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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
Sale
Sparkling
750ml
Bottle: $20.88 $23.20
12 bottles: $18.62
Light semi sweet sparkler.
Sale
Sparkling
750ml
Bottle: $23.40 $26.00
12 bottles: $21.28
Aromas of flowers and honeycomb immediately hit the nose. Elegant bubbles balance the sweet and citrus notes. Great...
Sale
Sparkling
750ml
Bottle: $18.36 $20.40
12 bottles: $16.63
Light rose color, with a delicate fragrance and sweet taste. Goes well with fruit, cheese and desserts. A splendid,...
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...
Sale
Sparkling
750ml
Bottle: $14.34 $15.09
12 bottles: $12.36
Verdi Spumante is a natural, sparkling beverage imported from Italy. Deliciously sparkling and zesty, it has a soft...
Sale
Sparkling
1.5Ltr
Bottle: $25.81 $27.17
6 bottles: $16.68
Verdi Spumante is a natural, sparkling beverage imported from Italy. Deliciously sparkling and zesty, it has a soft...
Case only
Spirits
700ml - Case of 4
Bottle: $82.50
Sweet oak and cereal on the nose. Enjoyably elegant on the palate, with rich nutty and floral notes. Richly textured...
12 FREE
Sale
Sparkling
750ml
Bottle: $16.95 $17.84
COLOR: Light straw yellow color. NOSE: Gorgeous bouquet on the nose with fresh aromas of pear, apple, white flowers...
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
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...
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:...
Case only
Sparkling
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle: $28.22
Yellow straw with green highlights in the glass. Fresh and mineral on the nose with yeasty notes. Full bodied on the...
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
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
Sparkling
750ml
Bottle: $28.00
6 bottles: $27.20
Colour: Straw-yellow with golden hues. Delightful sparkling with fine and persistent “perlage”. Nose: Complex,...

Champagne Blend Cortese Grappa Italy Piedmont

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.

Like so many of the great spirits of Europe, Grappa was born from a need to make resources go that little bit further, to eke out the last drop of flavor and potential from the crops of winemakers. Indeed, Italian vintners invented Grappa as a way to make use of the pomace - leftover grape skins, stems, pulp and seeds - which remained after the juice was extracted from the fruit needed to make wine. Over the centuries, the process was refined, and the distillation of Grappa became an art in itself. Today, top Grappa producers use a range of state of the art equipment, from continuous stills to pot stills, to manufacture a wide variety of Grappas, each with their own distinct characteristics.


Most of us know Grappa from our local Italian restaurants, where it is commonly served as a digestif. However, in the twenty first century, there is a high interest in unique, boutique Grappas, which showcase the talent of the distillers through a range of interesting qualities. Grappa can be aged in oak, in which case it takes on a beautiful golden color, quite different from the clear Grappas we are most familiar with. The high end Grappas are a world away from the harsh spirit many of us have encountered, and have a smooth, gentle quality which can be nothing short of a revelation.

There are few countries in the world with a viticultural history as long or as illustrious as that claimed by Italy. Grapes were first being grown and cultivated on Italian soil several thousand years ago by the Greeks and the Pheonicians, who named Italy 'Oenotria' – the land of wines – so impressed were they with the climate and the suitability of the soil for wine production. Of course, it was the rise of the Roman Empire which had the most lasting influence on wine production in Italy, and their influence can still be felt today, as much of the riches of the empire came about through their enthusiasm for producing wines and exporting it to neighbouring countries. Since those times, a vast amount of Italian land has remained primarily for vine cultivation, and thousands of wineries can be found throughout the entire length and breadth of this beautiful country, drenched in Mediterranean sunshine and benefiting from the excellent fertile soils found there. Italy remains very much a 'land of wines', and one could not imagine this country, its landscape and culture, without it.

Situated in the north-western part of Italy, the region of Piedmont is known worldwide and is highly respected for the quality of the wines produced there. Many of the most successful sub-regions in Piedmont produce many of the world's finest red wines, such as those made from the excellent Nebbiolo grape varietal in areas such as Barolo and Barbaresco. However, the historic wineries which typify this region use a relatively wide variety of grapes, including Dolcetto and Barbera for their red wines, which are typically aged and have a delightful velvety character. Piedmont isn't all about beautifully complex red wines, though, as it is also famed for high quality, elegant sparkling wines, notably the Asti wines made with the white Moscato grape. The region benefits from a range of terroirs which are often well expressed in the sparkling wines, and a wonderfully consistent climate ideal for vineyard cultivation.