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Sale
Spirits
375ml
Bottle: $18.81 $19.80
24 bottles: $17.10
Baked pear,orange peel and beeswax are elegantly displayed on the nose. The tastes are well balanced and harmonious....
UBC
94
Sale
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $39.89 $41.99
12 bottles: $36.47
Baked pear,orange peel and beeswax are elegantly displayed on the nose. The tastes are well balanced and harmonious....
UBC
94
Spirits
12 FREE
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $64.80
12 bottles: $61.56
12 FREE
Sale
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $42.18 $44.40
12 FREE
Sale
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $33.06 $34.80
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $21.60
12 bottles: $20.52
Sale
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $33.06 $34.80
We let our Red Pineau age, and we discover that’il loses its color with time, taking tiled reflections on its...
Sale
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $37.94 $40.80
12 bottles: $29.64
Scented with baked apple and vanilla, this amber-hued brandy—aged three to four years—shows oak, cedar and...
WE
91
Sale
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $47.43 $51.00
12 bottles: $41.04
TOP 100 SPIRITS 2015. Almost like dessert in a glass, this deep topaz-hued Cognac has a scent that evokes baked apple...
12 FREE
WE
94
Sale
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $30.13 $32.40
12 bottles: $24.49
A blend of unfermented grape juice mixed with unaged brandy then aged together for 18 months in oak. 17% abv
Sale
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $34.95 $37.80
100% Arneis from the Roero, grown in marl and sandstone soils from the Pliocene era. This is a young, fresh version...
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $39.00
100% Nebbiolo; this pomace is from grapes that were pressed for Barolo, from Barolo and Monforte d’Alba. Aged for 6...
12 FREE
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $39.00
6 bottles: $30.60
100% Nebbiolo from the Roero and Langhe. Flavored with an infusion of apricot wood for 2-3 months, then aged for 4-5...
12 FREE
Instore only
Sale
Spirits
375ml
Bottle: $20.96 $22.06
Sumptuous confectionary aromas of chocolate orange, salted caramel, vanilla, almond butter, and orange peel. The...
UBC
96
BTI
94
Rapid Ship
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $40.31
12 bottles: $38.29
Sumptuous confectionary aromas of chocolate orange, salted caramel, vanilla, almond butter, and orange peel. The...
12 FREE
UBC
96
BTI
94
Sale
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $171.46 $180.48
This version of Grand Marnier uses rare Cognac reserves aged up to 50 years. Here, the flavor and scent are closer to...
12 FREE
WE
96
UBC
94
Sale
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $67.72 $71.28
6 bottles: $67.20
This noble cordial combines both the essence of pure citrus peel and the heady flavors of aged Cognac. The two find...
12 FREE
UBC
96
BTI
95
Instore only
Spirits
375ml
Bottle: $26.99
Hennessy Very Special (V.S) is one of the most popular cognacs in the world. Matured in new oak barrels, Hennessy V.S...
Instore only
Sale
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $39.90 $42.00
Hennessy Very Special (V.S) is one of the most popular cognacs in the world. Matured in new oak barrels, Hennessy V.S...

Grenache Cognac Grappa Mencia

The Grenache grape holds the honor of being the most widely planted wine grape varietal on earth. It has a long and impressive history, and has been the backbone of the some of the planet’s most respected and famed wine regions, blended with Syrah in regions such as Chateauneuf du Pape, and in certain other Loire and Languedoc regions where it reigns supreme as a single varietal wine grape. In other key areas, such as Spain’s La Rioja (where it is known as Garnacha Tinta), it is blended with Tempranillo to make that country’s signature red wine, and is widely used as a blending grape in other old and new world countries, due to its unique character and jammy, fruit forward character.


For a long time, the Grenache grape was somewhat looked down upon as an ignoble varietal, incapable of producing wines of any particular interest. However, times are very much changing - in the right hands, Grenache grapes result in astonishingly intense and complex wines, full of fascinating features, and capable of achieving plenty of expression. For a while now, Grenache has been a major player in Australian wines. While not yet quite as extensively planted down under as Shiraz is, the Barossa Valley is bringing out some of the finest examples of this grape’s wines in recent years.

For over three hundred years, Cognac has enjoyed its reputation as the king of brandies. Indeed, it is widely regarded as the finest drink to be distilled from grapes to be found anywhere in the world, and it is a testament to its producers and the master craftsmen who make it that this reputation has never faltered, and remains as strong as ever to this day.

Cognac is produced solely in the beautiful towns of Cognac and Jarnac, found about fifty miles north of Bordeaux, on the west coast of France. Here, around six thousand grape growers work exclusively in the production of white wine, used for the Cognac distilleries which are scattered throughout the region. The wines are made primarily from the Ugni Blanc or Trebbiano grape - one of the most commonly planted grape varietals in the world - which benefit from the cool, coastal climate and mineral rich soils which are found there. The wines themselves wouldn’t be suitable for drinking in themselves, as they are high in acid and low in alcohol, but this makes them ideal for distillation, and they can impart their wonderful, complex, rich flavors to the brandy.

Cognac varies quite significantly from bottle to bottle, depending on how long it has been aged for, and which appellation it comes from. The Cognac region is split into six separate Crus, all with their own distinctive characteristics, and the spirit can be aged from two years (VS) to six (Hors d’Age and Napoleon) and longer.

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.