Do we ship to you?.
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle:
$14.25
Alta Vita embodies the spirit and purpose-driven lifestyle of the Sardinians. The wine is full-bodied, robust and...
750ml
Bottle:
$19.93
12 bottles:
$19.53
Ruby red in color with aromas of wild blackberry and ripe plum. Intense and elegant on the palate with notes of red...
750ml
Bottle:
$15.00
12 bottles:
$14.25
Intense aromas of marasca cherry and redcurrant with hints of blackberry jelly. Dynamic and enveloping on the palate...
750ml
Bottle:
$38.50
12 bottles:
$37.73
Pignolo is very late harvested and aged over two years in 100% new french oak barrels. It does need years to mellow...
750ml
Bottle:
$24.90
Cannonau is a typical grapevine in Sardinia that here in Usini assumes unique organoleptic nuances that are found in...
750ml
Bottle:
$19.20
12 bottles:
$15.44
Ruby color. Elegant, with fresh fig and ripe red berry aromas (black cherry, wild strawberry), as well as delicate...
750ml
Bottle:
$14.95
12 bottles:
$14.65
The Beau! Beaujolais comes from a forty year-old high-density vineyard. Fermentation is traditional, 100%...
750ml
Bottle:
$28.94
12 bottles:
$28.36
If there is a red grape more expressive in its youth than Valdiguié, we've yet to meet it. It's so many vibrant,...
750ml
Bottle:
$45.00
• 100% Palomino.
• From a less-than-one-hectare parcel of 80-year-old vines planted in slate at high altitude....
750ml
Bottle:
$15.94
12 bottles:
$15.62
Brouilly is one of the Cru Beaujolais, which are known for producing excellent, food friendly, underrated wines at a...
750ml
Bottle:
$16.25
12 bottles:
$15.93
Known in France as Grenache, this classic Cannonau is full-bodied, pure and authentic. It is a brilliant Ruby red and...
750ml
Bottle:
$15.99
12 bottles:
$15.67
Savory undertones of grilled thyme, fresh earth and smoky mineral flank the steeped cherry and raspberry fruit...
750ml
Bottle:
$20.88
$23.20
The Fleurie wine-making is traditional - whole clusters are kept, which leads to a semi-carbonic maceration as the...
750ml
Bottle:
$16.94
$17.50
12 bottles:
$16.63
The effusive violet and blackcurrant-pastille aromas draw you into this elegant and silky, mid-weight Brouilly with...
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle:
$19.94
Delectable, fruity nose underscored with aromas of red and black fruits. Generous and aromatic on the palate, with...
750ml
Bottle:
$25.94
12 bottles:
$25.42
Delectable, fruity nose underscored with aromas of red and black fruits. Generous and aromatic on the palate, with...
750ml
Bottle:
$41.94
12 bottles:
$41.10
Needs a moment in the glass for the forest-berry aromas to open up. Very minerally and smoky with plenty of...
Grenache Gamay Japanese Whiskey Sherry Other Italian Reds
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.
The French wines of Beaujolais are widely regarded as some of the finest table wines in the world. This is due in part to the qualities of the Gamay grape, from which they are made. Gamay produces beautifully, juicy, rounded and gulpable red wines, usually drank young and full of their natural fruit character. However, it would be a mistake to say that Gamay is limited to easy-drinking, soft wines - it’s a highly flexible and versatile grape, capable of producing aged wines of serious complexity and structure, full of expression and fascinating characteristics.
The majority of Gamay wines from France are labeled under Beaujolais Villages or Beaujolais, and these are the standard table wines we’re used to seeing in French restaurants, at bistros, and at our local wine store. Usually great value for money, these are the light, slightly acidic examples of what the grape can do. Far more interesting are those Gamay wines from the 10 cru villages, just north of Beaujolais, where generations of expertise and a unique soil type made up of granitic schist result in far more unique, complicated wines. The best examples of Gamay feature intense aromatics, all black fruit and forest fare, and are worth cellaring for a few years.
Whisky might not be the first thing that springs to mind when we think of Japanese fine produce, but over the past one hundred years, this fascinating and multi-faceted country has diligently forged a unique whisky identity which is growing in popularity, and which is entirely its own.
The story of Japanese whisky begins in 1918, when Masataka Taketsuru was sent to Scotland to undertake a tour of single malt distilleries in the Highlands, and bring home a knowledge of whisky and distillation skills. He returned full of inspiration, helped no doubt by his new Scottish wife, and alongside his friend, Shinjiro Torii, set up what would become a successful whisky industry.
Today, the Japanese whisky industry is spread over a relatively small handful of distilleries, which continue to use Scottish techniques and recipes, but with a hefty dose of distinctly Japanese experimentalism. This is displayed most obviously in the barrelling techniques the Japanese use - to create a distinctly Oriental set of tasting notes, native Japanese oakwood casks are used for ageing, alongside casks taken from plum wine producers, which impart a beautiful set of floral flavors to the whisky.
While some distilleries produce some excellent single malts, the majority of Japanese whiskies are blended, which reveals a unique set of flavors and aromas ranging from honeysuckle and orange blossom, to toffee and acetone.
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.