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Case only
Long-term Pre-Arrival
White
375ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $101.95
Case only
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Red
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $224.95
A deep and beautiful red with ripe berry, plum and orange peel character. Almost exotic in style. Full body,...
JS
98
WA
96
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Red
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $41.78
Case only
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Red
750ml - Case of 3
Bottle: $753.95
#3 Top 100, 2014. Wow. Fabulous aromas of currants, rosemary, mint and orange peel. Perfect nose. Full body with...
JS
100
WS
97
Long-term Pre-Arrival
Red
1.5Ltr - 1 Bottle
Bottle: $270.95
This is a phenomenal pure merlot with blueberries, raspberries and hints of milk chocolate. Some nutmeg too. Full...
JS
99
VM
95
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Red
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $73.62
This is a phenomenal pure merlot with blueberries, raspberries and hints of milk chocolate. Some nutmeg too. Full...
JS
99
VM
95
Case only
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Red
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle: $68.64
89-91 Shafer's 2011 Merlot jumps from the glass with dark cherries, spices, sage, mint and licorice. There is good...
VM
91
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Red
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $217.95
The 2011 vintage was known for being an especially hot vintage and in fact harvesting started 15 days early, in the...
DC
95
VM
95

Chenin Blanc Merlot Sherry 2011 Pre-Arrival

Originating in France yet now grown in many parts of the New World, Chenin Blanc is one of the most versatile and highly regarded white wine grape varietals on earth. These green skinned grapes hold a relatively high acid content, and as such can be used for making still white wines of exceptional quality, as well as superb sparkling wines (such as the Crémant wines of the Loire Valley) and extremely aromatic dessert wines. Their natural transparency means that they are a fine grape for expressing their terroir in the bottle, and winemakers often experiment with this varietal to coax unusual and intense flavors from the grapes, such as allowing the development of noble rot on the fruit in order to make sweet and viscous wines of a unique character.

With its dark blue colored fruits and high juice content, Merlot varietal grapes have long been a favorite of wine producers around the globe, with it being found in vineyards across Europe, the Americas and elsewhere in the New World. One of the distinguishing features of Merlot grapes is the fact that they have a relatively low tannin content and an exceptionally soft and fleshy character, meaning they are capable of producing incredibly rounded and mellow wines. This mellowness is balanced with plenty of flavor, however, and has made Merlot grapes the varietal of choice for softening other, more astringent and tannin-heavy wines, often resulting in truly exceptional produce. Merlot is regarded as one of the key 'Bordeaux' varietals for precisely this reason; when combined with the drier Cabernet Sauvignon, it is capable of blending beautifully to produce some of the finest wines available in the world.

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.