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Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $1836.18 $2040.20
The 2005 Ausone is magnificent. A wine of soaring intensity and class, the 2005 dazzles from the very first taste....
12 FREE
WA
100
VM
100
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $1135.08 $1261.20
An utterly perfect wine from Alain Vauthier, the 2015 Château Ausone offers off the hook notes of crème de cassis,...
12 FREE
WE
100
JD
100
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $1011.15 $1123.50
The incredible succulent power in Ausone puts a different perspective on other wines, as it so often does. The...
12 FREE
DC
99
WA
99
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $1005.48 $1117.20
#73 TOP 100 WINES OF FRANCE 2022. Like a bouquet of fresh flowers on the nose, as well as blackberries, raspberries...
12 FREE
JS
100
WE
99
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $865.08 $961.20
The flowers in the nose are spectacular with violets, lavender, and honeysuckle. Then there’s wet stone and freshly...
12 FREE
JS
99
DC
98
Case only
Red
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle: $59.94
The 2005 Château Barde-Haut showed beautifully and was one of the gems in the lineup. Offers loads of ripe dark...
12 FREE
JD
95
WA
92
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $55.88 $57.20
12 bottles: $54.76
Even better than the 2009, the 2010 Château Barde-Haut offers the same sexy, extroverted style yet has slightly more...
12 FREE
JD
96
WS
93
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $41.88
12 bottles: $37.98
Readers will find a rich, flamboyant wine in the 2016 Barde-Haut. There is not a ton of subtlety here, but I am not...
VM
96
JD
95
Red
750ml
Bottle: $51.30
12 bottles: $47.60
Showing brilliantly, the 2018 Château Barde-Haut comes from a beautiful, cooler terroir on the eastern side of...
12 FREE
JD
95
DC
94
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $39.60 $44.00
Attractive black-fruit and berry character with some chocolate and toasted-hazelnut undertones. It’s full-bodied...
VM
95
JS
95
Sale
Red
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $22.80
12 bottles: $21.66
Superb intensity and clarity of fruit, ranging from blueberries to blackcurrants to oyster shells and lightly tarry...
JS
94
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $44.69 $48.79
This is really nicely done with plenty of blackberries, dark chocolate and toasted oak. Medium to full body. Needs to...
JS
92
WA
91
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $649.08 $721.20
12 FREE
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $310.68 $345.20
12 FREE
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $182.70 $203.00
This wine showed exceptionally well, both at the the Bordeaux 10 Years On tasting in London a few weeks ago and in...
12 FREE
DC
93
WE
93
Red
1.5Ltr
Bottle: $205.00
6 bottles: $200.90
Fantastic aromas of crushed plums and blackberries. Perfumed! Full-bodied and very silky with stone undertones. Best...
JS
94
WA
91
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $99.36 $110.40
Shows beautiful, ripe cabernet aromas with currants, plums, meat and smoke. Flowers, too. Full body, deep and ripe...
12 FREE
JS
96
WA
95
Red
375ml
Bottle: $55.35
12 bottles: $54.24
This offers up a small plume of cocoa before steering back to more typical dark currant and black cherry fruit notes,...
12 FREE
WS
92
Red
750ml
Bottle: $12.99
12 bottles: $11.52
Shining ruby at its core with violet reflections, Beau-Rivage rouge shows fragrant blackberry, raspberry and...

Gewurztraminer Melon de Bourgogne Mencia Red Bordeaux

Gewurztraminer is renowned for being a particularly tricky grape varietal to grow and cultivate, but is one which plenty of wineries persevere with due to its unique properties and excellent flavors The vines themselves are highly robust, and can even be unruly when in the correct type of soil, but they cannot grow well in terroirs which contain chalk or other similar components. They are also extremely susceptible to a wide range of diseases and rot, and due to their early budding and fruiting, they cannot survive frost. However, despite these problems, in cooler climates and on the right terroir, the Gewurztraminer grape varietal produces wonderful results quite unlike any other vine. The pink grapes are packed full of elegant and sweet flavors, their relatively high sugar content offering a light sweetness alongside floral notes, perfumed and aromatic aromas, and a distinctive taste of lychees.

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.

There are few regions in the world with stricter regulations in regards to wine production and grape varietals than those found in Bordeaux, France. Here, in the home of the world's finest wines, the type and quality of grapes used is of utmost importance, and the legendary wineries which work on the banks of the Gironde river have mastered the careful art of juice blending to find the perfect balance for their produce. Whilst there are six 'official' Bordeaux grapes, the two key varietals for almost every fine Bordeaux wine are Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and with good reason. Whilst Cabernet Sauvignon grapes are renowned for their acidity and astringency, strong fruit and spice flavors and full body, Merlot grapes are notably rounded, soft, fleshy and lighter on tannin. The combination of these two varietals, along with a small percentage of (commonly) Petit Verdot or Cabernet Franc, is the perfect balancing act – the two grape varietals cancel out each others weaker points, and accentuate all that is good about the other.