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Pre-Arrival
Sansonina Verona Merlot IGT 2001
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$61.28
Deep ruby-red in color, with concentrated notes of crushed black cherries, cocoa, dried herbs, and a touch of balsam....
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$64.22
The Schola Sarmenti 2013 Primitivo Diciotto is the proverbial "big boy" wine from Puglia. If you don't get that from...
Pre-Arrival
Shafer Merlot 2011
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle:
$68.12
89-91 Shafer's 2011 Merlot jumps from the glass with dark cherries, spices, sage, mint and licorice. There is good...
Pre-Arrival
Telmo Rodriguez Branco De Santa Cruz 2020
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$55.53
The 2020 Branco de Santa Cruz is a village white from Valdeorras with a blend of textured Godello, Doña Blanca,...
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$44.54
An opulent, dense red, featuring ripe black cherry and blackberry notes, with persistent hints of earth and tobacco....
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$49.95
The 2018 Cont’Ugo is a gorgeous wine that captures the essence of this coolish year on the Tuscan coast. The...
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$50.92
A fresh, tight and structured merlot with vibrant notes of olives, red plums, cherries, tobacco, orange zest and...
Pre-Arrival
Terroir Al Limit Pedra De Guix 2021
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$99.17
While Dominik Huber produces two white wines at Terroir al Limit, they are made quite differently. Dominik refers to...
Pre-Arrival
Tua Rita Redigaffi 2007
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$249.95
Concentrated nose of baked blackberries, dark chocolate, tar, iodine, cloves, spearmint and hints of toffee. It’s...
Pre-Arrival
Tua Rita Redigaffi 2009
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$239.95
Lots of personality here, with aromas of black cherries, olives, seaweed, milk chocolate and salted plums. Velvety...
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Tua Rita Redigaffi 2010
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$247.75
An unforgettable expression of Merlot from coastal Tuscany, this ranks among the top-scoring icon wines of the world....
Pre-Arrival
Tua Rita Redigaffi 2011
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$216.95
The 2011 vintage was known for being an especially hot vintage and in fact harvesting started 15 days early, in the...
Pre-Arrival
Tua Rita Redigaffi 2012
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle:
$148.95
Ten years on the Redigaffi shows it's vibrancy with lifted aromas of savoury spice, violet and fennel. The palate is...
Pre-Arrival
Tua Rita Redigaffi 2013
750ml - Case of 3
Bottle:
$175.93
2013 had a very wet spring followed by a very sunny summer, although rain showers in July and August delayed ripening...
Pre-Arrival
Tua Rita Redigaffi 2014
750ml - Case of 3
Bottle:
$168.95
2014 was one of the coolest and rainiest vintages ever on the Tuscan coast. According to Tua Rita they were saved by...
Pre-Arrival
Tua Rita Redigaffi 2015
750ml - Case of 3
Bottle:
$216.95
This has aromas of blackberries, fresh plums, oyster shells, iodine, violets and tobacco leaves. Chocolate and salted...
Grappa Merlot Primitivo White Blend 750ml
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.
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.