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Sparkling
Sale
Sparkling
750ml
Bottle: $16.71 $17.59
12 bottles: $12.35
This fun & light sparkling Unicorn Bubbles offers delicate flavors of fresh green apple and citrus with lively...
Instore only
Sparkling
187ml
Bottle: $9.99
Aromas of fresh peaches leap from the glass along with hints of ginger and lilac. Once sipped, a shower of foamy...
Sale
Rapid Ship
Sparkling
750ml
Bottle: $9.53 $10.25
Aromas of fresh peaches leap from the glass along with hints of ginger and lilac. Once sipped, a shower of foamy...
Instore only
Sparkling
187ml
Bottle: $9.99
Vivacious and aromatic, this delicate Italian pale pink sparkler Is perfect for enjoying anytime. Notes of...
Rapid Ship
Sparkling
750ml
Bottle: $9.99
Vivacious and aromatic, this delicate Italian pale pink sparkler Is perfect for enjoying anytime. Notes of...
Rapid Ship
Sparkling
750ml
Bottle: $67.50
The 2019 Gracias Madre, 100% Grenache Noir, is fabulous. Rich, creamy and super-expressive, the 2019 offers notable...
12 FREE
VM
94
Sparkling
1.5Ltr
Bottle: $202.94
3 bottles: $198.88
Sparkling
750ml
Bottle: $79.92
12 bottles: $78.32
The NV Brut Le Caractère M is 95% Chardonnay and 5% Pinot Noir based on 2013, with a perpetual reserve dating back...
12 FREE
VM
94
WS
91
Sparkling
1.5Ltr
Bottle: $135.94
3 bottles: $133.22
The NV Brut Le Brut is another absolutely compelling wine in this range. Le Brut is 90% Chardonnay and 10% Pinot...
VM
93
BH
91
Sparkling
375ml
Bottle: $26.84
12 bottles: $26.30
The NV Brut Le Brut is another absolutely compelling wine in this range. Le Brut is 90% Chardonnay and 10% Pinot...
12 FREE
VM
93
BH
91
Sale
Sparkling
750ml
Bottle: $42.90 $46.00
The NV Brut Le Brut is another absolutely compelling wine in this range. Le Brut is 90% Chardonnay and 10% Pinot...
VM
93
BH
91
Sparkling
375ml
Bottle: $40.00
12 bottles: $39.20
The NV Brut Rosé is positively stellar. The blend of 80% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Noir (including 5% still Pinot)...
12 FREE
VM
93
WS
92
Sale
Sparkling
750ml
Bottle: $49.93 $52.00
12 bottles: $49.40
The NV Brut Rosé is positively stellar. The blend of 80% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Noir (including 5% still Pinot)...
12 FREE
VM
93
WS
92
Sale
Sparkling
750ml
Bottle: $49.93 $54.00
Light, green-tinged yellow. Lively aromas of mineral-accented citrus and orchard fruits are complicated by suave...
12 FREE
VM
92
WA
91
Sparkling
375ml
Bottle: $27.95
12 bottles: $27.39
The NV Cuvée Le Demi-Sec is a very pretty, attractive Champagne. Even with 32 grams of residual sugar, the Demi-Sec...
VM
91
W&S
90
Sparkling
750ml
Bottle: $43.93
12 bottles: $41.80
The NV Cuvée Le Demi-Sec is a very pretty, attractive Champagne. Even with 32 grams of residual sugar, the Demi-Sec...
12 FREE
VM
91
W&S
90
Sale
Sparkling
12 FREE
Sparkling
375ml
Bottle: $28.90
12 bottles: $28.32
White cherry, almond biscotti and mandarin orange peel notes are set in this bright Champagne, framed by firm acidity...
12 FREE
WS
90
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White
750ml
Bottle: $19.94
12 bottles: $19.54
The bright mirabelle, Amalfi-lemon and white-pepper aromas pour from the glass of this energetic gruner veltliner,...
JS
92

Champagne Blend Cortese Gruner Veltliner Mavrodaphne Txakoli

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.

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.

Gruner Veltliner is a pale skinned white wine grape varietal most closely associated with central European countries such as Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In recent years, it has spread somewhat to several New World countries, where it is becoming gradually more popular and regularly seen in wine stores. One of the main attractions of this grape varietal for winemakers is the fact that it is highly versatile, and can be used for the production of several different wine styles, including young, dry white wines, excellent sparkling wines, and it is also a grape varietal which is well suited for aging Gruner Veltliner has the ability to express much of its terroir, and the best examples are generally those which are full of delightfully mineral-rich flavors alongside the more usual notes of citrus fruits and peach.

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?