace used to be known as more off-dry, but at the same time palettes have been changing, warming climates have obliged consumers with much drier styles. Bott-Geyl Cremant d’Alsace Cuvee Paul-Edouard Extra Brut, France NV $29 special, 24 bottles available Bott-Geyl Metiss Blanc, Alsace 2021 750ml $19.50 special, 24 bottles available Vinous “The 2021 Alsace Métiss is a blend of Muscat, Riesling, Sylvaner, Chasselas and Pinot Blanc, a contemporary take on the Edelzwicker blends of old. It is the only wine in the range that is certified Ecocert rather then Biodyvin, since a small amount of Muscat is bought from a grower for this blend. The nose is scented and fresh, full of spring blossom and lemon. The rounded palate follows suit, presenting fragrant peachiness and lovely, lemony richness – despite the slender body. A light, fragrant, and bone-dry aperitif, ideal for a summer table.” Bott-Geyl Pinot Gris Sonnenglanz, Alsace Grand Cru 2013 750ml $45 special, 24 bottles available Vinous 92+ Points “Vivid straw. Knockout nose is redolent of lemon verbena, ripe pear, grilled peach, nectarine and sweet spices complicated by spicy, lemony noble rot. Tactile, rich and utterly seamless in the mouth, with flavors similar to the aromas. I love this wine’s long, textured finish, which shows a spicy honeyed nuance (thanks to the presence of noble rot) that makes it absolutely irresistible. Since 2011, Bott harvests these grapes early to help preserve acidity.” Bott-Geyl Riesling Schlossberg, Alsace Grand Cru 2018 750ml $51.90 special, 12 bottles available Vinous 93 Points “The 2018 Riesling comes from a terraced, steep parcel at the top of Schlossberg Grand Cru, at its center, just below the forest, lending coolness. The granitic soils are weathered and poor, yields are small. The nose announces the ripeness and dryness of 2018 with a lifted scent of orange peel, golden apple and candied orange. The palate, likewise, is ripe and rounded, brimming with juicy, ripe Mirabelle that is edged with dried lemon peel freshness. A phenolic edge lends some welcome bitterness and more texture. The finish is dry and lasting, delving deeper into that stone. (Bone-dry)” Domaine Bott-Geyl Riesling Schoenenbourg, Alsace Grand Cru 2018 750ml $51.90 special, 12 bottles available Vinous 94 Points “The 2018 Riesling Schoenenbourg Grand Cru is from various parcels within the grand cru, between 20, 30 and 60 years old. The nose is totally open and lifted with dried yarrow and dried lemon peel. More air brings hints of dried and fresh yellow pear. The palate is focused, intense, linear and edged with utterly mouth-watering freshness. There is a lovely chalky texture while notions of candied orange peel pop up, yet a completely dry focus drives this to a refreshing finish. Again a contrast between nose and palate delivers intense, chalky length. (Bone-dry)” Washington StateLocated in the epicenter of Washington State’s premiere Wine Country, DVV calls the Walla Walla Valley home. This rolling valley, back dropped by the Blue Mountains, has historically been landscaped by golden wheat fields, green vegetable fields (the Walla Walla Sweet Onion our favorite) and fruit orchards. However, this oasis has quickly become home to world class vineyards and wines. Dusted Valley Stained Tooth Syrah, Columbia Valley 2020 750ml $29 special, 36 bottles available Jeb Dunnuck 92 Points “A co-fermented blend of 97% Syrah and 3% Viognier, the 2020 Syrah Stained Tooth sports a medium ruby/plum color as well as great nose of ripe black raspberry and blueberry fruit, iron, peppery herbs, and bacon fat. It’s medium to full-bodied, has lots of fruit, ripe tannins, and an outstanding finish.” James Suckling 91 Points “Ripe and mellow plums and mulberries with chocolate and sweet spices. Citrus peel, too. Rich and juicy with medium to full body, firm tannins and bright acidity. Flavorful and satisfying. Drink now.”Lowest Price in the USA today! Champagne Pre-ArrivalsArriving November 10th “Pierre Peters”  “These are sleek, racy Champagnes, expressing a classic character of Côte des Blancs Chardonnay. They are marked by their fine acidity and prominent minerality, yet while they are always brisk and chalky, they are rarely austere, with the possible exception of certain vintages of the Cuvée Spéciale. All of the wines go through malolactic, due to their naturally high acidities: “We have a lot of acidity and a lot of minerality in all our wines,” says Rodolphe Péters. “We want to build the structure of our wines around both acidity and minerality, not acidity alone.”-Peter Liem, Champagneguide.net Pierre Peters Cuvee de Reserve Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Brut, Champagne NV 750ml $59.50 pre-arrival special Wine Spectator 93 Points “[Reviewed 2023] Firm and minerally up front, with well-honed acidity and notes of smoke, chalk and oyster shell transitioning as they’re integrated with a creamy range of crunchy pear, ripe green apple, pink grapefruit pith and almond skin flavors, which expand through the midpalate and lightly spiced finish. Elegant, but with good complexity and focus throughout.” Importer Note “Anticipated assemblage: 2020 base with 1988, 1990, 1993 and 1995-2019, except ‘99 and ‘03; village/vyd Le Mesnil-sur-Oger Grand Cru, Cramant Grand Cru, Avize Grand Cru and Oger Grand Cru.” “Doyard”“This Vertus domaine numbers among my favorite addresses on the Côte de Blancs, and the Doyard family’s vinous, incisive Champagnes deserve a place in any well-stocked cellar. Deep, concentrated and characterful, everything that bears the Doyard label is well worth serious attention.”-William Kelley, Wine AdvocateDoyard Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Extra Brut, Champagne 2015 $149 pre-arrival special William Kelley-Wine Advocate 94+ Points “The swan song vintage of this cuvée, Doyard’s 2015 Extra-Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru mingles aromas of citrus oil with notions of buttery pastry, dried white flowers and warm biscuits. Medium to full-bodied, layered and structured, with chalky dry extract and lively acids, it’s a taut, compact wine that will require a bit of bottle age to unwind.” Doyard Oeil de Perdrix Grand Cru Brut Rose, Champagne 2018 750ml $169 pre-arrival special William Kelley-Wine Advocate 95 Points “The 2018 Extra-Brut Grand Cru Millésimé Œil de Perdrix is lovely, wafting from the glass with scents of orange blossom, mirabelle plum, sweet citrus fruit and red berries. Medium to full-bodied, ample and pillowy, with a fleshy core of fruit and lively acids, it’s an elegant, charming wine that offers demonstrative drinking out of the gates.” Doyard ‘Revolution’ Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Non-Dose, Champagne NV 750ml $87.50 pre-arrival special No reviews for the 2023 release. Review for 2022 release provided for reference. William Kelley-Wine Advocate 94 Points “Based on the 2016 vintage and disgorged early this year, Doyard’s NV Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Non Dosé Révolution offers up aromas of citrus oil, freshly baked bread, honeycomb, almonds and white flowers. Medium to full-bodied, satiny and incisive, it’s a taut, elegantly textural Champagne with a fine mousse and a long, saline finish. It’s another fine rendition of this immensely reliable cuvée.” Doyard Cuvee Vendemiaire Blanc de Blancs Premier Cru Brut, Champagne NV 750ml $62.50 pre-arrival special Wine Spectator 93 Points “[Reviewed 2023] A graceful Champagne, with a satiny mousse, revealing ripe apricot, mirabelle plum, preserved lemon, white blossoms and a streak of salty minerality enriched by hints of toasted hazelnut and pastry cream, all framed by well-knit, chiseled acidity on the long finish.” “Gaston Chiquet- Grower Champagne innovators” “In 1919, two brothers, Fernand and Gaston Chiquet—winemakers born and bred—came together to create their house Chiquet Brothers. They were ‘pioneers’ in Champagne, the very first winemakers to take the initiative, bold at the time, to keep their grapes, turn them into Champagne and sell their own wine.”-Richard Juhlin, 4000 ChampagnesGaston Chiquet Premier Cru Brut Rose, Champagne NV 750ml $54.50 pre-arrival special Antonio Galloni 92 Points “The NV Brut Rosé (2020 base) is stellar. Lifted floral and savory accents meld into a core of punchy red-toned fruit. Cranberry, white pepper, mint, crushed rocks and blood orange build into the nervy, resonant finish. The Rosé is light in color and finessed, but also has tons of richness, much of that coming from the 18% still Pinot in the blend.” Gaston Chiquet Tradition Brut, Champagne NV 750ml $43.50 pre-arrival special Wine Spectator 89 Points “[Reviewed 2023] A fresh, firm Champagne, with a crunchy texture as this carries notes of green pear, wet chalk, elderflower and almond biscotti along. Pinot Meunier, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.” “Marc Hebrart” Hebrart Mes Favorites Vielles Vignes Brut, Champagne NV 750ml $69 pre-arrival special Importer note “75% Pinot Noir / 25% Chardonnay. Old vines.” Antonio Galloni 92 Points “[Review for prior disgorgement.] The NV Brut Mes Favorites Villes Vignes is a powerful, structured Champagne. There’s plenty of old-vine intensity and bright acid driving a core of Pinot-based fruit. I would prefer to cellar this for at least another year or two, as it is clearly still coming together. It’s a wine for readers who enjoy rich, vinous Champagnes at the dinner table.” Hebrart Premier Cru Brut Rose, Champagne NV 750ml $59 pre-arrival special Pre-Arrival ETA November 10th Importer note “Cépage 50% Chardonnay, 50% Pinot Noir (6% vin rouge). Anticipated assemblage: Chardonnay from 2020, Pinot Noir from 2019-2020. Village/vyd: Mareuil-Sur-Aÿ 1er Cru.” Wine Spectator 92 Points “[Reviewed in 2023] Well-knit and minerally, with a crisp texture and flavors of ripe raspberry, poached apricot, tangerine peel and biscuit. Chalky finish. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.” Hebrart Selection Premier Cru Brut NV 750ml $54.50 pre-arrival special Wine Spectator 92 Points “[Review for previous disgorgement.] A sleek Champagne, mouthwatering and refined in texture, offering a creamy, well-meshed blend of crème de cassis, toast point, crystallized honey and lemon curd.” Hebrart Special Club Brut Millesime, Champagne 750ml $99 pre-arrival special No reviews for the 2019. 2018 review provided for reference. Wine Spectator 93 Points “A fresh, harmonious Champagne, with a lacy texture and a minerally underpinning, revealing ripe cherry and Gala apple fruit layered with candied ginger, toast point, oyster shell and blanched almond notes. This would be a fine aperitif, but there’s a bit more focus and depth to it, recommending it to pairing with food or cellaring. Disgorged April 2022. Drink now through 2033.” “L. Aubry Fils” HOT DEAL Aubry Premier Cru Brut, Champagne NV 750ml $39.50 pre-arrival special Importer Note “Cépage 40% Chardonnay, 35% Pinot Noir, 20% Meunier, 5% Arbanne, Petit Meslier and Fromenteau. Anticipated assemblage 60% 2020, 40% reserve wine back to 1998. Village/vyd: Jouy-lès-Reims 1er Cru, Villedommange 1er Cru, Pargny-lès-Reims 1er Cru, Coulommes-la-Montagne 1er Cru. Elevage: Mostly stainless steel with a portion of the Chardonnay aged in used barrique.” “Chartogne-Taillet” Chartogne-Taillet Cuvee Sainte Anne Brut, Champagne NV 750ml $54.50 special, 36 bottles available Wine Spectator 93 Points “[Reviewed 2023] This vibrant Champagne leads with an enticing floral note, opening on the raw silk–textured palate to reveal a finely meshed range of salted Marcona almond, ripe white cherry, blood orange pith and lime blossom flavors that echo through the lingering finish. Classy. Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Meunier.” Importer Note “Cépage Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Meunier. Anticipated assemblage: 80% 2020, 20% reserve wines. Village/vyd: Merfy, Saint Thierry, Avize Grand Cru.” Staff Pick Elise Dechannes Tradition Blanc de Noirs Extra Brut, Champagne 2017 750ml $49 special, 33 bottles available Sometimes I crave bubbles that are fruity and fun, and Dechannes Tradition answers the call. Vibrant yet supremely gulpable, this has the poise and precision of Champagne with the fun and verve of sparkling Vouvray I want to sip with shortbread cookies and fresh berries. –Suzanne Close-out SalesGreat deals on Rieslings from the Good Doctor and more The story behind the famous Bernkasteler Doktor is that a wine made from the vineyard was once offered as medicine to a dying man who just so happened to be one of the highest Arch-Bishops in the Holy Roman Empire. Upon his miraculous recovery, the Arch-Bishop proclaimed the Vineyard “Doctor” and the title has remained ever since. We cannot comment on the healing properties of these wines, but we can proclaim it one of the most delicious, crave-worthy Rieslings we’ve ever tried. Dr. H. Thanisch Bernkasteler Badstube Riesling Kabinett, Mosel 2016 750ml WAS $26 NOW 21.90 special, 2 bottles available David Schildknecht – Vinous 91 Points “Ripe pear and apple dominate on the nose as well as on a silken, buoyant palate, supported by subtle sweetness. Mouthwatering salinity and transparency to crystalline stony nuances give the long, refreshingly juicy finish a fascinating and delightful sense of shimmer.”Lowest listed price in the USA! Dr. H. Thanisch Erben Bernkasteler Badstube Spatlese, Mosel 2017 750ml WAS $28 NOW $21.90 special, 21 bottles available Stephan Reinhardt – Wine Advocate 93 Points “The 2017 Bernkasteler Badstube Riesling Spätlese is still pretty reductive but clear and elegant on the crunchy slate and floral nose. Lush and salty on the pure, refined and elegant palate, this is a concentrated, densely woven and sensual Badstube with the mineral grip and tension of this often underrated Grosse Lage. Tasted from AP 8 18 in March 2019.” Dr. H. Thanisch Bernkasteler Badstube Riesling Spatlese, Mosel 2019 750ml WAS $29 NOW $24 special, 6 bottles available Stephan Reinhardt-Wine Advocate 93 Points “Vinified in old fuder vats until May and bottled at the end of August this year, the 2019 Bernkasteler Badstube Riesling Spätlese is clear, precise and elegant on the flinty and crunchy nose. On the palate, this is a perfectly round, textured, finessed and stimulatingly salty Spätlese of great elegance and finesse. I tried to spit it three times and always failed. There is this very rare reflex that you can’t avoid, and before you even think about it, you want to swallow it. Gorgeous. Tasted at the domain in September 2020.”Lowest listed price in the USA! Dr. H. Thanisch Erben Bernkasteler Doctor Spatlese, Mosel 2016 750ml WAS $49 NOW $41.90 special, 9 bottles available Stephan Reinhardt-Wine Advocate 93 Points “The 2016 Berncasteler Doctor Riesling Spätlese shows a complex, smoky, fresh and elegant bouquet but is still slightly reductive. Piquant and mineral on the palate, with generous fruit, this is an elegant, crystalline and complex Doctor Spätlese with a dense, salty, very expressive and persistent finish. Keep this wine for at least a decade. Tasted March 2018.”Lowest listed price in the world! (Including Germany… somehow) Dr. H. Thanisch Erben Bernkasteler Graben Grosses Gewachs 2019 750ml WAS $41.90 NOW $36 special, 16 bottles available Stephan Reinhardt-Wine Advocate 91+ Points “The 2019 Bernkasteler Graben Riesling GG is adjacent to Thanisch’s Doctor parcel yet a bit less warm. From 60- to 70-year-old-vines, this is a smoky, intense and elegant Riesling with very fine, precise and crunchy gray slate aromas. Medium-bodied, intense and complex on the palate, this is a tight, long and structured dry Graben Riesling with a refreshing lemon aroma on the concentrated and refreshing finish. This is complex but very promising and currently pretty closed, although the bottle was opened two days earlier. Tasted at the domain in September 2020.”Lowest listed price in the USA! Not enough Glorious Riesling for you? Korrell is one of the great values in Riesling and we just made it a better deal! Weingut Korrell Johanneshof Riesling Trocken, Nahe 2017 750ml WAS $33 NOW $29 special, 34 bottles available Stuart Pigott-Jamessuckling.com 94 points “What a beautiful nose of leaves and white flowers, dripping after rain. With aeration, peach, nectarine and mandarin-orange notes emerge. Concentrated, racy and very polished, this is a stunning dry riesling with a long, mineral finish. Drink or hold. Screw cap.” Weingut Korrell Johanneshof Kreuznacher Paradies Riesling Trocken, Nahe 2017 3L WAS $179 NOW $149 special, 3 bottles available Grapelive 94 Points “This is a winery that about to break out and join some elite company, in fact they are riding high after winning, as mentioned, the famous Riesling Cup award with their unique multi (Grand) cru Von den Grossen Lagen Trocken Riesling. This wine is just extra proof there is real quality here! The lightly golden hued and generously textured Paradies will age well. It’s full of charm, class and potential. Best to let this one have another 3 to 5 years, though it certainly is delicious right now.”Only listings in the USA!Click here to Shop for all 215+ of our Close Out Sale wines! Collector’s Corner Pre-Arrivals“Crystal” clear visions of luxury with Roederer and Leflaive  Arriving November 10thCristal– perhaps the most prestigious champagne in history. Literally fit for a King, this wine was originally designed for Tsar Alexander II in 1867 in a clear crystal glass—either to impress Kaiser Wilhelm or because he feared assassination by poison depending on which legend you prefer. No matter the history, this is a wine synonymous with the highest levels of quality and luxury. Louis Roederer Cristal 6 Pack 750ml $2,799 special, just 1 one case arriving! TWO bottles of each: 2006, 2008, 2012 Louis Roederer Cristal, Champagne 2006 Decanter 97 points “Fantastic from the start. A colossal power of beautiful rumbling Pinot maturity. It’s like chewing on the ripest grapes from Ay and Verzenay. At the same time ultra stylish: unmistakable Cristal essence of peach and mango sweetness, pineapple, coconut, vanilla, sprightly acidity and citrus blossom. Many similarities with 2002 but with a clearer Pinot touch.” James Suckling 96 Points “Deep maturing nose with plenty of ripe pear and apricot, plus a whiff of smoke. This is a big and powerful champagne with notes of spice and grapefruit alongside some red berry fruit from pinot noir. Long chalky finish that’s more vibrant than the first impression suggests. Tasted at the Cristal vertical tasting at the champagne house on July 6th, 2023.” Louis Roederer Cristal, Champagne 2008 Wine Enthusiast 100 points “This latest incarnation of the famous brand is a superb wine. It is on par with, maybe even better than, the already legendary 2002. Its balance is impeccable: Apple and citrus flavors working with the tight minerality to give a textured yet fruity wine. Produced from Roederer’s own vineyards which are mainly biodynamic, the wine has its own intense purity and crispness. It has amazing potential and is likely to age for many years. Drink from 2020. Cellar Selection.” James Suckling 100 Points “One of the masterpieces of this exceptional vintage (the last that was this cool). Ravishing nose of Amalfi lemon and white peach with hints of white chocolate, chamomile and oyster shell. Super-elegant and tightly structured with a hint of creaminess on the mid-palate adding tension. Very long steely finish carried by the linear mineral acidity. A cuvée of 60% pinot noir and 40% chardonnay, part of which (unusually for Cristal) underwent malolactic fermentation. Getting very scarce on the secondary market, partly because of the great aging potential! Tasted at the Cristal vertical tasting at the champagne house on July 6th, 2023.” Jeb Dunnuck 100 Points “The 2008 Cristal is a perfect wine, and Champagne simply does not get any better. This incredible wine offers a beautiful perfume of clean, crisp fruits, layers of complexity in its toasted spice and white flowers, and an utterly seamless, yet powerful style on the palate. This is a rich, decadent expression of Cristal yet it’s still crystalline and elegant, with no sensation of weight, and it just glides over the palate. Haut Couture at its finest and this majestic, profound, legendary Cristal can be drunk anytime over the coming 2-3 decades.” Louis Roederer Cristal, Champagne 2012 Wine Enthusiast 98 points Cellar Selection “As the first 100% biodynamic Cristal, entirely from Roederer-owned vineyards, this is an important milestone. This latest incarnation is a great Champagne with its density, elegance and poise. Still impressively young, the wine is taut, tightly wound and textured. At the same time, it has pure, ripe white and citrus fruits that are perfumed, and an important part of this wine’s long-term future. Drink at the earliest from 2023. Wine Advocate 97+ points “Aromas of clear honey, crisp green orchard fruit, white peach, pastry cream and dried white flowers introduce the 2012 Cristal, a full-bodied, concentrated and powerful wine that’s built for the cellar. Broader, more textural and more muscular than the 2008 Cristal, with seemingly even greater reserves of structuring dry extract, the 2012 is incisive and searingly chalky. This is the first Cristal produced exclusively from organically farmed fruit, and it marks the opening of a new chapter for Louis Roderer. The blend is 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay, vinified without malolactic fermentation and disgorged with 7.5 grams per liter dosage. Chef de Caves Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon has once again excelled himself.” Why wait? We have bottles of Cristal waiting to be purchased today! Louis Roederer Cristal Rose 2013 750ml $619 special, 2 bottles available William Kelley-Wine Advocate 99 Points “A candidate for wine-of-the-vintage honors in Champagne, Roederer’s 2013 Cristal Rosé is showing brilliantly, unfurling in the glass with notes of crisp orchard fruit, white flowers, red berries, stone fruit, freshly baked bread and tangerine oil. Full-bodied, layered and multidimensional, the vintage’s bright girdling acids are amply cloaked in exuberant, expressive and notably concentrated fruit; so while this Cristal is as tensile and age-worthy as one would expect, it’s also impressively fleshy and generous given the year. Concluding with an intensely sapid finish, the 2013 isn’t as overtly structured as the muscular, tightly wound 2012: rather, it’s the 2013’s alliance of cut and flesh, precision and charm that’s so compelling this year. This is another banner vintage for what I consider the reigning champion of the region’s tête de cuvée bottlings, and it will be worth an effort to acquire.” Antonio Galloni 98 Points “The 2013 Cristal Rosé is searingly intense right out of the glass, just like the Blanc, except it has a bit more fleshiness because of the skin contact on the Pinot. Cristal Rosé has one of the best track records for aging in Champagne. I suspect the 2013 will join the ranks of the epic vintages, but it is painfully tight today. The blend is 55% Pinot Noir (from Aÿ) and 45% Chardonnay (from Avize and Mesnil) done in the classic Roederer infusion style in which Pinot Noir is vinified on the skins and then blended with Chardonnay to complete the fermentation. About 25% of the lots were done in oak, while malolactic fermentation was blocked. (Originally published in May 2021)” Louis Roederer Cristal Vinotheque 1999 750ml $1,245 special, 3 bottles available James Suckling 98 Points “The nose has such beautiful, autolysis character with brown-mushroom and toasted-almond aromas. The nose has still-fresh lemons and oyster shell. Very smooth, pastry-like texture on the palate with even layers and a core of fresh lemons and peaches. The striking thing here is the balance and melted-together complexity. In a very great place. This spent seven years sur latte, seven sur pointe and was disgorged in 2014. Drink now.” [Reviewed 2019] Antonio Galloni 97 Points “Roederer’s 1999 Cristal Vinothèque is endowed with tremendous power and concentration, especially for a Champagne of its age. Palate staining minerals, chalk, white pepper, mint, citrus and orchard fruit soar out of the glass. Tasted next to the Rosé the Blanc has a slightly more toasty character along with more body and a stronger presence of the mousse, which in this wine wraps around the fruit. At the time, Cristal was made from 37 parcels. The Pinots were a blend from Aÿ (where the wines are naturally riper) and Verzenay, Verzy and Beaumont-sur-Vesle, (where Pinots are nervy and taut), while the Chardonnay was sourced from Avize, Mesnil and Cramant. Dosage is 7-8 grams per liter.” [Reviewed 2020] “Domaine Leflaive” Medieval Lore tells us that the Lord of Puligny divided his land between his eldest son, the knight (Le Chevalier) and his illegitimate son (Le Bâtard) which in time became the greatest white wine vineyard in all of Burgundy. At Domaine Leflaive, it was Anne Leflaive, the daughter of former owner Vincent Leflaive who brought the winery to greatness. An early adopter of Biodynamics in the region, she was considered wine royalty and a true wine-maker’s wine-maker. These bottles of Grand Cru can easily be considered the Crème de la crème de la crème of wine. Domaine Leflaive Bienvenues-Batard-Montrachet Grand Cru, Cote de Beaune 2021 750ml $1,999 special, 2 bottles arriving Domaine Leflaive Batard-Montrachet Grand Cru, Cote de Beaune 2021 750ml $2,199 special, 2 bottles arriving Need it faster? This wine is here right now: Domaine Leflaive Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru, Côte de Beaune 2020 750ml $2,499 special, 1 bottle available We’re open 10 AM – 6 PM dailyOrder Online / By Phone / By EmailThank you from the team at Vinopolis!Be well & drink well. |
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Vinopolis Newsletter – Wednesday 11/1/2023
In This Newsletter:
New Arrivals
Domaine Faiveley, Chapoutier, Clos Des Papes, La Gerla, Roccolo Grassi, and more!
Champagne Pre-Arrivals
Bereche, Coutier, and Diebolt-Vallois coming soon
6 Southern Hemisphere Red Wine Values
(That will knock you upside down)
Close-out Sales
We have some of the best prices in the country on selected Barolos!
Collector’s Corner
GG: The Top Echelon of Dry Whites from Germany
New Arrivals
Burgundy
Domaine Faiveley Meursault, Cote de Beaune 2020 750ml $79 special, 24 bottles available
Tasting Note “A deft touch of wood sets off aromas of cool citrus, Granny Smith apples, acacia blossom and a hint of tea. The wood shows up on the palate of the medium-bodied flavors that retain very good cut and punch on the lingering finish. Lovely and understated.”
Domaine Faiveley Aux Chaignots, Nuits-Saint-Georges Premier Cru 2019 750ml $119 special, 12 bottles available
Winemaker Notes “Intense garnet red hue and aromas of fruit, oak and spice on the nose. The palate reveals a smooth, rich attack, velvety tannins and good balance. A delicate, seductive and very elegant wine.”
Domaine Faiveley Les Pruliers, Nuits-Saint-Georges Premier Cru, France 2019 750ml $99 special, 11 bottles available
Wine Spectator “Aromas of spearmint and cinnamon accent the core flavors of black cherry and blackberry in this firm red, which is more linear on the finish, where dark fruit mingles with oak spice and mineral elements. The tannins are a touch dry in the end. Best from 2025 through 2040.”
Domaine Faiveley Vosne-Romanee, Cote de Nuits 2020 750ml $89 special, 12 bottles available
Wine Spectator 92 Points “A luscious, fruity style, offering black currant, black cherry, wet earth, vanilla and mineral notes. Dense, showing some grip on the extended finish. Overall, this is polished and harmonious. Drink now through 2033.”
Rhône Valley
Luigi Einaudi Terlo Vigna Costa Grimaldi Barolo DOCG 2015 750ml $99 special, 12 bottles available
Wine Advocate 94 Points “Compared to the Cannubi cru, the 2015 Barolo Terlo Vigna Costa Grimaldi is much more structured and rich. At 45 years old, these are the estate’s oldest vines at work (the youngest ones are used for the Barolo Ludo), producing a tannic but nicely balanced and approachable Barolo. There are strongly present earth tones in this vintage, such as freshly tilled soil, and as it opens you’ll discover more sweet spice and chocolate as well.”
James Suckling 94 Points “There’s a wealth of ripe and rich fruit here that makes a convincing impression on the nose with red to darker cherries, plums and an array of fresh leaves and herbs. The palate has seamless, finely grained tannins that carry a smooth array of fresh and juicy red-cherry flavor. Really holds the finish well. Try from 2021.”
La Gerla La Pieve Brunello di Montalcino, Tuscany DOCG 2017 750ml $59 special, 12 bottles available now
Wine Spectator 93 Points “Delivers a broad swath of black cherry, plum, graphite and earth flavors fused to a firm layer of tannins. Fresh and lively, finishing with iron and spice flavors. Needs time to tame the tannins. Best from 2025 through 2042. 480 cases made, 100 cases imported.”
La Gerla La Pieve Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2018 750ml $69 special, 12 bottles available now
Wine Spectator 92 Points “Deep and savory, this red exhibits black cherry, blackberry, eucalyptus, rosemary, iron and earth flavors. Showing assertive tannins, this finishes with a chewy, compact feel. Best from 2025 through 2042. 583 cases made, 250 cases imported.”
Castello dei Rampolla Sammarco Toscana IGT, Tuscany 2017 750ml $69 special, 22 bottles available
James Suckling 98 Points “Such beautiful balance and refinement to this legendary red with cherries, chocolate, walnuts, hazelnuts and autumn leaves. It’s medium to full-bodied with wonderful, creamy tannins and a persistent and complete finish. Better than the exquisite 2015? A blend of cabernet sauvignon, sangiovese and merlot. Needs three to four years to show all it has. Definitely one for the cellar.”
Castiglion del Bosco Brunello di Montalcino DOCG, Tuscany 2016 1.5L $119 special, 8 bottles available
James Suckling 99 Points “The complexity and beauty to this is really something with cherry, walnut, tobacco and cigar-box character. Sweet cherries. It’s full-bodied and deep with super intensity and power. Layered and beautiful. Really refined tannins. Some whole-berry fermentation gives this added character. Goes on for minutes. Try after 2025.”
Roccolo Grassi Valpolicella Superiore, Veneto 2016 750ml $33 special, 36+ bottles available
Vinous 94+ Points ” An enticing mix of incense, black tea, cracked pepper and red wild berries emanate from the 2016 Valpolicella Superiore. This is undeniably elegant, with its silky textures that seem to coat the entire palate in a seductive layer of violet-tinged fruits and suave lavender and chocolate notes. That said, this is not sweet nor overly rich; in fact, the 2016 is truly harmonious and poised, boasting tremendous concentration that’s lifted by saline-infused acids. It leaves the palate completely saturated with cloves and allspice, as it tapers off structured and long. This is next-level Valpolicella Superiore, and it may even one day warrant a higher score. Marco Sartori uses 30% appassimento grapes in his Valpolicella, which are dried for twenty days. This wine is refined in a 50% – 50% mix of large oak cask and barrique, of which only about 20% are new” -Eric Guido
Casa Castillo Las Gravas, Jumilla 2020 750ml $69 special, 29 bottles available
Wine Advocate 98 Points “The phenomenal 2020 Las Gravas was produced with 92% Monastrell from 30- to 40-year-old vines on north-facing gravel soils (hence its name) complemented with 8% Garnacha. It fermented with 30% full clusters and indigenous yeasts in underground stone lagares and matured in a combination of 500-liter barrel and 5,000-liter foudres for 16 months. It has classical parameters, 14.5% alcohol, a pH of 3.47 and 4.87 grams of acidity per liter. The wine is super perfumed and floral, really showy, elegant, nuanced and refined, with the notes of pine needles and wet soil much subtler than in the 2019. There is an ethereal character to the 2020s that I haven’t found in any previous vintage here, but at the same time, the wines are very mineral and have lots of energy and light. There is precision, cleanliness, definition and elegance like I hadn’t seen before and refined tannins with a pungent mineral sensation in the textured finish. This is an incredible wine for the price asked. 35,500 bottles produced. There was a single bottling in February 2022.”
Burgundy
Comtes Lafon Volnay, Côte de Beaune 2019 750ml $138 special, 18 bottles available
Decanter 93 Points “This village Volnay is produced from the younger vines in Lafon’s superb, 4ha holding in Santenots-du-Milieu. The bunches are destemmed and macerated, prior to being fermented with as many whole berries as possible in stainless and aged for two winters in cask, one-third new. The result has a fragrant, plummy fruit and a super-rich texture, with plenty of substance and a delightfully lively freshness. (Drink between 2024-2039)”
Domaine Faiveley Aux Beaux Bruns, Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru 2019 750ml $179 special, 17 bottles available
James Suckling 94 Points “An unusually firm and structured wine that breaks the mold for this village, usually associated with finesse and delicacy. Deep forest-berry aromas, but also savory and earthy notes. Imposing body that’s brimming with healthy tannins. Bright, mineral finish with excellent complexity.”
Faiveley Mercurey Clos Rochette Monopole Blanc, Cote Chalonnais 2020 750ml $39 special, 24 bottles available
James Suckling 92 Points “An elegant and well-structured Mercurey with fine candied-citrus and vanilla-bean aromas. Plenty of ripeness, but no hint of heaviness. In fact, this has wonderful freshness, thanks to the delicate, flinty character that drives the long and fresh finish. Drink or hold.”
Decanter 93 Points “This village Volnay is produced from the younger vines in Lafon’s superb, 4ha holding in Santenots-du-Milieu. The bunches are destemmed and macerated, prior to being fermented with as many whole berries as possible in stainless and aged for two winters in cask, one-third new. The result has a fragrant, plummy fruit and a super-rich texture, with plenty of substance and a delightfully lively freshness. (Drink between 2024-2039)”
Domaine Faiveley Aux Beaux Bruns, Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru 2019 750ml $179 special, 17 bottles available
James Suckling 94 Points “An unusually firm and structured wine that breaks the mold for this village, usually associated with finesse and delicacy. Deep forest-berry aromas, but also savory and earthy notes. Imposing body that’s brimming with healthy tannins. Bright, mineral finish with excellent complexity.”
Faiveley Mercurey Clos Rochette Monopole Blanc, Cote Chalonnais 2020 750ml $39 special, 24 bottles available
James Suckling 92 Points “An elegant and well-structured Mercurey with fine candied-citrus and vanilla-bean aromas. Plenty of ripeness, but no hint of heaviness. In fact, this has wonderful freshness, thanks to the delicate, flinty character that drives the long and fresh finish. Drink or hold.”
This is the Lowest listed price on the West Coast today!
Domaine Faiveley Meursault, Cote de Beaune 2020 750ml $79 special, 24 bottles available
Tasting Note “A deft touch of wood sets off aromas of cool citrus, Granny Smith apples, acacia blossom and a hint of tea. The wood shows up on the palate of the medium-bodied flavors that retain very good cut and punch on the lingering finish. Lovely and understated.”
Domaine Faiveley Aux Chaignots, Nuits-Saint-Georges Premier Cru 2019 750ml $119 special, 12 bottles available
Winemaker Notes “Intense garnet red hue and aromas of fruit, oak and spice on the nose. The palate reveals a smooth, rich attack, velvety tannins and good balance. A delicate, seductive and very elegant wine.”
Domaine Faiveley Les Pruliers, Nuits-Saint-Georges Premier Cru, France 2019 750ml $99 special, 11 bottles available
Wine Spectator “Aromas of spearmint and cinnamon accent the core flavors of black cherry and blackberry in this firm red, which is more linear on the finish, where dark fruit mingles with oak spice and mineral elements. The tannins are a touch dry in the end. Best from 2025 through 2040.”
This is the lowest listed price in the USA today!
Domaine Faiveley Vosne-Romanee, Cote de Nuits 2020 750ml $89 special, 12 bottles available
Wine Spectator 92 Points “A luscious, fruity style, offering black currant, black cherry, wet earth, vanilla and mineral notes. Dense, showing some grip on the extended finish. Overall, this is polished and harmonious. Drink now through 2033.”
This is the Lowest listed price on the West Coast today!
Rhône Valley
M. Chapoutier Ermitage l’Ermite, Rhône 2010 750ml $479 special, 1 bottle available
Wine Advocate 99+ Points “One of the stars of the retrospective was the 2010 Ermitage le Meal. This classic vintage yielded concentrated, fresh and structured wines and the 2010 has all of these traits in spades. Giving up a massive array of liquid rock, graphite, spring flowers, cassis and black raspberries, it hits the palate with full-bodied richness, a tight, structured, tannic mouthfeel and bright acidity, all while still showing incredible polish and elegance. It will certainly flirt with perfection at maturity, but is all about minerality and structure at the moment. Give this incredible effort 3-5 years of cellaring and enjoy it over the following 2-3 decades.”
Clos des Papes Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Rhone 2020 750ml $95 special, 21 bottles available
Decanter 98 Points “A very Clos des Papes vintage,’ says Vincent Avril, and I know what he means – a vintage that naturally delivers the kind of fresh, elegant wines that this estate is famous for. A tasting of several foudres point to a wine with natural, easy balance. The Mourvèdre is excellent here this year, and adds great depth to the fresh and delightful Grenache that has notes of black tea, black cherry and iron. Elegant and very fine. Drinking Window: 2023-2042”
La Revue du Vin de France 98 Points “For the red, we ring the same bell– it is immense, very fresh and correct. A Châteauneuf-du-Pape that possesses this beautiful concentration and velvety texture that make you forget its richness. The fourth star of the domain is not far away.”
Wine Advocate 99+ Points “One of the stars of the retrospective was the 2010 Ermitage le Meal. This classic vintage yielded concentrated, fresh and structured wines and the 2010 has all of these traits in spades. Giving up a massive array of liquid rock, graphite, spring flowers, cassis and black raspberries, it hits the palate with full-bodied richness, a tight, structured, tannic mouthfeel and bright acidity, all while still showing incredible polish and elegance. It will certainly flirt with perfection at maturity, but is all about minerality and structure at the moment. Give this incredible effort 3-5 years of cellaring and enjoy it over the following 2-3 decades.”
Clos des Papes Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Rhone 2020 750ml $95 special, 21 bottles available
Decanter 98 Points “A very Clos des Papes vintage,’ says Vincent Avril, and I know what he means – a vintage that naturally delivers the kind of fresh, elegant wines that this estate is famous for. A tasting of several foudres point to a wine with natural, easy balance. The Mourvèdre is excellent here this year, and adds great depth to the fresh and delightful Grenache that has notes of black tea, black cherry and iron. Elegant and very fine. Drinking Window: 2023-2042”
La Revue du Vin de France 98 Points “For the red, we ring the same bell– it is immense, very fresh and correct. A Châteauneuf-du-Pape that possesses this beautiful concentration and velvety texture that make you forget its richness. The fourth star of the domain is not far away.”
Italy
Luigi Einaudi Terlo Vigna Costa Grimaldi Barolo DOCG 2015 750ml $99 special, 12 bottles available
Wine Advocate 94 Points “Compared to the Cannubi cru, the 2015 Barolo Terlo Vigna Costa Grimaldi is much more structured and rich. At 45 years old, these are the estate’s oldest vines at work (the youngest ones are used for the Barolo Ludo), producing a tannic but nicely balanced and approachable Barolo. There are strongly present earth tones in this vintage, such as freshly tilled soil, and as it opens you’ll discover more sweet spice and chocolate as well.”
James Suckling 94 Points “There’s a wealth of ripe and rich fruit here that makes a convincing impression on the nose with red to darker cherries, plums and an array of fresh leaves and herbs. The palate has seamless, finely grained tannins that carry a smooth array of fresh and juicy red-cherry flavor. Really holds the finish well. Try from 2021.”
La Gerla La Pieve Brunello di Montalcino, Tuscany DOCG 2017 750ml $59 special, 12 bottles available now
Wine Spectator 93 Points “Delivers a broad swath of black cherry, plum, graphite and earth flavors fused to a firm layer of tannins. Fresh and lively, finishing with iron and spice flavors. Needs time to tame the tannins. Best from 2025 through 2042. 480 cases made, 100 cases imported.”
La Gerla La Pieve Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2018 750ml $69 special, 12 bottles available now
Wine Spectator 92 Points “Deep and savory, this red exhibits black cherry, blackberry, eucalyptus, rosemary, iron and earth flavors. Showing assertive tannins, this finishes with a chewy, compact feel. Best from 2025 through 2042. 583 cases made, 250 cases imported.”
Castello dei Rampolla Sammarco Toscana IGT, Tuscany 2017 750ml $69 special, 22 bottles available
James Suckling 98 Points “Such beautiful balance and refinement to this legendary red with cherries, chocolate, walnuts, hazelnuts and autumn leaves. It’s medium to full-bodied with wonderful, creamy tannins and a persistent and complete finish. Better than the exquisite 2015? A blend of cabernet sauvignon, sangiovese and merlot. Needs three to four years to show all it has. Definitely one for the cellar.”
Castiglion del Bosco Brunello di Montalcino DOCG, Tuscany 2016 1.5L $119 special, 8 bottles available
James Suckling 99 Points “The complexity and beauty to this is really something with cherry, walnut, tobacco and cigar-box character. Sweet cherries. It’s full-bodied and deep with super intensity and power. Layered and beautiful. Really refined tannins. Some whole-berry fermentation gives this added character. Goes on for minutes. Try after 2025.”
Roccolo Grassi Valpolicella Superiore, Veneto 2016 750ml $33 special, 36+ bottles available
Vinous 94+ Points ” An enticing mix of incense, black tea, cracked pepper and red wild berries emanate from the 2016 Valpolicella Superiore. This is undeniably elegant, with its silky textures that seem to coat the entire palate in a seductive layer of violet-tinged fruits and suave lavender and chocolate notes. That said, this is not sweet nor overly rich; in fact, the 2016 is truly harmonious and poised, boasting tremendous concentration that’s lifted by saline-infused acids. It leaves the palate completely saturated with cloves and allspice, as it tapers off structured and long. This is next-level Valpolicella Superiore, and it may even one day warrant a higher score. Marco Sartori uses 30% appassimento grapes in his Valpolicella, which are dried for twenty days. This wine is refined in a 50% – 50% mix of large oak cask and barrique, of which only about 20% are new” -Eric Guido
Spain
Casa Castillo Las Gravas, Jumilla 2020 750ml $69 special, 29 bottles available
Wine Advocate 98 Points “The phenomenal 2020 Las Gravas was produced with 92% Monastrell from 30- to 40-year-old vines on north-facing gravel soils (hence its name) complemented with 8% Garnacha. It fermented with 30% full clusters and indigenous yeasts in underground stone lagares and matured in a combination of 500-liter barrel and 5,000-liter foudres for 16 months. It has classical parameters, 14.5% alcohol, a pH of 3.47 and 4.87 grams of acidity per liter. The wine is super perfumed and floral, really showy, elegant, nuanced and refined, with the notes of pine needles and wet soil much subtler than in the 2019. There is an ethereal character to the 2020s that I haven’t found in any previous vintage here, but at the same time, the wines are very mineral and have lots of energy and light. There is precision, cleanliness, definition and elegance like I hadn’t seen before and refined tannins with a pungent mineral sensation in the textured finish. This is an incredible wine for the price asked. 35,500 bottles produced. There was a single bottling in February 2022.”
Champagne Pre-Arrival
Arriving Friday
Bereche is Back!!!
Arriving Friday
Bereche is Back!!!
“[Bérêche] is at the top of its game and producing some of the finest wines in all of Champagne.” -John Gilman, View From the Cellar.
All right, the secret is out. What used to be a hushed recommendation among grower champagne connoisseurs is now beloved by the masses. But that’s ok, it just means more bottles make it the market, while the quality is still as high as ever!
Bereche Brut Reserve, Champagne NV (2020 Base) 750ml $65 pre-arrival special
Antonio Galloni 92 Points “The NV Brut Réserve is bright and finely sculpted right out of the glass. There’s terrific purity and energy running through the Brut Réserve. Crushed red berry fruit, white pepper, crushed rocks and mint all race out of the glass. This release is based on 2020, with a good bit of reserve wine (35%) that serves to create terrific balance. The 5.5 grams of dosage is not at all felt.”
All right, the secret is out. What used to be a hushed recommendation among grower champagne connoisseurs is now beloved by the masses. But that’s ok, it just means more bottles make it the market, while the quality is still as high as ever!
Bereche Brut Reserve, Champagne NV (2020 Base) 750ml $65 pre-arrival special
Antonio Galloni 92 Points “The NV Brut Réserve is bright and finely sculpted right out of the glass. There’s terrific purity and energy running through the Brut Réserve. Crushed red berry fruit, white pepper, crushed rocks and mint all race out of the glass. This release is based on 2020, with a good bit of reserve wine (35%) that serves to create terrific balance. The 5.5 grams of dosage is not at all felt.”
R. H. Coutier: Ambonnay’s Value Grower
R. H. Coutier is the epitome of luxury on a dime. These well-balanced bubbles are entirely estate grown in the Grand Cru village of Ambonnay. Although rich in body and flavor due to the terroir and long lees aging, the wines are bottled with a low dosage to provide the ultimate treat without overwhelming your palate. Those who prefer a little more heft and broadness to their Champagnes should stock up now.
R.H. Coutier Cuvee Tradition Grand Cru Brut, Champagne NV 750ml $39 pre-arrival special
Wine & Spirits 91 points “[Review for 2022 disgorgement] The Coutier family blends 20 percent chardonnay into the pinot noir for this cuvée, all of it estate grown in the grand cru village of Ambonnay. The wine balances tart lemon and lime scents with notes of sourdough starter and rhubarb. Almost cakey in its richness, this has the limestone acidity to cut through rich foods, whether seared foie gras or braised short ribs.”
R.H. Coutier Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Brut, Champagne NV 750ml $41.90 pre-arrival special
Antonio Galloni 92 points “[Review for 2022 release] The NV Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru is fabulous. Rich and quite dense, the Blanc de Blancs is decidedly powerful, maybe a bit more than usual. This release is based on 2018, and the richness of the year really comes through in the wine’s layered, expansive feel. Tangerine oil, lemon confit, white flowers, spice and chamomile build effortlessly. This is an especially heady, vinous Champagne with all the elements very much in balance.”
This is the lowest listed price in the USA today!
The average price is $50
R.H. Coutier Grand Cru Brut Millesime, Champagne 2015 750ml $69 pre-arrival special
Importer notes “75% Pinot Noir, 25% Chardonnay. Golden yellow color with a very “pinot” nose (read cherry). Rich and full in the mouth, with plenty of creaminess. Nice acidity and structure enhanced by the Chardonnay finishes very fresh and long. Wonderful balance with ripe fruit aromatics makes this a very seductive bubbly.” “This area consists of pure Belemnite chalk originating from Bouzy and continuing throughout most of Champagne. This unique soil allows the vines to root deeply, retaining the ideal amount of moisture while allowing the excess to drain away thoroughly. Produced only the best years. It is the reflection of the harvest from the vintage in our terroir. This wine show complexity and the best expression of the vintage it represents. The time on lees adds an extra dimension to the wine thus achieving what we think is a perfect balance.”
This is the lowest listed price in the USA today!
The next best price is $80/bottle by the six-pack
R.H. Coutier Cuvee la Pierre aux Larrons Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs, Champagne 2016 750ml $89 pre-arrival special, only 12 bottles available
Importer Note “In 1948, Henri Coutier was one of if not THE first to plant chardonnay in Ambonnay, a Grand Cru villages normally devoted to Pinot Noir. He planted this varietal in a single-vineyard plot called Pierre aux Larrons, and this plot has become the source of all massale selection chardonnay cuttings that the winery uses. In 2015, his grandson Antoine returned to the estate to vinify his first vintage and the decision was made to make the first single-vineyard chardonnay bottling for the estate.”
This is the lowest listed price in the USA today!
The next best price is $120
R.H. Coutier Grand Cru Brut Rose, Champagne NV 750ml $43.50 pre-arrival special
Wine Spectator 91 points “[Reviewed in 2020 for a prior disgorgement] A pure note of macerated cherry is backed by a firm acidity in this lively rosé Champagne, while a subtle, smoky underpinning and hints of pink grapefruit peel and grated ginger ride the creamy bead.”
Wine Spectator 91 points “[Reviewed in 2020 for a prior disgorgement] A pure note of macerated cherry is backed by a firm acidity in this lively rosé Champagne, while a subtle, smoky underpinning and hints of pink grapefruit peel and grated ginger ride the creamy bead.”
Can’t Wait? We have the impressive 2012 in stock as well as half-bottles of the Tradition!
Arriving November 7th
Diebolt-Vallois: Power and Precision in Champagne
Diebolt-Vallois is a grower Champagne house located in the Grand Cru village of Cramant in the Côte des Blancs. The winemaking is meticulous at this tiny estate, with parcel-by-parcel vinification and the use of neutral oak in the fermentation of the top wines.
The pricing, like the house’s style, is a throwback to classical Champagne. The entry-level Tradition, which is easily the finest under $40 Champagne, is a blend of Chardonnay from the Côte des Blancs villages of Cuis and Chouilly and Pinot Noir and Meunier from the villages of Épernay and Marfaux. It elegantly marries the structure of Chardonnay with the red fruit and forward-drinking appeal of the Pinots.
The Prestige bottling, the most shockingly underpriced wine of the entire lineup, is made from Chardonnay from Cuis, Épernay and Cramant. This is richly textured with generous orchard fruit and creamy leesy notes and a palate-refreshing dash of minerality.
At the top of the line is the Fleur de Passion, a shy and stern Champagne often requiring decades of aging to reveal its beauty and grace. Grapes are harvest from the oldest plots the estate holds in Cramant. This is a late-disgorgement release to rival the Dom Perignon P2 or the Bollinger R.D., though given its composition, terroir, and estate, Salon would be a more equivalent bottling.
Diebolt-Vallois Tradition Brut, Champagne NV 750ml $38 pre-arrival special
Wine & Spirits 93 points “[Most recent review for a previous disgorgement] Deep in color, with rich scents of peach and toasty notes of fresh almond, this is clean and compact, finishing with the creaminess of hazelnut flan. What’s hard to describe is the beauty of its simple line—one taster compared it to the sleek design of a vintage Ferrari.”
Winery note “The Champagne Tradition is assembled from the three major champagne grape varieties and is the only white wine of the whole range which is not pure chardonnay.”
The pricing, like the house’s style, is a throwback to classical Champagne. The entry-level Tradition, which is easily the finest under $40 Champagne, is a blend of Chardonnay from the Côte des Blancs villages of Cuis and Chouilly and Pinot Noir and Meunier from the villages of Épernay and Marfaux. It elegantly marries the structure of Chardonnay with the red fruit and forward-drinking appeal of the Pinots.
The Prestige bottling, the most shockingly underpriced wine of the entire lineup, is made from Chardonnay from Cuis, Épernay and Cramant. This is richly textured with generous orchard fruit and creamy leesy notes and a palate-refreshing dash of minerality.
At the top of the line is the Fleur de Passion, a shy and stern Champagne often requiring decades of aging to reveal its beauty and grace. Grapes are harvest from the oldest plots the estate holds in Cramant. This is a late-disgorgement release to rival the Dom Perignon P2 or the Bollinger R.D., though given its composition, terroir, and estate, Salon would be a more equivalent bottling.
Diebolt-Vallois Tradition Brut, Champagne NV 750ml $38 pre-arrival special
Wine & Spirits 93 points “[Most recent review for a previous disgorgement] Deep in color, with rich scents of peach and toasty notes of fresh almond, this is clean and compact, finishing with the creaminess of hazelnut flan. What’s hard to describe is the beauty of its simple line—one taster compared it to the sleek design of a vintage Ferrari.”
Winery note “The Champagne Tradition is assembled from the three major champagne grape varieties and is the only white wine of the whole range which is not pure chardonnay.”
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Diebolt-Vallois Blanc de Blancs Brut, Champagne NV 750ml $41.90 pre-arrival special
Diebolt-Vallois Blanc de Blancs Brut, Champagne NV 375ml $26 pre-arrival special
Diebolt-Vallois Blanc de Blancs Brut, Champagne NV 1.5L $112 pre-arrival special
Wine Spectator 91 points “[Most recent review for a previous disgorgement] Rich aromas and flavors of poached apricot, melon, tangerine and hazelnut are enlivened by vibrant acidity in this well-knit Champagne, with a creamy finish of graphite and spice.”
Winery Note “The Champagne Blanc de Blancs is a non-vintage brut champagne, 100% chardonnay from the Cote des Blancs and the Coteaux d’Epernay.”
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Diebolt-Vallois’ quality is astounding for the price point, up and down the line. As a fan of Blanc de Blancs Champagne in particular, this is my go-to NV. -Suzanne
Diebolt-Vallois Prestige Blanc de Blancs Brut, Champagne NV 750ml $49 pre-arrival special
Wine & Spirits 94 points “[Most recent review for a previous disgorgement] The austere power of this wine buzzes in the mouth, a tingle of limestone, apple flesh and the pale toast of lees. It’s a delicate, pure chardonnay that becomes dramatic in its intensity and breadth. The precision of the flavors will serve this well as it ages.”
Winery note “The Champagne Blanc de Blancs Prestige is made entirely from vines in the village of Cramant (a village classed 100% Grand Cru). The reserve wines age 2 to 3 years in 40 hl casks. These reserve wines bring richness, complexity and roundness to this 100% chardonnay cuvee Blanc de Blancs Prestige.”
Diebolt-Vallois Prestige Blanc de Blancs Brut, Champagne NV 750ml $49 pre-arrival special
Wine & Spirits 94 points “[Most recent review for a previous disgorgement] The austere power of this wine buzzes in the mouth, a tingle of limestone, apple flesh and the pale toast of lees. It’s a delicate, pure chardonnay that becomes dramatic in its intensity and breadth. The precision of the flavors will serve this well as it ages.”
Winery note “The Champagne Blanc de Blancs Prestige is made entirely from vines in the village of Cramant (a village classed 100% Grand Cru). The reserve wines age 2 to 3 years in 40 hl casks. These reserve wines bring richness, complexity and roundness to this 100% chardonnay cuvee Blanc de Blancs Prestige.”
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Diebolt-Vallois ‘Fleur de Passion RD’ Blanc de Blancs Brut, Champagne 2008 750ml $399 pre-arrival special, only 6 bottles available
Diebolt-Vallois ‘Fleur de Passion RD’ Blanc de Blancs Brut, Champagne 2008 1.5L $799 pre-arrival special, only 3 magnums available
Winery note “Pure Chardonnay made from our oldest plots located in Cramant Grand Cru terroir. This Blanc de Blancs, 100% 2008 harvest, is vinified in oak barrels without malolactic fermentation nor filtration. This bottling in 2009 is prolonged by an ageing on lees during 13 years in our cellars… The Champagne Fleur de Passion is the jewel in the range from the house of Diebolt-Vallois. It is only made in the very best years. This wine is created entirely in barrel, following the major principles of the first wine Jacques Diebolt made together with his grandfather in 1953. Fleur de Passion is a precious and delicate champagne, it is complex, intense and long on the palate. 100% chardonnay.”
Diebolt-Vallois ‘Fleur de Passion RD’ Blanc de Blancs Brut, Champagne 2008 1.5L $799 pre-arrival special, only 3 magnums available
Winery note “Pure Chardonnay made from our oldest plots located in Cramant Grand Cru terroir. This Blanc de Blancs, 100% 2008 harvest, is vinified in oak barrels without malolactic fermentation nor filtration. This bottling in 2009 is prolonged by an ageing on lees during 13 years in our cellars… The Champagne Fleur de Passion is the jewel in the range from the house of Diebolt-Vallois. It is only made in the very best years. This wine is created entirely in barrel, following the major principles of the first wine Jacques Diebolt made together with his grandfather in 1953. Fleur de Passion is a precious and delicate champagne, it is complex, intense and long on the palate. 100% chardonnay.”
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Diebolt-Vallois Brut Rose, Champagne NV 750ml $44.50 pre-arrival special
Wine Spectator 91 points “[Most recent review for a previous disgorgement] An elegant rosé Champagne, fresh with crunchy acidity and lacy texture, this shows a delicate mesh of star fruit, pink grapefruit pith, star anise and pickled ginger. Chalk-tinged finish.”
Winery note “The lively Pink Champagne Rosé – mainly Pinot Noir and Chardonnay – offers up sweet aromas of small red fruits.”
Wine Spectator 91 points “[Most recent review for a previous disgorgement] An elegant rosé Champagne, fresh with crunchy acidity and lacy texture, this shows a delicate mesh of star fruit, pink grapefruit pith, star anise and pickled ginger. Chalk-tinged finish.”
Winery note “The lively Pink Champagne Rosé – mainly Pinot Noir and Chardonnay – offers up sweet aromas of small red fruits.”
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6 Southern Hemisphere Red Wine Values
(that will knock you upside down)
(that will knock you upside down)
Man Vintners Skaapveld Syrah, Stellenbosch 2020 750ml $11.90 special, 35 bottles available
Man Vintners Skaapveld Syrah, Stellenbosch 2020 case of 12 750ml bottles $129 special, 6 cases available
Decanter 90 Points “Lifted nose of herbs and mint, with notes of coconut and rich red berries. Vibrant and moreish on the palate.”
Vaglio Temple Malbec, Argentina 2018 750ml $14 special, 36+ bottles available
Vaglio Temple Malbec, Argentina 2018 Case of 12 750ml bottles $149 special, 3 bottles available
James Suckling 93 Points “This is always a delicious red with lots of crushed-berry and walnut character. Full-bodied, dense and juicy. Lots of old-vine character. Succulent. Drink now.”
Maitia Aupa Pipeno, Maule Valley, Chile 2022 750ml $14 special, 36+ bottles available
Wine Advocate 92+ Points “I tasted a bottle of the 2022 Aupa Pipeño that had been in bottle for only one week. In 2022, David Marcel achieved a little less ripeness and alcohol (again 13%) and achieved a primary wine with very tender aromas with hints of tangerine peel, herbs and a serious mouthfeel with fine-grained tannins. It has 80% País and 20% Carignan that is expressive and easy to drink. 2022 was a small crop, but he produced around 70,000 bottles of this wine. Great value.”
Two Hands Sexy Beast Cabernet Sauvignon, McLaren Vale 2019 750ml $18 special, 10 bottles available
Wine Spectator 92 Points “Dense, almost sinewy tannins set the stage for this rustic red, with blueberry and wild blackberry flavors and dark-brewed tea details. Aromatic grace notes of dried rose petal and rosemary add some charm, as does the harmony on the finish. Drink now through 2035. 10,000 cases made, 4,500 cases imported.”
Jules Taylor Pinot Noir, Marlborough, New Zealand 2020 750ml $24 special, 33 bottles available
Wine Spectator 90 Points “This boasts chocolate-covered black cherry flavors that are juicy and plump, with clipped herb, fresh earth and oolong tea notes on a velvety frame. Drink now.”
Zorzal Eggo Tinto De Tiza, Gualtallary, Argentina 2017 750ml $24 special, 36+ bottles available
Wine Advocate 94 Points “The mouthfeel of the 2017 Eggo Tinto de Tiza was like biting into a piece of chalk (“tiza” is the Spanish word for chalk), the texture provided by the limestone-rich soils from Gualtallary, especially in the higher part of this large region. This wine is not about the varieties (it’s a blend to start with) but about the place, the soils, the local vegetation, the austerity and the wilderness. 33,000 bottles. It was bottled in January 2018.” -Luis Gutierrez
Man Vintners Skaapveld Syrah, Stellenbosch 2020 case of 12 750ml bottles $129 special, 6 cases available
Decanter 90 Points “Lifted nose of herbs and mint, with notes of coconut and rich red berries. Vibrant and moreish on the palate.”
Vaglio Temple Malbec, Argentina 2018 750ml $14 special, 36+ bottles available
Vaglio Temple Malbec, Argentina 2018 Case of 12 750ml bottles $149 special, 3 bottles available
James Suckling 93 Points “This is always a delicious red with lots of crushed-berry and walnut character. Full-bodied, dense and juicy. Lots of old-vine character. Succulent. Drink now.”
Maitia Aupa Pipeno, Maule Valley, Chile 2022 750ml $14 special, 36+ bottles available
Wine Advocate 92+ Points “I tasted a bottle of the 2022 Aupa Pipeño that had been in bottle for only one week. In 2022, David Marcel achieved a little less ripeness and alcohol (again 13%) and achieved a primary wine with very tender aromas with hints of tangerine peel, herbs and a serious mouthfeel with fine-grained tannins. It has 80% País and 20% Carignan that is expressive and easy to drink. 2022 was a small crop, but he produced around 70,000 bottles of this wine. Great value.”
Two Hands Sexy Beast Cabernet Sauvignon, McLaren Vale 2019 750ml $18 special, 10 bottles available
Wine Spectator 92 Points “Dense, almost sinewy tannins set the stage for this rustic red, with blueberry and wild blackberry flavors and dark-brewed tea details. Aromatic grace notes of dried rose petal and rosemary add some charm, as does the harmony on the finish. Drink now through 2035. 10,000 cases made, 4,500 cases imported.”
Jules Taylor Pinot Noir, Marlborough, New Zealand 2020 750ml $24 special, 33 bottles available
Wine Spectator 90 Points “This boasts chocolate-covered black cherry flavors that are juicy and plump, with clipped herb, fresh earth and oolong tea notes on a velvety frame. Drink now.”
Zorzal Eggo Tinto De Tiza, Gualtallary, Argentina 2017 750ml $24 special, 36+ bottles available
Wine Advocate 94 Points “The mouthfeel of the 2017 Eggo Tinto de Tiza was like biting into a piece of chalk (“tiza” is the Spanish word for chalk), the texture provided by the limestone-rich soils from Gualtallary, especially in the higher part of this large region. This wine is not about the varieties (it’s a blend to start with) but about the place, the soils, the local vegetation, the austerity and the wilderness. 33,000 bottles. It was bottled in January 2018.” -Luis Gutierrez
Close-out Sales
Big savings on Selected Barolos!
Poderi Aldo Conterno Barolo Bussia DOCG 2017 750ml WAS $89 NOW $79 special, only 4 bottles available!
Wine Advocate 92 Points “The Poderi Aldo Conterno 2017 Barolo Bussia shows a dark but busy quality of fruit that speaks more to the power of this hot vintage than it does the nuanced side of Nebbiolo. In this respect, the wine is quite typical of the 2017 growing season. It takes a while before the wine finds focus in the glass, but it does slowly come together to reveal broad layers of dark cherry, cassis and plum. There is some tannic tightness that leads to sour berry. A bit awkward at this young stage, it needs a few more years of cellar age to flesh out and reach balance.” -Monica Larner
Wine Advocate 92 Points “The Poderi Aldo Conterno 2017 Barolo Bussia shows a dark but busy quality of fruit that speaks more to the power of this hot vintage than it does the nuanced side of Nebbiolo. In this respect, the wine is quite typical of the 2017 growing season. It takes a while before the wine finds focus in the glass, but it does slowly come together to reveal broad layers of dark cherry, cassis and plum. There is some tannic tightness that leads to sour berry. A bit awkward at this young stage, it needs a few more years of cellar age to flesh out and reach balance.” -Monica Larner
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Poderi Aldo Conterno Barolo Cicala DOCG 2017 750ml WAS $179 NOW $149 special, 6 bottles available
Wine Spectator 95 Points “A solid, powerful style, this expressive red is well-marked by new oak, with plum, cherry, cigar box, menthol and sun-kissed hay flavors. Balanced and lively, with refined tannins and a long, spice-infused finish. Best from 2025 through 2042. —B.S.”
Poderi Aldo Conterno Barolo Colonnello DOCG 2017 750ml WAS $179 NOW $149 special, 9 bottles available
Wine Advocate 94+ Points -Monica Larner “The Poderi Aldo Conterno 2017 Barolo Bussia Colonnello shows good focus, structure and a sharper character that is often the distinguishing factor in this wine. The bouquet is redolent of dark fruit and plum, but it also shows a solid framing of iron ore and dark stony mineral. These give the wine greater lift and contoured edges. This is not the first time that Colonnello is my favorite wine in this lineup, and I suspect it won’t be the last.”
Giovanni Rosso Cerretta Barolo DOCG 2016 750ml WAS $89 NOW $79 special, 19 bottles available
Wine Enthusiast 97 Points “Rose, red-berry, camphor and dark-spice aromas slowly emerge in the glass. Showing Serralunga’s hallmark of firm structure and finesse, the full-bodied, youthfully tense palate delivers juicy red cherry, raspberry compote, dried mint and licorice set against a backbone of noble tannins. Bright acidity keeps it impeccably balanced. Drink 2026–2056. -Kerin O’Keefe”
Wine Advocate 95 Points “The Giovanni Rosso 2016 Barolo Cerretta is a tight, focused and high-energy expression of Nebbiolo. Red and purple fruit aromas of cassis, dried cranberry and cherry provide pretty highlights, but ample space is given to those equally pretty aromas of licorice, campfire ash and candied orange peel that so deftly play supporting roles. To the palate, this is a glossy, polished wine with enough tannic kick to carry it forward for another 10 or 20 years of cellar aging.” -Monica Larner
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Giovanni Rosso Comune di Serralunga Barolo DOCG 2016 750ml WAS $59 NOW $49 special, 25 bottles available
Wine Enthusiast 96 Points “Iris, woodland-berry and pine-forest aromas shape the nose. On the focused, vibrant palate, mint and star anise notes accent a core juicy Marasca cherry. Taut polished tannins and bright acidity provide balance and a firm lithe structure. Drink 2024–2031.” -Kerin O’Keefe.
Luigi Baudana Barolo Cerretta DOCG 2018 750ml WAS $79 NOW $69 special, 38 bottles available
Vinous 93 Points “The 2018 Barolo Cerretta is a potent, searing wine, its mid-weight structure notwithstanding. Scorching tannins wrap around a core of dark red/black fruit, gravel, smoke, crushed rocks, menthol, licorice and game. The 2018 is going to need a number of years to come around and for those formidable tannins to soften.” -Antonio Galloni
Luigi Baudana Barolo Serralunga DOCG 2017 750ml WAS $59 NOW $49 special, 5 bottles available
Vinous 93 points “The 2017 Barolo del Comune di Serralunga d’Alba may very well turn out to be one of the best wines of the year in its peer group. Dark and wonderfully expressive, yet also light on its feet for a Serralunga Barolo, the 2017 has so much going on. Black cherry, plum, spice, gravel, cured meats, lavender and sage all meld together in this dark yet translucent Barolo.” -Antonio Galloni
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Paolo Scavino Barolo Bric Del Fiasc DOCG 2017 750ml WAS $89 NOW $79 special, 21 bottles available
Vinous 95+ points “The 2017 Barolo Bric del Fiasc is another gorgeous wine in the line up from the Scavino family. Readers will find a Barolo that is more nuanced and less bombastic than in the past. Bric del Fiasc has plenty of power on its own, so this style works so well. Dried rose petal, mint, spice, kirsch and iron all blossom with a bit of coaxing. I can’t wait to see how it ages.” -Antonio Galloni
Lowest listed price on the West Coast! Average bottle price is 95 dollars!
Paolo Scavino Barolo Carobric DOCG 2017 750ml WAS $69 NOW $59 special, 13 bottles available
Antonio Galloni 95 points “The 2017 Barolo Carobric is one of the standouts in this range, as it often is. It has an extra dimension of depth and volume that works so well here. Sweet red cherry, cedar, sweet pipe tobacco, anise and brambly notes build as this striking, expressive Barolo shows off its considerable charm. What a pretty wine it is.”
Paolo Scavino Barolo Prapo DOCG 2017 750ml WAS $69 NOW $59 special, 16 bottles available
Antonio Galloni 95+ points “The 2017 Barolo Prapò is yet another stellar wine in this range. Dark and brooding in the glass, the Prapò expresses all of the natural weight of this Serralunga cru, but with more overt fruit and a bit less tannic heft than is often the case. That should make the 2017 a real pleasure to drink, with just a handful of years in the cellar. Succulent black cherry, licorice, menthol, gravel and cured meats build into the heady finish.” -Antonio Galloni
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Collector’s Corner
GG: The Top Echelon of Dry Whites from Germany
Collector’s Corner
GG: The Top Echelon of Dry Whites from Germany
Looking for Grand Cru quality in German dry Riesling? Sourced from the finest vineyards and picked by hand at low yields and optimum ripeness, Grosses Gewachs wines are a mark of quality like the Cru system in France. These are complex wines that drink dry despite the amount of sugar at harvest, age incredibly, and are deeply reflective of the country’s finest terroirs.
“Schafer-Frohlich”
“Tim Fröhlich has made breathtakingly beautiful wines in 2018…There is a precision of minerality, a purity of fruit and a lift and cut from the excellent acidities that make these GGs amongst the very best examples to be found in all of Germany in 2018.” –John Gilman, A View from the Cellar.
Schafer-Frohlich Bockenauer Stromberg Grosses Gewachs Riesling, Nahe 2021 750ml $115 special, 8 bottles in stock now
Schafer-Frohlich Bockenauer Stromberg Grosses Gewachs Riesling, Nahe 2021 1.5L $259 special, 5 magnums in stock now
Stephan Reinhardt-Wine Advocate 98-99 points “The 2021 Stromberg GG offers a bright and pure, enormously radiant and earthy/herbal bouquet of crushed porphyry rocks and concentrated Riesling berry aromas intermingled with iodine notes. Great purity mixed with intensity and complexity. Full-bodied, refined and enormously salty on the palate, this is a compact, fresh and challenging dry Riesling with elegant and rich fruit, great density and no makeup at all. This is a bone dry but juicy wine that represents a long-distance runner with salty grip and tension.”
“Weingut Donnhoff”
Helmut and Cornelius Dönnhoff will stop at nothing to produce the best wines in Germany!
Weingut Donnhoff Felsenberg Riesling Grosses Gewachs, Nahe 2018 750ml $59 special, 28 bottles in stock now
John Gilman 94 points “The 2018 Felsenberg GG is also absolutely outstanding this year. The bouquet is impressively expressive at this early stage, soaring from the glass in a blaze of pear, tart orange, a beautiful base of slate minerality, wild yeasts, a touch of fleur de sel and a potpourri of floral scents in the upper register. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, focused and seamless, with outstanding mid-palate depth, powerful mineral drive and great cut and grip on the long, perfectly balanced and youthful finish. This will be show stopping juice in the fullness of time. 2028-2070. 94.”
Stephan Reinhardt-Wine Advocate 93+ points “Bottled in July, just two days before I tasted the 2018 Schlossböckelheimer Felsenberg Riesling trocken –GG– for the first time, the nose was ripe and generous but fine and flinty-mineral. Lush and salty-piquant, this is a full-bodied, rich and powerful yet vital Riesling with lots of body but also tension, purity and grip.”
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Other fantastic GG wines to sample:
Kruger-Rumpf Burgberg Riesling Grosses Gewachs, Nahe 2018 750ml $59 special, 20 bottles in stock now
Grapelive 94+ points “The Kruger Rumpf Burgberg GG is one of the most exciting wines of vintage at this small winery… It is fantastically mineral-driven dry Riesling… These Kruger-Rumpf GG’s are some of the best values out there, they really deserve much more attention, as do the lesser bottlings and their wildly tasty Scheurebe, which is one of the best examples in Germany… The iron rich volcanic and quartz influenced 2018 Burgberg GG starts with white flowers, stone fruits and vibrant citrus before expansion on the medium full palate with layers of lime/tangerine, apricot, green apple, papaya, bitter pit white peach and white cherry fruits along with steely form, spearmint, verbena, mouthwatering saline, exotic spices and subtle leesy elements. This is going to be a legendary wine and is already showing Georg’s signature finesse and vinous personality. It has masses of potential and its delicacy is utterly delicious! There’s a lot to admire at Kruger-Rumpf these days and this crisp 2018 Burgberg is a stunning effort that gains with air in the glass and will more so with a few years in bottle.”
David Schildknecht-Vinous 93 points “Scents and luscious palate presence of white peach, yellow plum and grapefruit are wreathed in iris. Gloss and textural plushness – there is an almost doughy midpalate impression – are allied to a striking finishing sense of buoyancy and clarity. The salinity tugs at the salivary glands and, along with the wine’s sense of animation, leaves the tongue quivering. I tend to believe that the conjunction of such pronounced salinity and the site’s high percentage of quartzite is more than mere coincidence, though it would be nice to learn of relevant scientific investigation.”
Grapelive 94+ points “The Kruger Rumpf Burgberg GG is one of the most exciting wines of vintage at this small winery… It is fantastically mineral-driven dry Riesling… These Kruger-Rumpf GG’s are some of the best values out there, they really deserve much more attention, as do the lesser bottlings and their wildly tasty Scheurebe, which is one of the best examples in Germany… The iron rich volcanic and quartz influenced 2018 Burgberg GG starts with white flowers, stone fruits and vibrant citrus before expansion on the medium full palate with layers of lime/tangerine, apricot, green apple, papaya, bitter pit white peach and white cherry fruits along with steely form, spearmint, verbena, mouthwatering saline, exotic spices and subtle leesy elements. This is going to be a legendary wine and is already showing Georg’s signature finesse and vinous personality. It has masses of potential and its delicacy is utterly delicious! There’s a lot to admire at Kruger-Rumpf these days and this crisp 2018 Burgberg is a stunning effort that gains with air in the glass and will more so with a few years in bottle.”
David Schildknecht-Vinous 93 points “Scents and luscious palate presence of white peach, yellow plum and grapefruit are wreathed in iris. Gloss and textural plushness – there is an almost doughy midpalate impression – are allied to a striking finishing sense of buoyancy and clarity. The salinity tugs at the salivary glands and, along with the wine’s sense of animation, leaves the tongue quivering. I tend to believe that the conjunction of such pronounced salinity and the site’s high percentage of quartzite is more than mere coincidence, though it would be nice to learn of relevant scientific investigation.”
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Weingut Salwey Oberrotweiler Eichberg Grauburgunder (Pinot Gris) Grosses Gewachs, Baden 2018 750ml $69 special, 11 bottles in stock now
Falstaff 94 points “Pale golden with reddish, coppery shimmers. Subtle oak, quince and blossom honey, very ripe honeydew melon, fine-grained phenolic notes in the mouth, firm acidity, structured and salty, great concentration, the acidity lasts a long time, but remains aromatically accompanied.”
Falstaff 94 points “Pale golden with reddish, coppery shimmers. Subtle oak, quince and blossom honey, very ripe honeydew melon, fine-grained phenolic notes in the mouth, firm acidity, structured and salty, great concentration, the acidity lasts a long time, but remains aromatically accompanied.”
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The next best price is $80
Okonomierat Rebholz ‘Im Sonnenschein’ Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc) Grosses Gewachs, Pfalz 2020 750ml $99 special, 8 bottles in stock now
Winemaker Notes “Typical for a wine from this location is the smoky, spicy note in the fragrance, which was shaped by the shell limestone soil. At the same time, the old Pinot Blanc vines bring out the smoothness and a fruit reminiscent of pears, tangerines and fennel. The basis of this world-class Burgundy is the full ripeness of the absolutely healthy grapes, some of which come from vines that are almost 40 years old. The interplay of minerality and grape ripeness is reflected in the pronounced salty, mineral character that makes the wine very “long” in the mouth. Our restrained expansion in stainless steel tanks brings an absolutely unadulterated wine to the fore, which shows a perfect interplay between tension, maturity, power, fruit, fullness and mineral acidity. Like all Rebholz wines, the wine has great storage potential.”
Winemaker Notes “Typical for a wine from this location is the smoky, spicy note in the fragrance, which was shaped by the shell limestone soil. At the same time, the old Pinot Blanc vines bring out the smoothness and a fruit reminiscent of pears, tangerines and fennel. The basis of this world-class Burgundy is the full ripeness of the absolutely healthy grapes, some of which come from vines that are almost 40 years old. The interplay of minerality and grape ripeness is reflected in the pronounced salty, mineral character that makes the wine very “long” in the mouth. Our restrained expansion in stainless steel tanks brings an absolutely unadulterated wine to the fore, which shows a perfect interplay between tension, maturity, power, fruit, fullness and mineral acidity. Like all Rebholz wines, the wine has great storage potential.”
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The next best price is $129.99
Weingut Prinz Hallgartener Jungfer Riesling Grosses Gewachs, Rheingau 2020 750ml $49 special, 36+ bottles in stock now
Stuart Pigott 97 points “Very cool and reserved, but with great underplayed power, this is in every sense a very serious wine. Major structure crammed into a sleek package. Stunning depth at the very long, herbal and mineral finish. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold.”
Stuart Pigott 97 points “Very cool and reserved, but with great underplayed power, this is in every sense a very serious wine. Major structure crammed into a sleek package. Stunning depth at the very long, herbal and mineral finish. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold.”
Weingut Kunstler Hochheimer Holle Riesling Grosses Gewachs, Rheingau 2020 750ml $59 special, 18 bottles in stock now
Stuart Pigott 98 points “The deep, peach and apricot nose leads you into this enormously concentrated yet graceful dry riesling that’s got the stature to stand next to almost any Grand Cru white Burgundy. Enormously long, beautifully balanced finish that pulls your hand magnetically back to the glass. Drink or hold.”
Stuart Pigott 98 points “The deep, peach and apricot nose leads you into this enormously concentrated yet graceful dry riesling that’s got the stature to stand next to almost any Grand Cru white Burgundy. Enormously long, beautifully balanced finish that pulls your hand magnetically back to the glass. Drink or hold.”
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The average price is $78
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