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750ml
Bottle:
$39.94
12 bottles:
$39.14
Musky apricot pit, peach and spicy vanillin oak on the nose. Densely packed but quite suave and fine-grained in spite...
750ml
Bottle:
$39.84
$44.00
The color of this wine is best described as pale straw with a slight tint of emerald green. The nose opens as a...
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$51.93
This is a generous, layered white with lots of cooked apples and hints of coconut and vanilla. Full body. Phenolic...
750ml
Bottle:
$42.53
6 bottles:
$41.68
COLOR: Medium Gold.
NOSE: Pronounced pear and golden yellow apple lined with a floral note of jasmine, apricot, and...
750ml
Bottle:
$46.50
12 bottles:
$45.57
Stone fruits, buttered citrus, white currants, and brioche all emerge from the 2018 Chardonnay, a beautiful...
750ml
Bottle:
$45.93
12 bottles:
$45.01
This too is firmly reduced so be sure to decant it first. Otherwise the round, delicious and lush medium weight...
750ml
Bottle:
$15.00
12 bottles:
$14.70
Lively lemon curd, green apple, spice, white flower, and flinty notes emerge from the medium-bodied 2018 Beaujolais...
750ml
Bottle:
$44.69
$46.00
The wine is plush and enveloping, and yet like all of Jim Clendenen's wines, it also remains light on its feet. Hints...
750ml
Bottle:
$44.80
6 bottles:
$44.00
Fine and alluring with limestone and wet slate, lemon cream, lime peel and a vanilla pod kiss. A long, distinguished...
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$98.95
Aromas of candied fruit and honey with a buttered and mineral bouquet. The wine is well-balanced and round in the...
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle:
$40.75
750ml
Bottle:
$280.41
6 bottles:
$279.20
Batard-Montrachet is one of the four great Grand Cru Chardonnay vineyards in the appellation of Puligny-Montrachet,...
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$130.40
The 2018 Chardonnay Malans "Unique" is Martin Donatsch's Grand Cru, and its character is that of a great Burgundy....
750ml
Bottle:
$34.94
12 bottles:
$34.24
The Estate Chardonnay shows great focus, epitomizing nature of the Eden Rift Estate. It is bright with notes of...
750ml
Bottle:
$57.93
6 bottles:
$56.77
This just takes off at the finish, with bright, tangy acidity and plenty of minerality. Full-bodied and so tangy and...
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle:
$61.99
Creamy and rich-tasting, with concentrated apple pastry and ripe pear flavors that feature a silky texture. Mineral...
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle:
$102.12
The 2018 Pouilly-Fuissé L'Optimum des Hauts Crays was produced from vines planted in the 1930s, which Forest waited...
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle:
$42.12
Satiny, rich, and complex, with layers of butterscotch, fig, apricot and pear that are impeccably balanced. Bold and...
Chardonnay Mavrodaphne Mencia 2018 750ml
Of all the white wine grape varietals, surely the one which has spread the furthest and is most widely appreciated is the Chardonnay. This green skinned grape is now grown all over the Old and New Worlds, from New Zealand to the Americas, from England to Chile, and is one of the first varietals people think of when considering white wine grapes. Perhaps this is because of its huge popularity which reached a peak in the 1990s, thanks to new technologies combining with traditional methods to bring the very best features out of the Chardonnay grape, and allow its unique qualities to shine through. Most fine Chardonnay wines use a process known as malolactic fermentation, wherein the malic acids in the grape juice are converted to lactic acids, allowing a creamier, buttery nature to come forward in the wine. No grape varietal is better suited to this process than Chardonnay, which manages to balance these silky, creamy notes with fresh white fruit flavors beautifully.
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?