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Sale
Rapid Ship
White
750ml
Bottle: $40.95 $46.80
The 2017 Chardonnay Sangiacomo Vineyards opens with aromas of lemon meringue, popcorn, banana chip and stone fruits...
WA
89
WS
88
Sale
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $9.10 $13.01
This entry-level Malbec is an authentic mountain wine that offers excellent value for money. Just 30% was oak-aged,...
DC
92
JS
91
Sale
Rapid Ship
Sparkling
750ml
Bottle: $41.32 $47.22
This unique, zero-dosage Champagne boasts the perfect balance of dryness and sweetness resulting in a clean, crisp...
Sale
Rapid Ship
Sparkling
750ml
Bottle: $25.19 $28.79
In 1955, a group of wine growers from the village of Mardeuil, a small village on the hillsides of Epernay, joined...
Sale
Rapid Ship
White
750ml
Bottle: $23.10 $26.40
A graceful Chardonnay, with ripe yellow apple and pear fruit enlivened by bright acidity and a lightly crunchy...
WS
91
Sale
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $15.75 $18.00
Intense nose of strawberries, cherries, blackberries and cassis, with spiced black pepper notes on the back. Fresh on...
Sale
Rapid Ship
White
750ml
Bottle: $17.60 $20.11
Rich and savory in the glass, the 2022 Bramito della Sala slowly opens to show hints of young peach and apricot,...
VM
92
WS
90
Sale
Rapid Ship
Sparkling
750ml
Bottle: $28.00 $32.00
This lively Champagne is bright and balanced, with spicy mineral and graphite accents underscoring the poached pear,...
WS
91
VM
90
Sale
Rapid Ship
White
750ml
Bottle: $42.00 $48.00
The 2021 Pouilly-Fuissé Tête de Cuvée, a blend of different plots, contains slightly more wood maturation than...
VM
89
Sale
Rapid Ship
Sparkling
750ml
Bottle: $7.70 $11.00
Aromas of red fruits, jams and cassis complemented by soft notes of pastries and yeast fruit of its aging in contact...
Sale
Rapid Ship
Sparkling
750ml
Bottle: $14.78 $17.60
Sale
Rapid Ship
White
750ml
Bottle: $28.00 $32.00
This is taut and even austere, revealing lemon and apple flavors, with a hint of white peach. Oak spice and a light...
WS
91
JS
90
Sale
Rapid Ship
Sparkling
750ml
Bottle: $26.65 $30.46
Partially fermented in barrique, the NV Franciacorta Brut Rosé is an accessible blend of 40% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot...
WA
91
Sale
Rapid Ship
Sparkling
750ml
Bottle: $39.55 $45.20
A bubbly with richness and verve, this cuvee offers lilting apple tart, creme brulee and lemon verbena flavors that...
WS
94
Sale
Rapid Ship
White
Sale
Rapid Ship
White
750ml
Bottle: $19.95 $22.80
"Full of life! A bouquet of citrus aromas, and then we find honey and vanilla. In the mouth, it's funky, spontaneous,...
Sale
Rapid Ship
White
750ml
Bottle: $14.70 $17.50
This fresh, brilliant pale-gold Chardonnay shows delicate varietal aromas with flavors of apple and melon offset by...
Sale
Rapid Ship
White
750ml
Bottle: $40.60 $46.40
This is very subtle and complete with cooked lemons and apples and a complement of straw and gunpowder. Full-bodied,...
JS
95
Sale
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $34.65 $39.60
This serious and refined wine wraps abundant black fruit and oak spice flavors in medium to full tannins that give it...
WE
94
JS
91
Sale
Rapid Ship
White
750ml
Bottle: $42.00 $48.00
The 2019 Chardonnay Martinelli Road is an attractive, easygoing wine to drink now and over the next handful of years....
VM
92

Cabernet Sauvignon Champagne Blend Chardonnay Malbec End Bin Wine

The sparkling wines of Champagne have been revered by wine drinkers for hundreds of years, and even today they maintain their reputation for excellence of flavor and character, and are consistently associated with quality, decadence, and a cause for celebration. Their unique characteristics are partly due to the careful blending of a small number of selected grape varietals, most commonly Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. These grapes, blended in fairly equal quantities, give the wines of Champagne their wonderful flavors and aromas, with the Pinot Noir offering length and backbone, and the Chardonnay varietal giving its acidity and dry, biscuity nature. It isn't unusual to sometimes see Champagne labeled as 'blanc de blanc', meaning it is made using only Chardonnay varietal grapes, or 'blanc de noir', which is made solely with Pinot Noir.

Of all the white wine grape varietals, surely the one which has spread the furthest and is most widely appreciated is the Chardonnay. This green skinned grape is now grown all over the Old and New Worlds, from New Zealand to the Americas, from England to Chile, and is one of the first varietals people think of when considering white wine grapes. Perhaps this is because of its huge popularity which reached a peak in the 1990s, thanks to new technologies combining with traditional methods to bring the very best features out of the Chardonnay grape, and allow its unique qualities to shine through. Most fine Chardonnay wines use a process known as malolactic fermentation, wherein the malic acids in the grape juice are converted to lactic acids, allowing a creamier, buttery nature to come forward in the wine. No grape varietal is better suited to this process than Chardonnay, which manages to balance these silky, creamy notes with fresh white fruit flavors beautifully.

The purple Malbec variety grapes which now grow all over the Old and New Worlds had their origins in France, where they are one of the few grape varieties allowed to be used in the highly esteemed blended wines of Bordeaux. However, it is perhaps the New World Malbec wines which have attracted the most attention in recent years, as they thrive in hot southern climates in ways they cannot in their native country, where the damp conditions leave them highly vulnerable to rot. Malbec grapes are renowned for their high tannin content, resulting in full-bodied red wines packed with ripe, plummy flavors and held in their characteristically dark, garnet colored liquid. In many countries, Malbec is still used primarily as a varietal for blending, as it adds a great level of richness and density to other, lighter and thinner varietals. However, single variety Malbec wines have been greatly on the rise in recent years, with some fantastic results and big, juicy flavors marking them out as a great wine for matching with a wide range of foods.