Do we ship to you?.
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$352.75
Pale gold color. The bouquet has notes of ripe peach and apricot. On the palate, this wine is broad and rich with...
750ml
Bottle:
$33.67
12 bottles:
$33.00
Brilliant yellow. Pungent, mineral-accented Meyer lemon and pear nectar scents show very good clarity and hints of...
750ml
Bottle:
$31.58
12 bottles:
$30.95
For this excellent blend, 25% new French oak was employed. It retains its vivid apple-flavored intensity, while...
750ml
Bottle:
$38.98
12 bottles:
$38.20
Rated 97 in 2016, 2014 not rated.
750ml
Bottle:
$60.05
12 bottles:
$58.85
This is another stunner from Pellet Estate, from a high-elevation vineyard influenced by fog and wind. A wet stone...
750ml
Bottle:
$28.46
12 bottles:
$27.89
The nose of white flowers, lemon oil, crushed rocks, and honey is enticing. This wine has beautiful bright acidity...
Pre-Arrival
Bachelet-Monnot Batard Montrachet Grand Cru 2014
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$769.41
Pale yellow-green. Musky aromas of lime and fresh herbs complicated by pepper, spices and a sexy suggestion of...
Pre-Arrival
Catena Zapata Chardonnay White Bones 2014
750ml - Case of 3
Bottle:
$104.12
Aromas of stone, chalk and cooked apple follow through to a full body, with so much sea salt, dried apple and pear...
750ml - Case of 3
Bottle:
$602.84
A highly restrained nose features notes of cool and ultra-pure citrus, green apple, white flowers, herbal tea and wet...
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle:
$114.10
This is also somewhat leesy and it renders the nose impossible to accurately read. The medium weight flavors also...
Chardonnay Faro Grappa Zinfandel 2014
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.
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.
The precise origins of what became known as the Zinfandel grape variety are uncertain, although it has clear genetic equivalents in both Puglia and Croatia. However, when it was brought to the New World in the mid 19th century, it became known as the Zinfandel, and has been consistently popular and widely grown ever since. These very dark and very round grapes have a remarkably high sugar content, resulting in relatively high levels of alcohol in the wines they are made into, with bottles often displaying as much as fifteen percent. What makes the Zinfandel such an interesting grape, though, is the fact that the flavors produced by this varietal vary considerably depending on the climate they are grown in. In cooler valley regions, the Zinfandel grapes result in wines which hold strong flavors of tart and sweet fruits; raspberry, redcurrant and sweet cherry, held in a very smooth and silky liquid. Conversely, warmer regions result in more complex and spicy notes, including anise, pepper and hedgerow berries.