Wines (24 View)

The inky/purple-hued 2003 Proprietary Red Wine, a blend of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, and the rest tiny portions of Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc, reveals copious notes of chocolate along with hints of melted tar, charcoal, black cherries, and currants. Full-bodied, dense, and well-balanced... - WA91

Tasting Notes:
Dark fruits, hints of dried herbs and mocha on the nose. The dense palate see's sour red fruits balance out the sweet with a chocolate tannin finish. A fine choice for discerning gent.

Tasting Notes:
Hints of dark fruits dance with a long oak bourbon finish, to complete this delightful blend. You'll notice caramel, char, and sweet bourbon oak aromas. Gentlemen, enjoy.

Organic

"A soft, pale, brilliant pink with bluish tints developing over time towards more orangey nuances. The bouquet releases aromas of summer fruits, cassis and redcurrant. Floral notes of rose along with hints of grapefruit complete the picture. The finish is fresh, offering notes of candy. On the palate the impression is fresh and full, with great aromatic persistence and balance." - Gerard Bertrand

Organic / Biodynamic

13% abv

Originating from the usual parcels and raised entirely in stainless steel, it has a brisk nose with Granny Smiths, lime and wet stone. Classic Chablis. The palate is well-balanced, with a bitter lemon entry lending tension. Taut and linear, it delivers a refreshing, spicy finish that lingers in the mouth. Very fine.

100% estate bottled Pinot Grigio from Friuli.

Winemaker Notes
"On the nose, delicate pear and floral notes are backed by toasty almond. On the palate, one finds lively citrus, toast and apple flavors overlaid with persistent effervescence, a creamy mid-palate and a toasty finish."

The Sonoma Brut has been carefully crafted entirely from hand-harvested Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes. This brut is dominated by Pinot Noir, a stylistic decision enabling the complex aromatic and palate profile that this red-skinned grape contributes to brut cuvees. Sonoma Brut shows the quality and diversity of our vineyards that allow us to consistently produce cuvees with complexity and clear fruit expression. Aged for a minimum of 18 months, this wine shows delicate pear and floral notes with persistent effervescence and an effortless finish, making it a tremendously versatile sparkling wine.

Intensely ripe, jammy and toasty aromas and equally effusive fruit flavors make this full-bodied wine easy to enjoy. It seems to overflow with boysenberry and blackberry, and has a touch of wood smoke from oak.

92 points Wine Advocate
The new young red 2021 El Predilecto recovers Predilecto, which was a historic brand of the house, a wine with less aging than the rest and more fruity character. In this case, they want it to show the fruit expression of the vineyard without oak. They call it the new old concept in Rioja, what the wines used to be before the arrival of the French, pure fruit. It's a blend of 65% Garnacha from C??rdenas and Cordov??n and 35% Tempranillo from Samaniego that fermented destemmed but uncrushed (so not exactly a carbonic maceration) with clean and fresh aromas and flavors. It's ripe and hedonistic, with 14.5% alcohol and good freshness. It matured in concrete for five months.

Gonzalez Byass is one of the greatest, historical names in Sherry (and Brandy), as well as the largest in Jerez, and the Tio Pepe brand and image one of the icons of Spain, and the best selling Fino in the world stored in an impressive solera of 30,000 botas. Gonzales-Byass was founded in Jerez in 1835 by 23-year-old entrepreneur Manuel Maria Gonzalez, who exported the first cask of Tio Pepe to London in 1844. Gonzalez was advised by an uncle of his, a man called Jose Angel de la Pena. Uncle Jose had a small bodega with his own solera of Fino, which had direct access to the street as he liked to come and go as he fancied. People called Jose are often nicknamed Pepe in Spain, so the solera of uncle Jose (tio means uncle), or uncle Pepe gave name to the famous Tio Pepe brand. The original bodega del Tio Pepe still exists, is in use today, and in fact holds some of the best botas of Tio Pepe Fino. Gonzalez took different partners, and the company changed names a number of times, like Manuel Maria Gonzalez & Cia or Gonzalez & Dubosc. In 1855, the year the people of Bordeaux were really busy making the classification of their chateaux, Gonzalez sold some company shares to his importers and distributors in the UK, Robert Blake Byass. The name of the company was definitely set to Gonzalez Byass & Co., which has been kept till the present day. Today the fifth generation of the Gonzalez family still own and manage the company. Through the years the company and its holdings have been greatly expanded, and the winery today is akin to a small town of 37 hectares, as it has incorporated some of the streets that connected the different bodegas, La Constancia, La Concha (a unique round bodega attributed to Gustav Eiffel), Los Apostoles, La Cuadrada, and the more recent Gran Bodega Tio Pepe, Las Copas or Marques de Bonanza. As a curiosity, if you visit their premises you?????ll be able to see the largest working weathervane on earth, in the shape of a bottle of Tio Pepe!

Organic

A blend of the native varietals Jaén and Tinta Roriz. Fermentation occurs in stainless steel tanks and traditional, open-topped stone lagares. Most of the grapes are destemmed before fermentation. The grapes undergo seven to 28 days of skin contact. aging for 6 months in cement and used barrel. A full but restrained mouthfeel reveals delightful plum and black currant notes. Intriguing herbal, or garrigue, element coyly pokes its head out. This is a dry, easy-drinking value from Portugal that may surprise you with how much it has to offer. It surprised me!

Natalia Jessa is the mastermind behind Gota which has a simple yet bold objective: craft aromatically-driven, authentic fine wines of Portugal, while remaining value-conscious. Her many prior travels throughout Portuguese wine country on behalf of one of Europe’s major food markets enabled Natalia to develop invaluable relationships and gain access to some of the most exciting and as-of-yet undiscovered wineries and vineyards. She collaborates with them, as negociant, to select grapes that capture the optimal expression of a vintage. Vineyards are dry-farmed. Vines are ungrafted. To preserve fruit aromatics, winemaking utilizes ambient yeast and minimizes oak use. Adhering to tradition, wines are varietal blends and grapes are only native (no international varietals). Gota means "drop", referring to the humble origins of this project.

Winemaker Notes:
Dark purple red with violet hues. Profound and fruit forward, with ripe red berries, sweet spices and a hint of black pepper backed by toasted notes from its oak aging. Structured and balanced, with ripe tannins and fresh acidity that leads to toasted and vanilla hints on the finish.
Very versatile. It pairs well with lamb and grilled beef, spicy food and poultry.

This is rich on the nose, with candied fruit, fruitcake, toffee and maple syrup. Full-bodied and medium sweet, with a brilliant aftertaste of fruit and caramel. Lasts for minutes on your palate. - WS92

Light and fruity, with a slightly nutty character. Medium body and sweetness, with a light, silky finish. - WS81

Organic / Natural

2021: "A red wine showcasing the most rustic high elevation sites in the Willamette Valley. A wine that finds its voice in generosity of conversation through space and restraint like a deep dialogue with a friend that listens."

Vineyard: 15 to 30-year-old vines on volcanic basalt and wind-blown mineral soil. Tualatin Hills AVA, Willamette Valley. Soft-pruned double guyot

Making of: The grapes are all hand-harvested and processed with zero sulfur. The grapes are then placed in open-top neutral barrels and tubs that allow for slow fermentation. After 10-30 days (depending on the vintage) of contact with the skins, stems and seeds, the wine is put to rest in neutral barrels. The wine ages on the lees for 18 months in a cave in Oregon’s coastal mountain range. Bottled unfined and unfiltered, with a tiny amount of SO2 at bottling.

Personality: "a pure wine in which I can taste the soil where it was grown. I can taste the wind, the volcanic land and smell the gardens that are next to the vineyards. Bayleaf, tobacco, dark tea, red fruit," Jarad says.

Jarad on this wine: "Days until Harvest was created to bring forth an unadulterated expression of Pinot Noir from the most Northern Vineyards of the Willamette Valley. Our interest resides in the purity and transparency of the specific sites, and their unique texture, acidity, and rustic personality. This is a grower’s pinot noir that celebrates the time we spend throughout the season getting to know these vineyards, their soils, flowers, and fruits. The soils and high elevation are the protagonists here; the wine shows natural reduction and tension from its volcanic parent material. In each site, a small section of the vineyard is chosen to create an honest profile of what we farm throughout the year in our neighborhood."

Organic / Natural / Orange

Gravner?€?s cellar methodology for the indigenous Ribolla is simple, if extreme: bunches, harvested by hand, are transferred by gravity into subterranean amphorae, where they macerate for several weeks; the wine is then pressed and moved back into amphorae for five months, then transferred to large Slavonian casks (all well used) for six years before bottling, with nothing added along the way except trace amounts of sulfur, and without fining or filtration of any kind. The wine rests several more years in bottle in Gravner?€?s deep storage cellar before being released to an adoring public. Gravner classifies his vintages into those affected by botrytis and those unaffected, and he particularly prizes botrytis-affected vintages for the aromatic and textural complexity they lend his wines. 2016 presented Gravner with a gorgeous sunny summer with no major weather calamities, and gentle August rains ushered in the onset of botrytis. Picking wrapped up on the 28th of October, and the finished wine?€?clocking in at a modest 14% alcohol?€?offers a beguiling salty-savory quality, with cleanly rendered minerality and a satisfying sense of textural meatiness.

Organic / Natural

85% Mencia 15% Alicante Bouschet (and a pinch of Godello). A medium-bodied expression of Mencia with freshness galore and fine tannins. Gregory Perez’s more natural approach to winemaking is evident when first pulling the cork. A bit of gas releasing is common, nothing a quick decant or pouring two glasses won’t fix. Floral in the nose with bright crunchy acidity on the palate. Red fruit is on full display here with an underlying spice. Unoaked.

Organic

Although native to the Côte d’Or, Pinot Noir has been cultivated in the Val d’Aoste since both regions were under the Burgundian Dukes in the Middle Ages. While 70% of Grosjean’s vines are French clones, 30% are the rare Wadenzwil cultivar. Grosjean’s example blends varietal typicity with raciness and freshness. The vineyards are at a high altitude (600-750m) and steep incline, allowing for the distinct alpine characteristics to show through. Vinification in wood casks with daily punching down for three days, followed by 10-12 days of settling before aging partly in steel, part in oak.