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Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $199.94
Lastly, the Syrah-dominated 2021 No 10 reveals a dense purple hue as well as a wild bouquet of blueberries, wild...
12 FREE
JD
100
WNR
98
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $9.94
12 bottles: $9.74
Big rich fruit aromas of blue berry and smoke. Full bodied and bold, upfront and direct. (Bronze) - DWWA 2023
DC
88
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $138.94
The 2020 Syrah En Chamberlin Vineyard is youthfully restrained, with a savory blend of cured meat, bacon fat, exotic...
12 FREE
VM
96
WNR
96
Rapid Ship
Red
1.5Ltr
Bottle: $199.94
One of the most complete, layered and elegant 2013s from Cayuse is the 2013 Syrah Walla Walla Special #5, which is...
WA
96
VM
93
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $18.94
12 bottles: $18.56
A vibrant nose, effusing copious Mediterranean spices, thyme, peppercorn, ripe plums and cherries. Fresh and bright...
VM
92
JS
92
Sale
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $15.93 $16.76
12 bottles: $15.92
Sleek and elegant, this Barbera boasts rose, cherry, raspberry and iron flavors. Linear and bracing, with fine...
WS
92
JS
91
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $449.94
A good vintage - the problem was the yields,' says Jean-Louis. A tasting of principal component lieux-dits Péléat,...
12 FREE
DC
100
JS
98
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $38.40
While slender in profile, concentrated blackberry and cassis flavors reverberate through this piercing Syrah. It's...
12 FREE
WE
95
WA
92
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $51.94
The 2020 Syrah Estate was made with a touch of whole cluster and matured in neutral oak. Medium ruby-purple in color,...
12 FREE
WA
95
WE
93
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $129.93
97-99 I was blown away by the 2018 Côte Rôtie Château D'Ampuis, which is certainly in the same league as the famed...
12 FREE
JD
99
JS
96
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $66.34
In a completely different style to the 2016s, the 2017 Hermitage comes from a ripe, sexy vintage for Hermitage. Aged...
12 FREE
VM
94
JD
94
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $234.94
The 2021 Syrah Unanswered Prayers appears to be ever so slightly more successful than the Grenache (which, given the...
12 FREE
JD
99
WA
97
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $31.20
12 bottles: $30.58
A blend from several steep parcels with east and south east exposure (Ardoix, Chavanay, Saint-Pierre-de-Boeuf). From...
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $17.93
Plum and cherry aromas are ripe and rich with intense fruitiness. Sleek attack, quite concentrated and assertive, but...
DC
92
WA
90
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $30.90
12 bottles: $30.28
An outstanding example of Barbera from old vines, some dating back to 1949. Strained, deeply rooted plants produce...
12 FREE
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $19.69
12 bottles: $19.30
Violet florals with blueberries, blackberries and blackcurrants. The fruit-focused palate has a smooth sheen of...
JS
93
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $12.90
12 bottles: $12.64
Cloves, white pepper, tile, blackberries, blueberries, and rock salt aromas. Full-bodied, granite and salt and a...
JS
94
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $29.90
A big and rich wine but it shows freshness and energy underneath the juicy and rather thick fruit with plush tannins....
12 FREE
WS
94
JS
94
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $49.94
The aromas leap out of the glass. Wet earth, tapenade, green peppercorns, volcanic ash and tea leaves. Hints of...
12 FREE
JS
99
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $28.00
12 bottles: $27.44
Ruby-red color with purple hues. A suitably intense bouquet of red berries and syrupy fruit with traces of tobacco...

Barbera Mavrodaphne Syrah Rapid Ship

For centuries now, the beautiful red grapes of the Barbera varietal have been grown in Italy, where they are prized for their unusual high acid content and low tannins, brought about by their thin skins. The Barbera grape varietal thrives in warmer climates, and has had some success overseas in the new world, where its strongly aromatic flavors of intense hedgerow fruits make it a favorite with wineries and wine drinkers looking for a grape which offers plenty of interesting characteristics. Interestingly, the differences between young and aged wines made from this varietal are quite significant, with younger bottles holding a plethora of berry flavors, including blueberry and raspberry notes, and oak aged wines made from the Barbera grape being much loved for their ability to become extremely complex and spicy, and picking up vanilla flavors from the wood they are barreled in.

In the Archaea region, high in the Northern Peloponnese mountains, the predominant grape varietal grown is the prized Mavrodaphne. Meaning 'Black Laurel', the Mavrodaphne grapes have extremely dark skins, and ripen slowly under the Greek sunshine, helped by the mineral rich soils the vines thrive in. This grape varietal is mostly used to produce the opaque, inky fortified wine of the same name, which is popular all over Greece and elsewhere in the world. This fortified wine allows the grapes to really show off their complex and fascinating flavors, which range from a rich marzipan to flavors of bitter chocolate, sweet coffee, dried figs and prunes, as well as plenty of jammy fruit notes.

Mavrodaphne is produced in a traditional method which involves leaving the grape juice exposed to the sun in large vats, before having its fermentation halted by the addition of various distillates taken from previous successful vintages. This mixture contains plenty of residual sugar, which gives the end result its characteristic sticky sweetness, and also helps with the next fermentation process, which typically takes place in large underground cellars. The final product is a heady drink, absolutely bursting with unusual, rich and sweet flavors and carried in a dark and slightly viscous Port-like liquid.

Mavrodaphne grapes are also used for the production of still red wines, but are generally blended with varietals such as Agiorgitiko or imported grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon. Mavrodaphne grapes are excellent for mellowing more acidic varieties, and producing deliciously rounded wines, which have taken the international market by storm in recent decades.

Additional Information on Greek Wines


Greek Wines
Ancient Greek Wines – A Brief History of Wine in Greece
The Myth of Dionysus, Greek God of Wine
What is Retsina?

Known as Syrah in most countries around the world, and Shiraz in Australia and certain other regions of the New World, this grape varietal has proven over the centuries to be one of the most powerful and flavorful red wine grapes there is. It is now one of the planet's most widely grown grapes, and is a favorite with wineries as a result of its robustness and versatility. It isn't easy to identify many characteristics of this particular varietal, due to the fact that it is highly versatile and shows significant differences in flavor and character depending on the terroir it is grown in, and the climatic conditions of the region. However, Syrah is most widely associated with full bodied, strong and loud red wines, packed full of fruity and spicy flavors, held in a beautifully deep red liquid.