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Red
750ml
Bottle: $22.00
12 bottles: $17.48
A medium- to full-bodied red with polished texture and a bright dark-fruited character. Fresh, with vivid acidity and...
JS
91
Red
750ml
Bottle: $19.94
12 bottles: $19.54
The 2019 Syrah Turtles Vineyard was aged for 12 months in an equal mixture of new and second-use French barriques. It...
WA
88
Case only
Red
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle: $21.50
A vin de soif, made in a light, refreshing style. Earthy with some smoked meat aromas on the nose. The palate is...
12 FREE
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $79.88 $88.08
The 100% Syrah 2019 Fracture comes all from the Booker Estate Vineyard and is another pure, balanced, incredibly...
12 FREE
VM
97
JD
97
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $11.94 $12.57
This enjoyable, well-structured and full-bodied wine offers flinty, earthy aromas and slightly tart cranberry,...
WE
88
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $57.67 $64.08
12 bottles: $57.00
Red
750ml
Bottle: $59.94
12 bottles: $58.74
92-94 Highly perfumed blackberry, cherry, olive and floral aromas are complicated by suggestions of exotic spices and...
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VM
94
Red
750ml
Bottle: $104.24
12 bottles: $97.95
A blend of grapes from Bassenon, Maison Rouge and Lancement, the 2019 Cote Rotie Blonde du Seigneur contains about 5%...
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WA
93
JD
92
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $64.94 $70.99
From a muscovite-based site above Chavanay, the 2019 Saint Joseph Terres d'Encre doesn't come across as being from a...
12 FREE
WA
91
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $17.94 $18.80
12 bottles: $17.42
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $45.60 $48.00
Enology and Viticulture: Sara Perez and Rene Barbier. Production: 125 cases produced Vineyards: The vineyards consist...
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Red
750ml
Bottle: $181.50
3 bottles: $177.87
Very deep and dark fruit in the nose, with violets, ink, blackberries, roasted meat, asphalt and spices. Wet earth,...
12 FREE
JS
99
WA
96
Red
750ml
Bottle: $39.94
12 bottles: $39.14
Sandstone and shale soils. Vines planted in 2000 at 1200 feet. 100% whole cluster and aged in neutral oak. Received...
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Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $124.20 $138.00
95-97 Scheduled to be botted at the end of this October, the 2019 Côte Rôtie Chateau D'Ampuis is another beautiful,...
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JD
97
WA
96
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $374.95 $416.00
Rated 97-100 - The 2019 Côte Rôtie La Mouline is a bigger, richer Côte Rôtie. Co-fermented with a solid chuck of...
12 FREE
JD
100
VM
98
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $374.95 $416.00
Rated 98-100 - I was blown away by the 2019 Côte Rôtie La Turque, which comes from a tiny parcel in the Côte Brune...
12 FREE
WA
100
JD
100
Red
750ml
Bottle: $396.00
Rated 97-100 - A barrel sample that just about made my eyes roll back in my head, the 2019 Ermitage Ex Voto has...
12 FREE
JD
99
WS
97
Red
750ml
Bottle: $50.94
12 bottles: $49.92
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Red
750ml
Bottle: $31.94
12 bottles: $31.30
Gentle nose of gunpowder, blackberries, graphite and peppery spices with hints of cedar and violets. Dense and...
12 FREE
DC
92
VM
92
Red
750ml
Bottle: $31.94
12 bottles: $31.30
The 2019 Syrah on Shale The Landscape Series has a well-defined bouquet of copious red berry fruit laced with clove,...
12 FREE
VM
92
WS
92

Mavrodaphne Mencia Syrah 2019 750ml

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?

Known as Syrah in most countries around the world, and Shiraz in Australia and certain other regions of the New World, this grape varietal has proven over the centuries to be one of the most powerful and flavorful red wine grapes there is. It is now one of the planet's most widely grown grapes, and is a favorite with wineries as a result of its robustness and versatility. It isn't easy to identify many characteristics of this particular varietal, due to the fact that it is highly versatile and shows significant differences in flavor and character depending on the terroir it is grown in, and the climatic conditions of the region. However, Syrah is most widely associated with full bodied, strong and loud red wines, packed full of fruity and spicy flavors, held in a beautifully deep red liquid.