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Red
750ml
Bottle: $31.94
12 bottles: $31.30
• Varietal Mencía from a few parcels, some younger and some up to 100 years old. • Spontaneous fermentation in...
12 FREE
Sale
White
750ml
Bottle: $59.90 $63.19
The 2021 Fire By Night, formerly known as Broom Ridge, has a lovely, seductive bouquet with mirabelle, jasmine and...
12 FREE
VM
94
WS
93
White
750ml
Bottle: $59.90
6 bottles: $58.70
12 FREE
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $59.94 $64.08
Native to the northwestern corner of the Iberian Peninsula, mencía is known for its thick skins and dark fruit and...
12 FREE
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
Rapid Ship
White
750ml
Bottle: $34.84
Rated 95 -Year in, year out, this exceptional Chenin Blanc vineyard delivers the goods.... it produces a wine with...
12 FREE
WNR
95
VM
91
Red
750ml
Bottle: $69.89
The 2021 Ultreia Valtuille was produced with the clay part of their Villegas plot, as the sandy part was used for the...
12 FREE
WA
97
WS
92
Red
750ml
Bottle: $69.94
Again, the cooler 2021 seems to have worked nicely for the 2021 Ultreia Cova de la Raposa, which compensates for the...
12 FREE
WA
93
Red
750ml
Bottle: $69.94
The nose of the 2021 Ultreia Petra is completely different from the rest of the Ultreia range. This is only two...
12 FREE
WA
96
White
750ml
Bottle: $32.94
12 bottles: $32.28
Rated 96 - Intense, stony and layered, it's a wine that builds on the palate, with effortless concentration, Loire...
12 FREE
White
750ml
Bottle: $17.94
12 bottles: $17.58
12 FREE
Red
750ml
Bottle: $25.50
12 bottles: $24.99
The young red 2020 Castro Candaz, from a very warm vintage in Ribeira Sacra, is quite fruit-driven, straightforward...
12 FREE
WA
90
Red
750ml
Bottle: $39.00
A seamless red, medium-bodied and lightly chalky in texture, with fine tannins enmeshed with flavors of mulled cherry...
12 FREE
WS
91
White
750ml
Bottle: $53.94
• Certified biodynamic. • 100% Chenin Blanc. • A single 0.8 ha site on the Chaume hill, facing south. • 50+...
12 FREE
White
750ml
Bottle: $35.94
12 bottles: $35.22
The 2022 Ronceray evokes a ripe bouquet with aromas of freshly baked bread, pear, ripe orchard fruits, sweet spices...
12 FREE
WA
92
White
750ml
Bottle: $65.94
• Certified biodynamic. • 100% Chenin Blanc. • A single 0.6 ha site on the Chaume hill. • East facing, very...
12 FREE
White
750ml
Bottle: $59.94
• Certified biodynamic. • 100% Chenin Blanc. • From the lieu-dit “Les Mauriers” in the village of...
12 FREE
Case only
White
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle: $29.99
This delicious, dry Chenin Blanc was selectively harvested by hand from reduced yield vines, then fermented and and...
12 FREE
White
750ml
Bottle: $37.94
12 bottles: $37.18
A serious, singular, powerful, Chenin Blanc unrivaled in America. Savory from start to finish. Lemon and toast give...
12 FREE
White
750ml
Bottle: $57.94
The 2022 Chenin Blanc from Stellenbosch comes from vines on Greywacke, shale and granite soils planted between 1972...
12 FREE
VM
94
JS
93

Chenin Blanc Mavrodaphne Mencia 750ml 12 Ship Free Items

Originating in France yet now grown in many parts of the New World, Chenin Blanc is one of the most versatile and highly regarded white wine grape varietals on earth. These green skinned grapes hold a relatively high acid content, and as such can be used for making still white wines of exceptional quality, as well as superb sparkling wines (such as the Crémant wines of the Loire Valley) and extremely aromatic dessert wines. Their natural transparency means that they are a fine grape for expressing their terroir in the bottle, and winemakers often experiment with this varietal to coax unusual and intense flavors from the grapes, such as allowing the development of noble rot on the fruit in order to make sweet and viscous wines of a unique character.

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?