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Sale
Dessert/Fortified Wine
375ml
Bottle: $58.90 $60.00
6 bottles: $58.20
Vidal is a hybrid (Ugni Blanc and Seibel) that has a thick skin suitable for harvesting late in the season. It is the...
12 FREE
Sale
White
750ml
Bottle: $28.50 $30.00
White
750ml
Bottle: $15.59
6 bottles: $14.73
White
750ml
Bottle: $19.94
12 bottles: $19.54
12 FREE
White
750ml
Bottle: $18.34
12 bottles: $17.97
An organoleptic analysis of La Mesma Gavi firstly offers us its delightful, straw colour, reinforced by the delicate...
White
750ml
Bottle: $26.94
12 bottles: $26.40
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Sale
White
750ml
Bottle: $21.67 $24.08
12 bottles: $17.49
APPEARANCE: Light straw. NOSE: Typical of Gavi, fine and pleasently fresh. PALATE: Delicate, very dry, characterized...
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Rapid Ship
White
750ml
Bottle: $34.93 $35.99
12 bottles: $34.23
This has aromas of sliced apples, fresh pears, lemons and melon. Creamy and fresh with a light to medium body and...
JS
90
White
750ml
Bottle: $32.94
12 bottles: $32.28
• Certified organic. • 100% Marsanne. • From the original Crozes villages of Crozes-Hermitage. • A single...
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White
750ml
Bottle: $99.94
12 bottles: $97.94
12 FREE
White
750ml
Bottle: $26.94
12 bottles: $26.40
• Certified organic. • 100% Marsanne. • 60+ year old vines. • 2 terraced parcels on opposite sides of the...
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Red
750ml
Bottle: $18.32 $19.28
12 bottles: $14.00
Big, inky-black fruit, spice and white pepper; layered and rich in the mouth with jammy black cherries, truffles,...
Red
750ml
Bottle: $16.24
12 bottles: $15.92
Deep ruby red with violet reflections. Intense fruity bouquet with notes of plum and cherry, hints of Mediterranean...
Case only
White
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Sale
White
750ml
Bottle: $39.94 $41.20
Another beautiful white from the team, the 100% Marsanne 2021 Crozes Hermitage Les Meysonniers Blanc offers up lots...
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JD
91
Sale
White
750ml
Bottle: $595.08 $661.20
Very rich, but racy and well-focused, with a great minerally underpinning to the fresh butter, chamomile, yellow...
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WS
97
WA
95
White
750ml
Bottle: $787.95
6 bottles: $772.19
As in 2016, my favorite of the white parcel selections this year is the 2017 Ermitage l'Ermite Blanc (231 cases...
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WA
100
DC
98
Sale
White
750ml
Bottle: $99.94 $105.20
Always a classic Hermitage Blanc, the 2019 Hermitage Chante-Alouette Blanc is all Marsanne that comes mostly from...
12 FREE
JD
95
DC
94
Sale
White
750ml
Bottle: $97.56 $108.40
Brilliant all the way, the 2020 Hermitage Chante-Alouette Blanc is a white readers should snatch up. All Marsanne...
12 FREE
JD
96
DC
95
Sale
White
750ml
Bottle: $95.40 $106.00
Quite possibly the finest white in the appellation, the 2020 Saint Joseph Les Granits Blanc is all Marsanne from what...
12 FREE
JD
97
DC
94

Cortese Ice Wine Marsanne Primitivo

The Cortese white wine grape varietal has been grown in and around south Piedmont, Italy, for at least five hundred years. Its delicate nature and moderate acidity have made it a favorite with people around the world, and it is most commonly served alongside the excellent seafood and shellfish dishes of the part of Italy it is traditionally grown in. Cortese grapes are easily identifiable by their lime and greengage flavors, and their generally delicate and medium bodied character. Cortese wines are also notable for their freshness and crispness, again, making them an ideal match for seafood. Whilst colder years often produce harsher, more acidic Cortese wines, practices such as allowing malolactic fermentation can solve any such problems and still produce delicious white wines made from this varietal.

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.