Do we ship to you?.
750ml
Bottle:
$21.96
$24.40
12 bottles:
$19.76
This delightful, domestic sparkler is teaming with aromas of fresh orchard fruits and chalky, mineral tones. The bead...
750ml
Bottle:
$21.96
$24.40
12 bottles:
$19.76
Notes of fresh toast, graham cracker and cream, blend with ripe orchard and stone fruit on the nose. On the plate...
750ml
Bottle:
$23.18
$24.40
12 bottles:
$19.76
Crisp and vibrant, with boldly expressive cherry, toasty, yeast and graham cracker flavors that finish on a snappy...
750ml
Bottle:
$91.94
6 bottles:
$90.10
The Carneros Cuvée is our Tête de Cuvée. It represents the best fruit from our 335 acre estate as well as our...
750ml
Bottle:
$9.99
-A pale, straw colored Champagne that has a crisp flavor with a hint of fruit. The Cuvee is a blend orf Aurore,...
750ml
Bottle:
$14.32
$15.91
12 bottles:
$11.52
A pale straw-colored champagne that has a slightly sweet character with a hint of fruit. The cuvee' is a blend of...
750ml
Bottle:
$14.99
Tart and rather graceless, but showing apple and strawberry flavors. Drink now. 500 cases made.
750ml
Bottle:
$16.92
$18.80
12 bottles:
$15.05
This sleek sparkler is expressive with its floral apple and toasty cinnamon aromas and crisp, layered flavors of lime...
750ml
Bottle:
$16.92
$18.80
12 bottles:
$15.05
Delicate and lively, with floral cherry and vanilla aromas and nicely layered, crisp citrus, cinnamon and cream flavors.
750ml
Bottle:
$21.24
$23.60
12 bottles:
$19.00
Appealing apple pie aromas open to easygoing pear and yeast roll flavors. Drink now. 7,408 cases made.
750ml
Bottle:
$18.00
12 bottles:
$14.25
Gruet Le Spritz classic wine cocktails bring a touch of joie de vivre to every sip. This L'Orangerie botanical spritz...
750ml
Bottle:
$18.00
12 bottles:
$14.25
Gruet Le Spritz classic wine cocktails bring a touch of joie de vivre to every sip. This Le Fleuriste elderflower...
750ml
Bottle:
$32.94
12 bottles:
$32.28
A very elegant and creamy sparkling wine with a wonderful, seamless mouth feel. Plenty of berry and candied-citrus...
Barbera Champagne Blend Mavrodaphne United States
For centuries now, the beautiful red grapes of the Barbera varietal have been grown in Italy, where they are prized for their unusual high acid content and low tannins, brought about by their thin skins. The Barbera grape varietal thrives in warmer climates, and has had some success overseas in the new world, where its strongly aromatic flavors of intense hedgerow fruits make it a favorite with wineries and wine drinkers looking for a grape which offers plenty of interesting characteristics. Interestingly, the differences between young and aged wines made from this varietal are quite significant, with younger bottles holding a plethora of berry flavors, including blueberry and raspberry notes, and oak aged wines made from the Barbera grape being much loved for their ability to become extremely complex and spicy, and picking up vanilla flavors from the wood they are barreled in.
The sparkling wines of Champagne have been revered by wine drinkers for hundreds of years, and even today they maintain their reputation for excellence of flavor and character, and are consistently associated with quality, decadence, and a cause for celebration. Their unique characteristics are partly due to the careful blending of a small number of selected grape varietals, most commonly Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. These grapes, blended in fairly equal quantities, give the wines of Champagne their wonderful flavors and aromas, with the Pinot Noir offering length and backbone, and the Chardonnay varietal giving its acidity and dry, biscuity nature. It isn't unusual to sometimes see Champagne labeled as 'blanc de blanc', meaning it is made using only Chardonnay varietal grapes, or 'blanc de noir', which is made solely with Pinot Noir.
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?
Of all the New World wine countries, perhaps the one which has demonstrated the most flair for producing high quality wines - using a combination of traditional and forward-thinking contemporary methods - has been the United States of America. For the past couple of centuries, the United States has set about transforming much of its suitable land into vast vineyards, capable of supporting a wide variety of world-class grape varietals which thrive on both the Atlantic and the Pacific coastlines. Of course, we immediately think of sun-drenched California in regards to American wines, with its enormous vineyards responsible for the New World's finest examples of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot based wines, but many other states have taken to viticulture in a big way, with impressive results. Oregon, Washington State and New York have all developed sophisticated and technologically advanced wine cultures of their own, and the output of U.S wineries is increasing each year as more and more people are converted to their produce.