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750ml
Bottle:
$169.93
12 bottles:
$166.53
Complex and super intense Palo Cortado, loaded with concentration. Salted caramel, toffee, walnut and some tangy...
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,...
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...
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.
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...
750ml
Bottle:
$59.93
$64.79
The NV Villapanes Oloroso wears a dark amber-brown robe and has a very intense nose, showing some marmalade, dark...
500ml
Bottle:
$19.90
$20.80
12 bottles:
$19.00
Nothing besides glorious dried fig and raisin aromas are the greeting on this brown, lusty, sweet Sherry. Given the...
750ml
Bottle:
$59.94
12 bottles:
$58.74
Toasted sesame, date, walnut bread and cocoa notes mingle here, giving this a solid bass line, while a racy ginger...
750ml
Bottle:
$39.94
$43.09
Pretty and racy, offering streaks of singed almond, dried orange peel, tangerine and peach, with a tangy salted...
750ml
Bottle:
$11.46
$13.00
12 bottles:
$11.23
This traditional dessert wine compares favorably to the most famous imported brands of cream sherry - only ours is...
500ml
Bottle:
$28.99
12 bottles:
$28.42
A nutty and intense marsala with salty undertones to the dried fruit, such as figs and sultanas. Some nuttiness, too....
1.5Ltr
Bottle:
$25.02
$27.80
6 bottles:
$19.59
With hints of raisins and vanilla it is dry, full, and harmonic on the palate. Colombo Marsala Fine Dry is perfect...
Marsala Mavrodaphne Sercial Sherry
Marsala is a well known fortified wine from Italy’s largest island, Sicily. A largely misunderstood and undervalued fortified wine, it is most commonly associated with its sweet variety - usually used as a cooking wine - although the finest dry Masalas are able to stand up to more revered, similar wines such as Sherry and Madeira. Marsala has been made in Sicily since the mid 18th century, and it grew wildly popular around Europe as sailors introduced it to port towns across the continent. Marsala wine has a beautiful set of flavors, most typically including apricot, tamarind, vanilla and tobacco, making it a delightfully intense treat when served as a sipping wine.
Marsala wine comes in several different varieties, and most of them are a world away from the sweet wines used in sauces and chicken dishes. Amber, golden and ruby versions of Masala are produced, from a range of different native grape varietals, and many of the finest are aged for over ten years to achieve a fascinating set of complex flavors and a remarkably smooth finish. It is usually made from the Grillo, Inzolia, Damaschino and Catarratto white grapes, although the ruby Masala wines uses typical Sicilian red varietals such as Nero d’Avola and Calabrese, among others.
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?
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.