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Red
750ml
Bottle: $44.90
12 bottles: $44.00
60% Zinfandel,15% Grenache, 10% Alicante Bouschet, 5% Petite Sirah and 10% "other" (20+ other varieties, in fact)...
12 FREE
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Red
750ml
Bottle: $26.93 $28.80
"Bambino" comes from a ten-acre block planted on Old Hill in 1998. This young-vine field blend is patterned after the...
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Red
750ml
Bottle: $29.94 $31.60
12 bottles: $26.60
Our Zinfandel was aged for 12 months in a combination of French and American oak barrels, 20% of which were new. At...
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Red
750ml
Bottle: $13.65 $15.17
12 bottles: $12.36
Our smooth Zinfandel is layered with hints of rich blackberry, luscious caramel, and aromatic toasted oak.
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Spirits
375ml
Bottle: $34.37 $36.18
12 bottles: $29.81
D’Usse was developed as a brand and is a bit cagey about age and appellation. It’s curiously dark amber for a...
VM
92
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White
750ml
Bottle: $8.94
This Gewurztraminer is an enjoyable wine with exuberant fruit and clove spice. Try with Thai food. Fresh and vibrant,...
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Red
750ml
Bottle: $18.36 $20.40
12 bottles: $16.63
A fruit bomb, with just enough character to keep things interesting. Reveals jammy blackberry and licorice flavors...
WS
88
Red
750ml
Bottle: $21.94
12 bottles: $21.50
Eight Spur Zinfandel displays loads of blueberry and strawberry flavors, with hints of cinnamon, tobacco leaf, and...
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Red
750ml
Bottle: $15.38 $17.09
12 bottles: $13.18
This racy red is loaded with pepper flavors, along with fresh, vibrant notes of cherry, sweet anise and cinnamon that...
WS
90
Sale
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $61.56 $64.80
This VSOP Cognac is aged for four years in oak barrels, followed by six months in Mizunara, a particularly...
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WE
93
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $104.88 $110.40
An incredibly enticing bouquet of orange blossom, honeysuckle, ripe peach, and vanilla prime the palate for a racy...
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $173.94
Cognac PARK Borderies Mizunara Single Cask 2004 draws its specificity from a marriage of Single Cru Cognac which is...
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $69.60
This silky single-vineyard Cognac hits all the right notes, layering rounded vanilla, sherry and butterscotch with...
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WE
98
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $38.76 $40.80
12 bottles: $31.64
We recognise firstly the combined aromas of spring-dried flowers, of baked apples and of macerated cherries that open...
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $58.80
12 bottles: $50.16
Candied orange peel, vanilla and oak tease the nose. Meanwhile, the palate is oak-forward, translating into vanilla,...
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WE
90
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $98.04 $103.20
6 bottles: $86.40
Crafted to magnify the exquisite characteristics of the Grande Champagne, a famed growing region known for producing...
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $116.28 $122.40
Made with a blend of brandies aged 20 to 25 years, this is a pleasant sipper, with complex flavors that unfold...
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93
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $26.58
Especially, delicate and floral, attractive to the nose and pleasant to the palate. Its fresh and juicy character is...
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Red
750ml
Bottle: $16.20 $18.00
12 bottles: $14.25
Complex and layered. Rich in dark fruit, cassis, and black currant. Aromas of chocolate, toffee, sandalwood and...
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Red
750ml
Bottle: $15.90 $17.09
12 bottles: $13.71
The Zin opens with aromas of dark red fruit, boysenberry and baking spice with a velvety mouthfeel and balanced...

Cognac Gewurztraminer Mencia Zinfandel

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.

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.

The precise origins of what became known as the Zinfandel grape variety are uncertain, although it has clear genetic equivalents in both Puglia and Croatia. However, when it was brought to the New World in the mid 19th century, it became known as the Zinfandel, and has been consistently popular and widely grown ever since. These very dark and very round grapes have a remarkably high sugar content, resulting in relatively high levels of alcohol in the wines they are made into, with bottles often displaying as much as fifteen percent. What makes the Zinfandel such an interesting grape, though, is the fact that the flavors produced by this varietal vary considerably depending on the climate they are grown in. In cooler valley regions, the Zinfandel grapes result in wines which hold strong flavors of tart and sweet fruits; raspberry, redcurrant and sweet cherry, held in a very smooth and silky liquid. Conversely, warmer regions result in more complex and spicy notes, including anise, pepper and hedgerow berries.