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Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $9.99
Red plum, currants and cedar aromas with a touch of earthy goodness. This wine is medium to full-bodied and...
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $39.69
12 bottles: $38.90
Aromas of currants, cedar and violets follow through to a medium body and fine tannins with a lovely, light velvety...
12 FREE
VM
92
JS
92
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $19.44 $21.60
12 bottles: $17.10
Beautiful, broad and plush, this structured but charming wine overflows with red fruits and baking spices, with a...
WE
93
DC
90
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $16.94 $18.33
12 bottles: $16.63
Lively lavender aromas elevate the dark berry and thyme scents on the nose of this bottling. The core of blueberry...
WE
90
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $31.93 $33.60
12 bottles: $31.29
White
750ml
Bottle: $25.93
12 bottles: $25.41
The 2022 White Wine Helluva Vineyard is a blend of Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir and Gewurztraminer. The nose features...
WA
91
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $14.41 $15.17
12 bottles: $12.36
Our Apothic Merlot is a silky, approachable red wine grown in California. Notes of blackberry and boysenberry are...
Sale
White
750ml
Bottle: $13.58 $14.30
12 bottles: $11.40
Apothic White is an approachable blend that combines Chardonnay, Riesling and Moscato to create a luscious, vibrant...
White
750ml
Bottle: $78.95
12 bottles: $77.37
Arietta's white wine, the 2021 On The White Keys, is a blend of 87% Sauvignon Blanc from Sonoma Mountain and 13%...
12 FREE
WA
91
White
750ml
Bottle: $41.93
12 bottles: $41.09
Ashes & Diamonds Blanc is a fully ripe and textured, yet bright, zesty and supremely age-worthy blend of Sauvignon...
12 FREE
Sale
White
750ml
Bottle: $18.85 $20.00
A refreshing, dry, blended white with citrus lemon/lime notes, flinty minerality, and crisp finish.
White
750ml
Bottle: $32.89
12 bottles: $32.23
This Burgundian-minded blend of 50% Pinot Gris, 45% Pinot Blanc and 5% Aligote is exciting to try each vintage. This...
12 FREE
WE
94
VM
93
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $12.36 $13.01
12 bottles: $8.08
Our Merlot is garnet in color with flavors of black cherry on the palate. Soft and smooth.
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $11.94 $12.57
12 bottles: $9.51
Bright cherry, ripe plum, milk chocolate, red apple, and vanilla bean flavors combine for this wine’s decadent...
UBC
90
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $15.94 $16.66
12 bottles: $15.83
• 100% Merlot. • Sourced from four vineyards in the Yakima Valley, Red Mountain and Columbia Valleys. • Sees...
Case only
Red
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle: $68.93
Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2021 Merlot bursts with notes of baked black plums, boysenberry preserves, and black...
12 FREE
JS
92
WA
91
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $14.34 $15.10
12 bottles: $12.37
The Beringer Founders’ Estate Merlot is immediately approachable with lush flavors of blueberry, blackberry and...
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $12.43 $13.08
The Basics Ripe plum and currant flavors are immediately evident in its aromas and flavors. The Taste A sweet,...
Sale
White
750ml
Bottle: $15.85 $17.50
• Practicing Organic/Sustainable. • Sourced from 10 vineyards throughout Oregon. • Soils: Volcanic ash, basalt,...
White
750ml
Bottle: $19.20
12 bottles: $17.10
Rounded aromas of pear, bright citrus and jasmine make for a floral nose on this bottling. The palate dries up very...
WE
92

Mavrodaphne Merlot White Blend United States 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?

With its dark blue colored fruits and high juice content, Merlot varietal grapes have long been a favorite of wine producers around the globe, with it being found in vineyards across Europe, the Americas and elsewhere in the New World. One of the distinguishing features of Merlot grapes is the fact that they have a relatively low tannin content and an exceptionally soft and fleshy character, meaning they are capable of producing incredibly rounded and mellow wines. This mellowness is balanced with plenty of flavor, however, and has made Merlot grapes the varietal of choice for softening other, more astringent and tannin-heavy wines, often resulting in truly exceptional produce. Merlot is regarded as one of the key 'Bordeaux' varietals for precisely this reason; when combined with the drier Cabernet Sauvignon, it is capable of blending beautifully to produce some of the finest wines available in the world.

Of all the New World wine countries, perhaps the one which has demonstrated the most flair for producing high quality wines - using a combination of traditional and forward-thinking contemporary methods - has been the United States of America. For the past couple of centuries, the United States has set about transforming much of its suitable land into vast vineyards, capable of supporting a wide variety of world-class grape varietals which thrive on both the Atlantic and the Pacific coastlines. Of course, we immediately think of sun-drenched California in regards to American wines, with its enormous vineyards responsible for the New World's finest examples of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot based wines, but many other states have taken to viticulture in a big way, with impressive results. Oregon, Washington State and New York have all developed sophisticated and technologically advanced wine cultures of their own, and the output of U.S wineries is increasing each year as more and more people are converted to their produce.