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Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $17.94 $20.08
12 bottles: $17.58
Ripe, plummy aromas and flavors. Medium body. A hint of vanilla coming through at the end. Balanced, tasty finish....
JS
90
Sale
Dessert/Fortified Wine
375ml
Bottle: $32.93 $35.64
6 bottles: $28.80
Very thick and expressive with golden raisin and molasses notes, followed by peach jam, mineral and spice flavors....
WE
91
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $13.81 $15.34
Color: Streaks of garnet giving way to intense ruby red. Nose: Candied fruits and spices that evolve into clean...
Case only
Red
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle: $14.26
Color: Ruby red very intense with purple reflexes. Bouquet: Strong and distinctive with sensations of spice and ripe...
Dessert/Fortified Wine
500ml
Bottle: $26.94
6 bottles: $26.40
The lovely result of a long wait. Bright colour with intense golden reflections, balanced bouquet with scents of...
12 FREE
Sale
Dessert/Fortified Wine
375ml
Bottle: $24.94 $25.92
COLOR: Gold color with copper notes NOSE: Rich, concentrated nose with notes of orange peel, acacia honey and...
Sale
Dessert/Fortified Wine
750ml
Bottle: $15.89 $17.09
12 bottles: $15.57
This French dessert wine is from the beautiful Dordogne Valley. Aromas of apricots, melon and honeysuckle; smooth...
White
750ml
Bottle: $26.94
12 bottles: $26.40
100% Melon de Bourgogne. Pépière has vines in a couple of different zones of the cru of Monnières-St.-Fiacre...
12 FREE
Case only
Red
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $68.40
12 FREE
Sale
Dessert/Fortified Wine
375ml
Bottle: $67.94 $69.80
Intricately woven aromas and flavors of baked apple, dried apricot, orange blossom and freshly toasted almonds. Rich...
12 FREE
Dessert/Fortified Wine
500ml
Bottle: $26.94
12 bottles: $26.40
Marmalade, ripe apricot, ripe apple, honey, chamomile, a touch of spice and acidity that sings!
12 FREE
W&S
93
Red
750ml
Bottle: $19.94
12 bottles: $19.54
COLOR: Intense red colour with garnet hints. NOSE: On the nose it displays fruity notes of blackberry and black...
Red
12 FREE
Red
750ml
Bottle: $14.73
12 bottles: $13.99
Dark, brooding and spicy, the 2019 Primitivo di Manduria lifts up with notes of crushed rocks, cardamom and black...
VM
89
JS
88
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $22.80
Dark ruby red, with garnet hues. It opens with notes of ripe blackberry and raspberry, followed by intense aromas of...
Dessert/Fortified Wine
750ml
Bottle: $93.94
12 bottles: $92.06
The 2019 Graacher Domprobst Riesling Beerenauslese is coolish, flinty and floral on the precise and aromatic nose...
12 FREE
WA
98
Red
750ml
Bottle: $31.94
6 bottles: $31.30
With ripe dark fruit and healthy acidity, it's perfect with a Porterhouse.
12 FREE
Case only
Red
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $24.90
A heady dose of sweet spices grace the nose, with baked black-cherry and plum tones at the core. This is ultrasoft...
Dessert/Fortified Wine
375ml
Bottle: $27.94
12 bottles: $27.38
This richly aromatic dessert wine shows off characters of litchi, apricot, peach and spice, along with notes of fresh...

Dessert Wine Melon de Bourgogne Negroamaro Primitivo 2019

One of the more unusual French grape varietals, Melon de Bourgogne has been grown in and around the Loire Valley for several hundred years. In fact, this grape was first planted in the Loire region of Pays Nantais back in the mid 17th century, after a devastating frost decimated most of the red grapes which were typical in the area. The winemakers of Pays Nantais were keen to cultivate vines which were hardy, high yielding, and capable of surviving another such frost, and so turned their attention to Melon de Bourgogne for this very reason. The native home of the varietal is actually in Burgundy, where it is still grown to a lesser extent.


Because Melon de Bourgogne produces naturally heavy yields, the vintners of Pays Nantais go to great lengths to reduce the amount of fruit the vines bear. This allows the finest characteristics of the grape to come forward, and also opens up the opportunity for it to express the wonderful granite and schist soils in which the vines are grown. Melon de Bourgogne is a minerally white wine grape varietal, with a very subtle set of fruit flavors. It is prized for its freshness and brightness, and is seeing a revival in the twenty first century as an excellent wine for pairing with a wide range of foods.

One of the key grapes of the ever-growing Puglia wine industry is the Negroamaro, a native grape of this southern Italian region, famed for its deep, bloody red color and excellent set of flavors Indeed, many of the finest and most highly esteemed full bodied red wines of Puglia are made using the Negroamaro varietal grape, and it is grown most notably in the Salento area of the region, where it makes several types of red wine enjoyed locally and sold overseas. The name 'Negroamaro' means 'black-bitter', giving some clue as to one of the key features of the grape. Wines made with Negroamaro do indeed hold quite a lot of earthy bitterness, but generally are celebrated for their 'rustic' taste and extremely aromatic qualities.

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.