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Red
375ml
Bottle: $61.50
12 bottles: $60.27
Gorgeous perfumes of plums, berries, light chocolate and walnut follow through to a medium body, fine tannins and...
12 FREE
JS
95
DC
94
Sale
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $92.07 $99.00
Gorgeous perfumes of plums, berries, light chocolate and walnut follow through to a medium body, fine tannins and...
12 FREE
JS
95
DC
94
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $43.89 $46.20
12 bottles: $43.01
91-93 The second wine of this terrific estate, which has been playing with the stars of the appellation for several...
12 FREE
JD
93
DC
91
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $29.88 $33.20
Attractive aromas of dark and blue fruit, some violets, walnut and graphite. It’s medium-bodied with finely grained...
VM
92
JS
92
Red
750ml
Bottle: $21.94
12 bottles: $21.50
A round and rich taste derived from fresh fruit flavors such as bilberry, blackcurrant and cherry, the mid-palate...
Sale
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $16.20 $17.50
Nice color with glints of crimson. Seductive nose, offering a broad aromatic palette in which scents of red fruit and...
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $20.90 $22.00
12 bottles: $17.48
With a brilliant garnet color, this wine offers a nose marked by notes of red fruits and chocolate. The palate is...
Red
750ml
Bottle: $27.60
12 bottles: $27.05
12 FREE
Case only
Red
375ml - Case of 24
Bottle: $16.13
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $27.93 $30.20
12 bottles: $27.55
Case only
Red
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle: $73.43
A beautiful second wine with black olives, tapenade, black berries, plums and chocolate. Medium to full body. Lovely...
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JS
95
JD
93
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $370.08 $411.20
So perfumed and subtle with roses, lavender, sage, and currants. Medium-bodied. So much Spanish cedar, cigar box,...
12 FREE
JS
96
DC
95
Case only
Red
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $34.10
The 2020 Céres, from Clare and Gonzalgue Lurton, comes from a 8-hectare estate owned by Clare and Gonzalgue Lurton,...
12 FREE
VM
88
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $437.58 $486.20
The 2020 Angélus has an opaque purple-black color, pulling you in with a captivating perfume of kirsch, Black Forest...
12 FREE
WA
100
WE
99
Red
750ml
Bottle: $20.60
12 bottles: $19.57
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $865.08 $961.20
The flowers in the nose are spectacular with violets, lavender, and honeysuckle. Then there’s wet stone and freshly...
12 FREE
JS
99
DC
98
Sale
Red
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $78.48 $87.20
This has a fantastic finish with crushed blackberries and raspberries and salt undertones. It’s full-bodied, yet...
12 FREE
WA
97
VM
97
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $19.94
12 bottles: $19.54
91-93 Barrel Sample. Ripe, soft, revealing sumptuous black fruits, this wine shows an impressive side to this estate....
WE
93
VM
92
Red
750ml
Bottle: $80.70
12 bottles: $75.53
The 2020 Beauregard was picked from September 8 at 37hl/ha (winemaker Vincent Priou told me that having been organic...
12 FREE
VM
94
JS
93

Cognac Melon de Bourgogne Red Bordeaux 2020

For over three hundred years, Cognac has enjoyed its reputation as the king of brandies. Indeed, it is widely regarded as the finest drink to be distilled from grapes to be found anywhere in the world, and it is a testament to its producers and the master craftsmen who make it that this reputation has never faltered, and remains as strong as ever to this day.

Cognac is produced solely in the beautiful towns of Cognac and Jarnac, found about fifty miles north of Bordeaux, on the west coast of France. Here, around six thousand grape growers work exclusively in the production of white wine, used for the Cognac distilleries which are scattered throughout the region. The wines are made primarily from the Ugni Blanc or Trebbiano grape - one of the most commonly planted grape varietals in the world - which benefit from the cool, coastal climate and mineral rich soils which are found there. The wines themselves wouldn’t be suitable for drinking in themselves, as they are high in acid and low in alcohol, but this makes them ideal for distillation, and they can impart their wonderful, complex, rich flavors to the brandy.

Cognac varies quite significantly from bottle to bottle, depending on how long it has been aged for, and which appellation it comes from. The Cognac region is split into six separate Crus, all with their own distinctive characteristics, and the spirit can be aged from two years (VS) to six (Hors d’Age and Napoleon) and longer.

One of the more unusual French grape varietals, Melon de Bourgogne has been grown in and around the Loire Valley for several hundred years. In fact, this grape was first planted in the Loire region of Pays Nantais back in the mid 17th century, after a devastating frost decimated most of the red grapes which were typical in the area. The winemakers of Pays Nantais were keen to cultivate vines which were hardy, high yielding, and capable of surviving another such frost, and so turned their attention to Melon de Bourgogne for this very reason. The native home of the varietal is actually in Burgundy, where it is still grown to a lesser extent.


Because Melon de Bourgogne produces naturally heavy yields, the vintners of Pays Nantais go to great lengths to reduce the amount of fruit the vines bear. This allows the finest characteristics of the grape to come forward, and also opens up the opportunity for it to express the wonderful granite and schist soils in which the vines are grown. Melon de Bourgogne is a minerally white wine grape varietal, with a very subtle set of fruit flavors. It is prized for its freshness and brightness, and is seeing a revival in the twenty first century as an excellent wine for pairing with a wide range of foods.

There are few regions in the world with stricter regulations in regards to wine production and grape varietals than those found in Bordeaux, France. Here, in the home of the world's finest wines, the type and quality of grapes used is of utmost importance, and the legendary wineries which work on the banks of the Gironde river have mastered the careful art of juice blending to find the perfect balance for their produce. Whilst there are six 'official' Bordeaux grapes, the two key varietals for almost every fine Bordeaux wine are Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and with good reason. Whilst Cabernet Sauvignon grapes are renowned for their acidity and astringency, strong fruit and spice flavors and full body, Merlot grapes are notably rounded, soft, fleshy and lighter on tannin. The combination of these two varietals, along with a small percentage of (commonly) Petit Verdot or Cabernet Franc, is the perfect balancing act – the two grape varietals cancel out each others weaker points, and accentuate all that is good about the other.