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Red
750ml
Bottle: $33.94
12 bottles: $33.26
Soft tannin and stimulating acidity rise to meet this deeply fruited, social wine. Carignan from this beloved site...
12 FREE
Red
750ml
Bottle: $13.43
12 bottles: $11.52
Our Cabrerisse comes from 40-60 year-old Carignan vines, dry-famed in the stony landscape of this small Languedoc...
Red
750ml
Bottle: $24.94
12 bottles: $24.44
The 2021 Carignane from Jessie's Grove is fabulous. Rich, deep, and dynamic, the 2021 is done in a style that shows...
VM
93
Red
750ml
Bottle: $22.94
Our style of wine began with the discovery of a centenary organic vineyard, lost in Cauquenes, in the Tres Esquinas...
12 FREE
Red
750ml
Bottle: $19.20
Our style of wine began with the discovery of a centenary organic vineyard, lost in Cauquenes, in the Tres Esquinas...
Red
750ml
Bottle: $119.49
Plenty of blackberry and licorice aromas are married to excellent ripeness on the palate. However, this impressive...
12 FREE
JS
94
Red
750ml
Bottle: $17.94
12 bottles: $17.58
Elegance, drinkability and fruit are the focus while tannin, power and spice remain satisfied in supporting roles....
Red
750ml
Bottle: $18.00
12 bottles: $17.10
Elegance, drinkability and fruit are the focus while tannin, power and spice remain satisfied in supporting roles....
Red
750ml
Bottle: $154.94
Released only now, Georg Prieler’s 2013 Blaufränkisch Ried Marienthal Oggau am Neusiedlersee displays a dark and...
12 FREE
WA
94
Red
750ml
Bottle: $110.94
Ripe blackberry fruit is married to some chocolate and coffee. Quite an imposing tannin structure, but nothing is...
12 FREE
JS
93
Case only
Red
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle: $24.94
12 FREE
Case only
Red
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle: $15.93
Intense ruby red color with purple hues. On the nose are aromas of ripe raspberries accompanied by spicy notes and...
Case only
Red
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle: $23.94
This Blaufränkisch is bursting with strength: after 12 months in wood, it shows ripe cherry fruit, dark berry jam...
Case only
Red
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle: $19.11
Cool aromas of blueberry and flint on the nose with ample and juicy fruit on the palate. Silky and lush in texture...
Case only
Red
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle: $34.10
Rich and intriguing, this is in an almost sleepy stage at the moment. With some air, this unwraps many different...
12 FREE
WS
93
Case only
Red
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle: $12.90
Dark ruby with a violet rim, with notes of strawberries and wild berries. The palate has well-integrated tannins with...
Red
750ml
Bottle: $24.94
12 bottles: $24.44
The winery named this Blaufränkisch after family fathers Béla Wachter and Jóska Wiesler; the fruit is from each...
12 FREE
Red
750ml
Bottle: $30.00
12 bottles: $29.40
Wachter-Wiesler began bottling two village-level wines, offering a middle ground between the Bela-Joska which gives a...
12 FREE
Red
750ml
Bottle: $48.60
12 bottles: $47.63
A very special single vineyard of 50-year-old vines with a sandy clay top soil and sand and gravel in the subsoil....
12 FREE
Red
750ml
Bottle: $42.94
12 bottles: $42.08
The darkest forest berries and the best licorice meet in this deep, rooty blaufrankisch that is spectacularly...
12 FREE
JS
97
WA
93

Blaufrankisch Carignan Ice Wine Mavrodaphne

Carignan is an ancient blue-skinned grape varietal, thought to be indigenous to the Aragon region of Spain. However, today it is most commonly associated with the fine wines of southern France, and has been grown in many countries around the world which have the warm and dry conditions it requires to thrive. Carignan is recognized as being quite a sensitive vine, highly susceptible to all kinds of rot and mildew, although producing excellent results when given the right conditions and handled correctly. Its high tannin levels and acidity make the Carignan grapes very astringent, and as such, they are often used as a blending grape to give body to other, lesser bodied varietals. Despite this, with careful treatment, Carignan can produce superb single varietal wines packed full of character and unique attributes.

In the Archaea region, high in the Northern Peloponnese mountains, the predominant grape varietal grown is the prized Mavrodaphne. Meaning 'Black Laurel', the Mavrodaphne grapes have extremely dark skins, and ripen slowly under the Greek sunshine, helped by the mineral rich soils the vines thrive in. This grape varietal is mostly used to produce the opaque, inky fortified wine of the same name, which is popular all over Greece and elsewhere in the world. This fortified wine allows the grapes to really show off their complex and fascinating flavors, which range from a rich marzipan to flavors of bitter chocolate, sweet coffee, dried figs and prunes, as well as plenty of jammy fruit notes.

Mavrodaphne is produced in a traditional method which involves leaving the grape juice exposed to the sun in large vats, before having its fermentation halted by the addition of various distillates taken from previous successful vintages. This mixture contains plenty of residual sugar, which gives the end result its characteristic sticky sweetness, and also helps with the next fermentation process, which typically takes place in large underground cellars. The final product is a heady drink, absolutely bursting with unusual, rich and sweet flavors and carried in a dark and slightly viscous Port-like liquid.

Mavrodaphne grapes are also used for the production of still red wines, but are generally blended with varietals such as Agiorgitiko or imported grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon. Mavrodaphne grapes are excellent for mellowing more acidic varieties, and producing deliciously rounded wines, which have taken the international market by storm in recent decades.

Additional Information on Greek Wines


Greek Wines
Ancient Greek Wines – A Brief History of Wine in Greece
The Myth of Dionysus, Greek God of Wine
What is Retsina?