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Red
1.5Ltr
Bottle: $71.40
3 bottles: $69.97
Ripe crunchy red forest fruits with notes of candied dark cherries. Rich and bold, with juicy tannins. (Bronze) -...
DC
89
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $28.93 $31.60
Ripe crunchy red forest fruits with notes of candied dark cherries. Rich and bold, with juicy tannins. (Bronze) -...
DC
89
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $11.54 $12.57
Deep ruby red with violet reflections; intense fruity bouquet with notes of plum and cherry, hints of Mediterranean...
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $12.48 $13.87
Broad, ripe black fruit and spice aromas, with notes of pepper, toasty vanilla and Mediterranean scrub. On the...
Red
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...
12 FREE
WS
89
Sale
Red
375ml
Bottle: $14.41 $15.17
12 bottles: $13.18
The Fleurie wine-making is traditional - whole clusters are kept, which leads to a semi-carbonic maceration as the...
Sale
Red
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...
Red
750ml
Bottle: $12.57
12 bottles: $12.32
Red
750ml
Bottle: $15.84
12 bottles: $15.52
Sale
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $14.70 $17.50
The effusive violet and blackcurrant-pastille aromas draw you into this elegant and silky, mid-weight Brouilly with...
WA
90
JS
90
Case only
Red
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...
12 FREE
Red
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...
12 FREE
Rapid Ship
Red
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...
12 FREE
JS
96
Case only
Red
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle: $27.00
As with all the wines from this estate, the wine is a blend from a number of parcels. It is ripe and structured with...
12 FREE
WE
91
Red
750ml
Bottle: $32.94
The complex and compelling nose of red fruit pulls you inexorably into the concentrated and beautifully proportioned...
12 FREE
JS
95
Sale
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $15.75 $18.00
This structured wine gives concentration as well as broad and ripe black fruits. The wine is full, rich, and can age...
WE
93
WA
90
Red
750ml
Bottle: $24.90
12 bottles: $24.40
Ruby red with purple highlights. Beautiful balance between ripe red fruits and ethereal floral notes. A remarkable...
12 FREE
Case only
Red
1.5Ltr - Case of 3
Bottle: $93.00
Very well structured, yet restrained and elegant with a cool and delicate personality for the warm vintage, this is a...
JS
94
WA
93
Red
750ml
Bottle: $39.94
This beautiful Fleurie has stacks of black raspberry fruit, but is anything other than loud. It gracefully tiptoes...
12 FREE
JS
95
Red
750ml
Bottle: $22.95
12 bottles: $22.49
Rated 92 - The Régnié “Sans Soufre” from Château de la Pierre hails from a beautiful parcel of sixty to...
12 FREE

Grenache Gamay Insolia Primitivo

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.

As with many European grape varietals, there is some debate regarding the precise origins of the Primitivo grape. Most people now agree that it probably came from Croatia, where it is still used widely in the production of red wine, and it known as Tribidrag. However, today it is a grape most commonly associated with the powerful red wines of Puglia, the heel of Italy’s boot, where the intense sunshine and brisk Mediterranean breezes produce grapes of remarkable character and balance. Primitivo is a dark grape, known for producing intense, inky, highly tannic wines, most notably the naturally sweet Dolce Naturale and the heavy and complex Primitivo di Manduria wines. Primitivo tends to be naturally very high in both tannin and alcohol, making it ideal for both barrel and cellar ageing, which brings out its more rounded and interesting features.


Primitivo is not the easiest grape to grow or manage, and it has had something of a difficult century. Indeed, by the 1990s, there was little interest in Puglian wines in general, and winemakers were neglecting their Primitivo vineyards and looking to other, more commercially viable varietals. However, the last decade has seen this grape come well and truly back into fashion, with new techniques and a heightened interest in native Italian grape varietals bringing Primitivo back into the spotlight. It is now widely loved for its intensity and ability to be paired with strongly flavored foods.