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Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $31.94 $33.60
12 bottles: $31.92
The 2020 Syrah Purisima Mountain Vineyard is a powerful, dense wine. Blueberry, blackberry, lavender, melted road tar...
VM
92
JD
92
Red
750ml
Bottle: $23.94
12 bottles: $23.46
This red has terrific purity to the green tea, raspberry puree, blueberry and blood orange flavors, while polished...
WS
92
Red
750ml
Bottle: $51.94
12 bottles: $50.90
Nostalgic aromas of the Aussie bush, with a core of sweet cherries doused with cloves and cardamon. Smoked...
12 FREE
JS
93
Red
750ml
Bottle: $57.40
12 bottles: $56.25
Quite light in the glass, this is a lovely style of lighter Pinot Noir, starting with aromas of light red fruit,...
12 FREE
WE
96
VM
94
Red
750ml
Bottle: $54.00
12 bottles: $52.92
The 2019 Syrah Rattlesnake Rock shows the more elegant side of Syrah in its restrained aromatics and finessed,...
12 FREE
VM
94
JD
92
Red
750ml
Bottle: $31.94
12 bottles: $31.30
This Shiraz is deep red in colour, underpinned by bright purple hues. Lifted and complex on the nose, the Shiraz...
12 FREE
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $12.76 $13.43
12 bottles: $10.45
Intense color, flavor and soft tannins from grape skins. Ripe berry fruits along with fig and raisin add to the...
Sale
White
Sale
White
750ml
Bottle: $14.41 $15.83
This is bright for a cream Sherry, with green tea and singed ginger notes out front, providing heft to the date,...
WS
91
Sale
White
750ml
Bottle: $14.94 $15.83
Sea salt, Brazil nut and dried chamomile notes are racy and filigreed, with a stony edge on the finish. Drink now.
WS
90
White
750ml
Bottle: $69.95
6 bottles: $68.55
The NV El Tresillo Amontillado Fino is from the El Tresillo solera (hence the same name as the 1874 Amontillado). It...
12 FREE
WA
90
Sale
White
750ml
Bottle: $27.94 $31.19
Shows lovely focus and persistence, with a prominent thread of bitter almond that runs from start to finish, while...
WS
92
Sale
White
750ml
Bottle: $59.93 $64.79
The NV Villapanes Oloroso wears a dark amber-brown robe and has a very intense nose, showing some marmalade, dark...
12 FREE
WA
91
Red
750ml
Bottle: $54.72
12 bottles: $53.63
Occidental Hills Syrah is a single-vineyard bottling from our 0.21 acre Syrah planting at English Hill Vineyard....
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Red
750ml
Bottle: $19.73
12 bottles: $19.34
A rich, medium- to full-bodied red, with an underpinning of mesquite smoke and loamy earth and flavors of fig cake,...
WS
91
Red
750ml
Bottle: $12.94
12 bottles: $12.35
Sale
White
750ml
Bottle: $11.46 $13.00
12 bottles: $11.23
This traditional dessert wine compares favorably to the most famous imported brands of cream sherry - only ours is...
Red
750ml
Bottle: $50.20
12 bottles: $46.55
Les Murets reveals a very dark purple robe with purple reflections. The nose offers a very rich and racy aromatic...
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Red
750ml
Bottle: $22.94
12 bottles: $22.48
Varnishy oak on the nose and palate at this stage, it does, however, have good concentration and intense acidity that...
12 FREE
DC
90
Red
750ml
Bottle: $25.94
12 bottles: $25.42
Color: Mauve with a raspberry rim. Nose: Intense aromas of black fruits and pepper with toasty undertones. Palate:...
12 FREE

Mavrodaphne Sherry Syrah Vidal Blanc

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?

Sherry is made in a unique way using the solera system, which blends fractional shares of young wine from oak barrels with older, more mature wines. Sherry has no vintage date because it is blended from a variety of years. Rare, old sherries can contain wine that dates back 25 to 50 years or more, the date the solera was begun. If a bottle has a date on it, it probably refers to the date the company was founded.

Most sherries begin with the Palomino grape, which enjoys a generally mild climate in and around the triad of towns known as the "Sherry Triangle" and grows in white, limestone and clay soils that look like beach sand. The Pedro Ximenez type of sweet sherry comes from the Pedro Ximenez grape.

Sherry is a "fortified" wine, which means that distilled, neutral spirits are used to fortify the sherry. The added liquor means that the final sherry will be 16 to 20 percent alcohol (higher than table wines) and that it will have a longer shelf life than table wines.

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.