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750ml
Bottle:
$24.93
$27.20
Quite a savory expression with dark plums, dried blackberries and violets, as well as fine-ground, toasted...
750ml
Bottle:
$12.94
12 bottles:
$12.76
Offers Kalamata olive, spice, date nut bread and black licorice notes, which add complexity to the core of tangy...
750ml
Bottle:
$57.94
The 2022 Syrah from Karabib is 75% whole clusters matured for 11 months in 2,000-liter Austrian oak. This elegant...
750ml
Bottle:
$57.94
The 2022 Syrah from Swartland comes from mostly shale and schist soils, 25% on granite soils, using 75% whole cluster...
750ml
Bottle:
$19.90
12 bottles:
$19.50
The Lionheart of Dandelion Vineyards is our old vine Barossa vineyard. These ancient, gnarled vines, many over a...
750ml
Bottle:
$64.88
12 bottles:
$63.58
• Practicing organic.
• 100% Syrah.
• From multiple parcels of old vines from the villages of Mauves, Tournon,...
750ml
Bottle:
$74.00
12 bottles:
$72.52
92-94 The flagship 2022 Saint Joseph Le Paradis Saint Pierre comes from a single parcel of vines and pure granite...
750ml
Bottle:
$65.00
12 bottles:
$63.70
91-93 Cassis, liquid violets, ground pepper, and an undeniable sense of minerality emerge from the 2022 Saint Joseph...
750ml
Bottle:
$45.00
12 bottles:
$44.10
91-93 Red and black fruits, flowers, chalky minerality, and spicy, subtly leather-like nuances all emerge from the...
750ml
Bottle:
$14.90
12 bottles:
$14.60
Lots of cherries, blueberries and plums with some dried herb and cured meat aromas. Medium-bodied with plush tannins....
750ml
Bottle:
$30.94
12 bottles:
$30.32
Vinified from certified organic grapes, the 2022 Crozes-Hermitage checks in at a modest 12% alcohol. Blood orange...
750ml
Bottle:
$32.28
12 bottles:
$27.39
91-93 From one of my favorite producers, the 2020 Crozes-Hermitage Domaine reveals a dense purple hue to go with a...
![Domaine Equis [M. Graillot] Cornas 2019 750ml](https://www.saratogawine.com/files/images/cached_thumbs/b5/b5a5e34bf66715dade8c7a3a9d1bf2c3.jpg){kind=small}
750ml
Bottle:
$59.94
12 bottles:
$58.74
92-94 Highly perfumed blackberry, cherry, olive and floral aromas are complicated by suggestions of exotic spices and...
![Domaine Equis [M. Graillot] Crozes-Hermitage Domaine Des Lises 2020 750ml](https://www.saratogawine.com/files/images/cached_thumbs/e7/e753cf4ec53b1ead651b7894fd673393.jpg){kind=small}
750ml
Bottle:
$27.74
$29.60
Deep violet. Lively aromas of fresh blackberry, cherry and candied flowers, along with cracked pepper and olive...
![Domaine Equis [M. Graillot] Crozes-Hermitage Equinoxe 2022 750ml](https://www.saratogawine.com/files/images/cached_thumbs/f9/f9b76f94732ec96a110869afd976ccb1.jpg){kind=small}
750ml
Bottle:
$19.90
$21.20
100% Syrah, this is an elegant, earthy wine that loves to find itself paired with a roast chicken or duck.
![Domaine Equis [M. Graillot] Saint Joseph 2020 750ml](https://www.saratogawine.com/files/images/cached_thumbs/a3/a34037ec2c68df0e1b7b1ab18e6155e0.jpg){kind=small}
750ml
Bottle:
$34.96
$36.80
Textured and lythe. Flavors of fresh blueberries and blackberries are accented by notes of fresh cracked black...
750ml
Bottle:
$33.85
$34.79
12 bottles:
$33.17
91-93 Deep, bright-rimmed ruby. Pungent floral and black pepper flourishes complement smoke-inflected dark berry...
750ml
Bottle:
$104.24
12 bottles:
$97.95
A blend of grapes from Bassenon, Maison Rouge and Lancement, the 2019 Cote Rotie Blonde du Seigneur contains about 5%...
Agiorghitiko Grenache Mavrodaphne Syrah
The Agiorgitiko grape varietal is grown widely throughout Greece and certain other countries, and is prized for the fact it is highly heat resistant, and can thrive on even quite arid and infertile land. It has been cultivated for millennia in the Nemea region of the Peloponnese mountains, where it remains highly popular to this day. It is a grape varietal which can take on wide range of characteristics, from highly tannic and astringent to rather soft and rounded, and responds well to a variety of wine making techniques and methods. Typically, the Agiorgitiko grape varietal produces wines which are quite spicy, and hold plummy and dark fruit flavors It has been successfully blended with Cabernet Sauvignon, and is a popular grape varietal in many countries around the world.
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.
In the Archaea region, high in the Northern Peloponnese mountains, the predominant grape varietal grown is the prized Mavrodaphne. Meaning 'Black Laurel', the Mavrodaphne grapes have extremely dark skins, and ripen slowly under the Greek sunshine, helped by the mineral rich soils the vines thrive in. This grape varietal is mostly used to produce the opaque, inky fortified wine of the same name, which is popular all over Greece and elsewhere in the world. This fortified wine allows the grapes to really show off their complex and fascinating flavors, which range from a rich marzipan to flavors of bitter chocolate, sweet coffee, dried figs and prunes, as well as plenty of jammy fruit notes.
Mavrodaphne is produced in a traditional method which involves leaving the grape juice exposed to the sun in large vats, before having its fermentation halted by the addition of various distillates taken from previous successful vintages. This mixture contains plenty of residual sugar, which gives the end result its characteristic sticky sweetness, and also helps with the next fermentation process, which typically takes place in large underground cellars. The final product is a heady drink, absolutely bursting with unusual, rich and sweet flavors and carried in a dark and slightly viscous Port-like liquid.
Mavrodaphne grapes are also used for the production of still red wines, but are generally blended with varietals such as Agiorgitiko or imported grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon. Mavrodaphne grapes are excellent for mellowing more acidic varieties, and producing deliciously rounded wines, which have taken the international market by storm in recent decades.
Additional Information on Greek Wines
Greek Wines
Ancient Greek Wines – A Brief History of Wine in Greece
The Myth of Dionysus, Greek God of Wine
What is Retsina?
Known as Syrah in most countries around the world, and Shiraz in Australia and certain other regions of the New World, this grape varietal has proven over the centuries to be one of the most powerful and flavorful red wine grapes there is. It is now one of the planet's most widely grown grapes, and is a favorite with wineries as a result of its robustness and versatility. It isn't easy to identify many characteristics of this particular varietal, due to the fact that it is highly versatile and shows significant differences in flavor and character depending on the terroir it is grown in, and the climatic conditions of the region. However, Syrah is most widely associated with full bodied, strong and loud red wines, packed full of fruity and spicy flavors, held in a beautifully deep red liquid.