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750ml
Bottle:
$67.50
The 2019 Gracias Madre, 100% Grenache Noir, is fabulous. Rich, creamy and super-expressive, the 2019 offers notable...
750ml
Bottle:
$79.92
12 bottles:
$78.32
The NV Brut Le Caractère M is 95% Chardonnay and 5% Pinot Noir based on 2013, with a perpetual reserve dating back...
375ml
Bottle:
$26.84
12 bottles:
$26.30
The NV Brut Le Brut is another absolutely compelling wine in this range. Le Brut is 90% Chardonnay and 10% Pinot...
375ml
Bottle:
$40.00
12 bottles:
$39.20
The NV Brut Rosé is positively stellar. The blend of 80% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Noir (including 5% still Pinot)...
750ml
Bottle:
$49.93
$52.00
12 bottles:
$49.40
The NV Brut Rosé is positively stellar. The blend of 80% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Noir (including 5% still Pinot)...
750ml
Bottle:
$49.93
$54.00
Light, green-tinged yellow. Lively aromas of mineral-accented citrus and orchard fruits are complicated by suave...
750ml
Bottle:
$43.93
12 bottles:
$41.80
The NV Cuvée Le Demi-Sec is a very pretty, attractive Champagne. Even with 32 grams of residual sugar, the Demi-Sec...
![A. Margaine Champagne W131 Les Grands Arbres Extra Brut [Sans Soufre] 2020 750ml](https://www.saratogawine.com/files/images/cached_thumbs/0a/0ad1ff4dc540cce781148fd5a95bd194.jpg)
750ml
Bottle:
$76.00
$80.00
375ml
Bottle:
$28.90
12 bottles:
$28.32
White cherry, almond biscotti and mandarin orange peel notes are set in this bright Champagne, framed by firm acidity...
750ml
Bottle:
$39.94
12 bottles:
$39.14
Musky apricot pit, peach and spicy vanillin oak on the nose. Densely packed but quite suave and fine-grained in spite...
750ml
Bottle:
$34.69
12 bottles:
$34.00
Bright straw-yellow. Rather wild scents of peach pit, strawberry, lime peel, hazelnut and musky lees. Rich and dense...
750ml
Bottle:
$47.94
12 bottles:
$46.98
A delicate bouquet of white tea, orange blossom and toasted almond build into captivating aromas. Opening with...
750ml
Bottle:
$39.69
12 bottles:
$38.90
Aromas of currants, cedar and violets follow through to a medium body and fine tannins with a lovely, light velvety...
750ml
Bottle:
$43.94
6 bottles:
$43.06
Grapefruit pith, flint, roasted almonds and toasted lemons here. It’s medium-bodied, flinty and gently toasty with...
750ml
Bottle:
$49.60
6 bottles:
$48.80
WHITE PEACH | VIVACIOUS | WET STONE
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle:
$28.37
Dry and savory with a pleasant easy bubble. Aromas of white nectarine, and peach skin, sea shells, and lemon. A...
Champagne Blend Chardonnay Grappa Merlot 12 Ship Free Items Wine
The sparkling wines of Champagne have been revered by wine drinkers for hundreds of years, and even today they maintain their reputation for excellence of flavor and character, and are consistently associated with quality, decadence, and a cause for celebration. Their unique characteristics are partly due to the careful blending of a small number of selected grape varietals, most commonly Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. These grapes, blended in fairly equal quantities, give the wines of Champagne their wonderful flavors and aromas, with the Pinot Noir offering length and backbone, and the Chardonnay varietal giving its acidity and dry, biscuity nature. It isn't unusual to sometimes see Champagne labeled as 'blanc de blanc', meaning it is made using only Chardonnay varietal grapes, or 'blanc de noir', which is made solely with Pinot Noir.
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.
With its dark blue colored fruits and high juice content, Merlot varietal grapes have long been a favorite of wine producers around the globe, with it being found in vineyards across Europe, the Americas and elsewhere in the New World. One of the distinguishing features of Merlot grapes is the fact that they have a relatively low tannin content and an exceptionally soft and fleshy character, meaning they are capable of producing incredibly rounded and mellow wines. This mellowness is balanced with plenty of flavor, however, and has made Merlot grapes the varietal of choice for softening other, more astringent and tannin-heavy wines, often resulting in truly exceptional produce. Merlot is regarded as one of the key 'Bordeaux' varietals for precisely this reason; when combined with the drier Cabernet Sauvignon, it is capable of blending beautifully to produce some of the finest wines available in the world.