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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
Red
375ml
Bottle: $13.22
12 bottles: $12.96
This wine impresses red wine lovers immediately with spicy aromas of cassis, black cherry, plum, vanilla, oak and...
Instore only
Red
5.0Ltr
Bottle: $19.94
Flavors of blackberry aromas and raspberry. Soft, medium-bodied wine with a smooth finish. Serve at room temperature.
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
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
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.
Instore only
Red
187ml
Bottle: $6.99
Bright cherry, ripe plum, milk chocolate, red apple, and vanilla bean flavors combine for this wine’s decadent...
UBC
90
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
1.5Ltr
Bottle: $28.84 $30.36
6 bottles: $19.20
The Beringer Founders’ Estate Merlot is immediately approachable with lush flavors of blueberry, blackberry and...
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
1.5Ltr
Bottle: $25.81 $27.17
6 bottles: $16.68
The Basics Ripe plum and currant flavors are immediately evident in its aromas and flavors. The Taste A sweet,...
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,...
Instore only
Red
3.0Ltr
Bottle: $19.49
Hints of plum, black cherry, and baking spices unfold smoothly across the palate with soft tannins and supple...
Instore only
Red
500ml
Bottle: $5.49
Hints of plum, black cherry, and baking spices unfold smoothly across the palate with soft tannins and supple...
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $17.56 $18.48
12 bottles: $13.18

Grappa Merlot Switzerland United States

Like so many of the great spirits of Europe, Grappa was born from a need to make resources go that little bit further, to eke out the last drop of flavor and potential from the crops of winemakers. Indeed, Italian vintners invented Grappa as a way to make use of the pomace - leftover grape skins, stems, pulp and seeds - which remained after the juice was extracted from the fruit needed to make wine. Over the centuries, the process was refined, and the distillation of Grappa became an art in itself. Today, top Grappa producers use a range of state of the art equipment, from continuous stills to pot stills, to manufacture a wide variety of Grappas, each with their own distinct characteristics.


Most of us know Grappa from our local Italian restaurants, where it is commonly served as a digestif. However, in the twenty first century, there is a high interest in unique, boutique Grappas, which showcase the talent of the distillers through a range of interesting qualities. Grappa can be aged in oak, in which case it takes on a beautiful golden color, quite different from the clear Grappas we are most familiar with. The high end Grappas are a world away from the harsh spirit many of us have encountered, and have a smooth, gentle quality which can be nothing short of a revelation.

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.




Switzerland is composed by 26 cantons and 4 linguistic areas: the German one, the French one, the Italian and the Romanche. This creates a richness of various expressions, which are also reflected in traditions, lifestyles, eating and drinking manners. Its wine-producing geography is subdivided into six areas: the cantons of Valais, of Vaud and of Geneva, the three lakes' region (Western Switzerland), the German-speaking area (Eastern Switzerland), and the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino. Moreover, Switzerland's particular geographical situation, in between four wine-producing nations (France, Italy, Germany and Austria), offers an extreme diversity in the characters of its wines.


Swiss vineyards give a large choice of grape varieties, although they are still scarcely known abroad. The most typical white grape variety is Chasselas, whose extreme sensitivity to both soil and situation is reflected in subtle differences in taste. Among the red grape varieties, the most widespread is Pinot Noir which can take very different characters depending on the region from where it comes and the type of vinification it has undergone.


History



Vineyards have been cultivated in Switzerland since the Roman era. Even though certain traces can be found of a more ancient origin, many native Swiss vines have Latin names. Christianity and the needs of religious services ensured the cultivation of the vineyards throughout the Middle Age and long after it. However, wine would not be used in masses only and, despite its highs and lows, the wine-production in Switzerland lasted and developed to our days. Swiss products can now be seen abroad as cultural ambassadors of a country whose winegrowers completely dedicate themselves to producing the very best.



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.