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Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $139.94 $141.10
This is sensational, characterized by such purity and beauty and with aromas of blackberries, dark chocolate,...
12 FREE
JS
96
WE
95
Case only
Sparkling
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $71.80
Intense yellow with highlights veering towards gold reflexes in color. Notes of fine tropical fruit with so, delicate...
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Sparkling
750ml
Bottle: $17.94
12 bottles: $17.58
This is a unique and delicious sparkling wine named after the ancient Greek god of shepherds, flocks, and rustic...
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $49.94 $54.20
Bright and intensely floral, with a lovely violet aroma and long, rich plum sauce, blackberry and currant notes....
12 FREE
WS
92
JS
91
Sparkling
750ml
Bottle: $64.79
6 bottles: $64.00
The grapes for this wine come from a single vineyard where the more than twenty-year-old vines enjoy the benefits of...
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Sale
Sparkling
12 FREE
Sale
Sparkling
750ml
Bottle: $190.08 $211.20
Enticing, fragrant aromas of toast, lemon zest and an earthy-smoky nuance lead to a palate of subtle Bosc-pear,...
12 FREE
JS
96
WA
95
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $510.48 $567.20
Lead-pencil aromas with currants and plums, too. Full body, silky tannins and a focused and very refined finish. It's...
12 FREE
WE
94
JS
94
Case only
Sparkling
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle: $272.24
Based on a solera system of reserve wines, this oak-aged Champagne shows considerable maturity while keeping a sense...
12 FREE
WE
97
WA
94
Sparkling
12 FREE
Red
750ml
Bottle: $19.80
12 bottles: $19.40
A tight and focused second wine from Potensac with currant and lemon-rind character. Medium body, fine tannins and a...
JS
90
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $578.88 $643.20
A longer, slower harvest than 2009, with cooler nights giving a resultantly fresher acidity. Highlighting the serious...
12 FREE
DC
99
WA
99
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $450.99 $501.10
A total blockbuster is the 2015 Angelus and it’s reminiscent of a slightly more elegant 2009. Made from 62% Merlot...
12 FREE
WA
97
VM
97
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $1135.08 $1261.20
An utterly perfect wine from Alain Vauthier, the 2015 Château Ausone offers off the hook notes of crème de cassis,...
12 FREE
WE
100
JD
100
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $55.88 $57.20
12 bottles: $54.76
Even better than the 2009, the 2010 Château Barde-Haut offers the same sexy, extroverted style yet has slightly more...
12 FREE
JD
96
WS
93
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $89.28 $99.20
This family-owned property at one of the high points in Saint-Émilion has made a rich, opulent wine, full of...
12 FREE
WE
96
WA
95
Red
750ml
Bottle: $31.10
12 bottles: $30.48
Dark plums, gently toast spices and dark, stony, graphite-like aromas here. The palate has an extremely fluid,...
12 FREE
JS
94
Red
750ml
Bottle: $24.60
12 bottles: $24.11
Château Bertrand-Braneyre was purchased in 1993 by Ludwig Cooreman after a 50-year career in the wine industry in...
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $174.95 $184.20
12 bottles: $173.85
Firm tannins still at 10 years very much showing their quality and flexibility. This is brilliant, cassis, bilberry,...
12 FREE
DC
95
JS
95
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $157.68 $175.20
Made in a more flamboyant, lifted style than the 2016, the 2015 Château Beychevelle offers a beautiful, medium to...
12 FREE
WE
95
JD
95

Champagne Blend Chardonnay Red Bordeaux 2010 2015 750ml

The sparkling wines of Champagne have been revered by wine drinkers for hundreds of years, and even today they maintain their reputation for excellence of flavor and character, and are consistently associated with quality, decadence, and a cause for celebration. Their unique characteristics are partly due to the careful blending of a small number of selected grape varietals, most commonly Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. These grapes, blended in fairly equal quantities, give the wines of Champagne their wonderful flavors and aromas, with the Pinot Noir offering length and backbone, and the Chardonnay varietal giving its acidity and dry, biscuity nature. It isn't unusual to sometimes see Champagne labeled as 'blanc de blanc', meaning it is made using only Chardonnay varietal grapes, or 'blanc de noir', which is made solely with Pinot Noir.

Of all the white wine grape varietals, surely the one which has spread the furthest and is most widely appreciated is the Chardonnay. This green skinned grape is now grown all over the Old and New Worlds, from New Zealand to the Americas, from England to Chile, and is one of the first varietals people think of when considering white wine grapes. Perhaps this is because of its huge popularity which reached a peak in the 1990s, thanks to new technologies combining with traditional methods to bring the very best features out of the Chardonnay grape, and allow its unique qualities to shine through. Most fine Chardonnay wines use a process known as malolactic fermentation, wherein the malic acids in the grape juice are converted to lactic acids, allowing a creamier, buttery nature to come forward in the wine. No grape varietal is better suited to this process than Chardonnay, which manages to balance these silky, creamy notes with fresh white fruit flavors beautifully.

There are few regions in the world with stricter regulations in regards to wine production and grape varietals than those found in Bordeaux, France. Here, in the home of the world's finest wines, the type and quality of grapes used is of utmost importance, and the legendary wineries which work on the banks of the Gironde river have mastered the careful art of juice blending to find the perfect balance for their produce. Whilst there are six 'official' Bordeaux grapes, the two key varietals for almost every fine Bordeaux wine are Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and with good reason. Whilst Cabernet Sauvignon grapes are renowned for their acidity and astringency, strong fruit and spice flavors and full body, Merlot grapes are notably rounded, soft, fleshy and lighter on tannin. The combination of these two varietals, along with a small percentage of (commonly) Petit Verdot or Cabernet Franc, is the perfect balancing act – the two grape varietals cancel out each others weaker points, and accentuate all that is good about the other.