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Sale
White
750ml
Bottle: $29.88 $31.20
12 bottles: $29.64
The 2021 Grenache Blanc Thompson Vineyard is bright and beautifully focused. Orchard fruit, mint, white pepper and...
VM
93
Instore only
White
5.0Ltr
Bottle: $19.94
Crisp with flavors of apple and pineapple. semi-sweet and refreshing with floral aromas. Serve Chilled.
White
750ml
Bottle: $169.93
12 bottles: $166.53
Complex and super intense Palo Cortado, loaded with concentration. Salted caramel, toffee, walnut and some tangy...
12 FREE
WA
96
JS
96
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $11.89 $13.43
12 bottles: $11.65
A round, creamy-textured red with blackberry, dark-walnut and some chocolate character. It’s medium-bodied with a...
JS
92
Case only
White
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $35.00
Ripe pineapple, papaya, and slatey minerality on the nose. Intense but well-balanced tropical fruit flavors on the...
12 FREE
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $199.94
The 2021 Mourvèdre is another archetypal example of the variety from Andremily, where winemaker Jim Binns manages to...
12 FREE
WA
100
WNR
98
Sale
White
750ml
Bottle: $11.71 $13.01
This refreshing wine has fruity and citrus aromas with notes of lemon and mineral hints. Fresh and light on the...
Case only
Red
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle: $9.51
100% Monastrell. Old bushvines in rocky limestone and sand. Unoaked.
White
375ml
Bottle: $13.00
12 bottles: $12.35
White
750ml
Bottle: $27.95
12 bottles: $27.39
Catarratto (biotypes Lucido, Comune, and Catarratteddo) from the contradas of Bausa, Amafi, and Abbadessa, guyot and...
12 FREE
Sale
White
750ml
Bottle: $19.38 $20.40
• Kyoho. • Hybrid of V. vinifera and V. labrusca. • The only vineyard in Australia producing Kyoho and was...
White
750ml
Bottle: $28.94
12 bottles: $28.36
• Telti Kuruk, an indigenous varietal of Ukraine. • The vineyards are situated on a mixture of red clay and loam...
Red
750ml
Bottle: $39.90
12 bottles: $39.10
Quite light in the glass, this bottling pops on the nose with fresh berry aromas that are leveled by a crushed rock...
12 FREE
WE
93
White
750ml
Bottle: $18.95
12 bottles: $18.57
Hints of beeswax, dusty yellow flowers and cardamom waft up to create a decidedly savory bouquet as the 2020. Insolia...
12 FREE
VM
90
Sale
White
Case only
Red
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle: $12.90
Sale
White
750ml
Bottle: $14.41 $15.83
This is bright for a cream Sherry, with green tea and singed ginger notes out front, providing heft to the date,...
WS
91
Sale
White
750ml
Bottle: $61.55 $64.79
An exceptionally old fino, perhaps the oldest on the market, at about 15 years, from a gentle, gracious family, who...
12 FREE
DC
96
WA
95
Sale
White
750ml
Bottle: $14.94 $15.83
Sea salt, Brazil nut and dried chamomile notes are racy and filigreed, with a stony edge on the finish. Drink now.
WS
90
Sale
White
750ml
Bottle: $27.94 $31.19
Shows lovely focus and persistence, with a prominent thread of bitter almond that runs from start to finish, while...
WS
92

Mavrodaphne Mencia Mourvedre Sherry

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?

Mourvèdre is a fascinating and ancient grape varietal, thought to have been introduced to Spain by the ancient Phoenicians over two thousand years ago. Since then, it has found a home in many regions of France, and has gone on to be a key grape varietal in the New World, where it is often blended with Grenache and Syrah varietals to make a beautifully rounded and balanced red wine. The Mourvèdre grape itself is renowned for holding a complex set of flavours, which are often described as meaty or gamey, with plenty of bramble fruit notes. As such, they are often served with dark meats, and are enjoyed in many countries across the globe. The grapes are not the easiest to cultivate, as they require plenty of sunshine alongside well irrigated soil. However, their quality and unique attributes mean that wineries all over the globe continue to persevere with this special varietal.

Sherry is made in a unique way using the solera system, which blends fractional shares of young wine from oak barrels with older, more mature wines. Sherry has no vintage date because it is blended from a variety of years. Rare, old sherries can contain wine that dates back 25 to 50 years or more, the date the solera was begun. If a bottle has a date on it, it probably refers to the date the company was founded.

Most sherries begin with the Palomino grape, which enjoys a generally mild climate in and around the triad of towns known as the "Sherry Triangle" and grows in white, limestone and clay soils that look like beach sand. The Pedro Ximenez type of sweet sherry comes from the Pedro Ximenez grape.

Sherry is a "fortified" wine, which means that distilled, neutral spirits are used to fortify the sherry. The added liquor means that the final sherry will be 16 to 20 percent alcohol (higher than table wines) and that it will have a longer shelf life than table wines.