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750ml
Bottle:
$274.95
$300.00
Rated 97-100 - A barrel sample that just about made my eyes roll back in my head, the 2019 Ermitage Ex Voto has...
750ml
Bottle:
$356.20
Showing similar to last year, the 2012 Ermitage le Meal is a blockbuster that's about as voluptuous and sexy as...
1.5Ltr
Bottle:
$435.00
In complete contrast to the sexy, flamboyant les Granits, the tiny production 2012 Saint Joseph le Clos (which comes...
Pre-Arrival
Alain Voge Cornas Les Vieilles Vignes 2012
1.5Ltr - Case of 3
Bottle:
$228.20
Showing the vintage's rounded, supple and forward character, the 2012 Cornas Vieilles Vignes reveals lots of black...
Pre-Arrival
Araujo Syrah Eisele Vineyard 2012
750ml - Case of 3
Bottle:
$192.07
Syrah was first planted on the estate in 1978. After making wine from the few remaining vines in 1991 and 1993, a...
Pre-Arrival
Colgin Syrah IX Estate 2012
750ml - Case of 3
Bottle:
$349.70
The wine that probably gets ignored, but shouldn’t be, is their small production of 350-400 cases of Syrah from...
Pre-Arrival
Delas Freres Cote Rotie La Landonne 2012
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$178.89
Showing even better from bottle than barrel, the 2012 Côte Rôtie La Landonne is a fabulous effort that oozes...
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$61.62
The colour is deep crimson. The powerful yet subtle nose of Côte-Rôtie "Seigneur de Maugiron" has blackcurrant,...
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$57.45
Just a small step back from the Les Bessards, the 2012 Hermitage Domaine des Tourettes is a stunning effort that...
Pre-Arrival
Delas Freres Hermitage Les Bessards 2012
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$154.62
The star of the show is the 2012 Hermitage Les Bessards. Coming from the pure granite soils of the Les Bessards...
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle:
$131.04
The 2012 Crozes Hermitage Clos des Grives shows a night and day different style than the 2013 and is upfront, ripe,...
Pre-Arrival
Domaine Vincent Paris Cornas Granit 30 2012
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle:
$45.86
Paris’s entry-level cuvee that comes from some of the lower slopes, the inky colored 2012 Cornas Granite 30 is a...
Pre-Arrival
Domaine Vincent Paris Cornas La Geynale 2012
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle:
$66.20
Still looks young despite being nearly 10 years from vintage. Showing some age on the nose however, with firework...
Pre-Arrival
E. Guigal Cote Rotie Chateau D'ampuis 2012
1.5Ltr - Case of 6
Bottle:
$302.95
The nose has a complex array of fine-ground eastern spices, strong cardamom, fine dark chocolate and ripe black...
Pre-Arrival
E. Guigal Cote Rotie La Landonne 2012
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$412.45
Rated 98-100 - As always, the 2019 Côte Rôtie La Landonne is all Syrah that was not destemmed and will spend four...
Grenache Mavrodaphne Syrah 2012
The Grenache grape holds the honor of being the most widely planted wine grape varietal on earth. It has a long and impressive history, and has been the backbone of the some of the planet’s most respected and famed wine regions, blended with Syrah in regions such as Chateauneuf du Pape, and in certain other Loire and Languedoc regions where it reigns supreme as a single varietal wine grape. In other key areas, such as Spain’s La Rioja (where it is known as Garnacha Tinta), it is blended with Tempranillo to make that country’s signature red wine, and is widely used as a blending grape in other old and new world countries, due to its unique character and jammy, fruit forward character.
For a long time, the Grenache grape was somewhat looked down upon as an ignoble varietal, incapable of producing wines of any particular interest. However, times are very much changing - in the right hands, Grenache grapes result in astonishingly intense and complex wines, full of fascinating features, and capable of achieving plenty of expression. For a while now, Grenache has been a major player in Australian wines. While not yet quite as extensively planted down under as Shiraz is, the Barossa Valley is bringing out some of the finest examples of this grape’s wines in recent years.
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.