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Sale
Sparkling
750ml
Bottle: $23.37 $24.60
12 bottles: $22.80
Altaneve Rosé is an exclusive blend of Pinot Nero and Glera grapes hand-cultivated in the foothills of the Alps, in...
White
750ml
Bottle: $14.94
12 bottles: $13.99
Chardonnay greenish yellow. Shades of apple and lemon combined with touches of pineapple and honey. White fruits and...
Sale
White
750ml
Bottle: $14.41 $15.17
12 bottles: $12.36
With rich fruit flavors, Altoona Hills Chardonnay shows considerable complexity, reinforced with subtle notes of...
White
750ml
Bottle: $11.90
12 bottles: $11.66
Sale
White
750ml
Bottle: $39.84 $44.00
The color of this wine is best described as pale straw with a slight tint of emerald green. The nose opens as a...
Case only
White
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle: $23.90
Yummy spices like nutmeg, vanilla bean and cloves waft from the glass before rich golden apple, spiced apple, light...
JS
94
Sale
White
750ml
Bottle: $14.90 $15.83
12 bottles: $14.25
Lime juice, chalk, plumeria and peach make for a zippy, yet ripe nose on this bottling. The palate's citrusy core...
WE
88
White
750ml
Bottle: $19.94
12 bottles: $19.54
Case only
Sparkling
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $77.04
The Un jour de 1911... is another 100% Bouzy Pinot Noir with an antique label design. The bright golden colored...
12 FREE
WA
96
Case only
Sparkling
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle: $40.32
Rated 93 - Strong and lush, very creamy, mild acidity, great perlage, very intense and expressive. You could easily...
WNR
93
Case only
Sparkling
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle: $44.64
Rated 94 - This varietal Grand Cru Pinot Noir, pressed white as Brut, has the great power of the Grand Reserve, but...
WNR
94
Case only
Sparkling
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle: $48.23
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Sparkling
750ml
Bottle: $9.99
The golden yellow color of this Blanc de Blancs and its delicate bubbles highlight the finesse of its effervescence....
Sparkling
750ml
Bottle: $12.94
12 bottles: $12.68
The wine develops fruity aromas with grenadine notes that are reminiscent of raspberry liquor. This Rose is ideal for...
Sparkling
750ml
Bottle: $21.37
12 bottles: $20.95
12 FREE
Case only
Sparkling
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $107.00
While this Champagne from Le Mesnil-sur-Oger is still young, showing a crisp, bone-dry character alongside tight...
12 FREE
WE
94
Case only
Sparkling
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $54.90
From the grand cru village of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, this tight, mineral-driven Champagne is bone dry. The ripe fruit...
12 FREE
WE
92
DC
91
Case only
Sparkling
750ml - Case of 3
Bottle: $229.52
An expressive Champagne, with a lively, zesty bead and hints of dried herbs and flowers accenting juicy blood orange...
12 FREE
WS
91
Case only
Sparkling
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $49.94
Pretty floral and spice notes waft through flavors of green melon and blanched almond in this well-cut Champagne....
12 FREE
WS
92
DC
91
Case only
Sparkling
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $59.94
Woodsmoke and dried herb notes are a savory underpinning in this distinctive rosé Champagne, layered with a juicy...
12 FREE
WS
91

Champagne Blend Chardonnay Gamay Mencia

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.

The French wines of Beaujolais are widely regarded as some of the finest table wines in the world. This is due in part to the qualities of the Gamay grape, from which they are made. Gamay produces beautifully, juicy, rounded and gulpable red wines, usually drank young and full of their natural fruit character. However, it would be a mistake to say that Gamay is limited to easy-drinking, soft wines - it’s a highly flexible and versatile grape, capable of producing aged wines of serious complexity and structure, full of expression and fascinating characteristics.


The majority of Gamay wines from France are labeled under Beaujolais Villages or Beaujolais, and these are the standard table wines we’re used to seeing in French restaurants, at bistros, and at our local wine store. Usually great value for money, these are the light, slightly acidic examples of what the grape can do. Far more interesting are those Gamay wines from the 10 cru villages, just north of Beaujolais, where generations of expertise and a unique soil type made up of granitic schist result in far more unique, complicated wines. The best examples of Gamay feature intense aromatics, all black fruit and forest fare, and are worth cellaring for a few years.