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Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $6.99
The wine is a deep red ruby, with purple highlights and a light mousse and rim of the same color. It has an intense...
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $16.25
The Vecchia Modena Premium Lambrusco di Sorbara represents the history both of the Chiarli wine Company and of...
Rapid Ship
Spirits
700ml
Bottle: $1199.94
This blended whisky is an ideal sipper, with an enticing crème brûlèe and dried apricot scents. Those notes are...
12 FREE
WE
95
WKY
93
Sale
Rapid Ship
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $100.70 $106.00
Kaiy? whisky is matured in the finest Japanese Mizunara oak casks. These casks are handmade due to Mizunara oak’s...
12 FREE
Sale
Rapid Ship
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $78.17 $82.28
This was aged in Japan's rare Mizunara oak for the entirety of its maturation, which includes three-month ocean...
12 FREE
WE
91
WKY
90
Sale
Rapid Ship
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $99.75 $105.00
12 FREE
Rapid Ship
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $41.40
Get back to nature; this is a whisky to savor during a spectacular sunrise. Lychee, edamame, pea shoots, green apple,...
12 FREE
WKY
90
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $12.99
The NV Rosso Labrusca lifts up with a decadent blend of ripe cherries, blueberries, sweet herbs and spice. This takes...
VM
90
W&S
90
Sale
Rapid Ship
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $148.50 $199.94
Prunes, forest honey, vanilla seeds, dark chocolate cookies, and Brazil nut, with hints of chocolate orange and...
12 FREE
WKY
94
Sale
Rapid Ship
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $249.94 $349.94
Showing an attractive straw-gold color, this mature whisky has bright flavors of baked cereal grains, toasted vanilla...
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UBC
92
Rapid Ship
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $69.23
Ambrosial notes of sprouted grain, honey, bacon fat and orange blossom accompany deeper notes of toasted hazelnut....
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UBC
93
WKY
92
Sale
Rapid Ship
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $74.79 $78.73
This unique expression was developed in 2013 as a result of Nikka's continuous experiments to widen the variety and...
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Sale
Rapid Ship
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $46.46 $48.91
An accomplished blend packed with appealing flavors from Miyagikyo and Yoichi Distilleries. Honey, baked lemon,...
12 FREE
WKY
89
Sale
Rapid Ship
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $79.94 $89.94
Number 1 in the 2018 Top 20. Notably balanced and elegant, the colorful palette of whiskies combines for tremendous...
12 FREE
WKY
94
BTI
91
Sale
Rapid Ship
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $110.91 $116.75
This is a single malt from the Yoichi distillery, Nikka’s first distillery built in 1934. The founder Masataka...
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Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $29.89
The 2021 Hub, named after jazz trumpet player Freddie Hubbard because the wine comes from a higher and rockier place...
WA
95
JS
94
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $59.94
12 bottles: $49.94
The pure Cinsault 2021 Miles was dedicated to Miles Davis and produced with grapes from an old vineyard in the zone...
12 FREE
WA
96
JS
96
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $37.50
The single-vineyard Cinsault 2021 Monk comes from a rented vineyard in Guarilihue-Tiajacura on silt and iron soils...
12 FREE
WA
95
JS
94
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $64.94
12 bottles: $59.94
The single-vineyard Cinsault 2021 Newk was named for musician Sonny Rollins Newk, for Parra, the wildest jazz...
12 FREE
WA
97
JS
96
Sale
Rapid Ship
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $34.35 $39.25
The subtle and demure nose shows aromatics of lightly toasted butter biscuit, clover honey, dried Bergamot peel, and...
UBC
92
BTI
91

Cinsault Japanese Whiskey Lambrusco Rapid Ship

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.

Some grape species are distinct and unique varietals, clearly separate from each of their cousins. Others, like Lambrusco and Muscat, are more like umbrella terms, featuring several subspecies which show slight differences from each other from region to region. Indeed, there are astonishingly more than 60 identified varieties of Lambrusco vines, and they are almost all used in the production of characterful Italian sparkling wines. They are distinguishable by their deep ruby blush, caused by strong pigments present in their skins, and their intensely perfumed character.


Lambrusco vines are grown in several Italian regions, although we most closely associate this varietal with Piedmont and Basilicata. It has also been grown successfully in Argentina and Australia. The varietal suffered from a fairly lowly reputation in the late 20th century, due to bulk, low cost production of Lambrusco sparkling wines, aimed at markets across northern Europe and America. However, things are rapidly changing, and the older, more traditional methods of bottle fermentation are returning, along with a higher level of quality and expression, as consumers become more discerning and demanding. Many of the Lambrusco sub-varieties have their own established DOC, such as Lambrusco Salamino di Santa Croce, Lambrusco di Sorbara and Modena, where new regulations are keeping standards high and methods traditional.