Vinopolis Newsletter 3-17-25

In This Newsletter:


Arriving Tomorrow, March 18th
Giacomo Conterno

New Arrivals
Screaming Eagle, Leonetti Cellar, Steinmetz, and more!

New Sake Arrivals
Three new Sakes for your enjoyment
 
Arriving Tomorrow
 
 
Giacomo Conterno

 

Named for Aldo and Giovanni’s father and helmed by Giovanni until his death in 2004, the wines are made using traditional Barolo methods like slow fermentation and aging in giant, used barriques. Unlike the fresher, fruitier Aldo Conterno wines, a Giacomo Conterno Barolo is a dense, powerful, and muscular experience. It needs much time to tame down.
 
The winery is currently owned and operated by Giovanni’s son Roberto, who has remained faithfully married to the ultra-traditional style of his Father and Grandfather. There is a great legacy riding on his shoulders, but according to his own importer Polaner, Roberto is “the most annoying and perfectionist winemakers we have experienced,” who has “nonetheless taken the winery to even greater heights than his predecessors.”
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Rhone’s Rouanne Sale 3-17-25

In This Newsletter:
 
Chateau de Rouanne Sale
Vinopolis Champagne Featurette: Marc Hébrart 

 
Stock Up & Save On
 
Chateau de Rouanne
 
Château de Saint Cosme is an iconic producer in Gigondas. Its vineyard sites can be traced back to Roman times, and its current ownership, the Barruol family, traces their holding on the lands over five centuries. Louis Barruol, the 14th generation of winemakers for this historical estate, is not one to rest on his laurels. He’s had a hand in several projects both Old World and New. One such estate is Chateau de Rouanne.
 
Barruol has sourced fruit from this ancient estate for many years. It is a phenomenal site that also dates to Roman times. The vineyards were replanted in the 1960s and have been maintained with massale selection of Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre.
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Delas Sale 3-15-25

In This Newsletter:
 
Delas Sale
Close-Out Featurette: Jérôme Chezeaux

 
For the Love of Dense, & Rich Rhône Reds
 
Stock Up & Save On
 
Delas
 
Looking for power in Northern Rhône Syrahs? Look to Delas. This esteemed estate creates some of the most powerful, intense reds at prices that, despite their well-respected name, make them one a top value in the region. Drawing from their extensive holdings in every major region, they craft dense and rich impactful wines at their recently renovated winery. We turn to them for big, bold wines that show well young yet reward tenfold in the cellar—a remarkable combination for French wines.
 
The Delas family has crafted wines in the Northern Rhone since 1835 and founded the winery in 1924.
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Friuli Sale 3-13-25

In This Newsletter:
 
Friuli Sale Featuring Vie di Romans
Close-Out Featurette: Screaming Eagle

 
Italy’s Home for Aromatic Whites!
 
Stock Up & Save On
 
Friuli-Venezia Giulia
 
The northern Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, typically shortened to Friuli, is home to some of Italy’s most delicious and fragrant white wines. Its success comes from the combination of aromatic whites (such as Friulano, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, and Malvasia) and the incredible terroir along the foothills of the Alps. The Isonzo subregion is of particular note. It sits beside the Isonzo River, for which it is named, and its soils consist of alluvial fans and its climate is notable for the wide diurnal shifts in temperature between the warm days and cool night.
 
Vie di Romans is one of the flagship wineries of Friuli—arguably the greatest white-wine producing region in Italy.
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Vinopolis Newsletter 3-12-25 PM

Special Arrival
 
Comm. G.B. Burlotto
 

“(Fabio Alessandria) has taken his family’s wines into the stratosphere…” -Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media
 
When you think of the great Italian Masterpieces, I’m sure a few famous images pop into your mind… certainly Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel Ceiling, probably Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, and definitely the wines of GB Burlotto. Each of them is a treasure worthy of admiration.
 
The estate was originally founded in in the 1800s by Giovanni Battista Burlotto, current winemaker Fabio Alessandria’s great-great-grandfather. Giovanni was as transformative a figure in Barolo as they come; instead of selling wine by the cask or demijohn, he followed in the footsteps of the French and sold by the bottle. The wines became world famous during Giovanni’s seventy-seven years as winemaker even becoming the official Barolo of the Royal House of Savoy and competing with Bordeaux as the European luxury bottle of choice.
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