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Red
750ml
Bottle: $20.08
12 bottles: $19.68
Ripe, plummy aromas and flavors. Medium body. A hint of vanilla coming through at the end. Balanced, tasty finish....
JS
90
Sale
White
750ml
Bottle: $17.64 $19.60
12 bottles: $15.83
A clean, simple Gavi with sliced apples and hints of stones and white almonds. Crisp, dry and light on the palate...
WE
88
JS
88
White
750ml
Bottle: $20.88
12 bottles: $20.46
Pale straw yellow in colour, clear and bright, with greenish tinges. Fresh and floral nose, good intensity and...
White
750ml
Bottle: $32.72
6 bottles: $32.07
COLOR: Pale straw yellow with green reflections. NOSE: Rich and intense bouquet on the nose, with complex fragrances...
12 FREE
White
750ml
Bottle: $18.72
6 bottles: $18.35
Lemons, sliced apples, wet stones and apricots on the nose. Creamy, medium-bodied and fresh, with deliciously clear...
JS
91
DC
90
Sale
White
750ml
Bottle: $13.90 $15.08
12 bottles: $13.59
A complexity of honeydew melon, apple, pear and acacia with a salty mineral crunch, racy acidity and an almond...
DC
91
White
750ml
Bottle: $63.12
3 bottles: $62.40
12 FREE
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $13.81 $15.34
Color: Streaks of garnet giving way to intense ruby red. Nose: Candied fruits and spices that evolve into clean...
Case only
Red
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle: $16.92
Color: Ruby red very intense and deep. Bouquet: Strong and distinctive with scents of red fruits and spicy hints of...
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $31.05
Very ripe and spicy aromas in the nose. Powerful and earthy on the palate, rich and deep. (Bronze) - DWWA 2022
12 FREE
DC
89
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $11.93 $12.57
A rustic, chewy red, with pungent stemmy herb and smoke notes on the nose layered with tangy raspberry and red...
Case only
White
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle: $18.80
Sale
White
750ml
Bottle: $18.93 $20.40
12 bottles: $18.55
100% Cortese from Ulivi's estate vines in and around Gavi. As always, the fruit was destemmed and spontaneously...
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $14.94 $15.63
12 bottles: $14.85
The term "Maru" translates into dark or severe and correctly describes some of the characteristics of Puglia's native...
White
750ml
Bottle: $12.41
12 bottles: $12.16
COLOR: Pale yellow with green reflections. NOSE: Fresh nose with grapefruit notes and underlying minerality. FLAVOR:...
Sale
Dessert/Fortified Wine
750ml
Bottle: $13.26 $14.73
12 bottles: $11.88
With hints of raisins and vanilla it is dry, full, and harmonic on the palate. Colombo Marsala Fine Dry is perfect...
Sale
Dessert/Fortified Wine
750ml
Bottle: $13.26 $14.73
12 bottles: $11.88
Dark amber, with hints of dates and apricots it is sweet, full, warm and harmonic on the palate with an elegant,...
White
750ml
Bottle: $15.65
12 bottles: $15.34
Light and clear with a heavenly bouquet reminiscent of almond trees in blossom. Dry and harmonious with a final...
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $11.34 $12.13
100% Negroamaro, one of the most representative red grapes of Salento, is known for producing wines that are rich,...
Sale
White
750ml
Bottle: $16.94 $18.80
The Cortese grape always makes for etched and sharp white wines with a strong salty mineral component. That's exactly...
WA
88
WS
88

Cortese Marsala Mavrodaphne Negroamaro 750ml

The Cortese white wine grape varietal has been grown in and around south Piedmont, Italy, for at least five hundred years. Its delicate nature and moderate acidity have made it a favorite with people around the world, and it is most commonly served alongside the excellent seafood and shellfish dishes of the part of Italy it is traditionally grown in. Cortese grapes are easily identifiable by their lime and greengage flavors, and their generally delicate and medium bodied character. Cortese wines are also notable for their freshness and crispness, again, making them an ideal match for seafood. Whilst colder years often produce harsher, more acidic Cortese wines, practices such as allowing malolactic fermentation can solve any such problems and still produce delicious white wines made from this varietal.

Marsala is a well known fortified wine from Italy’s largest island, Sicily. A largely misunderstood and undervalued fortified wine, it is most commonly associated with its sweet variety - usually used as a cooking wine - although the finest dry Masalas are able to stand up to more revered, similar wines such as Sherry and Madeira. Marsala has been made in Sicily since the mid 18th century, and it grew wildly popular around Europe as sailors introduced it to port towns across the continent. Marsala wine has a beautiful set of flavors, most typically including apricot, tamarind, vanilla and tobacco, making it a delightfully intense treat when served as a sipping wine.



Marsala wine comes in several different varieties, and most of them are a world away from the sweet wines used in sauces and chicken dishes. Amber, golden and ruby versions of Masala are produced, from a range of different native grape varietals, and many of the finest are aged for over ten years to achieve a fascinating set of complex flavors and a remarkably smooth finish. It is usually made from the Grillo, Inzolia, Damaschino and Catarratto white grapes, although the ruby Masala wines uses typical Sicilian red varietals such as Nero d’Avola and Calabrese, among others.

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?

One of the key grapes of the ever-growing Puglia wine industry is the Negroamaro, a native grape of this southern Italian region, famed for its deep, bloody red color and excellent set of flavors Indeed, many of the finest and most highly esteemed full bodied red wines of Puglia are made using the Negroamaro varietal grape, and it is grown most notably in the Salento area of the region, where it makes several types of red wine enjoyed locally and sold overseas. The name 'Negroamaro' means 'black-bitter', giving some clue as to one of the key features of the grape. Wines made with Negroamaro do indeed hold quite a lot of earthy bitterness, but generally are celebrated for their 'rustic' taste and extremely aromatic qualities.