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750ml - Case of 12
Bottle:
$279.29
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$146.32
This is one of Italy's great white wines, with aromas and flavours of apple pie, cream tart and lemon-lime. Full body...
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Chateau Montelena Chardonnay 2011
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle:
$107.51
Scented of freshly squeezed lemons, lime leaves and orange blossoms with touches of struck match, crushed stones and...
750ml - 1 Bottle
Bottle:
$1874.95
$1973.65
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$1333.40
750ml - Case of 3
Bottle:
$6243.71
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle:
$167.95
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$691.30
The 2011 Chablis Butteaux is subtle, gracious and utterly impeccable in its elegance. All the elements are simply in...
750ml - 1 Bottle
Bottle:
$528.95
$552.64
The 2011 Chablis Butteaux is subtle, gracious and utterly impeccable in its elegance. All the elements are simply in...
750ml - 1 Bottle
Bottle:
$591.63
750ml - 1 Bottle
Bottle:
$497.38
$529.13
750ml - 1 Bottle
Bottle:
$599.95
$607.26
The 2011 Chablis Montee de Tonnerre is all about grace. A gentle hint of spice leads to dried pears, crushed flowers,...
750ml - 1 Bottle
Bottle:
$622.17
$661.88
750ml - 1 Bottle
Bottle:
$1091.94
$1161.64
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$1187.73
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle:
$1463.95
Chardonnay Sherry Primitivo Vermentino Nero 2011 750ml
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.
Sherry is made in a unique way using the solera system, which blends fractional shares of young wine from oak barrels with older, more mature wines. Sherry has no vintage date because it is blended from a variety of years. Rare, old sherries can contain wine that dates back 25 to 50 years or more, the date the solera was begun. If a bottle has a date on it, it probably refers to the date the company was founded.
Most sherries begin with the Palomino grape, which enjoys a generally mild climate in and around the triad of towns known as the "Sherry Triangle" and grows in white, limestone and clay soils that look like beach sand. The Pedro Ximenez type of sweet sherry comes from the Pedro Ximenez grape.
Sherry is a "fortified" wine, which means that distilled, neutral spirits are used to fortify the sherry. The added liquor means that the final sherry will be 16 to 20 percent alcohol (higher than table wines) and that it will have a longer shelf life than table wines.
As with many European grape varietals, there is some debate regarding the precise origins of the Primitivo grape. Most people now agree that it probably came from Croatia, where it is still used widely in the production of red wine, and it known as Tribidrag. However, today it is a grape most commonly associated with the powerful red wines of Puglia, the heel of Italy’s boot, where the intense sunshine and brisk Mediterranean breezes produce grapes of remarkable character and balance. Primitivo is a dark grape, known for producing intense, inky, highly tannic wines, most notably the naturally sweet Dolce Naturale and the heavy and complex Primitivo di Manduria wines. Primitivo tends to be naturally very high in both tannin and alcohol, making it ideal for both barrel and cellar ageing, which brings out its more rounded and interesting features.
Primitivo is not the easiest grape to grow or manage, and it has had something of a difficult century. Indeed, by the 1990s, there was little interest in Puglian wines in general, and winemakers were neglecting their Primitivo vineyards and looking to other, more commercially viable varietals. However, the last decade has seen this grape come well and truly back into fashion, with new techniques and a heightened interest in native Italian grape varietals bringing Primitivo back into the spotlight. It is now widely loved for its intensity and ability to be paired with strongly flavored foods.